THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Dec 19 (Hina) - The transcript of a conversation between Croatian president Franjo Tudjman and US peace mediator Richard Holbrooke from August 1995 was used by the prosecution in the testimony of former NATO
commander General Wesley Clark against former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic before the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague earlier this week.
THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Dec 19 (Hina) - The transcript of a conversation
between Croatian president Franjo Tudjman and US peace mediator
Richard Holbrooke from August 1995 was used by the prosecution in the
testimony of former NATO commander General Wesley Clark against former
Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic before the UN war crimes
tribunal in The Hague earlier this week.#L#
The retired US general and Democratic presidential nominee, Wesley
Clark, gave testimony on Monday and Tuesday, and the tribunal
published the transcript of his hearing on Thursday and broadcast his
testimony on Friday.
Clark provided the prosecution with an important piece of evidence
corroborating the responsibility of Milosevic, who is charged with
genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina. He said that during a meeting in
Belgrade on August 17, 1995, Milosevic let him know that he had known
in advance about the massacre in Srebrenica.
While cross-examining Clark, Milosevic said that this was a blatant
lie and spent a lot of time trying to prove that he had nothing to do
with the Srebrenica slaughter.
During an additional examination, prosecutor Geoffrey Nice confirmed
the credibility of Clark's statement, presenting the judges with the
transcript of a conversation between the late Croatian president
Franjo Tudjman and US peace mediator Richard Holbrooke that took place
in the Presidential Palace in Zagreb on August 18, 1995. At the time
Clark was the chief strategist of the US Armed Forces Joint Chiefs of
Staff in Holbrooke's negotiating team.
During the conversation, Holbrooke informed Tudjman about a
conversation with Milosevic, including remarks about the slaughter in
Srebrenica that had occurred a month before that.
"However, with regard to Srebrenica and Zepa, he told us, I don't know
whether that's true or not, Mr. President, but we are only informing
you now, he told us that he attempted to prevent that from happening.
He thought it to be a disgrace. When we told him that war crimes were
committed in Srebrenica, he actually agreed. He said, 'I know',"
Holbrooke said.
Hoblrooke also told Tudjman that Milosevic, when trying to convince
the US diplomats that they should discuss peace in Bosnia-Herzegovina
with him rather than with the Bosnian Serb leadership, described
Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic as "a damned crack-brained
maniac".
In the continuation of the hearing, Milosevic tried without much
success to refute other incriminating statements relating to his
"leadership, power and control" over the Bosnian Serbs, the
integration of the Yugoslav Army and the Bosnian Serb Army, and his
control over military and police generals who ran ethnic cleansing
campaigns in Kosovo in 1998 and 1999.
"It is my opinion that Milosevic was the motivating force and the
guiding force in most if not all of the issues and activities in
former Yugoslavia during this period, both in war and in peace," Clark
said.
Clark described Milosevic's leadership strategy as a strategy "using
force, using intimidation, bullying, and then going to the
international community and pursuing peace. It was this combination
that marked his conduct during the entire period in question," Clark
concluded.
The trial of Milosevic will continue on January 13, 2004 after a
three-week recess for the Christmas and New Year holidays.
(Hina) vm sb