The United States and Yugoslavia restored formal diplomatic relations Friday and the U.S. marked the occasion with a promise to provide $45 million in emergency food aid to help the people of Yugoslavia through the winter.
Belgrade also resumed diplomatic ties with Germany, France and Britain, heralding a new era in ties between this country and its bitterest foes during last year's conflict in Kosovo.
Standing before envoys of the four nations, Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic told a low-key but poignant ceremony that official letters had been exchanged. The exchange formally restores the ties that Belgrade severed at the start of the 78-day NATO bombing campaign in March 1999.
"This is a moment when I want to remind everyone how difficult it was to live in this country at a time of war," Svilanovic said. "Some mistakes of the past can never be put right and lives that perished can never be recovered. But today we can start creating a future for the brothers and sisters of all those who died, a future in which we shall live in a better country in peace with these nations."
Svilanovic, his voice quaking and tears welling in his eyes, said the restoration of ties to the outside world "was a debt we owe to an entire generation."
Since former President Slobodan Milosevic's ouster after an uprising following Sept. 24 elections, Yugoslavia has made strides to end the country's isolation. It has rejoined the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Nevertheless, resuming full relations with the United States represented a difficult step for Kostunica's government because of lingering anti-American feeling in this country due to America's prominent role in the bombing campaign.
Serb Police Protecting Accused War Criminals
Former Yugoslav leaders charged by the U.N. war crimes court will keep police protection to guard them against possible bounty hunters, a Yugoslav official said Friday. Interior Minister Slobodan Tomovic did not give names, but last year the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia indicted Slobodan Milosevic and four other senior Yugoslav officials for alleged war crimes in Kosovo. The U.S. has offered a $5 million reward for information leading to Milosevic's arrest. Tomovic said it was his ministry's duty to protect Yugoslav citizens.
- Reuters
President Clinton was consulting with Congress on how to use $100 million in assistance appropriated for Yugoslavia's main republic Serbia and an additional $89 million appropriated by Congress for the smaller republic, Montenegro, according to a White House statement.
"We take this action in response to the remarkable changes in Yugoslavia following the democratic election of President Vojislav Kostunica and the ouster of Slobodan Milosevic," Mr. Clinton said in a statement, released by the White House during his historic visit to Vietnam.
"We and our allies are committed to supporting this historic diplomatic transition," he said in the statement.
As a first step, the White House said the United States would rush $45 million in food aid to Yugoslavia during the winter months.
Yugoslav Agriculture Minister Sasa Vitosevic said earlier on Friday that the government was in talks with the United States over donations of maize and soymeal.
But due to transportation problems, he said the aid was unlikely to arrive before February.
Yugoslav reformists said in October they had asked the international community to provide food to help Serbia replenish its commodity reserves and feed its population throughout the winter.
The U.S. envoy William Montgomery at the Belgrade ceremony said the occasion "marks the formal end to a very difficult period between our two countries and the beginning of a new era."
"It's an era in which I am very sure that the traditionally warm relationship between the people of Yugoslavia and the people of the United States will be quickly restored," Montgomery said.
The ceremony marked the first time diplomats of the major NATO countries have appeared here together in public since the bombing campaign. They praised the new government for deciding to look to the future.
"Your very warm and yet also very realistic words did not gloss over the past but, very rightly, put emphasis on the future development of our relations," British envoy David Landsman said. Nevertheless, Washington and Belgrade still face a number of contentious issues, including Kostunica's refusal to send Milosevic and other indicted war crimes suspects to the international court in The Hague, Netherlands, for trial.
Milosevic was indicted for atrocities committed by his forces against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, a province of Yugoslavia's main republic Serbia. NATO launched the air campaign to bring the crackdown to a halt.
Kostunica has said they should face justice in Yugoslavia. But Svilanovic said on Thursday said visas would be issued to tribunal personnel to reopen an office in Belgrade.
Belgrade has invited the U.N. war crimes tribunal to reopen its office in Belgrade. The office was closed last year ahead of a NATO bombing campaign meant to force Milosevic to end his crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.
The war crimes tribunal at ThHague "should have the right to investigate whatever they want," Svilanovic said.
With the formal exchange of letters, the Yugoslav embassy in Washington and the U.S. embassy in Belgrade will be open for consular services and staffs will be hired. State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said in Washington on Thursday that United States was reviewing restrictions on travel to the United States by former Yugoslav officials.