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U.S. Lifts Sanctions On Belgrade
WASHINGTON (News Agencies) - President Bill Clinton on Friday signed an order lifting U.S. economic sanctions on Yugoslavia but retaining those that target former president Slobodan Milosevic, his family and members of his entourage, the White House said.
Clinton announced the decision in a letter to Congress that said the lifting of sanctions was in response to "positive" recent developments in Yugoslavia.
However, the letter also warned of the dangers to peace that remained in the Balkan regions and urged Belgrade to support the work of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
"We must recognize that the past and present capacity of Slobodan Milosevic and other indicted war criminals ... continue to threaten the stability in the Balkan region and the full implementation of the Dayton peace agreement," the letter said.
The decision to lift sanctions is one of the last executive orders signed by Clinton, who will step down Saturday as President-elect George W. Bush assumes the nation's highest office.
Yugoslav deputy Prime Minister Miroljub Labus Friday welcomed Clinton's decision to lift the sanctions, Beta news agency reported.
He said that the lifting of the sanctions would improve trade exchange and allow air links and financial transactions to be re-established.
Dragana Djuric, Kostunica's economic advisor, said the move would unfreeze more than $400 million belonging to Yugoslavia that had been trapped in U.S. banks, Beta reported.
Once the U.S. Congress approved the measure, she added, "Yugoslavia will be able to set up normal trade relations with the United States.
"By this move, the United States shows it will cooperate better with Yugoslavia," she added.
Officials at the Yugoslav national air company JAT said they were planning to re-establish direct flights to the U.S. and Canada by May or June, the state agency Tanjug reported.
"JAT will reopen its offices in New York, Chicago and Toronto by early February," spokesman Dusan Kostic told Tanjug.
The United States warmly welcomed Milosevic's replacement in October by moderate President Vojislav Kostunica and resumed diplomatic relations with Belgrade a month later.
However, Washington has continued to insist that Milosevic and others accused of war crimes be brought to trial before an international tribunal in The Hague.
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