Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević (sloh-BOH-dahn mee-LOH-sheh-vitch; born 20 August 1941) is a former President of Serbia and of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Early career
Milošević was born in Požarevac, Serbia. He began his professional life as a banker, working for the Beogradska Banka (Belgrade Bank), at times even residing in New York as their official representative abroad.
He then emerged in April 1987 as the leading force in Serbian politics. His political positions have sometimes been termed as nationalism, despite the fact that his ideology was strongly marked by socialism and other leftist viewpoints. After he was elected president of the Belgrade City Committee of the League of Communists, he publically opposed nationalism, prevented the publishing of a book of the works of Slobodan Jovanović, an influential Serbian poet and politician from the beginning of the century. Milošević also advocated retaining Marxism as a school subject, and publically lambasted Belgrade youth for their low turnout at the Communist manifestation Day of the Youth, saying they desecrated the character and work of Tito.
His mentor and godfather Ivan Stambolić was the party leader in the Serbian section of the ruling League of Communists of Yugoslavia. In September 1987, Stambolić became the President of Serbia and supported Milošević in the elections for the new leader, to the dismay of the other leaders in the party. Stambolić spent three days advocating Milošević's election and finally managed to secure him a tight victory, the tightest ever in the history of Serbian Communist Party internal elections.
Contrary to the liberal reforms of Communism in the Soviet Union at the time, Milošević quickly took a hard line against liberalism in the party and proceeded to use such a policy to eliminate his political adversaries.
Dragiša Pavlović, Milošević's fairly liberal successor at the head of the Belgrade Committee of the party, opposed his policy towards the solving of the issues of the Kosovo Serbs, calling it "hastily promised speed". Milošević denounced Pavlović as being soft on Albanian radicals, contrary to advice from Stambolić. On the subsequent eighth session of the Central Committee, one that lasted around 30 hours in the period of three days, and was broadcast live on the state television, Milošević had Pavlović deposed, to the utter embarrassment of Ivan Stambolić, who resigned under pressure from Milošević's supporters a few days later.
Milošević would later be charged with ordering the murder of Stambolić. Ivan Stambolić was kidnapped in the summer of 2000; his body was found three years later. As of 2004, members of Serbian criminal gangs close to Milošević are indicted at the Belgrade court for this murder (among others).
Presidency
Elected President of Serbia by the National Assembly in 1989, Milošević presided over the transformation of the League of Communists of Serbia into the Socialist Party of Serbia (July 1990) and the adoption of a new Serbian constitution (September 1990) providing for the direct election of a president with increased powers. Milošević was subsequently re-elected president of the Serbian Republic in the direct elections of December 1990 and December 1992.
Milošević's rise to power coincided with the growth of nationalism in all the former Yugoslavian republics following the collapse of communist governments throughout eastern Europe. In June 1991 Slovenia and Croatia seceded from the federation, followed by the republics of Macedonia (September 1991) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (March 1992). The presence of large Serb minorities in Croatia (580,000) and Bosnia (1.6 million) led to wars in each, in which Serbs demanded the same right of self-determination given to their Croat and Muslim neighbours and demanded that their sections of Bosnia and Croatia remain in Yugoslavia. For a short time until 1991-2 they were supported in these demands by the Yugoslav government and army.
In 1995 the Dayton Agreement brought an end to the Bosnian civil war, and Milošević was credited in the West with being one of the pillars of Balkan peace. The government of President Clinton supported his rule during this period, until the beginning of the uprising in Kosovo and the start of a hardline Serb crackdown on Albanian separatist and terrorist actions in 1998. In the winter of 1996, following fraud in the local elections, there were student demonstrations which lasted three months, filling the streets of Belgrade daily, and protesting Milošević's rule. The West failed, however, to support the Serbian opposition, opting instead for Milošević, and he managed to stay in power.
Downfall
On 4 February 1997 Milošević recognized the opposition victories in the November 1996 elections, having contested the results for 11 weeks. However, his image was badly damaged, and despite a substantial rise in popularity after the NATO bombing in 1999, this led to his eventual downfall.
Constitutionally limited to two terms as Serbian president, on July 23, 1997 Milošević assumed the presidency of the Yugoslav Federation (currently Serbia and Montenegro). Armed actions by Albanian separatist groups and Serbian police and military counter-action in Serbia's previously autonomous (and mostly Albanian-populated) province of Kosovo culminated in escalating warfare in 1998, NATO air strikes against Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in March-June 1999, and Serbia's subsequent military withdrawal from the province. During the Kosovo War he was indicted on 27 May 1999 for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo, and he is currently (2003) standing trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.
Milošević's rejection of claims of a first-round opposition victory in new elections for the Federal presidency in September 2000 led to mass demonstrations in Belgrade on October 5 and the collapse of the regime's authority. Opposition-list leader Vojislav Koštunica took office as Yugoslav president on October 6. Ironically, Milošević lost his grip on power by losing in elections which he scheduled prematurely (before the end of his mandate) and that he did not even need to win in order to retain power which was centered in the parliaments which his party and its associates controlled.
Arrested on 1 April 2001 on charges of abuse of power and corruption, Milošević was handed over by the Serbian government on 28 June to the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Kostunica opposed the transfer.
Trial
Following Milošević's transfer, the original charges of war crimes in Kosovo were upgraded by adding charges of genocide in Bosnia and war crimes in Croatia. On 30 January 2002 Milošević accused the war crimes tribunal of an "evil and hostile attack" against him. The trial began at The Hague on 12 February 2002 with Milošević defending himself though refusing to recognize the court's jurisdiction. Some observers found his popularity among Serbs rising sharply once the trial had begun. Some who have observed the trial say it is a travesty of justice, and that it appears designed to justify NATO bombing actions and sponsorship of Albanian terrorist groups during the 1990s.
In private, Milošević is patriarchal and conservative, devoted to his family and wife, Mirjana Marković, who was his high-school sweetheart. His personality is marked by stubbornness (of which he is proud) and rigid adherence to personal moral beliefs. Modest and unassuming during his years in power, he was often opposed to appearing on state TV, and his presence in the media was consequently rare and discreet. His most devoted followers are older people, pensioners who spent most of their lives in another era, whose moral code Milošević followed flawlessly. His stubbornness and unwillingness to compromise or betray his principles is at least partly to be credited for the political problems and wars which marked his years in power.
His strong defence in the trial has also to do with this stubborn personality. He has a team in Belgrade that helps him, often sending him information available from the secret police files. Serbian insiders are often biased and support Milošević's point of view, while Croatian witnesses have offered a lot of useful testimonies. Tribunal has to prove he had command responsibility in Croatia and Bosnia, at least de facto, since formally as a President of Serbia at the time he was not in charge. His influence may have went beyond his formal duties, but there is little to no record of this, as he always preferred to deal with his subordinates confidentially and in person.
Milošević was not considered to be a radical nationalist himself (although some of his followers were), and he had bitter dispute with Bosnian Serbs in 1993, closing border over the Drina river and applying heavy pressure on them. Milošević's rhetoric never included hate speech or even war-mongering. After the Dayton Agreement in 1995, Serbian nationalists (Vojislav Šešelj's radical party) became his sturdy opponents, up until 1998 when they joined his party in a coalition government.
While opinions about Milošević and his trial are far from being unanimous, people at least agree that the proceedings have plenty of bizarre and amusing moments. Currently, the trial is covering the war in Croatia, and is being closely followed by the Croatian and Serbian publics.
Nickname
In local media, Milošević is nicknamed Sloba; in Western media his name is normally shortened to Slobo, perhaps in imitation of the vocative of "Sloba" which was chanted at various political demonstrations where he was present. A popular opposition chant was "Slobo - Sadame" comparing the Serb dictator with his Iraqi counterpart, Saddam Hussein. Another popular saying was: Slobo spasi Srbiju i ubi se, meaning Sloba, save Serbia and kill yourself.