BELGRADE, Dec 27 (Hina) - The Yugoslav political leadership on Thursday entered another public conflict over the question whether Yugoslav Army Chief-of-Staff Nebojsa Pavkovic should remain at his current post. Yugoslav President
Vojislav Kostunica told reporters today General Pavkovic himself had offered to resign but he did not accept it. Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic said at another press conference access to Partnership for Peace would not be possible with General Pavkovic. Svilanovic's repeated request for Pavkovic's replacement comes only one day after the Yugoslav Supreme Defence Council held a session at which it failed to discuss Pavkovic's possible replacement or resignation, contrary to what had been announced in the public. Svilanovic is the president of the Serbian Civic Alliance and one of the leaders of Serbia's ruling DOS coalition. At the time of the Kosovo conflict in 1998 and NATO raid
BELGRADE, Dec 27 (Hina) - The Yugoslav political leadership on
Thursday entered another public conflict over the question whether
Yugoslav Army Chief-of-Staff Nebojsa Pavkovic should remain at his
current post.
Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica told reporters today General
Pavkovic himself had offered to resign but he did not accept it.
Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic said at another press conference
access to Partnership for Peace would not be possible with General
Pavkovic.
Svilanovic's repeated request for Pavkovic's replacement comes
only one day after the Yugoslav Supreme Defence Council held a
session at which it failed to discuss Pavkovic's possible
replacement or resignation, contrary to what had been announced in
the public. Svilanovic is the president of the Serbian Civic
Alliance and one of the leaders of Serbia's ruling DOS coalition.
At the time of the Kosovo conflict in 1998 and NATO raids on
Yugoslavia in 1999, Pavkovic was the commander of the Pristina
Corps and subsequently commanded the Third Army, which operated in
Kosovo. The international war crimes tribunal in The Hague has
shown great interest in the general, although there is no public
indictment against him. After the cessation of NATO attacks, the
then Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic appointed Pavkovic Army
Chief-of-Staff, and he has been holding the post since.
Kostunica commended Pavkovic saying that "significant structural
changes" had been made under Pavkovic's command over the past
year.
The Yugoslav president believes requests for Pavkovic's
resignation come from those who urge the nation to "face its recent
past without delay and experience a catharsis." Yugoslavia's
recent past is not that simple, he said, mentioning the NATO
operation in Yugoslavia and enumerating the targets of NATO
attacks.
Minister Svilanovic, however, said that the request for Pavkovic's
replacement was "not the result of any side making any conditions"
but a realistic need for changes in the inherited administration.
At today's press conference the Yugoslav president repeated his
invitation to the leader of the Kosovo Democratic Alliance, Ibrahim
Rugova, to take part in talks on Kosovo's future and relations
between Kosovo Serbs and Albanians, adding he considered Rugova
"the true leader of the Kosovo Albanians."
(hina) rml