2 War Crimes Suspects Allegedly Play Roles

British Defense Secretary George Robertson asserted Wednesday that two of the Balkans’ most wanted war crimes suspects are helping to direct the repression of ethnic Albanians in the war-torn province of Kosovo.

The former Bosnian Serb commander, Gen. Ratko Mladic, indicted by the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague for the slaughter of thousands of Muslims in Srebrenica in 1995, is “leading a gang of paramilitary commandos in Kosovo right now,” Robertson said at a press briefing.

He added that the Serb warlord Zeljko Raznjatovic, known as Arkan, considered one of the pioneers of “ethnic cleansing” in the region, was now “scouring prisons in Serbia” for recruits for his paramilitary gang, offering pardons in exchange for joining operations in Kosovo.

The defense minister gave no details on movements or operations by the two men, or the source of his information. The Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army has been known to pass inaccurate information to NATO countries, but the British military is believed to have a handful of its own special forces on the ground in Kosovo, primarily to pinpoint bombing targets.

“Veteran Gen. Ratko Mladic and rogue paramilitary leader Arkan have been recruited by the Belgrade leadership to command and supply units responsible for massacring and raping” thousands of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, Robertson said.

“If brutal killers like these two are at work, it is no wonder that so many Kosovans have fled their homes in terror,” he said.

NATO spokesman Jamie Shea said he did not have corroboration of Robertson’s charges. They were regarded with some skepticism by political and military observers, who noted that Western governments have put out other stories in recent days that turned out to be false.

“It is almost certain that Arkan’s paramilitaries are in Kosovo operating alongside Ministry of Interior police, but whether Arkan himself is there I think is unlikely,” said Charles Heyman, editor of Jane’s World Armies. “He is probably in Belgrade organizing the paramilitaries, and if NATO were to invade Kosovo he would probably move in there.

“As for Mladic, I would be very surprised if he were in Kosovo and leading paramilitaries. He is a general used to commanding armies. In Bosnia he was anti-paramilitaries because they were so ill-disciplined. They worked to their own agenda and didn’t obey orders of the Bosnian Serb army.”

Heyman said the last report he had was that Mladic was in the Serb stronghold of Pale in eastern Bosnia a couple of weeks ago. The general is said to keep a base in nearby Han Pijesak.

Mladic’s whereabouts have been something of an open secret, as he moved about with bodyguards to avoid capture by NATO soldiers. Last summer, he was reported to have vacationed at a seaside village in Montenegro and to have hosted his son’s wedding party of 300 at a Belgrade hotel.

A chess player and pingpong fan, Mladic is considered by many to be Europe’s most ruthless field commander since World War II, a man with a genius for cruelty. But he is a hero to many Serbs who view themselves as underdogs, perpetually under siege, and he is believed to be still very close to Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

Mladic, who commanded Serb forces during the war in Bosnia, was indicted on charges of war crimes and genocide and, subsequently, for allegedly ordering the execution of thousands of captured Muslim men and boys around Srebrenica after his soldiers took the U.N.-designated “safe area.”

The U.N. tribunal announced last month that it had secretly indicted Arkan in 1997. Robertson revealed that it was for the murder of 250 men taken from a hospital in the eastern Croatian town of Vukovar in 1991.

The victims, including patients, hospital workers and civilians seeking shelter from Serbian attack, were herded out of the hospital and killed at a nearby farm.

The indictment is sealed, but on Wednesday the tribunal released the arrest warrant against Arkan which showed that he was charged under articles 2, 3 and 5 of the court’s statutes with crimes against humanity, violations of the laws or customs of war and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions.

Arkan, wanted by Interpol for armed robbery, has been working for Yugoslav authorities since the 1970s. His paramilitary “Tigers” are considered the pioneers of “ethnic cleansing” in Croatia and Bosnia. Among other things, they’re accused of having tortured and killed Muslims and emptied the Bosnian towns of Bijeljina and Zvornik.

The owner of Yugoslavia’s world-class soccer team and husband of one of Serbia’s top pop stars, Arkan is also something of a folk hero to many Serbs who either admire or deny his brutality.

Arkan denies all of the horrors attributed to him. He has appeared on Serb television to dismiss the U.N. charges against him and rally the Yugoslav people behind the Serb cause in Kosovo, a province of Serbia, the dominant republic in Yugoslavia.

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On Most Wanted List

Ratko Mladic

Bosnian Serb army commander during the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina. He was indicted by the United Nations’ tribunal on Balkan war crimes in July 1995. Charges include ordering the execution of thousands of captured Muslim men and boys around Srebrenica after his soldiers took the U.N.-designated “safe area” that year. Considered by many to be Europe’s most ruthless field commander since World War II, Mladic is a hero to many Serbs who view themselves as underdogs. He is believed to be still very close to Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic.

Zeljko Raznjatovic

Known as Arkan, Raznjatovic is a Serbian warlord who was secretly indicted by the U.N. tribunal in 1997 in the massacre of 250 men in the eastern Croatian town of Vukovar in 1991. Arkan is also wanted by Interpol for armed robbery and has been working for Yugoslav authorities since the 1970s. His paramilitary “Tigers” are considered pioneers of ethnic cleansing in Croatia and Bosnia. Arkan is something of a folk hero to many Serbs and denies all the horrors attributed to him. He has appeared on Serb television to rally the Yugoslav people behind the Serb cause in the province of Kosovo.