After talks with Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte, Prime Minister Adnan Terzic says the strengthening of state institutions will result in BH authorities having not only the jurisdiction, but also the tools for full cooperation with the Tribunal, including the arrest of war criminals. Karadzic is "a problem of the entire BH, not only of the Republika Srpska.”

The continuing freedom of Radovan Karadzic is "a problem of the entire BH, not only of the Republika Srpska," said Adnan Terzic, prime minister of the government in Sarajevo, after talks with the Hague Tribunal’s Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte.

After representatives of the European Commission and NATO let him know quite clearly over the past two days in Brussels that "full cooperation" with the Tribunal in The Hague is an essential requirement for association with Euro-Atlantic institutions, PM Terzic came to The Hague to learn first-hand what the authorities in Sarajevo have to do to meet that requirement. After the talks, the prime minister gave a statement to the SENSE agency, saying the Chief Prosecutor promised him she would go to Sarajevo next week with a "clear package of measures," i.e., with a specific list of demands that BH authorities have to meet in order to receive confirmation of their "full cooperation."

Unlike the past, when BH authorities did not have the necessary jurisdiction to ensure full cooperation because intelligence services, police structures and defense functioned only at the entity level, current reforms will give state authorities “not only the jurisdiction but also the tools" to meet their obligations towards the Tribunal, Terzic said. He thinks this will be made possible by the dismantling of entity-level intelligence services and the creation of a new BH-level intelligence service and police force, which will soon get a special squad for locating fugitive war criminals.

First and foremost among the fugitives from international justice is Radovan Karadzic. Without his arrest and surrender to the Tribunal, "there will be no political stability and, consequently, no foreign investment and development in the entire BH, not only in the Republika Srpska," in Terzic's view.

His continuing freedom is "a problem of the entire country," meaning international forces will remain in BH until "he and the people around him" are in The Hague. PM Terzic adds that "the problem called Radovan Karadzic is looming over reforms of the defense, intelligence service, police structure… even the reform of the customs service."

Terzic is optimistic and believes that the problem will be solved much easier now that the "BH Government is becoming a factor in BH" and also when reforms designed to strengthen state institutions are under way. According to him, this is one of the reasons why the "bill for the continuing freedom of Radovan Karadzic" is now being presented to the entire BH, not only to the Republika Srpska.

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