Milosevic: Suicide?

Pravda.Ru was one of the first newspapers to break the news that ex-President Slobodan Milosevic was possibly under arrest in the early hours of this morning. We can now confirm that he is indeed under house arrest, although he continues to live in the Presidential Residence. This was built by Tito in the elite Devinye area of Belgrade, in Uzhizhka Ulitsa. Despite the fact that Vojislav Kostunica is the new President of Serbia, the name on the daily mail delivered to the Presidential Residence continues to be Sobodan Milosevic. Special police elements attempted to storm the residence during the night but Milosevic’s Presidential Guard fired machine-gun rounds over their heads and they were beaten back. Milosevic later appeared at the door of the residence and shouted to the crowds outside that he was enjoying a coffee with his friends, he did not accept the arrest warrant because it was unconstitutional and that he will not leave the residence alive. With only hours remaining before the US imposed deadline, which stipulates that unless Milosevic is arrested by midnight tonight, the 100,000,000 USD promised by the US Congress will be suspended, Colin Powell stepped up the pressure by alerting Belgrade to this fact. President Kostunica may be goaded into issuing an ultimatum for Milosevic to leave, which Milosevic has already stated he will refuse. Known for his fierce loyalty to his family, maybe it is they who can reason with him to give himself up. Should he consider that he would rather die than be taken alive, as he has already stated, then suicide is the most logical outcome of this stand-off. If, of course, he has not already escaped through an underground tunnel. TIMOTHY BANCROFT-HINCHEY, PRAVDA.RU, LISBON