The task of holding Bosnian war crimes suspects accountable for their actions gained considerable momentum recently with the arrest of Momcilo Krajisnik. An aide to former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, Krajisnik is the highest-ranking suspect to be arrested for alleged war crimes in the former Yugoslavia.
Witnesses to the arrest said NATO troops with the Bosnian peacekeeping force detained the Serb leader after forcing open a door to his home in Pale, southeast of Sarajevo, with explosives. French troops made the arrest.Prosecutors consider Krajisnik and Karadzic masterminds of the "ethnic cleansing" campaign that resulted in the slaughter of thousands of non-Serb civilians during the 1992-95 Bosnian War and forced Muslims and Croats to flee en masse from northern and eastern Bosnia.
The arrest shows other war crimes suspects that their days of moving about with impunity are numbered. That's a hopeful sign. Until now, NATO's resolve in capturing the people responsible for mass bloodshed was questionable. Following Krajisnik's arrest, NATO Secretary-General George Robertson urged Balkan war crimes suspects, including Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, to surrender and face trial in The Hague.
Robertson claims that "the net is closing" for Milosevic and others. His underlying message is of the obvious link between these people and political instability. NATO cannot assure long-term peace in the region without first removing Milosevic and others like him. NATO's campaign to end ethnic cleansing in the Balkans cannot be considered successful as long as Serbia is ruled by leaders who maintain power by manipulating ethnic differences, live off corruption and threaten their neighbors.
The Yugoslav war crimes tribunal was established seven years ago by the U.N. Security Council to prosecute those responsible for atrocities in the Balkans following the disintegration of Yugoslavia in 1991. Success took too long, but at least justice finally is being served.