WITNESS DISCLOSES HOW BELGRADE LED SERB REBELLION IN CROATIA

THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Feb 6 (Hina) - General Aleksandar Vasiljevic, the chief of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) counter-intelligence service in 1991 and 1992 when this army launched an aggression against Croatia, on Thursday revealed to the U.N. war crimes tribunal a part of the mechanisms which authorities in Serbia and the JNA used in order to lead Serb insurgents in Croatia and Bosnia- Herzegovina at the time. #L# Vasiljevic, who is witness for the prosecution at the Slobodan Milosevic trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), spoke about how Croatian Serbs had been provided with weapons from JNA arms depots, pursuant to oral orders of generals and secret services' officials. He said the arms which the JNA took from Croatia when withdrawing from that country, had finally ended up in the Serb-held Croatian areas ("Krajina"), and the corridors for the arms shipments went through Bosnia. Vasiljevic's statements were corroborated by several documents presented by a prosecutor. Confirming the authenticity of a document from December 1991 and another one from December 1993, the witness said that from the very beginning of the combat activities the units of the Territorial Defence (the so-called TO under Serb control) had asked the federal defence ministry for supplies of arms and equipment, and this continued later when the JNA changed its name into the Army of Yugoslavia (VJ). Vasiljevic spoke about the training of volunteers in Krajina. He testified that in the autumn of 1990 the training was led by Frenki Simatovic, an employee with the Serbian Interior Ministry, and in early 1991 the job was taken over by Dragan Vasiljkovic, known as "Captain Dragan" who arrived from Australia and conducted training courses in the Golubic camp near Knin. According to unofficial sources, Captain Dragan will be the next witness for the prosecution. Vasiljevic spoke about training at other camps, which were led under the sponsorship of the Serbian interior ministry with the logistic support of the JNA. He testified that the TO units from Serbia had been deployed in eastern Croatia, after approval by the then Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic. The witness added that active JNA officers had been appointed to the Serb rebels' command posts. Describing the situation in eastern Croatia at the time, he said that "volunteer' units, outside the command of the TO and JNA, were conducting a terror campaign" and one of them, called "Dusan Silni", had committed atrocities at Lovas. Speaking about the JNA's treatment of volunteers, the witness cited a statement of Serb radical leader Vojislav Seselj who told the BBC that he had been engaged by Jovica Stanisic, a high official of the Serbian Security Service (SDB), to gather volunteers. Asked by the prosecutor to whom the SDB was subordinate, the witness answered that it was Milosevic, and added that the SDB was under him when he became the Yugoslav president, although it was contrary to regulations. Asked by the prosecutor about the influence which the VJ exerted to link armies of the so-called Republic of Serb Krajina (Croatian Serb rebels) and the Republic of Srpska (Bosnian Serb insurgents), Vasiljevic answered that those were objectively two armies in two countries, but Belgrade treated them as if they had been the army of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and sent financial and staff assistance to them. He described Milosevic as a strong, authoritative politician who influenced four members of the then Yugoslav (SFRY) Presidency and JNA high-ranking officers and it was him who appointed officials whom he trusted into the Serbian interior ministry. Vasiljevic will continue testifying next week. (hina) ms sb