Soeharto in Sarajevo
Soeharto in Sarajevo
Visiting Sarajevo these days could be very risky. Yet Indonesia's President Soeharto made a successful visit there on Monday.
The trip was dangerous because the Serbs outside of the Bosnian capital are violating the cease-fire. Just last weekend five people were killed and six others were wounded in an exchange of fire in Bosnia's besieged capital.
The Serbs, the faction responsible for almost all of the bloody incidents in the rump Yugoslavia, has renewed its shelling of the city with mortars.
On Sunday, a plane, which transported United Nations special envoy Yasushi Akashi, was hit by heavy machine gun fire on the Sarajevo airport runway. The attackers were believed to be Serbs.
Soeharto, an active military commander for two decades, was well aware of the risk he would face if he proceeded with his plan. Yet he did.
Soeharto, who represented the world's largest Moslem country, went to the beleaguered city to express solidarity with the Bosnians, who have suffered the most brutal war of attrition since World War II. What makes the suffering even more nightmarish for the Bosnians is that the western countries have clearly been reluctant in their efforts to find a negotiable solution to the crisis. These countries, who have spoken like champions of human rights, have hindered the Bosnians, the victims of aggression, by imposing an arms embargo on them through the UN Security Council. They have also fruitlessly tried to force Bosnia-Herzegovina to accept the humiliating capitulation labeled as peace.
The fact that Soeharto, who is the current leader of the 111- nation Non-Aligned Movement, has something to contribute to the peace efforts, is clearly acknowledged by the United Nations. Before Soeharto flew to Sarajevo, the UN Protection Force had requested that NATO tame the Serbs by increasing an air presence over the city as an apparent effort to secure the Indonesian leader's visit.
The Serbs might have been deterred by NATO's warning but these people, who form the dominant segment of Yugoslav society, may also regard Indonesia with respect because Belgrade and Jakarta were co-founders of NAM.
Turkish President Suleiman Demyrel did not enjoy that respect. Last month he had to cancel his trip to Sarajevo for the second time after Serbs threatened to attack his plane. Turkey has strongly supported the Bosnians in their struggle against the Serbs' atrocities.
Hopefully, Soeharto's visit to Sarajevo has convinced the Bosnian people that despite the West's inaction in the crisis they still have friends in most parts of the globe. The nations of the West might see little meaning in his visit, but if they are wise enough to look deeper into the essence of the gesture, they could well understand that humanitarianism is not their monopoly.
The visit is also expected to push the nations of the West to realize their past blunders in facing this problem and to motivate them to back Indonesia's efforts to find a comprehensive solution to the horrendous three-year-old crisis.