BBC News Online: World: Europe

Wednesday, 13 March, 2002, 17:58 GMT

Nato drops leaflets in Karadzic territory

Wanted posters showing Radovan Karadzic and General Ratko Mladic

The leaflets are part of a US-funded campaign

Nato-led peacekeepers in Bosnia-Herzegovina have airdropped thousands of leaflets in the southeast of the country offering a multi-million-dollar reward for the elusive war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic.

" The idea is to get the information to the people in an eye-catching way "
Scott Lundy
S-For spokesman

Helicopters dropped the leaflets - mock banknotes printed with pictures of the former Bosnian Serb leader - in the region surrounding the town of Foca in eastern Bosnia, where they believe he may be hiding.

Five million dollars (5.7 million euros) is being offered for information leading to Mr Karadzic, who has been indicted by an international tribunal in The Hague for genocide and war crimes committed during Bosnia's 1992-1995 war.

It is the latest attempt to pin down the fugitive suspect after a major operation by the Nato-led Stabilisation Force (S-For) last month failed to catch him.

Defaced posters

The leaflet campaign is being funded by the United States. Its embassy in Bosnia has already been aggressively promoting the reward with radio and TV advertisements as well as posters plastered across the country.

Woman shows damaged home

However correspondents say that many local Serbs remain loyal to their former leader.

Reward posters have been defaced or ripped down, while Bosnian-Serb broadcasters have refused to air the adverts.

Mr Karadzic has been indicted twice by the war crimes tribunal on charges of genocide committed during the siege of Sarajevo and the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of up to 8,000 Muslim men and boys.

Six years after the end of the war, he remains at large and is believed to move between remote areas of eastern Bosnia and the Yugoslav republic of Montenegro, where he was born.

Related to this story:
No proof of French tip-off, says Nato (04 Mar 02 | Europe) Karadzic 'saved by French leak' (04 Mar 02 | Europe) France denies officer scuppered Karadzic arrest (23 Apr 98 | Europe) French major jailed as Serb spy (12 Dec 01 | Europe) Nato's Karadzic hunt draws blank (28 Feb 02 | Europe) The race to catch Karadzic (28 Feb 02 | Europe) Where are Karadzic and Mladic? (01 Mar 02 | Europe)

Internet links: Republika Srpska | Nato | Hague tribunal | S-For |
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites