Milosevic vs. Rugova - Part II

Verbal bullets were shot across the courtroom on Friday, as Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic faced his Albanian adversary, Kosovo president Ibrahim Rugova, in a bitter confrontation which is to be continued on Monday.

Testifying at Milosevic’s trial for the war crimes tribunal in the Hague, Rugova accused his erstwhile foe of unleashing a brutal campaign of ethnic cleaning in Kosovo in 1999 in order to snuff out Kosovo's push for independence.

The former Yugoslav president, defending himself against charges of genocide and crimes against humanity in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo, answered by firing a volley of questions at the Kosovo leader.

Beginning his cross-examination by labelling the witness as a pawn of the international community, he asked: "Mr Rugova, do you think that you personally and the Kosovo Albanians were used as a means of implementing the will of the Great Powers. Yes or No?".

"We were not used", Rugova shot back, adding that the international community had come out in defence and the human rights of his people.

"Belgrade clearly decided to destroy Kosovo through violence and war", he told Milosevic.

"This was a calmly done cleansing of the population. We all know what happened in 1998 and 1999", Rugova told the court, while Milosevic, sitting nonchalantly in the dock, demonstratively stifled a yawn.

Face to face

The meeting was decidedly different from the last time the two rivals met and cameras caught them smiling at eachother during a stage-managed meeting by the Serb leader as NATO's 1999 bombing campaign was taking place.

But Rugova, who says the meeting was designed to divide ethnic Albanian oppostion to Serb rule, put a blot on his copy book by agreeing to see his arch foe.

Most Albanians were furious, accusing him of treason.

Analysts predicted an end to the mild-mannered academic’s political career, but Rugova managed to gain back on popularity, culminating in his March election as president.

As the testimony is closely watched by the Kosovo people on TV across the country, Rugova may well see his appearence as a chance to erase any remaining doubt to his political leadership.

But not all are convinced.

"He can give a lot of evidence, but he has worked with Milosevic and I don’t trust him a bit", a citizen from Pristina told Reuters.

Hopes for more details

In order to convict Milosevic over Kosovo, the prosecutors must prove not only the atrocities against ethnic Albanians but also that Milosevic knew about them.

Rugova is expected to shed light on Milosevic’s maneuvering behind the scenes during the Kosovo conflict, unlike most witnesses which have otherwise focused mainly on specific atrocities.

Apart from condemming Milosevic for clearly wanting to destroy Kosovo, Rugova also accused him for cracking down heavily on Albanian-language media.

Rugova also testified that by 1993, 150, 000 Albanians had lost their jobs due to their ethnicity.

Milosevic is accused of being responsible for the killing of 900 Kosovo Albanians and the expulsion of some 800,000 during the Kosovo conflict which triggered NATO air strikes in 1999.