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American Morning

Former Balkans Envoy Richard Holebrooke Discusses Extradition of Milosevic to The Hague

Aired June 29, 2001 - 09:03   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic is spending his first full day in custody at a detention facility near The Hague. He was delivered by helicopter overnight, and now the man widely blamed for a decade of bloodshed in the Balkans faces charges of crimes against humanity.

CNN's Christiane Amanpour is live in The Hague. She joins us now, with the latest -- Christiane.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Leon, they're saying here that this is their crowning moment, to get their most-wanted suspect finally in custody, after years -- eight years, since the tribunal set up, back in 1993, and two years since Slobodan Milosevic was actually indicted for crimes against humanity and for crimes known as the violation of laws and customs of war. They are now saying that they are delighted that he is in custody and that he will eventually be brought to trial here. They're saying this sets an exceptionally important precedent -- that forever there will not be any impunity for either high-level officials or lowly food soldiers.

We have some rather grainy video that we've been showing you throughout this morning, long-distance pictures that were taken of former Yugoslav president when he was brought by helicopter to the detention center here. He was taken with a guard at each arm, taken into the detention center. There he has been getting his first check- in process. He's been getting a medical checkup. He's dealing with the process of gathering his defense lawyers together. And he's being given what they call here a file on the rules and regulations of the detention center.

He will also have his first appearance in court, we're told now, on Tuesday morning. At that point, he will have the charges formally read against him. He will be asked, in his own language, whether he understands the charges read against him, and he will be asked then to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty.

Joining us from New York is the former U.N. Ambassador Richard Holebrooke, also the former Dayton Peace broker and the man who perhaps is most closely associated with trying to negotiate with Milosevic over the years, to reach cease-fires and peace agreements.

Mr. Holebrooke, thank you for joining us. I, like so many journalists, covered your peace shuttles like a blanket, and I have to ask you now did you ever think you would see this day, and how do you feel, personally, that Slobodan Milosevic is now finally in custody?

RICHARD HOLEBROOKE, FORMER U.S ENVOY TO THE BALKANS: You know exactly how I feel. Did you ever think we'd see this day, Christiane? What a pleasure it is to talk about it with you, after your fantastic coverage of the war throughout the last decade.

I think what happened yesterday is historic, for it's a triumph of the international system. It's a credit to the American system as well, particularly two senators, Leahy and McConnell, who did so much to put pressure on it.

But I also think we have to remember that two of the most dangerous men in the region -- Radovan Karadzic and General Mladic -- are still at large, actively undermining the Dayton Peace Agreements. While this is historic day and one we should be very pleased with, the battle for peace, stability and justice in the Balkans far from over.

AMANPOUR: Mr. Holebrooke, you mentioned those two still at large. What should be done right now? Clearly, the tribunal here, the chief prosecutor, is calling for them, if they don't surrender, to be arrested by the NATO peacekeepers there and brought to book here. What action would you urge to be taken to enforce that?

HOLEBROOKE: I've long felt that one of the greatest disappointments of the last five years -- a period in which the Clinton administration did many positive things in the Balkans -- was our failure to capture Radovan Karadzic, who wanders around as a psuedo-Robin Hood, in the Serb part of Bosnia, crossing the borders into Serbia and Montenegro and fomenting trouble, as recently as last week, in Banja Luka. This man is a very dangerous person, and he must join Mr. Milosevic in The Hague if we're to make progress in breaking the backs of the fascists, the racists and the murders who cause the tragedy in the Balkans.

Today, we should at least acknowledge that the noose is tightening around Karadzic as we speak. I would guess -- and I'm just guessing here, Christiane, but you know both men -- that one of the things Milosevic is going to do, if he doesn't defy the court completely, will be to blame the war crimes that he's charged with on Karadzic, especially when it gets to Bosnia.

A point for your viewers that needs to be underscored: Milosevic has been charged only with war crimes in Kosovo, as you well know. But the far more serious and more numerous crimes occurred in Bosnia. I know that the war tribunal is now investigating as to whether or not they can extend backward into the Bosnian War their charges against Milosevic, and that's where Karadzic becomes a big factor.

AMANPOUR: That's what the prosecutor says here, that they probably will lodge more indictments, for the Bosnia and Croatia wars.

But very briefly -- we don't have much time left -- give me a sense from your personal interaction with Milosevic, Many, many people thought that he would never allow this to happen, he would never allow himself to have been taken alive. Many people considered, throughout these years of war, in the Balkans that this man was somebody who was always able to outsmart the opposition. What about him do you think basically led him to this point?

HOLEBROOKE: Despite his cleverness -- and he is clever -- he made many, many basic errors, including the snap election last year that led to his downfall, and now he's paid the price. On the war crimes issue, we hammered him continually during the Dayton Agreements, a point at which he had not been indicted, of course.

I remember vividly, before Dayton, one meal we had in Belgrade, in which I asked the CIA to prepare a document listing some of the war crimes in the area. We handed it to him during dinner, and he refused to touch it. As we ate and we negotiated, this document sat in the middle of dinner table growing like smelly dead animal, and he wouldn't look at it. I kept reading from it, and he refused to acknowledge it.

At the end of the dinner, he left it on the table, and I said to him, You've left this document on the table.

He said, It's not my document.

One of my assistants handed it to one of his staff.

At Dayton, we told him that we would not leave Dayton unless he acknowledged the jurisdiction of the war crimes tribunal, and it is enshrined in the Dayton Peace Agreements. But he never intended to comply with it. He never imagined he would end up where he is today.

But let's be clear: He belongs there. It's a triumph of the international system, and it's a great day. The international system doesn't have a lot of great days like these days. And this is a great step forward.

AMANPOUR: Mr. Holebrooke, thank you very much, indeed, for joining us.

As Mr. Holebrooke said, it has been a result of an intense amount of international pressure, particularly from the United States, who held out the possibility of billions of dollars, along with the international community, of aide for the new authorities in Belgrade, contingent on their cooperation with this tribunal, contingent on the extradition of Slobodan Milosevic. We will see him in court on Tuesday morning, here at The Hague -- Leon.

HARRIS: Thank you very much, Christiane Amanpour, reporting live for us this morning, from The Hague.

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