http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/28/opinion/28DELP.html
THE NEW YORK TIMES, Saturday, June 28, 2003
Hiding in Plain Sight
By CARLA DEL PONTE
THE HAGUE
I know, roughly, where the most wanted fugitives from the war in Bosnia are
hiding. It is clear that NATO and the authorities in Serbia and Montenegro
know even more about their whereabouts. Yet these fugitives, Radovan
Karadzic and Gen. Ratko Mladic, are still at large.
Almost eight years ago, the world's war-crimes tribunal for Yugoslavia
indicted Dr. Karadzic, the wartime Bosnian Serb leader, and his military
chief, General Mladic, for leading the violent, nationalist-Serb siege of
Sarajevo as a part of a campaign to partition Bosnia and Herzegovina and
expel millions of Muslims. A few months later, this tribunal added charges
against Dr. Karadzic and General Mladic stemming from the killings, in 1995,
of more than 7,000 Muslims from Srebrenica, a town that was supposed to be
under United Nations protection.
Today, General Mladic is lurking in Serbia, right under the noses of the
Belgrade authorities. Dr. Karadzic is shuffling about within a corridor of
rugged terrain in eastern Bosnia, sometimes in disguise, always poised to
dash across the border into Serbia and Montenegro, always protected by men
who are themselves implicated in the Srebrenica massacre.
NATO and the Serbian and Montenegrin authorities are duty bound to arrest
and extradite these men, as well as 16 other, less notorious, indicted
fugitives. Unfortunately, by announcing last week that Serbia and Montenegro
have shown sufficient cooperation with this tribunal to warrant sending $50
million in American aid, the United States may well have dampened the
chances that Dr. Karadzic and General Mladic will find themselves in custody
any time soon.
Nonetheless, the Serbs have moved on from the days when Dr. Karadzic and
General Mladic held them spellbound. Surveys 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. Recent
extraditions of several other fugitives from Serbia, including a former
Yugoslav army general and secret-police chief, have met with no serious
resistance.
Time has passed and the interest of the world's news media has moved
elsewhere, but the arrests of Dr. Karadzic and General Mladic remain crucial
for a number of reasons.
First, silence and a failure to take action will send a signal to other,
similar nationalist leaders, 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. But that wouldn't
be right if men accused of giving the orders for such heinous crimes escape.
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 hand over the fugitives.
The tribunal's prosecutors, 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 Dr. Karadzic and General Mladic, to further the process of
peace and reconciliation in the Balkans. In the decade since the tribunal
opened, it has indicted 134 people. About 30 more, including several ranking
leaders, are likely to be indicted by 2004, when the prosecution finishes
its investigations.
Third, only when fugitives like Dr. Karadzic and General 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 time has come to summon the will and bring Radovan Karadzic and Ratko
Mladic to justice. It's what their victims, and the rest of the world,
deserve.
Carla Del Ponte is the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal
Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
THE NEW YORK TIMES, Saturday, June 28, 2003
Hiding in Plain Sight
By CARLA DEL PONTE
THE HAGUE
I know, roughly, where the most wanted fugitives from the war in Bosnia are
hiding. It is clear that NATO and the authorities in Serbia and Montenegro
know even more about their whereabouts. Yet these fugitives, Radovan
Karadzic and Gen. Ratko Mladic, are still at large.
Almost eight years ago, the world's war-crimes tribunal for Yugoslavia
indicted Dr. Karadzic, the wartime Bosnian Serb leader, and his military
chief, General Mladic, for leading the violent, nationalist-Serb siege of
Sarajevo as a part of a campaign to partition Bosnia and Herzegovina and
expel millions of Muslims. A few months later, this tribunal added charges
against Dr. Karadzic and General Mladic stemming from the killings, in 1995,
of more than 7,000 Muslims from Srebrenica, a town that was supposed to be
under United Nations protection.
Today, General Mladic is lurking in Serbia, right under the noses of the
Belgrade authorities. Dr. Karadzic is shuffling about within a corridor of
rugged terrain in eastern Bosnia, sometimes in disguise, always poised to
dash across the border into Serbia and Montenegro, always protected by men
who are themselves implicated in the Srebrenica massacre.
NATO and the Serbian and Montenegrin authorities are duty bound to arrest
and extradite these men, as well as 16 other, less notorious, indicted
fugitives. Unfortunately, by announcing last week that Serbia and Montenegro
have shown sufficient cooperation with this tribunal to warrant sending $50
million in American aid, the United States may well have dampened the
chances that Dr. Karadzic and General Mladic will find themselves in custody
any time soon.
Nonetheless, the Serbs have moved on from the days when Dr. Karadzic and
General Mladic held them spellbound. Surveys 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. Recent
extraditions of several other fugitives from Serbia, including a former
Yugoslav army general and secret-police chief, have met with no serious
resistance.
Time has passed and the interest of the world's news media has moved
elsewhere, but the arrests of Dr. Karadzic and General Mladic remain crucial
for a number of reasons.
First, silence and a failure to take action will send a signal to other,
similar nationalist leaders, 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. But that wouldn't
be right if men accused of giving the orders for such heinous crimes escape.
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 hand over the fugitives.
The tribunal's prosecutors, 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 Dr. Karadzic and General Mladic, to further the process of
peace and reconciliation in the Balkans. In the decade since the tribunal
opened, it has indicted 134 people. About 30 more, including several ranking
leaders, are likely to be indicted by 2004, when the prosecution finishes
its investigations.
Third, only when fugitives like Dr. Karadzic and General 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 time has come to summon the will and bring Radovan Karadzic and Ratko
Mladic to justice. It's what their victims, and the rest of the world,
deserve.
Carla Del Ponte is the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal
Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
