Owen and Hurd deny secret deals with dictator
By Sean O'Neill
TWO former British foreign secretaries defended themselves yesterday against
claims that they helped Slobodan Milosevic to remain in power by doing
secret deals with his regime.
Lawyers for Milosevic said he could embarrass Western leaders at his war
crimes trial. He is likely to argue that he was given encouragement by Lord
Hurd, Lord Owen and other officials who negotiated with him during the
Croatian and Bosnian wars before demonising him over atrocities in Kosovo.
Lord Hurd, in particular, faces controversy over a deal he negotiated with
Milosevic in 1996, after he left the Government to become deputy chairman of
NatWest Markets. Following direct negotiations between Lord Hurd and
Milosevic, the bank won a multi-million pound contract to advise on
Yugoslavia's debt and to prepare PTT, the Serbian telecoms service, for
privatisation.
Lord Hurd, who was foreign secretary from 1989 to 1995, said: "The deal took
place in 1996, after the Dayton agreement and before the Kosovo crisis
really blew up. It occurred during a lull in which sanctions were relaxed
and we were trying to make Milosevic see sense. I don't quite see how it
could be connected with any accusations about atrocities."
Lord Owen, who was the European Union negotiator in Yugoslavia from 1992 to
1995, said he had no knowledge of any secret deals with Milosevic. "I worked
with Douglas Hurd at close quarters and I never saw any secret deals nor any
suggestion that Milosevic had struck a deal with him or the British
Government," he said.
"I would have been pretty shocked and would certainly have objected had
there been any deals. As the EU negotiator I worked very closely with the
United Nations envoys. I don't think they could have come to a deal without
me knowing and vice versa."
Serbian News Network - SNN
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http://www.antic.org/
