[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 23 (Monday, March 9, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E321]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





          DENOUNCING POLICE BRUTALITY AGAINST ETHNIC ALBANIANS

                                 ______
                                 

                      HON. JAMES A. TRAFICANT, JR.

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, March 9, 1998

  Mr. TRAFICANT. Mr. Speaker, on March 5, 1998 a Serb police force 
armed with assault rifles attacked ethnic Albanians in the Serbian 
province of Kosova. This atrocity, in which Serbian police set fire to 
homes and buildings, left dozens of ethnic Albanians dead, wounded and 
homeless.
  The massacre in Kosova today was just one incident in a long chain of 
police brutality against ethnic Albanians. The State Department's 1997 
Country Report on Human Rights in Serbia demonstrates that human rights 
abuses and violations of civil liberties in Kosova are both shocking 
and pervasive: political and extra-judicial killings, torture, cruel, 
inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment, arbitrary arrest, 
detention and exile, as well as denial of fair public trial, arbitary 
interference with privacy, family, home and correspondence. More 
recently, on February 28, 1998, over 25,000 Serbian paramilitary police 
descended on the Drenica region of Kosova, killing more than 20 
Albanian citizens, beating many to death. Similarly, on March 2, 1998, 
Serbian police brutally attacked 30,000 Albanian demonstrators 
peacefully marching in Pristina in protest of the February 28th 
massacre.
  Ethnic Albanians of Kosova comprise more than ninety percent of the 
total population of Kosova. Yet, the Albanian people have no political 
rights such as self-determination and representation in government. On 
March 23, 1989, the government of Yugoslavia illegally amended the 
Constitution of Yugoslavia thereby stripping the Albanian people of 
their political rights by revoking Kosova's autonomy. Further unlawful 
amendments to the Constitution abolished the Parliament and Government 
of Kosova.
  The U.S. Department of State should immediately condemn this 
oppressive and sadistic massacre of ethnic Albanians in Kosova by 
Serbian authorities. Keeping with the promises made by both the Bush 
and Clinton Administrations, the United States should reimpose economic 
sanctions against Serbia-Montenegro that were terminated following the 
signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement in 1995 unless the violence 
against Albanians in Kosova is promptly terminated and a dialogue is 
established.
  The violence in Kosova has the potential to spread throughout the 
region, threatening to undermine the Dayton Peace Agreement and spark a 
Balkan-wide war. It's time for the United States to get tough on brutal 
dictators like Slobodan Milosevic, and demand compliance with 
international conventions, before more ethnic Albanians are needlessly 
slaughtered.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in co-sponsoring a sense of the 
Congress resolution introduced today by our esteemed colleague, 
Benjamin Gilman. The resolution expresses the sense of the Congress 
that:
  Efforts of the international Contact Group in support of a resolution 
of the conflict in Kosova are to be commended and intensified;
  No international or United States sanctions currently in force 
against the Government of Serbia and Montenegro should be terminated at 
this time, unless such termination serves to support a peaceful 
resolution to the repression in Kosova;
  The United States should consult with its allies and other members of 
the United Nations on reimposing those sanctions against Serbia-
Montenegro that were terminated following the signing of the Dayton 
Peace Agreement in 1995 if Serbian authorities continue to use unlawful 
violence against the Albanian people of Kosova;
  The United States should acknowledge recent developments in the 
Republic of Montenegro that indicate that the new leadership of the 
Republic is seeking a peaceful resolution to the repression in Kosova, 
particularly the statement by Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic 
that Kosova must receive a certain degree of autonomy, and his call for 
a dialog between the government of Serbia and Montenegro and ethnic 
Albanians in Kosova;
  The United States should, to the extent practicable, recognize 
positive actions by the Government of the Republic of Montenegro with 
regard to repression in Kosova through exclusion from those sanctions 
that may be applied to the Government of Serbia;
  The elections in Kosova scheduled on March 22, 1998 should be allowed 
to proceed unimpeded by Belgrade, as they represent the opportunity for 
a peaceful expression of the political will of the Albanian people of 
Kosova;
  All parties should refrain from acts that could lead to heightened 
tensions in Kosova;
  The agreement on education in Kosova should be implemented 
immediately, including at the university level, allowing all residents 
of Kosova regardless of ethnicity to receive education in their native 
tongue;
  The elected leaders of Kosova should begin a dialog with the 
authorities in Belgrade to resolve the present situation, and to 
provide for the exercise of the legitimate civil and political rights 
of the Albanian people of Kosova.
  Once again, I urge my colleagues to co-sponsor this resolution.

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