Posted on 03/19/2003 8:43:29 AM PST by Destro
AP World - General News
Report: Before assassination, Serb leader complained that West neglected him
Thu Mar 13, 6:38 AM ET
ROME - Assassinated Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic complained in an interview conducted a few weeks before his death that the West was neglecting the problem of Kosovo and that he had received little credit for taking major steps against accused war criminals.
Djindjic, a pro-Western leader who made enemies by pushing for the arrest of mobsters and war crimes suspects, was shot Wednesday in downtown Belgrade. Italy's leading Corriere della Sera newspaper on Thursday published the interview, conducted Feb. 22 in Frankfurt.
"If negotiations to stabilize the Kosovo region do not begin as soon as possible, the extremists will be strengthened," the newspaper quoted him as saying. "It is incredible that up till now, there hasn't been any offer from the international community to talk about future planning in the region. The theme is taboo. It is necessary to get the discussions started now because within one or two years it will be even more difficult."
Djindjic said he had tried to pressure Western leaders to discuss Kosovo, but that this was rejected by EU foreign policy representative Javier Solana and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites).
Djindjic added that the government had no information on the location of former Bosnian Serb military commander Gen. Ratko Mladic, a war-crimes suspect believed to be hiding in Serbia. He noted that his police had little enthusiasm for hunting such suspects amid considerable public opposition.
"Notwithstanding the very unstable situation, with so many political and economic problems to resolve, we have taken very unpopular actions," he said. "But this is not considered sufficient in the West."
On Thursday, police arrested several members of a shadowy underworld network accused of assassinating Djindjic. Djindjic had many enemies because of his pro-reformist and Western stands and his crackdown on organized crime.
BELGRADE, THE HAGUE -- Monday The man believed to be behind the Djindjic assassination has sought protection from the Hague Tribunal in exchange for supplying information on Bosnian Serb leaders Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, Beta reports, quoting anonymous diplomatic sources.
Milorad Legija Lukovic, the former commander of the now-disbanded police Special Operations Unit, is being actively sought by Serbian police in connection with the murder of the Serbian prime minister.
Betas sources say that Legija, who is known to have close ties with Karadzic and Mladic, has offered to provide information on the whereabouts of The Hagues two most wanted suspects, in exchange for protection and a new identity.
Hague Prosecution press officer Florence Hartmann declined to comment on the reports, saying that the issue was too sensitive.
Well, isn't this just the most interesting piece of unsubstantiated news?
Gee, I wonder who was saying all along that the odds-on bet for the hit would be that pro-Milosovic Serb nationalists probably did it due to Zolan keeping quiet about the French/UN double-standard...
I remember quite well what you were saying, thanks.
See post #55.
You still don't get it, and that fact is probably deliberate. You seem more and more to be a pro-French troll.
You're in your own little world.
Meanwhile, back in the real world, the assassin has started talking, and B92 is reporting today, amongst other things:
Jovanovics statement confirms suspicions that fugitive gangster Milorad Legija Lukovic ordered the execution, assuring Jovanovic that it was necessary in order to prevent the disbanding of the Special Operations Unit and the subsequent transferral of all members to The Hague.
Mais je suis seulment un acteur dans le grande arrangement Francaise, non?
Gotta love that High School French.
Although both you and the French press would love to pin this political assassination on a non-political "gangster", it's worth pointing out that the Special Operations Unit in question is a government organization, hardly something that a mere "criminal" would be concerned about seeing get disbanded.
Thus, once again your spin fails. It still remains clear that the assassination was politically motivated, not criminally motivated, and that it had more to do with the French/German double-standard on going to war without the UN than about anything else.
It still remains clear that the assassination was politically motivated, not criminally motivated, and that it had more to do with the French/German double-standard on going to war without the UN than about anything else.
The only thing clear here is that you're impervious to real world facts and seem determined to persist in espousing a theory that is devoid of any supporting evidence.
How do you function in society?
Well, for one thing, I get my daily entertainment from smashing trolls who run around posting ridiculous propaganda; and very few have lived up to your ability to spin so tirelessly for the French by posting such rubbish as your wild-eyed claims that non-political "gangsters" made a hit on a leading *politician* in order to save a government unit.
Outstanding work then. I take my chapeau off to you, sport.
Please ignore (wild-eyed rubbish, don't you know).
It's difficult to top the comedic value of your wild-eyed claims that non-political "gangsters" made a hit on a leading *politician* in order to save a government unit, but who knows, you might one day manage it.
Ha ha.
Oh my.
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