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US Denies Report It Wants to Sideline UN Tribunal

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By Douglas Hamilton

Reuters
October 26, 2004


The United States on Tuesday dismissed a U.S. newspaper report that Washington was insisting war crimes cases linked to the Balkan conflicts should go before domestic courts instead of the U.N. tribunal in The Hague. "(Washington) continues to support the (tribunal's) efforts to bring to justice those who have committed serious violations of international humanitarian law," said a statement issued by the U.S. embassy in Belgrade.

An article in Sunday's Washington Times, widely reported in Serbia, quoted U.S. Undersecretary of State for Arms Control John Bolton as saying President Bush was fed up with the U.N. tribunal's chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte. "There is a very real risk that the (tribunal) prosecutions will not resolve the situation in the Balkans but will create new animosities that lead to tensions," said Bolton.

"Washington is insisting that war crimes cases relating to the Balkan wars of the 1990s be tried either in domestic courts or be given an amnesty," the article said. It said this was a "dramatic change in U.S. policy toward the (tribunal) but more importantly, it is a fatal blow to the power and credibility of Mrs. Del Ponte."

HATE FIGURE

In Serbia, where del Ponte is a hate figure, the government has been under Western pressure to deliver suspects such as Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic to the U.N. tribunal or remain in the political and economic cold. Any suspicion that a change of policy was imminent in Washington could have wide-reaching political implications for Serbia's leadership, which has been deeply divided on how far to comply with Western demands.

Some Serbian newspapers appeared to seize on the article as proof that the country was off the hook. Others printed a State Department denial alongside the report. Serbian commentators following the U.S. election campaign lean toward the belief that a second Bush term would be better for their country. There are an estimated 1.5 million people of Serb origin in the United States where opinion polls predict a close contest in next week's presidential election between Bush and Democrat challenger John Kerry.

The U.S. embassy said Washington supported the U.N. tribunal financially and diplomatically and urged the governments of Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia and Bosnia to fulfil legal obligations by cooperating fully with the U.N. court. That meant the arrest and transfer of suspects such as Karadzic and his military chief Ratko Mladic "for whom the tribunal's doors will always remain open," the embassy said. It said this would be a pre-requisite for further integration with the West.

No immediate comment was available from del Ponte.


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