West ridicules Milosevic 'plot'

Yugoslav TV showed one of the suspects being interviewed and an alleged weapon

Western officials and the United Nations have ridiculed Serbian allegations that they have arrested four Dutch men they claim had been plotting to kidnap or assassinate Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the Dutch Government and United States State Department on Tuesday gave critical reactions to the arrests and denied any links to the men.

I would call it pretty good fiction. This story is fiction and nothing more

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia

The Yugoslav Government on Monday said it had arrested the four men, and released a film showing one of the four men saying the group planned to kidnap the Yugoslav leader, an indicted war criminal, or failing that "cut off his head".

The Belgrade authorities said that the would-be assassins were sent by Western intelligence agencies who were planning to kidnap Mr Milosevic and other alleged war criminals indicted by the Hague tribunal.

It is the latest of a number of plots which the Yugoslav authorities say they have uncovered in recent months.

'Fiction'

"I would call it pretty good fiction," said Paul Risley, a spokesman for the International Tribunal on the Former Yugoslavia.

Goran Matic: No paid killers will penetrate our defences

"This story is fiction and nothing more."

The Dutch Government demanded more information on the arrested men from the Serbian authorities and denied it had any link to the alleged assassination attempt.

In Washington, US State Department spokesman Philip Reeker ridiculed both the allegation and the its source, Yugoslav Information Minister Goran Matic.

"In the past we've seen that so-called Information Minister Goran Matic is notoriously inventive in some of his so-called information. His allegations appear to be quite ridiculous," Mr Reeker said.

Delivering Milosevic

The Yugoslav authorities said they believed the group were seeking to cash in on the $5m reward offered by the US for information leading to the arrest of any wanted Serbian war criminals.

Mr Matic said the four men had been arrested on Yugoslavian territory just before the G8 summit in Okinawa earlier this month.

He said the four were apparently planning to deliver Mr Milosevic, dead or alive to Mr Clinton at the summit.

The minister said the men had entered the country via Kosovo, where they had tried to "join the Dutch battalion... and then enter Serbia to kill Mr Milosevic or carry out other terrorist acts".

Correspondents say news of the alleged plot seems designed to whip up anti-Western feeling before the elections in September, and carries an implicit message to the West not to interfere in Yugoslav affairs.

In recent days, Western officials have warned Mr Milosevic not to stir up trouble in the Yugoslav republic of Montenegro, which has been receiving substantial help from the West.