Kostunica toughens line on UN war crimes

Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica signalled today that he intends to deal with war crimes charges against Slobodan Milosevic…

Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica signalled today that he intends to deal with war crimes charges against Slobodan Milosevic only on his own terms by refusing to hold talks with the UN war crimes prosecutor.

Since taking office three months ago, Mr Kostunica has pledged strong cooperation with international institutions, but the new regime in Belgrade had yet to open up to the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

In the latest rebuff, a member of Kostunica's party said the president had decided against meeting UN war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, who had planned to visit Belgrade only if the reformist president agreed to meet with her.

"Mr Kostunica will not receive her," Aleksandar Popovic, a top official of the president's Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) told reporters in Belgrade.

READ MORE

But Ms Del Ponte today indicated she would press ahead with a visit to Belgrade next week and appeared confident Mr Kostunica would meet her.

"I hope that President Kostunica, when I am going to Belgrade, will find some time to meet with me," Del Ponte told journalists following a meeting in Zagreb with Croatia's Prime Minister Ivica Racan and other officials.

Today's meeting, as the hoped-for encounter with Mr Kostunica, is designed to elicit greater cooperation with UN war crimes investigators.

"Kostunica is meeting a lot of people, but I don't think that he won't find the time to meet the prosecutor of the ICTY," Ms Del Ponte said.

Kostunica's office did not immediately confirm or deny Mr Popovic's statement but the president has repeatedly criticized the war crimes tribunal as a political tool of the United States.

AFP