[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 16328-16335]
[From the U.S. 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 
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.

[[Page 16329]]

  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 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

[[Page 16330]]

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 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

[[Page 16331]]

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.

                               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

[[Page 16332]]

     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 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

[[Page 16333]]

     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.
       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,

[[Page 16334]]

     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 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;

[[Page 16335]]


       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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