Karadzic and Mladic: The Bosnian Serb view

Bosnian Serbs think Mladic and Karadzic will end up at The Hague

By Radmila Karlas in Banja Luka

No matter how inevitable the extradition of Slobodan Milosevic seemed to the people involved in his indictment, it has caused great surprise amongst ordinary people in the Serbian entity in Bosnia, Republika Srpska (RS).

His departure to The Hague has finally convinced even the most doubting Thomas's that one day the former leaders of the Bosnian Serbs, Radovan Karadzic and his general, Ratko Mladic, will find themselves in prison in the Dutch town of Scheveningen.

Although Mr Karadzic and General Mladic have been off the political scene, the majority of people in RS are against the international tribunal in The Hague and against having the two men and other indicted Bosnian Serbs arrested.

There are two reasons for this.

First, there is a lack of information about the war crimes committed by Bosnian Serbs and, second, there are significantly more Serbs and Croats at the prison at Scheveningen than Bosnian Muslims.

Crimes ignored

Srebrenica is treated by the public as if it simply never happened and the genocide of the Muslim population is almost never mentioned.

The genocide at Srebrenica is never mentioned

The current leadership - made up mainly of the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) - has given no support to the uncovering of Bosnian Serb war crimes.

On the contrary, the party is trying to prevent this process - which would ultimately shift the responsibility from the collective to the individual - from taking place.

Stain on Serb honour

But the arrest of the war leaders would be unlikely to cause much of a stir amongst the people of the RS.

The arrest of Momcilo Krajisnik, former member of the Bosnian presidency and one of the key figures in the SDS, was forgotten within a few days.

The same happened after Biljana Plavsic, former president of the RS gave herself in to the Hague tribunal.

People often blame Mr Karadzic and General Mladic and the rest of the wartime leadership for the present economic hardship and masses of refugees.

And for many former Bosnian Serb soldiers, General Mladic is a stain on their honour for unexpectedly surrendering the territories under Serbian command at the end of the war in Bosnia.

This resulted in many Serbian soldiers' and civilians' deaths and large numbers of refugees.

Quickly forgotten

Most people in the RS can only guess where the Hague's two most wanted Serbs are.

Karadzic and Mladic have been wanted by the tribunal for six years

There are rumours, both among local people and in the foreign media that they might be living in the east of the province, in the town of Trebinje where the SDS has always been very strong.

Dragan Kalinic, president of the SDS, has been photographed visiting Mr Karadzic in his hiding place many times.

And the prosecutor for the tribunal, Carla Del Ponte, claims that they are being protected by the army.

Even if the government of the RS decides to co-operate with the arrests, nothing much would change for the ordinary people of the region.

Some might think of organising small demonstrations, but it is certain that Mr Karadzic and General Mladic would be forgotten just as quickly as all the other Serbs in Scheveningen that nobody ever mentions any more.