Prosecute In World Court

FORMER Yugoslav strongman Slobodan Milosevic is under arrest, following a two-day standoff between police and his supporters in Belgrade. The authorities were holding him pending charges of abuse of office in a country he ruled with an iron hand for 13 years before a people revolution forced him out of power last year. It is true that Milosevic was a corrupt ruler, his regime characterised by nepotism and fraud, but it is for much worse that he earned his infamy. Ugandans are among millions around the world who will remember the shocking television pictures of massacred civilians, displaced families and grieving mothers as war raged in Europe for the first time since the Second World War. His hand was evident in the many wars that erupted in the Balkans over the last decade. Milosevic unleashed his security forces on various parts of the country as Yugoslavia fell apart. His brand of nationalism, in which he favoured his majority Serb peoples over minority groups like Croats, Kosovars and Muslims and the subsequent ethnic cleansing resulted in the massacre of thousands and the use of concentration camps reminiscent of the world war. It is for these crimes against humanity that Milosevic should now be tried. A few other Yugoslavs have been arraigned before the United Nations tribunal in The Hague, but the buck stops with their former commander-in-chief. Milosevic's prosecution at the world court would serve as a warning to despots that they will not hold murderous sway with impunity. There are many others, including Uganda's own Idi Amin who is directly responsible for 300,000 deaths, who should be hunted down and prosecuted as well. Ends