July 30, 1999
Web posted at: 9:59 p.m. EDT (0159 GMT)

In this story: Sarajevo symbol of war and rebirth U.S. offers aid package Belgrade responds to summit snubbing RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina -- Presidents and prime ministers from nearly 40 nations have pledged to help rebuild the war-ravaged Balkans and bring prosperity to the troubled region.

At a summit in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the world leaders also spoke Friday of building a Europe "at long last undivided, democratic and at peace."

Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was not invited to the summit, underscoring the isolation of the man many blame for four Balkan wars that killed more than 250,000 people and left millions homeless over the decade.

The United States on Friday offered financial aid of nearly $700 million for reconstruction in the Balkans -- but no economic assistance is to go Serbia, Yugoslavia's dominant republic.

"I do not believe that we should give reconstruction aid to Serbia as long as it rejects democracy and as long as Mr. Milosevic is in power," said U.S. President Bill Clinton.

"We have had enough of ethnic cleansing," Clinton added, referring to the ancient hatreds that have exploded into ethnic violence in the Balkans many times since World War I.

The summit leaders endorsed a broad Stability Pact envisioning a brighter future for the Balkans and southeastern Europe. The goals include creating stable democracies, prosperity, ethnic tolerance, respect for human rights and efforts to combat corruption and organized crime.

"It's a beginning," Bosnia's U.N. Ambassador Muhamed Sacirbey said of the summit. "Even a trickle, a drop of water for someone that's been in the desert for so long is most welcome."

Sarajevo symbol of war and rebirth

Clinton's armored limousine rode into Sarajevo along "Sniper's Alley," the route once used only by travelers willing to brave bullets and mortars during the 1992-1995 siege of the city by Bosnian Serb forces.

The city's war scars were evident in buildings with shattered windows and bullet-pocked walls, homes with collapsed roofs and fire-blackened timbers and a hillside graveyard filled with the victims of violence.

Because of intense security, Sarajevo's streets were as deserted as they were during Serb shelling. About 4,000 NATO peacekeepers patrolled the streets to protect the leaders. Nerves were jarred momentarily when a peacekeeper's weapon discharged accidentally near Croatian President Franjo Tudjman's motorcade.

Sarajevo was chosen for the summit venue because of the war and the central role it has played in European history, beginning with an assassination that led to World War I.

"This city, which has taken its place in the history of our century, is now being called upon to help launch a new millennium," said European Union President Martti Ahtisaari, the president of Finland.

Despite the lingering scars in the city, and the economic stagnation and corruption that have stifled Bosnia since the 1995 Dayton peace accords, Clinton said progress is being made.

"They've done a remarkable, astonishing job of rebuilding Sarajevo. It doesn't even look like the same place I visited two years ago," he said.

The leaders met at Zetra Stadium, built as an ice skating arena for the 1984 Winter Olympics and then heavily damaged by Serb shelling in 1992. It lay in ruins until last year when a reconstruction program began.

While Milosevic was left out of the summit, the leaders offered encouragement to Montenegro, Serbia's Western-leaning partner in the Yugoslav federation. The summit pledged to "consider ways of making the republic of Montenegro an early beneficiary of the pact and reaffirm their support of all democratic forces."

U.S. offers aid package

Clinton offered "generous, immediate and unilateral steps" to encourage exports from the region, establish investment funds and provide technical assistance, according to a summit statement.

The plan would allow many products from southeastern Europe to enter the United States duty-free, said Gene Sperling, the president's economic adviser.

The administration's package would create a $150 million investment fund and a $200 million line of credit for businesses in the Balkans.

It would also establish a regional equity fund. Washington would contribute $34 million to a $114 million fund for business development.

Clinton urged the European Union to follow suit by giving the region better access to its markets.

Belgrade responds to summit snubbing

In remarks for delivery during the conference session, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said the stability pact needed cooperation from Yugoslavia to be truly successful.

But Schroeder added: "It would be a disservice" to the people of Yugoslavia, "if we now strengthen the regime in Belgrade."

"There can be no unified southeastern Europe without Yugoslavia, and everything else is a continuation of political blackmail with which the Serb people and Yugoslavia were faced all these years," said Ivica Dacic, a spokesman for Milosevic's ruling Socialist Party in Belgrade.

Russian Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin said the world should not punish Yugoslavians by linking aid to Milosevic's continued rule.

"Ten million people are at stake, who are living in very grave conditions, and the danger of a humanitarian catastrophe will turn real by winter," Russia's ITAR-Tass news agency quoted him as saying.

Correspondents Wolf Blitzer, Chris Black, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.