[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 19 (Tuesday, March 3, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H733-H734]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  ENGEL SLAMS BELGRADE'S BLOODY CRACKDOWN IN KOSOVA; CALLS FOR UNITED 
                 STATES TO STOP IGNORING THE SITUATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, just yesterday there was a brutal crackdown 
in a region called Kosova, which is home to more than 2,000 ethnic 
Albanians who live under the oppression of Serb tyranny. The Serbian 
police came in and summarily started beating and killing ethnic 
Albanians, more than 20 of whom were murdered in cold blood.
  The region of Kosova, which is 90 percent Albanian, I have been there 
a number of times as chairman of the Albanian Interest Caucus of this 
House. The people there are truly a people living under oppression. 
They have no political rights. They have no human rights. They have no 
economic rights. Unemployment is unbelievable. Day after day after day 
turns into months; and year after year, there is no improvement on the 
ground.
  The United States cannot, Mr. Speaker, stand idly by and allow 
Serbian President Milosevic and his henchmen to brutally kill people 
for no reason. This oppression must stop, and the United States is the 
only country that has the power to stop it.
  I have been calling for a number of years for the appointment of a 
special envoy from the United States to the region of Kosova. Only if 
the United States gets involved with the appointment of a special envoy 
do I believe that progress will be made on the ground in Kosova. This 
would be very similar to what we have attempted to do in Ireland with 
Senator Mitchell. And we ought to forthwith appoint a special envoy.
  My resolution, H.Con.Res. 205, calls for the appointment of a special 
envoy and calls for sanctions, strong sanctions to be continued on 
Serbia until there is improvement in the economic and political and 
human freedoms in Kosova.
  Just last week, Mr. Speaker, our government loosened some of the 
sanctions imposed on Serbia. It sent the wrong message at the wrong 
time, and I am sure unwittingly contributed to Mr. Milosevic and his 
henchmen thinking that they can brutally crack down on the Albanians in 
Kosova.
  It is time now to reimpose those sanctions that we removed just last 
week. It is time to have new sanctions. It is time to make sure that 
the outer wall of sanctions is in place, continues to be in place and 
continues to be expanded, because Serbia cannot practice this kind of 
oppression and think they can get away with it.
  Now in 3 weeks the Albanians in Kosova are scheduled to hold 
elections. And, again, Mr. Speaker, there is no coincidence that these 
crackdowns came 3 weeks before the Albanian elections are to be held. 
This is clearly a blatant attempt to intimidate the Albanians, to try 
to prevent them from exercising the political freedoms that all of us 
say that we hold dear.

                              {time}  1745

  I have often said that the people of Kosova, 90 percent of whom are 
ethnic Albanians, have the same right to self-determination that all 
peoples of the world have; no more, but certainly no less. And they 
have a right to determine their political future, they have a right to 
determine their economic future, they have a right to determine all of 
their future, and they do not have the right to be people under 
occupation, oppressively, brutally occupied and beaten by the Serb 
authorities.

[[Page H734]]

  This is not simply an internal problem in Serbia; this is a human 
rights problem. The autonomous region of Kosova, in my opinion and the 
opinion of anybody who likes freedom, has to understand that this 
region, the people living in the region, should be the sole determining 
factor in terms of their political future. They should decide their own 
political future.
  Now, both President Bush and President Clinton had issued a Christmas 
warning saying that the United States would draw the line and would not 
stand idly by with a brutal crackdown in Kosova. My big fear is that 
this is the start of a crackdown, and we know what Serb nationalism can 
do. We saw what it did in Bosnia.
  Bosnia could seem like a tea party compared to what could happen in 
Kosova if the world community and the United States and the European 
nations do not get involved right now. With 2 million ethnic Albanians, 
some people would like nothing better to do than to drive a million of 
them over the border into Albania, and perhaps massacre another 
million. We cannot stand idly by and allow this to happen.
  Only the United States, again, has the power and clout to say to 
Milosevic and his henchmen, we will not allow you to brutally oppress 
the people of Kosova, the ethnic Albanians in Kosova. They are entitled 
to all kinds of rights and freedoms that we treasure here in the United 
States.
  What kind of life is it for people that have no hope of getting 
employed? What hope is it of people, what kind of life can they expect, 
if there are no political freedoms, if they cannot get a job, if they 
cannot teach in the Albanian language, if the schools are oppressed?
  There have been peaceful demonstrations going on and going on, and 
these people have been clubbed and beaten brutally. We cannot allow 
this to happen. We cannot send a message and say that because things 
are a little better in Bosnia, now is the time to forget about Kosova.
  Mr. Speaker, we must reimpose the sanctions, we must have a special 
envoy, and we must unequivocally call for freedom for the Albanian 
people in Kosova.

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