Remarks Following Meeting With Foreign MinisterVuk Draskovic

UNDER SECRETARY GROSSMAN:

I thank all of our hosts for all of the effort that was made to make this visit a successful one and I also want to pay tribute to Ambassador Polt and his Mission here in Serbia and Montenegro, and the outstanding job that they do to represent the United States here with all of you.

As the Minister said, this is now the fourth time I’ve been to Belgrade in the past year or so, and I came here exactly as he said, to emphasize our commitment to a Serbia that is a successful part of a Europe whole, free, and at peace. And each time I have come here and each time I have stood with the Minister, I always have been encouraged by the positive commitment that people talk about to move forward on the path to meeting Belgrade’s obligations to the international community. When I was here last July, we stood here and I had the good fortune to congratulate the people of Serbia on a vote that reflected a will to reform, a will to pursue European integration, and that vote showed hope, and it showed optimism for the future. And I came back today to show, as the Minister said, our continuing support for you as you try to seize this historic opportunity.

As the Minister said, sadly, the obligation that Serbia and Montenegro, that Belgrade, has to meet its obligations to the Hague Tribunal, those obligations remain unmet. Mr. Mladic remains at large. I may say that I think it’s a positive development that the arrest warrants have been issued for the generals, and now the key thing is that the generals be arrested and go to the Hague.

As the Minister said, we also wish for a clear statement from Belgrade that the Kosovo Serbs participate in the elections in October and we look forward to this as well. As the Minister said, we take very seriously the obligation to the sanctity and freedom of Kosovar Serbs, and I would urge all of you to read carefully the statement of the Contact Group in New York from last week, which I think, as I argued to the Minister, laid out our commitment to these same principles. As you know, this afternoon I will visit Kosovo and take the same messages there. We support the new UN Special Representative Soren Jessen-Petersen, we want to talk to those people who are involved in the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government, and we want the people to live by the Contact Group statement of last November.

Mr. Minister, you said that if you look out into next year, there’ll be a conversation about Kosovo’s future. But there will also, sir, be a continuing conversation about Serbia and Montenegro’s future and I hope that a year from now this country, where there’s so much promise, can be on its way to PfP, on its way to NATO, on its way to the European Union. That is our dream and that is our vision. But this can’t happen without your efforts. There’s so much promise here and I know your leaders are committed to Serbia’s becoming part of a Europe peaceful, whole, and free, but getting there, achieving this goal, making this happen depends upon actions that you will take and commitments that you will meet and beliefs that you need to hold about your international obligations. The actions of the government here and the people here to meet those obligations are, we believe, now overdue, and it is time to meet those obligations, so, as the Minister said, we can meet our vision and our dream of a successful Serbia as part of a successful Europe.

Minister, I thank you very much for allowing me to make these comments.

Question: Are there some concrete consequences that we will face if we do not start to cooperate with the Hague Tribunal, maybe to arrest and transfer fugitives?

UNDER SECRETARY GROSSMAN: Well, let me say two things about that. First, I believe that Serbia and Montenegro already has consequences from the fact that Mladic and the generals are not transferred to The Hague. You are held back from European integration, you’re held back from PfP, you’re held back from NATO. And, so, when people say: well, what are the consequences in the future, I ask you to consider the consequences. If I might say, one of the most eloquent things the Minister said in our meeting was that he didn’t want Serbia and Montenegro to be an island, isolated inside of a successful Europe. And that’s what’s happening here. And, so, you don’t have to look very far in the future about consequences, I ask you to look at what the consequences are. And that’s why we ask for actions today.

Second thing I would say is that some things for us get harder. When I was here in front of all you the last time, one of the things that I reported to the Minister was that if Mladic went to The Hague, if the generals went to The Hague, that we might support a return of those generals for domestic prosecution. Well, I still believe that, I’d still like that to happen, but I must say each day that goes by, it gets harder for me to take that position. So, I believe that you suffer consequences not tomorrow, today, and that each day that goes by, it’s harder for you and harder for us.

Yes, please.

Question: Sir, there were speculations here that you came today to announce a new deadline for the authorities in Belgrade to meet the request. And do we understand clearly that, when it comes to the American Christmas list, it’s Mladic, it’s the generals, and it’s making sure that Serbs in Kosovo get out and vote. Is that the minimum that you are asking Belgrade to comply with?

UNDER SECRETARY GROSSMAN: Well, first, I think we ought to deal clearly with this issue of deadlines. I was here in July, and the Minister and I stood here in front of you, and we said that the time to transfer Mr. Mladic and the generals was right then. So, 90 days have gone by since, and I hate to think that another 90 days and another 90 days will go by. So, the obligation and the deadline was, as Ambassador Polt has said and Ambassador Pierre Prosper has said, was yesterday, and the day before yesterday, and the day before that. So, I don’t know how this issue of a deadline came into the conversation. We didn’t set a deadline the last time we were here. The last time we were here, we said today, tomorrow, next week. And I say the same thing today.

Second, on the question of what we ask, I think the Minister had this exactly right, and you have it right – we’d like to see your international obligations to The Hague be met. That’s the arrest and transfer of Mladic, now, the arrest and transfer of the generals. There are other issues as well, about documentation, about witnesses. There are a series of obligations, and the Minister very rightly said meeting international obligations to The Hague is one thing, and yes, we would very much like a clear statement, if it’s possible, from Belgrade that the Kosovar Serbs should participate in the upcoming elections.

I’ll take one more.

Question: Do you believe the statement by the Serbian authorities that they searched for Mladic but that he could not be found here in Serbia and Montenegro and [inaudible]?

UNDER SECRETARY GROSSMAN: Well, I think that there’s much more that can be done, and our view is that Mladic needs to be arrested and he needs to go to the Hague. And the full effort needs to be made to accomplish that task.