December 13, 1998

U.S. Hardens Stance on Yugoslav Leader

By STEVEN ERLANGER

WASHINGTON -- The United States, trying to plot an eventual endgame to its military involvement in the countries that

once were part of Communist Yugoslavia, is moving to undermine President Slobodan Milosevic's tight control over

Yugoslavia, senior U.S. officials say.

U.S. officials have toughened their tone against Milosevic in recent days and are openly supporting the democratic

government in Montenegro, a part of Yugoslavia that Milosevic has hinted he might move against.

Milosevic's political grip has weakened because of his mishandling of the rebellion in the southern Serbian province of

Kosovo, U.S. officials say. But they flatly deny reports of some covert or even overt new plan to oust Milosevic, saying that

his fate is up to the Serbian people. And he remains an important actor in Western efforts to keep the peace in Bosnia and

Kosovo, they say.

The officials were speaking after a series of high-level meetings of the administration's national security team, with the special

envoy Richard Holbrooke taking part by a secure video link.

While they argue that the essence of U.S. policy -- support for the democratization of the region -- has not changed, they

concede that the U.S. tone about Milosevic has hardened. "There is a generalized feeling now throughout the administration

that Milosevic is the problem in the Balkans, and less vital for the solutions," a senior U.S. official said.

In Brussels last Tuesday, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright called on the NATO alliance to find "an appropriate way to

support the democratic aspirations of the Serb people," who "have been silenced and shackled far too long." Her spokesman,

James Rubin, said last week: "Milosevic has been at the center of every crisis in the former Yugoslavia over the last decade.

He is not simply part of the problem -- Milosevic is the problem."

But while urging democracy in Yugoslavia, the officials have not called for Milosevic's removal and are wary of a further

breakup of the country, which is now made up of the dominant Serbia and Montenegro. "We're not supporting the secession

of Montenegro, which the Montenegrins themselves don't advocate," an official said. "That could produce another unraveling

in Europe, starting with the Bosnian Serb republic."

Despite Milosevic's weaker position now, he withstood huge rallies of 200,000 people calling for his ouster two years ago,

and today the democratic opposition is splintered badly, making its repression easier. The officials are concerned that

Milosevic could be replaced by someone worse, like the fanatical Serbian nationalist Vojislav Seselj.

In September a slightly moderate Serb nationalist, Biljana Plavsic, whom Washington supported, was defeated by a

harder-line Serb, Nikola Poplasen, in the Bosnian Serb republic.

Washington has decided to do its best to protect Montenegro and to revive support for a democratic opposition in Serbia

itself, even as Milosevic has moved to crush it.

Last week, for instance, the State Department welcomed a number of Serbian democrats and news media figures who have

been attacked by Milosevic, including Slavko Curuvija, publisher of the newspaper Dnevni Telegraf, which Milosevic shut

down on Oct. 13 but which has been revived and publishes from Montenegro. They also testified at a hearing in the House

before the Congressional Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Milosevic has used the new U.S. oratory "to circle the wagons," a European diplomat noted, drawing closer to old cronies

and cracking down harder on the independent news media, much of which has withdrawn to Montenegro.

The administration hopes to roll out an explicit program at the beginning of the year, the officials said, which will include aid

to independent news organizations, academic institutions and civic organizations, many of which Milosevic has been trying to

repress in Serbia. Washington will also direct further support to Montenegro, whose president, Milo Djukanovic, has been

diverging from Belgrade and Milosevic and providing safe haven for a number of the news organizations and academic

institutions that were shut down.

"There has been real progress toward democracy and economic freedom in Montenegro, and we want to support them any

way we can," a senior U.S. official said. "It's also a way to show the Serbs in Belgrade, who are watching, that we are not

anti-Serb per se, which is what Milosevic always cries."

The United States is currently spending about $15 million a year, including $2 million for independent television, to promote

democracy in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which includes Kosovo. There, Washington hopes to help independent

news organizations in preparation for hoped-for elections for a local parliament.

Also early in 1999, the administration will make public posters and publicity for a new "bounty" of $5 million a head for the

capture of accused war criminals in the region, including Kosovo -- money pushed on the executive branch by Congress, in

particular by Rep. Benjamin Gilman, R-N.Y., who is chairman of the House International Relations Committee.

Among the targets of such a bounty are the former Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic, and his military

commander Gen. Ratko Mladic. Both men have been indicted by an international war crimes tribunal for the former

Yugoslavia but have not been arrested by NATO-led forces in Bosnia. The two men are believed to be living now in Serbia,

officials said.

But the details for such a bounty program are still being worked out, especially with the Justice Department, officials say. It

will be run out of the office of Robert Gelbard, who is in charge of carrying out the Dayton accords, and the secretary of state

will determine who qualifies for any reward.

The administration continues to press negotiations to find a political solution to the conflict in Kosovo, between the ruling

Serbs and the ethnic Albanians who make up about 90 percent of the province's population.

But Holbrooke and the chief U.S, negotiator, Christopher Hill, have had difficulty getting a coherent political response from

the badly divided ethnic Albanians. The essence of the problem is that the United States and the West want a solution --

enhanced autonomy for Kosovo within Serbia -- that is favored by neither the Serbs nor the population of Kosovo.

Increasingly, urged on by the Kosovo Liberation Army, the ethnic Albanian residents of the province want independence,

while the Serbs are reluctant to grant any real autonomy, let alone an enhanced autonomy beyond the status Milosevic

removed from Kosovo in 1989.

Hill, who is currently circulating his fourth draft agreement among the various parties, has been criticized by both sides. U.S.

officials say they do not expect quick success, but are still pushing to find a political settlement before the spring, when the

Balkan thaw could produce new fighting in Kosovo.