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Yugoslavia vows Milosevic inquiry
©Associated Press © St. Petersburg Times, published December 26, 2000 BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- With key levers of power now firmly in their hands after a sweeping election victory, Yugoslavia's reformers announced plans Monday to begin an investigation that could force Slobodan Milosevic to stand trial for ruining the country. However, the new reformist leadership gave no indication they will move quickly to extradite Milosevic to the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, which indicted him last year in atrocities committed by his forces in Kosovo. No date was set for the investigation, but Zoran Djindjic, expected to become prime minister of Yugoslavia's main republic, Serbia, said it could begin in the next few weeks. Djindjic said Milosevic must answer to his own people "for all the terrible things he has done -- starting from corruption, crime, election fraud and ordering murders" during his 13 years in power. The former strongman could be arrested if the investigation finds evidence to support criminal charges, Djindjic said. Pro-democracy leaders have made similar statements since October, when a popular uprising forced Milosevic to concede defeat to Vojislav Kostunica in the controversial federal presidential election Sept. 24. However, those statements carry more weight since Serbian voters delivered a crushing blow to Milosevic's allies in Saturday's election for the Serbian Parliament, the last bastion of the former government. With more than 98 percent of the votes counted Monday, Kostunica's pro-democracy coalition appears to have won 176 seats in the 250-member legislature. That would be enough to form a new government in Yugoslavia's main republic and control key power centers such as the judiciary and the 60,000-strong Serbian police. Many Serbs blame Milosevic for transforming Yugoslavia into an economically impoverished pariah state. At the same time, his family and the elite around him got rich through corruption and embezzlement, many Yugoslavs believe. Kostunica has refused to send Milosevic and others to The Hague because many Serbs consider the tribunal a political institution biased against them. Asked about extraditing Milosevic to the tribunal, Djindjic said the former president "shouldn't be made a victim because he is not a victim. He is a criminal." Victory by the pro-democracy forces in Saturday's election effectively removed the last vestiges of the former president's power structure. The change of administration in Serbia, which along with small Montenegro forms Yugoslavia, leaves the former leader more vulnerable to prosecution than ever. Figures released Monday by the Serbian election commission show Milosevic's once-dominant Socialists with only 37 seats in the Serbian parliament. The only other parties winning seats in Parliament were the ultranationalist Radicals with 23 and another hard-line group, the Serbian Unity Party, with 14. Djindjic said the new Serbian administration, the republic's first non-communist government since 1945, will be in place by Jan. 15, completing the pro-democracy revolution in Yugoslavia. Speaking to reporters, Djindjic pledged quick and radical economic reforms, as well as changes in the police, where Milosevic's allies, among them secret police chief Rade Markovic, still wield power. "We will absolutely demand Markovic's removal," Djindjic said. "I think he has already packed up and left his office." As Serbian government chief, Djindjic -- considered the power behind the democratic movement that ousted Milosevic -- must contend with various economic and social problems. Serbs are facing power blackouts of up to 12 hours as the deteriorating power grid fails to meet winter's demands. Power cuts Monday triggered skirmishes by angry citizens in Serbia's third-largest city, Nis. Djindjic and the new federal administration controlled by Kostunica must also resolve the status of the ethnic Albanian province of Kosovo, which is currently under U.N. and NATO control, as well as an open rebellion by ethnic Albanians on the Serbian side of the Kosovo boundary. Serbia's sister republic, Montenegro, is demanding a radical reshaping of the Yugoslav federation. Montenegro's president, Milo Djukanovic, wants complete independence for his smaller republic if Belgrade does not agree to restructure Yugoslavia as a loose confederation of independent states. Djukanovic arrived in Belgrade on Monday to attend a meeting of the Supreme Defense Council, which includes top Yugoslav leaders and military commanders. The council was expected to fire some prominent pro-Milosevic generals who have, in the past, threatened Montenegro. The council was also to discuss disbanding of the army's 7th Battalion, which is stationed in Montenegro, according to officials close to Djukanovic. A statement released after the Defense Council meeting said "staff solutions" and other military matters were discussed, but did not provide details. Kosovo deadline soughtBELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- Yugoslavia called Monday on the U.N. Security Council to set a deadline for ethnic Albanian rebels to leave the buffer zone along the boundary with Kosovo, warning that otherwise Belgrade would remove them. The threat by the federal government followed a meeting of the Yugoslav Supreme Defense Council, comprising the country's top leaders and military commanders. The government urged the U.N. body, which is overseeing the administration of Kosovo, to amend the agreement that ended last year's NATO bombing campaign and established a 3-mile security zone between the province and the rest of Serbia.
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