Readers' corner

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Armies apart

Sir-- It is totally incorrect to compare the Kosovo Liberation Army, which is the Kosovo people themselves, with the Serbian Army ('Deferring recognition of Kosovo' 6-12 March). As is well known, the Serbian Army committed crimes and ethnic cleansing not only in Kosovo but also in other republics of the former Yugoslavia (Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia). The Kosovo people protected their homes and their families, unfortunately not with great success considering the historical brutality of the Serbian towards the Albanians in Kosovo. At last, with the help of the international community, mainly NATO, the people of Kosovo became free. Thank God, the international community (especially the West) did not look away as it did in Bosnia and as it still does in many regions in the world, like Palestine.

Whether the recognition complies with the existing international law is another matter but bear in mind that the existing international law was issued by superpowers after the mess of World War II and it is not without fail, as we witness every day.

Therefore, the basic conclusion that we may draw from your opinion is: since we cannot alleviate the misery of the whole world, we should not even try to do so, even in some parts of it.

Don Capreoli
Padova
Italy

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Milosevic wrongly vilified

Sir-- With regards to 'Balkan intrigues' (21-27 February) Yugoslavia was not aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact, but was the only European (white) country with the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). When the Berlin Wall came down, Milosevic wasn't even prime minister. The prime minister was Ante Markovic from Croatia, who previously was a responsible university professor. All this was covered up by the Western media. Washington told Prime Minister Markovic that Yugoslavia had to withdraw from NAM and to prepare to join NATO, or else Yugoslavia would be destroyed. The same Washington heavies that previously ruled the contras in Central America were then transferred to Bosnia and Albania, ready to cross the border again. Turkish Prime Minister Tansu Ciller also helped US President Bill Clinton at the time. The Western media were instructed to treat Milosevic like Willy in the Maltese Falcon; and oh, so many people still believe the Western media. Actually, Milosevic always supported NAM, and so he was always on excellent terms with the (constituent) Arab League. So, Milosevic was absolutely never anti-Islamic. Washington is.

Dimitri Davos
Athens
Greece

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Sleeping on the job

Sir-- A new war crime against humanity is currently taking place in Gaza and the world is doing nothing about it. If anything, Israel is being given the green light to kill more, and Arab silence encourages the same. Where are our leaders and when will they wake up?

Abdullah El-Shiwy
Samanoud
Egypt

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Bad for Sudan

Sir-- A south Sudanese attacked by south Sudanese gangs in Cairo, the so-called lost boys, in his private apartment in the heart of Cairo, is but the latest in a series of such assaults which are giving south Sudanese a bad name.

A group of south Sudanese youth armed with machetes, knives and pangas came knocking at his door to which the occupant did not comply. They therefore used force to break in and attacked the victim with machetes which left him with serious injuries on his head, both arms and legs, locked him in the toilet unconscious and looted everything believed to be his personal belonging and valuables.

Following the recent visit to Egypt of the Sudan first vice-president and president of the government of the south, in conjunction with the Egyptian government, arrest warrants have been issued to crack down on these notorious groups of lost boys and outlaw them. A handful of them were this month put behind bars awaiting trial but a good number of their members are still at large terrorising fellow south Sudanese and other black African communities. These acts of our own brothers have brought the dignity of south Sudanese to shame. They portray us in a very bad light in the eyes of Egyptians. Something must be done to prevent these thugs from continuing to diminish our very value as a people of south Sudan who are known for their pride and honesty.

Akot Mabor Marial
Cairo
Egypt

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