Mar 30, 2001 - 02:20 PM

Police Converge on Milosevic Home, Aide Talks of Imminent Arrest By Dusan Stojanovic Associated Press Writer

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) - Police vehicles converged on the house of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic on Friday after an aide said the former strongman was likely to be arrested. The aide, Branislav Ivkovic, head of the pro-Milosevic Socialist Party faction in the Serbian parliament told deputies that a "number of people in black uniforms and an ambulance car are heading toward Milosevic's house" in Belgrade's Dedinje district.

As rumors about a possible arrest spread, dozens of Milosevic supporters who have been guarding his residence and numerous journalists gathered near the home. Some police vehicles were also seen at the site.

Ivkovic said Milosevic was likely to be arrested and later added, "I just talked to Milosevic. He stressed his thanks to the people who have been gathering to protect him and called them real patriots."

A police official who asked not to be named told The Associated Press that Serbia's State Security attempted to replace Milosevic's bodygards. Milosevic reportedly refused to accept the change. The report could not be immediately confirmed.

According to the same official, Gen. Senta Milenkovic and a group of bodyguards responsible for Milosevic's security agreed to be replaced while others refused and were reportedly fired. It was not clear how many bodyguards remained on duty.

Yugoslav authorities have long maintained that if Milosevic is to be tried for crimes committed during his wartorn years in power, it would be by a Yugoslav court.

The U.S. Congress set a Saturday deadline for Belgrade to begin cooperating with the U.N. war crimes tribunal at The Hague, Netherlands or face suspension of $100 million in economic aid.

Since his ouster from power last October, Milosevic has lived under police surveillance in his villa.

Last weekend, he made a defiant public appearance in front of his home, addressing his followers who came to express their support.

AP-ES-03-30-01 1420EST © Copyright 2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

-- Anonymous, March 30, 2001

Answers

Via Drudge

Friday March 30 4:11 PM ET Milosevic Arrested-Source Close to Serb Government

By Julijana Mojsilovic

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was arrested on Friday, a source close to the Serbian government said.

The source told Reuters Milosevic was to be transferred to a justice administration building in central Belgrade.

``He has been arrested and he should be brought to the palace of justice,'' the source said. Belgrade's B92 radio station also reported the arrest, citing well-informed sources.

Speculation that the former Yugoslav leader's arrest was imminent soared earlier on Friday after a police van, an ambulance and several unmarked cars showed up near the former Yugoslav president's home.

The development came on the eve of a deadline set by U.S. legislation for President Bush to declare Yugoslavia is cooperating with the U.N. War Crimes Tribunal, which has indicted Milosevic, or impose economic sanctions on Belgrade.

Deputies of Milosevic's Socialist party rushed to their leader's home in the exclusive Dedinje district of Belgrade to join a band of his supporters after they were informed of developments in a dramatic announcement to parliament.

Reporters saw a blue police van of the sort normally used to transfer arrested suspects, an ambulance and around half a dozen other plain cars or jeeps in streets near Milosevic's home.

Both Serbia's Justice Minister Vladan Batic, a leader in the reformist alliance which ousted the authoritarian Milosevic in a mass uprising last October, and the Socialists said no one had been arrested.

But Serbia's private BK television, citing its own sources, said a warrant for Milosevic's arrest had been issued and police were inside the house negotiating for him to surrender.

Citing a police source, BK said police had tried to replace some of Milosevic's bodyguards, a move that had been resisted by both the guards and the former president.

The Socialists' parliamentary leader Banislav Ivkovic said he was sure that police had tried to seize Milosevic.

``Why would seven vehicles with men armed to the teeth in black uniforms be here? They didn't come for a walk, did they?'' he told reporters after going inside the official residence still occupied by Milosevic despite his ouster from power.

Yugoslavia's new reformist rulers have said the former leader will not be arrested on war crimes charges before the U.S. deadline. But they have left open the possibility that local justice authorities might order his arrest for alleged offences such as corruption.

Bush Watching Closely

Reporters at the scene saw some men in the jeeps dressed in dark clothing, but no sign of any weapons. The men hid their faces and would not speak to the flood of reporters who arrived.

Members of a round-the-clock ``people's guard'' of Milosevic supporters outside the house said they had seen rifles and hand guns when the vehicles were in front of the residence before reporters arrived.

U.S. officials have accepted it is unlikely Milosevic himself will be handed over to the tribunal by the deadline. But they have said it would boost Belgrade's chances of making the grade if Milosevic is behind bars for any offence.

``We've always said Mr. Milosevic ought to be brought to justice,'' President Bush said in Washington, adding that the White House was closely monitoring the latest developments.

``We're watching it very carefully, we will cooperate in any way we are asked to do so,'' he said.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said later on Friday that the Bush administration would not announce a decision on whether Yugoslavia has met the conditions until Monday at the earliest.

Ivkovic said he thought the quick reaction of Milosevic's supporters meant there would not be another arrest attempt.

``Thanks to the media and these people, there will not and we will stay here,'' he said.

The tribunal in The Hague has charged Milosevic with crimes against humanity over atrocities allegedly committed by forces under his command against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo in 1999.

-- Anonymous, March 30, 2001

BBC

Friday, 30 March, 2001, 22:09 GMT 23:09 UK

Yugoslav police 'arrest' Milosevic

Milosevic supporters blocked approaching police vehicles Serbian state television has reported that

former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has been arrested.

The reports come after a dramatic stand-off outside the former president's villa between members of the security forces and die-hard supporters of Mr Milosevic.

Mr Milosevic is wanted on war crimes charges by The Hague tribunal, but the Yugoslav Government has so far been unwilling to take action against him.

It is not clear what charges he might face in Yugoslavia, but he has been investigated for a range of alleged offences including smuggling state assets and involvement in assassinations.

Reports said that Mr Milosevic had been taken to a justice administration building in central Belgrade, although aides inside the villa insisted he was still there.

The reported arrest comes a day before a US deadline for the government to detain the former president or risk losing American economic assistance and loans from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Armed

Local media reports said that the police had spent time inside Mr Milosevic's villa, negotiating his peaceful surrender.

No one in the crowd outside has seen Mr Milosevic leave, and some of his aides are saying that he has not in fact been arrested.

Zivorad Igic, a senior member of Milosevic's Socialist Party (SPS), told reporters by phone that he was inside the villa, with Mr Milosevic.

He denied reports that he had been arrested, and said the former president was talking to the Russian politician, Nikolai Ryzhkov.

Fear of bloodshed

Local media reported earlier on Friday that an arrest warrant had been issued, but that the police were afraid to take action for fear of bloodshed.

Yugoslav Interior Minister Zoran Zivkovic said he could neither confirm nor deny the report.

But earlier on Friday he said that Belgrade would not accede to tomorrow's US deadline for extraditing Mr Milosevic to International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

Speaking on Serbian radio, Mr Zivkovic said: "There are currently no legal conditions for his extradition, and this is clear."

A police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Serbia's State Security had attempted to replace Mr Milosevic's bodyguards on Friday, but that the former president had refused to accept the change.

Yugoslavia has pledged to try Mr Milosevic in the country, rather than handing him over to the ICTY.

At present, Yugoslav law prevents the extradition of its nationals to a foreign country.

Parliament is preparing a new law that would allow Mr Milosevic to be extradited, but it is not expected to be enacted for another month.

-- Anonymous, March 30, 2001