This story gets a satisfyingly big splash in the Daily Telegraph:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/5039381/US-
envoy-Richard-Holbrooke-did-offer-Radovan-Karadzic-immunity.html
US envoy Richard Holbrooke 'did' offer Radovan Karadzic immunity
Former US officials have supported claims that Richard Holbrooke, one
of America's most senior diplomats, offered Radovan Karadzic immunity
from prosecution during 1996 peace negotiations in Bosnia.
By Bruno Waterfield in Brussels
Last Updated: 8:11PM GMT 23 Mar 2009
Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is pictured before
appearing in court at the International Criminal Tribunal.
Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is pictured before
appearing in court at the International Criminal Tribunal. Photo: AFP/
Getty Images
Mr Holbrooke, who is now playing a key role in negotiating President
Barack Obama's exit strategy from Afghanistan, has been dogged by
claims that he gave the former Bosnian Serb leader an immunity deal
during Clinton-era talks to bring peace to the former Yugoslavia.
He strenuously denies that any alleged agreement with Mr Karadzic.
But the allegation and a demand that Mr Holbrooke be called as a
witness will be rehearsed once again as part of Mr Karadzic's defence
against genocide and war crimes charges at UN tribunal hearings in
The Hague next week.
Retired senior US state department officials confirmed that in July
1996 Mr Holbrooke, who served as President Bill Clinton's Balkans
envoy, promised Mr Karadzic that he would not be prosecuted as part
of wider peace deal requiring him to give up power.
"Holbrooke did the right thing and got the job done," said one.
The claim by unnamed diplomats is made in a new study of the war in
the former Yugoslavia published by Purdue University in Indiana.
Mr Karadzic has insisted that Mr Holbrooke's promise means he is
exempt from prosecution since his arrest, after more than a decade in
hiding, last summer.
UN war crimes investigators have written to Washington asking for
clarification in a move that could embarrass the new US administration.
Mr Holbrooke said in a statement: "No one in the US government ever
promised anything, nor made a deal of any sort with Karadzic. In
subsequent meetings, as a private citizen, I repeatedly urged
officials in both the Clinton and Bush administrations to capture
Karadzic."
A "status hearing" on Mr Karadzic's appeal and case will be heard in
The Hague on April 2.
Serbian News Network - SNN
[email protected]
http://www.antic.org/
