THE BOSNIA ATROCITIES

(International Herald Tribune, 5-1-1995)

An international war crimes tribunal, the first since World War II, is gathering evidence against those who committed atrocities in Bosnia, especially the murderers, rapists and torturers who carried out the Serbs' genocidal policy of "ethnic cleansing" against Muslims. The United States is right to demand prosecution of these criminals and oppose amnesty.

Other United Nations members, including Britain and France, seen to regard the war crimes inquiry as an impediment to peace. Washington firmly contests that view, saying, "Unless those responsible are held accountable, there can be no lasting peace and reconciliation in Bosnia."

One prosecution is already under way. Others are likely. Justice for top officials who ordered or sanctioned the abuses may have to await a change of regime in Belgrade. Nonetheless, the task of documenting the crimes must go forward now while evidence can still be gathered.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that the Serbs have expelled, killed or imprisoned 90 percent of the 1.7 million non-Serbs who once lived in Serbian-held areas of Bosnia.

Even now, the Serbs have stepped up their campaign of ethnic cleansing around Banja Luka in northwest Bosnia, Bijeljina in the northeast and Rogatica north of the Gorazde enclave. About 800 Muslims a month are being forcibly expelled from their homes. The United States cites "numerous incidents of Bosnian Serbs bursting into Muslim homes at night to evict, rob and rape the residents."

To choke off meaningful investigations, Britain, France and other UN members have quietly tried to limit financial support. Of the $28 million for the tribunal, less than 2 percent was originally budgeted for the critical work of tracking down witnesses, obtaining and translating their accounts, exhuming mass graves and conducting postmortems, and providing medical and forensic expertise. The United States has contributed an additional $13 million, including two dozen officials, directly to the investigative work, and should press the United Nations to invest most of its money there.

Responsibility for the crimes is not evenly shared on all sides of the conflict, as some United Nations members suggest. As the Clinton administration notes, the term "ethnic cleansing" was developed precisely to describe the Bosnian Serbs' explicit method, backed by Belgrade, of creating an ethnically "pure" Greater Serbia.

In contrast, the Bosnian government supports a multiethnic state, and where there have been violations by its local commanders it has renounced them.

Britain and France also favor lifting UN sanctions against Serbia if a peace accord is signed. The United States properly opposes any easing of sanctions if Serbia obstructs the war crimes tribunal. It would be wrong to expunge these atrocities from the record of history.

The New York Times.