Slobodan Milosevic  ALSO: KFOR probes new report of mass grave in Kosovo  MESSAGE BOARD: Rebuilding Kosovo  IN-DEPTH SPECIAL: Focus on Kosovo

July 9, 1999
Web posted at: 11:25 a.m. EDT (1525 GMT)

From Military Affairs Correspondent Jamie McIntyre

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (CNN) -- Opposition groups in Yugoslavia are trying to convince Belarus or Iraq to grant sanctuary to Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic if he leaves office, a U.S. official said Friday.

"We are aware of reports of Serbian opposition efforts to find political sanctuary for Milosevic, and we are following these reports closely," said Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon.

Bacon made the comments while traveling with U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen in Denmark on Friday. Cohen did not comment directly on the reports, which came from intelligence sources. But he suggested Milosevic surrender to the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague, which indicted him in connection with the Yugoslav campaign against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.

"If there is any place (to seek) sanctuary, perhaps I would recommend The Hague, where he could face a trial on the merits of the case, and decide his future," Cohen said.

Iraq and Yugoslavia have long-standing military ties, while Belarus and Serbia share a Slavic, Orthodox Christian history. And Belarus is in the process of building a political union with Serbia's historic ally, Russia.

The United States and other NATO allies have urged the people of Serbia -- the dominant republic in the Yugoslav federation -- to oust Milosevic, and Cohen repeated those calls Friday.

"The United States believes that the Serbian people, given the opportunity, will look at what Milosevic has brought to them -- death, devastation, political isolation to Serbia," he said. "So I think the Serbian people are going to look at this now, this record, and say he's stayed long enough, and now is the time for him to go."

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