DATE=1/16/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ARKAN/REACTION (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-258113
BYLINE=TIM BELAY
DATELINE=TIRANA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The notorious Serb paramilitary leader known
as Arkan was shot to death in a Belgrade hotel
Saturday. Tim Belay, in the neighboring Balkan nation
of Albania, reports on reaction to the death of a man
who had been indicted on war crimes charges by a U-N
tribunal.
TEXT: Officials say the assassination of Zeljko
Raznatovic - also known as Arkan - was not much of a
surprise, but it may make it more difficult to
prosecute other accused Balkan war criminals.
Arkan was killed by unidentified gunmen while leaving
a restaurant inside Belgrade's Hotel Intercontinental.
Two others died in the gunfire, including his
bodyguard.
The 47-year-old Arkan was under indictment by a U-N
tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for alleged war
crimes in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. An adviser
to the Bosnian-Muslim presidency says his violent
death was no surprise.
The adviser said he was sorry only that Arkan would
not go to The Hague to testify at the tribunal against
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, also indicted
for alleged war crimes.
Reaction by the United States was similar. Secretary
of State Madeleine Albright said the United States
took no satisfaction in Arkan's murder and would have
wanted him to stand trial in The Hague.
British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook also said he was
not surprised that the man had died violently.
Arkan briefly entered the Serbian parliament in 1992
as an independent deputy from the southern Kosovo
province. He made a practice of telling Kosovo's
Albanian majority to take a hike over the mountains to
Albania if they did not like Serbian domination.
(SIGNED)
NEB/TB/ALW/RAE
16-Jan-2000 10:34 AM EDT (16-Jan-2000 1534 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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