U.S. skeptical on Milosevic extradition Monday, 25 June 2001 18:28 (ET) U.S. skeptical on Milosevic extradition By ELI J. LAKE WASHINGTON, June 25 (UPI) -- Despite steps in Belgrade over the weekend that could lead to Slobodan Milosevic's extradition to the Hague War Crimes Tribunal, the United States is still holding off backing an international donors' conference vital to the recovery of Yugoslavia's war ravaged economy, officials said Monday. On Monday, Yugoslav Justice Minister Mimcilo Grubac forwarded a demand from the tribunal for Milosevic's arrest to a Belgrade district court. Grubac's action followed a decree by Yugoslavia's federal government requiring all agencies to cooperate with the Hague tribunal, which indicted Milosevic in 1999 for ordering his army to rid Kosovo of its Albanians. Ousted Serb President Milosevic -- currently languishing in a Belgrade jail on corruption charges -- has vowed to fight extradition. The World Bank has scheduled its donors' conference for June 29 in Brussels and U.S. participation in it is seen as critical if Yugoslavia is to secure the $1.25 billion it hopes to receive. The United States controls 17 percent of the vote in the World Bank and so far Washington has withheld its participation, hoping to leverage Belgrade into extraditing Milosevic and others indicted by the Hague Tribunal. "We have not made a decision, we have not made a determination," the State Department's deputy spokesman, Phil Reeker, said Monday. "We need to see cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal." Other State Department officials told United Press International they are looking for more concrete steps from Vojislav Kostunica's government in Belgrade. On April 3, Secretary of State Colin Powell conditioned U.S. participation in the donors' conference on further cooperation with the tribunal in The Hague. Powell did not specify which actions he would like to see Yugoslavia take, and State Department officials have said since that they are wary of providing the Yugoslav leadership with a list of conditions. "We've said Yugoslavia has to meet its obligation of full cooperation with the council," one State Department official told UPI Monday. "We have not told them you have to do A, B and C. We don't want to give them a laundry list. Some people believe if we give them a list, they will only do the bare minimum." The source said the U.S. was looking for more tangible steps such as the transfer of war criminals still living in Serbia to The Hague; access to archived documents; access to witnesses; and the freedom of movement for U.N. investigators on the ground in Yugoslavia. Although officials see the Belgrade decree as a significant advance, they want more before reaching a decision on the donors' conference. "I think this is an important step, but actually following through on the cooperation is essential. The hard issue for the U.S. govt. is whether there are more steps they need to see in the next day or two before they make a decision on the donor's conference," said Jim O'Brien, the Balkans policy co-ordinator of the Clinton administration. Tim Rieser, the majority clerk for the Senate foreign operations subcommittee -- the panel that oversees the U.S. foreign aid budget -- told UPI Monday that Senator Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the chairman of that committee, sees no reason why the United States should have to schedule when it gives assistance to Belgrade on the World Bank's time line. "Our view is we can pledge money to Serbia when there is cooperation with the war crimes tribunal. There is nothing magic about June 29," he said. Leahy, along with Senator Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., authored the amendment in September to condition U.S. aid to Yugoslavia on cooperation with The Hague. Both men persuaded Powell to vote against an International Monetary Fund package to Yugoslavia earlier this month. Nick Van Praag, a spokesman for the World Bank told UPI Monday, "We've long been aware of the U.S. position and we sincerely hope they will be able to attend." Van Praag said the bank had hoped to raise $1.25 billion in pledges from countries and organizations participating in the conference for the first year of a recovery program for Yugoslavia. "Obviously if the United States participates we are far more likely to achieve this target." -- Copyright 2001 by United Press International. All rights reserved. -- Miroslav Antic, http://www.antic.org/ STOP NOVOM SVETSKOM PORETKU ==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?bUrBE8.bVKZIq Or send an email To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This email was sent to: archive@jab.org T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
