Eight years ago, Canadian peacekeepers witnessed one of the late 20th century's most brutal attempts at ethnic cleansing. In August, 1995, over a span of just 64 hours, Croatian soldiers forced 200,000 Serbs from their homes in Croatia -- the largest single act of ethnic cleansing of all the Balkan wars between 1991 and 1995. The military action -- dubbed Operation Storm -- involved the Croats' entire 100,000-man army. Canadian soldiers stationed in the area documented the Croats' efficiency. Colonel Andrew Leslie, for example, reported that of the 40,000 people who lived in the Serb stronghold of Knin, barely 1,000 remained once the operation ended.

It took some time, but two years ago, the UN's International Criminal Tribunal (ICT) began seriously looking into claims regarding war crimes committed during Operation Storm. In 2001, the ICT issued an indictment against Ante Gotovina, a Croatian general with an allegedly central role in the operation. But Gen. Gotovina promptly went underground. Lawyers working on his behalf say he is willing to answer questions from the ICT -- but only if it first drops its indictment.

Unfortunately, the Croatian government has failed to fully co-operate in bringing Gen. Gotovina to justice. Though the Croatian Interior Ministry has issued a warrant for his arrest (and a bounty of $80,000 for information leading to his arrest), authorities have done little to apprehend him. One reason for this is that ultra-nationalist Croats see the general as a hero. In May, Gen. Gotovina even had the audacity to send an official message of support to a gathering of 15,000 Croatian nationalists. They had met to mourn the death of Janko Bobetko, another general who defied an ICT order to answer questions about his own involvement in possible crimes against humanity by Croatian forces.

The case of Gen. Gotovina is important not only as a matter of justice, but of politics as well. The Croats and Serbs have had their share of murderous feuds, and the Serbs would be understandably outraged if the world community aggressively prosecuted allegations of Serb atrocities while passing over those in which Serbs were victims. In 2001, the ICT formally demanded that the Serbs force former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic to appear for trial on charges of war crimes. NATO member states, including Canada and the United States, put a full-court press on the Serbs to hand Mr. Milosevic over -- and even made his handover a condition of economic aid. As a result, Mr. Milosevic's successor, Vojislav Kostunica, duly served him up to The Hague.

Those same NATO states should make a similar effort to get Croatia to secure Gen. Gotovina. He's been allowed to run free long enough.