BOSNIAN Serb military commander Gen Ratko Mladic was seen at a military ceremony in eastern Bosnia yesterday, despite a radio report that he had suffered a massive stroke. The independent BETA news agency said he attended a ceremony near Han Pijesak to mark the Bosnian Serb army's annual festival.
Earlier, the independent Belgrade radio station B-92 said Gen Mladic (53), had suffered a massive stroke - although it did not say when - but that he had since improved.
Gen Mladic has been indicted on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, which on Thursday began hearing evidence on the charges.
He had not been seen in public since May 21st and has spent most of his time since his indictment last year in Han Pijesak.
Nato led peacekeeping troops in Bosnia are under orders to arrest Gen Mladic and Bosnian Serb leader Dr Radovan Karadzic, likewise indicted on war crimes charges, if they come across them during their normal activities.
International envoy Mr Carl Bildt yesterday threatened to reimpose economic sanctions on Serbs in Bosnia and Belgrade if Dr Karadzic does not resign as "president" of the Bosnian Serbs by Monday.
"Karadzic has to step down by July 1st or after that sanctions will be reimposed against Republika Srpska or Federal Republic of Yugoslavia or against both," Mr Bildt's spokesman, Mr Colum Murphy, said in Sarajevo.
"The deadline will be July 1st. It has been made very clear to (Serbian Presideiit Slobodan) Mr Milosevic that sanctions will be triggered most speedily unless the appropriate influence is wielded in Pale by him and unless we see Dr Karadzic step down from public office", he added.
The Serb leader has so fir resisted all pressure on him to leave office and on Thursday vowed to run in elections due in September unless the Serb entity in the two entity nation of Bosnia - the Republika Srpska - was named a separate country.
Sanctions against federal Yugoslavia were suspended by the United Nations in November 1995, while those against the Bosnian Serbs were suspended in February. They could be reimposed within days of Mr Bildt sending a letter to the UN Security Council.
President Milosevic - who originally backed Dr Karadzic in the Bosnian war - was the signatory of the Dayton peace treaty for the Serbs and is held responsible by the West for securing his removal from power. On Tuesday, he called publicly for Dr Karadzic to leave office as "president" of the Bosnian Serbs immediately.
Meanwhile in Stockholm, a Swedish newspaper said the UN war crimes court will indict Croatian President Mr Franjo Tudjman within six to eight months over atrocities committed when his army recaptured a Serb held region of Croatia last year. The Dagens Nylieter quoted what it called a reliable source at the court.