BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA: NATO TROOPS SURROUND POLICE STATIONS IN BANJA LUKA TO SUPPORT SERB PRESIDENT BILJANA PLAVSIC
Record ID:
566104
BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA: NATO TROOPS SURROUND POLICE STATIONS IN BANJA LUKA TO SUPPORT SERB PRESIDENT BILJANA PLAVSIC
- Title: BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA: NATO TROOPS SURROUND POLICE STATIONS IN BANJA LUKA TO SUPPORT SERB PRESIDENT BILJANA PLAVSIC
- Date: 20th August 1997
- Summary: BANJA LUKA/ SARAJEVO, BOSNIA (AUGUST 20, 1997) BANJA LUKA 1. SLV POLICE SCHOOL 0.03 2. CU SIGN ON BUILDING 0.07 3. SLV/SV OF POLICE LOYAL TO SERB HARDLINERS LEAVING THE POLICE ACADEMY CENTRE AS SFOR SOLDIERS TAKE UP POSITIONS (2 SHOTS) 0.20 4. SLV SFOR TANK IN FRONT OF BUILDING 0.34 5. SV POLICE LOYAL TO MODERATE SERB PRESIDENT BILJANA PLAVSIC WATCHING 0.39 6. SLV/LV/SV OF TANKS/SOLDIERS ON TANK (3 SHOTS) 0.52 7. SLV SOLDIER WITH GUN WATCHING 0.55 8. SV SOLDIERS TALKING IN FRONT OF POLICE STATION 0.59 9. MCU MILAN SUTILOVIC - BANJA LUKA CHIEF OF POLICE LOYAL TO SERB HARDLINERS - SAYING I HAVE BEEN FORCED OUT OF MY OFFICE, SFOR SOLDIERS WITH AXES AND HAMMERS BROKE INTO MY OFFICE. THEY TURNED THEIR GUNS TOWARDS OUR HEADS AND THREW EVERYBODY OUT OF THE BUILDING (SERBO-CROAT) 1.13 10.SLV SOLDIERS AND TANK IN FRONT OF THE BUILDING 1.18 11.LV SFOR HELICOPTER 1.23 12.MCU INTERNATIONAL POLICE TASK FORCE COMMANDER WERNER SHONN SAYING IPTF DECIDED TO INSPECT POLICE FACILITY IN BANJA LUKA AS THE FIRST STEP TO IMPLEMENTING THE PEACE PROCESS (ENGLISH) 1.46 13.SLV POLICE LOYAL TO PLAVSIC MARCHING INTO POLICE BUILDING 1.54 14.SV SFOR SOLDIERS WITH MACHINE GUNS 1.57 15.SLV/MCU POLICE MARCHING INTO POLICE BUILDING (3 SHOTS) 2.16 16.SLV SOLDIERS WITH MACHINE GUNS, WATCHING 2.20 17.SV/SLV PRO-SERB HARDLINE CROWD PROTESTING HARDLINE-LOYAL POLICE EVICTIONS (2 SHOTS) 2.36 SARAJEVO 18.MCU MAJOR JOHN BLAKELY SAYING SFOR IS KEEPING THE SITUATION UNDER CONTROL (ENGLISH) 3.04 19.SV SFPR TANK MOVING 3.12 Initials P3 S3 Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
- Embargoed: 4th September 1997 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BANJA LUKA, SARAJEVO/ BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA
- City:
- Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Reuters ID: LVA7485ATM8RWMVIA4GLJH0GI88I
- Story Text: Heavily-armed NATO troops have surrounded police stations in the Bosnian town of Banja Luka to support Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic in her bid to assert authority over her hardline rivals.
About 350 British and Czech troops in armoured vehicles rolled down the streets of Banja Luka at 6:30 a.m. (0430 GMT) on Wednesday (August 20) and deployed around four police stations and a police academy, the NATO-led Stabilisation Force (SFOR) said.
"SFOR met no resistance. SFOR is in control...We have deployed sufficient resources to meet any anticipated requirements," spokesman Major John Blakeley told reporters in Sarajevo.
The extraordinary action was taken on "mutual agreement" between Western envoys and Plavsic who met late on Tuesday to discuss the increasingly tense power struggle, the office of the High Representative to Bosnia, Carlos Westendorp, said.
Plavsic has been fighting for months to gain control over the security apparatus run by hardliners loyal to ex-president and indicted war criminal Radovan Karadzic.
At midday, Plavsic paid a triumphant visit to the main police station in Banja Luka where her newly-appointed commanders assumed their posts.
International Police Task Force (IPTF) officers earlier entered the police stations and found large quantities of unauthorised weapons including machineguns, rocket launchers and mines, IPTF deputy commander Werner Schum told reporters.
NATO had to bring in extra trucks to cart away all the weapons seized at the police stations.
Western officials said the arms caches indicated that hardline police may have been preparing to strike back at Plavsic. The NATO operation was probably launched to pre-empt such an attack, they said.
With Banja Luka now firmly under Plavsic's authority, international police officers hinted that similiar operations would be conducted elsewhere in Bosnia's Serb republic.
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