Croatian Serbs Hurl Insults, Stones on Albright Tour

Croatian Serbs hurled insults at Madeleine Albright, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, as she toured their territory Thursday, then pelted her motorcade with stones.

Albright had gotten out of her car to take a walk in Vukovar. Like the rest of the Serb-held region of Eastern Slavonia, the town is to be handed over to Croatian rule in compliance with the Dayton, Ohio, peace accord.

“You bitch!” angry Serbs shouted when Albright reached an open-air market downtown. “You fascist!”

Albright quickly returned to her car, and the crowd started throwing stones at the motorcade. Two windows were broken in a car accompanying Albright’s, but no one appeared to be injured.

Just before her run-in Thursday, Albright had emphasized that the United States expects Croatian Serbs to fully honor their part of the peace accord.

“I made quite clear the importance for the U.N. and U.S. of the full implementation of the agreement,” Albright said after meeting with the Croatian Serb leader in Vukovar, Milan Milanovic.

But she also said the United States wants eastern Croatia to remain a multiethnic area. “When this area is re-integrated into Croatia, we believe it is essential for the Serbs to stay here,” she said.