Del Ponte lambasts Kostunica

Carla del Ponte seeks punitive measures on Yugoslavia

PARIS, France -- United Nations war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte has called Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica "a man of the past."

Del Ponte said she had been disappointed by Kostunica's "incredible nationalism" when she met him in Belgrade in January.

She said that while she had been encouraged by her meetings with leading reformist ministers, she had been enormously disappointed by Kostunica himself.

In blunt comments to French radio station RFI, Del Ponte said. "Kostunica is the past and that country needs the future, a great future.

"For an hour and a half he made declamatory statements about Serbia and the Serbs as victims. It felt like reading those books that I've read about communism 20 or 30 years ago."

She said she held out little prospect that police would arrest his autocratic predecessor, Slobodan Milosevic.

She also announced she would ask the U.N. Security Council to impose tough punitive measures on Yugoslavia if it did not cooperate with the war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

"Conditions, very tough conditions, have to be set so that Yugoslavia cooperates with us. If the government and Kostunica are faced with that choice, cooperation will start straight away," she added.

Del Ponte is demanding the arrest and transfer to The Hague of Milosevic, sought by the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for crimes against humanity committed during the Kosovo conflict.

"I've been reading for weeks that Milosevic is going to be arrested and I don't really believe it because when I was in Belgrade I was told that he was going to be arrested in the coming days. It never happened," Del Ponte said.

Kostunica urged caution in prosecuting Milosevic, arguing that a hasty court trial could open a new cycle of political revenge.

President Kostunica told the respected Belgrade daily Danas that putting Milosevic on a show trial could create lasting tensions between pro-democracy forces and Milosevic supporters.

Kostunica is reluctant to hand over his predecessor, but speculation has risen that he could be arrested and put on trial at home, probably on corruption charges.

Serbia's justice authorities, purged of Milosevic's allies, recently launched probes into his financial affairs and arrested his secret police chief on suspicion of multiple murder.

She also said she doubted that parliament would pass legislation needed to turn over Milosevic to The Hague.

A popular uprising last October forced Milosevic to concede defeat to Kostunica in federal presidential elections held 10 days before.

Cooperation with the tribunal, set up to examine the wars of the past decade that tore the old Yugoslavia apart, is seen by Western governments as a key test of the willingness of reformers to deal with the past and fully embrace democracy.

The U.S. Congress has set a deadline of March 31 for Yugoslavia's government to show a clear sign of cooperation if it is to receive $100 million in aid.

An opinion poll published this week suggested most Serbs thought Milosevic should surrender to the U.N. tribunal.

Meanwhile Hope has been expressed in the volatile Presevo Valley area bordering Kosovo that months of violence in the area could end within days.

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic said he expected a ceasefire to be signed next week.

Also on Saturday, a local Albanian political leader in southern Serbia presented a plan calling for the area, just east of U.N.-ruled Kosovo, to be put under international control.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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U.N. War Crimes Tribunal
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

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