U.N. Envoy Vows To Fight
Extremism In Bosnia
11:30 a.m. Aug 18, 1999 Eastern
By Fredrik Dahl
SARAJEVO (Reuters) - The West's
new peace envoy to Bosnia said
Wednesday he would take a tough
stance against hardline nationalists,
fraud and corruption in the Balkan
country.
''There is zero tolerance on my part
with extremists and nationalists,'' said
Wolfgang Petritsch, the international
community's new High
Representative in Bosnia.
''Every single dollar, every single
mark that is being spent on
corruption is a crime and we are not
going to tolerate this,'' Petritsch told
his first press conference after taking
up the job three days ago.
The Austrian diplomat was
responding to a report in the New
York Times that said nationalist
Bosnian officials had stolen as much
as $1 billion through tax evasion and
embezzlement.
Petritsch, 51, said he would not
hesitate to use his wide powers in
implementing aspects of the Bosnian
peace process.
''There is going to be a very strong
leadership on the part of the Office
of the High Representative,'' he said.
As High Representative, Petritsch
has the power to remove Bosnian
officials who obstruct peace efforts
and also to impose legislation if local
politicians are unable to agree.
The U.S.-brokered Dayton peace
accord, which ended the 1992-1995
war, must be implemented by
Bosnia's leaders, Petritsch said. ''If
there is non-compliance, there will be
consequences,'' he added.
His predecessor, Spanish diplomat
Carlos Westendorp, frequently used
his powers. In March he removed
the hardline president of Bosnia's
Serb republic, Nikola Poplasen.
Petritsch, who has served as
Austria's ambassador to Belgrade
and as the European Union's special
representative for Kosovo, said:
''We will have to redouble our
efforts to achieve the huge tasks
ahead of us.''
As for corruption, Petritsch said:
''There are indications that some of
the leaders are involved in this.''
But he denied the existence of a
4,000-page report that the New
York Times said was researched by
an anti-fraud unit set up by
Petritsch's office.
He also could not confirm the
estimate that $1 billion had been
stolen.
The New York Times said the
anti-fraud unit had exposed so much
corruption that relief agencies and
embassies were reluctant to publicize
the thefts for fear of frightening away
international donors.
Earlier, a Bosnian leader angrily
rejected the report.
''Someone has made a big mistake
here,'' Alija Izetbegovic, the Muslim
member of Bosnia's collective
presidency, said in a statement
carried by the Dnevni Avaz
newspaper.
He said the aim of the article was to
portray Bosnian leaders as thieves by
using ''false and secret'' reports.
Petritsch also said one of his top
priorities would be to boost refugee
returns. More than 800,000 people
remain internally displaced in Bosnia
and there are some 350,000
refugees abroad.
Copyright 1999 Reuters |
