THE BOSNIAN Serbs have handed case files on 16 prisoners they are holding to international officials, according to the office of Mr Carl Bildt, the senior civilian official overseeing the peace process. But the Serbs have still not complied with the conditions set out by Mr Bildt to allow them to attend a key donor conference on Bosnia due in Brussels next weekend.
Failure to meet the conditions would bar them from the conference, Mr Bildt said.
The files, detailing charges of war crimes, were given to Mr Bildt's office late on Saturday, a day after a deadline set for all the former warring parties to release prisoners or hand over full information on whom they were holding.
The files covered 13 prisoners of war already registered by the International Committee of the Red Cross and three prisoners who had not previously been registered. No files were submitted on another three prisoners registered by the Red Cross as being held by the Serbs, Mr Bildt's office said.
All the files were forwarded to the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague by Mr Bildt's office. It said in a statement that the Serbs had not provided details on three POWs registered by the Red Cross, nor had they assembled detainees at one specified place so that UN police and Red Cross officials could have continuous access to them.
"These conditions (for attending the Brussels conference) have been met by the authorities of the (Muslim Croat) federation partners. They have still nob been met by the authorities of the Republika Srpska, the statement said. It added that the 16 prisoners were being held in different areas within Serb held territory and not near Pale - the site designated by Mr Bildt's office for them to have been held.
However, Tanjug news agency in Belgrade quoted the head of the Serb prisoner exchange commission, Mr Dragan Bulajic, as saying that the Serbs had respected the rules of the Dayton peace agreement on releasing prisoners. And Mr Momcilo Krajisnik, speaker of the Bosnian Serbs assembly accused Mr Bildt of siding with the Muslims on the issue. Quoted by the Bosnian Serb news agency, SRNA, Mr Krajisnik said: "It is obvious that there is an agreement with the Muslim side, which insists the Serbs be prevented from gaining any economic help."
The European Union and World Bank are jointly organising the conference in Brussels at the weekend, which aims to raise $1.2 billion in pledges of aid for Bosnia this year, to add to some $600 million already raised.
In Sarajevo yesterday Catholics celebrated their first post war Easter amid the ruins of battle and prayed for a lasting peace. Bishop Pero Sudar led Mass for some 200 worshippers in a destroyed church in the Sarajevo suburb of Stup.
The church building had its roof blown off by artillery and its interior burnt out in Bosnia's 3 1/2 year war. It has only just returned to use. Spring sunshine fell through the open roof onto the faces of worshippers as Bishop Sudar led them in prayers that Bosnia's millions of refugees might be able to return to their homes.
He appealed for help in rebuilding the church in the western suburb that used to be known as "Little Rome" because of the number of Roman Catholics living nearby.
Church officials said they believed there were around 25-30,000 Croat Catholics in the city, less than a tenth of the majority Muslim population. The city's Serb minority celebrates Orthodox Easter in a week's time.
In Sarajevo's main cathedral hundreds more Catholics gathered alongside soldiers from Nato's peacekeeping mission.