Where Is Serb Strongman Radovan Karadzic?

By Massimo Calabresi/Trebinje

So where is Radovan Karadzic? Probably in Serb-held Herzegovina, a barren wedge of land running from eastern Bosnia south toward the Adriatic. "He's here," says Bozidar Vucurevic, formerly of Karadzic's Serb Democratic Party in the region, "And he's defended not by any special troops but by the people." Says a local party member: "It's not easy to make an arrest in Herzegovina. We're not cowards. It wouldn't happen without consequences."

Perhaps. In the exaggerated mythology of the Balkans, eastern Herzegovina is the hard heart of Serb nationalism. The inhabitants pride themselves on being as inhospitable to interlopers as the rocky soil is to farming. "We see them as occupiers," a local Serbian Orthodox priest says of the NATO troops in the region. Also convenient for Karadzic is the region's extended, porous border with Serbia and Montenegro that provides ample escape routes in case of a snatch attempt. Most important, the entire region is in the French sector of NATO operations in Bosnia. Statistically, that is the safest place to be: of the 12 indicted war criminals detained by NATO troops, only one was taken in the French zone.

Herzegovians like to take the credit for that themselves, pointing to their defiant nature. At the Tvrdos monastery outside Trebinje, Bishop Atanasije Jevtic, head of the Herzegovina diocese, says NATO has disturbed archaeological work on the 4th century foundations of his abbey in search of Karadzic. "Can you imagine if we came to your church with tanks?" he says. "They can come and take me to the Hague, and I'd welcome it!" In the musty office of the Association of Gusle Players and Epic Poets in a downtown hotel, Mitar Djogo is similarly defiant. After playing a few notes on the gusle, a primitive, one-stringed instrument that produces a noise akin to the bleating of sheep, Djogo says, "All Herzegovina will rise to defend him."

Such boasts carry little weight with the NATO forces. Says a well-placed officer in Trebinje: "If we detain Karadzic, nothing will happen. They have too many other problems." The only impediments to his capture, say those working for peace in Bosnia, are in Washington, Paris and other capitals. Says U.S. diplomat Jacques Klein: "There won't be real justice until these people have their day in court."

--By Massimo Calabresi/Trebinje