Serbians the main victims of Milosevic, says foreign minister

THE Serbian people were the main victims of Slobodan Milosevic, the country's Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic said, responding to the death of the man known as the "Butcher of the Balkans".

A long-time opponent who managed to survive the Milosevic years, Mr Draskovic twice suffered assassination attempts.

He was in Austria representing Serbia and Montenegro at a meeting of EU foreign ministers when news came through of the death of Milosevic.

During an impromptu press interview he said he was sorry that Milosevic had not been tried in his own country rather than before the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague.

"What can I say? I can say it is a pity he didn't face justice in Belgrade," he said.

Mr Draskovic blamed Milosevic for the murders of many of his friends and colleagues.

"Milosevic organised many, many assassinations of people of my party, of my family... He ordered a few times assassination attempts against my life," he said.

"Milosevic was a murderer and Serbia is filled with the graves of those whose deaths his actions brought about. He poisoned the minds of Serbs. He killed Yugoslavia, brought international sanctions against Serbia and in the end provoked war with NATO," Mr Draskovic said.

He had used the intelligence services of Serbia to murder his opponents and his legacy was still poisoning Serbia's people, he said.

"Serbians are still the main victims of Slobodan Milosevic," he said, saying some newspapers and politicians in the country were once again promoting him as a hero and blaming The Hague for poisoning him.

Referring to him as the Serbian Saddam he told CNN television: "I believe he was not poisoned or killed. But if he was he could only be killed by criminals". He said it may have been in the interests of Milosevic intelligence to organise something like this, but he had no proof of this and he did not believe it.

In Serbia, there was no outpouring of grief for Milosevic. Instead, many politicians paid emotional tribute to assassinated reformist Zoran Djindjic on the third anniversary of his death yesterday.

Apart from a vigil by 100 diehard and mostly elderly supporters at the Socialist Party office, there was little display of emotion for Milosevic.

Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Milosevic was a malign influence on the entire Balkans region and said it was important the people of Serbia finally draw a line across that period of history.