A Tyrant Falls The civilized world rejoiced this last week as Slobodan Milosevic, the President of Yugoslavia, conceded defeat in the recent heavily rigged election, and yielded power to the challenger Vojislav Kostunica. 11 years of power based on ethnic hate crumbled in front of massive street demonstrations.
Milosevic came to power in the late 1980’s in the province of Serbia, which was the dominant ethnic element in Yugoslavia. Significant Serb populations also lived in the neighboring provinces of Croatia and Bosnia. As communism crumbled throughout Eastern Europe, the Yugoslav state faced dismemberment along ethnic lines. Milosevic had risen up the ranks of the Yugoslav Communist Party, but in 1989 transformed himself into a symbol of Serbian ethnic pride and power. He became the Prime Minister of Serbia, and fear of him pushed the other provinces of Yugoslavia to declare independence.
In the south, Macedonia broke off without bloodshed. In the west though, war broke out when Slovenia and Croatia broke off. Full scale fighting returned to the center of Europe for the first time since World War II. After several months of war in 1991, a cease-fire took hold. In early 1992 the Muslim majority province of Bosnia voted for independence. The Serbs of Bosnia, who made up 33% of the population, then attacked the Muslims in order to reverse this. They were armed and supported by Milosevic and the remaining army of Yugoslavia. This bitter conflict lasted 3 years and killed over 200,000 people. The Serbs set up concentration camps where torture and starvation took place. Rape and mass murder were used to terrorize and ethnically cleanse the Muslims out of areas the Serbs wanted. Serb artillery and snipers routinely attacked the Muslims of Sarajevo. The UN imposed an arms embargo on both sides, but as the Serbs had ample weapons from Milosevic, the unarmed Muslims were the victims of this “evenhanded” policy.
It was not until the utter disgust of the world at the massacre of 6000 Muslims at Srebenica that action was taken. In the summer of 1995, US led NATO aircraft launched a serious air assault on the Serbs in Bosnia. This coincided with a ground attack by the Muslims and Croats that drove the Serbs back. A peace deal negotiated at Dayton, Ohio ended the war with the deployment of NATO troops in Bosnia. The Serbs remain in control of 50% of the country.
After his failure in Bosnia, Milosevic began to step up his harassment of the Albanian Muslims who were 90% of the population of Kosovo, the southern province of Serbia. Last year, his attempt to ethnically cleanse Kosovo sparked a major American bombing campaign against Serbia, with cruise missiles landing in the capital itself, and major power plants and bridges knocked out. Milosevic backed down, and now NATO troops occupy Kosovo too.
With a sorry record like that, it is a surprise that Milosevic has been able to keep power for so long. But like all tyrants, his power rested on keeping those who could use force on his side. The army and police were well paid, no matter how much the average Serb suffered from wars and sanctions. The Serbian opposition has always been divided and unimpressive, and Milosevic has been able to turn back every attempt to unseat him. He put himself up as a Serbian patriot standing up to the evil Western powers who seek to destroy Serbia, and this claim was accepted by many.
However, unlike other dictators, Milosevic still kept the trappings of democracy. Although he ruled without any restraint on his actions, he still allowed the normal scheduled elections to take place. This is what sparked his downfall. Unlike in times past, the Serbian opposition put forth Kostunica, a constitutional lawyer, as the united candidate for President. Despite all sorts of handicaps and hanky-panky, Milosevic could not keep support for Kostunica from building. When the election happened, the actual results were overwhelming for Kostunica. Milosevic tried to rig the ballot, but it was too obvious what was happening. He finally conceded that he didn’t win, but claimed that a runoff election was needed as Kostunica failed to get over 50% of the vote.
For the people of Serbia they knew what was happening. Milosevic was going to steal this election by rigging the runoff vote. They took to the streets in massive demonstrations with up to half a million people in Belgrade. Finally, they overran several major government buildings including the parliament, TV station, and Presidential Palace. The police and army could see the game was up, and refused to stop them. Milosevic was finished, and without bloodshed. The loss of the election took away his legitimacy to rule, and the people then swept him out with ease.
Saddam Hussein has been even worse for his people then Milosevic. He too has taken them through several disastrous wars and now they lie under sanction from the world. It is too bad that the system in Iraq is tight that no such overthrow of that tyrant is possible. Hussein will never have an election, and his forces have clearly shown a willingness to kill Iraqis in order to keep power for the Baath Party and Hussein.
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