Ex-Serb president to appear at UN tribunal

Former Serbian president Milan Milutinovic today flew to the Netherlands to surrender to the UN tribunal in The Hague, where he faces charges of war crimes in Kosovo.

Mr Milutinovic, who was Serbia's president from 1997 until last month, has denied he had any control over Serb-led security forces in the province.

But any testimony he might offer could prove damaging to the former Yugoslav president, Slobadon Milosevic, who is on trial for genocide and other war crimes in the Balkans. Though regarded as a figurehead leader, Mr Milutinovic, 60, was a member of Mr Milosevic's inner circle.

His most prominent role as president was when he led a Serbian delegation during US-sponsored peace talks on Kosovo with rival ethnic Albanian leaders in France in 1999.

The failure of those talks led to 78 days of Nato airstrikes against Yugoslavia to punish its Serb leaders for their violent crackdown in Kosovo.

Bajram Rexhepi, Kosovo's ethnic Albanian prime minister, described Mr Milutinovic's extradition as "better late than never".

He insisted that reconciliation in the Balkans would only come when all suspects facing war crimes are brought to justice. "Many others were part of that regime and system," he said.

After Mr Milosevic lost power in 2000, the pro-democracy leadership that succeeded him kept Mr Milutinovic as a figurehead Serbian president and refused to extradite him until his term and presidential immunity expired December 29.

The Serbian government has asked the tribunal to release Mr Milutinovic, who has had heart surgery twice, after his initial appearance on health grounds. The Yugoslav foreign ministry said in a statement that it would guarantee that he would return for trial.

Mr Milutinovic is among the five Serbian officials who were jointly indicted by the UN tribunal in 1999 with "command responsibility" in Kosovo.

Mr Milosevic, former Yugoslav army commander General Dragoljub Ojdanic and Mr Milosevic's former aide for Kosovo, Nikola Sainovic, are in custody in The Hague. The former Serbian police chief, Vlajko Stojiljkovic, committed suicide in April 2002 rather than be handed over to the tribunal.