Serbia FM demands Mladic arrest
BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) — Serbia-Montenegro’s foreign minister called for the dismissal of top security officials because of their failure to capture war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic, according to a newspaper interview published Saturday. Serbia’s government has pledged to step up efforts to hunt down Mladic and thus revoke a European Union suspension of pre-membership talks with Belgrade.
Eleven years after the massacre at Srebrenica, and the architect of the genocide, Ratko Mladic, and the evil genius leader of Bosnian Serbs, Radovan Karadzic, are still at large. Despite Serbian protestations to the contrary, any reasonable observer would easily come to the conclusion that capturing these two war criminals is a Serb priority only insofar as it serves their own political ends. Now that the European Community has made it clear that even discussing Serbian membership will not take place until Mladic, at the very least, is apprehended and turned over, suddenly the Serbian government is all about capturing Mladic. Cynical? Sure. Opportunistic? Without a doubt? Crocodile tears?Yeah, you could say that and not be far wrong.
Let’s face facts, shall we? The democratically-elected Serbian government is a reflection of the people they represent. Collectively, Serbs tend to be highly reactionary, disturbingly paranoid, and willing to do anything- no matter how craven, self-interested, or just plain dishonest- to protect their own best interests. These people will willingly and openly protect and shelter both Mladic and Karadzic until it’s no longer politically feasible to do so, at which time they will gladly turn one or both of them over. They will then beat their breasts and proclaim that this should be taken as evidence of their strong desire to be full members of the international community. Yeah, right. Whatever….
Call me cynical if you must, but I’ve seen and experienced Serbian intransigence up close and personal, and it ain’t pretty. This latest burst of indignation from Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic, a flaming, militant nationalist in his own right, is simply another example of the lengths to which the Serbian government will go to play it’s cynical game with the international community.
The Blic daily quoted Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic as saying Belgrade’s international position was “more than grave” following the EU decision earlier this week to freeze negotiations with Serbia-Montenegro until Mladic is handed over to the U.N. tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands….
State-run TV reported Saturday that a massive police action was underway to locate Mladic, and that several of his alleged associates had been detained.
The U.N. tribunal charged Mladic with genocide in 1995 for allegedly orchestrating the slaughter of 8,000 Muslims in eastern Bosnia that year. The chief U.N. war crimes prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, has insisted that Mladic is hiding in Serbia under protection from the hard-liners in the military and the police.
Draskovic also blamed nationalist loyalists of ex-President Slobodan Milosevic in the security services for the failure to track down the Bosnian Serb wartime commander, according to the newspaper report. He insisted that hard-liners must be fired from Serbia’s security agency and military intelligence service.
“It is necessary to replace all security chiefs and the related Cabinet ministers” because they did not arrest Mladic, Draskovic was quoted as saying. “They are the main culprits for the current situation, and they must be held responsible.
Uh, no…the main culprits are those government officials who have enabled Maldic and Karadzic to roam freely through Serbia and Serbian-controlled territory for the past 11 years. If these officials had truly wanted to locate and capture these two war criminals, I believe they could have easily been located and apprehended within little more than a few days. Serbia is not that large, and the state-run security apparatus has a pretty tight rein on what’s happening throughout the country. Again, I’ve experienced this first-hand; I know of which I speak.
Serbia will turn over Karadzic and Mladic when the government determines they can extract maximum political advantage from doing so. That’s exactly what the EU must stand firm on their refusal to continue discussions regarding potential Serbian membership. It’s the best and really only leverage the international community possesses at this point in time…and if there is one thing Serbia understands, it’s political pressure.
Isn’t it about time that Serbia faced up to its responsibility and coughed up Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic? Until, and unless, they do so, they have no business even being considered as full members of the international community.
