CONFLICT-YUGOSLAVIA: Opposition Backs Milosevic’s Overture

By Vesna Peric Zimonjic Reprint | | Print |

Vesna Peric Zimonjic

BELGRADE, May 31 1999 (IPS) - While more than 20 civilians have reportedly been killed by NATO attacks on a bridge and a sanatorium over the weekend, opposition parties have backed Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic’s acceptance of the peace principles set by the G-8.

Applauding Milosevic’s “sobering gesture”, however, politicians also warned that the same result could have been achieved two months ago, avoiding the massive destruction of Yugoslavia’s civilian and economic infrastructure by NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation).

“This decision was not only necessary, but also the only decision possible at this moment” said a statement by the Serbian Renewal Party (SPO) of former deputy Prime Minister Vuk Draskovic.

“This is the only possible way for the NATO bombing to be halted, so that further killing of people and destruction of the country stop,” the statement said.

Another opposition group, the Democratic party (DS) said it was disappointed that the international response to Milosevic’s statement had been slow, suggesting that a substantial agreement was some way off.

“If an agreement had been really reached on Friday, a Security Council meeting should have been summoned immediately, the same evening, to adopt a resolution on a political solution to the conflict in Kosovo and an end to the bombardment of our land, ” the party said.

Belgrade’s acceptance of the G-8 (the world’s seven most industrialised countries and Russia) proposals was announced Friday by Russian special envoy for the Balkans, Victor Chernomyrdin, after meeting the Yugoslav leadership in Belgrade.

The agreement was later confirmed by the government, which emphasised the UN Security Council role.

But Vojislav Seselj, Yugoslavia’s deputy Prime Minister and leader of the nationalist Serbian Radical party (SRS) said he was skeptical that the United States would seize the opportunity.

“The Americans want to crush any peace-bringing initiative” he said in an TV interview Sunday.

Yugoslavia intends to retain in Kosovo a contingent of 15,000 army troops and 10,000 police officers, as agreed by Milosevic and US special envoy Richard Holbrooke in October last year, Seselj added.

“If it is the price for bombing to be stopped, we can give up a little” he said.

The G-8 (the world’s seven most industrialised countries and Russia) proposals include the withdrawal of Serbian military and police forces from Kosovo, the deployment of a UN-led international force, the return of refugees and the disarming of ethnic-Albanian paramilitary groups.

The plan also guarantees the territorial integrity and sovereign rights of Yugoslavia, which has been interpreted by Belgrade and Moscow as ruling out independence for the province and an explicit requirement for a negotiated settlement.

The plan was rejected by the Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK), which is now operating from the Albanian border, protected by NATO forces stationed there, according to western media reports, amid an intensive military build up.

NATO’s 19 member countries have not reached a consensus on a ground invasion being pushed by Britain, with Germany, Italy and Greece firmly against and becoming increasingly anxious about the air raids.

The Kosovo-based Yugoslav Third Army commander Nebosja Pavkovic warned NATO in an interview that it can “expect hell” if a ground operation is launched on Serbian soil.

According to the latest official statistics, at least two thousand civilians have been killed in NATO air raids that started on March 24 – or almost 30 people daily. No statistics were given for the military or police forces in Kosovo.

More have been added to the list this weekend, when people were killed in front of their homes or on bridges, like in the small Serbian town of Varvarin, some 250 kms south of Belgrade, when NATO planes hit a town bridge over the Juzna Morava river and cars plunged into the water.

NATO spokesmen said Monday that the attack was no mistake as the bridge was “a legitimate military target,” but have offered no explanation yet about a sanatorium in south-eastern Serbia were another 10 people were reportedly killed.

The diplomatic situation is now “at least unclear, ” said Vuk Obradovic, president of the Social Democratic party.

The problem appeared to have been solved, judging from Milosevic’s office statement Friday regarding the peace principles, he told journalists. “However, according to Chernomyrdin himself and other world officials and media, this is merely an advance in negotiations.”

“The war, killing of the people and further destruction of our already devastated country, it all has to end. It should be our top priority,” he said.

Vladan Batic, coordinator of the Alliance for Change, a loose coalition of opposition parties, described the decision to accept the G-8 principles as “a reasonable move which if taken a long time ago could have eased the pain and suffering of our people and our country”.

“This sobering gesture shows that the people who are in a position to decide the destiny of this country and its citizens have at least learned that they cannot fight a war against the rest of the world, and that the U.S.-Russian proposal must be accepted.”

“The fact that a different policy could have reached the same goal two months ago, only without a single bullet being fired, raises the question of this regime’s responsibility,” he added.

During the last 10 days Serbs have experienced the heaviest wave of NATO bombings, with power and water supplies being cut for up to 72 hours and air raids in broad daylight, like Sunday, when air raid alert was in force three times in the capital.

For the first time, to their astonishment, in the clear blue skies Belgrade residents could see NATO aircraft circling or manoeuvring before firing their weapons.