Sir, - The history of the Serbian people comprises an alternating cycle of periods of light and darkness. And the darkness which has closed around us over the past eight years is the worst in our long history. Not even the suffering in the two World Wars can be compared to our plight today. In those wars, we were on the side of the Western democracies, together with them, and despite huge losses, we emerged as victors, and earned worldwide respect for our heroism. In the past eight years, we have lost our ancestral lands in Krajina and other parts of Croatia (half-a-million refugees), we have lost a third of our lands in Bosnia-Herzegovina (three-quarters-of-a-million Serbs displaced), and finally, we have been driven out of the sacred land of Kosovo (quarter-million refugees over the past few years).
We have been ostracised by the whole democratic world; our economy has been brought to its knees by years of sanctions; 80 days of NATO's bombing have destroyed everything - factories, roads, bridges, schools, hospitals, power stations, refineries, petrochemical and pharmaceutical industry - and has resulted in several thousand civilian deaths. And now, the last remaining Serbs in Kosovo are leaving, or are being driven out.
The people of Belgrade and most of Serbia are celebrating the end of the bombing; they are told that "we have won a great victory". They are not being told of the exodus of Serbs from Kosovo. The refugees are not allowed into Belgrade so as not to spoil the sense of "victory", and the people are not being shown the images of horror from Kosovo which have flooded the Western media over the past week or so. The few refugees who have managed to reach Belgrade are forbidden to demonstrate their plight, while their leaders are being arrested. While one could argue that, in fighting terrorism which had a broad willing or unwilling support from the Albanian population at a time when the area was bombed by NATO 24 hours a day, there were bound to be large civilian casualties, we would be lying to ourselves if we denied that many civilians have been murdered simply because they were Albanian.
Whether the thugs responsible were independent groups out of the authorities' control, or whether they were organised or ordered from the top, whether their numbers were small or large is almost immaterial. What matters is that their deeds have brought shame on the whole Serbian nation and have desecrated the sacred land of Kosovo. It would be easy, and also true, to say that the KLA had carried out similar atrocities against Serbian and Albanian civilians, and they and the Albanian civilians are doing the same now that the Yugoslav security forces have left Kosovo. But for those of us who take pride in our history, our culture and our tradition, these excuses cannot carry any weight. Two wrongs do not make a right, nor can the happiness and prosperity of one nation be built on the misery of another.
If we are to re-enter the world of the international community, if we are to wash off this shame, and if we are ever again to be able to hold our heads up, we, as a nation, must ensure that those who are identified as the planners and the executioners of these atrocities are brought to justice without delay. - Yours, etc., Zivko Jaksic,
Serbian Information Bureau, Grange Road, Dublin 16.