storm - Hrvatski memorijalno-dokumentacijski centar Domovinskog ...

Prosecutor Nice: Let’s pause there. And I may be allowing you to go just a little too fast.
You’d explained earlier that the Z-4 plan was going to provide autonomy for those areas
with Serb majority at the relevant census. Eastern Slavonia didn’t qualify?
Galbraith: Eastern Slavonia and Western Slavonia did not qualify, nor did all of the
sectors north and south.
Prosecutor Nice: Did Babić say anything to you at that stage about why it was that the
accused was opposed to this plan? And if not, did you discover from elsewhere why he
was opposed to this plan?
Galbraith: If I can just explain, I hope very briefl y, what came out of the meeting was
in fact this agreement, that he would publicly state his acceptance of all these points,
but in lieu of saying he would negotiate on the basis of reintegration into Croatia he
would negotiate on the basis of the Z-4 plan. Further, I told him that the Z-4 plan was
unachievable at this point in time, that Tuđman had the upper hand, he would never
accept autonomy that extensive, and that the most that the Krajina Serbs could hope for
was something that was roughly based on Croatian constitutional law. He understood
that. He accepted that. I said, “I will convey this as a private message from you to Tuđman
that you understand this, that you’re not looking for ... you understand you’ll never get
the Z-4 plan.” He fully agreed. Th en came the issue of whether this could be sold to the
leadership in Knin, and he said, “Well, my party has a majority in the assembly. I think I
can get them to go along.” Th e question was then: Would Martić go along? He said, “One
sentence from Milošević and we can get the agreement of Knin.”
Prosecutor Nice: And he was right about that. Th ings would not have unfolded in the
way they did.
Galbraith: Th at is right. In my view, the war could have been avoided and 180,000 Serbs
would not have become refugees.
Prosecutor Nice: Did Babić say anything about eff orts he had made at the time to see
the accused?
Galbraith: He said that he had tried to see the accused and that the accused would not
see him.
Prosecutor Nice: On the occasion of this very visit to Belgrade or on some other
occasion?
Galbraith: On the occasion of this visit to Belgrade.
Prosecutor Nice: And was that account of his consistent with what you learnt of an
eff ort made by the United States chargé d’aff aires?
Galbraith: Yes. Aft er this agreement was concluded and given what Babić had said about
the decisive role of the defendant, and given what we understood to be the decisive role
of the defendant, the United States sought to make a démarche to the defendant. Th e
chargé tried to see him on the 3rd of August, the next day, to get Milošević to make a
statement of support for this deal, and he would not see the American chargé.
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