BELGRADE, Feb 18 (Hina) - The United States will not automatically cancel assistance to Serbia if the new government be elected by votes of parliamentary deputies of Slobodan Milosevic's Socialist Party, the US Ambassador to
Serbia-Montenegro, William Montgomery, told in an interview with the local B92 TV station.
BELGRADE, Feb 18 (Hina) - The United States will not automatically
cancel assistance to Serbia if the new government be elected by votes
of parliamentary deputies of Slobodan Milosevic's Socialist Party, the
US Ambassador to Serbia-Montenegro, William Montgomery, told in an
interview with the local B92 TV station.#L#
Ambassador Montgomery, who will retire at the end of this month, said
Serbia needed a government capable of making difficult decisions in
relation to the Hague-based war crimes tribunal and economic reforms.
He, however, said he was not sure that the new government could do it
if it was supported by the Socialists.
He also believes that there is no organisation or country which would
automatically discontinue help to Serbia because of the support of the
Socialists (to the new government). But the question is what kind of
decisions such a government will be able to make, and those decisions
or a lack of decisions will determine a level of our future
assistance, the U.S. diplomat said.
The first test for the new authorities will be on 31 March when the US
Secretary of State is expected to assess whether the new government in
Belgrade abides by the Dayton peace accords, respects human rights and
cooperates with the Hague tribunal.
One of conditions for the "unfreezing" of the US assistance this year
is the arrest and extradition of war crimes indictees, wanted by the
Hague tribunal, including a war-time Bosnian Serb leader, General
Ratko Mladic.
Montgomery said he believed that Serbia would receive the assistance
for this year, although the tribunal's Chief Prosecutor, Carla del
Ponte, asserted that Mladic and another fugitive, Radovan Karadzic,
were hiding in Serbia.
Nobody in the entire international community can say with certainty
where Mladic and Karadzic are, but all of us must work on this issue
so that they can be found and transferred to The Hague, the ambassador
said whose entire interview would be broadcast on Thursday evening.
(Hina) ms