Bosnia Leader Critical of U.S. Official’s Praise for a Top Croat

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina —  A senior U.S. official’s praise for one of Croatia’s most strident nationalists has triggered a bitter diplomatic row and invited unusually harsh words from the Muslim president of Bosnia.

The anger of President Alija Izetbegovic comes at a time when his cooperation is needed in delicate negotiations over refugee returns, restructuring the national media and other unresolved elements of the Bosnian peace process.

Washington is one of Sarajevo’s principal allies, with Americans holding key positions in all peacekeeping organizations here, so it was startling to see such a public show of displeasure by the Bosnian leader toward a U.S. official.

The episode will probably contribute to a growing wave of anti-foreign sentiment among Bosnians who resent what they see as an international takeover of their country.

It all began with the death from cancer of Croatian Defense Minister Gojko Susak, a hard-line nationalist who directed the wartime revolt by Bosnian Croats against the Muslim-led government of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Bosnian Croats wanted to secede and join Croatia, a goal that Susak encouraged. The mini-war that followed claimed thousands of lives until a U.S.-brokered agreement in 1994 halted the fighting.

Susak is a national hero in Croatia but is seen by many Bosnians as a warmonger. Still, Jacques Klein, an American diplomat and the No. 2 international mediator in Bosnia, eulogized Susak as an exemplary leader.

Klein is the top-ranking American in the Office of the High Representative, the principal body overseeing implementation of the December 1995 peace accords that ended Bosnia’s 3 1/2-year war. Under his orders and without higher clearance, the office issued a statement last week lamenting Susak’s May 3 death and praising his role in building peace.

Klein followed the statement with an interview with Oslobodjenje, one of Sarajevo’s most respected newspapers, in which he declared Susak a man of “vision” in a region of self-interested politicians who cannot see “the larger picture.”

“Currently, there is no [other] politician who has such credibility and power,” he was quoted as saying in the interview by veteran reporter Amra Kebo.

Klein’s regard for Susak and Croatia’s equally hard-line President Franjo Tudjman is well known and is born of the cooperation they gave him when the American administered a section of Croatia captured by the Serbs in 1991 and returned to the Croats in January of this year.

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But what surprised many, including people on his own staff, was Klein’s willingness to praise Susak in the wake of violence in the west Bosnian city of Drvar, where Bosnian Croat militants in recent days have killed and beaten Bosnian Serbs, torched their houses and destroyed a U.N. police station, all to prevent the return of Serbian refugees.

The hard-liners being held responsible for the deadly violence are proteges of Susak.

Izetbegovic, Bosnia’s president throughout the war and now the Muslim representative and chairman of this nation’s three-member collective presidency, was outraged at Klein’s remarks in the newspaper interview, branding them “arrogant” and “insulting.”

Izetbegovic is normally reserved in public, in contrast to Klein’s blunt, aggressive style. The president’s language stunned observers and appeared to reflect a growing resentment among many Bosnians at the way in which international mediators are taking a greater role in running the country, after nationalist local leaders have consistently refused to cooperate in postwar reconciliation.

Klein declined to answer questions about the dispute and referred The Times to a press statement issued late last week. A press officer for the Office of the High Representative said Klein did not mean to insult Bosnians but intended to offer an “epitaph” for a man with whom he had worked closely.