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Serb Leader - |
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- Captured by Serb Security
Boris Tadic, the Serbian president's office says on Monday Karadzic had been "located and arrested".
Karadzic, is accused of the 1995 massacres of over 7,500 Muslims and other atrocities in Bosnian war.
Radovan Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb leader and one of the world's most wanted men, has been captured by Serbian security services.
The office of Boris Tadic, the Serbian president, said on Monday that Karadzic had been "located and arrested".
A statement said that he had been taken to a war crimes court in Belgrade, the Serbian capital.
Police officials said he was arrested in a Belgrade suburb late on Monday after weeks of surveillance of a safe house.
Karadzic is accused of organising the 1995 massacre of more than 7,500 Muslims in Srebrenica and other atrocities in the Bosnian war.
The United Nations tribunal for the former Yugoslavia confirmed his arrest.
Most-wanted
The former Bosnian Serb leader was indicted on genocide charges in 1995 by the UN tribunal, and he topped its most-wanted list for more than a decade.
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| Reminders of the brutal siege are never far away in Sarajevo |
Haris Silajdzic, a member of the Bosnian presidency, told Al Jazeera he welcomed the news: "This is a big day for international justice - it will provide a big relief to the victims".
Serbia has been under heavy pressure from the European Union (EU) to turn over those suspected of involvment in war crimes commited during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war to the UN tribunal in The Hague.
The arrest of Karadzic and other suspected war criminals, is one of the main conditions of Serbian progress towards EU membership.
Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief, described Karadzic's capture as "excellent news."
"The place where Radovan Karadzic belongs is in front of the tribunal in The Hague, having a fair trial and responding to the crimes of which he is accused."
Karadzic is still seen by some fervent Serbian nationalists as a hero following the collapse of Yugoslavia.
Heavily armed Serbian security forces were deployed around the war-crimes court in Belgrade where Karadzic was taken and dozens of Karadzic supporters were reportedly seen gathering near the building chanting "Karadzic Hero!" and "Tadic Traitor!"|
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| Reminders of the brutal siege are never far away in Sarajevo |
Several were arrested after attacking reporters.
Officers were also deployed outside the US embassy which was the target of nationalist protesters after Kosovo declared independence earlier this year.
Aljosa Milenkovic, reporting for Al Jazeera from Serbia, said Karadzic was captured by Serbian special forces inside Serbian territory.
"It's interesting that he has been captured under the new government ... during the previous three or four years the Serbian government said he [Karadzic] was not hiding in Serbia," Milenkovic said.
He said that Karadzic would be questioned by a special court in Serbia and then sent to The Hague.
"We will probably see Mr Karadzic, within seven days, in The Hague tribunal," he said.
Ratko Mladic, his military leader during the Balkans war from 1992 to 1995, is still at large.
Karadzic would be the 44th Serb suspect extradited to the tribunal in The Hague.
The others include former Slobodan Milosevic, the former Serbian president, who was removed from power in 2000 and died in jail in 2006 while on trial on war crimes charges.
Sarajevo welcomes Karadzic arrest
Sarajevo welcomes Karadzic arrest
Thousands of Bosnian Muslims joined spontaneous street celebrations on Monday night as news quickly spread of the arrest of Radovan Karadzic, Bosnia's most wanted war crimes suspect.
Charged with being behind a series of atrocities in the 1992-95 Bosnian war, Karadzic was captured by Serbian security forces in Belgrade.
Within minutes the news had quickly spread through Sarajevo, the Bosnian capital, with the city's street jammed with honking cars and people pouring out of cafes and restaurants, many singing and chanting.
"This is the best thing that could ever happen," Sarajevo resident Fadil Bico told Reuters. "You see people celebrating everywhere... I called and woke up my whole family".
Sarajevo was heavily shelled by Bosnian Serb forces and thousands killed during a siege of the city that lasted almost four years.|
"Justice cannot be fully met without Karadzic's and Mladic's arrest"
Haris Silajdzic, |
Haris Silajdzic, the Bosnian president, said news of Karadzic's arrest would provide "at least some satisfaction for the families of victims."
But he cautioned that Karadzic's wartime commander, General Ratko Mladic, who was also indicted in 1995 for genocide and crimes against humanity, still remains at large.
"Justice cannot be fully met without Karadzic's and Mladic's arrest," he said, adding that "their project of ethnic cleansing unfortunately still lives on in Bosnia-Herzegovina."
In The Hague news of the arrest was welcomed in by the chief prosecutor of the UN tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, who said it marked an "important day for international justice".
"This is a very important day for the victims who have waited for this arrest for over a decade," Serge Brammertz said.
"It clearly demonstrates that nobody is beyond the reach of the law and that sooner or later all fugitives will be brought to justice."
Karadzic topped the tribunal's most-wanted list for more than a decade, allegedly resorting to elaborate disguises to evade capture.
Mass graves
Karadzic faces 15 war crimes charges including genocide, murder and inhumane acts committed during Bosnian war, among them leading the massacre of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica in 1995.
"The arrest of Radovan Karadzic is confirmation that every criminal will eventually face justice," said Munira Subasic, head of a Srebrenica widow's association.|
"Ending impunity is an essential element for achieving sustainable peace and justice in the region"
Ban Ki-moon, |
"I hope that people who had to keep quiet because of Karadzic will start revealing the locations of mass graves and let us find the truth about our beloved ones," she said.
At the United Nations in New York, Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, welcomed what he said was "a historic moment for the victims" of the Bosnian war who he said had waited 13 years to see Karadzic brought to justice.
"Ending impunity is an essential element for achieving sustainable peace and justice in the region," Ban said.
"While this is an important milestone, the work of the International Tribunal will not be complete until all fugitives have been arrested and tried."
Divided legacy
Since the end of the war, Bosnia has been divided into a republic run by Bosnia's Christian Orthodox Serbs and a federation between Muslim Bosnians and Catholic Croats.
In the Serbian part, reaction was said to be muted with no comment from officials.
Local TV showed a reporter stopping several cab drivers in the northern city of Banja Luka – one driver said Karadzic's arrest was a "tragedy".
In the Serbian capital, Belgrade, news of his arrest was met with an angry reaction from nationalists who consider Karadzic a war hero.
"He did not surrender, that is not his style," his brother Luka Karadzic said outside the court where he was being held.
Dozens of Karadzic supporters gathered near the building chanted "Karadzic Hero!" and "Tadic Traitor!", referring to the Serbian president, Boris Tadic.
Srebrenica survivors seek closure
In July 1995, at the height of the wars in the former Yugoslavia, the United Nations created a safe haven for refugees around the town of Srebrenica.
Dutch troops guarded the refugees, most of whom were Bosnian Muslims, seeking shelter there. The people thought they were safe, but the Dutch came under fire from the advancing Serb forces soon thereafter.
The UN contingent demanded aircraft fly in to help them, but the HQ didn't answer their call and so the Dutch fearing for their lives from superior forces stood aside and let the Serbs in. What happened next became the largest massacre in Europe since World War Two.
Eight thousand men and boys were rounded up, stripped of their identification papers and then slaughtered.
The International Criminal Court called the massacre at Srebrenica an act of genocide.
The leader of the Bosnian Serbs, Radovan Karadzic and his military commander Ratko Mladic, who ran the military campaigns in Bosnia are still wanted for crimes against humanity.
Thirteen years later, the mothers of Srebrenica are asking Dutch courts to dismiss the UN's claims of immunity so that the UN forces in charge of the safe haven may face the legal consequences.
Losing family members
The drive from Sarajevo to Srebrenica takes just over two hours, but during the war it would have taken three or four times as long.
Checkpoints had to be literally negotiated and back roads used as they afforded some protection from sniper and mortar fire. Now on a modern road, the brooding dark hills with homes seemingly perched impossibly on the sides zip past, as do the street-side cafes where the unemployed local men can make a coffee last for two hours.
Munira Subasic could be anyone's grandmother. A small, solid formidable woman, she is now President of the Mothers of Srebrenica Association. On the edge of the town lies the impressive memorial garden. Next to the graveyard with its row upon row of white headstones, there is a large half circle of marble slabs.
Under the letter 'S', there are the names of Subasic's family - her husband, her son, and her daughters. She lost a total of 22 family members, who are buried here with some 8,000 other victims of Srebrenica.
I ask her why the court case is important:
"To get the UN to admit what it did, it walked away and allowed genocide. And to get compensation for the children without fathers, for the wives without husbands, for the lives that were taken".
As we walk around this serene and peaceful spot which marks such tragedy, she says: "How can you have a clean future until you have a clean past?"
Unearthing buried secrets
Even now the ground is still revealing the secrets of the horrors that happened in Srebrenica.
Ten kilometres from the centre of the town, down a think strip of path, there is a wooded area where investigators have uncovered another mass grave.
The makeshift plastic cover is pulled back to reveal bones and shoes and rags, - the last earthly remains of people who died here violently.
Sabaheta Fejzic visits every new grave that is uncovered hoping to one day track down what became of her son, her husband, and her father. All taken. All murdered.
"I know it is unlikely after this time I will find them but every time I hear of a new grave I hope that at last my soul can rest. Many bodies were burned or thrown in the river. But for some families this place means that their nightmare is over. One day it may be so for me".
By her side is Zumra Sehomerovic. Some of her husband's bones have been recovered, but not his head or his legs. "They killed him in one spot and then mutilated his body. It was a crime on top of a crime. When they find his head I shall finally be able to lay him to rest and I will have a place to lay a rose".
The work at this site is almost done with the remains of three full skeletons and 56 partial ones uncovered. There is another site nearby that will soon be investigated and examined for remains.
Until then, more families will wait, watch and hope.
Sarajevo's siege mentality
During the brutal conflict in the Balkans in the 1990s the Bosnian capital Sarajevo was besieged by Serb forces for nearly four years. As part of the Veterans series Al Jazeera visited the now peaceful city and found reminders of the country's violent past are never far away.
Ismet Godinjak is a rare thing in Bosnia - an Olympic and European champion.
His success is all the more impressive given that he and all of his teammates have lost limbs because of landmines planted during the bloodiest conflict in Europe since the Second World War.
Godinjak is captain of the Sarajevo-based Phantoms sitting volleyball team, named after the mysterious pain felt in an amputated limb.
The team won the European Cup last year and several of its members were in the Bosnia team that won the gold medal at the Athens Paralympic games in 2004.
Godinjak says the Phantoms extraordinary team spirit comes from its players being veterans of one of the longest sieges in modern history and experiences of war and disability have strengthened them.
"Because we have tasted the bitter side of life and successfully overcome it we know that the situation can be can be worse and we can fight it and win over it, becoming stronger out of it," he says.
Yet, as with everywhere in the country today, reminders of Bosnia's brutal and divided recent past, can be found even on a volleyball court.
"Three or four years ago we played against a couple of teams from Serbia in the Euro league," Godinjak tells Al Jazeera.
"Frankly speaking these are the people that we fought against … And they still were under influence of ideology, waving war symbols … years after the end of the war, still they had that mind set.
"We agreed that we would not let them provoke any negative reaction. We had a name and reputation at that time and didn’t want to spoil that. In the end that was one of our best games."
Civilian targets
Like the Phantoms, Sarajevo is today a success story and a city on the up.
However, reminders of its violent past can be found everywhere such as blotches of red paint – known as "red roses" - marking the spots where mortar victims met their death.
In the spring of 1992, Sarajevo's citizens were forced to take up arms to defend themselves from attack by Serb forces whose violent actions against Bosnian Muslims across the country gave rise to the very term "ethnic cleansing".
The resulting siege was to last 44 consecutive months.Bosnia-Herzegovina's decision in 1991 to break away from the Yugoslav Federation and become an independent nation enraged Serbian leaders in Belgrade.
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Civilians - even children - were targets for Serb forces. 10,000 Killed just in one city (Sarajevo) |
They persuaded their fellow ethnic Serbs within Bosnia – who made up around half of its population – to prevent the secession by any means necessary, even if that meant launching an all-out war and expelling their Muslim neighbours by force.
Despite superior military forces, led by Radavan Kradzic and general Ratko Mladic, Serb forces were unable to capture Sarajevo outright and so encircled it, shelling and continuously weakening the exposed city from its surrounding mountains.
Civilians were deliberately and systematically targeted and thousands of children were among an estimated 10,000 people killed in Sarajevo alone during the war.
"We had neighbours … and they had this wonderful kid," Ognjen Dzidic, one veteran recalls. "He was like 5 or 6 years old. He had, like, blond curly hair – an angel, a real angel. He was so funny, so full of life.
"One day they were crossing the bridge, he, his mother and his grandmother. And the mortar shell fell … He died, the grandmother died, and the mother was crippled for life."
With Sarajevo surrounded on all sides, its citizens were forced to construct a tunnel to connect it with the UN controlled airport, and the Bosnian controlled territory which lay beyond.
Ethnic divide
In August 1995 a Serb mortar attack killed 37 people and wounded 90 more in a popular market. Footage of the atrocity was broadcast worldwide causing widespread revulsion and outrage that the Serbs were continuing to deliberately slaughter civilians with impunity.
Having stood aside for so long Nato finally took action against the Serbs, launching a series of air raids in an attempt to force them to the negotiating table and bring a resolution to the conflict.
In October a ceasefire was agreed. And later in the year the Dayton Peace Accords were signed in Paris, dividing the country into two entities – a Bosnian/Croat Federation and a Serb Republic.
For many years Sarajevo had been one of the ethnically mixed cities in Yugoslavia and for centuries Bosnian Muslims, Serb and Croat Christians, Jews, Gypsies and others, had lived side by side in what has sometimes been referred to as the "Jerusalem of Europe".
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Bosnia split along ethnic lines after war Division - was the motive |
People from all those backgrounds had put ethnicity aside to defend their city from attack and consequently many veterans feel betrayed by the division of the country along ethnic lines which persist to this day.
"I believe that is why some other people, Serbia, or Croatia – why they actually started the war in the first place," Emir Pobric says.
Emir was a student when the siege started in 1992 and joined the hastily assembled Bosnian army. He now works for Nato.
"This was the aim that they wanted to reach, that they … divide the society along ethnical lines. And I didn’t want to be a part of that game. But yes, unfortunately, to some extent they succeeded."
One Bosnian Serb who fought during the siege asks to remain anonymous when speaking to Al Jazeera – an indication of the divisions still prevalent in Bosnian society.
"I never felt like a Serb. I mean I was born and raised here as a citizen of Sarajevo and Bosnia," he says.
"So when the war started there wasn't any dilemma, I was just here to fight for my city, and for my people - not thinking of Muslims and Serbs at all.
"But I know there is always a chance that old bloody passions get alive again, you know."
Those old passions are still evident. Nedzad Seric, another Bosnian army veteran says he cannot forgive what his Serb neigbours did.
"How can you respect someone who throws a mortar grenade and kills 50 people? Is he brave? Is he doing something good? The war is finished. So what? Let' kiss? I can't," he says.
Deportation threat
"We can live by each other, but I don’t feel nothing towards them – at least nothing nice. They can continue with their own lives. God will punish them for what they did."
Nedzad has rebuilt his life after the war. Abu Hamza has tried to do the same but could soon be forced to leave Bosnia.
He was awarded Bosnian citizenship along with other Arab veterans who fought in the war alongside Bosnia's Muslims and saw the conflict as a matter of faith.
But despite marrying a Bosnian widow whose first husband was killed during the war and having three children Abu Hamza now faces deportation after his citizenship was revoked, he claims, after pressure from the United States.
"After 11th September, everything changed completely! We became the 'terrorists'," he says.However, he remains proud of his role during the war.
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"Regretful - but thankful to God" Abu Hamza - human & Muslim |
"Abu Hamza is a human being and Abu Hamza is a Muslim," he says. "As a human being I am completely regretful, but as a fighter and a Muslim I consider my blessings to be from God and I don't regret anything."
Mirsad Tokaca has spent the years since the war attempting to document the exact number and identities of those who lost their lives and says this is the only way of re-establishing the multi-ethnic society that existed in Bosnia before the war.
"If we want to do this… we need full truth about the events - who, when and how he was killed," he says.
"There is no discrimination of victims… There is no peace without justice. We don't believe in a peaceful future for Bosnia without justice for its victims."
The lack of justice for those who fill the many graveyards in Sarajevo is why many of Bosnia's veterans cannot forget the past.
Mladic and Karadzic are still at large with many suspecting they are being protected by the authorities in Belgrade, while former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic died in prison in the Hague before verdict on war crimes had been reached.
A new generation is growing up with no memory of the horrors that befell their elders but everyone in Sarajevo is aware that the peace that exists is deeply fragile.
There are mounting fears after Kosovo declared independence, the Serb Republic in Bosnia officially known as the Republic Of Srpska will follow suit.
Nedzad has a young daughter who has known only peace. But the tragic history of this war-scarred and divided region gives him little cause for optimism.
"Somehow … this region is full of fools. And somehow we, we never learn," he says. It's like a repetition."
"I will not use mathematics to tell how many years between the conflict, but for sure, some day we will have the conflict."
Watch Part 1 of Veterans: Siege of Sarajevo
Watch Part 2
