[ALBSA-Info] U.S. Wants to Befriend Belgrade

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

U.S. Wants to Befriend Belgrade

By GEORGE GEDDA

WASHINGTON (AP) - Despite the profound disagreement of Yugoslavia's new 
leader with many U.S. policies, the United States expects to begin quickly to 
develop a full relationship President Vojislav Kostunica's government, a 
senior official said Saturday. 

Kostunica shunned contacts with American envoys during the campaign leading 
up to last month's presidential elections, but the senior official said that 
is expected to change in the next few days. 

``We'll have some direct contacts,'' said the official, who spoke on 
condition of anonymity. 

The United States has had no diplomatic presence in Belgrade for 18 months 
because of the breakdown in relations with the government of President 
Slobodan Milosevic, ousted by Kostunica in last month's elections and massive 
demonstrations against Milosevic's efforts to keep him out. 

Over the short term, the U.S. official said the administration has been in 
discussions with European nations on ways to prevent Milosevic holdovers from 
channeling millions of dollars in government assets out of the country. 

Care must be taken, the official said, to ensure that lifting international 
sanctions against Yugoslavia does not clear the way for such looting to be 
carried out with impunity. 

``We have to make sure the new people have control,'' the official said, 
``It's going to be a hard process.'' 

The administration wants to make sure that Milosevic has no role in the new 
government before it lifts sanctions. He has said he eventually wants to 
return to politics, but the United States wants him to stand trial before the 
Balkans war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands. 

EU foreign ministers, meeting Monday in Luxembourg, are likely to remove a 
ban on commercial flights to Yugoslavia and to lift an oil embargo imposed 
during NATO's 1999 Kosovo war. 

As the administration concentrates on helping the new government get off the 
ground, it appears to have put on the back burner the fate of Milosevic now 
that he has been deposed. 

The U.S. goal for 1 1/2 years has been to get Milosevic out of power and to 
have him sent to The Hague for trial. 

Kostunica has said he will not extradite Milosevic and has called the 
tribunal a ``political institution'' with inconsistent rules, an ``American 
tool.'' 

He also was sharply critical of the U.S.-led air war last year. 

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright acknowledges Kostunica's differences 
with the United States but says it is a mistake to equate him with Milosevic. 
``He's not an ethnic cleanser,'' she said Friday. 

On the Net: State Department: http://www.state.gov/www/regions/eur/index.html