Balkan heads vow to rebuild peace

Bosnian Muslims called on Kostunica to apologise for Milosevic's acts

SARAJEVO, Bosnia -- The presidents of Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Croatia have pledged to rebuild peace, trust and trade among three states torn apart by the

The landmark meeting, in Sarajevo, Bosnia, on Monday, was the first top-level three-way meeting since the end of the Bosnian and Croatian wars.

Beside agreement on simplifying the return of refugees created by the wars, Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, Croatia's Stjepan Mesic and Bosnia's three-man inter-ethnic presidency -- Beriz Belkic, Zivko Radisic and Jozo Krizanovic --also agreed to cooperate in the fight against terror.

The three pledged to coordinate efforts to fight organized crime, develop their economies and establish good relations -- criteria demanded by the European Union from any prospective member.

Outlining a "new era in the relations among the three countries," the trilateral declaration obliges all three nations to settle disputes peacefully and following the standards of developed European countries.

"We are three countries that emerged from the former Yugoslavia -- countries that are now in transition and must cooperate with each other, because our economies depend on each other," Mesic told a news conference.

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"But we must know that we have a brutal war behind us that left grave consequences which must be overcome."

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said the summit showed that the three countries were overcoming their bitter past and looking towards a common future in the affluent bloc, to which they all aspire.

Bosnia's top peace envoy, British politician Paddy Ashdown described the meeting as a potential "watershed moment in the history of the region."

"You might say that the road to Brussels leads through Sarajevo," he said, alluding to their aspirations to join the EU, based in Brussels, Belgium.

Mesic said: "Behind us is a brutal war which has left heavy consequences. Europe is integrating and that's our destiny too.

"We want to cooperate with Bosnia-Herzegovina and with Yugoslavia."

The last time the heads of state met was in 1995 in Dayton, Ohio, where the then Yugoslav President, Slobodan Milosevic, joined Bosnia's Alija Izetbegovic and Croatia's Franjo Tudjman in talks to bring an end to the 1992-95 Bosnian war.

Security was tight for the latest summit, with NATO-led peacekeepers manning vehicle checkpoints around Sarajevo.

Kostunica is the focus of some Bosnian Muslim anger over demands that he apologise on behalf of his predecessor, Milosevic, for backing Bosnian Serb forces in an ethnic cleansing drive in the 1992-95 war.

Belkic, the Muslim chairman of Bosnia's presidency, said he would like an apology from Belgrade but would not let that issue overshadow the talks.

"I expect the new structures who unleashed the winds of change in Yugoslavia to find the courage to acknowledge that the previous authorities caused terrible damage to Bosnia, and to apologise for that," he told the Dnevni Avaz newspaper.

But Kostunica declined to apologise for Serb atrocities, or call on former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic to surrender to the U.N. war crimes tribunal.

Kostunica made no reference to the calls and declined a reporter's challenge to urge Karadzic to surrender to the Hague Tribunal, where he faces genocide charges for the siege of Sarajevo and the Srebrenica massacre of up to 8,000 Muslims.

"I don't see why I should be concerned with that," he said, adding this was not his job as a head of state.