JOVANOVIC CONTINUES HIS EXAMINATION IN CHIEF

www.slobodan-milosevic.org - February 15, 2005

Written by: Andy Wilcoxson

Vladislav Jovanovic continued his testimony at the trial of Slobodan Milosevic on Tuesday. President Milosevic put questions to Jovanovic regarding the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

According to the indictment there was an “international armed conflict” and a “partial occupation” in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Jovanovic, who was a diplomat for more than 40 years, testified that the indictment is wrong. According to his testimony there was a civil-war in Bosnia, not an international armed conflict. He pointed out that the UN Security Council, in all of its resolutions, never determined that an international armed conflict was taking place in Bosnia.

Jovanovic testified that Belgrade had no troops in Bosnia after the withdrawal of the Yugoslav Peoples Army in May of 1992.

To bear this point out, Milosevic read from a report of the UN Secretary General dated 30 May 1992. According to the report of the Secretary General, the JNA was withdrawing all of its soldiers who were not residents of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The report said that the JNA was even attacked, by the Bosnian-Muslims, as it was attempting to withdraw.

The Secretary General’s report said that the soldiers who lived in Bosnia, and who logically remained in Bosnia, were not under the command of Belgrade that they were under the command of Gen. Mladic.

The report also observed that Croatia, unlike Serbia, had a military presence in Bosnia. The report cast doubt on Zagreb’s claims that it was not controlling the members of its armed forces who went to Bosnia.

Jovanovic said that this report was supposed be discussed by the UN Security Counsel before sanctions were imposed against Yugoslavia. Unfortunately, the report was delayed and did not reach the Security Counsel until one day after the sanctions were imposed.

The Milosevic trial has already heard evidence that the Secretary-General’s report was held back by an Austrian diplomat, Mr. Peter Hohenfellner, who was the presiding officer of the Security Council at the time. He received the report from the Secretary-General on time, but did not distribute it to the rest of the Security Counsel until the day after the Security Counsel imposed sanctions against Yugoslavia.

Jovanovic listed Austria as a key ally of the Croatian and Slovenian secessionists during his testimony. The obvious conclusion is that Austria, through Mr. Hohenfellner, withheld vital information from the Security Counsel to protect Croatia, and to put increased pressure on what remained of Yugoslavia.

From his vantage point in the diplomatic corps of Yugoslavia, Jovanovic was able to testify about American policy towards Yugoslavia.

According to Jovanovic, Warren Zimmerman began telling federal and republican officials in Yugoslavia that the country was no longer of strategic interest to the United States when he became the U.S. Ambassador to Yugoslavia.

Jovanovic quoted James Baker as saying that Croatia and Slovenia’s unilateral secession was the trigger that unleashed war in Yugoslavia.

Jovanovic characterized U.S. policy towards Yugoslavia in 1991 as hypocritical. On the one hand the U.S. pledged not to recognize republics that seceded unilaterally. On the other hand the U.S. said that Yugoslavia could not use its army to prevent such unilateral secession. The United States leaked a CIA report that “predicted” the bloody break-up of Yugoslavia. The United States blocked economic cooperation with Yugoslavia, while fostering economic cooperation directly with its republics. Finally, the United States deleted Yugoslavia from the list of Most Favored Nations.   

Essentially the United States supported Yugoslavia with political rhetoric, while carrying out policies that undermined it.

Mr. Jovanovic, who worked closely with Milosevic, testified regarding Milosevic’s attitudes towards war crimes and ethnic cleansing. He said that Milosevic issued public statements condemning criminal acts committed by all sides in Bosnia.

Jovanovic testified to the fact between 50,000 and 70,000 Bosnian-Muslim refugees were given safe-haven in Serbia during the Bosnian war. He said that Serbia provided shelter for 700,000 to 800,000 refugees in total. Most of the refugees were Serbs, but according to Jovanovic Croats and Muslims were among the refugees, and they were treated the same as the ethnic Serb refugees.

Jovanovic reiterated the fact that Serbia, and Milosevic personally, supported the Cutliero Plan in Bosnia. The plan, which was signed by all three sides before the war broke out, called for an independent Bosnia divided into autonomous cantons. Unfortunately, Alija Izetbegovic opted for war and withdrew his signature from the document.

The fact that Serbia supported the Cutliero Plan goes to show that there never was a plan to establish greater Serbia. If such a plan had existed, Serbia never would have supported the Cutliero plan, whereby Bosnia became an independent state.

In addition to his testimony about the numerous peace initiatives that Milosevic supported, Jovanovic testified to the statements made by other leaders in the former Yugoslavia.

Jovanovic recalled Tudjman’s speech on Ban Jelacic Square on May 24, 1992 when he said "The war would not have happened if Croatia had not wanted it. It was, however, our judgment that only through war can we achieve the independence of Croatia. That is why we conducted political negotiations, and behind those negotiations we set up military units. Had we not done so, we would never have reached our goal. That is to say, the war could have been avoided if only we had given up on our goals, that is, the independence of our state."

Jovanovic also recalled Izetbegovic’s statement to the Bosnian parliament on February 7, 1991 (before the war started) when he said “I would sacrifice peace for a sovereign Bosnia-Herzegovina… but for that peace in Bosnia-Herzegovina I would not sacrifice sovereignty."

The fact that Izetbegovic announced his intentions to go to war before the war broke out, goes to show that he bears responsibility for the war. Likewise, the fact that Tudjman openly admitted that Croatia negotiated in bad faith because it wanted a war goes to show that he bears responsibility for that war. The absurdity of accusing Serbia for those wars is self-evident.

Jovanovic will continue his examination in chief on Wednesday.
 

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