NATO peacekeepers end operation in Bosnian Serb wartime stronghold

SARAJEVO (AFP) Apr 01, 2003
NATO-led peacekeepers on Monday completed a four-day operation in Pale, the former stronghold of top fugitive warcrimes suspect Radovan Karadzic, where vehicles were being stopped and searched, a spokesman said Tuesday.

The controls of vehicles in Pale were "consistent with normal operations conducted by SFOR" to ensure safety and security Dale MacEachern, a spokesman for NATO-led Stabilization Force (SFOR), told a press conference.

NATO helicopters flew over the area during the operation.

SFOR troops carried out two failed attempts in 2002 to arrest Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb leader, who is wanted by the United Nations tribunal in the Hague for war crimes and genocide allegedly committed during the 1992-95 Bosnia war.

The operation involved setting up checkpoints on all four roads leading out of Pale and searching almost all vehicles, MacEachern said.

Earlier this month peacekeepers raided the Pale premises of two local businessmen known to provide financial assistance to Karadzic that has enabled him to evade arrest.

SPACE.WIRE