[ALBSA-Info] Reaction Mixed on Milosevic Appearance

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

Reaction Mixed on Milosevic Appearance

By FISNIK ABRASHI
  
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) - Ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, the targets of 
Slobodan Milosevic's brutal campaign of violence and terror, greeted his 
arraignment Tuesday with swearing, shouting and a profound sense of 
satisfaction. 

``It is so good to see him there, even though it is way too nice for him 
there,'' said Faton Aliu, 26, who watched Milosevic's defiant appearance 
before the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, from a tea 
house. Swearing and shouts of ``Bravo!'' went up as Milosevic appeared on the 
TV screen. 

``It is way too late, but better late then never,'' Aliu said. ``It is over 
for him now.'' 

Shefki Makolli, a 39-year-old cigarette vendor, could not hide his pleasure 
as he watched the arraignment, which was televised live across Serb province 
of Kosovo, and much of the Balkans. 

``He is a real fox. He is going to try to ridicule the court. He deserves 
much worse,'' Makolli said. 

Others refused to watch, affecting a studied disinterest and pretending to 
read the newspapers. 

``I do not want to see his eyes while he is alive,'' said Ibrahim Hoxha, 31. 
``Tell me when he is dead.'' 

In Belgrade, a prominent lawyer, Vladimir Gajic, said he wasn't surprised at 
Milosevic's tough stance before the tribunal. 

``That's how he ruled the country and negotiated with foreigners: At first he 
was tough, and then he would go soft, accepting much more than was demanded 
from him,'' he said. 

``This was the show for his supporters back home. His defiance will encourage 
his supporters (in Serbia), but it will not help him a lot in the court,'' 
Gajic said. 

Peca Ristic, a staunch supporter of Milosevic, watched the court proceedings 
at a downtown Belgrade cafe. 

``Slobo was great in the court,'' Ristic declared. 

``That's our Slobo, our hero. He's defending our Serbian pride in front of 
those Western terrorists and Serb haters,'' said Milan Spasojevic, 65, a 
retiree. 

``He'll show them all what they have to deal with. Serbs cannot be pushed 
like garbage. You'll see. He'll come back home as a hero, and those Western 
bandits will be kissing his feet,'' Spasojevic said. 

But Maja Dragicevic, a university student, said Milosevic's defiance was 
incomprehensible. 

``He's gone nuts,'' she said. ``This character has ruled this country for 
such a long time. No wonder the country is in the shape it is. We're lucky 
that he's gone - hopefully forever.'' 

Although Milosevic is indicted only for war crimes committed in Kosovo, the 
tribunal has said it is also building a case against him for atrocities 
committed in Bosnia and Croatia during the breakup of the former Yugoslavia 
in the early 1990s. 

Anticipating eventual charges against him from those conflicts, about 10 
women who survived an infamous massacre of thousands of Bosnian Muslims at 
Srebrenica angrily watched Tuesday's arraignment in downtown Sarajevo. 

Among them was Advija Sehomerovic, who lost her husband, her brother-in-law 
and other family members. 

``We are looking for 10,700 of our dearest who died during the fall of 
Srebrenica in 1995,'' she said. ``He should have been in The Hague a long 
time ago. There is no punishment great enough for him.''