Milosevic Ready To Set The Balkans Afire Again

YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT Slobodan Milosevic remains firmly in charge in Belgrade, having shrugged off a challenge from the mighty western alliance and defied a warrant issued by the International Court of Justice.

His regime proclaims its "victory" over the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, expresses its glee at failure by the international community to establish peace in Kosovo and blames the severe social, economic and political crisis at home on NATO and the opposition.

The Yugoslav strongman is even working to raise tensions in the region once more, whether in the Montenegro republic, still part of Yugoslavia, or in southern Serbia where there is a large Albanian population.

 

"Milosevic is nervous and will use naked force to maintain himself in power," Dragoljub ZXarkovic, editor of the Belgrade news magazine Vreme, says.

Zarkovic believes any attempt at dialogue with Milosevic is pointless, as the west effectively broke all links with the Serb regime when it charged Milosevic with war crimes. The Serb opposition parties agree -although their eternal squabbling means this is about all they can agree on.

The parties, which once all but brought the country to a standstill with popular demonstrations between November 1996 and February 1997, have not been able to agree on joint action against the government for months. Frustration and fear are on the rise in the general population.

"Dissatisfaction is widespread, expectations of change have been dashed and people are tired and without hope," Blic news said recently.

Milosevic knows how to make use of the situation. His regime uses the media it controls to spread fear, according to Goran Svilanovic, chairman of the civic alliance of Serbia.

The government silences independent radio stations, nationalizes newspapers, punishes critical news organizations and beats up and arrests demonstrators.

"Repression is on the rise because the government is preparing for elections which it has to win," the Belgrade Centre against War says.

kosovo looms large over the western alliance a year after the might of its air arsenal was directed at a tinpot dictatorship apparently on its last legs. Serb forces -regular and irregular -in the breakaway province along with the infrastructure of the Yugoslav economy were the target of the 79- day air assault at the end of which Serb tanks were left largely intact, their flags still fluttering and crews grinning defiantly from the turrets.

Kosovo is capable of raising temperatures within both the Nato and the EU. The Nato council has recently declined a request from its European commander-in-chief, United States General Wesley Clark, for reinforcements for KFOR peacekeepers in the province.

Recent reports charged that a spy in Nato headquarters had kept President Slobodan Milosevic well informed right through the air campaign, and a pending crisis in the Yugoslav Republic of Montenegro threatens to demand the deployment of more Nato troops. Things are no better at the EU which is supposed to lead international efforts to secure peace in the Balkans by getting the regional economy going with funds collected at a conference to be held in Brussels in March.