[ALBSA-Info] Press: The Independent, 16/11/2000

[Agron Alibali]

The Independent (London) 


November 16, 2000, Thursday 

FOREIGN NEWS; Pg. 16 

ANGER AS EU LIFTS TRAVEL BANS ON MILOSEVIC ALLIES 

Vesna Peric Zimonjic In Belgrade And Stephen Castle In
Brussels 


THE EUROPEAN Union provoked anger and bemusement in
Belgrade yesterday when it included a notorious former
secret police chief and an army chief on the list of
those now permitted to travel to the EU without visas.


The decision to relax the EU's visa ban imposed on
associates of the former president, Slobodan
Milosevic, was taken to help to improve relations with
Serbia. But the lifting of the entry ban on the head
of Serbia's secret police, Radomir Markovic, provoked
consternation in Belgrade. 

Mr Markovic's secret police are believed to have been
involved in a series of politically motivated killings
and abductions that still remain unsolved. The cases
include the death last year of Slavko Curuvija, a
journalist, and the car crash that killed four aides
of the opposition leader, Vuk Draskovic. 

Mr Markovic is also thought to have been implicated in
the abduction of Ivan Stambolic, the president of
Serbia who was toppled by Mr Milosevic in 1987. 

Others now free to visit the EU include Nebojsa
Ravkovic, the army chief of staff, who led the army in
Kosovo during Nato's air campaign last year, when
hundreds of thousands of ethnic Albanian refugees fled
in fear of repression. The relaxation of the visa ban
also includes Momir Bulatovic, the former federal
prime minister. 

Zarko Korac, one of the leaders of Democratic
Opposition of Serbia (DOS) told The Independent: "The
decision of the EU is completely unreasonable and
counter-productive. It seems that someone totally
incompetent worked on it." He said DOS was not
consulted by the EU about the list. 

Zoran Djindjic, another DOS leader, said: "It looks
like the suggestions on lifting the visa ban were
given by someone sympathetic to the former regime of
Slobodan Milosevic." 

EU officials suggested that the new President of
Yugoslavia, Vojislav Kostunica, had been consulted and
pointed out that no one indicted by the war crimes
tribunal in The Hague was included. Diplomats see the
concession to Mr Markovic as a reward for his refusal
to risk a bloodbath in defence of Mr Milosevic's
regime in September's uprising. 

They believe that Mr Kostunica wanted to make the
gesture to help to stabilise the political climate
inside Serbia. They added, however, that the decision
was not irreversible and that the list could be
amended at regular intervals. 

In Belgrade there was intense interest in the list,
which was published in newspapers. The names of the
former Serbian justice minister Dragoljub Jankovic and
a journalist, Tatjana Lenard, were also among those
removed. Under Mr Jankovic, the Serbian judiciary
routinely ran mock trials. Ms Lenard was, until 5
October, editor of the information programme of Radio
Television of Serbia (RTS), which was renowned for
fuelling nationalist, pro-war sentiments. She is a
close ally of Mr Milosevic's wife, Mira Markovic. 

The reaction to yesterday's relaxation illustrates the
difficulties facing EU policy-makers as they attempt
to improve ties with Mr Kostunica's Serbia. 

Almost as soon as Mr Kostunica was installed, Hubert
Vedrine, the Foreign Minister of France -which holds
the rotating EU presidency and which has long backed
the removal of sanctions - visited Belgrade. 

Meanwhile, the European Commission pointed out that it
was not responsible for drawing up the visa ban list,
which is compiled by the member states in the Council
of Ministers. 

Most sanctions are being dismantled, although there
remains an asset freeze on about 600 of Mr Milosevic's
closest allies and financial sanctions against some
specific institutions. The UN arms embargo also
remains in place. 

t President Kostunica used a debut appearance at the
European Parliament in Strasbourg yesterday to press
Yugoslavia's case for joining the EU, but he said it
first needed support to rebuild its shattered economy.


Diplomats in Brussels said the EU had agreed on aid to
Serbia worth "about two billion euros" (pounds 1.2bn)
through to 2006. 

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