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Yugoslav war crimes law faces defeat in Parliament
A Yugoslav draft law that could pave the way for war crimes suspects like Slobodan Milosevic to be handed to a U.N. court looked doomed Monday when a key party said it would vote against.
A Yugoslav draft law that could pave the way for war crimes suspects like Slobodan Milosevic to be handed to a U.N. court looked doomed Monday when a key party said it would vote against.
Yugoslavia is under international pressure to step up cooperation with the U.N. tribunal based in The Hague ahead of a donors' conference on June 29 at which it hopes to raise more than $1 billion for the impoverished economy. But Montenegro's Socialist People's Party (SNP), junior partner in Yugoslavia's ruling coalition and opposed to the extradition of Yugoslav citizens to the court, said it would vote against the law.
The decision drew fierce criticism from Serbia's reformist DOS coalition, which dominates the Yugoslav government but still needs the support of the SNP to secure a parliamentary majority.
"If SNP persists with its decision, it will directly jeopardize the coalition and the existence of the federal state," said Yugoslav Telecommunications Minister Boris Tadic.
"We have only one option and that is to begin cooperating with The Hague as soon as possible," he told media persons.
Parliament is expected to discuss the bill governing cooperation with the UN tribunal Thursday. The tribunal has indicted Milosevic and four top aides on war crimes charges arising from Belgrade's crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.
"All (SNP) deputies will vote against the draft law," SNP spokesman Dragan Koprivica told reporters in the Montenegrin capital Podgorica after a meeting of the party's MPs.
The coastal republic of Montenegro is Serbia's smaller partner in the Yugoslav federation.
Bureau Report
Yugoslavia is under international pressure to step up cooperation with the U.N. tribunal based in The Hague ahead of a donors' conference on June 29 at which it hopes to raise more than $1 billion for the impoverished economy. But Montenegro's Socialist People's Party (SNP), junior partner in Yugoslavia's ruling coalition and opposed to the extradition of Yugoslav citizens to the court, said it would vote against the law.
The decision drew fierce criticism from Serbia's reformist DOS coalition, which dominates the Yugoslav government but still needs the support of the SNP to secure a parliamentary majority.
"If SNP persists with its decision, it will directly jeopardize the coalition and the existence of the federal state," said Yugoslav Telecommunications Minister Boris Tadic.
"We have only one option and that is to begin cooperating with The Hague as soon as possible," he told media persons.
Parliament is expected to discuss the bill governing cooperation with the UN tribunal Thursday. The tribunal has indicted Milosevic and four top aides on war crimes charges arising from Belgrade's crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.
"All (SNP) deputies will vote against the draft law," SNP spokesman Dragan Koprivica told reporters in the Montenegrin capital Podgorica after a meeting of the party's MPs.
The coastal republic of Montenegro is Serbia's smaller partner in the Yugoslav federation.
Bureau Report