Karadzic and Mladic
By Carla Del Ponte (IHT/NYT)
Friday, June 20, 2003
Almost eight years ago, the world's war crimes tribunal for Yugoslavia
indicted Karadzic and Mladic for leading the violent siege of Sarajevo by Serb
nationalists as part of a campaign to partition Bosnia and Herzegovina's
territory and expel millions of Muslims. A few months later, this tribunal
issued an amended indictment against Karadzic and Mladic, adding charges
stemming from the wholesale killings, in 1995, of thousands of Muslim prisoners
from Srebrenica, a town that was supposed to have had United Nations protection.
Today, Mladic is lurking in Serbia, right under the noses of the Belgrade
authorities. Karadzic is shuffling about within a corridor of rugged terrain in
eastern Bosnia, sometimes in disguise, always poised to dash across the
zigzagging border into Serbia and Montenegro, always protected by men who are
themselves implicated in the Srebrenica massacre.
If I know this much about where these men are hiding, it is clear that the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the authorities in Serbia and Montenegro
know more. They are duty-bound to arrest and extradite these men, as well as
other indicted fugitives of lesser repute.
The time has come to summon the will and bring them to justice.
The Serbs have moved on from the days when Karadzic and Mladic held them
spellbound. Polling results from Serbia and Montenegro show that most people
there support cooperation with the war crimes tribunal, especially when their
economic well-being depends upon it. The latest handovers of several other key
fugitives from Serbia, including a former Yugoslav army general and
secret-police chief, have met with no serious resistance.
Despite the passing of time and the lack of focus on the Balkans by the
world's media, the arrests of Karadzic and Mladic remain crucial for a number of
reasons.
First, remaining silent and doing nothing will not be interpreted as just
another case of international acquiescence and apathy. Silence and a failure to
take action will send a signal to other, similar nationalist leaders, political
and military, perhaps in the Balkans, perhaps further afield, that the world
does not mean what it says when it comes to international justice.
Second, for months governments on both sides of the Atlantic have pressed the
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia to wrap up its
investigations, complete its trials and close its doors. The successful
completion of the tribunal's mission depends to a great extent upon the will of
the Western powers, specifically NATO, and the authorities in Serbia and
Montenegro and the other successor states of the former Yugoslavia, to make
arrests and hand over the fugitives.
The tribunal's prosecuting attorneys, investigators and other staff members
would like nothing more than to complete their mission. They understand that the
tribunal was never meant to be a permanent body. They understand that their job
is to prosecute the persons responsible for war crimes, especially order-givers
like Karadzic and Mladic, to further the process of peace and reconciliation in
the Balkans.
In the decade since the tribunal opened, it has indicted 134 persons. About
30 more individuals, including several ranking leaders, are likely to be
indicted by 2004, when the prosecution finishes its investigations.
Third, only when fugitives like Karadzic and Mladic are transformed from
symbols of a lack of backbone into symbols of the international community's
resolve will Bosnia and Herzegovina and the other traumatized states of the
region stand a chance of establishing rule of law. And only when the peoples of
these states enjoy the rule of law will they be able to partake fully in the
process of European unification.
The writer is the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal
for the Former Yugoslavia.
THE HAGUE:
I know, roughly, where the
most wanted fugitives from the war in Bosnia are hiding. And it seems almost
banal to be calling attention, yet again, to the fact that these fugitives,
Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, are still at large.
