Milosevic, Not Debris, Is Blocking Danube Shipping

NATO Secretary General Lord George Robertson said that Serbia could not expect help to clear the Danube waterway of Kosovo war debris as long as Slobodan Milosevic remains president of Yugoslavia. Western reconstruction aid is barred as long as Milosevic is in power. But the Danube blockage is becoming acute as winter nears, with the threat of an ice buildup and flooding upstream. NATO-member Hungary and other Danube shipping states want to ease the no-aid policy so the river can be cleared at Novi Sad, in northwestern Serbia, before winter sets in. As NATO figures privately admit Milosevic is still firmly implanted, the Serbian opposition is urging the West to drop the blunt instrument of sanctions and help some reconstruction. But Robertson gave no sign concessions were being mooted. "The fundamental blockage to the process of bringing Yugoslavia and Serbia back into the family of nations that might expect help and assistance is the continued rule of an indicted war criminal...as the president of Yugoslavia," he said. He said Milosevic's violence in Kosovo had "led to the damage we've done" and "he himself has resisted a lot of moves that have been made in relation to the Danube." "I hope that the people of Serbia...will eventually have to take their future and their country into their own hands and take it away from Milosevic," the alliance secretary general said. A top NATO official admitted that Milosevic was "a long way from out" and still "has his hands firmly on the levers of power in Serbia", while his opposition was deeply divided. Hungary and other pro-NATO "frontline" states have made significant trade sacrifices in the name of solidarity with the Western allies, not only during the Kosovo campaign but also throughout several years of sanctions against Serbia. They now expect a problem created by NATO bombing to be dealt with separately from Milosevic's eventual departure. Diplomatic sources said Hungary had not raised the issue in NATO's executive council, since the alliance clearly did not wish to deal with such "environmental" problems. Hungary is, however, pursuing the question with the EU and intends to raise it again at a meeting in Helsinki. Three bridges were dropped into the river at Novi Sad by NATO's "smart" precision bombs. Belgrade insists on help to rebuild them as part of cleanup of the waterway using EU cash and Hungarian cranes. But that would come under the heading of "reconstruction" and would breach the sanctions policy. The United States opposes any relaxation but some European allies see the hard-line stance as ineffective and possibly counter-productive for the region. Milosevic's political opponents also want the West to lift blanket embargoes against Yugoslavia, saying they hurt ordinary Serbs far more than they do the ruling clique in Belgrade. So-called "smart sanctions," like the ban on visas for individual Milosevic backers and bankrollers, are seen by some as more likely to undermine support for the president. But a German initiative to make better use of this weapon by doubling the list of names to some 600 is still languishing at the European Union weeks after it was proposed. An EU source said it was only an "idea on the table" and was unlikely to be addressed again until mid-November. -- (Douglas Hamilton, Reuters)