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Serbia Greets Arrest Of Karadzic Calmly
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Coincidence or not, Karadzic was seized within weeks of the new government's formation and days after the appointment of a new head of the country's domestic security agency. Many analysts here express confidence that Mladic will soon be captured as well.
"The Hague question prevented the country from moving forward," said Zoran Sekulic, director of the FoNet news agency. "After the new government was elected, both the E.U. and the United States expected signals that this government is different." When the new leaders found out that Karadzic was there to be picked up, they moved, he said. "I believe by the end of this year the whole story will be over."
The government has said nothing about how long Karadzic was under surveillance and whether his capture was the result of new political will or a sudden piece of luck for the incoming government.
The previous government led by Kostunica had handed suspects over to The Hague, but the arrest of Karadzic and Mladic remained an unfulfilled price of international respectability.
Serbia's relations with the E.U. and the United States continue to be complicated, however, by Kosovo, which declared independence nine years after NATO airstrikes drove out the Serb-dominated Yugoslav army. It would be political suicide for any Serbian politician to acknowledge that the former province is forever lost, analysts said.
Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said in Brussels this month that "Serbia will not consider ceding one millimeter of ground" in its insistence that Kosovo remains an integral part of Serbia.
While Kosovo rhetoric can continue strong, Serbia is backing off from retaliatory steps that it took following the independence declaration. Serbian ambassadors who were withdrawn from E.U. states that recognized Kosovo's independence, including Germany, Britain and France, are now to return to their posts.
"Kosovo remains a difficult, painful issue," said Vlada Goati, a political analyst and the head of the nonprofit group Transparency Serbia. "But Serbia wants to take the chance to move towards the E.U. and not always return to the past."
