Bosnia In Danger Of Becoming Failed State, As Mladic Faces War Crime Charges

Ratko Mladic defiantly refused to enter pleas to what he called "obnoxious" allegations that as the Serb military chief during the Bosnian war he orchestrated the worst atrocities of a conflict that claimed 100,000 lives.

Appearing in a court room during his initial appearance Friday at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal in the Hague, he claimed he was defending "my people and my country." Mladic is also charged with overseeing the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica.

As many Bosnian Muslims, known as Bosniacs, celebrated the arrest of Mladic, thousands of Bosnian Serbs protested the arrest, saying Mladic is a "war hero." This comes at a time when international observers say Bosnia and Herzegovina is facing its greatest challenge since the end of the war 15 years ago and could be on the brink of another armed conflict.