[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.

                          ____________________