From: Rick Rozoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: "STOP NATO: ¡NO PASARAN!" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Saturday March 31, 7:09 PM Milosevic refuses "to be taken alive", army obstructs arrest BELGRADE, March 31 (AFP) - Former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, aided by groups of loyalists and some army elements, stubbornly refused "to be taken alive" Saturday as police surrounding his home came under fire during attempts to bring him to justice. In the latest incident in hours of confusion, some 200 supporters shouting "Slobo, Slobo, We will not give you away!" broke through two police cordons to reach the main gate of his residence in the up-market suburb of Dedinje. When police tried to disperse them, the protestors began a sit-in, and a vehicle carrying special police to the area turned back rather than face the demonstrators. But Serbian Interior Minister Dusan Mihajlovic pledged Milosevic would be detained, using force if necessary. "We will execute our task," Mihajlovic said. "Milosevic will either have to turn himself in to the investigating judge or we will detain him by force or peacefully." He would remain "under house arrest until he is brought to justice." Milosevic's villa in the quiet suburb has been the scene of confusion since darkness fell over the city Friday, when police moved in to arrest Milosevic only to face resistance from his supporters. The move came ahead of a Saturday midnight deadline from Washington to the new Belgrade authorities to cooperate with the international war crimes tribunal in order to win massive aid for the country. Mihajlovic warned that the police were being "prevented" from executing the arrest because of the presence of heavily-armed men in Milosevic's residence. The storming by Serbian police of the residence grounds overnight Friday left two officers and a photographer injured. An AFP reporter at the scene said the first shots had appeared to come from inside the house, where a group of Milosevic loyalists, some of them armed, were believed to be holding out. In spite of the drama surrounding the bid to detain Milosevic, world leaders said it was the beginning of the end for the ousted leader, who is alleged responsible for war crimes in the Balkans in the early 1990s. "Whatever the actual hour-by-hour blow is in relation to events in Belgrade, this is plainly the end game for Milosevic," British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said. "He has got very, very few people turning up to demonstrate support for him this morning," Cook said, adding: "Hopefully we are now approaching that moment when he will actually be under arrest and standing trial." In Washington, President George W. Bush said: "We will cooperate in any way that we're asked to." Speaking to reporters after hours of nighttime drama, Mihajlovic said the former head of state had informed a police official that he would not be taken alive. And Yugoslav army elite units, he said, "did not want to allow" police into the house and instead handed over the keys to Milosevic supporters, who were armed with automatic weapons. "The army effectively took orders from unauthorized personnel in the service of Milosevic," Mihajlovic said. He added that an agreement to exchange army units guarding Milosevic with police officers "was not carried out due to obstruction by the Yugoslav army." "The army did not let us exchange people in charge of security, but it allowed Milosevic to maintain his personal guards," Mihajlovic said. Elite Yugoslav army units have been guarding the presidential residence, where Milosevic has continued to live despite his ouster as president last October. "After several attempts to enter the residence by authorised police officials and the investigating judge, special units of the Serbian police were engaged," Mihajlovic said. He insisted that the special police forces had come under fire from the house. "Faced with fire from the house, police halted the operation and Milosevic informed a police official that he would not go to jail alive," Mihajlovic said. He explained that all but one of Milosevic's guards had been removed from the residence, in which "numerous automatic weapons, two machine guns, two rocket launchers and many hand grenades" were spotted. Earlier Saturday, the Belgrade daily Politika reported that Yugoslav army Chief of Staff General Nebojsa Pavkovic had prevented Milosevic's arrest. "The order for Milosevic's arrest was issued by the authorized body, but (the arrest) was prevented at the last moment" by Pavkovic, the daily said, quoting a Serbian justice ministry source. The Politika report said that the army chief of staff could not have taken a decision to prevent Milosevic's arrest on his own initiative. "He would have no right to take it. Someone else, more powerful than him, must have issued such an order," the daily said. Pavkovic's ultimate superior is President Vojislav Kostunica, who is supreme commander of the Yugoslav army. Asked whether Pavkovic could be accused of being "accomplice" to a criminal deed, Mihajlovic said: "No." "But other representatives of the Yugoslav army are responsible for obstruction" of the police tasks, he said. _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
