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Kosovo's Rugova
Lashes Out At Milosevic In UN Tribunal
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Kosovo's President Ibrahim Rugova
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THE HAGUE, May 3 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Kosovo's President, Ibrahim Rugova, confronted Slobodan Milosevic at the UN war crimes tribunal Friday, accusing the former Yugoslav president of massacres against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.
Rugova, dressed in a black suit with a red sweater, 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, summarizing the LDK's aims, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
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 focused on the years of discrimination against Kosovo's ethnic Albanians in the period leading up to the 1998-99 violent Serb crackdown on Kosovo Albanians.
However, Rugova shed light on the Serbian leadership's behind-the-scenes maneuvering during the Kosovo conflict, unlike most prosecution witnesses who have focused on specific atrocities in the Balkans wars.
"Belgrade clearly decided to destroy Kosovo through violence and war," he told the court, reported British daily newspaper, The Independent.
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Slobadan Milosevic |
He said Albanian-language media in Kosovo were shut down under Serb rule, with journalists being physically thrown out of their offices by police.
He also testified that by 1993, 150,000 Kosovo Albanians had been fired from their jobs "because of their ethnicity".
"The Albanians were pushed out of the economy and from public services," he told the court.
In cross examination, Milosevic labeled Rugova - who led the non-violent movement for Kosovo's independence from Serbia since 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 defense, for human rights and against the massacres perpetrated by Belgrade and by you," Rugova shot back.
The tense exchange was the only time Rugova addressed Milosevic directly. During the half hour of questions before the court adjourned for lunch, Kosovo's President didn't once look at Milosevic, referring to him only in the third person.
Milosevic asked several times, quoting newspapers and books, if Rugova believed the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) was a terrorist organization.
"That's newspaper stuff," Rugova said dismissing the question. "The KLA was an organization 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.
The moderate Kosovo Albanian leader spoke of many meetings with the Serb authorities leading up to the conflict in which many promises were made for improvement but without any materializing.
During the full-blown war between the Yugoslav troops and the KLA, Rugova was a member of the Kosovo's ethnic Albanian delegation in the Rambouillet peace 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.
"We did our bit, we signed the agreement," he said, insisting that the Serbs had not.
At the height of NATO's bombing campaign, Rugova also had a much-publicized encounter with the accused Milosevic. This made him an easy target for hardliner Kosovars who charged that he collaborated with the Yugoslav regime.
The prosecution dwelled on these and other meetings in their questioning and Rugova said that, at the time, he was under house arrest and forced to meet with Milosevic and other high ranking Serbs.
"It was not what I wanted, but (Milosevic) requested it and if I hadn't gone, there would have been consequences," he said.
During the encounter, 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.
Milosevic faces more than 60 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes for his role in the 1991-95 war in Croatia, the Bosnian war from 1992-95, and the Kosovo conflict.
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