Washington is believed to be fearful of potentially damaging revelations about its Balkan realpolitik during the 1990s and in the Bosnian War.

General Clark, who is seeking the Democratic Party nomination for President, will be one of the highest-profile witnesses to take the stand. The former Nato commander directed the alliance’s 78-day bombing campaign in Kosovo in 1999, after Serbian forces had launched an onslaught against ethnic Albanian separatists.

General Clark will testify on December 15 and 16. Public galleries will be closed and the broadcast system that transmits the proceedings on the internet and on closed-circuit television will be shut down.

The conditions of General Clark’s testimony include a 48-hour delay to enable the US Government to review the transcript and seek the court’s consent to censor parts on the ground of national security. Two US representatives will attend the sessions.

The three-judge panel hearing Mr Milosevic’s case agreed to the conditions, which are unique, because they decided that they were justified by the potential importance of General Clark’s testimony, Jim Landale, the tribunal spokesman, said.

In his cross-examination of General Clark, Mr Milosevic could reveal sensitive information about the West’s diplomatic and military strategy for dealing with the crisis in the Balkans. General Clark spent lengthy periods of time negotiating with the former Serbian President. He also served as director of strategy, plans and policy for the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the mid-1990s, when the US was trying to negotiate an end to the war in Bosnia.

If the judges deem that the proposed cuts are valid, they will order the tape of the testimony to be edited before its release. Any edited comments remain part of the record for the judges when they consider their verdict.

As part of the tribunal’s rules, governments can ask for the non-disclosure of evidence to protect national interests. Several governments have asked the court to apply confidentiality for sensitive witnesses. Mr Milosevic will begin his defence next April and the trial is expected to last into 2006.

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