[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 99 (Wednesday, July 26, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7630-S7637]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE BALKANS MATTER
Mr. VOINOVICH. Mr. President, the Balkans, with Gavrilo Princip's
assassination of Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand in Sarajevo,
Bosnia in 1914, started the devastation of World War I. World War II
had deep ties to the region as well. The Truman doctrine, the basis of
American policy throughout the cold war, began with President Truman's
decision to support anti-Communist forces in Greece and Turkey, again,
in the Balkans. To deal with the historic threat to peace, security and
prosperity the Balkans poses, the United States and Europe made a
commitment in the aftermath of the Kosovo crisis to integrate the
region into the broader European community. This commitment is
consistent with the pillar that has bound the United States and Europe
since the end of World War II--a belief in the peaceful influence of
stable democracies based on the rule of law, respect for human rights
and support for a market economy in Europe.
However, the Balkans continue to be unstable. Slobodan Milosevic
constantly stirs trouble in Kosovo and Montenegro. The minority
communities of Kosovo are suffering under a systematic effort by
extremist ethnic Albanians to force them out. Moderate Albanians in
Kosovo are threatened for simply selling bread to a member of the Serb
community. As long as this instability remains, the shared European and
American goal of a whole and free Europe will not become a reality.
Inclusion of the Balkans in the European community of democracies
would promote our Nation's strategic interests. By providing a series
of friendly nations south from Hungary to Greece and east from Italy to
the Black Sea, we would be in a much better position to deter regional
crises and respond to them should they occur. The link to the Black Sea
would also provide a link into central Asia in the event that the
protection of our national security interests were ever threatened in
this area.
The U.S. and the EU account for more than 30 percent of world trade.
The EU receives nearly 25 percent of our total exports and is our
largest export market for agricultural products. The nations of the
Balkans, due to their proximity to the EU's common market, have
tremendous potential for American investors and businesses to expand
these trading ties. Additionally, many in the Balkans have excellent
educational backgrounds and work experience that would be invaluable to
an American investor. Many nations currently being considered for EU
membership began their transition from command economies in a much
worse position than the nations of southeastern Europe. If these
nations can make enough progress to be considered for EU membership in
the short-term, surely Croatia, Macedonia, Romania, and Bulgaria can as
well.
While we have done much as a country to respond to human suffering
around the world in recent years, these efforts are made after the
fact. This is a mistake that reflects the Clinton administration's lack
of foresight. In Kosovo, for example, our lack of preparation for the
refugees created by Milosevic's aggression was inexcusable. To prevent
this type of tragedy in the Balkans again--the refugees, the
homelessness, the starvation--we must remain involved in the region.
I believe that the following steps should be taken to advance our
goal of an integrated, whole, and free Europe:
NATO and EU membership--The nations of southeastern Europe must be
[[Page S7631]]
involved in these institutions to ensure their long-term peace,
security, and prosperity. However, invitations for membership should
only be offered once the nations have met the established membership
criteria;
Implementation of the Stability Pact--The Pact, initiated by the
Europeans to encourage democracy, security, and economic development in
the region, must be fully implemented. There has been much talk and
promises made about the Pact. Now is the time for action. The Europeans
must begin to build the infrastructure projects they have promised in
the region.
Open European markets--The Europeans have made a commitment to
integrate the region into the broader European community. Lowering
tariffs on the import of goods from the region would do much to
encourage needed foreign investment. Investment, in turn, would speed
development which would lead to the integration for which the Europeans
have called.
To make these initiatives work, the Clinton administration must show
more leadership than they have since the Kosovo crisis began. With the
debacle of Bosnia in its background, coupled with the failed policies
for the region over the last 18 months, our record in the region has
been dismal. Implementing the above plan will begin to better this
record.
the situation in the balkans
Mr. President, over the Fourth of July recess, I traveled with a
delegation of my House and Senate colleagues to Southeast Europe where
I attended the annual Parliamentary assembly Meeting of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Bucharest,
Romania.
In addition, while I was in Southeast Europe, I joined several of my
House colleagues on a trip to Kosovo and Croatia to get an update on
the situation there. I met with UN officials, Serb and Albanian
leaders, KFOR commanders, and our American troops, and particularly
soldiers from Ohio who are stationed in Kosovo.
I have traveled to the Balkans region three times this year to assess
the situation in the region from a political, military and humanitarian
point of view.
Besides my most recent trip, I traveled to Croatia, Macedonia, Kosovo
and Brussels, Belgium in February and in May, I attended the annual
meeting of the NATO Parliament Conference in Budapest, Hungary, and
visited Slovenia as well. Based on the observations that I made, I
would like to bring the Senate up to date on the current situation in
southeastern Europe, particularly in Croatia and Kosovo.
While I was in Croatia this past February, I had the privilege to be
the first Member of the United States Congress to personally
congratulate Mr. Stipe Mesic on his being elected President of Croatia.
During my trip earlier this month, I had a chance to spend time with
President Mesic, along with my colleagues from the House of
Representatives, and, again, hear his vision for the future of Croatia.
We also had an opportunity to meet with Prime Minister Racan, who
along with President Mesic, is committed to providing to the Croatian
people, a government that abides by the rule of law; respects human
rights--particularly minority rights; adheres to the goals of a market
economy; seeks the ultimate entrance into the European Union and NATO;
and pledges to return minority refugees that were ethnically cleansed
out of Croatia. This commitment was supported by members of the
Croatian Parliament and acknowledged by members of the Serb minority,
who are anxious to see the commitment carried out.
I am optimistic about the future of Croatia with its new leadership.
Following the December, 1999 death of Croatia's ultra-nationalist
President, Franjo Tudjman, Croatia's future was uncertain as far as the
West was concerned.
However, the changes that have occurred since the establishment of a
new government less than six months ago are stunning. I believe that
the new government of President Mesic and Prime Minister Racan will
ultimately be successful in guiding Croatia to EU and NATO membership.
However, the legancy of Tudjman and his ruling elite--who we are just
now learning were a bunch of thieves--poses some serious challenges for
the ``new'' Croatia.
Tudjman drove Croatia deep into debt to a variety of international
financial institutions while he and his henchmen ``cleaned-out'' the
national treasury for their own personal gain. Because of Tudjman's
mismanagement, President Mesic and Prime Minister Racan are facing a
situation where their nation's economy is struggling, and they have
little help available from outside creditors because of Tudjman's
action.
These economic problems have an impact on another major challenge the
new government is facing--the return of refugees. As my colleagues may
remember, the Balkan wars of the 1990s created hundreds of thousands of
refugees.
These refugees left their homes, abandoned nearly all of their
possessions and took to the roads to avoid the bloodshed of ethnic
hatred. In order for these people to go back and reclaim their homes
and get on with their lives, there must be something to go back to--
jobs, especially. There are few areas of Croatia today where jobs are
plentiful enough to absorb thousands of returning refugees, which
underscores the importance of reinvigorating the Croatian economy.
Despite these problems, I am very optimistic about the future of
Croatia if President Mesic and Prime Minister Racan continue to lead
their nation towards European integration. I am pleased that the United
States is supporting the new Croatian leadership with financial,
diplomatic and military assistance. I am also pleased that NATO has
invited Croatia to become a member of the ``Partnership for Peace''
program.
Mr. President, as I think back to last year, to the time when this
nation was engaged in an air war over Kosovo, the President, the
Secretary of State, world leaders and the international media all
brought to our attention the ethnic cleansing that was being
perpetrated by Slododan Milosevic's Serbian military and paramilitary
forces against the Albanian people in Kosovo.
During the height of the air war, President Clinton, in the Times of
London, was quoted as saying ``we are in Kosovo because Europe's worst
demagogue has once again moved from angry words to unspeakable
violence.'' Further, the President stated, ``the region cannot be
secure with a belligerent tyrant in its midst.''
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, before the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee claimed ``there is a butcher in NATO's backyard,
and we have committed ourselves to stopping him. History will judge us
harshly if we fail.''
Words such as these were meant to back-up our actions in Kosovo and
explain to the American people the moral imperative of engaging in a
U.S.-led NATO air war over Kosovo.
In this effort to protect the innocent civilian Kosovo Albanian
community from the devastation of Slobodan Milosevic and his Serb
forces, few realized at the time that the United States had stumbled
across a civil war in progress. A minority of Kosovo Albanians, under
the leadership and flag of the Kosovo Liberation Army, the KLA, were
pursuing their dream of an ethnically pure Kosovo, dominated by
Albanians and independent from Serbia. These extremists were willing to
resort to violence to achieve this dream.
On the other hand, Serbia and Slobodan Milosevic did not want to let
this province break away, because Kosovo is very important to their
history, culture, and religion.
Let me be clear on this. None of these circumstances in any way
excuses the devastation the Serb forces brought to the ethnic Albanian
community of Kosovo. The systematic plan, hatched by Milosevic, his
wife and their inner circle of thugs, to instill fear through rape,
torture, and murder was designed to drive the ethnic Albanian community
out of Kosovo. Their plan was evil in its inception and execution.
The United States and our NATO allies vowed to put an end to this
tragedy. Through our combined military strength, we were able to force
Milosevic to withdraw his troops from Kosovo, making it safe for
Kosovar Albanians to return to their homes.
And now that the air war in the Balkans has been over for a little
more than a year, most Americans assume that the situation in
Yugoslavia is now
[[Page S7632]]
under control and that Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo have put aside
their differences, declared peace and are working towards establishing
a cooperative society.
How I wish that was true.
In fact, the reason I have come to the floor today is to make my
colleagues and this nation aware what many in the European community
already know, and that is, ethnic cleansing is being carried out in
Kosovo today.
In the wake of the air war, a backlash of violence is now being
perpetrated against minority groups in Kosovo, including Serbs, Romas,
and moderate Albanians who are now trying to rebuild Kosovo. They have
been attacked and killed by more radical, revenge-driven elements in
the Albanian community, their homes and businesses have been burned and
Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries--some hundreds of years old--
have been desecrated and destroyed.
I ask unanimous consent to print in the Record a document which
summarizes the incidents of arson and murder that have occurred in
recent months in Kosovo. These numbers were prepared by the OSCE, which
is known for its independence.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
A report released on June 9, 2000 provides recent numbers
associated with violent crime that continues to threaten
peace and reconciliation efforts in Kosovo. The report,
UNHCR/OSCE Update on the Situation of Ethnic Minorities in
Kosovo, provides details on the three most prevalent crimes
affecting minorities in Kosovo since January 2000. They are
as follows:
Arson, against
Serbs, 105 cases
Roma, 20
Muslim Slavs, 5
Albanians, 73
Persons of unknown ethnicity, 40
Aggravated assault, against
Serbs, 49 cases
Roma, 2
Muslim Slavs, 2
Albanians, 90
Persons of unknown ethnicity, 9
Murder, against
Serbs, 26 cases
Roma, 7
Muslim Slavs, 2
Albanians, 52
persons of unknown ethnicity, 8
According to the report, lack of security and freedom of
movement remain the fundamental problems affecting minority
communities in Kosovo. Though the Serbian population has been
the minority group most affected by criminal activity, the
ethnic Albanian community continues to be subject to serious
violent attacks on a regular basis.
Mr. VOINOVICH. Mr. President, in addition, Bishop Kyr Artemije, a
leader of the Kosovar Serbs, presented similar statistics documenting
the violence and bloodshed that has been carried out in Kosovo since
the end of the war in testimony he gave before the Helsinki Commission
this past February. His statistics were updated and verified at a
recent meeting that I and several of my House colleagues had with the
Bishop over the Fourth of July recess in Kosovo.
I ask unanimous consent that Bishop Artemije's February testimony be
printed in the Record following my remarks.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
(See exhibit 1.)
Mr. VOINOVICH. Mr. President, in addition, a July 3 article written
by Steven Erlanger for the New York Times, discusses the observations
Dennis McNamara, the U.N. special envoy for humanitarian affairs in
Kosovo, had regarding the status of the situation in Kosovo today,
particularly how minorities have been treated since the end of the air
war and how minorities are being pushed out of Kosovo in a continuous
and organized manner.
McNamara is quoted as saying that:
(this) violence against the minorities has been too
prolonged and too widespread not to be systematic.
McNamara goes on to say;
We can't easily say who's behind it, but we can say we have
not seen any organized effort to stop it or any effort to
back up the rhetoric of tolerance from Albanian leaders with
any meaningful action.
The genocide that was inflicted upon thousands of Albanians is
absolutely inexcusable and totally reprehensible. Crimes that are
perpetrated against innocent civilians must always be condemned and
those who carry out such acts must be prosecuted. That is why I do not
understand why the President, the Secretary of State, and others in
this administration have not been as vocal about the ethnic cleansing
that is now being perpetrated as they were last year.
In fact, the condemnation for the ethnic cleansing that is now
occurring in Kosovo is virtually nonexistent on the part of this
administration. I am deeply troubled by their silence.
Because I have been following this matter so closely since the
conclusion of the air campaign, I have had the opportunity to have a
number of off-the-record, informal conversations with people both
inside and outside of our Government. While I am reluctant to share
this with my colleagues, I feel that I must. There is a feeling by many
who are following the ongoing ethnic cleansing in Kosovo that there are
some in our Administration who believe that the Serb community in
Kosovo is simply getting what they are due.
In other words, the murders, arson, harassment and intimidation that
extremist members of the Kosovo Albanian community are committing
against the Kosovo Serb community should be expected and accepted given
what the Serbs did to the Albanians.
A July 17 article written by Steven Erlanger of the New York Times
makes this point as well. It describes how U.N. director of Kosovo
administration, Bernard Kouchner, has been working to foster peace and
stability among Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo. He points out that no
one is paying much attention now that the tables have turned.
Kouchner says:
I'm angry that world opinion has changed so quickly. They
were aware before of the beatings and the killings of
Albanians, but now they say, ``There is ethnic cleansing of
the Serbs.'' But it is not the same--it's revenge.
And McNamara makes the same point. He says:
There was from the start an environment of tolerance for
intolerance and revenge. There was no real effort or interest
in trying to deter or stop it. There was an implicit
endorsement of it by everybody--by the silence of the
Albanian political leadership and by the lack of active
discouragement of it by the West.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that these two New York Times
articles be printed in the Record at the conclusion of my remarks.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
(See exhibit 2.)
Mr. VOINOVICH. The United States must not now--nor ever--condone this
revenge approach in Kosovo in either thought, word or deed. We must
maintain and promote our values as a nation--a respect for human
rights, freedom of religion, freedom from harassment, intimidation or
violence.
If this administration, and the next, does not acknowledge and
seriously address the plight of Kosovo Serbs and other minorities in
Kosovo, then I think that within a year's time there will not be any
minorities still in Kosovo. To prevent this, I believe we should be
more aggressive towards protecting minority rights in Kosovo
immediately.
If we do not, I am concerned that the extremist members of the Kosovo
Albanian community will continue to push out all minority groups until
they have achieved their dream of an Albanian-only Kosovo. In other
words, if we do nothing, there will be many who will argue that the
ethnic cleansing of Kosovo was tacitly endorsed by the lack of
leadership in the international community.
It is important to note that the problem does not rest with our KFOR
troops, for they have been restricted in what they can and cannot do.
These men and women are doing a terrific job under difficult
circumstances. I know what they're going through because, last
February, I walked through the village of Gnjilane with some of our
soldiers, and saw first-hand the restrictions they were under.
While I was in Kosovo over the 4th of July recess, I had the
opportunity to visit our troops at Camp Bondsteel. Every soldier that I
spoke with talked of their commitment to their mission and ensuring the
safety of the citizens of Kosovo. I fully believe that it is because of
these troops that there is not further violence.
I do have hope that we can bring an end to the bloodshed in
Southeastern
[[Page S7633]]
Europe, and I believe that there are some within the Kosovo Albanian
community who can prevail upon the better instincts of their fellow man
in a commitment towards peace.
Earlier this year, at the headquarters of the United Nations Mission
in Kosovo, UNMIK, in Pristina, Kosovo, I had the opportunity to sit
down and meet with several key leaders of the Kosovo Albanian community
and representatives on the Interim Administrative Council--Dr. Ibrahim
Rugova, Mr. Hashim Thaci, and Dr. Rexhep Qosja.
All three leaders made a very clear promise to me that they were
committed to a multi-ethnic, democratic Kosovo, one that would respect
the rights of all ethnic minorities. I was heartened to hear these
comments. This commitment could serve as the basis for long-term peace
and stability in Kosovo.
I said that they could go down in history as truly great men were
they to make this commitment a reality. I explained that the historic
cycle of violence in Kosovo must end and minority rights must be
respected--including the sanctity of churches and monasteries.
I also point out to them that ``revenge begets revenge'' and unless
Albanians and Serbs learned to live in peace with one another, violence
would continue to plague their children, their grandchildren and
generations yet unborn.
It is my hope that they will realize that they and their actions will
be keys to the future of Kosovo.
We all want peace to prevail in the Balkans, but we have a long way
to go for that to happen. I believe we should listen to the words of
His Holiness, Patriarch Pavle, the head of the Serbian Orthodox church,
who states, ``in Kosovo and Metohija there will be no victory of
humanity and justice while revenge and disorder prevail. No one has a
moral right to celebrate victory complacently for as long as one kind
of evil replaces another, and the freedom of one people rests upon the
slavery of another.''
The Patriarch's call for leadership in protecting all citizens in
Kosovo is one that this nation should heed if peace and stability in
Kosovo is our goal.
At the OSCE meeting in Bucharest, I introduced a resolution on
Southeastern Europe that had the support of several of my legislative
colleagues from the U.S. The main point of the resolution that I
offered was to call to the attention of the OSCE's Parliamentary
Assembly the current situation in Kosovo and Serbia, and made clear the
importance of removing Slobodan Milosevic from power.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the entire text of the
resolution, as passed by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, be printed in
the Record at the conclusion of my remarks.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
(See exhibit 3.)
Mr. VOINOVICH. My resolution put the OSCE, as a body, on record as
condemning the Milosevic regime and insisting on the restoration of
human rights, the rule of law, free press and respect for ethnic
minorities in Serbia. I was pleased that the resolution passed--despite
strong opposition by the delegation from the Russian Federation--and I
am hopeful that it will help re-focus the attention of the
international community on the situation in the Balkans.
In conclusion, Mr. President, I believe that we are approaching a
crossroads in Kosovo with two very different directions that we can
choose.
The first direction--the wrong direction--involves more of the same
of what we have seen in recent months. More bloodshed, more grenade
attacks on elderly minorities as they sit on their porch. More land-
mines on roads traveled by parents taking their children to school.
More intimidation, threats and harassment of minorities walking the
streets in mixed villages and towns. All this would lead to the
continued fleeing of minorities from Kosovo and the establishment of an
Albanian-only Kosovo. Again, ethnic cleansing carried-out under the
nose of NATO and the U.N.
The second direction--the right direction--involves the international
community, led by the United States, protecting the human rights of the
minority communities of Kosovo. With this protection, the minority
groups would feel safe in their homes and be comfortable enough to be
involved in UNMIK municipal elections this fall, a key priority for
UNMIK. Places of historical significance, especially Serbian Orthodox
monasteries, would be safe from destruction from extremists.
Minorities would be safe to travel to the market in their own
communities without needing KFOR protection, something that does not
happen today. Kosovo Albanians who sell goods to minorities would not
be threatened, harmed or killed, again, something that does not happen
today. In short, bloodshed would stop under the watch of the
international community.
And there is encouraging news.
Just this last weekend, at Airlie House in Virginia, leaders of
Kosovo's Serb and Albania communities met under the auspices of the
United States Institute for Peace.
Among other provisions, the representatives agreed to launch a new
initiative--a Campaign Against Violence--whereby the representatives of
both communities agreed to a Pact Against Violence to promote
tolerance, condemn violence, prevent negative exploitation of ethnic
issues, and enable physical integration and political participation by
all. In addition, the communities agreed on two key provisions to help
reduce the power of extremist elements by calling on KFOR and UNMIK to
guard and control more effectively all entry into Kosovo, and
requesting that UNMIK move immediately to start-up a functioning court
and prison system.
Also, the Serb and Albanian representatives agreed on several items
regarding the return of displaced persons and refugees to their homes,
including the recognition that the return of such individuals is a
fundamental right and essential to the future of Kosovo. In order to
facilitate such returns, the parties insist that UNMIK and KFOR pursue
fresh efforts to provide greater security for individuals to return to
their homes, and to expand aid for reconstruction and economic
revitalization in those communities.
They further agreed that a new model of security and law enforcement
is needed, and that the international community must overcome its
differences to that UNMIK and KFOR can take much stronger measures to
carry out their security and law enforcement responsibilities.
Last but not least, the representatives recognize that the
international community will not support a Kosovo cleansed of some of
its ethnic communities. Rather, all these communities must work
together to build a multi-ethnic Kosovo respecting the rights of all
its citizens.
I say ``Amen and Hallelujah'' to the fact that these two communities
can come together and develop such an outline for peace.
There should be a loud voice coming out from this administraiton--the
same loud voice that we heard last year--to the United Nations, to the
UNMIK, and to our NATO Allies that we cannot allow ethnic cleansing of
any kind to continue.
And I just want the administration to know that I am holding them
responsible to make the same commitment to Kosovo now that they made
during the war, specifically, to go in and make sure that NATO, UNMIK,
and KFOR give the same priority to protecting minority rights today.
It is up to the United States to provide the leadership to make sure
that the items that the representatives at Airlie House identified as
important are actually carried out by the UNMIK and by KFOR in
cooperation with the Serb and Albanian communities in Kosovo.
Individually, none of these entities can guarantee peace and
stability in Kosovo. It is only by working together that peace will
occur, and it is the primary reason that the U.S. needs to re-commit
itself to Kosovo.
We, the United States, with our strength and commitment to the
protection of human rights, can largely determine which direction is
taken in Kosovo. It is in our hands to live up to that potential.
It is in our national security interest. It is in our economic
interest in Europe. It is in the interest of peace in the world that we
make that commitment.
I yield the floor.
[[Page S7634]]
Exhibit 1
Statement of Bishop Artemije, Helsinki Commission, Hearing, February
28, 2000, Washington, DC
Mr. Chairman, respected members of Congress, ladies and
gentlemen. It is my distinct pleasure and privilege to be
here with you today and speak about the latest developments
in Kosovo. The last time I spoke here was in February 1998,
just before the war in Kosovo began and on that occasion I
strongly condemned both Milosevic's regime and Albanian
extremists for leading the country into the war.
Unfortunately the war came and so many innocent Albanians and
Serbs suffered in it. Many times we have strongly condemned
the crimes of Milosevic's regime in Kosovo while our Church
in Kosovo supported suffering Albanian civilians and saved
some of them from the hands of Milosevic's paramilitaries.
After the end of Kosovo war and return of Albanian refugees
the repression of Milosevic's undemocratic regime was
supplanted by the repression of extremist Kosovo Albanians
against Serbs and other non-Albanian communities in full view
of international troops. Freedom in Kosovo has not come for
all equally. Therefore Kosovo remains a troubled region even
after 8 months of international peace.
Kosovo Serbs and other non-Albanian groups in Kosovo live
in ghettos, without security; deprived of basic human
rights--the rights of life, free movement and work. Their
private property is being usurped; their homes burned and
looted even 8 months after the deployment of KFOR. Although
Kosovo remained more or less multiethnic during the ten years
of Milosevic's repressive rule, today there is hardly any
multiethnicity at all--in fact the reverse is true. Ethnic
segregation is greater now than almost at any other time in
Kosovo's turbulent history. Not only are Serbs being driven
out from the Province but also the Romas, Slav Moslems,
Croats, Serb speaking Jews and Turks. More than 80 Orthodox
churches have been either completely destroyed or severely
damaged since the end of the war. The ancient churches, many
of which had survived 500 years of Ottoman Moslem rule, could
not survive 8 months of the internationally guaranteed peace.
Regretfully, all this happens in the presence of KFOR and UN.
Kosovo more and more becomes ethnically clean while organized
crime and discrimination against the non-Albanians is
epidemic.
Two thirds of the pre-war Serb population (200,000 people)
fled the province under Albanian pressure. In addition more
than 50,000 Romas, Slav Moslems, Croat Catholics and others
have also been cleansed from Kosovo. More than 400 Serbs have
been killed and nearly 600 abducted by Albanian extremists
during this same period of peace. Tragically, this suffering
of Serbs and other non-Albanians proportionally (with respect
to population) represents more extensive suffering in
peacetime than the Albanian suffering during the war. This is
a tragic record for any post war peace mission, especially
for this mission in which the Western Governments and NATO
have invested so much of their credibility and authority.
Despite the sympathy for all of the suffering of Kosovo
Albanians during the war, retaliation against innocent
civilians cannot be justified in any way. It is becoming more
and more a well-orchestrated nationalist ideology directed
towards achieving the complete ethnic cleansing of the
Province. The extremists believe that without Serbs and their
holy sites in Kosovo independence would then become a fait
accompli. The present repression against non-Albanians is
carried out with the full knowledge of the Albanian leaders.
Sometimes these leaders formally condemn repressive actions
but in reality have not done anything to stop the ongoing
ethnic violence and discrimination. Even more, some of them
are instigating rage against Serbs developing the idea of
collective Serb guilt and branding all remaining Serb
civilians as criminals. There is much evidence that the KLA
leaders bear direct responsibility for the most of the post-
war crimes and acts of violence committed in Kosovo. As soon
as KFOR entered the Province KLA gunmen took over the power
in majority of cities and towns and immediately organized
illegal detention centers for Serbs, Romas and Albanian
``collaborators.'' They began killing people listed as
alleged criminals and seized a large amount of property
previously owned by Serbs and other non-Albanians. KLA groups
and their leaders are directly linked with Albanian mafia
clans and have developed a very sophisticated network of
organized crime, drug smuggling, prostitution, white slavery,
and weapons trading. According to the international press
Kosovo has become Colombia of Europe and a main heroin
gateway for Western Europe. The strategy behind the KLA purge
of Serbs was very simple--quarter by quarter of a city would
be cleansed of Serbs and their property would be either
burned or sold for a high price to Albanian refugees
(including Albanians from Albania and Macedonia who flowed
into the province through unprotected borders along with the
hundreds of thousands of Kosovo refugees). The KLA, although
officially disbanded is still active and their secret police
are continuing their intimidation and executions. Now more
and more of their victims are disobedient Kosovo Albanians
who refuse to pay their ``taxes'' and ``protection money'' to
extremists. The Albanization of Kosovo is proceeding in a way
many ordinary Albanians did not want. The gangsters have
stepped into the vacuum left by the slowness of the West to
adequately instill full control over the Province. Kosovo is
becoming more like Albania: corrupt, anarchic, and ruled by
the gun and the gang.
Serbs and many non-Albanians still do not have access to
hospitals, the University and public services, simply because
they cannot even freely walk in the street. They are
unemployed and confined to life in poverty of their rural
enclaves out of which they can move only under the KFOR
military escort. The Serbian language is completely banished
from the public life. All Serb inscriptions, road signs and
advertisements have been systematically removed and the usage
of Serbian language in Albanian dominated areas is reason
enough for anyone to be shot right on the spot. Thousands of
Serb books in public libraries have been systematically
burned while all unguarded Serb cultural monuments and
statues have been torn down and destroyed.
The Serbs who remain in major cities are in the worst
situation of all. Out of 40,000 pre-war Serb population in
Pristina today there remain only 300 elderly people who live
in a kind of house arrest. They cannot go into the street
without military protection and only thanks to KFOR soldiers
and humanitarian organizations do they receive food and
medicines, which they are not allowed to buy in Albanian
shops. Almost all Serb shops are now in Albanian hands. In
other areas Albanians are greatly pressuring Serbs to sell
their property under threats and extortion. Those who refuse
usually have their houses torched or are killed as an example
to other Serbs. Grenade attacks on Serb houses; on few
remaining Serb shops and restaurants force more and more
Serbs to leave Kosovo. If this repression and persecution is
continued unabated it is likely that soon most of the
remaining Serbs will also be forced to flee Kosovo.
On one hand, KFOR's presence in Kosovo has given Albanian
extremists free hands to do what that want because one of
KFOR priorities has been so far to avoid direct confrontation
with the extremists in order to escape possible casualties.
On the other hand we cannot but say that if KFOR had not been
in Kosovo during this rampage of hatred, not a single Serb or
Serb church would have survived. We sincerely appreciate the
efforts of many men and women from all over the world who are
trying to bring peace to Kosovo even with in a rather narrow
political framework in which KFOR must act.
An especially volatile situation is in Kosovska Mitrovica
the only major city where a substantial number of Serbs
remain. During the most intensive wave of ethnic cleansing in
June and July many Serb internally displaced persons from the
south found refuge in the north of the province in the
Mitrovica area. In order to survive they organized a kind of
self-protection network and prevented the KLA and mafia to
enter the northern fifth of the city together with civilian
Albanian returnees. KFOR, aware that the free access of
Albanian extremist groups of Mitrovica would cause a Serb
exodus, blocked the bridge connecting the southern and
northern part of the city. Albanian extremists have since
then made many attempts to make their way into the northern
part of Mitrovica saying that they wanted undivided and free
city. Serbs on the other hand state that they are ready for a
united city only if Serbs would be allowed to go back to
their homes in the south and elsewhere in Kosovo. Serbs also
hold that only Kosovo residents be allowed to return to their
homes. A few weeks ago, after two terrorist attacks against a
UNHCR bus and a Serb cafe, in which a number of Serbs were
killed and injured, radicalized Serbs began retaliatory
actions against Albanians in the northern part of the city
causing the death of several Albanian innocent citizens and
served to broaden the crisis.
The Mitrovica crisis is not playing out in a void by itself
and must be approached only in the context of the overall
Kosovo situation. The fact remains that after the war
extremists Albanians have not been fully disarmed and have
continued their repression and ethnic cleansing of Serbs and
other non-Albanians wherever and whenever they have had
opportunity to do so. Unfortunately, such a situation as we
have now in Kosovo has opened a door for the Belgrade regime,
which is ow trying to profit from this situation and
consolidate the division of Mitrovica for their own reasons.
Each Serb victim in Kosovo strengthens Milosevic's position
in Serbia. Albanian extremists on the other hand want to
disrupt the only remaining Serb stronghold in the city in
order to drive the Serbs completely out of Kosovo.
Regretfully, the international community seems not to be
fully aware of the complexity of the Mitrovica problem and
has despite all Albanian crimes and terror in the last 8
months one-sidedly condemned Serbs for this violence.
This skewed view of the problem will only serve to
encourage Albanian extremism, confirm Milosevic's theory of
anti-Serb conspiracies that he uses to solidify his hold on
power and will eventually lead to final exodus of the Serb
community in Kosovo. Milosevic obviously remains at the core
of the problem but he is not the greatest cause of the
current round of violence and purges--the international
community must find ways for controlling Albanian extremists.
We maintain our belief that the present tragedy in Kosovo
is not what Americans wanted when they supported the policy
of
[[Page S7635]]
the Administration to intervene on behalf of suffering
Albanians. In fact international community now faces a
serious failure in Kosovo because it has not managed to
marginalize extremist Albanians while at the same time
Milosevic has been politically strengthened by the bombing
and sanctions (which ordinary Serbs understand as being
directed against innocent civilians). Therefore we expect now
from the international community and primarily from United
States to show more determination in protecting and
supporting Kosovo Serbs and other ethnic groups who suffer
under ethnic Albanian extremists. A way must be found to
fully implement UNSC Resolution 1244 in its whole.
We have a few practical proposals for improving the
situation in Kosovo:
1. KFOR should be more robust in suppressing violence,
organized crime and should more effectively protect the non-
Albanian population from extremists. This is required by the
UNSC Resolution.
2. More International Police should be deployed in Kosovo.
Borders with Macedonia and Albania must be better secured,
and UNMIK should establish local administration with Serbs in
areas where they live as compact population. Judicial system
must become operational as soon as possible. International
judges must be recruited at this stage when Kosovo judges
cannot act impartially due to political pressures.
3. International community must build a strategy to return
displaced Kosovo Serbs and others to their homes soon while
providing better security for them and their religious and
cultural shrines. Post war ethnic cleansing must not be
legalized nor accepted--private and Church property has to be
restored to rightful owners. Law and order must be
established and fully enforced. Without at least an initial
repatriation of Serbs, Romas, Slav Moslems and others Kosovo
elections would be unfair and unacceptable.
4. The International Community, especially, US, should make
clear to Kosovo Albanian leaders that they cannot continue
with the ethnic cleansing under the protectorate of Western
democratic governments. Investment policy and political
support must be conditioned to full compliance by ethnic
Albanian leaders with the UNSC Resolution 1244. KLA militants
must be fully disarmed. The ICTY should launch impartial
investigations on all criminal acts committed both by Serbs
and Albanians.
5. The international community should also support moderate
Serbs in regaining their leading role in the Kosovo Serb
community and thus provide for the conditions for their
participation in the Interim Administrative Kosovo Structure.
Since the cooperation of moderate Serb leaders with KFOR and
UNMIK has not brought visible improvement to the lives of
Serbs in their remaining enclaves, Milosevic's supporters are
gaining more confidence among besieged and frightened Serbs,
which can seriously obstruct the peace process. Moderate
Serbs gathered around Serb National Council need their own
independent media; better communication between enclaves and
other forms of support to make their voice better heard and
understood within their own community. International
humanitarian aid distribution in Serb inhabited areas
currently being distributed more or less through Milosevic's
people who have used this to impose themselves as local
leaders, has to be channeled through the Church and the Serb
National Council humanitarian network.
6. The last but not least, the issue of status must remain
frozen until there is genuine and stable progress in
eliminating violence and introducing democratization not only
in Kosovo but also in Serbia proper and the Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia. It is our firm belief that the question of the
future status of Kosovo must not be discussed between
Kosovo's Albanians and Serbs only, but also with the
participation of the international community and the future
democratic governments of Serbia and FRY and in accordance
with international law and the Helsinki Final Act.
We believe in God and in His providence but we hope that US
Congress and Administration will support our suffering
people, which want to remain where we have been living for
centuries, in the land of our ancestors.
Exhibit 2
U.N. Official Warns of Losing the Peace in Kosovo
(By Steven Erlanger)
As the humane ``pillar'' of the United Nations
administration in Kosovo prepares to shut down, its job of
emergency relief deemed to be over, its director has some
advice for the next great international mission to rebuild a
country: be prepared to invest as much money and effort in
winning the peace as in fighting the war.
Dennis McNamara, the United Nations special envoy for
humanitarian affairs, regional director for the United
Nations high commissioner for refugees and a deputy to the
United Nations chief administrator in Kosovo, Bernard
Kouchner, leaves Kosovo proud of the way the international
community saved lives here after the war, which ended a year
ago.
Mr. McNamara helped to coordinate nearly 300 private and
government organizations to provide emergency shelter, food,
health care and transport to nearly one million Kosovo
Albanian refugees who have returned.
Despite delays in aid and reconstruction, including severe
shortages of electricity and running water, no one is known
to have died here last winter from exposure or hunger. Up to
half of the population--900,000 people a day--was fed by
international agencies last winter and spring, and a program
to clear land mines and unexploded NATO ordnance is
proceeding apace.
But Mr. McNamara, 54, a New Zealander who began his United
Nations refugee work in 1975 with the exodus of the
Vietnamese boat people, is caustic about the continuing and
worsening violence against non-Albanian minorities in Kosovo,
especially the remaining Serbs and Roma, or Gypsies. He says
the United Nations, Western governments and NATO have been
too slow and timid in their response.
``There was from the start an environment of tolerance for
intolerance and revenge,'' he said. ``There was no real
effort or interest in trying to deter or stop it. There was
an implicit endorsement of it by everybody--by the silence of
the Albanian political leadership and by the lack of active
discouragement of it by the West.''
Action was needed, he said, in the first days and weeks,
when the old images of Albanians forced out of Kosovo on
their tractors were replaced by Serbs fleeing Kosovo on their
tractors, and as it became clear that the effort to push
minorities out of Kosovo was continuing and organized.
``This is not why we fought the war,'' Mr. McNamara said.
He noted that in recent weeks there had been a new spate of
comments by Western leaders, including President Clinton,
Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright and the NATO
secretary general, Lord Robertson, warning the Albanians that
the West would not continue its support for Kosovo if
violence against minorities continued at such a pace and in
organized fashion.
But previous warnings and admonitions have not been
followed by any action, Mr. McNamara noted. In general, he
and others suggested, there is simply a tendency to put an
optimistic gloss on events here and to avoid confrontation
with former guerrillas who fought for independence for Kosovo
or with increasingly active gangs of organized criminals.
``This violence against the minorities has been too
prolonged and too widespread not to be systematic,'' Mr.
McNamara said, giving voice to views that he has made known
throughout his time here. ``We can't easily say who's behind
it, but we can say we have not seen any organized effort to
stop it or any effort to back up the rhetoric of tolerance
from Albanian leaders with any meaningful action.''
In the year since NATO took over complete control of Kosovo
and Serbian troops and policemen left the province, there
have been some 500 killings, a disproportionate number of
them committed against Serbs and other minorities.
But there has not been a single conviction. The judicial
system is still not functioning, and local and international
officials here say that witnesses are intimidated or killed
and are afraid to come forward, pressure has been put on some
judges to quit and many of those arrested for murder and
other serious crimes have been released, either because of
lack of prison space or the inability to bring them to trial.
Only recently has the United Nations decided to bring in
international prosecutors and judges, but finding them and
persuading them to come to Kosovo has not been easy. And
foreign governments have been very slow to send the police
officers they promised to patrol the streets.
Now, some 3,100 of a promised 4,800 have arrived, although
Mr. Kouchner wanted 6,000. The big problem, Mr. McNamara
said, is the generally poor quality of the police officers
who have come, some of whom have had to be sent home because
they could neither drive nor handle their weapons. And
coordination between the police and the military has been
haphazard and slow.
``The West should have started to build up institutions of
a civil society from Day 1,'' Mr. McNamara said. ``And there
should have been a wide use of emergency powers by the
military at the beginning to prevent the growth of this
culture of impunity, where no one is punished. I'm a human
rights lawyer, but I'd break the rules to establish order and
security at the start, to get the word out that it's not for
free.''
Similarly, the NATO troops that form the backbone of the
United Nations peacekeeping force here were too cautious
about breaking down the artificial barrier created by the
Serbs in the northern Kosovo town of Mitrovica, Mr. McNamara
said.
Northern Mitrovica is now inhabited almost entirely by
Serbs, marking an informal partition of Kosovo that extends
up to the province's border with the rest of Serbia, creating
a zone where the Yugoslav government of President Slobodan
Milosevic exercises significant control, infuriating Kosovo's
Albanian majority.
``Having allowed Mitrovica to slip away in the first days
and weeks, it's very hard to regain it now,'' Mr. McNamara
said. ``Why wasn't there strong action to take control of
Mitrovica from the outset? We're living with the consequences
of that now.''
In the last two months, as attacks on Serbs have increased
again in Kosovo, Serbs in northern Mitrovica have attacked
United Nations aid workers, equipment of offices, causing Mr.
McNamara to pull aid workers temporarily out of the town.
After promises from the effective leader of the northern
Mitrovica Serbs, Oliver Ivanovic, those workers returned.
[[Page S7636]]
Another significant problem has been the lack of a
``unified command'' of the peacekeeping troops, Mr. McNamara
said. Their overall commander, currently a Spanish general,
cannot order around the troops of constituent countries.
Washington controls the American troops, Paris the French
ones and so on.
And there are no common rules of engagement or behavior in
the various countries' military sectors of Kosovo.
``The disparities in the sectors are real,'' Mr. McNamara
said. And after American troops were stoned as they tried to
aid French troops in Mitrovica last spring, the Pentagon
ordered the American commander here not to send his troops
out of the American sector of Kosovo.
While the Pentagon denies a blanket ban, officers in the
Kosovo peacekeeping operation support Mr. McNamara's
assertion. They say no commanders here want to risk their
troops in the kind of significant confrontation required to
break down the ethnic barriers of Mitrovica.
The United Nations has had difficulties of organization and
financing, Mr. McNamara readily acknowledges. ``but
governments must bear the main responsibility,'' he said,
``Governments decide what the United Nations will be, and
what resources governments commit to the conflict they won't
commit to the peace.''
Governments want to dump problems like Kosovo onto the
United Nations to avoid responsibility, he said. The United
Nations should develop ``a serious checklist'' of
requirements and commitments from governments before it
agrees to another Kosovo, Mr. McNamara said, ``and the U.N.
should be able to say no.''
U.N. Chief in Kosovo Takes Stock of Tough Year
(By Steven Erlanger)
Bernard Kouchner, the emotional chief of the United Nations
administration in Kosovo, has made it through a tumultuous
year.
Last November, when the province's water and power were
almost nonexistent, the West was not providing the money or
personnel it promised and the cold was as profound and bitter
as the ethnic hatred, Mr. Kouchner was in a depression so
deep that his staff thought he might quit.
He spoke darkly then of ``how hard it is to change the
human soul,'' of the quick fatigue of Western leaders who
prosecuted the war with Serbia over Kosovo and had no
interest in hearing about its problematic aftermath, of the
impenetrability of the local Serbs and Albanians, with their
tribal, feudal passions.
``I've never heard an Albanian joke,'' he said sadly,
looking around his dreary office, the former seat of the
Serbian power here. ``Do they have a sense of humor?''
Now, in a blistering summer, Mr. Kouchner's mood has
improved. A French physician who founded Doctors Without
Borders because he became fed up with international
bureaucracy, he is not an international bureaucrat, sometimes
uneasy in his skin. He still goes up and down with the
vagaries of this broken province, with its ramshackle
infrastructure, chaotic traffic and lack of real law or
justice. And without question, he admits, some of those
problems can be laid at his door.
``Of course I'm not the perfect model of a bureaucrat and
an administrator,'' he said. ``But we have succeeded in the
main thing'': stopping the oppression of Kosovo's Albanians
by Belgrade, bringing them home and letting them restart
their lives in freedom.
And yet, he said, ``I have not succeeded in human terms''
with a traumatized population. ``They still hate one another
deeply.''
He paused, and added: ``Here I discovered hatred deeper
than anywhere in the world, more than in Cambodia or Vietnam
or Bosnia. Usually someone, a doctor or a journalist, will
say, `I know someone on the other side.' But here, no. They
had no real relationship with the other community.''
The hatred, he suggested, can be daunting and has plunged
him and his colleagues into despair. ``Sometimes we got tired
and exhausted, and we didn't want a reward, not like that,
but just a little smile,'' he said wanly. ``I'm looking for
moments of real happiness, but you know just now I'm a bit
dry.'' But he is proud that everyone has persisted
nonetheless.
As for himself, he said, ``my only real success is to set
up this administration,'' persuading Albanian and some
Serbian leaders to cooperate with foreign officials and begin
to share some executive responsibility.
When the head of the local Serbian Orthodox Church, Bishop
Kyr Artemije, and the leaders of perhaps half of Kosovo's
Serbs decided to join as observers, ``we were very happy
then,'' he said. ``We were jumping in the air. We believed
then that we were reaching the point of no return.
But even those Serbs left the executive council set up by
Mr. Kouchner, only to return after securing written promises
for better security that have prompted the Albanian Hashim
Thaci, former leader of the separatist Kosovo Liberation
Army, to suspend his own participation.
Bishop Artemije's chief aide, the Rev. Sava Janjic, said
carefully: ``Kouchner has not been serious in his promises,
and the efforts to demilitarize the Kosovo Liberation Army
are very inefficient. But he is sincere, and this written
document is important on its own.''
A senior Albanian politician said Mr. Kouchner was ``the
wrong man for the job,'' which he said required more
forcefulness and less empathy. ``After a year, you still
can't talk of the rule of law.'' Still, the politician said,
``Kouchner's instincts are good--he knew he had to co-opt the
Albanians, that the U.N. couldn't run the place alone.''
Less successful, most officials and analysts interviewed
here said, is Mr. Kouchner's sometimes flighty, sometimes
secretive management of the clumsy international bureaucracy
itself in the year since Secretary General Kofi Annan sent
him here to run the United Nations administration in Kosovo.
Alongside the bureaucrats are the 45,000 troops of the
NATO-led Kosovo Force, known as KFOR, responsible to their
home governments, not to Mr. Kouchner or even to the force's
commander. And while Mr. Kouchner was able to persuade the
former commander, Gen. Klause Reinhardt of Germany, to do
more to help the civilian side, they were both less
successful with Washington, Paris, Bonn, Rome and London.
The affliction known here as ``Bosnian disease''--with
well-armed troops unwilling to take risks that might cause
them harm--has settled into Kosovo, say Mr. Kouchner's aids
and even some senior officers of the United Nations force.
Consequently, some serious problems--like the division of
the northern town of Mitrovica into Serbian and Albanian
halves that also marks the informal partition of Kosovo--
appear likely not to be solved but simply ``managed,'' no
matter how much they embolden Belgrade or undermine the
confidence of Kosovo Albanians in the good will be of their
saviors. It was on the bridge dividing Mitrovica--not in
Paris--that Mr. Kouchner chose to spend his New Year's Eve,
making a hopeful toast, so far in vain, to reconciliation.
Nor will the peacekeeping troops do much to stop organized
crime or confront, in a serious fashion, organized, Albanian
efforts to drive the remaining Serbs out of Kosovo and
prevent the return of those who fled, the officials say.
The discovery last month of some 70 tons of arms, hidden
away by the former Kosovo Liberation Army and not handed over
as promised to the peacekeepers, took no one here by
surprise.
``It was a success,'' Mr. Kouchner said, ``not a
surprise.''
In fact, senior United Nations and NATO officials say, the
existence of the arms cache was known and the timing of the
discovery was a message to the former rebels, who had
recently used some of the weapons, to stop their organized
attacks on Serbs and moderate Albanian politicians.
But few here expect the arrest of former rebel commanders
who are widely suspected of involvement in corruption or
political violence. The reaction may be volatile,
officials say: troops could be attacked and the shaky
political cooperation with the Albanians undermined.
Is the United Nations peacekeeping force too timid? Mr.
Kouchner paused and shrugged. ``Of course,'' he finally said.
``But what can we do? Everything in the international
community works by compromise.''
Foreign policemen are also too timid and take too long with
investigations that never seem to be finished, Mr. Kouchner
says. But at least now, more than 3,100 of the 4,800
international police officers he has been promised--even if
not the 6,000 he wanted--are here, and a Kosovo police
academy is turning out graduates.
One of Mr. Kouchner's biggest regrets is the slow arrival
of the police, which bred a culture of impunity. More than
500 murders have taken place in the year since the United
Nations force took complete control of the province, and no
one has yet been convicted.
There are still only four international judges and
prosecutors in a province where violence and intimidation
mean neither Serbs nor Albanians can administer fair justice.
What depresses him most, Mr. Kouchner says, is the
persistence of ethnic violence even against the innocent and
the caregivers. One of his worst moments came last winter, he
said, when a Serbian obstetrician who cared for women of all
ethnic groups was murdered by Albanians in Gnjilane, in the
sector of Kosovo patrolled by American units of the United
Nations force.
``He was a doctor!'' Mr. Kouchner exclaimed, still
appalled. ``It was the reverse of everything we did with
Doctors Without Borders.''
While Mr. Kouchner says he has put himself alongside ``the
new victims,'' the minority Serbs, he carries with him his
visit to the mass graves of slain Albanians.
``I'm angry that world opinion has changed so quickly,'' he
said. ``They were aware before of the beatings and the
killings of Albanians, but now they say, `There is ethnic
cleansing of the Serbs.' But it is not the same--it's
revenge.''
He does savor the international military intervention on
moral and humane grounds. ``I don't know if we will succeed
in Kosovo,'' he said. ``But already we've won. We stopped the
oppression of the Albanians of Kosovo.''
Mr. Kouchner paused, lost in thought and memory. ``It was
my dream,'' he said softly. ``My grandparents died in
Auschwitz,'' he said, opening a normally closed door. ``If
only the international community was brave enough just to
bomb the railways there,'' which took the Nazis' victims to
the death camp. ``But all the opportunities were missed.''
That, he said, is why he became involved, early on, in
Biafra, the region whose secession touched off the Nigerian
civil war of
[[Page S7637]]
1967-70, in which perhaps one million people died. And it was
what drives him in Kosovo.
Mr. Kouchner, now 60, holds to the healing power of time.
He points to the reconciliation now of Germany and Israel,
and of France and Germany.
``Working with Klaus Reinhardt is a good memory,'' he said.
``He called me his twin brother.'' They both came of age in
the Europe of 1968. ``I'm a Frenchman and he's a German,''
and 50 years ago, he said, ``no one could imagine this.''
``It's much easier to make war than peace,'' Mr. Kouchner
said. ``To make peace takes generations, a deep movement and
a change of the spirit.'' He smiled, looked away. ``It's why
I sometimes want to believe in God.''
Exhibit No. 3
Resolution on Southeastern Europe
The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly,
1. Recalling that conflicts in the former Yugoslavia since
1991 have been marked by open aggression and assaults on
innocent civilian populations, have been largely instigated
and carried out by the regime of Slobodan Milosevic and its
supporters, and have caused the deaths of hundreds of
thousands of people; the rape, illegal detention and torture
of tens of thousands; the forced displacement of millions;
and the destruction of property on a massive scale, including
places of worship;
2. Viewing the overall rate of return of refugees and
displaced persons throughout the region to their original,
pe-conflict homes, especially where these persons belong to a
minority ethnic population, has been unacceptably low;
3. Reaffirming the necessity of fulfilling in good faith
UNSC resolution 1244 for the settlement of the situation in
Kosovo, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia;
4. Condemning the continuing violence in Kosovo against
members of the Serb and other minority communities, including
hundreds of incidents of arson and damaged or destroyed
Serbian Orthodox church sites, and dozens of aggravated
assaults and murders;
5. Reaffirming the commitment to the sovereignty and
territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia,
as stipulated by UNSC resolution 1244;
6. Noting that the OSCE and the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have jointly reported that
a lack of security, freedom of movement, language policy,
access to health care and access to education, social welfare
services and public utilities are devastating the minority
communities of Kosovo;
7. Expressing concern for the situation of missing
Albanians, Serbs and people of other nationalities in Kosovo
and for ethnic Albanians kept in prisons in Serbia;
8. Noting that reports indicate that hundreds, and perhaps
thousands, of ethnic Albanians, transferred from Kosovo to
jails in Serbia proper around the time of the entry of
international forces into Kosovo, have not been released in
the year since, that several have received harsh sentences in
show trials, and that problems regarding access to and
treatment of such prisoners continue;
9. Recalling that the people and governments of the former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia have positive
records of respect for the rights of persons belonging jto
national minorities, the rule of law and democratic
traditions since independence;
10. Welcoming the commitment of the newly elected
leadership of Croatia to progress regarding respect for human
rights, refugee returns and the elimination of corruption;
11. Believing that the people of Serbia share the right of
all peope to enjoy life under democratic institutions;
12. Viewing democratic development throughout Serbia and
Montenegro as essential to long-term stability in the region,
including the implementation of agreements regarding Bosnia
and Herzegovina and Kosovo;
13. Noting that the regime of Slobodan Milosevic has been
engaged in a planned effort both to repress independent
media, and to crush political opposition, in Serbia, through
the use of unwarranted fines, arrests, detentions,
seizures, blackouts, jamming, and possibly assassination
attempts, and also engaged in an effort to stop student
and other independent movements;
14. Recognizing the importance of the Stability Pact to the
long-term prosperity, peace and stability of southeastern
Europe;
15. Supporting OSCE Missions throughout the region in their
efforts to ensure peace, security and the construction of
civil society; and
16. Recalling the legally binding obligation of States to
cooperate fully with the International Criminal Tribunal for
the former Yugoslavia, contained in UN Security Council
Resolution 827 or 25 May 1993, including the apprehension of
indicted persons present on their territory and the prompt
surrender of such person to the Tribunal;
17. Insists that all parties in the region make the utmost
effort to ensure the safe return and resettlement of all
displaced persons and refugees, regardless of ethnicity,
religious belief or political orientation, and to work
towards reconciliation between all sections of society;
18. Encourages members of all ethnic groups in southeastern
Europe, especially in Kosovo, Bosnia and Serbia, to respect
human rights and the rule of law;
19. Reiterates its call upon all authorities of the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia, in accordance with international
humanitarian law, to continue to provide for the ICRC ongoing
access to all ethnic Albanians kept in prisons in Serbia, to
ensure the humane treatment of such prisoners, and to arrange
for the release of prisoners held without charge;
20. Encourages the newly elected leadership of Croatia to
continue their efforts to reform and modernize their country
in a manner that reflects a commitment to human rights, the
rule of law, democracy and a market-based economy;
21. Condemns the repressive measures taken by the regime of
Slobodan Milosevic to suppress free media, to stop student
and other independent movements, and to intimidate political
opposition in Serbia, all in blatant violation of OSCE norms;
22. Urges the regime of Slobodan Milosevic to immediately
cease its repressive measures and to allow free and fair
elections to be held at all levels of government throughout
Serbia and monitored by the international community;
23. Calls upon Slobodan Milosevic to respect human rights
and other international norms of behaviour in Montenegro;
24. Calls upon the international community to fully
implement the Stability Pact, under OSCE auspices, in an
effort to integrate the nations of South-Eastern Europe into
the broader European community, and to strengthen those
countries in their efforts to foster peace, democracy,
respect for human rights and economic prosperity, in order to
achieve stability in the whole region;
25. Encourages all representatives of the international
community operating in southeastern Europe, including the
OSCE, the United Nations, the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization and other non-governmental organizations to
actively promote respect for human rights and the rule of
law;
26. Urges participating States to provide sufficient
numbers of civilian police to those international policing
efforts deployed in conjunction with peacekeeping efforts in
post-conflict situations such as Kosovo;
27. Calls upon the international community to target
assistance programmes to help those persons returning to
their original homes have the personal security and economic
opportunity to remain;
28. Calls upon the participating States to organize,
including through the OSCE and its Office for Democratic
Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) programmes that can
assist and promote democratic change in Serbia, and protect
it in Montenegro; and
29. Reiterates its condemnation of any effort to provide
persons indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for
the Former Yugoslavia, and its support for sanctioning any
State which provides such persons with any form of protection
from arrest.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.
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