EU confident of Milosevic extradition

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- The EU's foreign policy chief has said he is confident Yugoslavia will work with the U.N. war crimes tribunal over former president Slobodan Milosevic.

Javier Solana was speaking during his first visit to Belgrade since he played a key role in the bombing of the country when he was head of NATO in 1999.

Angry Serb nationalists jeered and shouted "child killer" as he arrived, as part of an EU delegation, for talks with President Vojislav Kostunica and Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic.

Speaking after what he described as "a very good meeting," Solana told CNN the EU had resisted calls to tie future aid to Belgrade with the extradition of Milosevic for trial in The Hague.

"We have the conviction that the government will co-operate with the international tribunal," he said.

He added that it was "very difficult to imagine" that a democratic Yugoslavia would not allow an indicted war criminal to go before an international tribunal for "a fair trial."

The United States has issued a deadline of March 31 for Belgrade to begin co-operating or risk losing money.

But the European Union has indicated that it is ready to wait.

Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh -- also involved in Thursday's talks -- said: "We have made it clear that we expect full co-operation with the war crimes tribunal, and eventually that has of course also to include Milosevic, but we do not believe that will happen tomorrow."

AUDIO Javier Solana: A new page has been opened in Yugoslavia 217kb/20sec. AIFF or WAV sound

Solana said the EU is committed to helping the newly-democratic Yugoslavia reform and rebuild in the post-Milosevic era.

He saw for himself some of the buildings destroyed by NATO's bombing -- launched to end alleged Serb repression of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority -- and described the visit as "a very moving moment."

About 200 nationalists called for Solana's arrest over the air campaign in which U.S.-based Human Rights Watch group estimates 500 civilians died.

That was far fewer than on Wednesday night when more than a thousand people burned an effigy of Solana in protest at his visit.

Zivorad Igic, a leader of the Socialist party under Milosevic, said Solana should not be allowed to forget his role in the air war, when he was secretary-general of NATO.

Milosevic's regime sentenced Solana, and 13 other Western leaders, in absentia last September to 20 years in prison each for the air strikes.

But Serbia's new rulers have described the trial as a farce and have given no indication they plan to act upon the verdict.

Reuters contributed to this report.

U.N. confident of Milosevic trial
January 25, 2001
Europe to debate 'Balkans syndrome'
January 17, 2001
Kostunica: NATO's 'depleted conscience'
January 16, 2001
Danger signs to go up at uranium sites
January 11, 2001
Yugoslavia puts NATO leaders on trial
September 19, 2000
Serbia given Milosevic deadline
February 4, 2001

UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
European Union
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
NATO

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.