Duke of the opts for amputation VOJISLAV SESELJ, a hero to but they were not allies. "There many Serbs in the mixed areas of A hero to some, to will not be a real war, because the Croatia — where ethnic clashes are not capable," Mr have claimed more than 100 lives others a terrorist. Seselj said with contempt, al- in recent weeks — is a bull of a though the fierce clashes of recent man. Marc Champion in weeks could perhaps belie such He is tall and thickset, with the confidence. thinning porcupine haircut that is meets the There have been almost daily common to ageing colonels. He battles between the Croat Na- carries a gun jammed into the self-proclaimed tional Guard and Serb gunmen, waistband of his trousers. with an average of several deaths On the wall above his desk in warlord of the Serbs every day. The number of deaths his Belgrade office, he has pinned has constantly escalated. the colours of the Chetnik nation- Mr Seselj argues that Fraryo alist movement of which he is the it should amputate the arm of its Tudjman, the Croat President, is leader — a white skull and cross- territory that runs south along a fascist. Mr Tudjman — who bones against a black background the Dalmatian coast, all of Slavo- fought with the partisans in the and with the inscription "Free or nia — its eastern shoulder — and Second World War — has done Dead". part of its centre. Everything nothing to discourage that charge The crude simplicity of the south and east of the new Cro- by failing to condemn fascist Cro- Chetnik logo suits Mr Seselj well: atian border would then become atia's extermination of Serbs in he seems to have made the idiom greater . the Forties. his own. "We want no one else on What of , the southern Mr Seselj's attitude towards our territory and we will fight for republic which has a 90 per cent the outside world is defiant. If Eu- our true borders. The Croats Albanian population? The Alba- rope should get involved by send- must either move or die," he said. nians, who have been there for ing a peace-keeping force to Yugo- As the President of the right- several hundred years, are slavia, then he says that Serbs are wing Serbian Radical Party, he is "guests", says Mr Seselj. "They ready to fight. a member of parliament, but he is must be loyal Serbian subjects, or "If the West intervenes, tens of not waiting for political agree- else go back where they came thousands of Western soldiers ment to resolve Yugoslavia's com- from." Macedonia? "An artificial would be killed. It would be total plex internal border problems. nation made up by [Josip Broz] war, a war without mercy and Mr Seselj's readiness to use vi- Tito. Montenegro? "It is Serbia." without prisoners. We would poi- olence is rejected by many ordi- Bosnia-Herzegovina, with its son their food and their water... nary Serbs: the democratic oppo- cocktail of Muslims, Serbs and There are no methods we would sition in Belgrade is horrified by Croats, was not even worth con- not use against them." his approach. An increasing num- sideration. Only on the question of num- ber, however, see his fiery brand He calls himself the Duke, or bers and arms did Mr Seselj's of nationalism as being the way Vojvoda Seselj, because that is the frankness appear to waver. forward. traditional title for the warrior He declined to say how many He and his Chetnik movement chief of the Chetniks. "Vojvoda Chetniks were under his com- are, for the Croats, the chief ene- Djuic, the last Duke alive, passed mand, and from the barrenness of my. The Croats use the words the title on to me as was his his headquarters and peace of the "Chetniks" and "terrorists" al- right," said Mr Seselj. telephones, it seems likely that most as synonyms. In Belgrade, The title of Duke would make the Duke might not know. He also though, Mr Seselj's portrait is Mr Seselj, 36, the direct descen- declined to say from whom he had one of the most popular items of dant of General Draza bought the old American and Ger- nationalist kiitsch offered for sale Mihailovich, who led his Serbian man guns which the Chetniks use. by street vendors. Certainly, his troops into the mountains after However, Mr Sese|j has drawn ideas are radical. the country fell to Hitler in 1941. new hope from the political evolu- "We are against Yugoslavia," He, in turn, took the Chetnik tion of Serbia's nationalist and said Mr Sesel|j. "We do not want name from nationalist bands Communist President, Slobodan to live in the same country as which had fought Ottoman domi- Milosevic. "He had me put in jail Croats." Slovenia, he says, should nation in the eighteenth century. last year," said Sese|j. "But over be allowed to be independent. And Both the Chetniks and Tito's the past few months he has been so should Croatia — up to a Communist partisans fought Hit- getting closer and closer to our point. For before Croatia is freed, ler and Croatia's fascist Ustashe, position."