Former Yugoslav official ready to testify in Milosevic case

A vice president of former Yugoslavia says he is ready to testify in the trial of Slobodan Milosevic before the UN war crimes tribunal.

Branko Kostic says he is willingness to go to The Hague.

He said he is willing to tell the Netherlands-based court everything he knew about the crises and resulting wars.

"If Slobodan Milosevic's defence calls me as their witness, I will testify. If the prosecutors invite me as their witness, I will not decline to answer that invitation either," Mr Kostic, 62, was quoted as saying.

Milosevic is awaiting trial before the UN court for his role in wartime atrocities in Bosnia and Croatia, as well as in Kosovo.

Mr Kostic did no go into details of what he might tell the court, but said that "in the bloody civil war there were many, many crimes, committed by all sides." He insisted that he could shed light only on the early years of the conflict.