Yugoslavia's discredited ex-president Slobodan Milosevic was holed up in his Belgrade villa yesterday after a bodyguard helped him resist arrest on charges of corruption and abuse of power.
Milosevic, also indicted by the UN war crimes tribunal, vowed he would "not go to prison alive."
"We had intelligence reports saying that there was lots of ammunition, arms and explosives in the residence," Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic told a news conference.
PHOTO: REUTERS
After a bewildering night in which two attempts were made to detain Milosevic, the government said he was under house arrest in the official villa he still occupies in Belgrade despite having been toppled by a revolt in October.
In the second attempt of the night to arrest him, masked commandos fought a gunbattle with Milosevic's bodyguards.
The raid came just before the expiry of a deadline set by US legislation for President George W. Bush to declare whether Yugoslavia is cooperating with the UN tribunal and can avoid economic sanctions and a withholding of aid.
"This is a routine implementation of the law," said Djindjic. "We do not ... see that peace in Serbia is at stake. No dramatic actions will be undertaken."
The former president told police who went to negotiate with him on Friday that he would "not be taken to prison alive."
With police still surrounding the walled compound, Serbian Interior Minister Dusan Mihajlovic said: "Milosevic will be under house arrest until he agrees to show up in front of an investigating judge ... He will either come in by himself or we will take him in, with or without force."
Djindjic said the private guards, said to have rocket-propelled grenades, must lay down their weapons at once.
Milosevic is charged with abuse of office and financial crimes, but Mihajlovic said there was no current intent to send him to the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, which has indicted him for atrocities committed in Kosovo in 1999.
Belgrade may face economic sanctions and lose US$50 million in aid if the US deems it is not cooperating with the UN court -- but Washington appears likely to be satisfied with an attempt to put Milosevic behind bars, even if it is not for extradition.
British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook told Sky television:
"I think it's a very useful and very helpful step. We are much nearer seeing Milosevic in The Hague than we were yesterday -- that's got to be the objective."
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