Word: mladic
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...affixed their signatures to the document under the crystal chandeliers of the Elysee Palace, Chirac and Clinton huddled alone in Chirac's second-floor office. The crux of their discussion that evening was what to do about Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander, General Ratko Mladic. A senior French official who had recently returned from Bosnia had convinced Chirac that Mladic and Karadzic still controlled the situation on the ground and could derail the accords at any time...
Clinton had heard this argument before. On Nov. 22, the day after the Dayton talks ended, the U.S. President had met with his advisers in the White House to assess the agreement. With his characteristic verve, Holbrooke had urged that Karadzic and Mladic be arrested and tried by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the Hague. But the rules of engagement specified that peacekeepers could arrest suspects only if they "happened" upon them. It was an ambiguity that allowed Karadzic to drive unmolested through several NATO checkpoints after Dayton...
Then, with the ink hardly dry on the accords, the French President was calling for bold action. Chirac was especially angry at Karadzic and Mladic that evening because he had just learned that two captive French pilots whom Chirac had got released had been very badly treated during their captivity. Mladic had reportedly told them, "You are my prisoners, and you will be treated as criminals." Clinton too had been concerned for the pilots. According to a senior French military official, there were two secret Franco-American combat search-and-rescue missions to recover them, but the forces were beaten...
Lykourezos said he has also been retained by General Ratko Mladic, who oversaw the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of civilians as Karadzic's military chief...
Allies of Karadzic, including Belgrade attorney Kosta Cavoski, have indicated that he will shift the blame for wartime atrocities to Mladic and to Yugoslav Federal Republic president Slobodan Milosevic, who has been granted conditional immunity...