Serbian leader angry at aid delay

BERLIN - Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic has slammed the West for delaying the aid it promised in return for the handover of ousted leader Slobodan Milosevic to The Hague war crimes court.

"We didn't make any conditions for the handover. We wanted to show our goodwill to integrate into the international community," Djindjic told Germany's Der Spiegel magazine.

"But I must admit that I am shocked about the farce of the Western aid, which should amount to $US1.3 billion [$3.2 billion]," he said. "If we do not receive a financial injection immediately, we will have demonstrations and unrest by September at the latest."

Djindjic, a leading member of the Serbian reform bloc that ousted Milosevic as Yugoslav President last year, has been criticised by colleagues and protesters in Belgrade for his covert handover of Milosevic last month.

After Milosevic arrived at The Hague, Western officials pledged $US1.28 billion to help end Yugoslavia's economic misery and rebuild a country shattered by Nato's 1999 bombing campaign.

Djindjic said Belgrade had expected to receive a first instalment of €300 million ($630.63 million) by next month.

But it had discovered that €225 million of that would go towards paying off old debts, and the remaining €75 million would only be transferred by November at the earliest.

"That is like giving a seriously ill person medicine when he is dead. Our crisis months are July, August, September," Djindjic said.

He said support for the Socialists and radicals would increase without immediate financial transfers.

"I am seriously warning the West. If my Government falls that would cost the international community $US10 billion."

Djindjic warned of a possible takeover of the Government by radicals, a Socialist comeback and a new Balkans crisis, which would end cooperation with The Hague tribunal and create hundreds of thousands of refugees.

"I am losing my credibility and cannot stabilise the country any more," he said. "What we need is sincere help, not empty declarations of sympathy."

- REUTERS

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