AUSTRIA/USA: More European and American reaction to the death in custody of Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic

Record ID: 402632

  • Title: AUSTRIA/USA: More European and American reaction to the death in custody of Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic
  • Date: 12th March 2006
  • Summary: BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY JACK STRAW COMES DOWN THE ESCALATOR AND WALKS OUT IN FRONT OF THE CAMERAS (2 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 27th March 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations,People
  • Reuters ID: LVA3G7SNIAABR8HAWVDS9F9GFCPC
  • Story Text: Former Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian affairs, Richard Holbrooke, reacted to the death of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, with the feeling that even though the former Serb strongman did not get to complete his U.N. trial, a "rough justice" still had been served with Milosevic having passed away in the confines of jail.
    But he showed no warm feelings for the indicted former leader and called him "a monster" because "... he started four wars, and he spent the last five years of his life in jail, which is a appropriate rough justice."
    Holbrooke said, "I never thought he would be a free man again. I didn't think he should be. He started four wars, he wrecked South Eastern Europe. Over three hundred thousand people died, over two and a half million homeless because of Milosevic, and he paid the price, and although he won't serve out many years in jail, he paid the price by ending his life in jail."
    Serbia-Montenegro Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic said it was a pity former President Slobodan Milosevic had not been tried in his own country.
    "Milosevic organised many many assassinations of people of my party, of people of my family... He ordered a few times assassination attempts against my life," Draskovic told reporters at a European Union foreign ministers' meeting.
    "What can I say? I can say it's a pity he didn't face justice in Belgrade," he said.
    The new president of Kosovo, Fatmir Sejdiu, also said that Milosevic was the cause of many victims. "He was brought to the Hague at the end of the day."
    And EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, said that "justice has been served".
    "... the International Tribunal accused him, put him on trial, a fair trial, and the fact that the trial was so long is proof that it was a fair trail, in which every argument was going to be listened to, and that is an example of how the international community behaves, how the international community act justly," he said.
    British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Milosevic had been a "malign influence" on the region.
    Jack Straw called on the people of Serbia to "draw a line" under their violent history following the death of former President Slobodan Milosevic.
    "What is important is that the region and particularly the people of Serbia now draw a line across Milosevic's past and his life, which was a malign influence on the people of Serbia and the whole of the region, seeks to come to terms with his past and their past, and therefore to look forward."
    The death of Slobodan Milosevic does not change the need for Serbia and Montenegro to come to terms with its past, the Austrian presidency of the European Union said at a news conference at the the meeting.
    "This does not change or alter in any way the need to come to terms with the past, with the legacy of which Slobodan Milosevic has been a part," said Ursula Plassnik, foreign minister of Austria, which holds the rotating EU chair.
    "This will be one of the big challenges ahead for the region in order to reach what is the ultimate goal we are all working on, and this is lasting peace and reconciliation," she said at a news conference during an EU foreign minister meeting.
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