Officials Await Effect of Mladic Dismissal
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SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — NATO and Western mediators said Saturday they would “wait and see” if Bosnian Serb leaders are able to carry out a decision to dismiss Serb army chief Ratko Mladic, an accused war criminal.
“We don’t know what it is going to mean in substantive terms,” said Maj. Simon Haselock, spokesman for the NATO-led peace force.
Haselock spoke after Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic announced she had replaced Mladic and other top generals. She cited international opposition to having a person indicted for war crimes heading a formidable military force. Mladic has twice been indicted by a U.N. tribunal.
Haselock said NATO was still trying to confirm whether the army would obey Plavsic’s order.
Plavsic’s statement indicated she had named an obscure officer, Gen. Pera Colic, as chief of a new army headquarters.
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