THE chief international envoy to Bosnia steps down after four years tomorrow with one profound regret: that Europe’s two most notorious alleged war criminals are still at large.

“In so far as it’s the international community’s job to arrest the former Bosnian Serb leaders Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, then it’s been a failure. There’s no other word for it,” Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon told The Times in a final interview. “It’s a point that I regret greatly.”

But he insists real progress has been made in the hunt for the two men, both charged with genocide by the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague and who have been on the run for a decade.

He cites the Bosnian Serbs’ acceptance of their involvement in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, and the recent surrender of 11 alleged Serb war criminals with links to the pair. “That breakthrough is something I look back on with a good deal of satisfaction because it is the beginning of the end for Karadzic and Mladic,” he insists.

Sitting in his office overlooking Sarajevo Lord Ashdown, 64, looks older than during his days as leader of the Liberal Democrats. Acting as the world’s plenipotentiary, rebuilding a country shattered by sectarian conflict, has not been easy. But he claims a lot of success.

The 1995 Dayton peace agreement left Bosnia divided into two entities — the Serb Republic and the Muslim Croat Federation — each with its own army, parliament, police and tax system. Thanks in large part to Lord Ashdown’s drive and energy, these two entitites have gradually had their powers cut and those of the State increased — a necessary precondition for Bosnia eventually joining the European Union and Nato. There is now a single judiciary, a single VAT system, a united intelligence service and one military structure.

“We have created the broad structures of a modern state, governing a highly decentralised country. The job has not been completed.

“But Bosnia is now on the path to Europe, something that people said four years ago was simply wild ambition,” he says. But, he complains, Bosnia still suffers from a dreadful image. “There is a chasm a million miles wide between public perception, springing from the grainy black-and-white television images of the wars of the mid-1990s, and the reality of life here. The quality of life is exceedingly high. You have wonderful mountains, you have great skiing, you have a superb coastline and hospitality is bred into the DNA of these people’s bloodstream.

“If I asked my wife or any of my female foreign employees in my office whether they’d rather walk home at night in Sarajevo or in London, the answer will always be Sarajevo.”

That affection is not always reciprocated. His popularity has fallen as he has tackled the power structures, enforcing personnel changes and big reforms. At one point he sacked 59 Bosnian Serb politicians and officials. Lord Ashdown brushes aside the criticism. “It’s my job to do what is right, not what is popular,” he says.

His powers have been roughly those of a colonial governor in the days of the British Empire. “It’s been quite frightening at times,” he concedes. “You’ve got to take decisions like sacking an elected president. You don’t do that lightly. Are you right? Are people going to object? It can be nerve-racking.

“The job has been knackering and frustrating and I do have a short fuse. But it’s been an extraordinary experience. There’s been real job satisfaction. There are few jobs where every day you do something important that affects people.”

Lord Ashdown’s wife, Jane, has lived in Bosnia with her husband for the past four years. Their ever-present bodyguards have become almost a part of the family. They even bought a summer home, though they are now selling it in order to buy a property in the Bosnian mountains that they can use for skiing and hillwalking.

They will return with “real pleasure and real joy”, says Lord Ashdown, but for now they are going back to their Somerset cottage. “I really need a break. I might scribble a book about peace stabilisation or become a jobbing gardener on the international scene.”

And perhaps reapply for the leadership of the Liberal Democrats? “No,” he replies firmly. “I’ll be there for the party and I’ll participate. I’ll support the next leader and give advice. But Bosnia is the last big job I’ll do.”

LIFE OF SERVICE

Born 1941

Educated Bedford School, Hong Kong Language School

Family Married with two children

1959-71 Served with Royal Marines in Borneo, the Gulf and Belfast

1971-76 Foreign Office. Worked in British mission to UN in Geneva

1976-81 Worked in business

1981-83 Youth officer for Dorset County Council

1983-2001 MP for Yeovil

1988-99 Leader of Liberal Democrats

2002-06 High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina

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