Milosevic widow accuses the West

Serbia:The widow of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic called yesterday for Western officials be held responsible for his death, stoking tension as Serbia prepares for elections and seeks stronger ties with the EU and Washington.

Mr Milosevic died of heart failure in March, while on trial for genocide at the UN court in The Hague.

His ultra-nationalist supporters insist he was murdered on the orders of US and EU governments, and are invoking his memory ahead of January 21st elections in which they are expected to mount a strong challenge to more pro-Western parties.

"They did what they planned to do. They killed Slobodan and they have to answer for that," Mirjana Markovic said of what Serb nationalists see as the anti-Serb powers behind the UN court.

"We don't want their answers but their responsibility, we don't need their opinions," said the woman who was seen as the power behind Milosevic and who, fearing arrest, declined to return from exile in Russia to attend his funeral.

The Serbian authorities have issued an international arrest warrant for Ms Markovic over alleged abuse of power, and she is also wanted for questioning over the 2003 murder of Ivan Stambolic, a former Serb president who clashed with Mr Milosevic.

She told the Vecernje Novosti newspaper that such accusations were "nonsense", but complained that it was not safe for her to return to Serbia.

"I only think about it every day, from dusk till dawn. I want to return, but how? If I go back, my life would be in danger," she said.

Ms Markovic's comments came in the week Serbia joined Nato's Partnership for Peace Programme, and the EU reiterated that it was ready to open preliminary membership talks with Belgrade once it co-operates fully with the UN war crimes court.