Croatia bleeds for a political ego

In the wake of mounting atrocities conunitted by Serbs in Croatia, Christopher Bennett in Yugoslavia points to the destructive fantasies of their leader Slobodan Milosevic
WHAT do you say to a ten-yearold child who may never walk again because he has been hit by a cluster bomb who asks whether the world cares about Croatia and if it does, when will it recognise Croatia? Sadly this is not a trick question. As soon as anyone in Croatia hears you are a foreign journalist that is what they want to know.
Television pictures come _nowhere near to expressing the full horror of this war. All conflicts are messy affairs and it is always difficult to decide who is in the right and who in the wrong, yet Yugoslavia's undeclared civil war is as close to black and white as wars come. This is not an ancient conflict between exotic peoples whose raison d'etre is killing each other,
which many armchair commentators have tried to simplify it as. It is a very contemporary war to save the neck and ideology of an evil politician.
The alpha and omega of Yugoslavia's painful death throes is Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, a name which is synonymous with hatred, oppression and unrest in southeastern Europe. Christened the Saddam Hussein of the Balkans by Serbs, not Croats, Milosevic's
career has destroyed forever the land of the south Slays.
Central to Milosevic's argument is the claim that Croatia's Serbs are facing physical liquidation at Croatian hands. In that he is no longer far off, but not because of any innate Croatian blood lust but because of the barbaric tactics he is using to conquer Croatia.
However, Croatia's nationalist government could at no stage physically harm any of the Serbian population even had it wanted to because it did not possess.the means. Since under communism Serbs controlled Croatia's territorial army, the nucleus of any republican fighting force, they disarmed it between the two rounds of Croatia's elections before the Croatian Democratic Union came to power. Much of this weaponry was subsequently distributed among the Serbian population. So Croatia's Serbs, who Milosevic was claiming were under great threat, were actually armed to the the teeth when their imagined foe was defenceless.
Consequently it is no surprise that marauding Serbs have been continuously defeating Croatian forces and now control up to half Croatian territory. Much Croatian this means all the peoples of Croatia including Serbs defence has been genuinely heroic considering the mismatch in fire power.
But what is most ridiculous about the fighting is that is has nothing whatsoever to do with Serbs living in Croatia. Croatia's Serbs do not live in Slavonia nor around Dubrovnik, scenes of the heaviest fighting. The greatest numbers live in big cities such as Zagreb and Pula and in the part of Krajina around Knin where they are in the majority.
Furthermore most of them voted for Croatian independence and large numbers have either volunteered for or been mobilised into the Croatian Guard. Slavonia and Dubrovnik are less Serbian than Chicago. However, both are wonderful possessions. Slavonia is Yugoslavia's bread basket and Dubrovnik, well, Dubrovnik is Members of the Dubrovnik.
Virtually all Croatian suburbs and villages in occupied territory have been rased to the ground. Many Croatian towns are in ruins. On top of that Serbian rebels have committed a series of the most brutal atrocities imaginable on Croatian civilians including wiping out the entire village of Dalj at the end of July.
Milosevic desperately needs war to secure his position at home. He is in power quite simply because he fiddled the so
called democratic elections last December. In March as Serbs fought street battles with security forces in Belgrade Milosevic clung to power by waving the Croatian card.
When Milosevic came to power through the Communist Party in 1987 he had promised to resurrect the Serbian economy by raising a loan from Serbs across the world. However, polities has dominated economics everywhere in Milosevic's Serbia. Virtually single-handed Milosevic has destroyed the Serbian economy. The world crust recognise Milosevic for what he is.
Treaties with him are meaningless. He only understands force. Serbia is the world's tenth largest arms manufacturer and its army, behind that of the Soviet Union, is the largest in Europe.
Standing by and letting Milosevic cluster bomb children is no way to help Yugoslavia. The time to take sides is way over due.