WASHINGTON: As Slobodan Milosevic has gone on trial in The Hague on 66 counts of war crimes, he has brought to the process the evil, manipulative cunning with which he once shattered and divided the former Yugoslavia. The danger now is that he may deepen the ethnic anger and hatred, setting the stage for more conflict.

It is believed that a different form of justice would better serve the long-term interests of the Balkans. South Africa healed its wounds by bringing apartheid’s killers and criminals forward to tell the truth for the record in a Truth and Reconciliation process. Public confession was their punishment. The Hague trial, by contrast, is becoming a venue for a Milosevic to stage a fifth, psychological Balkans war.

This, in turn, raises broader questions. Chief among them: What kind of justice, exactly, is being served in The Hague? And is the court unwittingly involved in launching unforeseen problems in the Balkans that the US and others may have to deal with in the long run?

For most outsiders, it is all too easy to roll our eyes dismissively. We understand the importance of hearing both sides of the argument to make sure that justice is indeed being done. The trial, for us, is designed to prove that Milosevic indeed fomented murderous ethnic wars in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s and to punish him.

It is also a landmark event - the first time a former head of state has been charged with war crimes committed while in office. It puts past and future tyrants on notice that their misdeeds may not go unpunished, setting standards that could apply to, say, Afghanistan’s Mohammad Omar or Iraq’s Saddam Hussein in the future.

But for Serbs in whose name those crimes were committed, it is far less clear that justice will be done. This trial by outsiders is taking place far from Yugoslavia; Serbs feel disconnected and powerless. Ljubisa Rakic, an astute political observer and professor of medicine at Belgrade University, has been sounding out their views in recent weeks. His conclusion, endorsed in my conversations with Serbs, is that “more than 80 percent want Milosevic tried, but for crimes committed against Serbia and his own people.”

Realistic solutions are far from easy, of course. The court in The Hague will pass judgement on criminals across the former Yugoslavia. But it cannot try all of them: Many of the indicted are at large. Many others have not been indicted, making the court seem selective. All this will do little to heal the root causes of the wars. In fact, it is likely to exacerbate them, preparing the ground for future conflict.

Ways need to be found for Serbs themselves to also judge and punish their former dictator, to come to terms with what was done in their name and, in that way, begin the process of healing. The US should take the lead in strengthening Serbian political and judicial institutions. The evidence most likely to convince Serbs of Milosevic’s guilt, which would be brought by some former members of his entourage, may not be heard in The Hague at all.

Serbs are unlikely to accept the court’s standard of “command responsibility”, which Milosevic could be held responsible for crimes committed by his subordinates even if not directly involved. The US and Europe could create the conditions in Serbia to bring Milosevic back to face his own, strengthened, people and the charges they would bring against him that, whether in a war crimes court or a truth and reconciliation court, would be better brought against him at home. —Dawn/\LAT-WP News Service (c) The Washignton Post.