Croatia Promotes Indicted General U.S. Vows Troubled Relations If War Criminals Ignored

The United States warned Croatia on Wednesday that its relations with Washington will suffer if it ignores its obligation to hand over suspected war criminals to an international tribunal.

The warning followed President Franjo Tudjman’s promotion of a Bosnian Croat general indicted for war crimes to a top army post in Croatia - a move apparently intended to defy the U.N. tribunal in The Hague and protect Gen. Tihomir Blaskic.

Under U.S. pressure, Tudjman has publicly supported a Muslim-Croat federation in neighboring Bosnia. But his protection of ethnic Croats indicted for atrocities in Bosnia shows he has not relinquished his dream of annexing parts of that country to create a Greater Croatia one day.

U.S. Ambassador Peter Galbraith told reporters Wednesday he was particularly surprised by Tudjman’s timing: The Croatian president promoted Blaskic on Tuesday, one day after the war crimes tribunal announced indictments against Blaskic and five other Bosnian Croats.

“Mr. Blaskic has been indicted as a war criminal,” Galbraith said. “If Mr. Blaskic is physically present (in Croatia), there is a clear, legal obligation to hand him over to The Hague.

“This is the factor that will affect our relations,” Galbraith warned.

Prime Minister Zlatko Matesa told Wednesday’s edition of the weekly newspaper Globus that Croatia would cooperate with the tribunal only “in the framework of its national interests.”