Casino manager tells Milosevic trial of plans for ethnic cleansing

THE HAGUE: Prosecutors in the war crimes trial of Slobodan Milosevic hope they have finally found the elusive "smoking gun" …

THE HAGUE: Prosecutors in the war crimes trial of Slobodan Milosevic hope they have finally found the elusive "smoking gun" evidence to tie him to Balkan atrocities, writes Chris Stephen in The Hague.

For the first time in the 15- month trial at The Hague in the Netherlands, they produced a witness yesterday who claims to have been present at a secret meeting in which Mr Milosevic authorised the ethnic cleansing of Croatia.

The alleged meeting of the former Serbian president and his inner circle of top commanders took place in a casino in the northern Serb city of Novi Sad in March 1993, according to the witness, the former casino manager.

Mr Milosevic chose to meet outside the capital, Belgrade, far from prying eyes to review progress in the ethnic cleansing of Serb-held parts of Croatia, named Krajina.

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That operation, which began in 1991, saw the city of Vukovar reduced to rubble, thousands of Croat civilians murdered and tens of thousands forced to flee their homes.

But the witness said Mr Milosevic gloated when he was told the news.

"Very well, we have completed the main amount of the job," he is accused of telling his warlords. "I am really looking forward to how the Croats will ask for the Krajina when the majority population are Serbs."

Then he told his secret service chief, Jovica Stanisic, to keep a tight reign on warlord Arkan, real name Zeklo Raznatovic, blamed for a string of Balkan atrocities.

"Is Arkan under control? Very well, just keep him under control," the witness recalled Mr Milosevic saying. "We need people like this now but no one should think that they are more powerful than the state."

Arkan was assassinated in Belgrade in 2000 amid suspicions that Mr Milosevic had authorised the killing.

The witness appeared amid tight security - he was listed only by the codename C48 and gave his evidence behind a screen and with his image and voice disguised.

Even so, his evidence - placing key strongmen and warlords at the meeting - has put his life in danger and he is thought to have been given residence abroad and a new identity by the United Nations in exchange for his evidence.

The evidence, which continues later this week, is potential dynamite. It comes amid mounting frustration for prosecutors who have failed, despite hearing from more than 120 witnesses, to find anyone who had seen Mr Milosevic authorise war crimes.

Mr Milosevic famously had few confidantes and even wire taps played to the trial have failed to find evidence to decisively link him to Balkan atrocities.

Meanwhile, the trial has had delays totalling two months caused by 62-year-old Mr Milosevic falling ill with colds and high blood pressure. It is not expected to end before late 2005.

Now prosecutors hope they can pin him down. Two of the men said to be at the 1993 meeting, Stanisic and former Red Berets chief Franko Simatovic, are themselves under arrest in Serbia accused of murdering the late prime minister Zoran Djindjic.

Both men are expected to be indicted for war crimes and could themselves be flown to The Hague. Speculation is rife that one or both may be willing to give evidence against the man they always called The Boss in exchange for a lighter sentence.