THE HAGUE, Feb 18 (Hina) - Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has accused Western powers of having attempted to dominate Europe's south-east by first stirring up inter-ethnic hatred and then conflicts on the territory of the
ex-Yugoslavia. "The civil war in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina is the consequence of hatred instigated from outside... The war is the result of the will and interests of great powers," Milosevic said on Monday, beginning the third day of his response to accusations by the prosecution of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) at The Hague, which charges him with genocide in Bosnia and war crimes in Croatia and Kosovo. Foreign "emissaries" supported only those who advocated secession, which resulted in the premature recognition of the independence of first Croatia and then Bosnia, contrary to the will of the Serb people, said Milosevic. He asserted
THE HAGUE, Feb 18 (Hina) - Former Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic has accused Western powers of having attempted to
dominate Europe's south-east by first stirring up inter-ethnic
hatred and then conflicts on the territory of the ex-Yugoslavia.
"The civil war in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina is the
consequence of hatred instigated from outside... The war is the
result of the will and interests of great powers," Milosevic said on
Monday, beginning the third day of his response to accusations by
the prosecution of the International Criminal Tribunal for the
former Yugoslavia (ICTY) at The Hague, which charges him with
genocide in Bosnia and war crimes in Croatia and Kosovo.
Foreign "emissaries" supported only those who advocated secession,
which resulted in the premature recognition of the independence of
first Croatia and then Bosnia, contrary to the will of the Serb
people, said Milosevic.
He asserted the ICTY had been established because those who had
truly inspired the war on the territory of the ex-Yugoslavia were
not satisfied with its outcome.
He added that on the global plan the West had brought about
conflicts between the Slavic peoples and Muslims, from Kosovo to
Chechnya, so that these peoples would debilitate each other, making
it easier for the West to establish control over them.
Milosevic reiterated the Serbs and Serbia had advocated peace and
the preservation of the country while the other side in Yugoslavia
had favoured secession, breaking the country up, and conflicts.
To corroborate his claim, he quoted incumbent Croatian President
Stjepan Mesic, whom he called the "notorious wrecker of
Yugoslavia", as telling the Croatian parliament he had "done the
task, Yugoslavia is no more." Milosevic also mentioned former
Croatian President Franjo Tudjman's words that there would have
been no war had Croatia not wanted it, and the former chairman of the
Bosnian Presidency, Alija Izetbegovic, who wrote in the Islamic
Declaration that there is no coexistence between the Islamic faith
and non-Islamic institutions.
Croatia could have gained independence without the war, but could
not kill the Serbs and expel 600,000 from their homes without it,
Milosevic asserted.
He added the changes to the Constitution of the then Socialist
Republic of Croatia had made Croatian Serbs "second rank citizens"
who responded to the secession, "the appearance of the first party
formations since Hitler's time", and the violence by blocking
access to their territory, the so-called log revolution. "As
everybody knows, a log cannot be a means of aggression," he said.
Milosevic dismissed claims that he had controlled the JNA, ex-
Yugoslavia's federal army, through the former federation's
Presidency, adding he had had no powers, either de jure or de
facto.
"Had I commanded the army, Yugoslavia would have been preserved,"
he said, stating the current Yugoslav army, much smaller than the
JNA, had stood up to NATO's attacks on Serbia.
Milosevic confirmed there had been Serb police in eastern Croatia
but said its task was to help in combating crime.
He countered some claims by the ICTY prosecution by stating that the
vanity of Serb politicians in Croatia and Bosnia had been such that
nobody, not even him, could influence them.
Serbia helped the Serb people across the Drina river only to
survive, asserted Milosevic, adding relations with the Bosnian
Serb leaders had been "bad."
He explained the fact that members of Yugoslav troops had remained
in Croatia and Bosnia by pointing, among else, to family ties.
He dismissed charges of attacks on the southern Croatian seaport of
Dubrovnik as nonsense. The bombing of Dubrovnik was a demented
crime and Serbia could not have had anything to do with that, he
asserted.
Milosevic complained about the hatred he and his family were
exposed to, and the West's attempt to assassinate him during 1999's
NATO air raids on Serbia.
Media interest in the Milosevic case has dropped at the beginning of
the second week of the trial. The hundreds of journalists who last
week reported about the biggest trial after Nuremberg have
dispersed.
The Milosevic trial began last Tuesday.
(hina) ha