Posted on 05/03/2002 9:18:09 AM PDT by Dragonfly
Friday May 3, 9:51 PM
Kosovo's moderate president clashes with Milosevic in court
Kosovo's president, Ibrahim Rugova, clashed with his nemesis Slobodan Milosevic at the UN war crimes tribunal, accusing the former Yugoslav president of massacres against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.
But in cross examination, Milosevic labelled Rugova -- who led the non-violent movement for Kosovo's independence from Serbia from 1989 -- of being a pawn of the "great powers" trying to implement their own agenda.
"The great powers and the international community came out in our defence, for human rights and against the massacres perpetuated by Belgrade and by you," Rugova shot back.
Milosevic asked several times, quoting newspapers and books, if Rugova believed the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) was a terrorist organisation.
"That's newspaper stuff," Rugova said dismissing the question. "The KLA was an organisation that responded to repression and violence for the purpose of winning freedom for the people."
Earlier in Friday's hearing, Rugova told the court how the province's ethnic Albanians suffered under the former Yugoslav president.
Rugova quietly explained how his party, the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) was founded.
"We were striving to build an independent Kosovo with rights for all people," he said, summarising the LDK's aims.
He also told the court how the Serb assembly revoked the autonomous status of Kosovo in 1989 and how the province was put under Belgrade's direct rule.
As with other witnesses, the prosecution also focussed on the years of discrimination against Kosovo's ethnic Albanians in the period leading up to the 1998-99 Serb crackdown on Kosovo Albanians.
The moderate Kosovo Albanian leader spoke of many meetings with the Serb authorities leading up to the conflict in which he said many promises were made for improvement but without any materialising.
During the full-blown war between the Yugoslav troops and the KLA, Rugova was a member of the Kosovo Albanian delegation in the Rambouillet talks held in the beginning of 1999.
He told the court he felt the Serbian delegation wasn't serious in its efforts to reach an agreement.
At Rambouillet the Serbian contingent said it was being presented with an impossible ultimatum designed to be rejected so that NATO could bomb Yugoslavia.
At the height of NATO's bombing campaign, Rugova also had a much-publicised encounter with the former Yugoslav president.
During that meeting, Rugova told the former Yugoslav president of the deteriorating situation in Kosovo.
"I told him people were being driven out of Kosovo by military groups," he testified.
In reply to the Kosovo Albanian leader's concern, Milosevic told him the situation in Kosovo was a result of actions by the international community.
I told him people were being driven out of Kosovo by military groups," he testified.
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