[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 30 (Wednesday, March 18, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2203-S2209]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CALLING FOR AN END TO THE VIOLENT REPRESSION OF THE PEOPLE OF KOSOVO
Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I ask that the resolution on Kosovo be
reported.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Inhofe). The clerk will report.
The bill clerk read as follows:
A concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 85) calling for an
end to the violent repression of the people of Kosovo.
The Senate proceeded to consider the concurrent resolution.
Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, the United States in concert with its
allies must act immediately to prevent a resumption of the brutal
repression of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and to get real--not sham--
negotiations started.
The past two weeks have seen appalling massacres of innocent ethnic
Albanians in Kosovo by heavily armed Serbian paramilitary forces.
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's black-suited thugs used
artillery, armored personnel carriers, heavy caliber machine guns, and
even helicopter gunships to carry out their gruesome work.
The pretext for their violence was an ambush of Serbian policy by the
secretive Kosovo Liberation Army, which left four policemen dead. But
we know that Milosevic had been planning military action in Kosovo for
months. He was just waiting for an excuse to issue the final orders.
Not only were supposed members of the Kosovo Liberation Army
murdered, but scores of innocent civilians, including women and
children, were killed.
There is strong circumstantial evidence indicating that many victims
were tortured before being put to death. Demands by Kosovo Albanians
for outside forensic investigations before their kin were buried were
cruelly denied by the Serbs, who dumped the corpses into mass graves.
Next, the world witnessed the spectacle of survivors exhuming the
bodies of their loved ones in order to give them dignified, Muslim
burials.
Mr. President, this behavior is worthy of the Dark Ages, not the end
of the twentieth century.
Having ordered these massacres and ghoulish follow-up, Milosevic,
true to form, attempted to con world opinion.
He sent a delegation to Pristina and offered to talk with the Kosovo
Albanians ``without preconditions''--except for the little detail that
the Albanians would have to negotiate within the framework of the
Republic of Serbia.
In other words, the Kosovo Albanians would have to give up their only
bargaining chip at the outset, namely their demand for independence.
Some deal.
Moreover, the Belgrade Bully rubbed salt in the wounds of the
community whom his storm troopers had just massacred by declaring that
he would negotiate with the ``Albanian minority,'' meaning a minority
in Serbia, not the ninety percent majority they hold in Kosovo.
No, Mr. President, this was not a serious offer of negotiations. It
was vintage Milosevic ``bait and switch.'' Rather than beginning the
necessary quiet dialogue, he cynically tried to make a public splash,
while continuing to repress.
Once again, the civilized world is faced with a deadly serious
challenge.
There is a real possibility that if Milosevic in his Greater Serbian
haze tries to ``ethnically cleanse'' Kosovo of its ethnic Albanian
population, the violence could spread into a full-scale Balkan War,
cutting short the recent progress we have made in Bosnia and fracturing
NATO. The cynical side of me tells me part of why he moved when he did
was because of Bosnia.
Mr. President, I hope this time we will act without having to have 4
years of convulsions like we had on Bosnia, even though it is a very
different circumstance in terms of what is at stake. It is not
different in terms of the brutality and the atrocities that have
occurred. It is time to act. The bipartisan resolution I am
cosponsoring is just a beginning. I believe the United States should
immediately reimpose all financial sanctions against Serbia, except for
democratic assistance. We should insist that Milosevic lift the
repressive martial law in Kosovo and withdraw his storm troopers. The
United States must actively facilitate immediate good faith
negotiations between Belgrade and Kosovo without preconditions as
called for by the contact group to which we belong.
If Milosevic does not unconditionally come to the negotiating table
by next week, we should freeze Yugoslavian assets abroad, attempting to
exempt assets in Montenegro whose new reformist President has been
cooperative in a number of ways. Milosevic and his Serbian colleagues
should understand that if the atrocities resume, and if he does not
protect lives, human rights, and the autonomy of the people of Kosovo,
the pressure from the United States, and hopefully others, will
escalate.
I believe the President is right when he suggests that no option
should be ruled out. Milosevic is a thug. He is the President of a
country but he is a thug. He should be indicted as a war criminal. He
should be tried at The Hague. I reiterate what I told him to his face 4
years ago in his office when he asked me what I thought of him. He is a
war criminal. He looked at me as if we were having a civilized
discussion and said, ``And what do you think of me,'' and I repeat
publicly what I said to him privately. I said, ``I think you are a war
criminal and should be tried as such.'' Unfortunately, I have never
been more correct than I was then. This guy is a thug. We should make
no bones about who he is.
Mr. President, I hope that the concurrent resolution for which we
have 1 hour of debate here, the concurrent resolution that is
introduced by Mr. Nickles, Mr. Dodd, myself, Mr. Helms, Mr. Lieberman
and others, I hope we pass it, and pass it swiftly.
I see my friend from Connecticut. I yield the floor to my friend from
Connecticut.
Mr. DODD. I thank my colleague from Delaware for yielding.
While we are on this resolution introduced by Senator Nickles and I
and the distinguished Senator from Delaware, my colleague from
Connecticut, Senator Lieberman, and others, let me commend the Senator
for the very fine way in which he is managing the effort dealing with
NATO expansion. I know in a sense we are interrupting that debate to
consider this resolution.
Mr. President, I am very pleased to be a principal sponsor, along
with our colleague from Oklahoma and others, of this resolution. I
think it is appropriate, in light of events we have all seen in our
newspapers and television stations, events that have occurred in Kosovo
in the last couple of weeks, to speak, to be heard. I think it is
appropriate.
In this body we are oftentimes asked, what do these resolutions mean?
What value do they have? People write resolutions with a lot of
language, and here are calling for sanctions or expressing outrage over
behavior, and it seems just like a lot of words.
I remember, Mr. President, very vividly one of my first days in the
Congress of the United States and I had a chance to meet with some
refuseniks from the Soviet Union. They were courageously trying to
achieve religious freedom for themselves and democracy in the Soviet
Union, a very repressive regime. I remember raising the question to a
couple of these people, does this have any real value when we speak out
with resolutions, and people were wearing bracelets and so forth with
the names of refuseniks. And there were those who questioned the wisdom
of it, ``Wasn't it more sort of a lot of rhetoric without having much
influence?'' I will never forget the response of these people. They
said, ``You have no idea how closely the world watches what you say in
America. When you speak our names on the floor of the U.S. Senate, when
you talk about us, you give
[[Page S2204]]
us hope beyond belief. We live, we exist.''
People try to suppress the rights of others or, worse, try to
suppress the rights of others by engaging in the worst kinds of
atrocities, as we have seen in Bosnia and now Kosovo. They need to know
there are people who understand what is happening to them.
So it is entirely appropriate and proper, Mr. President, that we take
out an hour today. There may not be many who come here to address this
issue, but I am very confident that there will be unanimous support for
this resolution. There will be a vote on it in which we will be heard
expressing, I think, the outrage of our constituents across this
country, regardless of where we live, letting those who are suffering
know that their voices are being heard, letting those who perpetrate
this violence and outrage know that we know what is going on and we
will not forget it.
So to those who raise the issue of whether or not these resolutions
have value, I believe they do. It doesn't mean that we are going to
solve the problem today or that we are going to necessarily change
events dramatically. But we just might save a life or two because of
what we say or do here today--maybe more than that. For those reasons,
I think it's appropriate and proper that we engage in a discussion of
what has happened in Kosovo and to express our concern and outrage
about it.
It is a coincidence, in a way, Mr. President, that brings us to this.
Unbeknownst to me, my friend and colleague from Oklahoma was working on
a resolution just as we were--separately from each other. Last week, I
came to the floor with the idea that I might offer such a resolution,
and I was told that Senator Nickles, the colleague of the Presiding
Officer, had a similar resolution he was working on. Rather than having
two resolutions or trying to sort of paste a resolution together that
afternoon, we worked together over the last several days and came up
with this resolution that we have both sponsored and endorsed. We will
be asking all of our colleagues to support this.
I thank Senator Nickles and his staff for their cooperation in
working out the language that we think will engender the broad-based
support of our colleagues. I know all of my colleagues read the same
reports that I have, Senator Biden has, and others have, detailing the
very gross violations that have been perpetrated by the Serbian police
and paramilitary units against the people of the Province of Kosovo,
particularly the ethnic Albanian community, the overwhelming majority
of whom are Muslims. The Albanian community makes up 90 percent of the
province's population. More than 80 individuals that we know about have
lost their lives in recent days, many of whom are women and children.
Others have lost their homes and have been forced to flee from their
villages in search of refuge.
Yugoslav President Milosevic, whom my colleague from Delaware has
very appropriately and properly identified as a thug, appears to be at
the center, once again, of this current tragic situation. Sometimes,
Mr. President, we don't know who is responsible for these events. We
are outraged by them, but it's difficult to identify those responsible.
I remember for years attending ceremonies to recognize the cream of
the young Polish officer corps that had been summarily executed in the
forests of Poland back during World War II. There were allegations back
and forth as to who had committed the crimes, the Soviets or the Nazis.
That issue was never resolved completely in the minds of people until
Mikhail Gorbachev opened up the files and we discovered what many felt
was the case--that the Soviets in fact had been responsible for that
atrocity. But for years the debate raged as to who was responsible.
On this issue, Mr. President, there is no debate. We know directly
who is responsible, who has ordered this, who has tolerated it and who,
in fact, supported and encouraged it, in my view. That is President
Milosevic. The world needs to know that so that his name will ring in
the ears of coming generations as somebody who allowed this, permitted
it, encouraged it, and supported it happening in his country. Once
again, the forces under his control are murdering and intimidating
ethnic communities in the former Yugoslavia.
As I said a moment ago, the majority are largely of the Muslim faith.
It was reprehensible that Serbian police were in such a hurry to cover
up the evidence of their heinous act and surreptitiously burying the
dead without according them the proper burial services. Grief-stricken
families bravely defied Serbian authorities and dug up their own dead--
family members, their own children, wives, sisters--so that these
people could be given an appropriate burial service, having been
murdered by these police, in keeping with the Muslim religious beliefs
and practices for the bodies to be facing to the east. It is imperative
that the international human rights observers, members of the Red
Cross, and independent journalists be granted access to communities in
Kosovo to independently investigate these recent killings. All relevant
evidence should be referred to the International War Crimes Tribunal
for further investigation and prosecution as expeditiously as possible.
It seems to me, Mr. President, and to those of us who sponsored this
resolution, that it would be wrong for the United States to remain
silent in the face of such despicable acts; hence, this resolution
today. If we were to do so, we would simply, in our view, be
encouraging Milosevic and his like to act even more viciously and
recklessly than they have in the past, if that were possible, to
repress the democratic aspirations of the people of Kosovo. We would
also be running the risk that the current conflict would spill over
into other countries and pose serious threats to regional peace and
security. That must not happen.
Silence, in a sense, is almost the coconspirator of those who
perpetrated these crimes. So by raising our voices here and hopefully
expressing our unanimous outrage at what is occurring, we do not become
the coconspirators, if you will, of these atrocities. Fortunately,
President Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright focused
very quickly on this matter. In the context of the so-called ``contact
group'' established to monitor the situation in the former Yugoslavia,
the United States has sought to galvanize the international community
and to speak with one voice on this problem and to agree upon a course
of action against the Milosevic regime should it continue its
aggression in Kosovo. Today, the Senate will endorse those efforts, and
the contact group specifically, by strongly supporting the pending
resolution. Moreover, we would be adding our voice to those who call
for the international community as a whole to come together behind the
initiatives of the contact group. If the international community is
prepared to do that, it will improve the prospects for a political
solution to this conflict before it grows even more unmanageable.
Mr. President, our colleague from Delaware started to read some of
the operative paragraphs in the resolve clause of this resolution. I
won't go through and read it all. It is in the Record. It does call for
a freezing of government funds of Yugoslavia if we don't get compliance
by March 25, over the next 5 or 6 days, with the terms set forth by the
contact group. It also calls for extremely strong monitoring efforts by
the appropriate international groups.
This is not the end of this issue. If we don't see the proper
responses in the coming days, as I said a moment ago, those of us who
have seen and watched the terrible tragedies that have transpired here
want our voices to be heard. We want those in this country who have
family members there to know that we care deeply about this. We want
those who may hear our voices in the Albanian minority in Kosovo to
know that there are voices here--people whose names they may not know,
faces they may not recognize, people they may never meet, but who will
not be silent in the face of their tragedy.
So, Mr. President, I urge colleagues here to, in a strong bipartisan
fashion, support this resolution introduced by Senator Nickles, myself,
and others, so that this body, this U.S. Senate will, on this day in
March, express to the people of the world, particularly the people of
Yugoslavia and Kosovo, that
[[Page S2205]]
we hear their cries and we will do everything in our power to try to
see to it that this tragedy comes to an end.
Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays on this resolution.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There is a sufficient second.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I yield the floor.
Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, while the Senator from Connecticut is on
the floor, I will just say one thing. In this case, I think he
underestimates what he has undertaken here and the impact of it. This
is more than merely a resolution. It calls for a very specific action.
The truth of the matter is that, according to my information, every
single time we have responded to Milosevic's thuggery, every single
time we have threatened action and/or taken action, he has backed down.
I happen to think that the one thing that can alter his conduct in
Kosovo--because it will reoccur again--the one thing that he pays most
attention to is his own naked personal self-interest. He has been
playing on this Serbian nationalism as communism has collapsed in the
former Yugoslavia like a harp. But even his people are beginning to
tire of what he is doing. He has been spreading lies and has been on
Belgrade television talking about the awful things that are happening
to Serbs--orthodox Serbs--in Kosovo, which are not true. He has been
fomenting this kind of awful conduct for some time.
I think, in addition to what we have here in the resolution, that
ultimately we are going to have to face up to the fact that he is a war
criminal. We should have him tried as one. I think that will change his
conduct more than anything else.
But I compliment the Senator from Connecticut for his initiative. In
this case, words count. I am confident that if we are able to take this
action, in the sense that the administration follows through on the
essence of the resolution here, that we can impact upon the
circumstances of Kosovo. We are not asking for independence. We are not
dictating an outcome. We are dictating an end to the conduct. I think
the answer lies in autonomy, which he revoked in 1989. But that is to
be negotiated.
But I compliment the Senator on his initiative. Words count here.
I yield the floor.
Is my friend seeking recognition?
Mr. WELLSTONE. I wonder if I could speak on this resolution.
Mr. BIDEN. Parliamentary inquiry: How much time remains?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. There are 7\1/2\ minutes remaining.
Mr. BIDEN. I yield 3 minutes to my friend from Minnesota, and the
remainder to my friend from Connecticut.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.
Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I could speak for 3 hours on this. But
I agree with Senator Biden from Delaware. This is really one of the
situations where words really do matter. I fully support this
resolution. I am glad we are speaking out on it.
Several years ago I had a chance to visit Kosovo. It was really an
awe-inspiring trip. I, first of all, wanted to go to the former
Yugoslavia--I know Senator Biden visited there--on my own to see what
was in the holocaust taking place; at least the genocide. I never could
get to Sarajevo. I never could fly in. But I was able to eventually
drive from Zagreb to Belgrade. I met with Milosevic. It was really the
only meeting I ever had with someone where I wouldn't shake his hand.
We were talking about Kosovo. I was about to visit there. He told me
that people were very happy there; that I would find out that there had
been a tremendous amount of exaggeration. I couldn't believe he said
that to me. It was just outright lying. It was unbelievable.
I went to Kosovo and I met with people who were involved in the
nonviolence. As they said then, ``We want to do this in a nonviolent
way.'' But time is not neutral. People can't continue to bear their
oppression. People couldn't go to medical school. They couldn't go to
law school. There were police everywhere. It was an absolute police
state where 90 percent of the Albanian people were oppressed by the
Serbs. This is not the best of what the Serb people stand for. Now we
have this resistance. Now we have the people in Kosovo who are taking a
strong stance.
I am opposed to terrorism. We are all opposed to terrorism. Murder is
never legitimate. But I must say that I think it is important that we
get behind this resolution, and I think it is important that Milosevic
know that there will be pressure put on him, and that we are serious
about trying to support the people of Kosovo. It is very important that
we do this.
I yield the floor.
Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Presiding
Officer be added as a cosponsor to this resolution.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I am told by staff of the majority that
there will be some additional time available. If the Senator needs more
than the remaining 5 minutes, I am sure we can arrange it.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.
Mr. LIEBERMAN. I thank the Chair, and my friend and colleague from
Delaware. He and others, including the Senator from Minnesota, have
just finished, and my friend and senior colleague from Connecticut, who
is the lead cosponsor of this, has spoken quite eloquently. I really in
a sense say amen to what they have said, and will add a few words:
First, pride that we have put together a bipartisan resolution here
with original cosponsors: Senator Nickles, Senator Dodd, Senator Biden,
Senator Helms, myself, and Senator Levin.
This speaks volumes about the facts that we have learned. We have
learned most recently from the lessons of Bosnian history--the concern,
the inaction, the failure to be willing to use force early--that you
wonder about whether the application of even diplomatic strength that
was clear and resolute would draw a reaction, and, as a result in part,
a lot of people suffered, a lot of people died, a lot of bloodshed
occurred, and a wider war in Europe was threatened.
When we finally acted--NATO acted--particularly through the air in
1995, the Serbians, who were portrayed as a monster, as an army
difficult to contend with in response to the application of force by
NATO from the air in 1995, basically found their way to Dayton, and the
peace process began. That has led to a much better state. We have
learned. We are acting quickly here.
We are building on statements made by former President George Bush,
the so-called ``Christmas statement,'' in which he stated quite clearly
the vital national interest that the United States has in maintaining
peace and stability in Kosovo--that fear being, of course, if we let
that go, if we let the Serbian minority continue to suppress the
Albanian majority, we will not only have been untrue to our own
American principles of freedom and self-determination but that we will
have turned our back on a situation that is bound to explode. A people
will not long continue to accept the suppression that the minority has
visited on the majority in Kosovo without striking back--weakly in some
ways against a superior force but resolutely, because that yearning for
freedom exists within the hearts of people everywhere, and certainly in
the hearts of the Albanians in Kosovo.
That is exactly what is happening now. The fear that President Bush
expressed, which is a fear that has been shared across both branches of
our Government and both parties, is that a conflict in Kosovo, which is
inevitable under the current circumstances, will lead to a wider
conflict in Europe, and once again the Balkans will be the match that
lights a fire that none of us want to see occur.
That is why the exercise of leadership by the contact groups--
Secretary Albright has been very strong, and very purposeful in this
regard--here refreshingly after the unhappy experiences we had in the
recent crisis in Iraq, we stand side by side with all of our major
allies in NATO, and with Russia apparently in urging more than that; in
expressing our willingness to impose sanctions on the Serbs, if they do
not cease the suppression of the human rights of the Albanian people;
if they do not come to the peace table.
With this concurrent resolution, the U.S. Senate has the opportunity,
which I am confident we will take soon today,
[[Page S2206]]
to express quite clearly: One, that we condemn the Serbian Government
in the strongest possible terms for the gross human rights violations
against its citizens, including the indiscriminate use of Serbian
paramilitary police units against the Albanian population of Kosovo.
This is one of those stories that has not been widely told. But the
Albanian people in Kosovo have been subject to persistent, not just
discrimination but tyrannical exercise of power to deprive them of
their own self-expression, of their own cultural expression, to some
extent even of their own religious expression.
We condemn terrorist actions by any groups or any individuals in
Kosovo. We urge the international community to respond affirmatively to
the call of the contact group for the imposition of broad sanctions
against Serbia if it fails to prevent additional atrocities. And we
call on our own Government to freeze funds of the Governments of the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Serbia if they do not comply by
March 25, 1998, with the terms set forth by the contact group.
We ask our Government to demand that the Serbian Government and the
ethnic Albanian leadership and representatives of all ethnic and
religious groups in Kosovo immediately begin unconditional talks to
achieve a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Kosovo and to provide
for the exercise of legitimate civil and political rights of all people
there.
Then we demand that the international human rights monitors,
especially from the Red Cross, who were forced to withdraw from Kosovo
be allowed to return immediately in order to be able to report to the
world on human rights violations there.
This is a strong, unambivalent statement not just of the concern
about the deprivation of human rights that we in the Senate feel but of
our sense of purpose about using every element of strength we have with
our allies to suppress the conflict and to put the conflicted parties
on the path to peace. And that peace will have to recognize the
legitimate--indeed, the universal--human rights of the Albanian people
of Kosovo.
Mr. President, I was intrigued by an article I read in one of the
newspapers within the last week from Belgrade which suggested that
Serbian public opinion in Belgrade is not behind the policies of the
current Milosevic government in Kosovo which they think will lead to
war. People in Serbia have not fallen for the siren appeals to
nationalism--as I believe my colleague from Delaware said, an attempt
to impose a sense of greater Serbian nationalism as not just an
organizing principle but a tyrannical principle to replace communism.
The people of Serbia are like people everywhere else. They have been
suffering under this leadership. Their economy is in terrible shape.
Their lives are not what they want them to be. Their children have
futures much darker than they would like them to be. They want there to
be peace.
I read an article written by a Serbian nationalist who said, ``Kosovo
is our past; it is not our future. Our future is here, to build a
strong, vital, democratic, economically vibrant Serbia.'' Let us hope
that those voices are heard. And I think when our voices are heard in
the Senate today, we will make room for those more progressive voices
in Serbia and peaceful voices in Kosovo to work their will so that the
conflict will be ended and self-determination will be the future.
I thank the Chair. I thank my friend from Delaware for his continuing
leadership on these and so many other matters of vital interest to our
country, and I yield the floor.
Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, I want to express my strong support for the
resolution on Kosovo of which I am an original cosponsor.
The actions of the Serbian special police, who take their orders from
Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic, in indiscriminately attacking
ethnic Albanians residents, including women and children, in Kosovo
last week are an abomination. They remind us that it was Milosevic's
desire for a Greater Serbia that led to the countless innocent victims
in the war in Bosnia. If he is allowed to go unchecked in Kosovo,
Milosevic will plunge the Balkans into war again. That cannot be
allowed.
The Contact Group, consisting of France, Germany, Italy, Russia, the
United Kingdom, and the United States, has been following events in
Kosovo closely for some time. On September 24, 1997, the Contact Group
expressed its deep concern over tensions in Kosovo and called on the
authorities in Belgrade and the leadership of the Kosovar Albanian
community to join in a peaceful dialogue. I would also note that in a
Joint Statement dated October 1, 1997, the United States and the
European Union Presidency strongly condemned the use of force against
peaceful demonstrators in Kosovo and called on the international
community to join in the condemnation.
The Contact Group repeated its call for peaceful dialogue on January
8, 1998, and on February 25, 1998, but it fell on deaf ears.
On March 8, 1998, the Contact Group condemned the excessive use of
force by the Serbian police that resulted in at least 80 fatalities and
condemned the repression of non-violent expression of political views.
The Contact Group noted that it was not endorsing terrorism and
condemned terrorist actions by any group. Additionally, it called upon
Belgrade to invite independent forensic experts to investigate the very
serious allegations of extrajudicial killings. The Contact Group
recommended a number of actions too numerous to detail here and
demanded that Milosevic must: Withdraw the special police units and
cease action by the security forces affecting the civilian population.
Allow access to Kosovo for the International Committee of the Red Cross
and other humanitarian organizations as well as by representatives of
the Contact Group and other Embassies. Commit himself publicly to begin
a process of dialogue, with the leadership of the Kosovar Albanian
community. Cooperate in a constructive manner with the Contact Group in
the implementation of the actions it recommended which require action
by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia government.
The concurrent resolution, entitled Calling for an end to the violent
repression of the people of Kosovo, call for the international
community to respond affirmatively to the call of the Contact Group for
the imposition of broad-based sanctions against the Government of
Serbia if it fails to prevent atrocities by the police and paramilitary
groups or does not otherwise comply immediately with the terms set
forth by the Contact Group.
Mr. President, Senator Jack Reed and I visited Belgrade in January
1997 and were impressed by the massive demonstrations in favor of the
opposition ``Together'' movement. The several opposition parties and
the students found their common opposition to Milosevic to be a
rallying force. I would note that the United States--European Union
Joint Statement of October 1, 1997 that I referred to previously, went
on to deplore specific actions by Belgrade in removing Zoran Djindjic
as the mayor of Belgrade, replacing the editor of Studio B television
and packing the station's managing board. It held Milosevic accountable
for attempting to reassert political control of the media in Serbia.
That is the pattern: take over the media, commit atrocities, arrange
for television to only show violence against Serb policeman, and then
blame the whole situation on someone else.
Mr. President, I am pleased that the Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal
began its investigation last Tuesday of the recent events in Kosovo. I
am also pleased that Secretary of State Madeleine Albright announced
last Friday that the United States was making a contribution of $1.075
million to support the Tribunal's effort in Kosovo.
Mr. President, a reading of the concurrent resolution will reveal
that there are numerous references to Slobodan Milosevic. That is no
accident and we need to send a personal message to him. I urge my
colleagues to vote for this resolution.
Mr. D'AMATO. Mr. President, I rise today as a co-sponsor of this
concurrent resolution on the Kosovo crisis introduced by my
distinguished colleague, Senator Nickles. I want to thank Senator
Nickles for taking the lead in introducing this resolution on the
critical issue of Kosovo.
Many of us in the Senate already know something about Kosovo. If the
international community doesn't stop
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Slobodan Milosevic's police and paramilitary from using force and
violence to terrorize and drive out members of the ethnic Albanian
majority in Kosovo, the American people will come to know Kosovo all
too well.
The bottom line regarding Kosovo, reflected in this resolution, is
that the regime of Slobodan Milosevic in Belgrade continues to deal
with the ethnic Albanian majority with guns, knives, and clubs instead
of political dialogue. Not having had his fill in Bosnia, Milosevic's
regime seems prepared not only to repress the Albanian majority of
Kosovo, to harass them, or to discriminate against them because they
are not Serbs.
Now, he has begun to slaughter them. In recent weeks, Serbian
security forces have taken the offensive in Kosovo, allegedly going
after those Albanians responsible for terrorist acts. In so doing, at
least 70 people have been killed--men, women and children--in some
villages of central Kosovo.
Last week, soon after U.S. envoy Bob Gelbard left the region, the
bodies of 50 people were removed from the local morgue and bulldozed
into a mass grave, without consulting families and in violation of
basic human decency. This could well have been an effort to literally
bury the evidence of war crimes, because the International Criminal
Tribunal in the Hague has expressed interest and the families have
called for investigation by an international team of forensic experts.
These killings threaten far worse crimes, including ethnic cleansing
on a scale similar to that in Bosnia. This would pose not only a threat
to regional peace, but would be a slap in the face for every state and
every person who has worked for peace in the Balkans and justice for
victims of past ethnic cleansing.
What is the purpose of this recent violence? Is it to defend Serbian
interests from Albanian separatists? No. The purpose is to build
hatred, nationalism and tensions in order to maintain and enhance the
power of the Milosevic regime.
Milosevic will crack down on his fellow Serbs, whom he claims to
defend, if they threaten his rule. While Kosovar Albanians may want to
be independent from Serbia, that fact cannot justify massive, criminal
repression. While some Kosovar Albanians may be willing to engage in
violence to achieve independence, that fact cannot justfy brutal
attacks on innocent people. And while Serbia may want to keep Kosovo,
Serbia can only lose Kosovo through these bloody, indiscriminate
attacks on the Albanian population.
The international community must respond to the violence in Kosovo,
and this resolution makes some solid suggestions. Nothing is more
important than getting an international presence on the ground in
Kosovo now, to help deter further human rights violations and to report
those that are taking place. While the resolution calls for the
International Red Cross to come into Kosovo, as Chairman of the
Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, I also want the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the OSCE, to be
allowed to send in a mission. The OSCE had a presence in Kosovo in 1992
and 1993, and it must be allowed to return.
Milosevic must face consequences for his policies. Freezing funds
belonging to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Serbia is only a
first step, if the Contact Group's terms are not met. Resolve is the
only thing Milosevic understands, and resolve is what we must show.
For the violence to stop, Milosevic must be made to believe the so-
called Christmas warning issued by President Bush and repeated by
President Clinton. Milosevic was warned that we will not let him turn
Kosovo into a new battle zone. United States leadership is called for
to bring all of the members of the Contact Group into agreement with
this strong position. Then, we must stand together and drive the
message home.
Finally, and critically important, is the resolution's call for
unconditional talks to achieve a peaceful resolution to the conflict in
Kosovo and to provide for the exercise of the legitimate civil and
political rights of all persons in Kosovo. Clearly, the current
situation is untenable. Once violence is halted, the situation is still
not stable. The Serbian oppression of the Kosovar Albanian majority is
intolerable, and events have gone too far to expect that the people
will accept it.
This means that progress must be made toward a genuine political
solution to the crisis. This cannot be done in a one-sided fashion. The
recent Serbian offer of talks was not serious, and was rejected by the
Kosovar Albanian leadership. Milosevic must come to the table
seriously, without preconditions. That is the path to peace and
stability in Kosovo, and the United States must do all it can to push
the parties down that path.
If Kosovo explodes, and it must not be allowed to, it could easily
set off a chain reaction leading to wider conflict in the Balkans. For
moral and strategic reasons, we cannot let that happen. The stakes are
too high, and they involve real, vital United States national
interests. The Nickles resolution and its provisions is the right place
to start, and I call upon all of my colleagues to support it.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Hagel). The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I wish to join with my colleagues,
Senator Lieberman, Senator Biden, and others who have spoken in favor
of this resolution. I apologize for being detained. The Budget
Committee is in a markup, and we had several votes, so I was not able
to be here.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the following individual
Senators be added as cosponsors: Senators Kerrey, D'Amato, Kyl,
Abraham, Grams, Wellstone, and Inhofe.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, this resolution is a bipartisan
resolution which several of us have worked on for the last few days. I
thank my friends and colleagues, particularly Senator Lieberman, who
worked on this, Senator Levin, Senator Biden, and other colleagues,
Senator Lott and his staff. We wanted to speak out strongly and condemn
the atrocities that have happened recently in Kosovo, not condemning
the Serbian people but, frankly, condemning the Serbian leadership and
primarily that of Mr. Milosevic. The killings that have happened
recently, which culminated in the loss of life of at least 60 people
including women and children who were slaughtered by their special
police forces, are an atrocity. It needs to be condemned, and we need
united action.
This resolution condemns the slaughter, it condemns the atrocities
that have happened recently, and it also calls upon the United States
and the world community to act together to take action to see that it
does not happen again.
The administration was in the process of actually reducing sanctions
to the Serbian Government, to Mr. Milosevic. They have now postponed
lifting those sanctions.
We also in this legislation say that the United States should freeze
funds of the Governments of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and
Serbia if the Government of Serbia fails to comply by March 25, 1998,
with the terms set forth by the contact group. I think that will have
some impact. I think that will get his attention.
He has been a very difficult person to deal with. Some of us have met
with Mr. Milosevic. I met with him in 1990, along with Senator Dole,
Senator Mack, and others. And I will not forget this individual. We
wanted to visit Kosovo. We did visit Kosovo. But I remember Mr.
Milosevic didn't want us to visit Kosovo, and he went to great lengths
to see that we wouldn't go, but we did go. We were greeted by thousands
of individuals, mostly Albanians, who wanted to see us and also express
to us their desire to have some degree of autonomy, their desire to
have some degree of freedom, which was being denied to them at that
time by the Serbian leadership, denied in many, many forms--denied in
the press, denied in employment; they were persecuted; they were
prosecuted; they were harassed. And we have known ever since
[[Page S2208]]
then that this area had the potential to explode and to cause
significant pain and carnage for a lot of innocent people.
So, Mr. President, this resolution which has overwhelming bipartisan
support I hope will extend a good, strong signal to the Milosevic
government that they need to join the community of nations, they need
to stop ethnic cleansing now.
They need to stop ethnic cleansing now. I think there is strong
support, not only for this statement, not only for the sanctions that
are called for in this legislation, but I hope across the international
community there will be an outrage expressed if there is not a change
in behavior by the Milosevic government.
I thank my colleagues for their support for this resolution. I
understand--I believe, just for the information of our colleagues, that
we expect to vote on this resolution at 6 o'clock, and I hope we will
have a unanimous vote as well.
Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, for the information of all Senators, I
said just a few minutes ago I thought there would be a vote at 6
o'clock. In just a moment I will be yielding back the time and we will
have the rollcall vote immediately. Staffs might indicate that to their
Senators. We will have the vote in just a couple of minutes.
I thank and compliment Senator Dodd of Connecticut because he
likewise was working on a resolution. This resolution was an effort by
several of us who felt we needed to express condemnation towards the
outrageous behavior of Mr. Milosevic. Senator Dodd had a resolution, I
had a resolution, others were working on them, so we had a good
bipartisan effort so the Senate would speak in an united fashion
condemning these recent actions. I thank him for his support.
Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I think it is very important that we get
something in the Record here in terms of this Kosovo resolution so that
it would be abundantly clear later on that it cannot be misconstrued as
to being supportive in any way at the present time or in the future of
any type of military action in Kosovo or anyplace in that area.
I am very much concerned over what has happened in Bosnia. I am
concerned about our state of readiness--or lack of readiness, I should
say--and I certainly feel that if there is one factor that is
contributing to our state of readiness, or lack of readiness, it is our
activities in Bosnia. Of course, we knew back when we passed the
resolution to send troops to Bosnia that our resolution of disapproval
died by only three votes, and there was a guarantee by the President of
the United States that it would be a 12-month operation, which would
cost approximately $1.2 billion. Now it is passing through $8 billion
and it looks like it is going to be ongoing.
As a result of that, we are not able to support ground troops should
they be called upon in such areas as Iraq, because we are consuming 100
percent of our capability to logistically support ground troops in
Bosnia. Specifically, the 21st TACOM in Germany is at over 100 percent
capacity, just supporting the logistics support of a ground operation
going through into Bosnia. The 86th airlift in Ramstein is absorbed
totally with taking care of the air operation to support Bosnia. If
there is anything our country cannot afford, it is any type of
expansion of that support to any other country in that legion or
anyplace else that is going to use those assets.
While I am an original cosponsor of this resolution, I want to be
sure to condemn Milosevic and the atrocities that are committed and
have been committed in Kosovo, and I want to make it abundantly clear
that there are many of us who are supporting this resolution who will
oppose any future attempt to send any type of military operation into
Kosovo.
I yield the floor.
Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, not seeing any other Senators on the
floor who wish to speak on this issue, I will yield back the remainder
of my time and ask for the yeas and nays on the resolution.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The yeas and nays have already been ordered.
Mr. NICKLES. I thank the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. All time has expired. The question is on
agreeing to S. Con. Res. 85.
The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Florida (Mr. Mack) is
necessarily absent.
I further announce that if present and voting, the Senator from
Florida (Mr. Mack) would vote ``yea.''
Mr. FORD. I announce that the Senator from Hawaii (Mr. Inouye) is
necessarily absent.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Collins). Are there any other Senators in
the Chamber who desire to vote?
The result was announced, yeas 98, nays 0, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 37 Leg.]
YEAS--98
Abraham
Akaka
Allard
Ashcroft
Baucus
Bennett
Biden
Bingaman
Bond
Boxer
Breaux
Brownback
Bryan
Bumpers
Burns
Byrd
Campbell
Chafee
Cleland
Coats
Cochran
Collins
Conrad
Coverdell
Craig
D'Amato
Daschle
DeWine
Dodd
Domenici
Dorgan
Durbin
Enzi
Faircloth
Feingold
Feinstein
Ford
Frist
Glenn
Gorton
Graham
Gramm
Grams
Grassley
Gregg
Hagel
Harkin
Hatch
Helms
Hollings
Hutchinson
Hutchison
Inhofe
Jeffords
Johnson
Kempthorne
Kennedy
Kerrey
Kerry
Kohl
Kyl
Landrieu
Lautenberg
Leahy
Levin
Lieberman
Lott
Lugar
McCain
McConnell
Mikulski
Moseley-Braun
Moynihan
Murkowski
Murray
Nickles
Reed
Reid
Robb
Roberts
Rockefeller
Roth
Santorum
Sarbanes
Sessions
Shelby
Smith (NH)
Smith (OR)
Snowe
Specter
Stevens
Thomas
Thompson
Thurmond
Torricelli
Warner
Wellstone
Wyden
NOT VOTING--2
Inouye
Mack
The concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 85) was agreed to.
The preamble was agreed to.
The concurrent resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:
S. Con. Res. 85
Whereas ethnic Albanians constitute ninety percent of the
population of the province of Kosovo;
Whereas the human rights situation in Kosovo has recently
deteriorated, culminating in the killing of more than 70
ethnic Albanians, including innocent women and children, by
Serbian police and paramilitary forces controlled by Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic;
Whereas Serbian authorities controlled by Milosevic have
attempted to thwart efforts by international forensic experts
to determine the cause of death of recent victims by burying
the dead against the wishes of their families;
Whereas the current conflict in Kosovo threatens to
reignite war in the Balkans, and is thereby a potential
threat to regional peace and security;
Whereas the six-nation Contact Group established to monitor
the situation in the former Yugoslavia has requested that the
Serbian authorities controlled by Milosevic grant
International Red Cross personnel access to areas where
recent violence and killing have been reported;
Whereas the Contact Group has called upon Milosevic to
withdraw special police units from Kosovo and enter into
unconditional negotiations with ethnic Albanian political
leaders in order to find a peaceful political solution to the
conflict or face additional international sanctions;
Whereas a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Kosovo
must respect the rights of members of all ethnic and
religious groups in Kosovo, all of whose representatives
should be involved in negotiations about the resolution of
that conflict;
It is the sense of the Senate (the House of Representatives
concurring) that--
(1) The United States should condemn the Serbian government
controlled by Slobodan Milosevic in the strongest possible
terms for the gross human rights violations against its
citizens, including the indiscriminate use of Serbian
paramilitary police units against the Albanian population of
Kosovo;
(2) The United States should condemn any terrorist actions
by any group or individual in Kosovo;
(3) The international community should respond
affirmatively to the call of the Contact Group for the
imposition of broad-based sanctions against the government of
Serbia
[[Page S2209]]
if it fails to prevent additional atrocities by the police
and paramilitary units under its control or does not
otherwise comply immediately with the terms set forth by the
Contact Group;
(4) The United States should freeze funds of the
governments of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Serbia
if the government of Serbia fails to comply by March 25,
1998, with the terms set forth by the Contact Group;
(5) Pursuant to the terms set forth by the Contact Group,
the United States should demand that the Serbian government
and the ethnic Albanian leadership and the representatives of
all ethnic and religious groups in Kosovo immediately begin
unconditional talks to achieve a peaceful resolution to the
conflict in Kosovo and to provide for the exercise of the
legitimate civil and political rights of all persons in
Kosovo.
(6) The United States should demand that international
human rights monitors, especially personnel of the
International Red Cross who were forced to withdraw from
Kosovo, be allowed to return immediately to Kosovo in order
to be able to report on all human rights violations.
Mr. COVERDELL. I move to reconsider the vote.
Mr. COATS. I move to lay it on the table.
The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
Mr. COVERDELL. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call.
Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as if
in morning business.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
____________________