DATE=9-28-2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
NUMBER=2-267221
TITLE=Clinton-Yugo (L-Update)
BYLINE=David Gollust
DATELINE=White House
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: President Clinton is calling on Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to step down in the wake of Sunday's election defeat, and is promising immediate action to lift economic sanctions against Belgrade if there is a democratic change there. VOA's David Gollust reports from the White House.
TEXT: The President had avoided an outright call for Mr. Milosevic's departure in a series of comments to reporters Thursday. But in written statement issued late in the day he said opposition claims to an outright-majority victory in Sunday's elections had been backed up what he said were "certified" results from polling places.
Noting that the influential Serbian Orthodox Church had recognized opposition leader Vojislav Kostunica as president-elect, Mr. Clinton said it is time for Mr. Milosevic to, in his words, "heed the call of the Serb people, step down, and allow a peaceful democratic transition to take place."
The post-election crisis in Yugoslavia dominated a set of talks here between Mr. Clinton and Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok, whose country assumes the presidency of the U-N Security Council next month. During a break in discussions, both leaders endorsed an early lifting of sanctions if a democratic government is allowed to take control.
At a later meeting with his cabinet, Mr. Clinton said even the government-controlled election commission in Yugoslavia had acknowledged a Kostunica victory, though maintaining he fell just short of the outright majority to avoid a run-off:
///Clinton actuality//
When commission that is totally under the thumb of the government -- without any outside observers when even they acknowledge that he won 49 to 39 or 38, and when they have evidence that by no means all the votes for the opposition candidate were counted, I think that's a pretty good case that it's. It's time for democracy and the voice of the people of Serbia to be heard. And that's what I think should happen. And as I said when that happens I would strongly support immediate moves to lift the sanctions.
///end act///
The U-S and European sanctions against Yugoslavia began during the war in Bosnia and were tightened two years ago in response to the Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, bringing the Yugoslav economy to a virtual standstill.
Dutch Prime Minister Kok said here the sanctions were never aimed at the Yugoslav people but at a leadership that brought genocide to the Balkans, and that they must be lifted if there is democratic change.
While calling for Mr. Milosevic's departure, administration spokesmen said there should be no dropping of the international war crimes charges that some analysts believe give him an incentive to try to hold on to power.
White House National Security Council Spokesman P-J Crowley said the United States wants Mr. Milosevic in his words "out of power," out of Serbia, and at the Hague" the site of the war crimes tribunal. (Signed)
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