U.S. Freeze Aid to Yugoslavia For Lack of Cooperation with War Crimes Tribunal

On April 2, 2002, the media reported that the U.S. Government has frozen $40 million worth of aid due to non-cooperation with the International Criminal tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague. The U.S. Congress imposed a deadline of Mach 31, 2002, for Yugoslavia to extradite suspects indicated by the ICTY. The U.S. suspension of aid will be supplemented by the withdrawal of U.S. support in international financial institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Already the tension between the Yugoslav military and the parts of its government wanting to cooperate manifested itself on March 15, 2002, when the Yugoslav military arrested Yugoslav former general and, at the time, the Serbian deputy prime minister and national security adviser, Momcilo Perisic and John David neighbor, the first secretary in the U.S. Embassy’s political department.