Where Are They?

French Foreign Minister Herve De Charette's visit to Belgrade on Wednesday, October 19, focused on strengthening bilateral relations, a statement from President Milosevic's cabinet said and added that the talks were open and cordial and useful for an exchange of views. De Charette had no intention of spoiling that picture: during a press conference he praised traditional Serb-French friendship, Serb hospitality, the monument to France on Kalemegdan. As a polite guest, he tried to make as little mention as possible of the one thing reporters were really interested in: the two French pilots whose Mirage was downed over Bosnian Serb territory on August 30. "I raised that issue with President Milosevic since it is very important to France," he said diplomatically, "but for now there is no news".

Unlike De Charette, Radovan Karadzic had something to report. He told a Banja Luka press conference that same day that the pilots had been held by the RS authorities ("that is, they were in hospital"), "but someone has kidnapped them". If he is to be believed, Karadzic has no idea who the kidnappers are. "We expected the group to demand a ransom from the French government or a Moslem group, if they took them, to hand them over to the French government. I have ordered an investigation," he said.

Captain Frederic Chifault, the pilot of the Mirage 2000, and his navigator, Lt. Jose Souvignet, ejected from their plane when it was hit somewhere near Pale and that is the only thing that is certain. Until Karadzic made his kidnapping statement, none of the Bosnian Serb leaders officially knew anything about the two men; unofficially the Bosnian Serb Army circulated a story that more or less all the press published which said the two pilots were captured by farmer Petar Casovic near Pale. He and his neighbors pushed them around a bit, took what they wanted of their equipment and then turned them over to the nearest army unit. Since both men were injured they were taken to Visegrad hospital where, the story says, Ratko Mladic himself saw them.

Since then (the story is about a month old) Serb sources, both civilian and military kept quiet; even usually well informed sources had no information on the two Frenchmen leading some people to conclude they were dead. More probably, they are still in Serb hands but the term Serb authorities has a very wide connotation. "The Serb forces are broken up much more than they seem to be between Belgrade, Pale, Banja Luka and perhaps something I have forgotten," French Foreign Minister Charles Millon said last week.

One thing is certain: Karadzic's story is believed by few but perhaps from his own point of view he is telling the truth. If they are alive, whoever is holding them will want to achieve maximum gains; perhaps asylum in one of the former French colonies. If the army is holding the pilots their first concern is to prevent Karadzic or someone like him from getting their hands on the two men.

In the meantime, France is quietly but persistently pressuring the leader of all Serbs for help. Milosevic is reported to have personally promised Chirac that he will do everything to get the pilots released but so far without any result. What is certain is that the French government is trying to keep the fuss over the pilots to a minimum. That is within the country's tradition especially in regard to professional soldiers whose jobs include risks. That does not mean the two pilots will be forgotten even if it turns out they are dead. Here's an example from recent history to bear in mind: in 1981, a group of members of the Syrian armed forces assassinated the French ambassador in Beirut. France mourned the man with no big fuss but her secret services managed to locate the Syrians and kill them all. They gave up on further action only when Syria apologized to France.

Some will say that Bosnia is not Syria or Lebanon and that is right. Still, bear in mind the mysterious explosions near Pale two months ago which the American press said were in retaliation for the deaths of several Frenchmen in Sarajevo. That's something for the kidnappers of the pilots to think about, whoever they are.