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Assassination in Serbia

Aired March 12, 2003 - 11:13   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Gunmen assassinated the prime minister of Serbia today. The reform-minded Zoran Djindjic was pivotal in getting former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic before a war crimes tribunal.
Christiane Amanpour has covered the Balkans extensively for CNN. She joins us now from London this morning.

Christiane, hello.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, reaction already coming in certainly from former British officials and others who used to work and cover the Balkans during those war years and in the emergence after those war years, basically saying that the assassination of Zoran Djindjic, a very bad day for the Balkans and a very bad day for Serbian. Zoran Djindjic, just 50 yeas old, a committed lifelong anti-communist, formed part of the early pro- democracy movement in Serbia, took a lot of time to get off the ground under Slobodan Milosevic, but finally, they were able to seize their chance in October 2000, after Milosevic lost the war over Kosovo, and made a big error of calling early elections, thinking he would win.

Well, Zoran Djindjic and his allies finally engineered an election victory that toppled Milosevic, and then Djindjic engineered Serbia's march towards democracy, and perhaps is more than any other individual, single-handedly personifies that march towards democracy, and made the very crucial decision, and again, unilateral decree in the face of fierce opposition back in Yugoslavia, to extradite Milosevic to The Hague in June of 2001, and that was one of the key conditions that the U.S. had put for giving Serbia much needed international financial aid, and so he has really during his prime ministership tied Serbia's future to the West, to the United States, to Europe, took a lot of very brave decisions in a still quite hostile climate in Serbia, often being accused of too pro-West, accused by Milosevic and allies of selling Serbia out, but really saying to everybody, that I may not like doing all of this, but this is what I must do in order to protect Serbia's future.

So it's a big loss for Serbia. Many there are saying people there in Serbia are reportedly shocked, according to reports that are coming out. Really, people had thought those dark, gangster years under Milosevic were over, and at least the guns had been taken out of politics, but a very high profile assassination, robbed Serbia perhaps of one of its best political leaders certainly this century.

COLLINS: And, Christiane, you do bring up the future of Serbia. What does it mean for the people? AMANPOUR: Well, people are saying cards are really on the table. It's unclear right now. The Serbian parliament is holding an emergency session, which, in fact, just ended to discuss the subsession. They've instituted for the moment, there are reports they may establish a state of emergency as they try to grapple with who was behind this. Some are speculating it could be organized crime figures.

Apparently, according to reports, it was a high-caliber sniper rifle shot from a distance. That's a professional job. So it was presumably organized. It wasn't just a fly-by. And people are saying, well, what does this mean? Who will be the successor, and how will we continue to have Serbia on the roads towards democracy and attempting to continue financial and other political reforms.

COLLINS: Lots of questions in the air, I am sure.

Christiane Amanpour, thank you so much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired March 12, 2003 - 11:13   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Gunmen assassinated the prime minister of Serbia today. The reform-minded Zoran Djindjic was pivotal in getting former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic before a war crimes tribunal.
Christiane Amanpour has covered the Balkans extensively for CNN. She joins us now from London this morning.

Christiane, hello.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, reaction already coming in certainly from former British officials and others who used to work and cover the Balkans during those war years and in the emergence after those war years, basically saying that the assassination of Zoran Djindjic, a very bad day for the Balkans and a very bad day for Serbian. Zoran Djindjic, just 50 yeas old, a committed lifelong anti-communist, formed part of the early pro- democracy movement in Serbia, took a lot of time to get off the ground under Slobodan Milosevic, but finally, they were able to seize their chance in October 2000, after Milosevic lost the war over Kosovo, and made a big error of calling early elections, thinking he would win.

Well, Zoran Djindjic and his allies finally engineered an election victory that toppled Milosevic, and then Djindjic engineered Serbia's march towards democracy, and perhaps is more than any other individual, single-handedly personifies that march towards democracy, and made the very crucial decision, and again, unilateral decree in the face of fierce opposition back in Yugoslavia, to extradite Milosevic to The Hague in June of 2001, and that was one of the key conditions that the U.S. had put for giving Serbia much needed international financial aid, and so he has really during his prime ministership tied Serbia's future to the West, to the United States, to Europe, took a lot of very brave decisions in a still quite hostile climate in Serbia, often being accused of too pro-West, accused by Milosevic and allies of selling Serbia out, but really saying to everybody, that I may not like doing all of this, but this is what I must do in order to protect Serbia's future.

So it's a big loss for Serbia. Many there are saying people there in Serbia are reportedly shocked, according to reports that are coming out. Really, people had thought those dark, gangster years under Milosevic were over, and at least the guns had been taken out of politics, but a very high profile assassination, robbed Serbia perhaps of one of its best political leaders certainly this century.

COLLINS: And, Christiane, you do bring up the future of Serbia. What does it mean for the people? AMANPOUR: Well, people are saying cards are really on the table. It's unclear right now. The Serbian parliament is holding an emergency session, which, in fact, just ended to discuss the subsession. They've instituted for the moment, there are reports they may establish a state of emergency as they try to grapple with who was behind this. Some are speculating it could be organized crime figures.

Apparently, according to reports, it was a high-caliber sniper rifle shot from a distance. That's a professional job. So it was presumably organized. It wasn't just a fly-by. And people are saying, well, what does this mean? Who will be the successor, and how will we continue to have Serbia on the roads towards democracy and attempting to continue financial and other political reforms.

COLLINS: Lots of questions in the air, I am sure.

Christiane Amanpour, thank you so much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com