Sir, - I can only conclude from Mr Zivko Jaksic's letter (July 28th) and his talk about the "need for stability in the Balkans" (quoting Richard Holbrooke) that Mr Jaksic has a very ironic sense of humour.
It was indeed odd that he should talk about "stability", given that he is the Irish representative (and chief propagandist) for the Serbian president, Slobodan Milosevic, a man who is to Balkans stability what the Ku Klux Klan is to race relations.
Let us not forget that Mr Milosevic effectively destroyed Yugoslavia after changing from being a communist to a "blood and soil"-type extreme nationalist overnight. He instigated three wars in Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia, bringing ruin on the region and on Serbia itself.
Currently we are witnessing war number four as Serb forces attack and kill Albanians in Kosovo. Since 1989, Milosevic's police and military have attacked, beaten and killed largely defenceless Kosavars (forcing 300,000 to flee), thus destroying a peaceful protest movement and replacing it with an armed insurgency - another sign of his commitment to "stability".
Perhaps as a sign of his personal commitment to "stability", Mr Jaksi c could impress upon his boss in Belgrade the need to surrender the some 50 indicted war criminals at large in Serbia or the Serb controlled part of Bosnia. Currently Serbia holds the world record for harbouring the largest amount of war criminals in its territory. This includes Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic, as well as scores of others who have been indicted for mass murder, genocide, rape and ethnic cleansing.
After all, Serbia is obliged to hand over these war criminals as part of the Dayton agreement (which was brokered by Holbrooke) and signed by Milosevic. Most observers agree that to break the cycle of violence in the Balkans, it is necessary that indicted war criminals go on trial and that justice be seen to be done. Such a move is after all, they add, necessary for "stability". - Yours, etc., Sean Steele,
Kilfenora Road,
Kimmage,
Dublin 12.