storm - Hrvatski memorijalno-dokumentacijski centar Domovinskog ...

Prosecutor Nice: And, of course, the chargé d’aff aires was the principal, the senior
diplomat at the time, there being no ambassador in that post.
Galbraith: Th at is correct.
Prosecutor Nice: Very well. Babić made his public statement;
Galbraith: He did.
Prosecutor Nice: Did that attract any or any signifi cant support?
Galbraith: He made a statement, and there was a meeting in Geneva on the 3rd of
August between the Croatian government delegation and a Krajina Serb delegation. Th e
idea was that the Krajina Serb delegation would be instructed to accept the full package
that Babić had accepted. Th ey were certainly ambiguous in their statement. It was not
the clear-cut acceptance that was required, and again I think the reason they didn’t make
any clear-cut acceptance is that Babić alone - by this point, incidentally, he was the Prime
Minister of the RSK - didn’t have suffi cient authority to command the delegation in
Geneva. Milošević, of course, was silent. I fl ew back to Zagreb, where I saw Tuđman. At
the meeting with Tuđman - this was at now 5. 45 on the 3rd of August - I urged him to
hold off on military action. I said that we would know within a matter of days whether
the Krajina Serbs were serious, because there were concrete steps that they had to take,
very quickly, and that it was important to give them a chance to see if they were serious,
because the alternative, war, would be so disastrous, particularly for the population of
the Krajina region. Tuđman didn’t believe that Babić had the clout to deliver the Krajina
Serbs, and so he listened, but basically he went ahead with his decision for war.
Prosecutor Nice: Can you look briefl y at an existing exhibit, 352, tab 104, a British
code cable of August 1995 dealing with these matters. You’ve seen it before or had the
opportunity to see it before. I hope the Chamber has got it before. Have you reviewed
this code cable from your British counterpart?
Galbraith: I have reviewed it.
Prosecutor Nice: Is it accurate, subject to what must be said in paragraph 8?
Galbraith: It is accurate. He was a very skilled diplomat.
Prosecutor Nice: And at paragraph 8 he says this: “Commenting on his discussions,
Galbraith recognised that Babić might not have authority to conclude a deal on these
lines. He might be disowned by his RSK colleagues in Knin and by the Assembly, but
it was a last chance for peace. He, Galbraith, would be seeing Tuđman tonight at 5.45
local time to report the outcome of his talks with Babić in Belgrade. Milošević was being
briefed by the American Embassy in Belgrade. Comment?”
Galbraith: At the time, of course I had hoped that our chargé would be able to see
Milošević. I expected, given the imminence of war, given that the scale of the military
action which was going to be the largest military action in the confl ict since 1992, that of
course Milošević would see the American representative, and I didn’t know at the time
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