[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 152 (Tuesday, November 2, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S13675-S13676]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           THUGGERY IN KOSOVO

  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I rise today to condemn in the strongest 
manner possible the anti-democratic violence that continues in Kosovo. 
This violence takes many forms, the most widely publicized of which is 
attacks by ethnic Albanians on Serbs and other minority groups in the 
province. KFOR and the U.N. Mission must stamp out these attacks 
immediately.
  What has received less media attention is the intimidation, and 
occasional violence, within the ethnic Albanian

[[Page S13676]]

community. Recently there were public threats against the lives of two 
of Kosovo's most respected journalists, Veton Surroi and Baton Haxhiu, 
editors of the newspaper ``Koha Ditore.''
  On my trip to Kosovo eight weeks ago, I met with Mr. Surroi. He had 
already spoken out against violence against Kosovo's Serbs and was 
already receiving private threats as a result. Mr. Surroi is a worldly, 
courageous democrat--exactly the sort of person that Kosovo needs to 
achieve genuine democracy.
  During the same trip, I also met with Hashim Thaqi, political leader 
of the Kosovo Liberation Army. I told Mr. Thaqi that he and his forces 
would have to submit unconditionally to civilian authority and respect 
the rights of all political parties, ethnic groups, and individuals in 
Kosovo.
  With this as background, Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that 
an open letter published in Kosova Sot on October 29, 1999 by James R. 
Hooper, President of the Balkan Action Council, to Mr. Thaqi appear in 
the Record after my remarks.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  (See exhibit 1.)
  Mr. Hooper, incidentally, testified before the Foreign Relations 
Committee earlier this year and is considered to be one of this 
country's most knowledgeable experts on the Balkans.
  Mr. President, those of us in the Congress who supported the 
legitimate rights of the people of Kosovo to escape the brutality of 
Slobodan Milosevic will not stand idly by and watch a Serbian 
tyrannical master be replaced by an ethnic Albanian one.
  As Mr. Hooper's eloquent letter makes clear, Mr. Thaqi and the other 
leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army must immediately and forcefully 
speak out against the thuggery that is afflicting the province and take 
measures to eradicate it.
  Mr. President, if they do not, they will lose the support of the 
international community. And without that support, they themselves have 
no political future.
  I thank the Chair and yield the floor.

                                                 October 29, 1999.
       Open Letter to Hashim Thaqi:  I am deeply troubled by the 
     public threats against Veton Surroi and Baton Haxhiu of Koha 
     Ditore that recently appeared in Kosovapress, the media organ 
     associated with your organization. Surroi and Haxhiu are 
     viewed in the United States and Europe as two of the most 
     prominent supporters of democracy and free speech in Kosovo. 
     If they are at risk, it means that Kosovo's hopes for 
     democracy and free speech are jeopardized as well.
       Your unwillingness to immediately condemn such extreme 
     attacks on two outstanding representatives of Kosovo's civil 
     society suggests that you hold a vision of Kosovo's political 
     future in which those who democratically express differences 
     of opinion will not be tolerated, and dissent will be harshly 
     disciplined.
       This in turn projects to your fellow citizens an anti-
     democratic attitude that is intolerable. And it conveys the 
     impression to the international community that you and some 
     of your former KLA colleagues maintain a hidden agenda for 
     Kosovo that is far from democratic.
       I want to make one thing absolutely clear: I am convinced 
     there will be no support among Kosovo's friends around the 
     world, including me, for the replacement of a Serbian 
     dictatorship by an ethnic Albanian copy. If Kosovo's future 
     is not to be democratic, then it will not likely be 
     independent either. Independence must be earned in the 
     democratic political arena as well as on the battlefield. 
     Support among the American people and their elected 
     representatives and government for the people of Kosovo would 
     disappear rapidly if Kosovo moved in non-democratic 
     directions.
       Unfortunately, the actions of some who support you, and 
     your own apparent indifference and inaction in the face of 
     the killing of Kosovo citizens, are already jeopardizing the 
     continuation of that support. The pattern of violence against 
     Kosovo Serbs appears to reflect in part an organized effort 
     by some in the former KLA to expel all Serbs from Kosovo. The 
     murder of elderly Serbs and unarmed villagers evokes an 
     atmosphere of terror in which innocent minorities are 
     brutalized by those with the power to dispense victor's 
     ``justice.''
       A Kosovo in which the rights of non-Albanian minorities are 
     routinely violated is not likely to prove respectful of 
     Albanians whose views do not fit those of the prevailing 
     forces. After all, this is the model Belgrade used for over 
     ten years. A mono-ethnic Kosovo forcibly cleansed of its 
     minorities through violence is unlikely to be a democratic 
     Kosovo.
       While you have spoken out against the killings of ethnic 
     Serbs in the past, you have taken few serious steps to rein 
     in those who are organizing the violence. I strongly urge you 
     to take determined action to remove suspicions that you 
     condone the violence against Kosovo's non-Albanian minorities 
     and to condemn the threats to Veton Surroi and Baton Haxhiu.

                                                 James Hooper,

                                               Executive Director,
                                            Balkan Action Council.

     

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