INTERNATIONAL demands for the removal of the Bosnian Serb leader, Dr Radovan Karadzic, came close to home yesterday as the US envoy, Mr Richard Holbrooke, headed back to Belgrade to put pressure on President Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia to surrender his former protege.
Yugoslav officials summoned Bosnian Serb leaders from Pale to the capital to discuss intensifying pressure for the arrest of Dr Karadzic on war crimes charges even as threats mounted to retaliate against UN personnel if he was.
Dr Karadzic's aides were accompanied to Belgrade by Mr Jovica Stanisic, the powerful head of Mr Milosevic's special police.
Mr Holbrooke was understood to be warning Mr Milosevic to remo Dr Karadzic from power and from Bosnia - to allow his arrest without using Nato troops in the peace implementation force, Ifor or face economic sanctions. The US envoy held more talks after four inconclusive hours on Wednesday.
If Mr Holbrooke, known in the region for his successful bullying, cannot do the trick, then Bosnia's post war elections - central to the faltering Dayton peace process - may be delayed, cancelled or rendered meaningless.
As the heat was turned up on Belgrade, officials reported new Bosnian Serb threats to capture and kill UN police monitors if Dr Karadzic is arrested.