ETHNIC STRIFE

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, January 4, 1993                   TAG: 9301040242
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: WILL BASON  (staff)
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
ETHNIC STRIFE
THE United Nations needs a force under its own command capable of responding to crises such as Somalia and Bosnia before they become full-blown catastrophe.
It was obvious more than a year ago that there was going to be a push by Serb nationalists against Moslems in Bosnia. U.N. observers should have been in Bosnia, ready to call in peacekeeping troops at the first sign of ethnic violence.
How the world community does or doesn't respond to the Serbian aggression in the Balkans has ramifications far beyond that troubled region. If Serb extremists are allowed to keep the land they took by murder, starvation and arson, there is going to be hell to pay as every ethnic group arms to protect itself from old enemies.
The world has not seen the last of Serbian nationalist extremism. The large southern Serbian province of Kosova is 90-percent ethnic Albanians, who are living under Serbian martial law. The Serbs consider Kosova to be the heart of their homeland, and extremists have indicated they will fight to keep it.
There is also great danger that the war could widen to include Macedonia and possibly Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria and Albania. The world will have to face down Serbian nationalist extremism sooner or later, and the sooner the better.
It is good-hearted of the United States to go into Somalia, but it is expensive and dangerous to continue in such a high-profile role in relief efforts. The United States does have some special responsibilities in defusing post-Cold War tensions and conflicts; many of the weapons loose in the world were handed out by our government.
The U.N. army should be Earth's heroes, volunteers from all the nations of the world. They should be trained in marksmanship, conflict resolution, kung-fu and several languages.
To stand idle in the face of preventable suffering is not Christian . . . or Moslem, Buddhist, or indeed human. Somalia and Bosnia are teaching us the same lesson: The world needs a policeman and we don't want it to be us. A U.N. army could keep us out of a lot of trouble.
\ AUTHOR Will Bason is a poet who lives in Floyd.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB