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• According to AFP, NATO Secretary General Robertson lashed out Thursday at accusations by former Yugoslav President Milosevic at the ICTY Thursday that the Alliance violated international law and killed innocent civilians in its 1999 air campaign against Yugoslavia. Milosevic is entitled to defend himself, "but telling lies about NATO is not going to help his case," Lord Robertson reportedly told journalists in Warsaw. "NATO always acted within international law, and it did so to save lives, not to lose lives," he said and continued: "After a decade of violence and bloodshed and misery Milosevic is where he deserves to be, and that is on trial in The Hague where he will get justice…. No matter what Milosevic says we must not forget the ethnic purges, the crimes and the victims, and we must hope that justice will be served."

• CNN and Euronews gave live coverage of Milosevic’s trial at the ICTY. Opening the case for the defense, Milosevic accused NATO of having waged war on Yugoslavia based on "an ocean of lies" about the deaths of civilians in Kosovo. Charging that the NATO bombing campaign was "the product of propaganda and the abuse of global media as a means of waging war against my country," Milosevic showed extracts of a controversial ARD television documentary about the Balkans wars. Based on the footage, he tried to build a case that the intervention was contrived and "concocted" and that there had been no human disaster in Kosovo, as claimed by the West, until the bombing began. The film cast doubt over western evidence used to back NATO’s bombing campaign. It particularly questioned the massacre of ethnic Albanians in Racak, which eventually prompted NATO to start its air campaign. The film also claimed that western nations lied and manipulated public opinion to justify the air campaign. To counter claims that he masterminded the forced exodus of ethnic Albanians from Kosovo, Milosevic said Albanians had in fact left in fear after the NATO air strikes began. He argued that mass deaths in Kosovo did not begin until the allies launched their offensive. Milosevic also showed photographs of Albanians killed when a refugee column traveling from Djakovica to Prizren was bombed. He showed burnt bodies of what he said were "ethnic Albanian refugees killed by NATO bombs." He read aloud a list of Yugoslav hospitals and schools reduced to rubble by the NATO bombing. He elaborated at length on the casualties which resulted from the bombing of a train crossing a bridge near Leskovac. Charging that NATO targeted civilians during its air war against Yugoslavia, Milosevic indicated that he would ask French President Chirac to testify at his trial. He recalled that Chirac had acknowledged in a television interview that France had vetoed NATO plans to bomb bridges in Belgrade during the air war and stressed: "That showed that heads of states decided on the targets." From The Hague, CNN’s chief international correspondent Christianne Amanpour observed that Milosevic’s focus on NATO’s alleged war crimes was nothing new. She recalled that shortly after the Kosovo conflict, calls to put NATO on trial were sent to the ICTY, which ruled there was not enough evidence to bring charges against the organization. Milosevic’s main contention is that NATO is the real criminal here, not him, who was just defending Serbian nation and people, Amanpour said. Regarding the ARD footage, she stressed that the film had been aired in 2001, and "what Milosevic did not point out" is that the documentary has been investigated by German journalists, who had found it deeply distorted. She also remarked that in an unusual move, a prominent newspaper published in Germany ran an article denouncing the content of the film. Amanpour acknowledged, however, that according to monitors of the trial, Milosevic made a few valid legal points. Referring to accusations that concentration camps existed in Bosnia, the monitors reportedly conceded that the prosecution has to prove that Milosevic had command responsibility and knew about it. The same held true for the shelling of Sarajevo. The monitors also thought Milosevic raised a legal point when he said pictures of him with paramilitary leaders proved nothing more than his pictures with world leaders. CNN’s correspondent in Belgrade stressed meanwhile that Milosevic’s focus on the NATO bombing campaign appeared to be tailored to a domestic Serb audience in Yugoslavia. "He is trying to shift attention to the fact that Serb people suffered and that this trial is not a trial against himself but a trial against his nation," said the correspondent. In this respect, he noted that according to a recent poll by a respected polling agency, more than 50 percent of the Serbs believe the NATO air campaign was motivated by economic interests. "Milosevic knows that this is what the people believe," the correspondent said, adding this explains his focus on damage to the economy as a result of the NATO air campaign. The correspondent insisted, however, that much of the evidence journalists had assembled at the time was that brutality was taking place before the NATO bombing campaign.

Milosevic’s trial appears to be generating renewed interest in the fate of former Bosnian Serb leaders Karadzic and Mladic.

NATO said Wednesday it expects Bosnia’s two most wanted war crimes suspects to stand trial in The Hague eventually, writes AFP, quoting an unidentified NATO official saying: "The only certainty that we have is that these people will eventually end up where they belong, and this is in front of the tribunal in The Hague…. Whether it happens next week, in two months or two years, I can’t predict that." The dispatch adds that on a reported claim by ICTY Chief Prosecutor Del Ponte that Mladic is in Republika Srpska, the official replied: "If she has information about his whereabouts, she should tell us." The dispatch notes that NATO ambassadors, meeting as the NAC, were briefed Wednesday on developments in Bosnia by COMSFOR, Lt. Gen. Sylvester.

The West is stepping up efforts to ensure Karadzic and Mladic also end up at the ICTY, says a related Reuters dispatch. The United states has urged members of Karadzic’s family to persuade him to surrender and has also launched a fresh campaign to promote its $5 million reward for information leading to the capture of either of them. Western diplomats in the Balkans say more action in likely in the coming weeks and months, including military measures by NATO peacekeepers in Bosnia, and a determined effort to track down and cut off funding for the fugitives and their bodyguards, the dispatch continues.

Another AFP dispatch reports that a high-ranking Serbian government official said Thursday there was no chance of Mladic turning himself in. According to the dispatch, the official, who did not want to be identified, said Belgrade officials had tried in vain to negotiate with Mladic to give himself up but "he does not want to." The official reportedly further indicated that "two or three weeks ago, an officer told Mladic he had no protection from the Yugoslav army any longer."

• The Financial Times reports that in an interview, Secretary of State Powell was emphatic that NATO continues to have a political role. NATO remains vital, he said, citing the pressing demands among former Soviet bloc countries to become members. NATO connects the United States to Europe, he reportedly stressed, and will have an important political dimension "for years and years and years to come." According to the newspaper, he acknowledged, however, that militarily there are big questions: Europeans need to contribute more and rationalization must accelerate. But, adds the newspaper, Powell is critical of those who understate the international contribution to the war on terrorism. He points out that British and Canadian troops contributed and others offered help. "The suggestion that NATO made a political statement on Sept. 12 and did nothing more and wasn’t invited to the war, I don’t think is fair," he says.

TERRORISM

• Hundreds of British soldiers could be reassigned to carry out lightning strikes on terrorist targets, under plans proposed by the Defense Ministry, reports the Financial Times. According to the newspaper, Defense Secretary Hoon will set out a discussion document on how the armed forces should be reshaped to meet the threat of terrorism. The document reportedly suggests that there may be a greater role for crack soldiers such as paratroopers and marines, who can be flown to trouble spots more swiftly than heavy infantry. Hundreds of soldiers could be retrained and re-equipped to form a cadre of highly mobile, easily deployable units. The newspaper further says that the document, which will be billed as an "extra chapter" to the 1998 Strategic Defense Review, sets out five aims to fight terrorism: prevent, deter, coerce, disrupt and destroy.

 FINAL ITEM