His luck runs out

Mr. Slobodan Milosevic's extradition has caused Yugoslavia to once again lurch towards political uncertainty. Vaiju Naravane reports.

``THEY SOLD him for less than thirty pieces of silver. What is a billion dollars in today's world? Slobodan Milosevic has been betrayed, sold by corrupt, greedy, power hungry politicians who want to line their own pockets. Quite a bit of the money will go back to the donor countries by way of payments to companies contracted to build our roads and infrastructure, re-start our factories. As usual, us poor folks will get nothing.''

A Yugoslav worker, Mr. Boban Stavic (52), is furious over the unseemly haste with which the former Yugoslav President was handed over to the International Criminal Tribunal on the Former Yugoslavia at The Hague.

In return for aid pledges of $ 1.28 billions from the world's richest nations, the Serbian Prime Minister, Mr. Zoran Djindjic, and his Government over-ruled the Yugoslav Constitutional Court that banned the extradition on Thursday.

Mr. Stavic is not alone in screaming out his anger. Thousands of Yugoslavs took to the streets to protest Mr. Milosevic's arbitrary removal to The Hague. Yugoslavia once again lurched towards political uncertainty as the Federal Prime Minister, Mr. Zoran Zizic, resigned and other former Montenegrin allies of Mr. Milosevic threatened to lead a split between the country's two remaining republics, Serbia and the much smaller Montenegro.

About 6,000 supporters of Mr. Milosevic, some shouting ``Treason!'' and ``Let's Rise Up!'', massed in front of Belgrade's Federal Parliament to protest the Serbian Government decision to surrender the former Yugoslav President.

``This is outrage. This is banditry. This is a blatant violation of all laws,'' said Mr. Miodrag Sekulic, 56, a retired teacher from Belgrade and a Milosevic supporter, as he painted a fresh banner saying: ``We will arrest the traitors''.

But the turnout was smaller than expected, and it showed how popular support for Mr. Milosevic has dwindled since his nationalist campaigns led to four Balkan wars. Most Serbs expressed relief at the prospect of putting his 13-year era of ruinous rule behind them.

``This man brought a once-proud country to its knees. He must pay for his misdeeds. Now we live in total poverty. In the past couple of months enormous evidence of systematic mass killings of Albanians in Kosovo has been unearthed. The man was a monster. Besides these are times for pragmatism. We desperately need western aid for reconstruction and development,'' says political analyst Branka Bogdanovic.

The Yugoslav Federal President, Mr. Vojislav Kostounica, however, denounced the decision to hand over the man he replaced as ``illegal and unconstitutional'', saying the extradition was carried out without respect for legal procedure. His party, Democratic Party of Serbia (DOS), angry at the extradition, decided on Friday to leave the parliamentary groups of the ruling DOS reformist alliance and demanded a reshuffle of Governments on both levels. But party leaders said this did not mean they were leaving the 18-party DOS, which united to oust Mr. Milosevic last October.

Mr. Djindjic, who pushed through the extradition, said Yugoslavia had no choice but to turn over Mr. Milosevic or face renewed international isolation and the loss of much-needed foreign aid. ``Basically his head went for $1.3 billion,'' said the Sarajevo- born film director, Mr. Emir Kusturica.

The political resignations, however, mean the collapse of the Cabinet, which is made up of Serbia's pro-democracy officials and Ministers from Montenegro. Mr. Kostunica can now propose a new Prime Minister, but if that is rejected in Parliament, he will have to call new federal elections.

Mr. Kostunica met army leaders to discuss the mounting tensions. A terse statement after the talks said the crisis ``must be resolved by political means''.

The extradition was welcomed by Ms. Carla del Ponte, the United Nations' chief war crimes prosecutor, who said the handover meant others who did Mr. Milosevic's bidding in a decade of Balkans conflict and ethnic cleansing could be brought to trial. She was referring to Mr. Radovan Karazdic and General Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb political and military leaders who are charged with genocide for the widespread torture and massacre of Muslims and Croats during the war in Bosnia-Hercegovina.

The first head of state to be indicted for war crimes while in office, Mr. Milosevic has been given three days by the U.N. tribunal to prepare for a first court appearance on Tuesday morning.

Mr. Milosevic and his aides, who all occupied high state positions at the time the indictment was issued, are accused of deporting 740,000 ethnic Albanians from Kosovo and of murdering 340 Albanians identified before May 24, 1999, when the indictment was confirmed by a judge, during NATO's bombing campaign against Yugoslavia. An estimated 20,000 died in the Croatian war of independence that ended in 1995. In Bosnia, fighting between 1992 and 1995 killed over 200,000. In Kosovo in 1998-99 an estimated 10,000 died in Serbian ethnic cleansing.

Toppled last October, Mr. Milosevic had brandished a gun and threatened to shoot himself three months ago rather than submit to his initial arrest. If convicted on the four charges, including three of crimes against humanity in the Serbian province of Kosovo, the 59-year-old fallen strongman faces a maximum of life in jail.

Prosecutors are still considering further charges relating to wars in Croatia and Bosnia. Ms. Del Ponte said they could still charge him with the ultimate crime at the tribunal - genocide.

Mr. Milosevic who underwent an initial medical examination after being delivered by helicopter to the walled compound of Scheveningen prison has summoned an eight-man defense team from home.

Throwing a damper on the West's enthusiasm over Mr. Milosevic's extradition, the Russian Foreign Minister, Mr. Igor Ivanov, said it could bring about a further split in Yugoslavia as the international community battles to avert a war in Macedonia.

``This will without doubt play into the hands of separatists in Kosovo and Montenegro wanting to leave the (Yugoslav) federation,'' Mr. Ivanov said in a statement. ``They will probably not pass up the chance to use the current situation... it is not difficult to imagine what it could lead to.''

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