Fresh difficulties in implementing the Bosnian peace accord arose Wednesday, with Muslims and Croats unable to agree on boundaries, the government refusing to release prisoners and U.S. troops on alert for an American who may be plotting against NATO forces.
The command of the NATO-led peace mission said late Tuesday it had distributed leaflets to guards and security officers warning them about a man identified as Kevin Holt. It described Holt as a man in his 30s "who has expressed sympathies for extremist causes."A senior NATO official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the alert was raised after Holt attempted to enter a NATO compound in Bosnia in the previous 24 hours. The compound was not identified, and no further information on Holt was released.
Security also was tightened following reports that militant Muslim fighters from Iran and elsewhere were planning attacks on U.S. targets in Bosnia, The New York Times reported Wednesday, citing unspecified intelligence reports.
The reports said attacks were planned in retaliation for the life sentence an American judge gave to Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman this month, the Times reported. The Muslim cleric was convicted of plotting attacks on bridges and other landmarks in New York.
A second motive for the plots may be pressure from U.S. officials on the Bosnian government to expel soldiers from Islamic countries, the newspaper said.
Under the Bosnian peace pact, foreign troops who had fought alongside the warring factions had until Jan. 14 to leave Bosnia.
Washington had been especially concerned about Islamic fighters based in the northeastern sector that U.S. troops now police. These soldiers, or mujahedeen, had fought alongside the Muslim-led Bosnian government, and some held strong anti-American views and acted lawlessly.
NATO sources said Wednesday that 71 mujahedeen are still under British guard in northwest Bosnia, awaiting departure. A few others have decided to remain, and the Bosnian government has assured the alliance that they are not organized military units and are not considered an immediate threat to NATO, alliance sources in Croatia said.
Meanwhile, a Red Cross official Wednesday took the unprecedented step of publicly accusing the Bosnian government of holding more prisoners than it has listed for release under the peace agreement.
Under the accord, some 900 POWs were to be released by all three former foes in Bosnia. A limited release took place last Friday.
Despite pressure from Washington, the Bosnian government refuses to release more POWs unless Bosnian Serbs first account for 20,000 people missing from the war and presumed dead.
John Shattuck, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for human rights, said Tuesday that President Alija Izetbegovic of Bosnia had assured him the prisoners would be released. Shattuck gave no time frame.
Beat Schweizer, a spokesman for the international Red Cross, said that 645 prisoners are still being detained by Bosnia's warring parties - 318 by the government, 150 by Bosnian Serbs and 177 by the Croats.
"Thus the parties have so far failed to comply with the relevant provisions of the peace agreement," Schweizer said.
He said the Red Cross committee also has information that the government is still detaining an unknown number of unlisted Serb prisoners in Tuzla.
"We have not had access to these prisoners despite numerous requests to the Bosnian government," Schweizer said.