See You in the Next War

In the letter addressed to the Serbian Parliament which was signed by a group of Serbian academics, it is stated that the Yugoslav crisis has been internationalized and that, after present conflicts are solved, someone will be held responsible for the crimes committed in this war, for killings and massacres, for burned down houses, devastated land, destroyed cultural monuments, etc. The existence of verified proof assumes special significance when presented to international courts, states the letter. The crucial part of this letter, however, is the one which announces that this conflict might soon be over.

There is a stony silence coming from most of the Serbian politicians concerning the Croatian casualties. Vuk Draskovic, the leader of SPO (Serbian Revival Party) is the only one who had the moral strength to, in his article published in "Borba Weekly", give the following headline: "We should bow in respect and keep silent", adding: "That will never be Vukovar again. It has become the Hiroshima of both Serbian and Croatian madness... The power thirsty have rushed to celebrate their victory in eerie Vukovar and make the skeleton of what used to be a city their capital (...) They are giving another order from the devastated Vukovar: 'To Vinkovci, to Osijek!'. After Hiroshima comes Nagasaki." Milosevic's faithfuls have last week begun to distance themselves from the war in Croatia. They are making efforts to prove that "the war against Croatia is waged by the Federal Army" (Vladislav Jovanovic, Serbian Foreign Affairs Minister ) , that "Serbia does not have any paramilitary formations" ( Nikola Stanic , the vice - president of the Serbian Government) and that "the Serbian Government can only have some kind of political influence on SAO /Serbian Autonomous Region/ Government and advise it not to attack populated areas, because we never did that" (Budimir Kosutic, another vice-president of the Serbian Government). At the same time, Arkan ( a criminal and the leader of the Serbian irregulars) is announcing the independent attack of his own groups on Osijek.

Dragoljub Micunovic, the leader of the Democratic Party, has phrased differently the statement of Mr. Draskovic: "Serbia now has a great responsibility, despite the fact that it claims that it is not involved in the war (...) We must refrain from any armed action, from the senseless ambition to conquer Vukovar and other cities in general, because every action initiated from this side of the front will be ascribed to Serbia".

Srbislav Milovanov, an MP who was discredited by the opposition after he "condemned the vandalism" on the streets of Belgrade on March 9, is now asking for "all the enemies of Serbia" to be arrested.

All this means, in effect, that the Serbian pro-war lobby is functioning independently and that it will do all within its power to bring the war to Serbia.

In spite of that, the segment of population to which the war means nothing but misery has become a political factor to a certain extent. Last week the Belgraders have launched a petition for holding a referendum which would show whether or not the citizens of Serbia agree to be sent to the battlefields beyond the borders of the Republic of Serbia, which was publicly backed recently by some of the opposition MPs.

Vuk Draskovic is directly accusing the Serbian regime for arresting opposition party leaders and MPs and sending them to the front because they dared to call this war dirty. "The premises of the opposition parties and newspaper editorial offices are being demolished, people are disappearing. Rajko Djuric, an author and the president of the Gipsy World Congress had to flee the country. Another author, Vidosav Stevanovic, also immigrated a few days ago, taking his family with him. Before that he was beaten up. The fascist SA units have condemned him to immigration".

The question is whether the shaken Serbian authority is willing to preserve the legal framework and to provide the conditions for a normal political life in Serbia. The Democrats are, through their influential leader Mr. Micunovic, trying to once more force the main media, especially the Belgrade Television, to stop its warmongering politics and bring back the journalists who were dismissed. The proposal on forming the government of national unity, given a few month ago by the MP clubs of the Democratic Party and SPO "is already behind us". "After all that has happened, it cannot represent a solution", says Vojislav Kostunica, the Democratic Party MP, reminding that this proposal was given before the war and that everything has changed since. However, the opposition is still willing to, within the existing institutions or outside their authority, take part in "the concluding stages in the discussion about the future".

The question of whether Serbia has any authority over the Army or is it the other way round is being heard more and more frequently. Mr. Kostunica says it is evident that the Army is drawing its own borders, without consulting anyone. The Democrats are announcing a sort of memorandum which will most likely be called "The Declaration on Serbia After the War", in which a model of a common ("not individual!") solution of the crisis will be presented. They are suggesting that the dialogue with all the political factors and all the ethnic groups in Serbia is renewed.

Indeed, the solution lies in the agreement, which still seems so far away.