More news from Reuters ....
Serb Opposition Welcomes West's Flight Ban Move
BELGRADE, Feb 10, 2000 -- (Reuters) Serb
opposition activists on Thursday welcomed
Western signals of an easing of a flight ban against
the isolated Balkan state, saying it should help them
in their struggle to oust President Slobodan
Milosevic.
The recently united opposition has long argued that
international sanctions to punish Belgrade over its
role in a series of Balkan wars in fact help the
Serbian strongman stay in power while hurting
ordinary people.
On Wednesday the United States and Britain
suggested lifting the Yugoslavia flight ban as part of
a package which would also tighten other forms of
sanctions.
Britain has said it expects the 15-nation EU to
suspend the ban at a foreign ministers' meeting on
Monday.
"It would be real and concrete support to the
opposition," said Slobodan Vuksanovic, deputy
head of the Democratic party.
He and others acknowledged that it would be of
limited practical value for most people in
impoverished Serbia, under various sanctions since
1992.
"Very few people can afford to fly, that's why I say
it is psychological support," Vuksanovic told
Reuters. "I would like to see the lifting of all
sanctions but I have to be realistic."
An adviser to Vuk Draskovic, the leader of the
Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO), hailed it as an
opposition victory.
"Every citizen in this country knows that the
opposition has literally worn out its shoes over the
past six months asking for sanctions to be lifted,"
said Ognjen Pribicevic.
Opposition says sanctions help Milosevic
Milosevic's domestic foes say the sanctions allow
him to blame the outside world for Serbia's
deepening economic crisis and to maintain tight
controls of sources of finance.
Many European countries agree, but Britain, the
Netherlands and the United States have argued that
lifting sanctions would play into Milosevic's hand by
breaking his isolation.
Washington threw a lifeline to the opposition on
Wednesday by backing the plan to suspend the EU
flight ban while enhancing so-called smart sanctions
against the ruling elite.
The suspension will only apply to European carriers and not the Yugoslav flag
carrier JAT, a senior U.S. official said.
The U.S. move was contingent on Europe expanding the list of Milosevic
supporters barred from visas from the current 600, and taking steps to tighten
financial sanctions.
Other international sanctions, which include an EU oil embargo and an
investment and credit ban, would be left intact.
Up to now the United States has opposed easing sanctions until elections are
held in Yugoslavia, but Albright said the Serbian opposition had taken steps
toward stronger unity.
Leaders of Serbia's then-fragmented opposition agreed on January 10 to put
aside their differences and work together to demand early elections and
oppose Milosevic.
The official Tanjug news agency said the U.S. announcement did not mean it
had changed its policy of aggression, noting that Albright had called for an
expansion of other sanctions.
"This most brutal method of interfering in the internal affairs of another country
and a silent murder of the whole nation represents a dangerous weapon that
(U.S. President Bill) Clinton's administration does not want to give up," it said.
|
