ALSO: NATO: Yugoslav strikes won't stop, despite indictments Milosevic, 4 deputies charged with war crimes  MESSAGE BOARD: Crisis in Kosovo

May 27, 1999
Web posted at: 12:25 p.m. EDT (1625 GMT)

In this story: 'It's not an American tribunal' RELATED STORIES, SITES

YULEE, Florida (CNN) -- The Clinton administration said Thursday it wants Slobodan Milosevic to surrender to the U.N. war crimes tribunal that indicted the Yugoslav president and four other Yugoslav leaders for crimes against humanity allegedly committed during the Kosovo conflict.

"I welcome the decision of the international war crimes tribunal to indict Slobodan Milosevic and four other senior Serbian leaders," President Clinton said in a statement released in Florida, where he is vacationing with the first lady.

"It will reassure the victims of Belgrade's atrocities in Kosovo and it will deter future war crimes by establishing that those who give the orders will be held accountable," Clinton added.

"It will make clear to the Serbian people who is responsible for this conflict and who is prolonging it. I call on all nations to support the Tribunal's decision and to cooperate with its efforts to seek justice."

Clinton also said NATO's bombing campaign against Yugoslavia would continue "until our objectives are achieved."

Rubin says the war crimes tribunal is a body of the United Nations, not the United States

'It's not an American tribunal'

In Washington, the State Department urged Milosevic to surrender to the tribunal for trial and said his indictment should build support among Serbs for ending the Kosovo crisis on NATO's terms.

Spokesman James Rubin said the United States has long held Milosevic personally and politically responsible for the conflict.

"The tribunal's prosecutor has now said she believes he is criminally responsible as well," he told reporters.

A senior Yugoslav official dismissed the indictment as a political maneuver by the United States and NATO, a charge Rubin denied in a separate interview with CNN.

"This tribunal was voted on by Russia and by all the members of the (U.N.) Security Council," Rubin said. "It's a United Nations tribunal. It's not an American tribunal. It's not a NATO tribunal. And the Yugoslav authorities know that."

Rubin said the United States has never intended to negotiate NATO's terms with Milosevic and does not intend to change that policy now.

He said the United States has been the main provider of evidence to the tribunal but has always viewed that body's activities as independent. The administration, he added, has always "urged them to follow the evidence where it leads."

Milosevic is the first head of state in office to come under international indictment for war crimes. He and the other leaders are accused of atrocities against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. The other men are:

• Milan Milutinovic, president of the Yugoslav republic of Serbia
• Nikola Sainovic, Yugoslavia's deputy prime minister
• Dragoljub Ojdanic, chief of general staff of the Yugoslav army
• Vlajko Stojiljkovic, Serbia's minister of internal affairs

Correspondent John King contributed to this report

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