Clinton lifts sanctions against Yugoslavia

By CNN White House Correspondent Major Garrett

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- One of President Clinton's last actions before leaving office has been to lift the economic and trade sanctions against Yugoslavia.

But the outgoing U.S. president maintained sanctions against former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, his family, political allies and indicted war criminals.

The Clinton administration had been a strong foe of the Milosevic regime, which was ousted on October 5 last year, and had led NATO in carrying out a 78-day bombing campaign during the 1999 Kosovo war.

The lifting of the sanctions, which covered commercial trade and access to international lending institutions, is the latest step in the rehabilitation of Yugoslavia under its new President Vojislav Kostunica.

IN-DEPTH

Yugoslavia in Transition

  • Balkan hotspots
  • War crimes defendants
  • Milosevic profile
  • Kostunica profile
  • Ambition and wealth
  • Timeline 1945-2000
  • Shrinking of Yugoslavia
  • Message board
  • Sanctions highlights
  • Sick society
  • Aftermath of an uprising
  • Serbia: A day of change
  • Protest in pictures

Lifting them, via an executive order, will open trade between the United States and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and open Yugoslavia's access to international lending institutions in which the U.S. government participates.

"The peaceful democratic transition begun by President Kostunica and the people of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia opens the prospect of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's rejoining fully the international community and merits lifting, with respect to future transactions, the economic sanctions imposed," the president said in the order.

The U.S. lifted sanctions dealing with the shipments of fuel oil and some military hardware shortly after the Yugoslav presidential election in September, which Kostunica won.

Milosevic refused to accept the results but was finally forced to step down after massive street protests and universal international diplomatic pressure.

The order does not affect an international arms embargo against Yugoslavia which is being carried out under U.N. Security Council resolution 160.

In a letter to leaders of Congress informing them of his decision, Clinton said Milosevic and his associates "must be held fully accountable for the violence and atrocities they unleashed in the Balkans over the past decade, and they must be denied access to the economic and other means that would support their further repressing democracy or promoting or perpetrating further human rights abuses."

He added that Milosevic and about 80 others remained a threat to the stability of the Balkans and as a result "still constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States."

The names on the U.S. list will continue to be barred from any dealings with U.S. banks. In addition, companies cannot legally ship merchandise to them. U.S. officials said it also is highly unlikely that U.S. visas would be approved for them.

Clinton had been widely expected to remove the final layer of U.S. sanctions, imposed for Belgrade's role in a string of Balkan wars, before handing over the presidency to Republican George W. Bush on Saturday.

But Kostunica faces a new hurdle on March 31, the date set by Congress for President-elect George W. Bush to certify whether Belgrade still qualifies for U.S. aid, and Washington's support for international lending.

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.

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