Serbia's Mladic deadline remains the same
April 26 2006 at 05:47PM
The Hague - A deadline for Serbia to deliver former Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic to The Hague by the end of April has not changed despite media reports of a later date, a spokesman for the chief UN prosecutor said.In early April, Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte said Serbia had promised her that Mladic would be delivered to the Hague tribunal before the end of April.Some media reports have said Serbia may be given until early or mid-May to deliver Mladic, but Del Ponte's spokesperson dismissed these reports."I have read about other dates ... May 3 or May 11, but the promise was end of April," he told journalists on Wednesday. "We will publish an assessment after that, in the beginning of May."
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?from=rss_World&set_id=1&click_id=&art_id=qw1146057840988B262

And now, the backlash begins....

Polls: Serbia extremists lead democrats
By UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONALWorld Peace Herald
Published April 20, 2006
Serbia's ultra-nationalists and former communists could oust the ruling Democrats if elections were held this week, an opinion poll indicated Thursday. In the polls the Serbian Radical party had 38 percent, followed by the Democratic Party of Serbia's President Boris Tadic with 28 percent.
The Serbian Democratic Party of Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica and the Serbian Socialist Party, mostly former communists, tied for third with 7.6 percent each. The Radical and Socialist parties, with a total of 45.6 percent support, would be able to form a coalition government and govern for four years, said officials of the Center for Free Election and Democracy, or CESID agency which sponsored the poll.
The two parties got Serbia into four ethnic wars -- against Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo -- when it was called the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia -- between 1991 and 1995. The Serbs lost then all.
Vojislav Seselj, the leader of the Radicals, is currently awaiting trial on war crime charges at the U.N. tribunal in The Hague.
Slobodan Milosevic, who died of a heart attack last month while on trial in The Hague, was the leader of the Socialists.
http://www.wpherald.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20060420-013510-9259r

Think this is the end? I don't....
Milosevic “died of natural causes” 15:41 April 05 B92
THE HAGUE -- An independent investigation confirms that Slobodan Milosevic died of natural causes. According to the investigation conducted by the Dutch Government, the former Yugoslav president died of natural health problems and that is was not the result of any kind of “criminal activity.” The Tribunal has also stated that it is conducting an “internal investigation,” which is still ongoing, focusing on the medical treatment which Milosevic was receiving while in custody. The Tribunal stated that the investigation is nearing its end.
http://www.b92.net/english/news/index.php?nav_id=34365&style=headlines

WTF?????
The Tribunal, a successful experiment 12:49 April 05 Beta
WASHINGTON D.C. -- Former Hague President Theodore Meron said that the work of the Tribunal has proven to be successful. Meron said that, regardless of the questions raised against the Tribunal’s legitimacy and objectivity, he believes that it has shown to be a successful judicial experiment. He added that he sees no reason to bring the Tribunal’s effectiveness into question following the death of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. “The fact that one of the indictees died while his trial was reaching its end does not call into question the dozens of others in which the international tribunal showed that the international law can be respected objectively and implemented and that those who does not abides by these laws, cannot expect to go unpunished.” Meron said. “The Tribunal took great measures to ensure that the Milosevic trial was fair, to give attention to his medical needs and his desire to represent and defend himself. More than anything, these were the reasons why the trial lasted so long.” Meron said. He added that the number of indictees extradited to The Hague increased by 50 per cent in 2005, and that there are currently 96 indictees in custody. Meron, however, made sure to mention his disappointment in the fact that Bosnian Serb military leaders Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic have yet to be arrested and extradited.
http://www.b92.net/english/news/index.php?&nav_category=&nav_id=34345&order=priority&style=headlines

I could find no other acknowledgement of the anniversary in the press today. Not NYT, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, or on Reuters or AP International. Just thought you should know.

NATO bombing commemorated 09:44 -> 10:28 March 24 B92, Beta
BELGRADE -- On today’s date seven years ago, NATO began its bombing mission in Yugoslavia, which lasted 78 days. The air raids began at about 7:30 pm, with the then government, head by Slobodan Milosevic, proclaiming a state of war. The bombing ended on June 9 with the signing of the Kumanovski Agreement and the adoption of the United Nations Security Council’s Resolution 1244. The air strikes resulted in the Yugoslav Army retreating from Kosovo, and international forces entering the region. Many industrial buildings, schools, health centres, media buildings and monuments were damaged or destroyed in the bombings and, according to estimates, in between 1,200 and 2,500 people were killed. In 43 locations around Serbia, excluding Kosovo, NATO projectiles can still be found. There are two bombs that have not exploded still in Belgrade today, according to the Defence Ministry. In order for one bomb to be removed, 100,000 euros and the hiring of an expert team for one month would be necessary.
http://www.b92.net/english/news/index.php?nav_id=34128&style=headlines

And the OTHER major issue--the one that the US is only interested in, regardless of the consequences...
Milosevic death jeopardises Mladic handover The death of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, and the outbursts of nationalism during his funeral in Serbia, make it unlikely that General Ratko Mladic will soon be handed over to the UN war crimes tribunal, Europe’s top security agency said in a report today.The EU has said that if Mladic was not handed over to the tribunal by March 31, the EU would suspend its negotiations with Serbia on joining the bloc. The next round of the negotiations was set for April 5.“Recent events do not increase the prospects that General Mladic will be delivered to The Hague by the EU-imposed deadline,” the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe said in the report.
http://www.irishexaminer.com/breaking/story.asp?j=75591506&p=7559y8x8&n=75591886#

And here is what we REALLY need to be concerned about....
SERBIA & MONTENEGRO: Unity Will Prevail, Kostunica Says
2006-03-21 20:01:52
Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said that the idea of unity will win and be stronger than the demand of dividing the country, because breaking up the unified community that keeps Serbia and Montenegro together represents the wrong path which cannot lead to any good. In a statement to the news agency Tanjug, Kostunica said that the idea of a common state, a common life and a common European future is a big idea that can provide long term security, stability and better life to people of different ethnic origins and all citizens of Serbia-Montenegro. “I am convinced that the idea of unity will win, be above and stronger than the demand of dividing the country and breaking up the natural community that has been created by a long history,” said Kostunica. He said that hundreds and thousands of families are connected with the state-union or, more exactly, probably there is no citizen of Serbia who does not have relatives in Montenegro or citizen of Montenegro who does not have family in Serbia. He added that that shared life, in the proper sense of the word, determines that we safeguard the state-union in which, in all truth, there is place for everyone and no one is discriminated against. Establishing an interstate border, introducing passports, dividing the country and thus breaking up the unified community that keeps Serbia and Montenegro together represents the wrong path which cannot lead to any good, said Kostunica. “The interest in breaking up the country, in establishing interstate borders between us, and division, can neither be sincere nor in the long term interest of the peoples and citizens of Serbia-Montenegro.” Kostunica stressed that it is not all the same, and it is not the same if we live in two states or in a single unified one, because that has important long term consequences in all spheres of life. “States are not made for temporary use and the decision of living together was brought a long time ago, and was affirmed by many generations, leaving it to future generations,” said Kostunica adding that from the previous unified life a lot of good was gained and no one can say that anyone lost anything because of it. “There is no doubt that a common state is where the best interests of Serbia and Montenegro can be realised,” concluded Kostunica. Source: www.reporter.gr
http://www.seeurope.net/en/Story.php?StoryID=58235&LangID=1

Once again, they make it sound as if the whole country is in mourning....
Posted on Sun, Mar. 19, 2006
Serbs glorify Milosevic at his hometown burial
FORMER PRESIDENT IS CALLED A HERO AND MAN OF PEACE
By Daniel Williams
Washington Post
POZAREVAC, Serbia-Montenegro -- Tens of thousands of Serbs gave former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic a hero's farewell and pronounced him a victim of the U.N. war-crimes tribunal, in whose custody he died a week ago.
About 15,000 supporters gathered at his burial site in Pozarevac, his hometown, and about 50,000 attended a commemoration in Belgrade, the capital. The mourners praised Milosevic, who oversaw Serbia's role in the bloodiest conflict in Europe since World War II, as a defender of the nation and man of peace and love...
Milosevic died in his cell of a heart attack, according to a forensic examination. Milosevic's die-hard followers have accused the tribunal of murder.
``They couldn't stand Milosevic's defense of himself,'' said Bozidar Delic, head of a Serbian group that campaigned to free Milosevic from The Hague, where he was being tried on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity.
Saturday, Milosevic's political associates fashioned a legend of him as steadfast champion of Serbia and victim of the West.
``We are bidding farewell to the best one among us,'' said Milorad Vucelic, a Socialist Party official.
``American aggression put under occupation,'' said Alexander Vucic, head of the Serbian Radical Party, which has inherited much of the nationalist support that once belonged to the Socialists. The leader of the Radical Party, Vojislav Sesel, who is on trial at The Hague on war-crimes charges, also sent a message: ``Our Serbia will rise like a phoenix from the ashes.''
Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, fresh from participation on Saddam Hussein's defense team in the war-crimes trial in Baghdad, praised Milosevic, saying ``He was a man for the ages.''
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/14136768.htm?source=rss&channel=mercurynews_world

Nation & World Views From London: Lesson of Milosevic simple: Never again
Slobodan Milosevic will not be much mourned across the former Yugoslavia that he tore apart. His vision of Serb nationalism brought bloodshed from Croatia to Bosnia and then Kosovo, first through the tanks of the Yugoslav National Army, then through Belgrade-backed Serb paramilitaries and, finally, through the police squads of the Ministry of the Interior. In a few brutal years, more than a quarter-of-a-million people died in Milosevic's failed wars. But while Milosevic and his Bosnian Serb ciphers - Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic - must bear the bulk of the responsibility for the killing, an assessment of the career of Europe's last mass murderer poses uncomfortable questions for a world that let him prosecute his crimes. ...
But if Milosevic's death brings memories of a shameful period, it is also a powerful reminder of how, in belated response to political thuggery, a new doctrine of humanitarian intervention emerged. ... It was led at first by President Clinton over Bosnia, and again in Kosovo. The rationale behind those interventions was then invoked for the invasion of Iraq.
But the principle that a brutal regime does not have inalienable rights to do as it pleases within its borders, that the international community can bring an incumbent dictator to justice, is a good one. It is possible, as history has shown in the Balkans, to intervene justly in the affairs of a sovereign state. ... The international community will again need to confront charismatic leaders with inflammatory agendas. It will again be tempted to appease them. Milosevic's death is a timely reminder of the lesson burned into an older generation of Europeans scarred by genocide: never again.
-- The Observer, London, March 12

everyone is all in a tizzy because of the people who turned out for the funeral--they see it as support for Milosevic. Who goes to the funeral of someone he/she DOESN'T like? Also, there were far fewer people there than expected; that's one positive aspect.

Can Serbia deal with the past? 15:33 March 19 FoNet, Beta
WASHINGTON, BELGRADE -- Sunday - Daniel Server from the US Institute of Peace says it still remains to be seen whether Serbia is willing to part ways with the policies of the past. “People have the right to demonstrate in the streets, attend Milosevic’s funeral and declare loyalty to him, but the real issue here is whether Serbia as a whole is willing to part ways with the policies of the past. This is not yet very clear, because Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica has purposefully made this issue vague, owing to the fact that his government depends on the support of the Socialists and the Radicals”, Server said. “I don’t see why Belgrade has less to lose after Milosevic’s death in dealing with the Hague Tribunal. I can understand why a verdict in the Milosevic had caused anxiety. He would probably have been found guilty for genocide, and this would have, in turn, had repercussions on the process in front of the International Criminal Court, but now that there is no verdict, is seems that one of the obstacles for co-operation should be out of the way. However, we have witnessed an emotional reaction in Serbia, accusing the Tribunal for Milosevic’s death, which I don’t comprehend. The best thing that Serbia can do for itself is to arrest Mladic and Karadzic”, Server concluded.
http://www.b92.net/english/news/index.php?&nav_category=&nav_id=34085&order=priority&style=headlines

From William Montgomery, a fairly reasonable voice in all of this mess...
I am convinced that the worst possible alternative in Milosevic’s view was a completion of the trial with the inevitable guilty verdicts and a lifetime prison sentence far from home and far from the public spotlight...The ICTY is fully responsible for how this mess has turned out. It took less than one year at Nuremberg to try 22 Nazi defendants. Slobodan Milosevic’s trial was into its fifth year with a cost that has been put at around $200 million. Three decisions in particular were devastating: indicting Milosevic on 66 different charges, thereby requiring that each be proved by an endless list of witnesses and documentary evidence; joining the indictments for events in Kosovo, Bosnia, and Croatia together rather than having separate trials for each; and permitting him to conduct his own defense. While each of these three critical decisions had its own logic, the end result is a trial that was never finished and that due to its length and nature had done little to bring reconciliation to the Balkans and had actually increased Milosevic’s popularity in Serbia. It is not only Milosevic who died. So did the original Chief Judge, Sir Richard May, more than one year ago...

The biggest disservice that Milosevic did to the Serbian people was to take their legitimate concerns and fears and instead of advocating them in a pro-active, positive, moderate way, he inflamed them for his own political benefit. Instead of helping to quell the flames of hatred and nationalism, he deliberately used the media and government information channels to throw fuel on the fire. This has had two radically different, equally negative results. First of all, because of the violent methods which were used and counter-productive tactics (such as the shelling of Dubrovnik), the world lost sympathy for Serbia, the Serbs, and their concerns. It is worth noting that this was not initially the case. In 1990 and 91, the U.S. Administration and many Europeans were sympathetic to keeping Yugoslavia together.
Secondly, an uncomfortably large percentage of the Serbian people to this day have sympathy for Milosevic because they perceive that he was defending Serbian interests. Far too few of the Serbian political leadership has had the courage to try to separate those legitimate Serbian concerns and fears and the totally illegitimate crimes which Milosevic supported and encouraged in their “defense.” Until this link is understood and broken, the true democratic transition in Serbia cannot be completed.
http://www.b92.net/feedback/misljenja/press/william.php

ROME, March 15 — Frustrated and filled with skepticism about Slobodan Milosevic's litany of medical complaints, the tribunal at The Hague at times failed to investigate them adequately, several doctors who had recently examined Mr. Milosevic, the former Serbian leader, said this week.
"His medical condition was not good, so we asked for additional tests to evaluate his cardiac situation," said Dr. Florence Leclercq, a French cardiologist who examined Mr. Milosevic for about three hours in November. "But these investigations were never performed, and now that's a problem." A tribunal official said it was not possible to comment while an inquiry was under way.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/16/international/europe/16case.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

At least they aren't going to try and convict him posthumously, much as they might like to....

THE HAGUE, March 14 — The court convened Tuesday for the last time in the war crimes trial of the former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic. The court, said the presiding judge, Patrick Robinson, had been advised of the death of the accused. "His death," he said, "terminates these proceedings."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/15/international/europe/15milosevic.html

I don't believe--they actually convicted some Muslims....however, read carefully; they were convicted not of war crimes, but of failing to discipline their men for mistreating and abusing Croats and Serbs....
THE HAGUE (Reuters) - U.N. war crimes judges found two former Bosnian Muslim army commanders guilty on Wednesday of atrocities committed by their troops on Bosnian Croat and Bosnian Serb civilians during the 1992-95 war.
Judges at the Hague tribunal found former General Enver Hadzihasanovic, 56, and Brigadier Amir Kubura, 42, guilty of failing to prevent or punish atrocities by troops under their command, including foreign Islamic mujahideen fighters.
The men are among the highest-ranking Bosnian Muslims to stand trial in The Hague.
Hadzihasanovic was sentenced to five years jail and Kubura to two and a half years. Prosecutors had requested 20 years for Hadzihasanovic and 10 years for Kubura.
The tribunal said prosecutors had failed to convince the court that the men had full knowledge of the abuses and effective control over the perpetrators, in particular the mujahideen, many of whom came from North Africa and the Middle East to support fellow Muslims during the bloody conflict in the former Yugoslavia.
Hadzihasanovic and Kubura were charged with commanding forces that murdered and abused at least 200 Bosnian Serb and Bosnian Croat civilians during Muslim attacks on Croat forces in central Bosnia between January 1993 and January 1994.
Prosecutors said captives were forced to dig trenches under fire or used as human shields.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-warcrimes-bosnians.html

Now, for the other, equally extreme, viewpoint--the "Milosevice as hero" brigade....

IAC Statement on the Death in Prison of Slobodan Milosevic, President of Yugoslavia
The International Action Center would like to send its sincere condolences to the family, friends and comrades of President Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia and to the peoples of the Balkans who mourn his death at the hands of the court and prison authorities in The Hague. We join with others around the world to condemn the International Criminal Tribunal on the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for this crime. The full responsibility for the death of President Slobodan Milosevic lies directly with the fraudulent court created by the U.S. and NATO governments at The Hague – the ICTY. We join the also the demands for an independent investigation of the circumstances of President Milosevic’s death.
Since the illegal kidnapping of President Milosevic from Serbia in June 2001 and his forcible detention at Scheveningen prison on fraudulent war crimes charges, the court has consistently denied adequate medical care. The ICTY has held a fraudulent trial for the last four years in an attempt to blame Milosevic and Yugoslavia for NATO’s criminal war in the Balkans.
During this trial, now over four years old, the prosecution has failed to present anything like a case against Milosevic. In addition, his vigorous defense has exposed the crimes of the imperialist powers, especially the U.S. and Germany, in conspiring to destroy the Yugoslav Socialist Federation through subversion and direct military assault.
In the days before President Milosevic’s death, the IAC joined the efforts of the International Committee for the Defense of Slobodan Milosevic (ICDSM), sending to the 15 ambassadors of the members of the United Nations Security Council a request that President Milosevic be transferred to Russia for medical care, given his critical medical condition. This court has now—at the very least—allowed him to die rather than exposing its own inability to build a case against this Yugoslav and Serb political leader. The ICTY was responsible for his care and is guilty in the very least of criminal neglect.
The NATO leaders--with Bill Clinton, Tony Blair and Gerhard Schroeder topping the list—should have been the ones on trial for war crimes. From the day of his kidnapping, President Milosevic waged a heroic defense of his own actions to defend Yugoslavia. He equally exposed the crimes of these leaders of the great powers to the world. For this the peoples of the Balkans and of the world will be indebted to him.
Sara Flounders,Co-coordinator, International Action CenterMarch 11, 2006
President Milosevic opening statement as the Trial opened is printed in full in the IAC book Hidden Agenda: The U.S./NATO Takeover of Yugoslavia. His statement to the court 2 years later as the defense finally began its rebuttal is printed in full in the IAC book The Defense Speaks – For History and the Future. Both books can be ordered directly from Leftbooks.com
International Action Center 39 West 14th St, #206, New York, NY, 10011 www.iacenter.orgiacenter@action-mail.org

Rifampicin, the apparently unprescribed antibiotic that a Dutch toxicologist said he found in former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic's system earlier this year, is used together with other drugs to treat tuberculosis. It also can be used alone to treat certain bacterial infections or asymptomatic carriers of a type of meningitis.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060313/ap_on_he_me/milosevic_drug_2
Russia pressed the U.N. war crimes tribunal on Monday to let its doctors examine the post mortem results of Yugoslav ex-leader Slobodan Milosevic, who died in jail soon after being refused treatment in Moscow.
Russian news agencies quoted Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying that Moscow was disappointed with the tribunal's rejection of Milosevic's request to undergo treatment in a Moscow clinic despite guarantees of his return.
"In the situation where we were distrusted, we also have the right to distrust," Lavrov told Russian reporters.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060313/wl_nm/warcrimes_milosevic_russia_dc_3
Serbian President Boris Tadic's office said: "The president believes a national funeral for Slobodan Milosevic would be completely inappropriate because of the role that he played in Serbia's recent history, and contrary to the direction the people of Serbia clearly showed on October 5, 2000," referring to his ouster in a popular uprising.
But officials of Milosevic's Socialist Party said they would bring down the Serbian government if it fails to comply with a demand for his funeral to be held in his homeland.
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,1932659,00.html?maca=en-rss-en-all-1124-rdf
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said that Milosevic had been a "malign influence" on the region.
"I hope very much that his passing will enable the people of Serbia better to come to terms with their past, which is the only way they can properly face the future," Straw said at a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Salzburg.
Source: China Daily
http://english.people.com.cn/200603/13/eng20060313_250169.html
The Belgrade Courts have, in the meantime, abolished the warrant for the arrest of Slobodan Milosevic’s widow, Mirjana Markovic. According to the Reuters news agency, it has received information from a senior official of the Serbia Socialist Party that the warrant has been nullified. The Belgrade District Court has accepted a guarantee for Mira Markovic to not be arrested if she enters the country. However, if she does not voluntary report to the courts for interrogation, she will be arrested and taken into custody. The indictment for the misuse of official position against Markovic remains valid and active. The court accepted a guarantee of 15,000 euros, stating that it is an adequate guarantee which negates the possibility of Markovic avoiding her responsibilities to the Serbian courts. Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said that the decision to allow Mirjana Markovic to re-enter the country for her husband’s funeral will enable the family to hold the services in Belgrade. “A funeral is a civilised act which must be respected.” Kostunica said. The Prime Minister added that it is in the spirit of the Serbian tradition to behave with respect in such events.
http://www.b92.net/english/news/index.php?order=priority

While some European Union countries prefer to keep the door open to give Serbian reformers some hope of reaching their goal of bringing the country closer to the rest of Europe, the United States and Carla Del Ponte, the tribunal's chief prosecutor, are insisting that the European Union should not start any formal talks for a "stabilization and association agreement," a step toward eventual membership, until the two men have been handed over.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/13/international/europe/13belgrade.html
The autopsy result was disclosed as new evidence emerged that Mr. Milosevic, the former Yugoslav president found dead in his prison cell bed on Saturday, had been taking medicine not prescribed by his physicians, including an antibiotic known to diminish or blunt the effect of the medicines he had been taking for heart and blood-pressure problems.
It was unclear why he had taken that antibiotic, but one of Mr. Milosevic's legal advisers said Sunday that Mr. Milosevic knew something was wrong, and had expressed fear in a letter written one day before he was found dead that someone had been trying to poison him. The United Nations tribunal has dismissed the poisoning speculation.
Dr. Donald Uges, a top toxicologist in the Netherlands who had consulted on the case earlier at the request of the tribunal, said today that he thought Mr. Milosevic had taken the drugs to undermine his health to support his plea for a medical transfer to Moscow, where his family now lives.
"I don't think he took his medicines for suicide, only for his trip to Moscow," Dr. Uges told Reuters. "I think that was his last possibility to escape the Hague. I am so sure there is no murder."
Carla Del Ponte, the chief prosecutor at the tribunal, said at a news conference on Sunday before the autopsy result was released that she did not rule out suicide. She also said Mr. Milosevic had been thoroughly monitored by medical aides, and that it was "very strange, even if it is of course possible, that he should have died so suddenly without these medics having noticed a worsening of his condition."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/13/international/europe/13cnd-milosevic.html

These are entire articles taken from the following online forum on Kosovo--last posts, 2004. I recommend you check out the forum, too; it is an excellent example of how unwilling people are to have dialogue about the situation in Kosovo and how willing they are to engage in inflammatory rhetoric. I have no idea how long the links to the forum will remain operational.
http://www.kosovo.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=42&sid=8a5884422667ecf92685cbcbda28f082

IN YUGOSLAVIA, RISING ETHNIC STRIFE BRINGS FEARS TO WORSE CIVIL CONFLICT By DAVID BINDER, Special to the New York Times The New York Times November 1, 1987, Sunday, Late City Final Edition Section 1; Part 1, Page 14, Column 1; BELGRADE, Yugoslavia - Portions of southern Yugoslavia have reached such a state of ethnic friction that Yugoslavs have begun to talk of the horrifying possibility of "civil war" in a land that lost one-tenth of its population, or 1.7 million people, in World War II. The current hostilities pit separatist-minded ethnic Albanians against the various Slavic populations of Yugoslavia and occur at all levels of society, from the highest officials to the humblest peasants. A young Army conscript of ethnic Albanian origin shot up his barracks, killing four sleeping Slavic bunkmates and wounding six others. The army says it has uncovered hundreds of subversive ethnic Albanian cells in its ranks. Some arsenals have been raided. Vicious Insults Ethnic Albanians in the Government have manipulated public funds and regulations to take over land belonging to Serbs. And politicians have exchanged vicious insults. Slavic Orthodox churches have been attacked, and flags have been torn down. Wells have been poisoned and crops burned. Slavic boys have been knifed, and some young ethnic Albanians have been told by their elders to rape Serbian girls. Ethnic Albanians comprise the fastest growing nationality in Yugoslavia and are expected soon to become its third largest, after the Serbs and Croats. Radicals' Goals The goal of the radical nationalists among them, one said in an interview, is an "ethnic Albania that includes western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, part of southern Serbia, Kosovo and Albania itself." That includes large chunks of the republics that make up the southern half of Yugoslavia. Other ethnic Albanian separatists admit to a vision of a greater Albania governed from Pristina in southern Yugoslavia rather than Tirana, the capital of neighboring Albania. There is no evidence that the hard-line Communist Government in Tirana is giving them material assistance. The principal battleground is the region called Kosovo, a high plateau ringed by mountains that is somewhat smaller than New Jersey. Ethnic Albanians there make up 85 percent of the population of 1.7 million. The rest are Serbians and Montenegrins. Worst Strife in Years As Slavs flee the protracted violence, Kosovo is becoming what ethnic Albanian nationalists have been demanding for years, and especially strongly since the bloody rioting by ethnic Albanians in Pristina in 1981-an "ethnically pure" Albanian region, a 'Republic of Kosovo' in all but name. The violence, a journalist in Kosovo said, is escalating to "the worst in the last seven years." Many Yugoslavs blame the troubles on the ethnic Albanians, but the matter is more complex in a country with as many nationalities and religions as Yugoslavia's and involves economic development, law, politics, families and flags. As recently as 20 years ago, the Slavic majority treated ethnic Albanians as inferiors to be employed as hewers of wood and carriers of heating coal. The ethnic Albanians, who now number 2 million, were officially deemed a minority, not a constituent nationality, as they are today. Were the ethnic tensions restricted to Kosovo, Yugoslavia's problems with its Albanian nationals might be more manageable. But some Yugoslavs and some ethnic Albanians believe the struggle has spread far beyond Kosovo. Macedonia, a republic to the south with a population of 1.8 million, has a restive ethnic Albanian minority of 350,000. "We've already lost western Macedonia to the Albanians," said a member of the Yugoslav party presidium, explaining that the ethnic minority had driven the Slavic Macedonians out of the region. Attacks on Slavs Last summer, the authorities in Kosovo said they documented 40 ethnic Albanian attacks on Slavs in two months. In the last two years, 320 ethnic Albanians have been sentenced for political crimes, nearly half of them characterized as severe. In one incident, Fadil Hoxha, once the leading politician of ethnic Albanian origin in Yugoslavia, joked at an official dinner in Prizren last year that Serbian women should be used to satisfy potential ethnic Albanian rapists. After his quip was reported this October, Serbian women in Kosovo protested, and Mr. Hoxha was dismissed from the Communist Party. As a precaution, the central authorities dispatched 380 riot police officers to the Kosovo region for the first time in four years. Officials in Belgrade view the ethnic Albanian challenge as imperiling the foundations of the multinational experiment called federal Yugoslavia, which consists of six republics and two provinces. 'Lebanonizing' of Yugoslavia High-ranking officials have spoken of the "Lebanonizing" of their country and have compared its troubles to the strife in Northern Ireland. Borislav Jovic, a member of the Serbian party's presidency, spoke in an interview of the prospect of "two Albanias, one north and one south, like divided Germany or Korea," and of "practically the breakup of Yugoslavia." He added: "Time is working against us." The federal Secretary for National Defense, Fleet Adm. Branko Mamula, told the army's party organization in September of efforts by ethnic Albanians to subvert the armed forces. "Between 1981 and 1987 a total of 216 illegal organizations with 1,435 members of Albanian nationality were discovered in the Yugoslav People's Army," he said. Admiral Mamula said ethnic Albanian subversives had been preparing for "killing officers and soldiers, poisoning food and water, sabotage, breaking into weapons arsenals and stealing arms and ammunition, desertion and causing flagrant nationalist incidents in army units." Concerns Over Military Coming three weeks after the ethnic Albanian draftee, Aziz Kelmendi, had slaughtered his Slavic comrades in the barracks at Paracin, the speech struck fear in thousands of families whose sons were about to start their mandatory year of military service. Because the Albanians have had a relatively high birth rate, one-quarter of the army's 200,000 conscripts this year are ethnic Albanians. Admiral Mamula suggested that 3,792 were potential human timebombs. He said the army had "not been provided with details relevant for assessing their behavior." But a number of Belgrade politicians said they doubted the Yugoslav armed forces would be used to intervene in Kosovo as they were to quell violent rioting in 1981 in Pristina. They reason that the army leadership is extremely reluctant to become involved in what is, in the first place, a political issue. Ethnic Albanians already control almost every phase of life in the autonomous province of Kosovo, including the police, judiciary, civil service, schools and factories. Non-Albanian visitors almost immediately feel the independence - and suspicion - of the ethnic Albanian authorities. Region's Slavs Lack Strength While 200,000 Serbs and Montenegrins still live in the province, they are scattered and lack cohesion. In the last seven years, 20,000 of them have fled the province, often leaving behind farmsteads and houses, for the safety of the Slavic north. Until September, the majority of the Serbian Communist Party leadership pursued a policy of seeking compromise with the Kosovo party hierarchy under its ethnic Albanian leader, Azem Vlasi. But during a 30-hour session of the Serbian central committee in late September, the Serbian party secretary, Slobodan Milosevic, deposed Dragisa Pavlovic, as head of Belgrade's party organization, the country's largest. Mr. Milosevic accused Mr. Pavlovic of being an appeaser who was soft on Albanian radicals. Mr. Milosevic had courted the Serbian backlash vote with speeches in Kosovo itself calling for "the policy of the hard hand." "We will go up against anti-Socialist forces, even if they call us Stalinists," Mr. Milosevic declared recently. That a Yugoslav politician would invite someone to call him a Stalinist even four decades after Tito's epochal break with Stalin, is a measure of the state into which Serbian politics have fallen. For the moment, Mr. Milosevic and his supporters appear to be staking their careers on a strategy of confrontation with the Kosovo ethnic Albanians. Other Yugoslav politicians have expressed alarm. "There is no doubt Kosovo is a problem of the whole country, a powder keg on which we all sit,"said Milan Kucan, head of the Slovenian Communist Party. Remzi Koljgeci, of the Kosovo party leadership, said in an interview in Pristina that "relations are cold" between the ethnic Albanians and Serbs of the province, that there were too many "people without hope." But many of those interviewed agreed it was also a rare opportunity for Yugoslavia to take radical political and economic steps, as Tito did when he broke with the Soviet bloc in 1948. Efforts are under way to strengthen central authority through amendments to the constitution. The League of Communists is planning an extraordinary party congress before March to address the country's grave problems. The hope is that something will be done then to exert the rule of law in Kosovo while drawing ethnic Albanians back into Yugoslavia's mainstream.
Copyright 1987 The New York Times Company
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HEADLINE: IN ONE YUGOSLAV PROVINCE, SERBS FEAR THE ETHNIC ALBANIANS April 28, 1986, Monday, Late City Final Edition SECTION: Section A; Page 13, Column 1; Foreign Desk By HENRY KAMM, Special to the New York Times The ethnic Albanian majority in the autonomous province of Kosovo is feared by the minority population of Serbs and Montenegrins, who believe the Albanians are seeking to drive them out of the province. A 1981 fire that gutted the medieval nunnery of the Serbian Orthodox Patriarchate in Pec, a center of Serbian national feeling, has been officially ascribed to bad construction. An aged nun at the Patriarchate said she and her sisters were convinced that the fire had been set to chase them from Kosovo. But she said the nuns would never leave, and three Serbian or Montenegrin visitors agreed with her. The provincial leadership, dominated by ethnic Albanians, has said it believes that a Serb grossly mutilated last May by a broken bottle inflicted his injuries himself while performing an auto-erotic act. The maiming of Djordje Martinovic, a 56-year-old farmer and father of three, has become the most widely discussed Yugoslav criminal case in years, debated in Parliament and covered in full detail by television and the press. Yugoslavs Blame the Albanians The case remains unsolved, but Yugoslavs' minds seem mainly made up on both incidents. They blame ethnic Albanians. They also blame them for continuing assaults, rapes and vandalism. They believe their aim is to drive non-Albanians out of Kosovo. ''A legitimized genocide against the Serbian people is being carried out in Kosovo,'' said Dobrica Cosic, a dissident novelist published here and in the United States, in an interview in Belgrade. ''More than 200,000 Serbs have been forced to leave their home in the last 10, 20 years.'' A steady exodus continues. Since Albanian nationalists went on a rampage in 1981, leaving at least nine people dead, the level of violence has declined. But enough agitation continues, punctuated by acts of violence, to make a burning issue of the antagonism between the 1.4 million ethnic Albanians and the little more than 200,000 Serbs. Under the federal Constitution, Kosovo is part of the Serbian Republic. In effect, it is as self-governing as the six republics of the nation. It is also the poorest region of Yugoslavia. Men in their 20's line the main street of Pristina - a stretch of grandiose modern buildings that separates near-slums on either side - offering to shine the shoes of passers-by who can hardly afford such luxury. Begging children accost diners in restaurants. Use of Funds Criticized The overambitious buildings, such as a recent, prematurely rundown, 300-room hotel with 3 restaurants in a little-visited town of 100,000, sustain criticism of the provincial leadership a a misuse of federal development funds. To many, the aid represents a futile effort to solve an intractable problem through financial bounty. Mohammed Mustafa, director of the Provincial Economic Planning Instititute, said there were 115,000 registered unemployed out of a potential work force of 804,000. The economic growth rate has been 1.5 percent a year since 1980, while the population is growing at 2.5 percent, he said. The average wage is 20 percent below the national average. ''Kosovo is Yugoslavia's single greatest problem,'' said a Western diplomat. ''They can pay off their huge debt, but Kosovo defies solution.'' Serbs and Montenegrins feel beleaguered. Communists and non-Communists express distrust of the provincial leadership and chagrin over the federal and Serbian authorities who in their opinion do nothing to halt increasing Albanian domination over a multi-national population and lands that are historically inseparable from Serbian national identity. Restrictive Atmosphere Non-Albanian Yugoslav residents and visitors characterize the atmosphere of Kosovo as frighteningly restrictive and its Communist leadership as so dogmatic as to resemble the rigorously Stalinist regime that holds power in nearby Albania. In contrast to officials elsewhere in Yugoslavia, who readily acknowledge problems and errors and de-emphasize ideology in favor of pragmatism, a leading Kosovo official, Ekrem Arifi, offered an entirely ideological explanation of Kosovo's problems. In prepared statements that took the place of replies to questions, he blamed outside forces for all difficulties -agents of Albania and emigres in the West. Mr. Arifi, executive secretary of the provincial party, spoke in Albanian and in stock phrases long out of use in Yugoslavia, such as ''proletarian internationalism,'' ''the class enemy'' or ''the solidarity of the working class.'' They are not echoed by the non-Albanian population. Asked whether the nuns felt safe in their rebuilt convent, the old nun replied, ''Yes, with God's help.''

From the NYTimes and Roger Cohen:

To the last, a solitary death yesterday in a United Nations cell near an international court he derided, Slobodan Milosevic clung to the notion that all the Balkan destruction he ignited and presided over was no more than a response to aggression against his long-suffering Serbian people..."Nobody should dare to beat you," Mr. Milosevic declared in Kosovo on April 24, 1987, to thunderous cries of "Slobo" from the Serbian crowd. "Your ancestors would be defiled," he said, if Kosovo Albanians had their way. I really wish that people would research the accurate context for this speech before hauling it again to help support their--wrong--assertions.
The words had a ring to them and set a bloody tide in motion. But it is precisely the past noble deeds of Serbs — not least those during World War I that led to the very creation of Yugoslavia — that have been most defiled by Mr. Milosevic's crushing defeat and failure in the name of a terrible but persistent Serbian illusion.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/12/international/europe/12assess.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

Can we PLEASE stop painting everyone in the country with the same GDMF brush?
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-milosevic12mar12,0,6670060.story?track=tothtml
From the Los Angeles Times
Milosevic's Death Kindles Old Tensions
The former Serbian leader, on trial since 2002, dies in prison. Backers suspect foul play, but victims say justice has been denied.
By Alissa J. Rubin and Zoran CirjakovicSpecial to The TimesMarch 12, 2006BELGRADE, Serbia and Montenegro — Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was found dead Saturday in the prison cell where he had spent his final years facing trial on genocide and war crimes charges for his role in the nationalist wars that racked the Balkans in the 1990s.His death in the Netherlands before the long-running trial could end is certain to haunt the region: His victims believe that justice has been thwarted, and his fellow Serbs are divided between those who want to forget the past and those who think Milosevic was himself a victim of an unfair international court.Within hours of his death, apparently of natural causes, Serbian radio and television aired an interview with his lawyer, who said that Milosevic believed he was being poisoned.The assertions made it all but inevitable that the Serbs' sense of victimhood will continue to shadow the region and make unlikely any full reckoning with the past.

Funny, most of the Serbs that I know fall into none of these categories. Who are these idiots interviewing--people on delPonte's payroll?

Here's the "official" line...
THE HAGUE (Reuters) - The chief UN war crimes prosecutor said on Sunday it was possible Slobodan Milosevic had committed suicide and his death made it all the more urgent to catch others blamed for the horrors of the Balkan wars.
Carla del Ponte said the former Yugoslav president might have wanted to thwart the impending verdict in his marathon war crimes trial, which she said she expected to be one of guilty, followed by a life sentence.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060312/ts_nm/warcrimes_milosevic_dc