Milosevic Could Face War Crimes Tribunal

W A S H I N G T O N, Jan. 5 -- Yugoslavia may be willing to have ousted President Slobodan Milosevic be tried by an international war crimes court, provided the trial is held in Yugoslavia, the country’s foreign minister has said.

Goran Svilanovic made the comment following a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in Washington on Thursday.

“There are possibilities to fully cooperate with thetribunal and to prosecute all indicted personalities incooperation with the tribunal on the territory of the FRY[Federal Republic of Yugoslavia],” he said with Albright standing at his side.

Milosevic was indicted by the International War Crimes Tribunal in the Netherlands in 1999. The indictments came just days before the end of the NATO air war against Yugoslavia, and accuse Milosevic of planning and carrying out a gruesome campaign of crimes against Kosovo Albanians.

On her part, Albright welcomed what she called a historic move. “There can be no question that Yugoslavia has turned a corner and is moving in a positive direction toward Europe and democracy,” she said after meeting with Svilanovic.

Svilanovic noted he was the first in his post to visit aU.S. secretary of state in eight years of Balkan bloodshed.

A Victory for Albright

The declaration, coming as it does, just as Albright’s time in office is winding down, was all the more poignant as she has devoted much of her eight years of service in theClinton administration to taming Milosevic.

“Only six months ago, a meeting such as this would clearly have been unthinkable, and we have just spent 45 minutes together in a completely normal and comfortable and important discussion,” she said.

Ever since he swept into power in a dramatic ousting of Milosevic, Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica has repeatedly said he was unwilling to defer to a non-European power — meaning the U.S. — on Balkan issues.

Kostunica has been an avowed opponent of the NATO action and has projected a hostile attitude toward the U.S.