Slobodan Milošević

President of Serbia (1989-1997) and Yugoslavia (1997-2000)

• Born: August 20, 1941
• Birthplace: Požarevac, Serbia, Yugoslavia
• Died: March 11, 2006
• Place of death: Near The Hague, the Netherlands

Milošević backed the ethnic Serb population of Bosnia during the Bosnian civil war, and during his presidency of Yugoslavia he used Serb security forces in Kosovo against the Kosovo Liberation Army. Both led to U.N. sanctions against Milošević’s country, later bombings by NATO, and then to his resignation as president. He was being tried at the International Court of Justice for war crimes and crimes against humanity when he died in custody.

Early Life

Slobodan Milošević (SLOH-boh-dahn mee-LOH-shee-vihch) was born four months after the German army invaded the Kingdom of Yugoslavia during the early years of World War II. His parents, Svetozar (father) and Stanislava (mother), were schoolteachers from Montenegro who had been sent to Serbia by the education ministry. Milošević’s family was unable to return to Montenegro when the war broke out because of intense fighting there. According to Milošević’s older brother, Borislav, Stanislava worked as a courier for the Serbian resistance. In 1947, Svetozar left the family and returned to Montenegro because he did not agree with the ideals of communism. However, Milošević’s mother was a devoted communist, so she remained in Serbia.

The young Milošević was diligent in his studies and adhered to Communist Party ideals. In 1959, at the age of seventeen, he was made a full member of the party. Following high school, Milošević went to the University of Belgrade to gain a law degree in 1964. While Milošević was still attending school, his father shot himself. Following his years at the university, Milošević completed his year in the army, which was required of all male citizens. After serving in the military, he worked for the Belgrade municipal government.

In 1974, Milošević’s mother hanged herself. Milošević then began work for the company Technogas, with whom he held a senior managerial position and later became company president. In 1978, he left Technogas to become president of the Bank of Belgrade. During his time as president of the bank, he traveled to the United States and began learning about Western culture. He was catapulted into politics by former friends from the University of Belgrade and was elected to head the Belgrade Old Town party committee.

Life’s Work

Milošević moved up the leadership ladder quickly. He was elected president of the Belgrade Communist Party in 1984, and one of his first actions in that post was to crack down on political dissidents, a move that was widely welcomed by political hardliners. Milošević fought to keep classes in the study of Marxism at the University of Belgrade in 1985. He also prohibited expressions of nationalism and refused to support writers (and their writings) branded as renegades by the former regime of the Yugoslav dictator, Tito.

In May, 1986, Milošević was named head of the Serbian Communist Party (SCP). In 1987, after being sent to quell nationalist feelings by Serbs in Kosovo, Milošević instead broke with the Communist Party line and aligned the SCP with the Serb nationalists in the Kosovo region. He then used his influence to oust his political opponents from ruling any party apparatus.

In late 1987 and early 1988, Milošević began to consolidate his political power by removing thousands of officials from government and began to effectively use the mob for political gains and influence. Also in 1988, he set up the Serbian Presidential Commission for Economic Reforms to introduce a market economy to the country. In March, 1989, workers’ and student protests in Kosovo opened the door for Milošević to strengthen his hold over the military. The Serb parliament voted to send in troops to end the riots and protests, which also ended, for the time being, the movement toward independence in Kosovo and Vojvodina.

Milošević further courted the support of the Serbian people by portraying himself as a virtual savior of Serbian identity. In June, 1991, after Slovenia declared its independence from Yugoslavia, Milošević dispatched a small number of troops in response, effectively losing Slovenia but still reinforcing the use of the military to combat secession. Croatia declared its independence in 1991 and effectively attempted to alienate the Serb minority there, making the country a nation of Croatians and treating the ethnic Serbs as a minority group. In response, Serbs in Croatia began to stockpile weapons at the behest of Milošević, who actively supported the founding of Serbian paramilitary organizations. Fighting and ethnic cleansing broke out in Croatia, with both sides committing atrocities.

In March, 1991, Milošević was forced to deal with popular student protests against his regime. He was able eventually to quell the dissent by granting minimal concessions to the demonstrators. Also in 1991, Milošević armed Serbs in Bosnia and attempted to disarm some of the militias of Croats and Bosnian Muslims. On April 6, Bosnia declared independence from Yugoslavia. Milošević then ordered the Yugoslavian army to withdraw in May, 1992, but he allowed soldiers who had been born in Bosnia to remain there and fight within the Bosnian Serb army; this army was still financed, however, by Serbia. Detention centers were set up by Bosnian Serb forces, centers that Milošević undoubtedly had knowledge of. In the end, he was able to play on the nationalistic feelings of many Serbs and the intense ethnic hatred evident in the Balkans.

Serbia was sanctioned by the United Nations, which led to rampant inflation in the country. Milošević, though, still was able to purchase new housing arrangements for his family and provide them with items not available to the average Serb. When the Serbs who had been fighting in Bosnia were asked to endorse the Vance-Owen peace plan of 1993, Milošević was outvoted, and the motion was ended by the opposition. Milošević extracted his revenge by sealing the borders of Yugoslavia and Bosnia and using the media to condemn the Serb forces in Bosnia. Following air strikes by the United States, Milošević brokered a deal to stop the bombings in return for a halt to offensive attacks on the Bosnian capital. He hoped that by doing so, he could keep the Bosnian Serbs in check but still recognize them collectively, thus catering to nationalist sentiments.

In July, 1997, Milošević was elected president of Yugoslavia, largely because he had already served two terms as president of Serbia, which was all the constitution allowed. Milošević then courted international criticism again when he increased Serbian police operations against Albanians. He essentially rekindled aggression against his country by member nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) when NATO resumed its bombing campaign. However, this did not stop Milošević from purchasing another house for his family. He spent the majority of his time with NATO commanders and negotiators arguing that Serbian forces were not committing atrocities despite evidence to the contrary.

Finally, on October 5, 2000, Milošević stepped down as president of Yugoslavia. In 2001, he surrendered to Serbian police after resisting arrest and firing at them. Even after his resignation as president, his party continued to win elections.

Milošević was then extradited to The Hague, the Netherlands, to face the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) at the International Court of Justice . The ICTY originally had formed in 1994 to try Serbian war criminals, including Milošević.

Significance

At the tribunal, Milošević was charged with committing atrocities in both Bosnia and Croatia, amounting to two separate cases. He was indicted for persecutions, exterminations, murders, willful killings, unlawful confinements, imprisonments, tortures, inhumane acts, deportations, forcible transfers, and numerous other human-rights violations. He refused to acknowledge the right of the tribunal to try him, and a plea of “not guilty” was entered on his behalf. The two cases were eventually joined to speed up the court process. During the trial, Serbs in Belgrade protested his detention and trial.

On March 11, 2006, Milošević died in his cell after a heart attack and before his trial had ended. Some questioned the circumstances of his death, claiming that he was murdered. No conclusive evidence, however, supports this assertion. The massive demonstrations by supportive Serbs that followed his death attests to the cult of praise fostered by Milošević.

Milošević had a lasting impact upon Serbian society. He understood the people of the Balkans and was able to effectively play upon regional and ethnic divisions to consolidate his power. His crimes against humanity went unpunished, officially, but the tribunal holding him accountable for his crimes did begin while he was alive, forcing him to wait five years in a slowly proceeding trial that kept him in prison.

Bibliography

Cigar, Norman, Paul Williams, and Banac Ivo. Indictment at The Hague: The Milošević Regime and Crimes of the Balkan Wars. New York: New York University Press, 2002. A fairly comprehensive study of the trial of Milošević and an analysis of the need for the tribunals. Also provides the text of the indictments against Milošević.

Doder, Dusko, and Louise Branson. Milošević: Portrait of a Tyrant. New York: Free Press, 1999. A comprehensive study of Milosovic and his role in Serbian politics. Portrays him as a cold and calculating politician.

Hosmer, Stephen T. The Conflict over Kosovo: Why Milošević Decided to Settle When He Did. Santa Monica, Calif.: Rand, 2001. A good study of Milošević’s decision to accept NATO demands for the cessation of hostilities in Kosovo. Covers the role of the NATO bombing campaigns and its effect on Serbian leaders.

Human Rights Watch. Genocide, War Crimes, and Crimes Against Humanity: A Topical Digest of the Case Law of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. New York: Author, 2006. Provides a comprehensive guide to the proceedings before the ICTY.

Lebor, Adam. Milošević: A Biography. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2004. A detailed study of the life of Milošević from boyhood through his indictment in The Hague. A good analysis of Milošević’s reasoning for various decisions throughout his career.

Ramet, Sabrina P. Balkan Babel: The Disintegration of Yugoslavia from the Death of Tito to the Fall of Milošević. 4th ed. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 2002. Comprehensive political history of Yugoslavia by a political science professor. Supplemented with maps, bibliography, and index.

Sell, Louis. Slobodan Milošević and the Destruction of Yugoslavia. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2002. Examines the political life of Milošević and how his policies led to the breakup of Yugoslavia.

Stevanovic, Vidosav. Milošević: The People’s Tyrant. London: I. B. Tauris, 2004. An examination of Milošević’s life and political career.