Tudjman Hospitalized

WASHINGTON, D.C.: Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, a central force behind the Dayton peace accords, has been admitted to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, though few details regarding his condition have been confirmed. The Croatians say Tudjman is being treated for a gastric ulcer and inflamed lymph nodes and is otherwise fine. While U.S. refuses to comment on why he is in the hospital, the Associated Press has cited an anonymous U.S. official's report that he is suffering from advanced cancer. "Tudjman is unlikely to die in the next few days," says TIME's Bruce Nelan. "It is unlikely that the Croatians would have waited until he was at death's door before bringing him over to the U.S. But if Tudjman is removed from the game, Croatia will have lost a man who is arguably the most nationalistic ideologue in former Yugoslavia, and who never gave up on the idea of dividing Bosnia between Croatia and Serbia. Tudjman's eventual successor may be under the same nationalistic pressures."