U.S.: Yugoslavia Aid Resuming

The U.S. said Tuesday it was ending a freeze on economic aid to Yugoslavia, cut off on March 31 because of Belgrade's failure to cooperate fully with the U.N. war crimes court in the Hague.

"Early this morning I signed the certification ... as a result we will be able to allow that aid to resume again," Secretary of State Colin Powell said after a meeting with Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic.

Powell said the United States took the decision on the basis of new laws passed in Belgrade concerning alleged war criminals and the voluntary surrender of several people accused of crimes.

In Belgrade, Yugoslavia's leaders welcomed the news.

"This is a tremendous vote of confidence in us by the U.S. administration," said Momcilo Grubac, a former justice minister and now a member of the constitutional court. Grubac, whose team was instrumental in pushing the extradition law, called the decision "a tremendous incentive for our country's frail and young democracy."

Powell praised what he called several recent steps, including the transfer of ethnic Albanian prisoners from Serbian custody to the United Nations.

Powell said the State Department also would begin the process of approaching Congress to consider normalizing trade relations with Yugoslavia.

The United States had required that Yugoslavia cooperate with the U.N. war-crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, or risk losing $120 million in financial assistance.

Powell also praised the recent voluntary surrenders of several people indicted by the war-crimes tribunal. But he said Yugoslavia still must do more to cooperate with the tribunal in the months ahead.

Human Rights Watch and other groups have criticized Yugoslav and Serbian officials for what the groups call their refusal to provide the tribunal with access to government archives.

Powell said there had been "some progress on access to archives."

The international tribunal is investigating war crimes under former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

U.S. law restricted aid after March 31 until Powell certified Yugoslavia had met the requirements, including delivery of suspects to the tribunal.

The United States had earmarked $120 million in aid for Yugoslavia in the current fiscal year. Of that, $40 million reportedly had not been disbursed until compliance was certified.