U.S. Attempts Tricky Balancing Act to Support Democracy in Yugoslavia

The turbulent days following Yugoslavia’s disputed election have become a test of whether the Clinton administration can help bankroll the opposition to Slobodan Milosevic without allowing the Yugoslav leader to label his foes foreign stooges.

There can be no question of the U.S. financial stake in Vojislav Kostunica’s first-place finish in last month’s election. More than $35 million over two years was openly spent to support independent media, get-out-the-vote campaigns and grass-roots democratic organizations, all aimed at ending Milosevic’s rule.

The U.S. embrace has proved to be embarrassing to Kostunica, who even before the Sept. 24 balloting had warned that American support only played into Milosevic’s hands.

A State Department official, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation, said of U.S. ties to Kostunica: “Any connection with him only hurts him.”

There is little doubt that money from the United States and its allies in Europe helped the multifaceted Yugoslav opposition mount an effective political campaign behind Kostunica, although the opposition leader himself refused to accept U.S. funds.

Unlike the CIA-orchestrated coups of previous generations that brought down governments that the United States found inconvenient in places such as Guatemala, Iran and Chile, the funding for the Yugoslav opposition seems to be completely open. If there also have been covert funds, the secret has been kept better than usual.

The U.S. government spent $10.7 million in support of democracy in Yugoslavia in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 1999, and $25 million more in the year that just ended. Congress is considering appropriations for the current fiscal year totaling $50 million for democratic forces in Serbia and another $50 million for Western-oriented Montenegro, Serbia’s junior partner in the Yugoslav federation.

Officials say most of the money has gone for basic democracy-building programs, and has paid for items such as printing presses, computers and fax machines. There is no direct support for the strikes and demonstrations that have been mounted against Milosevic, the officials said, although they concede that U.S. funds for one purpose could free up locally generated money for other purposes.

Ever since the Truman administration subsidized anti-Communist political parties in post-World War II Italy, the United States has spent money--sometimes openly, more often clandestinely--to influence foreign elections. But the process requires more subtlety than the U.S. political system usually displays.

“It is not easy to do it openly but discreetly, and not stand up and broadcast it as has often been the case in this town,” said John Fox, Washington director of the Open Society Institute, a foundation that advocates the building of democracy abroad.

Nevertheless, Fox said, the Clinton administration had run out of other options.

“We went for 10 years where we did everything except support the democratic forces in Serbia,” Fox said. “We did everything else first.”

With Milosevic refusing to concede defeat at the polls, U.S. officials say Washington will continue to support the democratic opposition, even if the backing sometimes embarrasses the recipients.

“There are some who say it would be illegal in the United States for a candidate to take money of this sort,” said Daniel Serwer, a scholar at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington. “But this money did not go to individual candidates.

“This program supported civil society,” Serwer said. “There was a lot of attention to getting out the vote and monitoring the election and less to supporting particular leaders or political parties. The money was clearly well spent. The effort was more successful than anyone had thought it would be.”

Unlike many foreign aid programs, the funds for the Yugoslav opposition enjoy strong support on Capitol Hill. Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is an outspoken backer of the effort.