US cuts off aid to Serbia and Montenegro

US denies Serbia and Montenegro aid over war crimes
14 Jan 2005

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON, Jan 13 (Reuters) - The United States will withhold $10 million in aid to Serbia and Montenegro because of its continuing lack of cooperation with a United Nations war crimes tribunal, a U.S. State Department official said on Thursday.

There had been no improvement in Serbia and Montenegro's cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, since U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell determined last year that he could not certify Belgrade had taken action to cooperate, State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher said.

"In light of the continuing record of non-cooperation the secretary has decided to withhold $10 million in assistance for fiscal year 2005," Boucher said in a statement, adding that the amount was in addition to the more than $16 million that was withheld in the 2004 fiscal year.

The United States has long demanded that Belgrade cooperate fully with the tribunal, including by arresting and handing over fugitive former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic and Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic.

Boucher said the hold on U.S. aid could be lifted should the government in Serbia and Montenegro do more to do more to apprehend the leading war crimes suspects.

"We call on the authorities in Belgrade to cooperate fully with the tribunal by arresting and transferring fugitive indictees, particularly Ratko Mladic, to face justice in The Hague," Richard Boucher said in a statement.

"The secretary (Powell) is prepared to review this decision if future actions by Serbia and Montenegro demonstrate their cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia," Boucher said.

Under U.S. law, Powell's March 2004 decision automatically triggered the suspension of U.S. aid to Belgrade, in what appeared to be a symbolic blow to the government of Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, a longtime critic of the United Nations tribunal.

Belgrade is under intense Western pressure to hand over senior Serbs accused of atrocities during the Balkan wars in the 1990s. Failure to do so would block efforts to build closer ties with the European Union and NATO.

Mladic and Karadzic -- the tribunal's most wanted men -- are accused of genocide linked to the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of up to 8,000 Muslim men and boys and for the siege of Sarajevo.