THE SERB Democratic Party (SDS) which controls the Serbheld half of Bosnia, was huddled behind closed doors yesterday picking candidates for the September elections. The head of the selection committee appointed unanimously last Friday was Radovan Karadzic.
There could be no clearer demonstration of how the international community's failure to lever the Bosnian Serb leader out of power is casting a shadow over the prospects for long term peace in the Balkans.
A source in the Serb stronghold of Pale said Dr Karadzic would use the vetting procedure to filter out moderates, concentrated in the western city of Banja Luka.
"Up to now, you've been hearing different things from Pale and Banja Luka. The new party lists will bring things more into line, the source said on condition of anonymity, which is the only way Bosnian Serb dissidents talk these days.
A brief flowering of independent thinking in Banja Luka in May has since been stifled. Now only hard line separatists are likely to find a place on the party lists and so, given the SDS dominance of Bosnian Serb politics, elections are increasingly likely to deepen Bosnia's partition.
Claims over the weekend by the international community's High Representative, Mr Carl Bildt, that Dr Karadzic had stepped down were exposed as nonsense by the Serb separatist's open display of power. His deputy, Ms Biljana Plavsic, said he had only delegated his functions to her temporarily to concentrate on the elections.
Meanwhile, in the southern Bosnian city of Mostar, Muslim and Croat nationalist parties took more than 90 per cent of the vote in EU sponsored elections.
The Muslim Party of Democratic Action, which rules east Mostar, won 48 per cent and the separatist Croats who run west Mostar 45 per cent in the vote for a single city council.
Dr Karadzic's flexing of political muscle also exposed Nato's limitations. The Nato led peacekeeping force, Ifor, said last month it had increased its patrols in Pale to cramp Dr Karadzic's style. In theory, Ifor troops have the authority to arrest war criminals like Dr Karadzic if they run into them in the normal course of their duties.
But there was little sign of Ifor in the mountain villages yesterday, and recent press surveys have found that very few of the 69,000 strong force would recognise the Serb leader if he walked up and shook them by the hand.
Mr Bildt's deputy, Mr Michael Steiner, issued a challenge to his own putative employers, the major powers, to make good on their threat of sanctions made at the G7 summit in Lyons on Friday.
"It is now up to the international community to follow up its solemn words with actions" Mr Steiner said, describing the present situation a "intolerable".
He conceded that Mr Bildt had the power to trigger sanctions on his own, and would consider his next move on returning to Sarajevo from Stockholm last night.
His remarks recalled the days of the United Nation's mission in Bosnia (Unprofor) from 1992 to 1995, which was reduced by timidity and lack of international consensus to near paralysis in its dealings with the Serbs.
International cohesion is further undermined by persistent off the record sniping between Nato and Mr Bildt's office. Each institution wants the other to deal with Dr Karadzic.
Officials in the High Representative's office were fuming yesterday over anonymous remarks to the press by Nato officers ridiculing Mr Bildt's apparent gaffe. They in turn accuse Ifor of doing everything possible to avoid confronting Dr Karadzic.
Both Nato officers and Mr Bildt's aides are hopeful that the campaign to get rid of Dr Karadzic will be given fresh impetus after the second round of the Russian elections tomorrow. Western governments have been reluctant to take tough action partly for fear of arousing proSerb nationalist sentiment in Russia and damaging Boris Yeltsin's chances.
Reuter adds from Rome: THE US Defence Secretary, Mr William Perry, said yesterday that Dr Karadzic had to be excluded from all influence but the US had not yet decided what action to take to secure his removal.