Canada to Treat War Crimes in Kosovo Sternly

Canada warned Yugoslavia’s leaders Saturday that they will be held responsible for any war crimes committed in Kosovo, and vowed to enforce international justice.

“Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic must understand that political and military leaders will be held personally accountable for all violations of international humanitarian law, war crimes and crimes against humanity,” Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy said in a statement.

“Canada will do all it can to support the international criminal tribunal in its efforts to bring war criminals to justice,” he added.

Yugoslavia’s ambassador to Canada, Pavle Todorovic, was called in Saturday afternoon by the Canadian government to meet with Jim Wright, director general of the Foreign Affairs Department’s East, South and Central Europe bureau.

Todorovic was summoned after Axworthy spoke Friday to Louise Arbour, the Canadian judge who is chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

Axworthy noted that Arbour had written to Milosevic, emphasizing her determination to investigate all violations of international humanitarian law that merit prosecution.

In January, border guards prevented Arbour and her team from reaching the Kosovo village of Racak, where 45 ethnic Albanian civilians were killed, allegedly by Yugoslav security forces.

In his meeting with Todorovic, Wright conveyed Axworthy’s “grave concern” over continuing reports of atrocities in Kosovo.

Foreign Affairs spokesman Stewart Wheeler said Canada was concerned that Belgrade authorities had intensified their crackdown on opposition figures in Kosovo.

“We have been receiving many allegations and seeing many reports of things, from teachers being killed in front of their students, men and boys of age to bear arms being executed, villages being looted and burned,” Wheeler said.

Meanwhile, Canadians of Serbian descent continued their protests Saturday against the North Atlantic Treaty Organization airstrikes. An estimated 600 people gathered on Parliament Hill in Ottawa and then moved on to the nearby U.S. Embassy.

Speakers at the Ottawa protest denounced President Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, but the event was peaceful.

A protest by Serbian supporters in Toronto on Saturday afternoon ended without incident under a heavy police presence. On Thursday night, protesters threw two Molotov cocktails at the U.S. Consulate in Toronto, setting a small fire that was quickly extinguished.