YUGOSLAVIA: US Senators spell out conditions for aid to Kostunica and Djindjic

(21/3/2002)BELGRADE (March 21) - Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica and Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic have both received a letter from two senior US senators spelling out what Belgrade must do by March 31 to secure future US aid, reports Beta news agency. The letter, dated February 15, is signed by Republican Mitch McConnell and Democrat Patrick Leahy, both members of the Foreign Operations Subcommittee of the Senate's Appropriations Committee. It sets out three conditions: firstly, the arrest and extradition of either Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic or Milan Lukic and Vinko Pandurevic. Karadzic is believed to be in the Serb entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina while the prosecution at The Hague Tribunal claim Mladic is in Belgrade under the protection of the Yugoslav Army. Both Lukic and Pandurevic are wanted for alleged war crimes during the Bosnian war. Secondly, Belgrade must cease financing, directly or indirectly, the Republika Srpska military and interior ministry. The Yugoslav parliament recently adopted legislation ending pension payments for Bosnian Serb army officers. And finally, Serbia must transfer the remaining 170 Kosovo Albanians in Serbian prisons to the jurisdiction of the province's UN administration. According to the letter, fulfillment of these conditions is the minimum for Belgrade to secure tens of million of dollars in financial aid from Washington as well as future US backing in the world's major financial institutions. The senators also dangle the possibility of a donor conference for Yugoslavia in the summer, reports Beta. The letter was obtained form the Washington-based NGO Coalition for International Justice.

//Shqiptarja.com

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• Ratko Mladiç