EU agrees on oil to Serbia but fails in opposition talks

EU foreign ministers yesterday agreed to back proposals to supply oil to two opposition-controlled cities in Serbia. But a related attempt to boost the opposition by means of a high-profile meeting between foreign ministers and their leaders turned into farce when 15 of 31 of the Serb delegation boycotted the meeting.

Those who turned up here were described by one diplomat as the "Vauxhall conference of the opposition, definitely not the Premier League."

The British Foreign Secretary, Mr Robin Cook, claimed that the boycott "was not their decision but imposed on them by Mr Milosevic who has told them that they will be guilty of treason to come here."

But Mr Vladan Batic, a leading official of the Alliance for Change group who was expected to attend, said that the issue was the insistence of EU ministers on including a reference to the surrendering of war criminals to the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague. The draft of the declaration is "a cuckoo in the nest", he told Reuters in Belgrade.

He said the opposition's priorities were the democratisation of Serbia and the lifting of sanctions, not surrendering those indicted, who include President Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia and four of his closest aides.

The truth is that the opposition has an uneasy relationship with Mr Milosevic who tolerates their control of a number of key cities as long as they do not overstep the mark.

They were clearly also worried both that the issue of surrendering war criminals would not play well with the public and at the refusal of EU ministers to ease the flight ban against Serbia.

But the ministers did agree to back the "energy for democracy" plan under which the towns of Nis and Pirot, under opposition control, will be supplied with badly needed heating oil and generators.

Ministers also backed a joint declaration on Timor which called once again on the Indonesian parliament to respect the will of the East Timor people "in order that Indonesia formally relinquishes its ties with East Timor." The declaration expressed concern at the activities of militias in West Timor and called on the Indonesian army "to cease all support for the militias and to secure effectively the border".

The General Affairs Council rejected proposals from the Presidency to ease sanctions against Burma.