Certification of Serbia and Montenegro

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell determined and certified that Serbia and Montenegro had met the criteria of Section 578 of the Foreign Operations, Export Financing and Related Programs Act, Division E of the Consolidated Appropriation Resolution, 2003. The Secretary has also determined that the competent authorities of Serbia had simultaneously met the criteria related to the termination of restrictions imposed by Section 576 of the same Act. The Secretary has conveyed his decisions to Congress as called for in the legislation.

We welcome the recent actions by Serbia and Montenegro and the Republic of Serbia to improve cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. However, the Secretary’s decisions are not an indication that we believe that Serbia and Montenegro has fully met its obligation to arrest and transfer all indictees to the Tribunal. We have made clear to Union and Republic authorities in Belgrade that they have an international obligation to fully cooperate with the Tribunal, and that the United States expects further actions to be taken in order to meet those obligations. We continue to call on all states of the region to cooperate fully with the Tribunal, including by arresting and transferring Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.