ELGRADE,
Serbia, June 30 � Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic of Serbia said today that
he had feared that the army would try to stop the transfer of Slobodan
Milosevic to an international tribunal this week and that he had set up
an elaborate series of ruses and decoys to spirit the former president
out of the country.
He also said the police who organized the transfer were ready, if necessary,
for a confrontation with the army, which is controlled by his political
rival, President Vojislav Kostunica of Yugoslavia, who was against the
transfer.
"We were ready to take the responsibility for the consequences," he
said in an interview.
Mr. Djindjic said he worried that any delay in the transfer would have
allowed time for Mr. Milosevic's supporters to rally round the prison and
obstruct the transfer.
"We did not know what would be the reactions of the army," the 48- year-old
prime minister said. "We had tactics to confuse. We had three cars; one
went to the airport, the second to the military airport, and the third
to the helicopter airport. And no one knew which car had Milosevic."
The photograph of a police van that has been seen around the world was
not the vehicle containing Mr. Milosevic, he said. "The world was watching
one, and it was wrong," he said.
At the airport, they had another decoy. "We knew if they were going
to intervene, they would intervene at the airport," he said. "And we had,
of course, one airplane coming from Montenegro, a small airplane, and all
at the airport thought this was for Milosevic. But he was transferred by
helicopter."
Mr. Djindjic said he had learned from the mistakes made when the police
forces bungled the arrest of Mr. Milosevic at the end of March; a precarious
two-day standoff ensued at his home after the police encountered opposition
from the army and armed supporters of the former president.
But he said that he spoke with the army chief of staff, Gen. Nebojsa
Pavkovic, a few hours after the transfer and that the general, who served
under Mr. Milosevic and is close to his family, assured him that whatever
had happened in the past and on Thursday, the army would not interfere
in the future.
Mr. Djindjic, as prime minister of Serbia, the larger of the two republics
that make up Yugoslavia, has control of the police forces in Serbia, but
does not command the army, which is a Yugoslav institution and answers
to President Kostunica.
Mr. Kostunica said today that he had not been informed of the decision
to transfer Mr. Milosevic to the United Nations tribunal at The Hague and
rebuked members of the government alliance who suggested that he had supported
the transfer.
"I never said at any D.O.S. meeting that I supported the extradition
of Milosevic or any other indictee to the Hague tribunal," Mr. Kostunica
said in a statement carried by Tanjug state news agency, referring to the
Democratic Opposition of Serbia, the 18-party alliance that he heads.
Mr. Kostunica has opposed transfer of Yugoslav nationals to The Hague,
although he had committed himself to cooperating with the tribunal.
Mr. Djindjic has said Mr. Kostunica was aware of his determination to
keep his word to the international community and above all to Secretary
of State Colin L. Powell. He said Mr. Powell had told him that the United
States would take part in an important donor's conference for Yugoslavia
on Friday, if he promised to carry out a decree issued last weekend that
committed the government to sending Mr. Milosevic to The Hague.
"At this moment, I said to Kostunica, should I promise, and he said
`yes,' " Mr. Djindjic said.
When the Constitutional Court moved to block the government decree on
Thursday, declaring it unconstitutional, Mr. Djindjic said he was prepared
to resign.
Putting off the transfer, which has provoked ambivalence among some
Serbs who feel that the tribunal is biased against them, would have been
a step backward, he said.
He said he was prepared to take any drop in his own popularity in the
interests of securing international good will and aid � $1.28 billion of
which was promised by Western donors the day after Mr. Milosevic was transferred.
"You cannot do anything with popularity," he said, "but you can with
credits."
Mr. Djindjic acknowledged differences with Mr. Kostunica and members
of his party, and said they had to decide whether they wanted to be part
of the democratic world or whether to wait. "But the waiting room is outside,"
he said.
His priority in handing over Mr. Milosevic was to enhance Yugoslavia's
reputation and credibility in the world, he said. But he also said he had
changed his mind on the need to try Mr. Milosevic in Serbia, partly because
the investigation into him at home on charges of corruption had faltered
for lack of hard evidence.
He said he did not expect much political fallout from Mr. Milosevic's
transfer. The opposition parties that still support Mr. Milosevic were
much weakened and represented little threat, he said.
The collapse of the Yugoslav government, which came apart on Friday
when some members withdrew in anger over the transfer, will be solved by
some new arrangement, he said, and he also made light of the cracks that
are showing in the democratic alliance that brought down Mr. Milosevic
eight months ago.
"Even people who were against the decree feel more comfortable now,"
he said.
Still, he said he would not push ahead with the transfer of any of the
15 other people indicted for war crimes thought to be in Yugoslavia.
"Not immediately," he said. "I think we should discuss that with The
Hague. They have enough for the moment to be going on with."
He suggested that the government could open some cases in Serbia or
join forces with The Hague in some prosecutions.
Nevertheless, Mr. Djindjic said his government would continue with investigations
that have recently begun to uncover several mass graves in Serbia, which
are believed to contain the bodies of ethnic Albanian civilians killed
in Kosovo in 1999.
"I expect we will have a lot to do on this past issue, and without Milosevic
in the country it will be a lot easier," he said.
The transfer, he said, had finally ended eight months of his being in
power while still being a hostage to the political obstacles the former
president continued to present, even as he sat in a jail cell in central
Belgrade.
"It is the end of one phase," he said. "What we did not do on Oct. 6,
we did eight months later. Now we can start without Milosevic."
