THE PEOPLE of Serbia are rejoicing in the election of a new Government to be headed by Prime Minister-elect Zoran Djindjic and hoping he will lead them to a place in Europe and the world. But the world will be watching circumspectly.
The new Government will come 10 weeks after Slobodan Milosevic was driven from power. Mr Milosevic foolishly thought that he could win an election for President because the Opposition was divided. He lost (de� spite attempts to rig the result) to Vojislav Kostunica who in turn organised this week’s parliamentary election which has taken any remaining power from Mr Milosevic’s Socialist Party.
Power now lies with Mr Djindjic whose intial statements about the fate of Mr Milosevic spell trouble for Serbia. He has appeased the nationalists in DOS at the expense of reconciliation with neighbours and approval by Europe.
Mr Djindjic said that Mr Milosevic must answer to his own people “”for all the terrible things he has done – starting from corruption , crime, election fraud and ordering murders” during his 13 years in power. So Mr Milosevic will be tried in Serbia for enriching himself at the expense of the Serbian people, for deceiving the Serbian people at elections and for ordering the murder of Serbs within the borders of Yugoslavia. Well, no doubt the Serbian people will feel very good about that. And no doubt some of the good feeling will go towards enhancing Mr Djindjic’s position. It will also help assuage their guilt at being complicit in the wars that Mr Milosevic waged against his neighbours and non-Serbian people within his borders: Croatians, Bosnians, Albanians and Kosovars.
Mr Milosevic has been indicted for war crimes at The Hague. These are the crimes he should be tried for. He should be tried for genocide, murder and waging an aggressive war.
Asked about extraditing Mr Milosevic to The Hague, Mr Djindjic said he “”should not be made a victim be� cause he is not a victim. He is a criminal”. Mr Djindjic has missed the point and in doing so has presented a xenophobic view of the world that does not augur well for Serbia’s integration into the world community. Having a former leader stand trial in an international court does not make him a victim. It sounds as if Mr Djindjic thinks that the world is picking on Serbia. The whole point of the war crimes tribunal is to make individuals responsible, not nations. Mr Djindjic has to look outside the Serbian viewpoint even if that means losing some support among ultra-nationalists in his coalition.
He must hand Mr Milosevic over to The Hague for trial. If he does not, Serbia’s neighbours will view the new Serbia with continued suspicion and hatred. They will rightly think that the new Serbian leaders are not interested in addressing the past – the invasions and mass murder. Rather they want to change the subject a try Milosevic for domestic crimes only.
This “”don’t-mention-the-war” attitude is unacceptable. Europe must make life as difficult as possible for Mr Djindjic until he does the right thing. If there is only a domestic show trial, Serbia will not be recon� ciled with its neighbours.
Mr Djindjic in principle and for pragmatic reasons was wrong to prefer appeasement with nationalists within Serbia at the expense of external fence-mending. Without significant help he will not be able to turn around an economy left on the brink of ruin by Milosevic’s wars.