The United Nations high representative to Bosnia said on Saturday there could be no long-term stability in the country until its two most wanted war crimes suspects were brought to justice. Britain's Paddy Ashdown, who stands down in January from the post he has held since 2002, said astonishing progress had been made since the Dayton peace accord was signed in 1995 ending a three-year war between Muslims, Serbs and Croats. But he said there would be "unfinished business" until General Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic were caught and brought before the Hague war crimes tribunal. Mladic, and his wartime political leader Karadzic are indicted for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslims and for the siege of Sarajevo which claimed over 10,000 lives during the 1992-95 Bosnia war. "Ten years after Dayton, that these two primary architects of these appalling crimes should still be free is a failure on all sides," Ashdown told BBC radio. "We need to recognize that the job of stabilization of Bosnia-Herzegovina is not done until justice is established, and justice is not established until these two people are in the Hague." He said the greatest blame lay with the Serb authorities who had refused to cooperate with the international hunt for the men for nine of the last 10 years. Serbia has now handed over 13 suspects to the tribunal.
