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Macedonia Truce Violated Anew: NATO Meets Reuters Macedonia accused ethnic Albanian rebels on Friday of new truce violations as NATO (news - web sites) nations prepared to meet in Brussels to decide whether to risk sending a 3,500-strong force to help implement a peace plan. A vanguard of 400 troops, most of them British, was due to start arriving in Skopje late on Friday to pave the way for the bigger force when, or if, NATO gives the green light to send a mission to collect guerrilla arms and try to prevent a fifth Balkan war. NATO has said that a durable cease-fire is a key condition for sending any more troops for ``Operation Essential Harvest,'' which would be the alliance's third mission to the Balkans alongside peacekeeping operations in Bosnia and Kosovo. The Macedonian government said rebels flouted the truce on both major fronts overnight after a policeman was shot dead in the northwestern town of Tetovo, apparently by a rebel sniper, the worst setback so far to a ragged truce declared on Sunday. Rebels said the Macedonians started the fighting. NATO ambassadors were to meet from midday (1000 GMT) in Brussels to discuss whether conditions are right for full deployment. But one alliance source said the 19 countries seemed unlikely to reach a decision on Friday. ``Such decisions take more time to reach,'' the source said, adding that the policeman's killing was not enough to derail the plans. In Macedonia, Defense Ministry spokesman Marijan Gurovski told Reuters: ``We were fired at late on Thursday from the villages of Nikustak and Vistica toward our positions in Umin Dol.'' To the west of the capital Skopje, army planes were flying reconnaissance missions over the Tetovo region on Friday. The state news agency MIA said ``Albanian terrorists'' had opened fire with mortars, snipers and heavy machine guns from a stronghold at Sipkovica and Gajre west of Tetovo during the night. WATER MELONS SELLER SHOT But a guerrilla commander codenamed Leka said rebels were only firing in self-defense. He said the policeman was shot only after the security forces opened fire, killing an elderly man selling water melons in a Tetovo street and wounding a rebel. ``Macedonian forces started to shoot at civilians near our position for no reason,'' he told Reuters. ``We had to defend ourselves and civilians.'' Amid the messy cease-fire, the first planeload of 40 British soldiers was due to land at Skopje airport at around 9 p.m. as part of a NATO advance force. The rest of the 400-strong vanguard will fly in over the weekend to set up a headquarters. NATO governments agreed on Wednesday to send the advance force and held off on deciding on deploying a full force of 3,500. NATO forces are meant to stay for a lightning 30-day mission to collect weapons due to be surrendered voluntarily by rebels at the end of a six-month conflict in return for political reforms favoring the one-third ethnic Albanian minority. Separately, the Washington Post said the U.S. government planned to finance a media blitz in Macedonia in a campaign for parliamentary passage of a peace agreement signed by the leaders of Macedonian and ethnic Albanian political parties on Monday. Citing sources in the Macedonian capital and in Washington, the newspaper said the United States could spend up to $250,000 on radio, television and newspaper advertisements. A possible end to the conflict moved dramatically closer on Monday when the political leaders agreed reforms to improve the rights of the Albanian minority in everything from the use of their language to more jobs in the police force. The rebels responded by agreeing to disarm and hand in weapons, ranging from Kalashnikov assault rifles to mortars and rocket launchers. The NATO troops are to take them in. NATO officials say the alliance faces a dilemma. By delaying too long in sending any troops, the Western-brokered peace deal may collapse. Yet by arriving too quickly, NATO risks getting caught in crossfire. Brigadier Barney White-Spunner, who will command the British-led vanguard, said NATO could pull out if conditions did not allow the full force to come. ``There is not some great juggernaut rolling,'' he said. The rebels' political chief told Reuters the 30-day NATO mission would be too short but insisted the rebels were committed to peace. ``Thirty days is not enough time. We asked for a much longer deployment,'' Ali Ahmeti said in a rare interview on Thursday in the guerrillas' mountain stronghold of Sipkovica. ``However, we have guaranteed full demilitarization, as long as the Macedonian parliament enacts minority rights legislation in parallel.'' Milosevic Opens His Own Defense AP Former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic (news - web sites) opened his defense at the war crimes tribunal in The Hague (news - web sites) with a written motion contesting the U.N. court's legality and requesting that his case be dismissed, court officials said Friday. In a five-page preliminary motion, dated Aug. 9 and signed by the former leader, Milosevic asserted that the Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia was ``selective and political'' and incapable of conducting a fair trial. A copy of the document was obtained by The Associated Press on Friday. The statement echoed the tone taken by the former strongman at his first appearance at the tribunal on July 3 when he responded to a question from presiding Judge Richard May with the blunt answer: ``That's your problem.'' Milosevic has refused to appoint an attorney and maintains he will conduct his own defense. The court will address the motion at Milosevic's second public hearing, scheduled for Aug. 30. ``The tribunal corrupts justice and law because it is incapable of acting equally in enforcing laws among nations and individuals or within the former nation that has been targeted for prosecution,'' his motion reads. ``Milosevic moves for the dismissal of this case and all charges against him on the grounds that this tribunal is illegal and lacks all jurisdiction,'' the document says. The motion further asserts that the court was established illegally and that he was illegally transferred to the Netherlands on June 28. The tribunal, established in 1993 by the United Nations (news - web sites) to prosecute those responsible for atrocities during the break up of the former Yugoslavia, has rejected similar defense motions in earlier cases. In an eight-page counter motion filed on Aug. 16, prosecutors rejected all of Milosevic's arguments. They cited the 1995 Dayton peace agreement for Bosnia and Herzegovina, noting that it was signed by Milosevic himself on Dec. 14 of that year. ``The Dayton Agreement explicitly recognizes a major role for the tribunal in bringing peace and security in the former Yugoslavia,'' the prosecution submission said. Milosevic's transfer to the Netherlands was carried out in accordance with the tribunal's statute and international law, the document, signed by leading prosecution lawyer Dirk Ryneveld, states. Milosevic was indicted alongside four of his top aides for alleged atrocities against Kosovo Albanians in 1999. The court entered pleas of innocent on all counts on his behalf when he refused to respond to the charges in court. In a separate case, a Dutch attorney was to represent Milosevic at a regional court in The Hague next week. The court will hear a case against the Dutch state contesting the former president's arrest and detention. Rebels Still Train for War but Eye Macedonia Peace In a Macedonian mountain meadow under an Albanian flag, guerrillas are training another crop of volunteers despite a landmark peace pact. Their marching song is that of the U.S. Army and Marine Corps, in Albanian, learned from Hollywood war movies. ``We do not trust the Macedonian promises to make us equal citizens and until they do we must be ready to fight,'' said Nexhbedin Mehmeti, 38, coated in dust after crawling, climbing and leaping his way through an obstacle course. But just down the road, past a sandbagged machinegun nest staring across a canyon at government territory, the guerrillas' political director signed a disarmament agreement on Tuesday. It commits the so-called National Liberation Army to discard arms and ammunition at NATO (news - web sites) collection points and disband over a 30-day period. Legislation improving the rights of Macedonia's Albanian minority is to be simultaneously enacted by parliament. The 30-day countdown is expected to start within the next two weeks if a NATO advance team due to arrive this weekend decides an oft-broken cease-fire is steady enough to send in the 3,500-strong disarmament contingent. As the new NLA recruits went through their paces, the truce was tottering again in the valley below. A Macedonian policeman was shot dead and an Albanian civilian shot and wounded at two separate checkpoints in the front-line city of Tetovo. ``We will not truly believe peace is at hand until the NATO troops arrive,'' said Luli, an NLA military police officer as he watched the lustily singing recruits. GUERRILLAS WANTED TOUGHER NATO PRESENCE ``And even then, a lot of us would prefer NATO to stay on a long time as a kind of protection force because we have our doubts whether the Macedonians really want democracy, not just a Slav tyranny in democratic clothing.'' NATO negotiators, under orders not to be drawn into a third indefinite Balkans peacekeeping mission after Bosnia and Kosovo, refused NLA political director Ali Ahmeti's request for a longer, more robust security mandate. Although always professing to be seeking only equal rights for their people in Macedonia, the NLA and ethnic Albanian political party leaders originally demanded an international security force and an international peace conference. The Macedonian government rejected both, wary of ''internationalizing'' the conflict with a separatist Albanian entity evolving behind NATO-guarded cease-fire lines. Macedonia already seems to have vanished from the northern rebel highlands, aside from the state mobile phone signal used by many guerrillas. The red-and-black Albanian flag waves. Cars sport identical red license plates emblazoned only with ``UCK'' in big black letters, the NLA's Albanian acronym. But rebels now speak gamely of being ``integrated as equal citizens'' in Macedonian society, citing government approval of an amnesty and jobs for Albanians in the civil service and police reflecting their numbers -- one-third of the population. For that reason, they dismiss Macedonian suspicions that they will hide weapons from NATO collectors, as their guerrilla brethren did in Kosovo under a post-war U.N. administration plagued ever since by armed violence against non-Albanians. ``We can be integrated in this country, so to bury weapons would be a (credibility) problem for us,'' said Commander Ilir, a 28-year-old member of the NLA general staff based in Sipkovica who, like all guerrilla officers, divulges only his code name. GUERRILLAS COUNT ON INTERNATIONAL SCRUTINY ``After NATO goes, there will be international monitors as insurance for our communities and we will have enough people in the police force to have no need to hide guns.'' NATO has estimated the number of NLA weapons -- including mortars and shoulder-launched grenades that have wreaked havoc on the lumbering Macedonian army -- at about 3,000. With rampant smuggling from neighboring Kosovo, no one knows for sure. Macedonian authorities contend that the guerrilla uprising was exported by radicals from the old Kosovo Liberation Army -- whose Albanian acronym is the same as the NLA -- bent on carving out a ``Greater Albania.'' But NLA commanders say 90 percent of their 2,300-odd men are Macedonian citizens. Although some fought in Kosovo, the NLA resists comparisons with the KLA which fought for independence from a Serbia much more repressive than Macedonia. ``We consider the Macedonia situation quite different. Kosovo had war for two years, there was major destruction and frequent massacres,'' said Commander Qela, another general staff member. ``In Macedonia we have had more periods of calm than war and we've had just six months of conflict and NATO is already coming. And we have actually had ethnically mixed governments for years, unlike Kosovo, although not equality,'' he said. ``So despite our doubts, and we must be on our guard, we think there is a chance for common life, unlike Kosovo.'' Commander Ilir chimed in: ``We just hope to be able to take home our uniforms as souvenirs, if NATO allows us.'' Clashes in Macedonia ahead of arrival of NATO force One civilian was killed as fierce clashes erupted in Macedonia Friday, hours before NATO advance troops were due to arrive in Skopje for a close-up look at whether a mission to disarm ethnic Albanian rebels can go ahead. The 70-year-old civilian was shot dead, hospital sources said, as fighting between ethnic Albanian rebels and government forces broke out around villages along the tense frontline in the northwest of the country. The killing followed the death late Thursday of a policeman. The latest in a daily series of battles was another sign of the dangers facing a planned NATO mission to Macedonia to collect weapons from ethnic Albanian rebels, but a British spokesman said it would not delay the mission. "I think it would be wrong to think that there is going to be complete silence every night," Major Alex Dick, spokesman for Britain's 16th Air Assault Brigade, told the news conference. "We do have the ability to provide adequate force protection. However, any deployment of weapons collection teams would not go-ahead until we believe that the conditions on the ground are correct," he said. At the police checkpoint in the mainly Albanian northwestern town of Tetovo where the policeman was killed, three separate gunfights broke out overnight and grenades were fired at a nearby army barracks, military sources said. Army spokesman Colonel Blagoja Markovski said that Macedonian forces had also responded to what he called "provocations" and exchanged fire with rebels near a string of guerrilla-held villages north of the capital. NATO spokesman Major Barry Johnson said that a 120-strong party of Czech paratroopers would arrive in Skopje at 2:30 pm (1230 GMT) to provide security for the British advance party of about 50 officers and support staff. The rest of a 400-strong British airborne brigade is to arrive over the weekend, and will meet local leaders and assess the situation on the ground to report back to decide whether to advise NATO political leaders to deploy a further 3,100 troops to accept the surrender of rebel weapons. Brigadier Barney White-Spunner, the commander of the British brigade leading the force, will arrive at Skopje on Friday from Naples where he met NATO commanders and would be at the airport to welcome the first 50 British troops, Dick said. Before leaving Britain, White-Spunner said: "We are going to see if the conditions are right so we can advise NATO whether to deploy this force to run the weapon collections operation." "We are looking for a readiness on the parties to abide by the agreement (of the ceasefire). In particular we are looking for a commitment on behalf of all the ethnic Albanian armed groups to abide by the agreement," he said. The NATO force's mission will be limited in time and scope. Its mandate is limited to collecting weapons handed over voluntarily by rebels in line with the peace accord, and once it is fully deployed it must accomplish this plan within a 30 day period. One official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that planners were hoping to collect around 2,500 of the weapons carried by the NLA. Defence experts have warned however that the deadline set by the NATO planners is absurdly over optimistic, and western diplomats in Skopje admit that the force may have to seek an extension to its mandate. If operation "Essential Harvest" gets the go-ahead, Britain has said it will contribute another 600 paratroopers to its advance party, making it the biggest single contingent in the task force. France, which has supported Britain's call for swift action, will have the next biggest with 530 troops, and will have officers attached to the advance party. Italy has promised 450 troops, Greece 350, Turkey 150, Spain and the Czech Republic 120 each. The German government wants to contribute up to 500 soldiers but must first persuade a sceptical parliament to accept the plan. The United States, Belgium and Norway are planning to reassign some of their troops already in the region attached to the Kosovo peacekeeping force KFOR, to support the new operation. Czech troops arrive in Macedonia ahead of British NATO force The first units of Czech paratroopers arrived in Macedonia on Friday to provide protection for the British commanders of a NATO task force, an AFP reporter at the scene said. The plane landed at Skopje airport around 13:45 pm (1145 GMT), carrying the first unit of a planned 120-strong company of Czech paratroopers and was soon followed by another light transport plane carrying the force commander. Two vehicles carrying Czech troops from NATO-led peacekeepers in Kosovo (KFOR) travelled down from the neighbouring UN-administrated Yugoslav province to join the units at Skopje's Petrovac airport. A 50-strong party of British officers and headquarters support staff was also due to arrive in Macedonia, flying in at 8:30 pm (1830 GMT) to set up the base for a mission to receive surrendered ethnic Albanian rebel arms. The British brigade is to meet with local leaders and examine the situation on the ground before reporting back to NATO's political leaders in Brussels. The alliance's leaders will then decide whether to send in a 3,500 strong force to accept the voluntary surrender of rebel arms, Major Alex Dick, spokesman for the British 16th Air Assault Brigade said. Another 400 British troops will be airlifted into Skopje's Petrovec airport over the weekend, he said. Although fresh skirmishes erupted in northwestern Macedonia on Thursday, Dick said the violence did not threaten the advance party's deployment. "I think it would be wrong to think that there is going to be complete silence every night," he told reporters. "We do have the ability to provide adequate force protection. However, any deployment of weapons collection teams would not go ahead until we believe that the conditions on the ground are correct," he said. Albanians said arrested over Serb police killing Sevdail Hiseni, deputy head of the ethnic Albanian Human Rights Board in the southern town of Bujanovac, said police searched the men's homes and arrested them on Thursday. ``They took them to prison under suspicion that they killed two Serb policemen,'' he told Reuters. Hiseni said the four were from the southern Serbian village of Muhovac, where two policemen were killed and two others wounded in an attack on August 3. Police were not immediately available to comment. Serbian state security chief Goran Petrovic has accused members of an officially disbanded ethnic Albanian guerrilla group of being behind the killings in the Presevo Valley region just east of U.N.-administered Kosovo. But former members of the rebel group have rejected the accusations. War Crimes-Milosevic, 2nd Ld-Writethru AP Former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic filed a written motion at the war crimes tribunal contesting the U.N. court's legality and requesting that his case be dismissed, court officials said Friday. The motion is the first step in the pre-trial defense of the former leader ahead of his trial which is not expected to start until next year. The court will address the motion at Milosevic's second public hearing scheduled on Aug. 30. In a 5-page preliminary motion, dated Aug. 9 and signed by the former leader, Milosevic asserted that the Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia was ``selective and political'' and incapable of conducting a fair trial. A copy of the document was obtained by The Associated Press on Friday. The statement echoed the tone taken by the former strongman at his first appearance at the tribunal on July 3 when he responded to a question from presiding Judge Richard May with the blunt answer: ``That's your problem.'' Milosevic has refused to appoint an attorney and maintains he will conduct his own defense. ``The tribunal corrupts justice and law because it is incapable of acting equally in enforcing laws among nations and individuals or within the former nation that has been targeted for prosecution,'' his motion reads. ``Milosevic moves for the dismissal of this case and all charges against him on the grounds that this tribunal is illegal and lacks all jurisdiction,'' the document says. The motion further asserts that the court was established illegally and that he was illegally transferred to the Netherlands on June 28. The tribunal, established in 1993 by the United Nations to prosecute those responsible for atrocities during the break"up of the former Yugoslavia, has rejected similar defense motions in earlier cases. In an 8-page counter motion filed on Aug. 16, prosecutors rejected all of Milosevic's arguments. They cited the 1995 Dayton peace agreement for Bosnia and Herzegovina, noting that it was signed by Milosevic himself on Dec. 14 of that year. ``The Dayton Agreement explicitly recognizes a major role for the tribunal in bringing peace and security in the former Yugoslavia,'' the prosecution submission said. Milosevic's transfer to the Netherlands was carried out in accordance with the tribunal's statute and international law, the document, signed by leading prosecution lawyer Dirk Ryneveld, states. In other developments, officials said Friday Milosevic's wife, Mirjana Markovic, was planning to visit her imprisoned husband at the U.N. detention unit on Monday for his 60th birthday. Markovic spent three days with Milosevic last month. Milosevic was indicted alongside four of his top aides for clleged atrocities against Kosovo Albanians in 1999. The court entered pleas of innocent on all counts on his behalf when he refused to respond to the charges in court. In a separate case, a Dutch attorney was to represent Milosevic at a
regional court in The Hague next week. The court will hear a case against
the Dutch state contesting the former president's arrest and detention.
AP Macedonian forces and ethnic Albanian rebels clashed sporadically overnight in three areas, authorities said Friday. The unrest came less than 24 hours ahead of the expected arrival of an advance party of NATO troops. Rebels attacked two police checkpoints with mortars in a suburb of the ethnic Albanian majority city of Tetovo, the Defense Ministry said in a statement. Mortars were also fired on Macedonian security positions near the northern town of Kumanovo and in a nearby mountain range, the statement said. There were no reports of casualties. Police sources also said rebels intimidated Macedonian civilians living in the Tetovo area, demanding that they leave their houses. Rebel spokesman Nazmi Beqiri denied that the insurgents had started the overnight attacks, saying they only responded to army provocations. On Thursday, a Macedonian police officer was killed by a sniper in Tetovo. The government blamed the shooting on the rebels, saying it cast doubts on the reliability of rebels to abide by their agreements. Security forces responded to the attack. Macedonia informed NATO, the European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe about the cease-fire violations, the government said. The clashes highlighted the potential problems awaiting U.S. and European soldiers as they prepare to deploy to collect rebel arms. But Maj. Alexander Dick, spokesman for the 16th Air Assault Brigade, said the progress achieved so far is significant. ``The political framework agreement this week is a historic milestone in the process of bringing the current crisis to an end,'' he told a news conference Friday. The first contingent of British troops about 50 members of the 16th Air Assault Brigade was expected to arrive 8:30 p.m. (18:30 GMT) in the capital Skopje, said Maj. Barry Johnson, spokesman for NATO troops in Macedonia. About 350 more British troops are to follow over the weekend. These initial troops, mostly headquarters and communications personnel, will study the military situation on the ground and complete plans for the full deployment of about 3,500 troops in what NATO is calling Operation Essential Harvest. Some of the 120 soldiers from the Czech Republic, who would protect the advance party from the 16th Brigade, arrived Friday. NATO has said a lasting cease-fire must be in place before its troops can deploy to collect weapons from the rebel forces, known as the National Liberation Army. NATO has insisted that this is not a mission to disarm the Albanians, but to collect weapons voluntarily handed in. Government spokesman Antonio Milososki Friday said he doubted NATO's assurances it can complete the disarmament mission without the use of force. ``I do not believe that NATO can succeed in disarming terrorists without the use of force, because we saw another unsuccessful mission in Kosovo,'' he said. Almost daily sporadic cease-fire violations have been reported since ethnic Albanian and Macedonian political parties signed a peace accord on Monday aimed to end an insurgency the rebels launched in February, saying they were fighting for more rights for the country's minority ethnic Albanians. The rebels were not involved in the talks but have signed a separate agreement with NATO to surrender their arms. Just how many weapons the rebels hold remains unclear. The militants have declared they intend to hand in about 2,000 weapons a figure NATO is trying to persuade the Macedonian government to accept. But government estimates put the number at around 8,000. The alliance also faces confusion over the interpretation by rival factions in Macedonia of how its mission is to unfold. The rebels have said they want the peace plan to be fully implemented
and an amnesty for all insurgents to be enacted before they start disarming.
The government insists the peace plan and amnesty should come only after
they give up their weapons, while NATO says the process should occur simultaneously.
AFP Parliamentary approval for the participation of German troops in a NATO
mission to Macedonia appeared uncertain Friday due to widespread fears
the operation to collect weapons from ethnic Albanian rebels could turn
into a military quagmire. Schroeder called Friday on the Christian Union opposition to vote in favour of sending German troops into Macedonia. He said the opposition had to consider whether it wanted "to abandon the joint stand forged on such questions in the past" out of tactical considerations, he said. Also addressing reluctant legislators in the ranks of his Social Democrat and Greens coalition, Schroeder promised them that the parliamentary mandate would be strictly for 30 days only. If the mission had to be prolonged there would be a new vote by the Bundestag, or parliament. In order to be able to send German troops for NATO's planned "Essential Harvest" mission to gather up the weapons of ethnic Albanian rebels in Macedonia, the approval of the lower house of parliament is necessary. Some 30 deputies on the government side have already come out against the mission, while members of the conservative opposition who are critical of recent German defence spending cuts have also threatened to vote against it. But Schroeder, who was speaking to ARD television, said Friday that he was "assuming that we will live up to our (NATO) alliance obligations." Germany will be providing up to 500 soldiers for the force that will number up to 3,500. The first Czech paratroopers -- to provide protection for the British commanders of the NATO task force -- arrived in Skopje Tuesday. Officials said Friday that the German contingent would be drawn both from existing units in the Balkans and sent from Germany. It will be under French command, the officials said. German officials stressed the need to rapidly seize the opportunity provided by the political agreements reached in Macedonia to improve the lot of the ethnic Albanian population, rather than wait and risk a deterioration in the militry situation. Although German officials were careful not give a firm timetable for events, indications pointed to a special sitting of the Bundestag -- possibly next Thursday or Friday but no sooner -- as four days' prior notice is needed to convene the assembly. German officials stressed Friday that "Essential Harvest" was a "preventive operation" different from previous NATO operations in the Balkans in that the troops were going in on the basis of a political solution which had already been agreed. "We have no civil war there so far," one of them said. He insisted there was "no alternative in the real world" to the proposed mission, and said that he and other government officials would "do their damnedest" to secure parliamentary approval. He said he was "quite sure" a majority of parliamentary deputies would vote in favour. Germany-Macedonia, 1st Ld-Writethru AP Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder appealed Friday to opposition parties to support Germany's participation in the NATO disarmament mission in Macedonia, stepping up efforts to convince doubters on both left and right ahead of a vote in parliament. With some members of his own coalition saying they won't support sending up to 500 German troops for the new Balkan mission, Schroeder may need the support of the Christian Democrats and Christian Social Union to get a majority for deployment. Because of concerns about Germany's Nazi and Prussian militaristic past, a parliament vote is required whenever Bundeswehr troops deploy abroad. No date has been set for a vote on Macedonia. Conservatives ``must think very carefully'' about abandoning the usual solidarity on such issues in a partisan political"move, Schroeder told Germany's ARD television. He also stressed that parliament would have to vote again if the NATO mission runs longer than the planned 30 days. Schroeder and other senior officials insist they are confident of a broad majority to support sending the troops to Macedonia, where they will be deployed under French leadership. But so far, at least 28 Social Democrats and seven Greens party members in Schroeder's governing coalition have said they won't support the deployment. The coalition holds 345 seats in the 669-seat lower house. Opponents cite possible risks to German troops from ethnic Albanian rebels who may not turn in their weapons. Conservatives, meanwhile, have pushed for increased defense spending they say is required for soldiers' safety and made that a condition for approving the Macedonia mission. Troops who go there ``will have the necessary equipment for their own security,'' Schroeder insisted. ``Anyone who criticizes this concept must come up with alternatives, and in the real world there aren't any such alternatives,'' a senior government official said Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity. ``NATO is the only institution that has the trust of both sides in Macedonia,'' and it would be ``irresponsible'' for Germany to leave the job to its NATO partners despite the potential risks, the official added. While party officials talked tough on defense spending, the Christian Democrats' foreign policy spokesman nevertheless signaled that the opposition isn't in principle against the deployment. ``This is also about German influence on policy in the Balkans,'' Karl Lamers told the Saechsische Zeitung daily. ``If we don't participate, we don't have any influence either.'' NATO's ruling council decided Friday to defer until next week a decision on deployment of the full 3,500-member force to collect arms from ethnic Albanian rebels. The first 40 advance troops were due Friday in the Macedonian capital Skopje, to be followed by about 350 more over the weekend. German troops already participate in other peacekeeping missions in the
Balkans. AP Former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic filed a written motion at the war crimes tribunal contesting the U.N. court's legality and requesting that his case be dismissed, court officials said Friday. The motion is the first step in the pretrial defense of the former leader ahead of his trial, which is not expected to start until next year. The court at The Hague will address the motion at Milosevic's second public hearing, scheduled for Aug. 30. In a five-page preliminary motion, dated Aug. 9 and signed by the former leader, Milosevic asserted that the Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia was ``selective and political'' and incapable of conducting a fair trial. A copy of the document was obtained by The Associated Press on Friday. The statement echoed the tone taken by the former strongman at his first appearance at the tribunal on July 3 when he responded to a question from presiding Judge Richard May with the blunt answer: ``That's your problem.'' Milosevic was indicted alongside four of his top aides for alleged atrocities against Kosovo Albanians in 1999. The tribunal entered pleas of innocent on all counts on his behalf when he refused to respond to the charges in court. Milosevic has refused to appoint an attorney and maintains he will conduct his own defense. ``The tribunal corrupts justice and law because it is incapable of acting equally in enforcing laws among nations and individuals or within the former nation that has been targeted for prosecution,'' his motion reads. ``Milosevic moves for the dismissal of this case and all charges against him on the grounds that this tribunal is illegal and lacks all jurisdiction,'' the document says. The motion further asserts that the court was established illegally and that he was illegally transferred to the Netherlands on June 28. The tribunal, established in 1993 by the United Nations to prosecute those responsible for atrocities during the break up of the former Yugoslavia, has rejected similar defense motions in earlier cases. In an eight-page counter motion filed on Aug. 16, prosecutors rejected all of Milosevic's arguments. They cited the 1995 Dayton peace agreement for Bosnia and Herzegovina, noting that it was signed by Milosevic himself on Dec. 14 of that year. ``The Dayton Agreement explicitly recognizes a major role for the tribunal in bringing peace and security in the former Yugoslavia,'' the prosecution submission said. Milosevic's transfer to the Netherlands was carried out in accordance with the tribunal's statute and international law, the document, signed by leading prosecution lawyer Dirk Ryneveld, states. In other developments, officials said Friday that Milosevic's wife, Mirjana Markovic, was planning to visit her imprisoned husband at the U.N. detention unit on Monday for his 60th birthday. Markovic spent three days with Milosevic last month. In a separate case, a Dutch attorney was to represent Milosevic at a regional court in The Hague next week. The court will hear a case against the Dutch state contesting the former president's arrest and detention.
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