"I am not Karadzic's puppet on the string"

Mrs. Biljana Plavsic answers SDS accusations

Banjaluka, 02 July (AIM) - At today's press conference, Mrs. Biljana Plavsic, President RS, commented decision of the Main Board SDS regarding her ultimate resignation and accusations for changes in SDS politics.

"Partly, the politics had to be changed, because we had no Dayton Agreement. I did not put my signe on it. Some other persons were there, and they should win better positions for RS", said she, adding that Dayton Agreement is RS obligation as it is the RS Constitution. For other accusations, she answered:

"They (SDS) say that I signed by my own the agreement for OSCE mandate prolongation in 1997. I did, but I was told that Form 'P2' will exist. The moment they start to talk about it's modification, I withdraw my signature, and I got previously signed paper back".

"They stated that I signed the agreement on prolongation of arbitrage for Brcko, and so, I put into a question Serb arguments. It is well known that RS leadership and Mr. Vitomir Popovic, RS Arbiter, did not want to go into arbitrage. Than, at the meeting held on 12 November, 1996, where, beside me, present were: Mr. Karadzic, Mr. Gojko Klickovic, President RS Government, Mr. Gaso Mijanovic, President RS Constitutional Court, Ms. Dubravka Alagic, Judge RS Constitutional Court, Mr. Jovan Zametica, Chancellor RS Presidency, Mr. Vitomir Popovic, RS Arbiter, Mr. Miodrag Pajic, President Municipality of Brcko, Mr. Radomir Lukic, RS Representative at Arbitrage, Mr. Dalbert Smith, RS Solicitor and Mr. Kostic. The decision was to accept the presence of RS arbiter. The solicitors succeeded in prolongation because "B&H Federation asked the same", informed Mr. Owen. This was a group decision and I signed no paper".

She challenged the Main Board SDS to prove her suspension of RS Police in Brcko, adding that she gave no agreement by which the foreign factors would select men for RS Police: "This is a pure lie. Neither they select or asked the permission to do it. From all accusations, the only one acceptable is my order of suspension of Mr. Dragan Kijac, Minister of Interior RS". She challenged Main Board SDS to prove by documents any of her agreements for "multiple moves which were damaging for RS".

"As for accusation that I signed the agreement for the return
into the zones of separations, without consultation with RS Government and RS People Assembly, nobody asked for agreement. There already was a paper signed by few international organizations, and that paper was distributed to the relevant factors. At the meeting in Doboj, where Mr. Kijac was absent, we try to investigate, where that document came from. The conclusion was that the document must be based on Dayton Agreement", said Mrs. Plavsic, adding that during her mandate as RS President, she did not signed much agreements or documents.

Accusations that she did not respect not a single verbal or written agreement between bearers of other State functions, she pointed out: "I suppose that they thought, that after the elections, I would be puppet on the string of Karadzic. He knew me very well, and he knows that I am not that type".

Being accused that she left RS capitol, Mrs. Plavsic commented: "As far as I am concerned, Pale is not the Capitol. According to the RS Constitution it is Sarajevo". Talking about her Cabinet Staff, she explained that all of them are well educated persons, and even older SDS members than Karadzic (Mr. Milan Dupor, Cabinet Councilor). Also, none of them is a foreigner. "By the way, nobody has an influence on me", added she.

"In the time of Gorazde offensive, I was very radical about carrying on. But the order to stop was called from Army Headquarters (not from Gen. Mladic). It was the war and every week solution resulted with more victims", said she adding that, her position regarding signing the agreement with Republic Serb Krajina is well known. "Some others wanted to wait a bit more. May be, their destiny could be different?"(End)