THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - The International Court of Justice
began hearings Monday to consider whether it has jurisdiction over claims
by the former Yugoslavia against Canada and seven other NATO members for
bombing the Balkan country during the 1999 Kosovo crisis.
In its original filing to the UN tribunal, also known as
the World Court, Serbia and Montenegro, Yugoslavia's successor state,
sought unspecified damages from 10 members of the NATO military alliance
involved in the 78-day air campaign.
The bombing was intended to end a repressive campaign by
Serbian forces under then-Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic against
ethnic-Albanians in Kosovo, the country's southern province. But Belgrade
said the bombing targeted Serb civilians.
Milosevic is being tried at another court in the
Netherlands, the UN war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, for
alleged war crimes in Kosovo, Croatia and Bosnia.
The NATO states - Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy,
the Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom - contest the court's
jurisdiction. Initial charges against Spain and the United States have
been dropped.
Each country will present oral arguments at the court,
beginning with Belgium.
Belgium's lawyer, Jan Devadder, argued that "there is no
longer a dispute between the countries" and "invited the court to
discontinue the case on all grounds."
In Belgrade,
Serbia-Montenegro Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic said his country would be
willing to drop its charges against NATO if Croatia and Bosnia do the same
with their genocide charges at the world court against Serbia-Montenegro.
"We and Croatia and Bosnia want to be a part of Europe,
and we cannot do it through charges," Draskovic said. "We also cannot
build partnership relations with NATO via charges."
In 1999, by 14 votes to one, the 15-member world court
rejected Serbia and Montenegro's request that it order NATO to end the
bombing in Kosovo.
Serbia and Montenegro claims the NATO countries broke
obligations under international law not to use force against another state
and the international convention against genocide.
"In bombing the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, military
and civilian targets were attacked," it argued in court documents. "Great
number of people were killed, including a great many civilians.
Residential houses came under attack."
The NATO countries destroyed the country's infrastructure,
including "schools, hospitals, radio and television stations, cultural and
health institutions and . . . places of worship," it said.
The International Court of Justice is the United Nation's
highest legal body to resolve disputes between countries.
