By Bradley Graham, Washington Post Staff Writer, Monday, February 9, 2004; Page A15
ZAGREB, Croatia, Feb. 8 -- Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld stopped in this Balkan country Sunday to meet with a newly elected leadership that has pledged stronger ties to the United States and a furthering of democracy and minority rights for Croatians.
The
visit was the first by a U.S. Cabinet member since Madeleine K. Albright, then
secretary of state, came in February 2000. It followed the return to power in
November of the Croatian Democratic Union, which governed for much of the 1990s
before being ousted in 2000 over allegations of corruption and because of its
hard-line nationalist policies.
Rumsfeld thanked Croatia for sending police officers to Afghanistan and said he supported the country's desire to join NATO. (Nikola Solic -- Reuters)
A new generation of party leaders say they have abandoned the group's nationalist heritage, transforming the party into a center-right group that aspires to have Croatia join NATO and the European Union.
At a news conference, Rumsfeld praised Croatia's efforts to shrink and restructure its military. He thanked Croatia for its contributions to the U.S.-led war on terrorism and said he supported the country's desire to join NATO.
A 50-member Croatian military police unit is about to start its third six-month rotation in Afghanistan as part of the international peacekeeping force led by NATO. In addition, Croatia has supplied rifles and ammunition to the new Afghan national army.
Appearing with Rumsfeld, Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said the Croatian government might expand its role in Afghanistan by sending "assistance personnel" to serve on reconstruction teams being organized by the United States and NATO.
Sanader said Croatia was also considering sending doctors and aid workers to Iraq, but there has been resistance in parliament to assisting the U.S.-led effort there.
Neither Rumsfeld nor Sanader reported progress on what remains a major stumbling block in bilateral relations -- namely, U.S. insistence that Croatia sign an agreement, known as an Article 98, promising that no Americans charged with war crimes or other grave offenses would be extradited to the International Criminal Court.
In 2002, the Bush administration withdrew the U.S. signature from the treaty that created the court and has sought to persuade nearly 180 countries to sign such immunity pledges. U.S. officials argue that Americans need protection from politically motivated prosecutions at the court, which opened in July 2002.
A U.S. deadline for cooperation expired in July, freezing aid to about 35 countries. In Croatia's case, the United States has suspended about $15 million in financing for military equipment purchases from 2003 to 2005. An additional $2.3 million in education and training funds for the Croatian military was also shelved.
The Croatians consider the loss of the money highly ironic, as they have come under strong U.S. pressure to turn over to the United Nations tribunal in The Hague those accused of committing war crimes against Serbs during the civil wars of the early 1990s. Asked Sunday whether Croatia would sign an immunity agreement, Sanader said only that his government "understands" the U.S. position.
Another unresolved issue involves an outstanding warrant from the U.N. tribunal in The Hague for the arrest and extradition of Ante Gotovina, a former Croatian army general wanted for atrocities against Serbs in the disputed region of Krajina. Gotovina has been in hiding since his 2001 indictment.
Sanader has pledged cooperation with the tribunal, though he has not promised to turn over Gotovina.
"Sanader has effectively accepted the task," a U.S. diplomat said. "If he finds himself unable to produce, it will be up to him now to show why."
Several U.S. officials said they were encouraged by the new government's first moves and statements, including efforts to reach out to the Serbian community. But the Bush administration appears in no hurry to meet Zagreb's request for accelerated membership in NATO. "We're seeing a generational change," a U.S. official said of Croatia's new leading party. "I think it's pretty dramatic, but we'll see."