EMMA BONINO URGES A RADICAL CHANGE IN THE POLITICAL STRATEGY AGAINST THE SERB REGIME

Statement by Emma Bonino, European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid

Rome, 2 May 1999. "Milosevic's stubborn refusal to discuss any proposals for negotiations - even those advanced by his Russian allies - together with the hardening of the Belgrade regime, in particular the growing threats towards Montenegro, require a radical change compared to the strategy pursued up to now.

We need to implement a true political and diplomatic siege to confirm the isolation of the Belgrade regime by the international community.

No instrument must be overlooked, beginning with the work of the Tribunal on the former Yugoslavia in the Hague to bring about the indictment of Slobodan Milosevic and all the exponents of the political and military establishment in Belgrade who continue to plan and carry out crimes against humanity.

Anyone who thinks that delaying the course of international justice and of the indictment of Milosevic might facilitate the solution of the conflict is committing a serious political and ethical mistake.

We should also give strong support to all those movements and media organs within Yugoslavia which are fighting with great difficulty against Serbian ultra-nationalism.

This political and diplomatic siege must be matched by the increasing involvement of the European Union and by closer collaboration with all the Balkan countries, especially those on the front-line."