1997

January 2, 1997 - Planning for the municipal elections is going ahead very strongly. The municipal elections are expected to take place in June. The rules and regulations for those elections should be agreed in the Provisional Election Commission with the participation and support of all three parties.

In 1997, the UN mission in Bosnia Herzegovina with its 3 components, the UN International Police Task Force, Civil Affairs, and the UN Mine Action Center, will continue to execute its mandate. The mandate for the UN mission has been extended to the 21st December 1997. As in 1996, the UN International Police Task Force will continue to monitor, advise, observe, and help train local police forces.

Two military tents in MND/SW burned down at the SFOR headquarters base in Sisava. Four Dutch soldiers were injured, none life threatening. They were treated at SFOR Medical Facility and released.

January 3, 1997 - Under international pressure the first session of the joint parliament of Bosnia's Muslims, Croats and Serbs was held since the September elections. This meeting — attended by Bosnia's three presidents, Alija Izetbegovic, Kresimir Zubak and Momcilo Krajisnik is considered to be an important step in the country's reunification.

Earlier failure to hold that meeting held up the launching of Bosnia's other joint institutions, except the three-member presidency, which has been meeting since October.

January 4, 1997 - The newly appointed council of ministers is the first government in Bosnia since April of 1992 that is recognized by both entities and the 3 peoples.

Though launched three months late, the first meeting of the unified government on January 3, 1997, opened the door for all of Bosnia to receive reconstruction aid. So far, aid has been given almost exclusively to one side, the Muslim-Croat federation.

A joint government in Bosnia was scheduled to be established within days of September 14 elections, but it was held up by wrangling over the venue and the text of the oath of allegiance.

January 6, 1997 - The UN international police is concerned with the recent developments in the village of Dugi Dio. A number of explosions as well as a 10-minute shooting spree was reported in Dugi Dio.

January 7, 1997 - Eight explosions destroyed three abandoned Muslim houses. There were no injuries.

Currently SFOR consists of roughly 35,100 troops in theater with 12,200 in MND- North, 9,500 in MND-South-East and 7,000 in MND-South-West and in Croatia 3,400 troops.

January 8, 1997 - The UN International Police Commissioner Peter Fitzgerald and his Deputy Robert Wasserman had two separate meetings with Minister Kijac from Republiska Srpska. They discussed the restructuring of Republika Srpska police force. Little progress was made during these discussions. The only thing that Kijac agreed to was to submit the plan by 31st January on the restructuring of his force.

SFOR soldiers in MND/N conducted an inspection with IPTF of a Serb civilian police station in Petrovo Selo. A large number of illegal weapons were confiscated (one M-79 90mm anti-tank weapon, five M-57 44mm anti-tank weapons, one light machine gun, six rifles and six sub-machine guns).

UNHCR reports that 148 Croat families have returned to Bugereno. Another 52 families have to return to in Bugereno to fulfill the so called "pilot project".

January 12, 1997 - Greece's foreign minister urged Serbia's government to accept opposition victories in local elections. While Theodoros Pangalos of Greece met with President Slobodan Milosevic, tens of thousands of people rallied for the 54th straight day against court annulments of the November election results. Police confined the rally to a pedestrian mall.

Loesje

The political crisis in Belgrade began in November, when Serbian authorities loyal to Milosevic threw out election results in 14 cities, including Belgrade, the capital, and Nis, Serbia's second-largest city. Daily demonstrations since then have drawn as many as 200,000 people to the streets of Belgrade in the biggest challenge yet to Milosevic, who has been in power since 1987.

Milosevic played a key role in ending the war between rival ethnic groups in Bosnia in 1995. He was credited with forcing rebel Serbs to accept a settlement brokered by the Clinton administration.

But Milosevic's authoritarian rule, combined with the emergence of a spirited opposition, prompted the Clinton administration to take a public stance supporting anti-government demonstrators.

January 15, 1997 - Minister Kietz of Republika Srpska expresses his concerns in the agreement with the UN policy per long-barreled weapons with the police force (one long barreled weapon on ten police officers). He asked for a meeting with UN Commissioner Fitzgerald. Most local police chiefs are in compliance with the guideline.

An SFOR patrol stopped a car near Otaka because the driver appeared to be drunk. While stopped, the patrol noticed a grenade in the car. The driver said the grenade was for fishing. The grenade was confiscated, and the matter was turned over to the IPTF.

January 17, 1997 - Thus far efforts to remove the six million plus mines that remain laid across Bosnia-Herzegovina have been largely ineffective. The threat that these mines pose is self evident and under the terms of Dayton, responsibility for their removal rests with the military forces of Bosnia-Herzegovina. SFOR, and IFOR before it, have made repeated efforts to assist the former warring factions in meeting their obligations but results have continued to fall well short of expectations.

January 18, 1997 - About one-fifth of the bridge leading to the west side of Checkpoint 34A near Celic (federation side of the IEBL) was damaged in an explosion; the bridge is impassable to vehicles.

January 23, 1997 - Approximately ten thousand students have been involved in demonstrations for four days. The communist party, led by president Milosevic's wife, says the students are "spies, supported financially from outside the country". The legal chaos has increased now that ten seats of the municipal government of which one had not decided yet have been divided among the three largest parties. Four seats went to the opposition, that now has a majority of the seats (64 out of 110). A decision has to be made by the Serbian supreme court.

In MND-Southeast, an SFOR patrol, working along with the IPTF, confiscated several pieces of weaponry from a Croat police station in West Mostar. Two 105 millimeter shells, two rifle grenades, 85 hand grenades, two anti-tank mines, one anti-tank rocket, and other various explosives were confiscated.

January 26, 1997 - US troops used tanks to rescue 20 Muslims who were attacked by 130 Bosnian Serbs as they attempted to return to their homes in the demilitarized zone separating the former warring parties. RS police reportedly did nothing.

January 28, 1997 - The OSCE PEC accepted at a meeting in Sarajevo the rules and regulations for the local elections in B-H scheduled most probably for 12 and 13 July this year.

The US still believes that rounding up war criminals in Bosnia is job for civilian police and not for US troops involved in a NATO peacekeeping effort. They examined the forming the special units that will not operate under NATO command. Last year, then Defense Secretary Perry discussed this force with European partners. Europe agrees on the force, but disagrees over who should participate in it and lead it.

The Sarajevo media report that the new Federation President and Vice-president will be Vladimir Soljic, and, most probably, Ejup Ganic, respectively. The SDA did not make a final decision yet.

January 31, 1997 - A Belgian UN corporal was killed and a Jordanian sergeant was injured by a man with an assault rifle, attacking a UN vehicle in the last Serb-held area of Croatia. It seemed to be "more an act of a deranged individual than an act with some political background," according to the UN.

An unsolved car bombing — seriously injuring a university rector — has heightened tensions in Serbia. The bombing follows an assassination attempt on the rector on January 16.

Over the past two days, SFOR patrols have discovered a number of house burnings near Drvar. One arrest has been made.

Februari 3, 1997 - The Federation Forum held a session in Sarajevo under the co-chairmanship of US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs, John Kornblum, and Principal Deputy High Representative, Ambassador Michael Steiner. They agreed on an immediate formation of a city council and city government in Sarajevo and on a number of items concerning Mostar, including freedom of movement, the cessation of hostilities and return of expellees, and the six municipalities of Mostar that will be constituted by 14 February.

Februari 6, 1997 - A Russian peacekeeper has been slightly injured after a mine exploded in a Serb-held town, where Muslims have been trying to return to.

The United States believes that Bosnia has severed ties with Iranian intelligence services and that Iran is being edged out of the country.

Februari 10, 1997 - Croats threw stones and then opened fire on 200 Muslims trying to visit graves on the Croat side. One Muslim man was killed and 20 people were injured. 100 people were evicted from their homes on the Croat side.

Mostar, which is divided into Croat- and Muslim-ruled sectors, is one of the most war-battered towns in Bosnia, and a key to the Dayton peace agreement.

Februari 11, 1997 - Serbia's democratic opposition gained its first major triumph over President Slobodan Milosevic as parliament reinstated its victories today in local elections after 11 straight weeks of protest. The parliament, where Milosevic's Socialists and their allies hold a majority, voted 128-0 to pass the bill today. The bill gave the three-party Zajedno opposition alliance control of Belgrade and 13 other major cities in Serbia.

Milosevic is barred by Serbia's constitution from seeking his third term, but the opposition fears Milosevic may use legal maneuvers to stay in power.

Februari 12, 1997 - NATO increased patrols in Mostar, divided into Croat and Muslim-ruled sectors. Mostar is one of the most war-battered towns in Bosnia, and a key to the Dayton peace agreement.

Februari 14, 1997 - Hundreds of employees of the state-run Politika Television and people who lost their foreign currency savings in a failed state-sponsored pyramid bank scheme joined nearly three months of pro-democracy protests. Apparently fearing that increased isolation will further undermine his autocratic rule, Milosevic tried to contact Washington.

The United States — one of the strongest critics of Milosevic's policies has — blocked all international loans for Serb-led Yugoslavia until Milosevic introduces democracy in Serbia.

In Rome, Roberts Owen said three possible candidates for controlling the Brcko area were discussed by arbitrators — the Bosnian Serbs, the Muslim-Croat federation and the joint government of Bosnia-Herzegovina — but that none was considered "sufficiently stabilized."

US troops increased patrols in northern Bosnia, but the show of force didn't deter Muslim refugees from protesting "an American betrayal" over this city.

Arbitrators loosened the Bosnian Serb grip on Brcko, giving an international administrator temporary control over Brcko to safeguard the return of Croat and Muslim refugees.

SFOR reports that there was use of fire weapons near the line of separation (Mostar). The Croat police set up an illegal check point. SFOR helicopters have been flying over Mostar for a whole day.

Februari 15, 1997 - In Mostar, an explosive device went off late last night in center of town and shots were fired at the bus station in east Mostar. Police of so called Herceg-Bosna turned back a regular Sarajevo-Split Centrotrans bus line from the M 17 road. SFOR soldiers confiscated weaponry found with a policeman in west Mostar who was not on duty.

Februari 16, 1997 - Croatia caused a strong reaction today by definitively refusing to hand over documentation which could be used as evidence in the case against war crime indicted Croatian General Tihomir Blaskic.

Februari 21, 1997 - Two rocket-propelled grenades were fired at two NATO vehicles patrolling the line dividing Mostar into Muslim- and Croat-controlled halves — the first open attack on NATO troops in the region since they were deployed in December 1995. One of the vehicles was hit in the front, but none of the five Spanish troops was hurt. NATO troops did open fire because of the urban environment.

Februari 22, 1997 - A grenade was thrown at an Italian NATO armored vehicle in the western, Croat-controlled part of the divided city of Mostar, the second attack on the NATO-led peace force in two days. No one was hurt.

Februari 24, 1997 - A NATO spokesman said NATO will avoid comment on the incidents of February 10 until the investigation and report on that subject have been produced. NATO does, however, condemned the attack on both civilians and SFOR troops.

About the Balkans in general, he said: "If the Balkans have been left out of a General European prosperity it is because a real understanding has been missing, of individual liberties, of market economics, and of tolerance."

Februari 25, 1997 - SFOR continues high-profile patrolling in the area of Mostar.

March 1, 1997 - In Gajevi, a crowd of 150 Republica Srpska citizens burned down 9 of 11 prefabricated houses built for returning Bosniac refugees, in an action that "seemed very well organized", said an SFOR spokesman. Republica Srpska police failed to enforce law.

March 2, 1997 - An agreement was signed in Belgrade between the Bosnian Serb Entity and Yugoslavia by Momcilo Krajisnik, BiH Presidency Member, and Zoran Lilic, President of Yugoslavia. The agreement foresees establishment of a joint economy and freedom of movement between two countries.

The main ICTY Prosecutor, Richard Goldstone, is quoted in the New York Times as pointing out the absurdity of the Court existence if justice is not being realized and criminals are not brought before the Court.

March 4, 1997 - An explosive device placed at the back of St. Joseph's church in Sarajevo caused material damage when it exploded. Since the Pope will visit Sarajevo, this matter may be directed against the catholic church.

March 5, 1997 - The US Federal Court for Human Rights is conducting a trial against war criminal Karadzic who is accused by victims of the BiH war.

March 6, 1997 - In Brussels, an agreement was reached on the re-opening of the upper air routes over Bosnia and Herzegovina to civilian airline traffic. At present, civilian airlines are not permitted to over-fly Bosnia and Herzegovina on these upper air routes.

Four West Mostar police officials have been suspended from duty, pending an investigation into the February 10th events in Mostar.

BiH local elections were officially postponed again, this time to September 13 and 14.

US Defence Minister, William Cohen said in a press conference held in Tuzla that NATO will leave BiH by the end of June '98.

March 9, 1997 - German Minister of Defence, Volke Ruehe, announced today that Germany is not going to prolong their mission in SFOR beyond the mandate.

Demining
[Photo German DoD]
Demining operation in progress.

March 10, 1997 - US Secretary of Defence, William Cohen, said that European allies might leave BIH at the same time as American troops. Cohen reiterated in an interview to NBC that Americans will for sure not stay beyond June of 1998.

The Tribunal in The Hague conducted a trial against three Bosniaks who allegedly committed massive murders and tortured Serbs in a military barracks Celebic.

March 11, 1997 - SFOR reported that the last Bosniak house in Gajevi, built for Bosniak returnees, has blown up by a group of 30 Serb protesters.

March 13, 1997 - On a meeting of the Council of Ministers in Lukavica an amendment was signed on economic assistance from the US and an agreement was ratified on economic cooperation with Libya. However, though the CoM had been working for almost ten weeks, none of the necessary legislation had actually been finalized.

March 15, 1997 - Ignoring criticism from the United States and partners in Bosnia, Serb lawmakers on Saturday endorsed an agreement on closer military and economic ties with Yugoslavia.

Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic urged its rejection, saying the pact was against the Serb constitution and the Dayton peace plan.

The agreement has drawn fierce criticism from the United States as well as Bosnian Muslims and Croats, who fear it may lead to the merger of Bosnian Serbs with Serbia proper.

An explosive device badly damaged a mosque in the village of Stipanici, 8 km from Tomislavgrad.

March 16, 1997 - The massive international effort to bring peace to Bosnia has ground to a halt, without a much tougher role for NATO and much more pressure on Muslims, Croats and Serbs, says the Associated Press. German envoy Christian Schwarz-Schilling: "Perhaps they don't really want Dayton to be implemented". Many joint institutions have yet to be created; those that exist barely function.

In the past month, relations between Muslims and Croats, who are supposed to run half of Bosnia together, have sunk to perhaps the lowest point since Dayton was signed.

Bosnian Serbs could get more aid if they complied with the Dayton agreement, but their leaders show little interest.

March 20, 1997 - The 4th session of the Federation Government in Sarajevo was more than successful since 22 out of 23 items were solved.

March 21, 1997 - The decision of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on the agreement with Republika Srpska violates the Peace Agreement as well as the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina. By disregarding this, the regime in Belgrade has demonstrated that it is not fully committed to the Peace Agreement for Bosnia.

March 23, 1997 - The first group of BiH refugees has been expelled from Munich, Germany. While BiH officials protest against such practice, information from Germany tells that the procedure for compulsory return will soon become final and not experimental. Germany absorbed more than 315,000 Bosnian refugees.

March 24, 1997 - The High Representative Mr. Bildt has characterized the outcome of the summary proceedings last week as "a complete mockery".

March 25, 1997 - BiH Presidency President, Alija Izetbegovic warned of the possibility of the outbreak of a new war. The eruption of a new conflict will be possible to avoid if emergency measures are taken to accelerate the implementation of the civilian aspects of the Dayton Accord. "If this does not happen, the military aspect of the agreement, which has been successful thus far, will also collapse."

US president Clinton agreed with Izetbegovic that war criminals must be brought to trial. Apparently, US participation in special units operating apart from NATO troops to hunt down war criminals has still not been ruled out.

NATO Secretary General Javier Solana and NATO Commander George Joulwan confirmed in Sarajevo that there would be no premature pull-out of NATO troops from Bosnia. Solana specified the three crucial objectives of the SFOR mission before the end of its mandate return of refugees to be done differently from the current practice, reformation of police forces and armament control Joulwan has stressed that SFOR has a limited mandate expiring in June 1998.

March 26, 1997 - Milo Djukanovic, Montenegro's prime minister, resigned as vice-chairman of the governing party. There are more and more signs that Montenegro, after being critical about Serbia, will be loyal again to Milosevic. Djukanovic has had a critical attitude towards Serbian president Milosevic, especially during the street protests. Belgrade refuses to reform politically and economically, said Djukanovic.

April 6, 1997 - Demining operations are still continued. Today, 3 teenagers were killed by an anti-tank mine.

April 7, 1997 - The Washington Post stated that nothing has been changed by the DPA and its implementation, except that the war was stopped. The Muslims are seriously preparing themselves for a new military conflict because of their loss. WP also reported that the Muslim leader Alija Izetbegovic did not hide his intentions during his latest visit to the USA, when he threatened the West with establishment of the Islamic state that would be supported economically, military and politically by Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia.

April 10, 1997 - The Office of the High Representative opens Brcko Office.

April 12, 1997 - Less than 24 hrs before the visit of the Pope, a bomb was discovered in Sarajevo. It consisted of 150 kg of explosives made of 23 anti-tank mines. Another explosive device was found on the road to Kisliac.

April 13, 1997 - In his first ever visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina Pope John Paul II visited Sarajevo on 12-13 April.

April 14, 1997 - President Boris Yeltsin extended the mandate of Russian SFOR troops in Bosnia until July 31, 1998. Russia has about 1,400 troops in Bosnia. The forces will continue to be commanded by Col. Gen. Leontiy Shevtsov.

April 15, 1997 - The Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina met in Sarajevo after a meeting with Mr. Kornblum. Agreement has been reached on the issue of a single central bank and a single currency.

UN spokesman Alex Ivanko said it was "extremely worrying" that Bosnian police had failed to find explosives planted on the motorcade route of Pope John Paul II until they received a tip from a worker.

April 17, 1997 - The US Republicans are in favor of return of US troops before the end of this year, while the Defence Secretary Cohen insisted that they stay until the end of their mandate next year even if another war broke out.

Because the trial of the "Zvornik Seven" was turning into a farce, the Federation lawyers abandoned the Zvornik courthouse today. It is up to the international community to show to the RS that this does not mean that it is a state of its own. (See June 4, 1997.)

April 18, 1997 - The 1st VRS corps fielded a de-mining team for the first time since November 1996, which produced effective results.

April 20, 1997 - A week after the Croat municipal elections, it is certain that Croat parties will be dominant in the structures of authority in the Srem-Baranja region since they have won in 18 out of 29 municipalities. The elections in Croatia were simply dirty, Neues Deutschland reported, noticing that election scams against the Serbs were allowed in general terms.

The German Christian Democratic Union, the leading German party, stated that SFOR's mandate in BiH should be extended beyond next year. In particular, because the civilian implementation of the DPA could not progress further if the mandate was not to be extended, he maintained. Germany would welcome an extension of mandate because it has already invested considerable funds in BiH.

April 21, 1997 - International organizations in Banja Luka (RS) reported that as of 21 April, none of the 25 reinstatements of minority homeowners scheduled to begin this month had been carried out due to the local police's failure to show up at the properties to enforce court orders for the reinstatements.

Lawyers of the three Muslims facing trial before the Tribunal in The Hague, filed a protest against the reports of Serbian newspapers that prejudge the verdict of the Tribunal. Although the trial is going on for seven weeks now, it is being widely ignored by the domestic press, whereas the Tadic trial had been making the headline news almost every night, and Tadic had been called a sadistic murder, all until it was proven that the key witness for his case had given a false testimony.

A delegation of the International Organization for Civilian Air-Transport informed President of the BiH Presidency Alija Izetbegovic that starting from 24 April overflights at a height above 10.000 meter within the BiH air space will commence. Future steps for full participation of BiH in the international air traffic were discussed.

Brcko is inside the RS, but the Federation registered another Brcko municipality within its own borders. That was the reason why a part of the international aid meant for the economic revitalization of RS Brcko arrived at the wrong address.

April 24, 1997 - Three Serbs have been sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment each for the alleged murder of four civilians, while four others have been sentenced for the illegal possession of arms. Deputy HR Michael Steiner told press that the entire trial was a farce and that the judge only needed 34 minutes to prove the guilt of the accused. He further stressed that the court proceedings in this case seriously violated the Dayton Peace Agreement.

April 25, 1997 - The four Bosniaks who were released after yesterday's court trial in Zvornik arrived in Tuzla today. The media covered extensively statements of the four Bosniaks who gave their account of events. All of them confirmed that the Serb police had used torture to extort a confession from them.

The international community has condemned the court proceedings of the Municipal Court in Zvornik. Deputy HR Michael Steiener warned RS PM Klickovic that international aid to the RS would be conditioned with respect of human rights.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, in a speech underlined that more than US$ 300 million were missing to fund projects for the return of 200,000 people.

Kadic told the press today that the Serb entity remained "hermetically closed" and conditioned its consent on return of refugees with financial aid for regions in question. This was not accepted by the international community.

April 26, 1997 - Croatia extradited its first war crimes suspect to the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague, days after the West tightened pressure on the country to comply with the court. Zlatko Aleksovski is wanted in connection with a massacre in the Moslem village of Ahmici.

AFP reports German SFOR troops fired two warning shots after being threatened by gunmen in Sarajevo. According to SFOR the shooting came after an SFOR military police unit responded to a call from Bosnian police who said gunmen were in the area of a Jewish cemetery. When the unit arrived at the scene at least one gunman pointed a weapon at the SFOR soldiers who fired two warning shots in the air.

April 28, 1997 - The killing of a 69 year old Serb in Koprivna (near Sanski Most) has caused agitation among citizens requesting that the murderers be identified. The Municipal council issued a statement to the effect that the case was not of political nature and that the suspected murderers were persons with criminal background.

This was one of many murders that happened in the ZOS, the majority of which were committed by Muslim police or army.

The process of return of refugees to the Una- Sana canton is well behind schedule, especially in the segment related to repair and construction of housing units. On average, 30 families arrive in Sanski Most every day, while a large wave of returnees is yet expected.

April 29, 1997 - Associated Press reports that Muslims are still considering to drop out of the DPA in the aim of creating their own state.

May 6, 1997 - At a meeting of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina Mr. Carl Bildt has raised the question as to how far it is still necessary to concentrate NATO troops in Germany rather than in South eastern Europe. "It is not the Cold war in Europe but the half-peace in Bosnia that should worry us," said Bildt.

About 97% of the 420 voter registration centers across Bosnia-Herzegovina for the municipal elections are open.

May 7, 1997 - High Rrepresentative Carl Bildt said that he is in favor of extending NATO's mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina in order to preserve the peace. SFOR presence would be needful even after July 1998. UNHCR is also in favor of extending NATO's mandate, primarily because of difficulties regarding the process of refugee return. The US Republicans strong wing at the US Congress is preparing a debate on withdrawal of US troops from BiH by September 30, 1997. US president Clinton probably sticks with the original date of July 1998. European allies have said repeatedly they would pull out of Bosnia if U.S. troops leave.

May 8, 1997 - Former BiH Army Colonel, Mijacevic (currently SDP member) was arrested by the RS police, which is a violation of the Rules of the Road from Rome, which ought to be respected by all parties that signed the DPA. Mijacevic is accused of giving the order for shelling of a house in Modrica.

May 12, 1997 - The Croatian government set June 15 yesterday as the date for a presidential election in which President Franjo Tudjman will run for a second five-year term.

In a letter to Tudjman, President Clinton stated that if conditions were met, the United States would support Croatia's integration into Western institutions, including eventual membership in NATO's Partnership for Peace military cooperation program.

May 14, 1997 - Croatia is seizing tens of thousands of homes that had belonged to ethnic Serbs and is moving ethnic Croats into the properties. Seizing the homes and relocating refugees appears to thwart hope that more than 350,000 Serbs would be able to return home — a premise of the Bosnia peace accords developed in November 1995.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the mission in Macedonia — which expires May 31, 1997 — should be extended for another six months, until November 30 1997. Reduction with 750 personnel by April was suspended at the Macedoinian government's request because of the crisis in neighboring Albania.

May 15, 1997 - SDA, Party for BiH, LBO and GDS signed an official document on the establishment of a coalition "For the Unified and Democratic BiH". The newly established Coalition registered at the OSCE for the upcoming elections.

May 16, 1997 - The Bosnian Serbs have gotten rid of only a small fraction of the weapons they agreed to dispose of under the Dayton Peace Agreement, but now appear willingly to comply. Until now, they have only gotten rid of 100 of 1000 tanks.

US troops in the Republika Srpksa, Bosnia Herzegovina and Croatia will remain there until 2003, informed the media quoting foreign press.

May 18, 1997 - According to The Observer Malcolm Rifkind, former British Foreign Office Secretary, using his veto right, has prevented the opening of a dossier which intelligence officers keep on Slobodan Milosevic. He disabled the opening of an investigation against the Serbian President. Rifkind had also at the time, refused to give orders to the British soldiers serving with UNPROFOR in Bosnia Herzegovina, to arrest the B-H Serb leaders Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic both indicted for committing war crimes in B-H. The Observer also stated that Milosevic's regime has secretly given US$ 160,000 to the persons close to the British Conservative Party.

May 21, 1997 - The meeting between FBiH and RS PMs Bicakcic and Klickovic did not result in an agreement on trade and commerce between the two entities.

May 22, 1997 - A meeting between the UN and Republika Srpska President Plavsic did not produce progress on a number of outstanding issues, including a new checkpoint policy and the question of police reform.

May 23, 1997 - Two German SFOR soldiers were killed when a 20 mm gun was fired accidentally during inspection. With the latest deaths, 68 NATO-led peacekeepers have died in Bosnia since the force was deployed at the end of 1995.

The US is in favor of extending SFOR's task with non-military tasks, such as establishment of telecommunications between Serb, Croat and Muslim communities and re-establishment of civil aviation.

The US announced a new strategy towards BiH, whereby American financial aid would be allotted selectively depending on a degree of cooperation of the BiH sides. Another priority is bringing war criminals to justice.

May 26, 1997 - 39 Croatian Serbs were convicted of committing war crimes, including torturing and killing civilians, during 1991 fighting in Croatia. Thirteen of the Serbs were sentenced to 20 years in jail; the other 26 received prison terms ranging from five to 15 years.

As of this date joint patrols with SFOR were conducted by IPTF specifically to target illegal checkpoints. There was more or less general compliance on the ground — only a handful of illegal checkpoints was found.

A new mass grave has been discovered in the region of the Una-Sana Canton on the mountain Hrga rising over Bihac. 171 bodies of Bosniaks and Croats were found in an 80 meter deep cave. It is being presumed that 300 civilian victims brutally killed by Serb extremists, were thrown here.

May 29, 1997 - The Presidency adopted the Draft Laws on the Central Bank, the Joint Currency, Budget and Customs Policy thanks to the US Special Envoy for implementation of the DPA Gelbard, as well as HR Bildt and his Deputy Steiner.

US president Clinton said the DPA implementation is not implemented as fast as planned. "I would like to stop talking about the date of our departure."

May 30, 1997 - The Steering Board members appointed HR Bildt's successor, Spanish diplomat Carlos Westendorp.

BiH Federation Ministry of Refugees completed a document on return of ethnic minorities [Serbs in particular] to the Federation. This is a first stage of implementation of the program for return of refugees as agreed in Geneva on April 23. The Ministry expects 55,217 Serbs to return during the first phase.

June 2, 1997 - The Dutch Foreign Minister is in favor of keeping the NATO troops in the Balkans. He said that a certain military vacuum could be created and a new war started by the Muslims if NATO simply pulls out.

June 3, 1997 - Four members of an HVO mine lifting team were slightly injured in a mine accident, 3 km north east of Suica in MND south west.

June 4, 1997 - The three men from Srebrenica from the famous Zvornik Seven group (see April 17, 1997) were released from the hospital in Tuzla after they were medically treated because of severe tortures they had survived in Zvornik and Bijeljina prisons.

June 6, 1997 - UN war crimes investigators found 57 bodies in a mass grave in the last Serb-held area in eastern Croatia. It is believed that the victims are Croat civilians killed in October 1991 during the Serbo-Croat war that erupted after minority Serbs rebelled against Croatia's independence from Yugoslavia. Last year, UN investigators recovered 200 bodies from a nearby grave in Ovcara. Three Yugoslav army officers are charged by the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, for the Ovcara slaughter.

June 8, 1997 - The deputy commander of SFOR's Malaysian army contingent was killed and another Malaysian officer injured in a vehicle accident near Glamoc in MND South West.

June 10, 1997 - De-mining operations are still very important, especially during the spring months with refugees returning and the level of accidents continuing to rise. During the winter months, approximately 50 accidents a month were reported. This spring, the number has went up to as high as 90 accidents per month. The rate of de-mining remains low.

June 11, 1997 - Two HVO mine lifters were killed and one was injured after accidentally detonating a mine in a mine field near Tolisa in MND North.

June 15, 1997 - Two journalists were blocked by two police cars from the Novo Sarajevo police station. The police officers harassed the journalists; one of them was beaten up, the other was threatened that he and his family would be killed if he reported the incident to anybody.

June 16, 1997 - Serbs have failed to pay their share of a US$8 million payment to help erase a US$ 620 million debt owed to World Bank by the old Yugoslav federation before its break-up. Future reconstruction projects may be jeopardized since they will be approved only if Bosnia pays their debt.

June 17, 1997 - The US reassured the president of Macedonia of support for protecting the former Yugoslav republic's borders. The concern stems partly from instability in Macedonia's neighbor, Albania.

The European Union warned leaders of former Yugoslavia that relations with the EU will hinge on their adherence to human rights agreements. The EU cited the failure to build a unified Bosnia, which is still split in two a year and a half after the Dayton peace accords.

June 24, 1997 - The debate over the US troop deployment intensified as the House of Representatives voted to terminate funding for the mission when its current mandate expires on June 30, 1998. While agreeing that the mission should end on schedule, Administration officials refuse to commit to a firm date for an end to US participation.

June 25, 1997 - The US wants to delay a US$30 million World Bank loan to Croatia because of dissatisfaction over that country's failure to bring war criminals to justice and to help refugees return.

An article of the Associated Press stresses the fact that an "army" of 40,000 refugees are flocking to battered, overcrowded housing on the edge of Serb-held territory here, hoping to return to homes they were forced to flee long ago. Many are less than an hour's drive from homes they have yearned to reoccupy during years of exile. "Their frustrations could explode into violence."

38 Families have sought and won court-ordered decisions from the Banja Luka courts, ordering their reinstatement to their respective legally-owned homes that were taken over by Serb families during 1993-95. However, none of the successful applicants have returned to their homes.

June 27, 1997 - Croatian Serb ex-mayor of Vulovar Slavko Dokmanovic was arrested, marking a breakthrough in the effort of the UN to apprehend war-crime suspects. Dokmanovic has been accused of killing 260 civilians in 1991 in eastern Croatia. UN chief prosecutor Louise Arbour said that the secret operation against Dokmanovic, whose 15-month-old indictment by the tribunal was not previously publicized, "obviously reveals the existence of non-public indictments" for the first time. (Associated Press)

July 2, 1997 - The World Bank has indefinitely delayed a proposed $30 million loan to Croatia because of Croatia's unwillingness to encourage the return of refugees and "its failure to put more pressure on the Bosnian Croats to hand over indicted war criminals."

July 3, 1997 - According to SRTV News, SFOR officials received orders to arrest Radovan Karadzic and General Ratko Mladic. Some sources indicate the order for the arrest was issued on 18 June. Three special units from the US and the UK stationed in Tuzla have been tasked to carry out the arrest on July 15. "The Office of the RS President reportedly confirmed that orders of the arrest of Karadzic and Mladic had been received."

July 4, 1997 - Bosnian Serb lawmakers tried Friday to unseat president Biljana Plavsic, who dissolved the parliament because she said it was taking orders from war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic — who forced to step down last year.

The US State Department said that the situation in the RS is rather complicated. They supported Plavsic as the legal and the only co-operative representative of the RS, and supported the decision on increasing the number of SFOR troops in Banja Luka.

July 7, 1997 - Two British SFOR soldiers died in a road accident near Sanski Most in Multinational Division Southwest.

July 9, 1997 - President Clinton reaffirmed NATO's mandate to arrest Bosnian war criminals, but refused to say whether he would bless a paramilitary operation to round up Radovan Karadzic and other rogue countrymen. But he said NATO forces should arrest the suspected criminals only if military commanders feel "the risks are appropriate," and he refused to discuss paramilitary operations.

July 10, 1997 - In Bosnia-Herzegovina SFOR arrested one person indicted for war crimes and killed another one in a fire fight. The two were indicted by the ICTY for complicity in genocide in the Prijedor area in 1992.

Operation Tango was conducted on the orders of NATO's supreme commander General Joulwan and NATO Secretary-General Solana. British SAS soldiers approached the head of the hospital of Prijedor Milan Kovacevic with an excuse and arrested him without problems. The arrest of Simo Drljaca — former head of police and held responsible for ethnical cleansing in the area of Prijedor during April-December 1992 — went wrong when he fired at the SFOR troops with a pistol. SFOR returned fire and killed Drljaca. One soldier was hit in the leg.

RS president Plavsic rejected the SFOR action because it might deteriorate the current situation in Republika Srpska. Russian authorities rejected the action and may reconsider their contribution to SFOR. President Clinton said the raids were "the appropriate thing to do." American troops did not directly participate in the arrests.

SFOR delivered a stark warning to Bosnia's war criminals: NATO no longer will turn a blind eye to their continued presence and power. But bigger catches may be harder for NATO to come by. Karadzic recently boosted security in his headquarters in Pale, east of Sarajevo. Townspeople say he sleeps in different houses to avoid nighttime raids and has surrounded his own house with mine fields. He also controls the Bosnian police and wields considerable influence with the army.

During the funeral of Drljaca on the July 14, 1997, photographs of former president Radovan Karadzic were carried.

July 11, 1997 - The decision of Plavsic to dissolve the Assembly of the Republika Srpska is considered to be in conformity with the RS constitution. Consequently it can neither meet nor produce any valid acts. She has decided to issue an order for dissolution of the RS Assembly and stated that new elections for the parliament will be called on 1 September 1997. She stated it is the only way to resolve the crisis.

NATO's Suppreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) General George Joulwan was succeeded by General Wesley K. Clark.

Worried about a widening mission in Bosnia, the US Senate approved a resolution insisting the 8,000 US troops must withdraw by June 1998. However, US involvement is far from over. The resolution says a "follow-on force" to SFOR may be needed. The US "may decide to appropriately provide support, including command and control, intelligence, logistics, and, if necessary, a ready reserve force in the region."

July 12, 1997 - In Copenhagen president Clinton held open the possibility to continue the presence of US troops in Bosnia after the current mandate for SFOR has expired on June 30, 1998. "I believe the present operation will have run its course by then, and we'll have to discuss what, if any, involvement the United States should have there." Congress has made it clear that it expects any long-term presence in Bosnia to be a European responsibility.

Four US soldiers were hurt in an accident near Glamoc — about 90 miles southwest of Tuzla — when their vehicle's brakes failed and ran off the road.

July 13, 1997 - In Zvornik, eastern Bosnia — in front of the hotel where the offices of OSCE, IPTF and UN are situated — an explosive device went off, destroying a jeep of the OSCE and causing collateral damage to cars and windows. This action of terror, together with death threats to SFOR soldiers, is assumed to be connected to the increased international pressure to try Bosnian-Serb war criminals.

The office of the High Representative stressed that since the Sintra meeting, the OHR has "extraordinary powers to deal with all breaches of media behavior. Every time the media is used outrageously, we will act". This with reference to the remarks of an RS Administration spokesman who said the new international attitude towards war crimes indicted persons is a conspiracy to destabilize the RS. OHR responded to that with the remark that the RS is well protected by the Dayton agreement in case of cooperation.

SFOR commander for Multinational Division Southeast Major General Yves Le Chatelier was succeeded by Major General Christian Delanghe at Camp Ortijes in Mostar.

July 15, 1997 - Serbian president Milosevic has been elected as president of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) by the federal parliament. Since 1990 he has been elected as president of Serbia twice and the Serbian constitution prevents a third time. Within two months elections will be held for a new president of Serbia.

A bomb detonated near the home of an OSCE coworker in Banja Luka. It was the second retaliation aimed against the OSCE after the arrest of a war crimes indicted Serb by SFOR a few days ago.

US President Clinton warned Bosnian Serbs that "it would be a grave mistake" to seek revenge for the Western arrests of war crimes suspects. A potent response to attacks on US-led alliance troops was promised. "They [Serbs — STP] have clearly not complied with that provision of the Dayton agreement," he said at the opening of a meeting with Democratic and Republican congressional leaders. "They've made no effort to help us get any of those people."

Nearly 2,200 UN peacekeepers left the last Serb-held enclave in Croatia, but others remained to make sure Croatia did not trample the rights of its minority Serbs. Infantry battalions from Jordan and Pakistan and an Argentine reconnaissance company went home, leaving 2,800 mainly Belgian troops in eastern Slavonia.

The UN is supervising the peaceful return of Croatian rule to the area held by Serbs since Croatia's 1991 war. It has favored a gradual withdrawal of UN troops, fearing that a quick transfer of authority could lead to a mass exodus of Serbs.

July 16, 1997 - A bomb exploded near the office of international observers in Prijedor and caused minor damage. More retaliation actions are expected. President Clinton warned the Bosnian Serbs to omit retaliation for the arrest of war crimes indicted persons.

A donor conference will be held on July 23/24 in Brussels concerning Bosnia, on the condition that there will be agreement between the International Monetary Fund and Bosnia regarding a new loan.

July 17, 1997 - The US wants to avoid confrontation over war crimes suspects and set up a special fund to pay authorities in former Yugoslavia to help catch indicted war criminals. NATO approved the operation because Serb, Croat and Muslim factions have for the most part refused to turn over war crimes suspects as required under the 1995 Dayton accords that ended 3-1/2 years of fighting.

July 18, 1997 - Thousands of posters of Radovan Karadzic appeared across Serb-held Bosnia as a clear warning to NATO not to grab the indicted war crimes suspect. "Don't touch him," warned some posters, "He means peace," or "He is freedom". Serbs in support of Plavsic burned 1,000 copies of the pro-Karadzic daily Glas Srpski outside her Banja Luka offices.

Bosnian Serb media reported that in a "spontaneous reaction" to foreign pressure, people were refusing to serve foreigners in restaurants or shops. Some reportedly were acting on instructions from local officials.

The Bosnian Serbs continue to intimidate foreigners. In Bosanska Gradiska an explosive device went off damaging the house of a UN peace monitor.

July 19, 1997 - An explosive device thrown from a passing car blew up outside the Bosnian home of a US soldier, injuring him slightly. Three other explosions targeting foreigners also shook the area.

There have been at least 8 explosions targeting property or vehicles used by foreign troops or officials in Serb-held territory this week, following NATO raids July 10, 1997. In addition, an American soldier was stabbed with a sickle and a hand grenade exploded in the central Serb-dominated town of Mrkonjic Grad, damaging two vehicles in a NATO peace force compound.

Eleven Italian and French armored SFOR carriers, backed by a helicopter, approached Karadzic's home in a show of force. Some vehicles drove up to 50 yards of the house. It is unknown whether Karadzic was at home.

At the urging of a US envoy, Croatia's president Franjo Tudjman promised to make Bosnian Croats stick to terms of Bosnia's peace accord, including by surrendering war crimes suspects for trial. He also said to allow Serb refugees to return to their homes. However, Tudjman has often promised cooperation on controversial issues in the past, then ignored or only partially fulfilled his pledges.

Croatia will assume authority over the Serb-held region "eastern Slavonia" on January 15, when a UN mandate to run it expires.

July 20, 1997 - Two French SFOR soldiers were injured when their vehicle ran over a land mine near Mostar. One was seriously injured and the other suffered only minor injuries.

The Bosnian Serb president Plavsic has been ousted from her political party by supporters of wartime leader Karadzic. Yugoslav media reported that she reacted defiantly at rally of more than 5,000 of her supporters in Doboj, 60 miles north of Sarajevo. The board accused her of causing a legal crisis by trying to fire the interior minister, dissolve parliament, call new elections, and making it easier for NATO to hunt war crimes suspects. Plavsic condemned the NATO raids but she seems more likely to cooperate with the international community and with Muslims and Croats in the other half of Bosnia.

July 21, 1997 - In Mostar, Muslimsa and Craots begun joint police patrols after hard negotiations with US and international officials.

A hand grenade exploded near the OHR office in Brcko. No one was hurt and there was no collateral damage to any OHR property.

The formation of the Herzegovina neretva cantonal police finally attained official status, involving over 400 police officers, both Croats and Bosniacs.

July 22, 1997 - A Canadian member of the NATO-led peace force shot himself to death. He was the 73rd peacekeeper to die in Bosnia since the start of the mission in 1995.

July 23, 1997 - Hans van den Broek, European Union Foreign Affairs Commissioner, said humanitarian assistance to Bosnian Serbs would be continued, but as long as indicted war crimes suspects such as Karadzic remain at large, "It would be irresponsible to continue spending public funds for reconstruction purposes." Serbs have gotten only a trickle of the aid helping Bosnia rebuild from the 1992-1995 war because they haven't allowed refugees to return home, or obeyed other parts of the Dayton peace agreement.

Milosevic stepped down as president of the republic of Serbia and has been sworn in as head of the Yugoslav federation (Serbia and Montenegro). More than 1,000 demonstrators launched threw of shoes at Milosevic's limousine — representing the more than 200,000 young people who have fled Milosevic's regime and the wars in Croatia and Bosnia.

Start of the donor conference in Brussels.

Two ABiH soldiers died when they set off a mine while taking a break during mine lifting operations southwest of Maglaj. Another ABiH soldier suffered serious injuries during demining activities near Gorazde.

Two drunken civilians threw a grenade at Dutch soldiers — wounding one. Fire was returned quickly and both individuals were arrested later.

Two anti-tank rockets were fired at an IPTF vehicle in Bratunac.

July 25, 1997 - A firebomb was thrown at a vehicle with US Soldiers. The vehicle belonged to soldiers who were staying in the same house where an intruder stabbed a US soldier with a sickle on July 19, 1997, wounding him.

The donors' conference this week in Brussels, stipulated that the Bosnian Serbs would receive aid only if they complied with the Dayton peace accord.

July 26, 1997 - NATO Commander General William Crouch met the Serb member of Bosnia's three-man presidency Momcilo Krajisnik in Pale. Crouch said he expects Krajisnik to "ensure the attacks stop immediately". "Krajisnik has assured me that he will do so, and I take him at his word. Violence must stop."

July 30, 1997 - A top Bosnian Serb official invited UN war crime investigators to interview Radovan Karadzic. The offer reflected Serb unease about the West's increased determination to arrest war crimes suspects. The tribunal, thought to already have strong evidence against Karadzic, denied the offer.

COMSFOR General William W. Crouch has been succeeded by General Eric Shinseki.

August 2, 1997 - In Vogosca, UNHCR members and 14 displaced Serbs visiting from Visegrad were holed up by an angry crowd throwing stones.

August 3, 1997 - Croats have forced hundreds of Muslims from their homes in the region around Jajce. Until today, the refugee re-settlement program in Jajce had been one of the region's few success stories. Muslim refugees had been venturing back to their homes for about three weeks when Croats suddenly turned on them, forcing out about 500 and setting fire to several homes. An OSCE official referred to this event as "ethnic re-cleansing".

Return of refugees is an important aspect of the peace agreement but only about 50,000 out of more than 1 million people displaced during the war have managed to return to their homes.

August 5, 1997 - The German government blocked $540,000 for a Croat-controlled Bosnian town today after mobs drove out hundreds of Muslim war refugees who had returned to their homes.

August 6, 1997 - Karadzic says he is ready to stand trial — but only on Bosnian Serb soil. "I propose that The Hague Tribunal hands over my case and the case of other accused Serbs from Bosnia-Herzegovina to our national justice." Until now, 77 suspects, most of them Bosnian Serbs, have been indicted but only 10 are in custody.

August 7, 1997 - Richard Holbrooke visited the members of the three-man presidency. It was the first time in three weeks that the Serb member of the presidency, Momcilo Krajisnik, had attended such a gathering. It is unclear what Holbrooke can do, but the Clinton administration is keen to get the peace process moving so the NATO-led peace force can pull out next year.

August 8, 1997 - On his mission in order to get the Balkan nations on one line Richard Holbrooke finds the former enemies still balking at full cooperation:

Agreed:

  • Ambassadors: Muslims, Serbs and Croats agree to share 33 ambassadors posts around the world. Serbs appoint the ambassador
    to Washington, Muslims the ambassador to the United Nations, and Croats the ambassador to Tokyo.
  • Borders: Croatia and Bosnia agree to establish a border crossing by Aug. 31. However, borders within Bosnia remain
    problematic, with the crossing from the Muslim-Croat federation to
    the Serb republic especially dangerous.
  • Communications: Officials agree to establish three separate telephone dialing codes for Bosnia.

Not agreed:

  • Transport: Airport openings have been delayed by Serb demands for a separate aviation authority and local ownership of the Banja Luka airport.
  • Flag: The three sides have not agreed on a flag. Most Muslims prefer a new Bosnian flag, many Croats prefer the Croatian flag, and Serbs the Yugoslav flag.
  • Currency: No agreement has been reached on a common currency.
  • Citizenship: Agreement has been held up because Serbs want both the Muslim-Croat federation and the Serb republic to be able to confer citizenship. That would allow Serbs to grant citizenship to tens of thousands of ethnic Serb refugees from neighboring Croatia.

August 10, 1997 - In a meeting with COMSFOR Shinseki, Momcilo Krajisnik, the Serb member of Bosnia's tripartite presidency, said he was willing to fully cooperate in compliance with the DPA and that the Bosnian Serb Interior Ministry had appointed a liaison officer to work with the peace force and UN police. The increased interest for indicted war criminals would create "confusion, fear, and uneasiness."

War crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic will stop commenting on Bosnian affairs and disappear from public life as he promised to a year ago, his ally promised. He is widely believed to still control Bosnian Serb politics. Holbrooke said Karadzic still must face the international war crimes tribunal. Also, soldiers of the NATO-led peace force visited a base of special police who are thought to be loyal to Karadzic.

It is widely feared that more fighting is likely when 30,000 NATO-led troops leave next year if war crimes suspects like Karadzic remain free and able to pull the strings of power. US officials attempted to boost president Plavsic, who has little support in the government, army or police, by pledging $9 million in aid 2 days ago to the western area of Bosnia that she controls.

August 11, 1997 - In an overweening broadcast for SRT, it was reported: "(...) Then the story of mass graves: all TV and media were on the field, in the vicinity of Srebrenica, digging around, but haven't found anything. However, they reported that mass graves do exist but their location is still unknown."

August 15, 1997 - The Bosnian Serb Constitutional Court ruled against Plavsic who dissolved the parliament in late July.

Two Muslim woodcutters were shot and killed today in an ambush near the former front line with Serbs, 50 miles northeast of Sarajevo near Laze.

August 17, 1997 - In Banja Luka, Plavsic's headquarters in northwest Bosnia police loyal to her marched into the town's main police station and seized transcripts of her telephone calls, apparently bugged by opponents. They were surrounded by about 150 policemen armed with pistols. SFOR troops surrounded both of them with a force that included armored vehicles and ended the stand-off by negotiations.

By doing so, SFOR may have prevented a coup against Plavsic. The police is under control of Interior Minister Dragan Kijac, a Karadzic supporter.

August 18, 1997 - The London Sunday Times reported that a combined US, British and French commando force has been deployed in Bosnia to capture Karadzic and that the group carried out a night exercise on the 13th in mountains north of Pale in what was widely seen as a dress rehearsal for his capture. ABC also reported that teams of British, US and French commandos are being trained in Europe. However, this is denied by the Pentagon.

August 19, 1997 - SFOR dismantled checkpoints set up by police loyal to Karadzic.

August 20, 1997 - About 350 British and Czech soldiers, 50 armored vehicles and helicopters took over Banja Luka police headquarters, the police academy, a special police barracks and three district police stations. They seized "truck loads of weapons" from police loyal to Karadzic. Earlier, well-equipped pro-Plavsic police units had moved to the police station as a result of the negative response from the Bosnian Constitutional Court ruling against Plavsic. Soon more than 100 pro-Karadzic police quickly arrived. Plavsic wanted to call for elections in an attempt to replace to pro-Karadzic Bosnian-Serb assembly. In June she publicly accused Karadzic and his loyalists of corruption and enriching themselves through smuggling.

The Washington Post reported: "With NATO's protection, it seems unlikely pro-Karadzic forces will be able to dislodge Plavsic. However, she is not strong enough on her own to make a move against Karadzic."

August 21, 1997 - NATO has demanded the units of heavily armed special police that protect Karadzic be dissolved by the end of the month. The 3,000 officers also terrorize residents and prevent refugees from returning home.

UN security forces found booby-trapped pens and plastic explosives, rocket launchers, ammunition, and grenades among the arms seized from Bosnian Serb police allied with wartime leader Karadzic.

August 22, 1997 - Employees of the Banja Luka studio of Bosnian Serb television called a strike after editors in Pale refused to allow them to run their own news program without censorship. The Banja Luka team called the Pale TV program "primitive propaganda" that it could no longer condone.

August 24, 1997 - Plavsic supporters cut the connections with television studios in Pale, the part of Karadzic.

August 25, 1997 - From Banja Luka pro-Plavsic television programs were broadcasted. Until yesterday all broadcasts were provided by Pale. From Pale images were broadcasted in which a comparison was made between SFOR troops and Nazi troops during WWII. SFOR was referred to as SS-FOR, much to the distress of NATO. SFOR officials said they had various options when these broadcasts continue, ranging from blowing up TV and radio transmitters to removing broadcasting equipment or electrical jamming.

The police, media and the military have broken openly into hostile camps loyal to the dueling political leaders Karadzic and Plavsic. Though NATO troops had to protect Plavsic from pro-Karadzic police last week, she said: "Let's say to the international community, 'Leave us to solve this problem; we can solve this problem without any interference.'"

US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright urged Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to support the Dayton peace accords in Bosnia and thus break with Radovan Karadzic. A spokesman said that "if Mr. Milosevic wants to ever see his country come out of diplomatic isolation, she made clear to him it's going to require him coming out in favor of Dayton much more strongly, more comprehensively and more effectively." And to support Plavsic.

August 27, 1997 - SFOR soldiers fired warning shots to ward off police loyal to Karadzic, heightening tensions during a day of Serb rivalry for control of a TV tower.

August 28, 1997 - SFOR consists of 30,000 troops, of which 8,000 from the US. About 3,000 more troops are expected to arrive to help keep the peace during the municipal elections of September 13-14.

August 29, 1997 - In Brcko, mobs of Bosnian Serbs hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails at US troops because of dissatisfaction with international support for Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic. Faced with hundreds of angry Serbs, unarmed UN police monitors sought shelter at a nearby US military base. Several were seen fleeing town, wearing their blue helmets and flak jackets and driving white pickup trucks with shattered windshields.

Commanders of NATO's 35,000-strong peace keeping force brought in reinforcements to control the situation. Dozens of Bradley vehicles and Humvees with mounted machine guns were deployed. Observation helicopters stuttered overhead, and checkpoints controlled roads in and out to prevent weapons from being brought in. Two US soldiers and two Bosnian Serbs suffered slight injuries.

There was also violence in Bijeljina and Doboj aimed against SFOR.

August 30, 1997 - A bomb hidden under a mobile home killed one Bosnian and seriously wounded two others in Banja Luka. Security had been strengthened, with a NATO APC guarding entrances to the main police station and another belonging to police loyal to Plavsic posted in front of her offices in central square.

NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana said in a statement: that the peace keeping force in Bosnia "will not hesitate to take the necessary measures, including the use of force, against media networks or programs inciting attacks." Solana also said NATO troops in Bosnia "must remain for longer than was foreseen because the peace is still fragile."

US envoy Robert Gelbard said that consequences for Bosnian-Serb hardliners will be "the most serious imaginable" if they continue resisting the Dayton peace accords and inciting violence.

September 3, 1997 - The powerful Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic urged Bosnian Serb leaders in Belgrade to participate in the upcoming local elections, which they have threatened to boycott.

Radovan Karadzic asked UN lawyers to come to Bosnia for an investigation into his suspected war crimes before deciding whether to stand trial on the charges. Earlier, the UN war crimes tribunal rejected a proposal by Karadzic to stand trial in Bosnia instead of The Hague. Since he has said to reject a trial after being implicated, it is commonly not expected that the offer will be approved.

NATO commander Europe Gen Wesley K. Clark warned Bosnian Serb instigators of attacks on allied troops to back off or face retaliation. "We will use all means necessary — including lethal means — to protect our forces and to continue our mission." He also said that violence will be used when SFOR is being attacked by large numbers of civilians.

September 4, 1997 - US troops withdrew from a key bridge, trying to ease the tensions that arose when they waded into a Bosnian Serb political dispute a week ago. The bridge has been destroyed when the war started in 1992 and has recently been opened by US Secretary of State Albright. International envoys try to calm the situation before the elections of September 13-14.

The US Air Force has sent 6 more F-16s to Italy to maintain an air watch over Bosnia during the elections, increasing the number of US aircraft on Aviano to 42.

September 5, 1997 - US envoy Robert Gelbart called upon European leaders to take a much tougher stand against Milosevic. The US exercises economical restraints against Yugoslavia and Yugoslav airliners are not allowed to land anywhere in the US. After a meeting Milosevic called upon Bosnian Serb leaders not to boycott the upcoming elections and to cooperate with Western European leaders.

September 9, 1997 - In Banja Luka, Krajisnik and Karadzic supporters were trapped in a hotel, surrounded by an angry crowd of Plavsic supporters. Originally they planned on coming with thousands (some of them armed and most of them paid — Washington Post), but the majority was stopped by SFOR and police blockades en route. NATO troops tried to negotiate and later 62 of the agitators were taken to an SFOR base and checked against a list with war criminals. The US considers this action as an attempt to overthrow Plavsic. It was the second time SFOR intervened to prevent a coup.

September 10, 1997 - In an article of the Washington Post it was said: "A year after national elections (...) voters again appear poised to vote along ethnic lines rather than issues." Threats of Karadzic hardliners to boycott the elections were dropped after threats of sanctions against Yugoslavia and Bosnian Croats were threatened with sanctions.

Originally the election had to be held with last September's national elections but was postponed because of fears of fraud. Serb hardliners demanded guarantees that no arrests will take place during the municipal elections.

September 11, 1997 - By NATO request, 3 US Air National Guard EC-130E aircraft are sent to Brindisi (Italy) to silence anti-NATO broadcasts by rebel Serbs. They will probably be used during the elections, to ensure that the people of Bosnia-Herzegovina have access to balanced information.

About 2.6 million Bosnian citizens are registered for the elections Saturday and Sunday. There are 92 parties, 9 coalitions and 150 "independent candidates". The 3 major ethnic parties are ethnic based. Monitors and voters will be protected by 34,000 SFOR troops, local police and UN police monitors.

September 12, 1997 - After intense diplomatic pressure, Momcilo Krajisnik, the Serb member of Bosnia's joint presidency ended a two-month boycott of its meetings, showing up for a session in Muslim-dominated Sarajevo.

Russia it wanted to be consulted more by NATO on Bosnian peace keeping operations. A foreign ministry spokesman said Russia demands "additional coordination" with NATO. Russia objects the presence of the US EC-130E aircraft, capable of jamming Bosnian Serb broadcasts.

NATO's commander warned that they will use "lethal force" to stop disruptions of Bosnia's weekend elections, considered key to peace in the region. He said: SFOR "is not a police force, it's not trained in riot control." "It has authority and capability to use lethal force," he added. "Should it be threatened, it will use that force, and should it use lethal force, I want to underscore that responsibility for the casualties ... rests with the perpetrators" of violence,

Regarding the mandate of SFOR, Secretary General Solana said on a press meeting in Sarajevo:

As you know, SFOR has a mandate. The mandate goes until June 1998. We will use, all together, the time that is left until that moment, and see therefore, at the end of that process, what decision is appropriate to take.

At this point, the parties should know that the decision of SFOR is to maintain environment security, their presence here, until the middle of the year, 1998. We'll see afterwards. It will depend very much in how evolved the situation becomes. In any case, what I can say is that the international community is not going to abandon Bosnia.

September 13, 1997 - Under international scrutiny, Bosnians started voting today in nationwide elections. International envoys say the foreign-run elections today and tomorrow are key to furthering the US-brokered Dayton peace accord, intended to help restore the country's multiethnic character after the devastating 3 1/2-year war.

Most Bosnians seem likely to vote along diehard nationalist lines, rather than on local issues or for individual politicians. In Republika Srpska, the Serb sub-state, non-Serb candidates stand virtually no chance, and in the Muslim-Croat federation, which covers the other half of Bosnia, mixed local governments also will be an exception because of a lack of ethnic diversity in most areas.

No results are expected until September 20.

September 14, 1997 - According to unofficial OSCE information, 89% of the 2.5 million registered voters cast voted in the communities where they lived before 1991.

A person was killed at the polling station in Odzak but an OSCE spokesman presumes this was not in direct connection with the election. There has been a considerable SFOR presence in the area, but both voting days passed without election-related incidents.

September 16, 1997 - The nationalist party dominated by Karadzic supporters claimed election victories in most Bosnian Serb territory, though official results were still days away.

September 18, 1997 - A car bomb exploded near a police station in the Croat half of Mostar, injuring 50 people and causing severe damage to buildings and cars.

NATO officials said NATO may play a continued role in Bosnia after June 1998. Solana said: "SFOR as such will not be continued, as such," indicating an open mind as to a follow-on force.

A UN helicopter crashed, killing 12 international officials. Among the dead was Gerd Wagner, deputy to Carl Westendorp (Spain). Among the victims were American, German, British, and Polish envoys. The four Ukrainian crew members survived. It was the worst accident involving international envoys in the Balkans since April 3, 1996, when a plane carrying US Commerce Secretary Ron Brown from Tuzla (Bosnia), to Dubrovnik (Croatia), plowed into a mountain in a heavy storm.

September 22, 1997 - Croatia's president Franjo Tudjman said he will oppose any extension of the UN mandate in Croatia's last Serb-held area eastern Slavonia after the UN Security Council criticized Croatia for failing to cooperate in protecting Serbs, and for preventing the return of Serb refugees elsewhere.The current mandate expires January 15, 1998.

In Smrtici — 75 miles nw of Sarajevo — a firefight broke out between police loyal to the Bosnian-Serb president and Karadzic hard-line forces. British, Polish and Norwegian SFOR troops and UN police monitors tried to de-escalate the conflict. The fight started when Prnjavor — one of the last two major Karadzic dominated towns in the region — police switched loyalty to Plavsic and appointed new heads of police.

September 23, 1997 - Official election results showed that Socialists loyal to Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and a radically nationalist party have emerged as the winners in the parliamentary and presidential elections in Serbia — a severe setback for the opposition in Serbia, which seemed so triumphant during last winter's protest marches. In the race for Serbia's presidency the front-runner was Zoran Lilic — handpicked by Milosevic but lacking a majority. Serbia's parliament is likely to remain hostile to basic democratic and market reforms.

September 24, 1997 - Parliamentary elections will be held November, 15 and elections for Plavsic's and Krajisnik's offices will take place December 7, Tanjug news agency reported.

September 28, 1997 - In a 2 hour television broadcast that could be seen in the entire republic, including the part controlled by Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb president accused Karadzic of withdrawing a total of $27 million from a Banja Luka bank.

October 1, 1997 - In one of the boldest actions yet by SFOR, hundreds of American, French, Italian, Scandinavian, Polish and Russian troops seized 4 transmitters in Sarajevo, 1 in Doboj and 1 in Trebinje, silencing Bosnian Serb hardliners. The immediate cause was a Sunday night broadcast on Pale television of a news conference by Louise Arbour — chief prosecutor of the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague. The Pale broadcast removed Arbour's call for Karadzic to be arrested to face war crimes charges and included commentary suggesting the tribunal was anti-Serb. In July, Bosnian Serb television compared SFOR to Nazi storm troops.

The move seemed intended to signal the West's new resolve to silence Bosnian Serb hard-liners, in particular Karadzic. (Associated Press.) The commander of the Russian troops denied involvement of Russian troops during the action.

October 5, 1997 - Extreme nationalist Vojislav Seselj claimed victory, though a widespread boycott could easily prevent that. If fewer than 50 percent of Serbs vote, the election will have to be rerun in two months.

October 6, 1997 - Ten suspected war criminals turned themselves in to the Tribunal in The Hague in return for a speedy trial. Although the hand over was voluntarily Zegreb was under heavy economic pressure.

October 7, 1997 - Vojislav Seselj — a radical Serbian nationalist and a bitter critic of the West — came within a whisker of winning the presidency of Serbia. He fell victim to low voter turnout, which just failed to reach the 50 percent constitutional threshold.

October 8, 1997 - The ten Bosnian Croat war crimes suspects denied massacring civilians in central Bosnia and driving hundreds of other Muslims from their homes in a savage campaign of murder and destruction.

October 10, 1997 - A coalition led by the ruling Muslim party, the Party for Democratic Action, won an absolute majority in Srebrenica in last month's local elections.

Election results for Brcko and Mostar showed they will be sharply divided and probably as difficult to govern as before the vote. In Brcko, six different parties and coalitions won seats in the local assembly, led by polar opposites: Karadzic's Serbian Democratic Party won 17 of the 56 seats, while a coalition led by the dominant Muslim party, the Party for Democractic Action, won 16.

October 11, 1997 - A bomb exploded in a catholic school in Sarajevo.

October 13, 1997 - In a road accident between a US tank and an automobile in Betnja — 30 miles north of Tuzla — two Bosnians were killed, another injured.

October 15, 1997 - The United States said it is optimistic that Bosnian Serbs will soon bow to demands to surrender heavy weapons and comply more with the terms of an arms control agreement. The peace accord includes disarmament provisions aimed at creating a balance of power in the war-torn nation.

October 17, 1997 - Bosnian Serb television resumed broadcasting with the same inflammatory tone two weeks after NATO pulled it off air. At the request of international peace keepers NATO seized control of several communications facilities. The Bosnian Serb information minister said he is will to support the journalists by any "legal" and "physical" protection.

A civilian driver died after his car collided with a British SFOR vehicle near Kupres.

The first restructuring of the Republika Srpska police in eastern Bosnia has started.

October 20, 1997 - Milo Djukanovic — until now prime minister of Montenegro and a critic of Milosevic — nearly won Montenegro's presidential election, a serious blow to Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and the already shaky constitutional order. In the past month, Milosevic's party lost its parliamentary majority in Serbia, Yugoslavia's dominant republic, and his hand-picked protege failed to win the Serbian presidency.

The matter also complicates the situation for Washington, they until now have used, or tried to use, Milosevic's influence to press Serb leaders in Bosnia to comply with the 1995 Dayton peace accords.

October 24, 1997 - Zoran Todorovic, top political associate of Yugoslavia's president Milosevic, was gunned down. He was the third and highest-ranking member of Milosevic's circle to be fatally shot this year. A top political associate called it a logical consequence of rising crime and corruption.

October 27, 1997 - Two British soldiers serving in the NATO-led peace force have died of natural causes. They are the 77th and 78th soldiers to die since the peace force deployed in Bosnia in December 1995.

October 28, 1997 - US weapons and ammunition arrived in Croatia as a part of a US$400 million US backed train-and-equip program to help the Bosnian Muslim-Croat federation establish a military balance with the Bosnian Serbs. NATO spokesman Maj. Riley said NATO would not allow howitzers to be transferred until it was clear the federation army was under levels for those weapons set in an arms control agreement.

October 29, 1997 - Seven Ukrainian SFOR troops were caught smuggling two truck's worth of cigarettes and alcohol.

November 6, 1997 - US Defense Secretary William Cohen said: "There seems to be developing a consensus that some form of international military presence will be needed past June of next year. But there's been no decision made, no consensus established, in terms of what form that international presence would take and whether the United States would participate, and in what form."

Earlier, US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said the Clinton administration and Congress are approaching a consensus on extending the US military presence. Words that later were softened by the White House.

NATO defense ministers will decide in December whether to reduce the force.

November 7, 1997 - In a report that was released a week ago by the European Commission's Customs and Fiscal Assistance Office, it is stated that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reportedly helped compile a stinging summary of corruption in Bosnia that accuses Muslim and Croat officials of siphoning millions of dollars from federal sources. According to the report some US$13.5 million in taxes and customs fees never reached the federal budget from mid-1996 to mid-1997 and have been used to finance ethnically exclusive institutions. Another US$11.8 million was withheld from federal funds since May, due to smuggling between all three groups — Serbs, Croats and Muslims.

November 8, 1997 - A British officer who served in the Bosnian war and was involved in sensitive UN negotiations among the country's warring factions was arrested for spying

November 9, 1997 - After the first local elections in 3 1/2 year, Bosnia is now faced with a more difficult task: building local governments. If war refugees can return and take up government positions, based on the results, it will be a step forward in the process of all ethnic backgrounds to coexist, especially in towns that changed hands in the war.

November 10, 1997 - SFOR confiscated weapons, files and equipment from a Serb special police barracks in northern Bosnia. The action occurred after members of the police unit at Doboj provided security for Serb hard-liners during a September rally in Banja Luka.

The Czech Republic is ready to participate in the possible follow-up force in Bosnia after June 1998 when the current peace keeping mandate ends. The prime minister said: "We are aware of the costs of accession. We know it's impossible to be consumers of collective security. We have to be producers as well."

November 14, 1997 - More than 800,000 letters and packages have piled up in Sarajevo post offices in the last 18 months because Serbs, fearing letter bombs, refuse to take them.

November 17, 1997 - The Bosnian Serb parliament, packed with supporters of war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic, refused Monday to dissolve itself ahead of key elections this weekend. International officials hope the elections will help end the intra-Serb dispute that has split their sub-state in half. They also hope Plavsic's supporters will gain enough votes to sideline Karadzic and his allies, who oppose a peace plan that calls for a single Bosnian state.

November 21, 1997 - Three candidates from the ruling Bosnian Serb party were disqualified for displaying posters of Karadziz.

November 23, 1997 - The rivalry between Karadzic and Biljana Plavsic threatens to cut Bosnian Serb territory in two. About 55 percent of the more than 1.1 million registered voters cast ballots for the 83-member Parliament, said Nedjo Draskovic, chairman of the Bosnian Serb election commission in Pale.

November 25, 1997 - The parliamentary elections appear to have given victory to candidates that are loyal to indicted war crimes suspect Karadzic. The pro-Karadzic party had about 33% of the vote, while Plavsic's party had nearly 20%. Final official results are not expected until mid-December and still need to be certified by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

November 29, 1997 - The Times quoted UK's prime minister Tony Blair: "Those people that committed crimes of ethnic cleansing and were responsible for the appalling scenes that we saw here in Bosnia, those people responsible for that should be brought to justice."

December 1, 1997 - European Commission auditors say they have uncovered evidence that the Bosnian federal treasury is losing tens of millions of dollars a year in fraud schemes by Bosnian Moslem officials and by criminal gangs that are run by Croats and Serbs.

German Defense Minister Karl Ruehe favors the Americans staying in command after the expiration of the current SFOR mandate, even if they no longer contribute the largest contingent.

December 2, 1997 - SACEUR Gen Wesley K. Clark warned on Tuesday that reconstruction efforts would collapse and war would resume in Bosnia-Herzegovina unless western countries maintained a substantial peace keeping presence there after the Alliance's mandate expires in June 1998. A "significant force" would be required to oppose "the wall of Serb resistance" to the Dayton accords.

Danish Defense Minister Haekkerup warning there would be "a catastrophe" in Bosnia if SFOR was not succeeded by a deterrence force.

December 3, 1997 - The German Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote: "It is finally clear what actually should have never been questioned: NATO will be staying in Bosnia." It also mentioned a possible name for the SFOR follow-up: DFOR (Deterrence Force). "There is no way of getting around the simple realization that the withdrawal of the peace troops means war. NATO is stuck in Bosnia and it can extricate itself from its predicament only offensively. Thus, the courage not only to prolong, but also to strengthen the mandate of the forces is required. It must hunt down and catch the war criminals and too narrow a time limit must not again be set for the mission. Those who always ask only when the mission will be concluded, instead of how to conclude it, will not achieve anything that really permits the withdrawal."

December 5, 1997 - A crackdown that local and international officials say is aimed at ending a rash of killings and bomb attacks against ethnic Croats in Bosnia has netted 40 suspects.

Tom Jennings — a US State Department officer on temporary duty with the NATO-led peace force in Bosnia — has died in a car crash. He is the 11th American to have died during the multinational peace mission. Since NATO sent troops to Bosnia in 1995, 79 members of the peace force have died, most of them in car accidents and land mine blasts.

December 6, 1997 - The Clinton administration is near to concluding that US troops must stay in Bosnia beyond its self-imposed June deadline for withdrawing them: "We're not going to walk away."

December 8, 1997 - In Osijek a Yugoslav citizen was convicted of war crimes during the 1991 Serb rebellion in Croatia and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

December 9, 1997 - President Clinton has extended sanctions against Yugoslavia, saying that a settlement in Bosnia is still not completely implemented even with the holding of elections in the former Yugoslav republic.

Agreement has been reached between the members of the Presidency on the design of a common passport, and on laws on citizenship.

December 10, 1997 - Today is the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights. A lot of work remains to be done in the Balkans.

December 11, 1997 - During the Bonn Peace Implementation Council (PIC) the Serb and the Bosnian Serb delegations walked out of the precedings while the tensions in Kosovo were under discussion.

A few months ago SFOR failed to arrest an indicted Bosnian Croat war crimes suspect Miroslav Bralo, a leading member of the "Jokers," a wartime paramilitary unit. He entered a Dutch military base on July 14 without being challenged. His name was checked with UN HQ in Sarajevo, but "at the time he turned up at the checkpoint, we were not aware that there was an indictment ... against him." A western diplomat said the peace keepers did not run a UN check on Bralo until more than 10 hours after he left the base, and were told "within five minutes" that the Croat is on the tribunal's sealed indictment list and should be arrested. Bralo is said to have entered the base to check a list of the Tribunal with indicted war criminals. [Washington Post]

December 12, 1997 - The party loyal to war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic won the most seats in Bosnian Serb parliamentary elections, but lost its majority. The outcome threatened to worsen the political deadlock between Karadzic and Plavsic as the results left no party strong enough to form a majority, either alone or in a two-party coalition.

The voter turnout for the November 1997 elections was lower than during the 1996 RS National Assembly Elections.

December 13, 1997 - The Permanent Council of the OSCE in Vienna extended the mandate of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina until the 31st of December 1998.

The first SFOR train will leave from Sarajevo, taking 600 tons of freight — mainly container shelters and vehicles — to Mannheim, Germany.

December 16, 1997 - In the Serbian province Kosovo 17 ethnic Albanians of anti-Serb terrorism are sentenced to prison terms of up to 20 years.

NATO leaders proposed a plan for the SFOR follow-up. US minister Albright is faced with a reluctant congress at home and pushed her 15 NATO colleagues to take up a bigger share of responsibility for key duties like the training and equipping of Bosnian police. "The United States will continue to do its share. But in key areas such as this, other members of the alliance need to do much, much more." The NATO leaders approved a proposal giving military planners 4 options for extending the peace mission before its current mandate ends in June 1998. Next month the military leaders will report back. However, it seems there still is no real political will to maintain the current strength of approximately 34,000 troops.

December 18, 1997 - At last US president Clinton said US troops will remain in Bosnia after the June 1998 deadline. He said that troop withdrawal would be determined not by deadlines but by benchmarks. Clinton will visit the Balkan region on the 22nd. The SFOR follow-up is believed to become highly mobile, bolstered by armored helicopters and attack planes and most probably under a US commander. Troop safety will be a key issue.

Dutch special forces and commandos snatched two Bosnian Croat war crimes suspects and delivered them to a UN tribunal — within 12 hours. One suspect, Vlatko Kupreskic, was shot three times when he fired on Dutch soldiers flown in to lead the raids 30 miles northwest of Sarajevo. American and British troops provided backup. (See January 16, 1998.)

Solana's comment on the action was that "yesterday's action by SFOR is a clear warning to all indicted war criminals who are still at large that they too will be held accountable. They will not escape justice."

An SFOR spokesman said SFOR has contingency plans dealing with the detention of persons indicted for war crimes. Those plans, and the recent knowledge of the location of these indictees detained today, along with other factors, offers measured probability for detention.

December 19, 1997 - Serbia will try for a fourth time in three months to elect a president.

Two Dutch soldiers have been slightly hurt by a hand grenade thrown into their compound, near Vitez, about 30 miles northwest of Sarajevo, in a central Bosnian town where Dutch troops arrested war crimes suspects. The attack appeared to be retaliation for yesterday's arrest of two Bosnian Croats.

December 20, 1997 - About 100 French and German soldiers surrounded Sarajevo's central jail and seized documents from a nearby Bosnian military facility. The operation helped UN police with a regular check of the jail. In previous inspections, prisoners were found that should have been released under the 1995 Dayton accord.

December 22, 1997 - During his swift visit to Bosnia Clinton told the Bosnian people that the shape of their future is up to them: "not the Americans, not the Europeans, not to anyone else". He also stated that US peace keeping help is not infinite and the world "rightfully expects that you do your part."

The Yugoslav war crimes tribunal ordered three Bosnian Croats freed today because of insufficient evidence to try them.

December 23, 1997 - The German Chancellor, Kohl visited Bosnia today accompanied by the German Defense Minister, Ruhe. The main aim of his trip was to visit the German SFOR troops. He also held separate meetings with BiH President Izetbegovic and other members of the Presidency to talk about resolving the problem of refugees.

The official election results were announced today in the main office of the Electoral Commission of Serbia in Belgrade. Milan Milutinovic won 59% of the electorate while Vojislav Seselj won 37, 57%. RS President Plavsic congratulated Milutinovic on the results.

December 27, 1997 - On their first session since last month's elections, supporters and opponents and of Bosnia's most-wanted war crimes suspect Karadzic clashed. They disagreed on almost every little detail. Only the threat of outside intervention by Carlos Westendorp, chief representative of the international community, appeared to keep the situation in control. If the legislators fail to agree on a premier and his ministers, a government might be named by Westendorp. After the elections Karadzic supporters lost their majority, though their Serbian Democratic Party remains the strongest.

Sources: NATO, UN, UNHCR, OSCE, Reuter, Associated Press, Washington Post, NRC Handelsblad, other (international) sources.