BOSNIA: NATO NEGOTIATORS END STANDOFF BETWEEN KARADZIC AND PLAVSIC скачать в хорошем качестве

BOSNIA: NATO NEGOTIATORS END STANDOFF BETWEEN KARADZIC AND PLAVSIC

(9 Sep 1997) English/Nat A potentially violent situation was defused in Banja Luka, Bosnian on Tuesday with NATO negotiators ending the standoff between supporters of Karadzic and Plavsic. Pro Plavsic police were guarding a hotel and not allowing the pro Karadzic S-D-S officials to leave, but U-S peace envoy Jacques Klein secured a peaceful end to the hostage situation. Klein allowed the officials to leave on the condition that he retain the identity documents and weapons held by officials, suspecting that some of them had been involved in a number of shootings the day before. Tuesday's standoff had its origins in the foiled pro-Karadzic rally on Monday. About 500 Karadzic backers made it to central Banja Luka for a planned early evening rally but they were outnumbered by supporters of the Bosnian Serb president Biljana Plavsic. Despite S-FOR's strenuous attempts to prevent clashes, police sources said five people were injured in overnight skirmishes between the two hostile groups. According to the senior NATO official, Plavsic's police arrested 13 pro-Karadzic policemen, while confiscating many weapons and explosives found in their vehicles. The violence was widely believed by NATO officials to be a coordinated attempt at a coup to oust Plavsic from power. It took the NATO-led force the better part of the night to calm tensions and negotiate the return of thousands of people who had planned to attend the foiled rally in Banja Luka. But officials loyal to Radovan Karadzic, among them the powerful Serb member of Bosnia's inter-ethnic presidency and Karadzic's chief lieutenant - Momcilo Krajisnik, were trapped in the hotel in Banja Luka by pro-Plavsic police. They were furious at the turn of events. SOUNDBITE: "The responsibility for not organising the rally lays exclusively upon Biljana Plavsic. The great number of buses and private cars had been prevented from coming into Banja Luka by S-FOR forces, and it was a great surprise to us because we realise that S-FOR at that instance was manipulated." SUPER CAPTION: Momcilo Krajisnik, Serb member of Bosnia's inter-ethnic presidency Police loyal to Plavsic blocked access to the Hotel Bosna cutting telephones, power and water. The standoff continued with the police patrolling the perimeter of the hotel. But later in the afternoon through the efforts of Jacques Klein, a solution was reached, but not without some stiff conditions. SOUNDBITE: (English) "Mr Krajisnik and those who have immunity by definition, are free to leave with their bodyguards. The bodyguards however will leave their weapons behind. SUPER CAPTION: Jacques Klein, U-S peace mediator He outlined why he insisted that all those leaving had to abandon their weapons. SOUNDBITE: (English) "Five Doboj Special police with pistols were on those buses last night. One Serb policeman as you know, a local policeman from Banja Luka, who was shot and is in the hospital, is in a stable condition. We suspect that the bullet came from one of those five weapons. SUPER CAPTION: Jacques Klein, U-S peace mediator The conditions, stipulated by Klein were met, and the hostages were allowed to leave under S-FOR protection. Klein showed waiting press the identity badges confiscated from S-D-S policemen who had been trapped in the building, some of whom he suspected of shooting the Serb policeman on Monday night. SOUNDBITE: (English) SUPER CAPTION: Jacques Klein, U-S peace mediator Earlier a hard line spokesman for the S-D-S told journalists that he blamed S-FOR for not resolving the situation more quickly. Karadzic. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...