http://www.nationalpost.com/commentary/story.html?id=16FDB7EB-31E2-474B-B550
-5251F6748B29
NATIONAL POST, Monday, July 28, 2003 EDITORIAL
Fair play in the Balkans
Eight years ago, Canadian peacekeepers witnessed one of the late 20th
century's most brutal attempts at ethnic cleansing. In August, 1995, over a
span of just 64 hours, Croatian soldiers forced 200,000 Serbs from their
homes in Croatia -- the largest single act of ethnic cleansing of all the
Balkan wars between 1991 and 1995. The military action -- dubbed Operation
Storm -- involved the Croats' entire 100,000-man army. Canadian soldiers
stationed in the area documented the Croats' efficiency. Colonel Andrew
Leslie, for example, reported that of the 40,000 people who lived in the
Serb stronghold of Knin, barely 1,000 remained once the operation ended.
It took some time, but two years ago, the UN's International Criminal
Tribunal (ICT) began seriously looking into claims regarding war crimes
committed during Operation Storm. In 2001, the ICT issued an indictment
against Ante Gotovina, a Croatian general with an allegedly central role in
the operation. But Gen. Gotovina promptly went underground. Lawyers working
on his behalf say he is willing to answer questions from the ICT -- but only
if it first drops its indictment.
Unfortunately, the Croatian government has failed to fully co-operate in
bringing Gen. Gotovina to justice. Though the Croatian Interior Ministry has
issued a warrant for his arrest (and a bounty of $80,000 for information
leading to his arrest), authorities have done little to apprehend him. One
reason for this is that ultra-nationalist Croats see the general as a hero.
In May, Gen. Gotovina even had the audacity to send an official message of
support to a gathering of 15,000 Croatian nationalists. They had met to
mourn the death of Janko Bobetko, another general who defied an ICT order to
answer questions about his own involvement in possible crimes against
humanity by Croatian forces.
The case of Gen. Gotovina is important not only as a matter of justice, but
of politics as well. The Croats and Serbs have had their share of murderous
feuds, and the Serbs would be understandably outraged if the world community
aggressively prosecuted allegations of Serb atrocities while passing over
those in which Serbs were victims. In 2001, the ICT formally demanded that
the Serbs force former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic to appear for
trial on charges of war crimes. NATO member states, including Canada and the
United States, put a full-court press on the Serbs to hand Mr. Milosevic
over -- and even made his handover a condition of economic aid. As a result,
Mr. Milosevic's successor, Vojislav Kostunica, duly served him up to The
Hague.
Those same NATO states should make a similar effort to get Croatia to secure
Gen. Gotovina. He's been allowed to run free long enough.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Serbian News Network - SNN
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