The major NATO governments responded to this argument in late 1996 by setting up a task force to coordinate arrest operations carried out by the Special Air Service of the British army, the U.S. Army's Delta Force, the Navy SEAL s, and similar units from France, Holland, and Germany. No arrests were actually made until after the British Labour Party's election victory in May of 1997. Special Air Service commandos undertook the first seizure that July. The Dutch brought in two indicted Croats that December. And the Americans, who had not pressed for arrests until after Clark's appointment to lead NATO , made their first capture a month later.
Western diplomats say that about a dozen other men face sealed indictments.
Of these, fifteen surrendered voluntarily, six were arrested outside Bosnia, and seventeen were grabbed by SFOR . The British contingent has carried out ten arrest operations, and diplomats say that about eight more indicted men are still living in the British sector of Bosnia. The Americans have captured three indicted men, including a Serb general who, diplomats said, was picked up coming out of the French sector. At press time the French army had arrested only two men, one in December and another in January. The first was a low-ranking militiaman wanted on rape charges.