An Interview With Milosevic
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic gave a rare interview Monday to CBS News affiliate KHOU-TV of Houston, Tex.
The interview was conducted in Belgrade by Ron Hatchett, a military analyst for the station and director of the Center for International Studies at Houston's University of Saint Thomas.
The station said Hatchett's visit with Milosevic was arranged by a U.S. Serbian organization. Following is a transcript of their conversation.
Hatchett: Three Americans are being held as prisoners of war here. Can you assure the American people that they are in good health, all three? And that all three of them are being cared for in a humane way?
Milosevic: We are respecting prisoners of war. Nothing will happen to your soldiers. They are treated well. They are healthy and... [the] Geneva Convention is respected.
Q: What's your reason for not allowing the Red Cross to see these prisoners?
A: I think the Red Cross can visit them. I don't know that they were not allowed. I don't know where is Red Cross, who asked for that? If there is a Red Cross mission, that is under Geneva Convention, they can see them.
Q: Isn't it your policy, is it your policy, to expel all Albanians from Kosovo?
A: There was never policy of this country and my policy to expel any citizen of Yugoslavia from any part of this country... And to answer your question about Albania refugees, you are right, there are lot of refugees but they are a result of bombing...
You know that before 24th of March when they started damn bombing and they started their dirty aggression against this country there was not one single refugee. When they started bombing, refugees appear, of course as a result of bombing, and everybody knows it.
Q: What do you see as a possibility for some negotiated political settlement of this problem in the near term?
A: Well, I believe that when aggression stops, when bombing stops, then it will be very easy to continue political process.