The Yugoslav government has agreed to fully cooperate with the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague, including the handing over of wanted war crimes suspects. 

Yugoslav Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic says the unanimous decision was reached during an extraordinary government meeting Monday in Belgrade. 

His announcement follows a U.S. decision to freeze its financial aid to Yugoslavia because Belgrade missed a midnight deadline for demonstrating cooperation with the tribunal. 

The U.S. State Department says Secretary of State Colin Powell will decide this week whether to finalize the cut-off of aid worth tens of millions of dollars, as required under U.S. law. 

The government of Serbia, one of two republics making up Yugoslavia, had issued arrest warrants Sunday for four close associates of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic who are accused of war crimes. However, the Yugoslav government itself took no action by the deadline. 

Under the U.S. legislation, no further aid can go to Yugoslavia except for humanitarian and democratization projects. The freeze will also affect U.S. support for International Monetary Fund and World Bank aid packages for Yugoslavia. 

Some information for this report provided by AFP and Reuters.

Email this article to a friend.
Printer Friendly Version