Reuters 23 October 2003 Milosevic, Tudjman agreed to divide Bosnia - witness THE HAGUE, Oct 23 (Reuters) -

Former Serb and Croat leaders Slobodan Milosevic and Franjo Tudjman agreed to carve up Bosnia between them at secret talks in 1991, the last prime minister of federal Yugoslavia told the Milosevic trial on Thursday. Ante Markovic said both Milosevic, who is accused of genocide and crimes against humanity at the U.N. war crimes tribunal, and the late Tudjman had told him personally of the deal they struck at the hunting retreat of Karadjordjevo in northwestern Serbia. Previous witnesses to the Milosevic trial, which began in February 2002, have said they heard indirectly that this deal was made in Karadjordjevo, but none said Milosevic confirmed it to them directly. Markovic, who tried to pursue economic reforms in ex-Yugoslavia in 1989-90 before the country plunged into a violent break-up, said he held long, separate meetings with Milosevic and Tudjman shortly after the Karadjordjevo talks. "I asked them both the same question, what did they agree on in Karadjordjevo, although I knew that already," he said. "Both of them admitted that they agreed on dividing Bosnia Herzegovina and on the dismissal of the prime minister Ante Markovic." "My dismissal was viewed as necessary in order to achieve their first goal -- the division of Bosnia and Herzegovina -- between Serbia and Croatia," he told the tribunal. Markovic said that when he pointed out that carving up Bosnia would lead to bloodshed, the nationalist Tudjman said the Muslims were converted Catholics and Milosevic said they were converted members of the Orthodox church. Tudjman said Europe would not allow a Muslim state in its midst and that Europe would agree to its division, while Milosevic said Bosnia had no chance of survival as a state in Yugoslavia because it was communist dictator Tito's artificial creation, Markovic said. "Milosevic said the division of Bosnia and Herzegovina would not be a problem since Croats and Serbs were a majority and that they would leave an enclave for the Muslims," he said. Markovic said he informed former Bosnian Muslim leader Alija Izetbegovic, who died on Sunday, "a lot later" of the essence of his conversations with Milosevic and Tudjman.

Agence France-Presse October 23, 2003 Last PM of the former Yugoslavia testifies against Milosevic HERVE CLERC THE HAGUE, Oct 23 (AFP) --

Ante Markovic, the last prime minister of the old federal Yugoslavia before it broke up, on Thursday accused Slobodan Milosevic of playing a pivotal role in Bosnia's descent into war by arming the Bosnian Serbs. Markovic who was prime minister from March 1989 until December 1991 said Milosevic, who was then only Serbia's president, "prepared for war" in Bosnia together with Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic. Markovic said he had heard intercepts of telephone conversations between Milosevic and Karadzic where they were clearly planning the conflict. "They were preparing for war and discussing the deployment of troops and the handover of arms to the Serbs," Markovic testified. Croatian born Markovic, a slight, white haired man, said he clearly recognised the voices on the tape as those of Milosevic and Karadzic. Milosevic has been on trial in The Hague since February last year for over 60 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity for the wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo that followed the break-up of the former Yugoslavia. For the bloody 1992-95 war in Bosnia that left over 200,000 dead, Milosevic faces a separate charge of genocide. Karadzic has also been indicted for genocide for the campaign of ethnic cleansing of non-Serbs during the war in Bosnia but he is still at large. Markovic's testimony is important for the prosecution who argue Milosevic was responsible for the war in Bosnia because he supplied money, arms and training to the Bosnian Serb forces. Milosevic has repeatedly denied that his regime helped Karadzic or exterted influence over the Bosnian Serb leadership. Markovic, whose testimony was not announced in advance for security reasons, testified about a meeting he had with Milosevic in May 1991 shortly after the Serbian president and the late Croatian president Franjo Tudjman had a notorious encounter to discuss how to carve up Bosnia between them. "Milosevic told me: yes, this is what they discussed. He was very clear he wanted to share Bosnia with Croatia," Markovic said. "He told me Bosnia was an artificial entity created by (Yugoslav communist leader) Tito." Markovic said he also met Tudjman, who died in 1999, who told him "Europe would never allow a Muslim state on its side". In his testimony the former Yugoslav prime minister painted a picture of Milosevic as someone with a propensity to deny reality but said it was unclear whether this was out of cynicism, ignorance or a bizarre sense of humour. When the world's television screens were all showing the shelling of the Croatian coastal city of Dubrovnik by the Yugoslav army under the control of Milosevic, Markovic confronted Milosevic. "I asked how he could allow Dubrovnik to be shelled," he recalled. But Milosevic simply denied it was going on. "He said 'who would be crazy enough to shell Dubrovnik, the city is not being shelled'." In a last meeting between Markovic and Milosevic in December 1991, the prime minister warned the Serb leader that war was imminent. "What war? There is no war and there will be no war," Milosevic replied.