Bosnian Serb Army Divides Its Loyalty

BANJA LUKA, Bosnia-Herzegovina —  Pressing her challenge of her opponents, Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic wooed the army Tuesday but received only partial backing.

The chief of staff of the Bosnian Serb army, Gen. Pero Colic, refused to attend a meeting that Plavsic called with the military, turning aside a helicopter that NATO had made available to bring him to this northern city for the gathering.

But two generals already known to support Plavsic and who control the largest contingent of troops were present--revealing the army to be split along the same lines that now divide most institutions of power here in the Bosnian Serb half of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Since the end of Bosnia’s war in December 1995, the army has been largely confined to barracks and has lost its once-powerful influence. Still, it is an important symbol as Plavsic gradually gains ground in her battle against indicted war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic and his hard-line coterie.

Plavsic, herself an ultranationalist who nevertheless has been pragmatic enough to win the West’s approval, now counts eight northern and western municipalities in her camp, including Banja Luka, which is the Bosnian Serbs’ largest city and her headquarters. Some of the police are loyal to Plavsic, and her supporters have taken over part of the state television apparatus--two key instruments used by Karadzic in his behind-the-scenes reign.

“We have two states now,” said Igor Gajic, a columnist with Banja Luka’s only independent newspaper, the Reporter. “Two state televisions. Two police forces. An almost equal split in the army.”

Plavsic made her most significant gains only after the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Bosnia seized the entire police structure in Banja Luka last week, effectively ousting officers loyal to Karadzic and replacing them with commanders chosen by Plavsic.

That action marked a dramatic widening of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s role in Bosnia. Now, however, NATO commanders are said to be having second thoughts about such overt support for one side in the nearly 2-month-old power struggle. Western peacekeepers have thus far declined to clamp down on Karadzic-controlled television, for example, despite its inflammatory broadcasts likening NATO troops to Nazi occupiers.

Whether the Bosnian Serb army would support Plavsic is unclear. The army had remained nominally neutral until a letter was issued last week by chief of staff Colic that branded her recent actions as treason.

Plavsic named Colic to his job last year to replace another indicted war crimes suspect, Gen. Ratko Mladic. Colic had been an obscure army major until then and commands little respect from his troops.

After accusing Karadzic and his associates of black-market profiteering, Plavsic last month dissolved the Karadzic-dominated Bosnian Serb parliament as it plotted ways to oust her from office. On Tuesday, the parliament ignored her orders and met in Karadzic’s stronghold of Pale to debate the crisis.

Late Tuesday, the parliament issued an ultimatum to Plavsic, demanding that she back down within three days or face legal action by the hard-line interior minister and the state prosecutor--presumably arrest or trial.

“The situation is deteriorating dramatically and can lead to the division and secession of parts of the Bosnian Serb Republic,” said the parliament’s statement, which was carried by the Yugoslav news agency, Tanjug.

The full extent of Plavsic’s support is still hard to gauge. “I’m not sure how much vision Plavsic and her people have, and will they be able to withstand the pressure?” said an international official familiar with both camps. “The old guard may not win, but it can grind down its opponents.”