[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 3 (Monday, January 22, 2001)]
[Pages 201-202]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Letter to Congressional Leaders on Lifting and Modifying Measures With 
Respect to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro)

January 19, 2001

Dear Mr. Speaker:  (Dear Mr. President:)

    Pursuant to section 204(b) of the International Emergency Economic 
Powers Act, 50 U.S.C. 1703(b) (IEEPA) and section 301 of the National 
Emergencies Act, 50 U.S.C. 1631, I hereby report that I have exercised 
my statutory authority to take additional actions with respect to the 
national emergency described and declared in Executive Order 13088 of 
June 9, 1998, and related to the actions and policies of the Governments 
of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) (the ``FRY 
(S&M)'') and the Republic of Serbia with respect to Kosovo. I have 
issued a new Executive Order to lift, with respect to future 
transactions, the economic sanctions imposed pursuant to Executive Order 
13088 and expanded by Executive Order 13121 of April 30, 1999, except 
for those sanctions targeted against members and supporters of the 
former Milosevic regime. These actions are also taken in furtherance of 
United Nations Security Council Resolution 827 of May 25, 1993, and 
subsequent resolutions.
    The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of 
State, is authorized to issue regulations in exercise of my authorities 
under IEEPA and the United Nations Participation Act, 22 U.S.C. 287c, to 
implement measures lifting and modifying the economic sanctions imposed 
pursuant to Executive Order 13088. Property blocked pursuant to 
Executive Order 13088 before the effective date of the new Executive 
Order will continue to be blocked pending the resolution of successor 
state and other issues. All Federal agencies are also directed to take 
actions within their statutory authority to carry out the provisions of 
the new Executive Order. In addition to the persons I have identified in 
the annex to the new Executive Order, the Secretary of the Treasury, in 
consultation with the Secretary of State, is to identify certain other 
persons whose property and interests in property will be blocked 
pursuant to the order and with respect to whose property interests 
certain transactions or dealings by U.S. persons will be prohibited. The 
Secretary of the Treasury, again in consultation with the Secretary of 
State, is also authorized to remove any person from the annex to the 
order. In order to ensure the fullest implementation of the Executive 
Order, the Secretary of State will take steps to identify for 
appropriate consideration by the Secretary of the Treasury persons 
potentially covered by the criteria set forth in the order, which 
includes individuals who may have sought or may be seeking, through 
repressive measures or otherwise, to exercise illegitimate control over 
FRY (S&M) political institutions or economic resources.
    I am enclosing a copy of the Executive Order I have issued. The 
order was effective at 12:01 a.m. eastern standard time on January 19, 
2001.
    I have authorized these measures in response to the recent positive 
developments in the FRY (S&M) and, notwithstanding those developments, 
the unusual and extraordinary threat that remains to the national 
security and foreign policy of the United States. I found in Executive 
Order 13088 that the actions and policies of the Governments of the FRY 
(S&M) and the Republic of Serbia with respect to Kosovo, by promoting 
ethnic conflict and human suffering, threatened to destabilize the 
countries of the region and to disrupt progress in the Republic of 
Bosnia and Herzegovina in implementing the Dayton peace agreement, and 
therefore constituted an unusual and extraordinary threat to the 
national security and foreign policy of the United States. I declared a 
national emergency to deal with that threat and ordered that economic 
sanctions be imposed with respect to those governments. I issued 
Executive Order 13121 in response to the continuing human rights and 
humanitarian crises in Kosovo. That order revised and substantially 
expanded the sanctions imposed pursuant to Executive Order 13088.
    On September 24, 2000, the people of the FRY (S&M) displayed 
extraordinary courage and principle when they elected Vojislav Kostunica 
to be their president. The peaceful democratic transition begun by 
President Kostunica and the people of the FRY (S&M)

[[Page 202]]

opens the prospect of the FRY (S&M)'s rejoining fully the international 
community and merits lifting, with respect to future transactions, the 
economic sanctions imposed pursuant to Executive Orders 13088 and 13121. 
Notwithstanding these positive developments, steps must still be taken 
to support the ongoing efforts of the International Criminal Tribunal 
for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and to continue to counter the threat 
that remains with respect to stability in the Balkan region and the full 
implementation of the Dayton peace agreement.
    In resolution 827 and subsequent resolutions, the United Nations 
Security Council has called upon all states to cooperate fully with the 
ICTY. In this connection, the ICTY has issued an order that states 
determine whether Slobodan Milosevic and four other indicted persons 
have assets located in their territories and, if any such assets are 
found, adopt provisional measures to freeze those assets.
    Additionally, Slobodan Milosevic and other persons currently or 
subsequently under open indictment by the ICTY must be held fully 
accountable for the violence and atrocities they unleashed in the 
Balkans over the past decade, and they must be denied access to the 
economic and other means that would support their further repressing 
democracy or promoting or perpetrating further human rights abuses. The 
same holds true for those persons assisting the indictees and other 
blocked persons in their illicit activities and those persons who, 
through repressive measures or otherwise, illegitimately exercise 
control over FRY (S&M) political institutions and economic resources and 
enterprises under the sponsorship of Slobodan Milosevic and his close 
associates.
    We heartily applaud the peaceful democratic transition that is 
underway in the FRY (S&M) and we pledge to support President Kostunica 
and other newly elected leaders as they work to build a truly democratic 
society. Unfortunately, however, we must recognize the past and present 
capacity of Slobodan Milosevic and other indicted war criminals and 
their close associates or other persons to foment ethnic conflict, 
repress democracy, and promote or perpetrate further human rights 
abuses. This capacity continues to threaten the stability of the Balkan 
region and the full implementation of the Dayton peace agreement and, 
therefore, still constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the 
national security and foreign policy of the United States. The actions 
we are taking will assist the FRY (S&M) in ending its isolation and 
returning fully to the international community. They also express our 
condemnation of the violence and atrocities that have plagued the Balkan 
region for the past decade and will help prevent human rights abuses in 
the future.
     Sincerely,
                                            William J. Clinton

Note: Letters were sent to J. Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the House of 
Representatives, and Albert Gore, Jr., President of the Senate. An 
original was not available for verification of the content of this 
letter.