Bob Dole Backs Kosovo Independence

By TOM RAUM Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Kosovo should seek independence from Yugoslavia, but

it must hold free elections and support democratic principles if it

wants international support, says former Senate Majority Leader Bob

Dole.

Dole cautioned, however, that Kosovo's Albanian majority, in

particular the Kosovo Liberation Army, could lose that support if it

should turn its back on those principles.

The 1996 Republican presidential candidate from Kansas, who served

as an envoy to Kosovo this year for the Clinton administration,

testified Tuesday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Dole criticized both the Republican Bush and the Democratic Clinton

administrations for not dealing more firmly with Yugoslav President

Slobodan Milosevic.

``We could and should have acted against Milosevic much earlier,''

Dole said, which he said would have avoided much bloodshed.

``Early intervention is far less costly and often just as effective

as belated intervention,'' Dole said. ``Half-measures yield

half-results.''

So long as Kosovo's leaders agree to hold free elections, renounce

violence and move toward a market economy, ``then I believe independence

will be forthcoming and should be.''

At the White House, President Clinton said the administration has

not changed its support for an autonomous but not independent Kosovo

within Yugoslavia.

``What we have supported for Kosovo, and what we continue to

support, is autonomy,'' he said during a White House meeting with

Turkey's prime minister, Bulent Ecevit.

Dole served as a go-between with Kosovo Albanians for the Clinton

administration this year in an effort strategy on Kosovo Wednesday, narrowing her investigative focus

to Yugoslavia's leaders and the perpetrators of only the most heinous

crimes.

The local justice system in Kosovo, under the aegis of the United

Nations, would try cases that fell outside the scope of the

International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia as she defined it,

Del Ponte said in a statement of prosecution policy.

For example, nine Serbs arrested in Kosovo over the weekend by

French, Dutch and German troops would not be brought to The Hague,

prosecution spokesman Paul Risley explained, although the tribunal would

assist any local investigation.

``The primary focus...must be the investigation and prosecution of

the five leaders of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic

of Serbia who have already been indicted,'' wrote Del Ponte, a former

Swiss attorney general.

Prosecutors have publicly indicted Yugoslav President Slobodan

Milosevic and four associates, including Serbian President Milan

Milutinovic, for alleged crimes in Kosovo.

Concluding that investigation and extending charges, possibly to

include genocide, was a top priority. Beyond that, investigators would

focus their energies on other power brokers.

``Investigative resources must...be applied...to high-level

civilian, police and military leaders,'' wrote Del Ponte, who took over

from Canadian judge Louise Arbour on September 15.

The tribunal, set up in 1993 when the Bosnia conflict was at its

height, has insufficient resources to pursue all those accused of recent

atrocities against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.

Thousands of bodies have been exhumed from over 150 mass graves in

the province, according to U.N. officials, and over 500 potential burial

sites have been reported so far.

Although the tribunal could not hope to prosecute every low-level

war criminal active in Kosovo, it would take a close interest in

particularly heinous or notorious crimes, including crimes of sexual

violence, Risley told reporters.

Landmark judgements by the U.N. court relating to Bosnia have

already established rape and sexual assault as war crimes.

In the two weeks since Del Ponte took office, she has met officials

from the United States, Britain, France and Germany and the commander of

SFOR peacekeepers in Bosnia, General Montgomery Miggs.

Thursday, she will speak with the director of the U.S. Federal

Bureau of Investigation, Louis Freeh. The FBI has offered the tribunal

valuable insight into events in Kosovo.

``They will discuss the recently completed work of the FBI forensic

team in Kosovo and ongoing cooperation between the FBI and the

tribunal,'' Risley said.