International Reactions to Former Yugslav President's Death
Mario Profaca
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/03/11/milosevic.reacts/
Some reactions to Milosevic's death
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(CNN) -- Former Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic, 64, died in The Hague Saturday, just
months before his war crimes trial before the U.N. international war
crimes tribunal was expected to end.
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Widow Mirjana Milosevic: "The tribunal has killed my husband."
Serbia-Montenegro Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic: "Milosevic organized many, many assassinations of people of my party, of people of my family ... He ordered a few times assassination attempts against my life.
"What can I say? I can say it's a pity he didn't face justice in Belgrade."
Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik: "This does not change or alter in any way the need to come to terms with the past, with the legacy of which Slobodan Milosevic has been a part.
"This will be one of the big challenges ahead for the region in order to reach what is the ultimate goal we are all working on, and this is lasting peace and reconciliation."
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy: "With the death of Milosevic, one of the main actors, if not the the main actor in the Balkan wars of the late 20th century, has left the scene.
"I would like to spare a thought for all those who suffered so much from ethnic cleansing -- tens of thousands of men, women and children -- (the cleansing) Milosevic conceived and planned."
Zoran Andjelkovic, an official of Milosevic's Socialist Party: "We expect the tribunal to explain how was it possible, and why they did not let him have [medical] treatment in Russia."
Croatian President Stjepan Mesic -- "It's a pity that Milosevic did not live through the trial and get his deserved sentence."
David Owen, former European Union envoy to Balkans: "I think people everywhere, but particularly in the former Yugoslavia and in Bosnia, were wanting this verdict. They now will feel cheated and it's a tragedy in a way that justice has not been able to give the verdict which was important to hear."
Reuters contributed to this report.
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http://en.chinabroadcast.cn/706/2006/03/12/1...@60768.htm
International Reactions to Former Yugslav President's
Death
2006-03-12
00:02:29
Xinhua
The following are
reactions from around the world to the death of former Yugoslav President
Slobodan Milosevic, who died on Saturday in UN custody in The Hague.
The
European Union said Milosevic's death does not absolve Serbia of responsibility
to hand over war crime suspects from the Balkan wars of the
1990s.
"Politically for Belgrade, (the death of Milosevic) does not alter
in any way the need to come to terms with the legacy of the Balkan wars," said
Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik, whose country holds the rotating EU
presidency.
"This will be one of the big challenges ahead for the region
in order to reach what is the ultimate goal we are all working on, and this is
lasting peace and reconciliation," she said in Sulzburg, where an EU foreign
minister meeting was held.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said it regretted
that Milosevic had not been allowed by the UN war crimes court to receive
medical treatment in Moscow.
"Slobodan Milosevic had asked to be treated
in Russia because of the deterioration of his state of health," the ministry
said Saturday in the first government reaction to Milosevic's
death.
"Russian doctors were prepared to give him the necessary aid and
the Russian authorities guaranteed to meet all the demands of the International
Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
"Unfortunately, in spite of
our guarantees, the tribunal did not agree to give Slobodan Milosevic the
possibility of being treated in Russia," the statement said.
French
Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said Milosevic was the main architect of
the Balkan wars.
"With the death of Milosevic, one of the main actors if
not the the main actor in the Balkan wars of the late 20th century has left the
scene," Douste-Blazy said in a statement issued in Sulzburg where he was
attending the EU foreign ministers meeting.
"I would like to spare a
thought for all those who suffered so much from ethnic cleansing, tens of
thousands of men, women and children, which Milosevic conceived and planned,"
said the French foreign minister.
Douste-Blazy told reporters Milosevic
had died of natural causes.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said on
Saturday he hoped the death of Milosevic would help the people of Serbia to look
to the future.
"I hope very much that his passing will enable the people
of Serbia better to come to terms with their past, which is the only way in
which they can properly face their future," Straw told reporters, also in
Salzburg.
"What is important is that the region, the people of Serbia,
now draw a line across Milosevic's past and his life, which was a malign
influence on the people of Serbia and the whole region," he said on the margins
of a meeting of EU foreign ministers.
Straw said that he felt "sad" for
Milosevic's family.
Meanwhile, the UN war crimes tribunal on Saturday
rejected any criticism related to the death of Milosevic, who was on trial for
over five years here.
"The tribunal has nothing to be blamed for," a
tribunal spokesman told reporters.
"The International Criminal Tribunal
for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) takes the utmost care of its indictees and of
9Milosevic) in particular," said the spokesman.
"We cannot be blamed for
negligence."
The judges recently denied a request from Milosevic, who was
suffering from high blood pressure and heart problems, to undergo medical
treatment in Moscow, saying they saw no reason why Russian doctors could not
treat him in the Netherlands.
The former Yugoslav president was found
dead in his cell Saturday. The tribunal has launched an inquiry into the cause
of death and ordered an autopsy.
In London, Milosevic's lawyer said he
would not have committed suicide because he was determined to complete his war
crimes trial.
Steven Kay, one of Milosevic's court-assigned lawyers, said
he had spoken to his client about suicide recently.
"He said to me a few
weeks ago, I haven't fought this case for as long as I have with any intention
to do any harm to myself," Kay told the BBC television.
"He has a history
of suicide in his family -- both his parents -- but as far as he was concerned,
his attitude to me was quite the opposite from that. He was determined to keep
fighting his case," said the lawyer.
Milosevic, 64, suffered a heart
condition and high blood pressure which had repeatedly interrupted his trial in
THe Hague.
Kay said he had recently appealed to the court to have him
released from THe Hague to receive medical treatment in Moscow.
They had
been waiting for a response when Milosevic died.
"He was in poor health,
he had a recognized heart condition, a cardiovascular problem," Kay said. "In
the last six months he also developed pains inside his head which was linked to
a problem with his ears."
In Belgrade, the top official of Milosevic's
former Socialist Party said his death was "a great loss" for Serbia.
"He
was systematically killed by all the years he spent in The Hague and this is a
great loss for Serbia, the Serbian people and the Socialist Party of Serbia,"
said Ivica Dacic, the leader of the party.
"It is of major importance for
the future of our country that through his defense and the fact he died without
being convicted, Milosevic had managed to defend national and state interest,"
said Dacic.
Also in Belgrade, Serbian President Boris Tadic sent his
condolences to the family of Milosevic.
"The president of the Republic of
Serbia Boris Tadic expressed today condolences to the family and the Socialist
Party of Serbia regarding the death of former president of Serbia Slododan
Milosevic," said a brief official statement from his office.
Tadic,
considered a pro-Western leader, heads the Democratic Party that came to power
following a popular uprising against Milosevic and his Socialist Party in
October 2000.
There was still no official reaction to Milosevic's death
from the Serbian government headed by Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, whose
election victory in September 2000 eventually led to Milosevic's
ouster.
The independent B92 TV station in Belgrade, which broke the news
in Serbia before it was confirmed by the UN war crimes tribunal, interrupted
normal programming to show excerpts from Milosevic's war crimes trial in The
Hague.
The state-run RTS television station showed footage of Milosevic
during his 13 years of power, including a speech he made in Kosovo in 1989 where
he used nationalism to propel himself into power.
In Moscow, Milosevic's
brother Borislav said the international war crimes court trying him in The Hague
bore "full responsibility" for the former Yugoslav president's
death.
"The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
bears full responsibility for this," Russian Interfax news agency quoted him as
saying.
The ICTY earlier this year had refused permission for Milosevic
to go for treatment for heart problems and high blood pressure in Moscow,
drawing condemnation from Borislav, a former Yugoslav ambassador to
Russia.
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