Breakup of Yugoslavia

Your editorial “How to Arrest Madness� (Oct. 26) suggests the breakup of Yugoslavia along internal republic borders and forming of a loose confederation as the primary goal of any future settlement.

It is impossible to justify your support for those arbitrarily drawn, democratically unverified and internationally unrecognized internal boundaries proposed by a group of communists during World War II. According to the cherished right of self-determination, stated in the Yugoslav constitution, all six constituent Yugoslav peoples (not republics) have the right to a peaceful and negotiated secession. It is also an accepted principle of international law that a secessionist entity cannot take with it geographically compact regions inhabited by a majority opposed to secession. In particular, Croatian secession has no precedence over the Serbian desire to stay. There is not a single Serb denying the right of self-determination to the Croatian people. However, the Serbian population living in Croatia is entitled to the same.

It is in the best interest of the democratic community of nations, and this country in particular, to promote stable political solution in the Balkans. The breakup of Yugoslavia along internal borders would ensure long-term instability in the region. In the case of Serbia, new borders would divide the Serbian people, leaving about 3 million Serbs (one-third of the total population) outside of their own country!

LJUBISA STEVANOVIC

Pasadena