A New Role For Milosevic

By bringing enormous American sea and air forces into the Adriatic and the arrival of British and French land units, helicopters and armed artillery - the West has embarked on a limited military intervention in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The strengthening of a foreign military presence in areas where the Bosnian Serbs have so far been able to attack without being punished is supposed to force Pale (Bosnian Serb political capital) to abandon its maximum goals. Faced with a NATO military intervention, even a limited one - under the guise of strengthening UNPROFOR, cut off and without Belgrade's support, the Bosnian Serbs would find themselves in a trap. It is assumed that Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic will play his role in the implementation of this plan consistently.

US Secretary of State Christopher Warren said last Tuesday when seeing off envoy Robert Frasure on another round of hard bargaining with the Serbian President, that he didn't know if Milosevic could deliver what was being asked of him, but that he could seal the border with Bosnia and stop all arms deliveries. This would leave the Bosnian Serbs high and dry from the military point of view.

What Washington expected Milosevic to deliver was vaguely described as the further separation of Pale and Belgrade, in order that Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic might have to agree to the year-old peace plan put forth by the Contact Group for Bosnia.

The Western press believes that by recognizing Bosnia-Herzegovina Milosevic would be renouncing plans for a "Greater Serbia".

The second part of the American plan consists of the threat that NATO will bomb Bosnian Serb Army positions. With the military threat and a political offer to Milosevic, American diplomacy aimed at pushing developments in a direction which it was believed would lead to the pacification of the Pale leadership.

Once the military threat had become reality, regardless of its limited scope, it ceased to be a means of influence. This decreased the strength of Washington's political offer to Milosevic linked to recognition. He is now expected to play an active role in the military and political defeat of the Pale leadership.

By saying that they expect "Milosevic to play a bigger role in the peace process", Western diplomats are offering him a bigger prize. For the time being the Serbian President's chances of winning 1st prize have diminished. Last week's attack by NATO warplanes and the Bosnian Serb Army's revenge on UN civilian employees and the peace-keeping force soldiers has lowered the value of Belgrade's recognition of Sarajevo. Milosevic will have to raise the stakes now - to recognize Croatia - along with the acceptance of a large number of monitors on the Drina River border in order to get all that he counted on.

My Son Has Been Tied Like A Dog

UN Military observer Oldrich Zidlik's parents are trying to recover from the shock of learning that their son had been kidnapped and was being held hostage. They don't like to remember the moment when they saw their son on the TV screen, writes the high circulation Czech daily "Mlada Fronta Dnes" on its front page. "When I saw my son helpless and tied to an ammunition warehouse in Pale, the first thing that I thought of was that he wouldn't return. I'm calmer today. I keep telling myself that it isn't possible that they'll kill him", said the father of the 28-year-old officer.

Oldrich Zidlik Sr. believes that his son will survive and return to his home in the South of the Czech Republic. After learning that his son was held hostage he was worried that NATO might bomb Bosnian Serb positions. "That would have meant his death", he said.

Zidlik Jr. served in an enclave which military representatives consider to be the most difficult. He wasn't an observer in the real sense of the word. His task consisted of scheduling contacts between UNPROFOR and Bosnian Serb leaders.

"I don't wish anyone harm, but when my son was captured, we said that it was good that there weren't just three of them, and that they'd started capturing the other observers. With every one they captured their chances of survival grew", said Zidlik Sr.

"No one can afford such a massacre - to kill 400 people. In fact, we hoped they'd capture more. This reduced the risk that something would happen to these young men," said Zidlik. He admits to being selfish, but that's what he thought.

Speaking of his son's expression, of what he saw from the TV footage, Zidlik Sr. said: "I'm his father. I know him best. He wasn't feeling sorry for himself because he was tied up to an ammunition warehouse. His was angry. You could see that he was angry and helpless. He'd gone there to help bring that conflict to an end and instead they'd tied them up like dogs."

Oldrich Zidlik Jr. has a four-month-old son at home and his wife was close to a nervous breakdown after seeing the pictures.

Zidlik graduated from the Faculty of Aviation. He was a helicopter pilot. His father said that he joined the UN mission because he saw no future in flying. "He's that kind of a man, he loves to work. He speaks four languages, even Serbian, and this is what they've done to him," said Zidlik Sr.