[ALBSA-Info] Milosevic Still a Headache

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

Milosevic Still a Headache

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) -- Once united in their desire to unseat Slobodan 
Milosevic, Yugoslavia's pro-democracy leaders are now divided on when, how 
and even if their deposed president should be made to answer for his ruinous 
rule.

President Vojislav Kostunica is urging caution. He argues that a hasty court 
trial could spark a backlash.
Other leaders would like to see justice done more quickly -- Nenad Canak, a 
leading member of the 18-party alliance backing the new government, has 
accused Kostunica of stalling proceedings against Milosevic and other key 
figures.

``Milosevic ought to be tried for something that even The Hague (U.N. 
Tribunal) does not charge him with ... grand treason, punishable by the death 
penalty,'' Canak said in comments published Sunday in the daily Blic 
newspaper, adding the former president was responsible for turning Yugoslavia 
into a pariah country during his 13-year tenure.

The demands for action come as other countries call for Yugoslavia to arrest 
and extradite Milosevic to the U.N. War Crimes Tribunal. The 
Netherlands-based court has charged him with alleged atrocities committed in 
the war in Kosovo, a province of Serbia, Yugoslavia's main republic.

Serbia's justice minister, Vladan Batic, is among the backers of extradition, 
warning that the international community wants ``serious cooperation.''

On the other end of the scale is Zoran Zizic, the Yugoslav prime minister.

Zizic, whose Montenegrin Socialists used to be allied with Milosevic, still 
refuses to completely abandon him nearly five months after a popular uprising 
forced Milosevic to acknowledge losing elections. Zizic pledged last month 
that Milosevic would not be extradited while he was still in office.

Aid worth $100 million is under threat if the new administration does not 
begin to cooperate with the U.N. Court by March 31. The money has been 
earmarked by the U.S. Congress to help restore Yugoslavia's ruined economy 
and infrastructure.

Divergent signals reflect the leadership split on Milosevic.

Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic on Saturday called cooperation with the 
Hague Tribunal a ``top priority ... so that we can continue a normal 
communication with U.S. government and EU.''

But this week, Kostunica warned against what he described as ``revolutionary 
justice,'' saying that anything that could help the cause of Milosevic 
supporters should be avoided. Some 50 die-hards have been demonstrating since 
Thursday in the street of the former leader's residence, promising to protect 
him ``with all means.''

With Milosevic covering his tracks while in office, evidence of serious 
wrongdoing is hard to find. Interior Minister Dusan Mihajlovic says the only 
concrete evidence against him so far concerns an illegal real estate 
transaction.

That, and a police investigation into reports that Milosevic moved millions 
of dollars worth of gold to Switzerland and then stashed the proceeds in 
Greek and Cypriot bank accounts, seem the strongest leads that judicial 
authorities have for now.

Carla Del Ponte, the chief U.N. tribunal prosecutor argues there's no need 
for delay, suggesting her court has more than enough to try Milosevic on war 
crimes.

``If the courts in Yugoslavia are not ready, we are,'' she said recently.

Such haste, however, is rejected by the Kostunica camp, which says it needs 
time to build a case against Milosevic at home.

``Our judiciary are not worried so much about what Carla Del Ponte thinks, 
but what citizens of this country think,'' Kostunica's advisor, Predrag 
Simic, told Blic on Sunday.