PERSPECTIVES ON THE BALKAN CONFLICT : Stop Blaming Serbia; Lift the Sanctions : Lack of food and medicine is hurting children and the sick. Belgrade isn’t responsible for the Bosnian Serbs.

In May, 1992, reacting to the bloodshed in Bosnia, the United Nations Security Council imposed sanctions on Serbia. This, despite U.N. reports that the Yugoslav army was not in Bosnia and that the Belgrade government was providing only logistical support such as food and fuel and was not in command of the Bosnian Serbs. The same report confirmed the presence of 35,000 Croatian troops fighting in Bosnia on the side of the Bosnian Croats. Yet no United Nations sanctions were ever imposed on Croatia.

After more than a year of sanctions against Serbia--which represent violations of the Human Rights Convention and U.N. Convention on Rights of Children--the conflicts in Bosnia, resulting from ancient hatred fueled by outside influences, have not ended; democratic processes in Serbia and in Croatia have reversed into personal dictatorships of communist-turned-nationalist leaders, and the economies of all Balkan countries have been devastated. The most stricken is Serbia, with more than 40% unemployment, 600,000 refugees from Croatia and Bosnia, soaring inflation and an economic loss of more than $25 billion last year alone.

The humanitarian situation is beginning to look like genocide against the Serbian nation. About 150,000 cancer patients in Belgrade will not receive basic treatment necessary to fight the disease. Cancer patients cannot even die a dignified death. Pharmaceutical companies have all but stopped production because they have no assets to purchase imported raw materials. The lives of 5,000 kidney patients are threatened. The number of vaccinated children has drastically dropped. More than 70% of deaths among children are caused by preventable infectious diseases. Lack of natural gas and petroleum products inflict hunger, sickness and suffering on some 14 million people. Still, on July 27, the U.N. committee on sanctions turned down Greece’s proposal to allow Serbia to use a part of its assets frozen abroad for importing food and medicines for humanitarian purposes.

The sanctions also have tightened Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic’s grip on power.

The only way to bring democracy to people is through the creation of prosperity. What is the goal of the United States and the United Nations? Balkan prosperity? Or using the Balkans as some kind of experimental war zone? If it is prosperity, then the international strategy of punishing Serbia is ill-conceived. Relying on a democratic Serbia is the answer to the Balkan quagmire. By gradually lifting the sanctions, in stages, the United Nations can delegate to Serbia roles in providing humanitarian aid to the Balkans and converting disorder into order.

Once its economy is restored, Serbia can provide assistance to war-stricken Bosnia-Herzegovina. The United Nations, the United States and the European Community could help more needy people in other trouble spots.

If the people of Serbia are persuaded that the whole world is not against them, they will grasp democracy and cherish it as the most fundamental characteristic of a nation. The Serbs have always looked up to the United States and shared its principles of justice and freedom. Serbia could play a role in restoring world order solely through achieving a stable democracy. It should also be understood that Serbia can destabilize the whole region for many years to come.

Continuation of Bush-Clinton policies deprives U.S. business of potentially lucrative Balkan markets. European allies--Britain and France in particular, who provide ground troops in Bosnia and who disagree with the U.S. policies in the Balkans--as well as Japan, China and Russia are likely to be the major players in reconstruction of the Balkans at the expense of American and German companies. Is it in the U.S. interest to lose Boeing jobs to Airbus or to lose royalty payments for McDonalds to DeliFrance?