BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA: BOSNIAN SERB LEADER KARADZIC SPEAKS ABOUT STATUS OF SARAJEVO AFTER DAYTON PEACE ACCORDS

Record ID: 636555

  • Title: BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA: BOSNIAN SERB LEADER KARADZIC SPEAKS ABOUT STATUS OF SARAJEVO AFTER DAYTON PEACE ACCORDS
  • Date: 25th November 1995
  • Summary: PALE, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA (NOVEMBER 25, 1995) (AGENCY POOL - ACCESS ALL) 1. SV BOSNIAN SERB LEADER RADOVAN KARADZIC SPEAKING (ENGLISH) / WALKING AWAY 1.23 SEQUENCE 1 TRANSCRIPT: KARADZIC: "WE ARE PREPARING OURSELVES FOR THE SIGNATURE AND RATIFICATION IN OUR ASSEMBLY. BUT THE PROBLEM IS SARAJEVO BECAUSE SARAJEVO HAS BEEN DIVIDED OFFICIALLY BUT UNOFFICIALLY IT IS REALLY DIVIDED CITY AND THEY (NEGOTIATORS IN DAYTON, OHIO) DID NOT RESOLVE THE PROBLEM OF SARAJEVO, THEY CREATED THE PROBLEM OF SARAJEVO. SARAJEVO IS GOING TO BE A LONG-LASTING PROBLEM LIKE THE MIDDLE EAST PROBLEM BECAUSE SERBS IN SERBIAN SUBURBS DO NOT FEEL SECURE AND WILL NOT ACCEPT ANY MOSLEM POLICE OR AUTHORITY. THEREFORE, THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY HAS TO PROTECT SERBS IN SARAJEVO. IT WOULD BE MUCH BETTER IF SARAJEVO HAD BEEN RETRANSFORMED INTO TWO CITIES AND THAT WOULD BE A PERMANENT AND STABLE SOLUTION. SARAJEVO LIKE THAT IS GOING TO BE A BIG PROBLEM FOR THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY AND WE DO THINK THAT SARAJEVO SHOULD BE RENEGOTIATED." Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 10th December 1995 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: PALE, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA
  • Reuters ID: LVACH3LC7B9JSWOD5UWGPGHT33YK
  • Story Text: Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic said on Saturday (November 25) the status of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo would be a long lasting problem.

    The Bosnian Serbs have accepted the Dayton peace accords, hailing it as a victory for the separatist Serb cause, but are not happy with the idea of reuniting Sarajevo.

    "The problem is mainly in Sarajevo. They (negotiators in Dayton) didn't resolve the problem of Sarajevo. They created the problem of Sarajevo." The Dayton peace deal, initialled on Tuesday, envisages large Serb-held areas around Sarajevo being handed over to Bosnian government control, reuniting the city and giving it important communication routes to the outside world.

    "Sarajevo is going to be a long-lasting problem like a Middle East problem because Serbs in Serbian suburbs of Sarajevo will not be safe and secure and will not accept any Moslem police or any Moslem authority," Karadzic said.

    He also said that the international community had to protect the Bosnian Serbs in Sarajevo.

    Bosnian Serb forces have fought fierce battles during more than three years of war to keep control of suburbs that ring the Bosnian capital and are aghast at the thought that diplomacy will lose them what they held militarily.

    "It would have been much better if Sarajevo would have been retransformed into two cities - that would be a permanent and stable solution," Karadzic said, adding that he thought the Sarajevo issue should be renegotiated.


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