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Kosovo Crisis
RealVideo: KOSOVO CRISIS ICTY: Slobodan Milosevic on trial 		Kosovo Liberation Army!
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U.S. envoy says Kosovo crisis nears 'general war'
Legitimate role for KLA in Kosovo peace
(June 27, 1998)
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CNN: The conflict explained in brief
CNN: U.S. military power
for possible strikes
CNN: Interactive Map
CNN: Timeline 		French officer spying NATO for Slobodan Milosevic
Military Options:
CNN: NATO's 8 steps to airstrikes
CNN: NATO's strike force

Combat aircraft gallery:
CNN: NATO
CNN: Yugoslavia
CNN: Video: Conflict in Kosovo
Yugoslav civilians ready WWII bunkers
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Clinton officials: Yugoslavia's air force on the run
Balkan summit to address Kosovo crisis
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Balkan summit to address Kosovo crisis
- Oct. 12, 1998
NATO readies warplanes as Holbrooke,
Milosevic resume talks
- Oct. 11, 1998
Holbrooke, Milosevic talk again
- Oct. 11, 1998
Holbrooke: 'We are where we were earlier'
- Oct. 10, 1998
No progress reported in Kosovo talks
- Oct. 9, 1998
Albanian rebels in Kosovo announce cease-fire
- Oct. 8, 1998
Nato poised for action over Balkans As fighting continues in Kosovo, more than 80 Nato warplanes are taking to the air to fly over Kosovo's borders with Macedonia and Albania in the biggest Nato exercise so far seen over the Balkans. Its aim is to deter President Slobodan Milosevic from further violence against the ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. (15 Jun 98)

New accounts of Serb atrocities in Kosovo
(MSNBC)

New Guerrillas Rival Old Rebels To Free Kosovo
KLA's 'Blind One' Speaks Candidly About the Kosovo War.
As Serbs Make Steady Gains, World Debates Kosovo Tack;
NATO's Big NoiseStirs Macedonia;
NATO Tries to End a Civil War.

TVBBC correspondent Paul Wood looks at Nato's options
AUDIOAid airlift to Kosovo refugees
UNHCR's Chris Janowski explains the logistics of the operation
AUDIOMuslims happy to help their own kind
BBC Sarajevo correspondent Jackie Rowland
AUDIOYugoslavia's likely response to Nato's manoeuvres
and Russia's diplomatic efforts
BBC Balkan analyst Gabriel Partos
CNN: Yugoslavia vows no troop pullout from Kosovo


Legitimate role for KLA in Kosovo peace Kosovo conflict at a glance
BBC News (13 Jun 98)
Key Kosovo Players
Fox News
Who Are the Rebels?
ABC News
Kosovo: Chronology of recent events
BBC News
Analysis: the Yugoslav army's role
in Kosovo
BBC News 13 Jun 98
Russia criticises Nato manoeuvres
BBC News
Milosevic heads for Moscow
BBC News
Why Russia opposes intervention in Kosovo
BBC News 12 Jun 98
U.S., Russia Discuss Kosovo Problem
ABC News
Analysis: Russia's Stance Explained
BBC News
Milosevic, Yeltsin to Meet
BBC News
TVTime is running out for the refugees
BBC correspondent Orla Guerin
UK Foreign Office: Nato statement on Kosovo
BBC News
NATO's Balkan Show of Force
CNN Interactive
NATO Sends Serbs Strong Warning
MSNBC
U.S. Troops Watch Hot Border
Chicago Tribune
Yugoslavs Mine Albanian Border
Chicago Tribune
Peace Deadline in Works
CNN Interactive
Refugees Need Medical Care
MSNBC
UN Kosovo appeal
BBC News
Analysis: Why West Won't Act
Salon Magazine
Making Sense of Milosevic
BBC News
NATO to Flex Military Muscle
CNN Interactive
NATO Studies Military Options
CNN Interactive
Refugee Flood Continues
MSNBC
Group Proposes Peace Deadline
BBC News
U.S., Italy Warn of NATO Action
CNN Interactive
NATO Eyes Events in Kosovo
MSNBC
World Weighs Military Intervention
BBC News
Yeltsin Says No to Kosovo Troops
BBC News
U.S. Slaps Serbia With Sanctions
CNN Interactive
Yugoslavia Slams Sanctions
ABC News
EU Strengthens Sanctions on Serbia
CNN Interactive
Is Kosovo the Next Bosnia?
ABC News
Weighing West's Options in Kosovo
BBC News
Refugees Flood Out of Kosovo
BBC News
Albanians Quit Talks With Serbs
Chicago Tribune
NATO Readies Military Moves
BBC News
Albanians Gird for War
Washington Post
Germany Urges NATO Action
Fox News
Refugee Aid Urged
CNN Interactive
NATO Delays Albania Force
CNN Interactive
Parts of Kosovo Cut Off
ABC News
NATO Gears Up
Central Europe Online
Albania Alleges Ethnic Cleansing
BBC News


Balkan Institute calls
for U.S. initiative on Kosovo
March 5, 1998
Contact: James Hooper or Steve Walker
Phone: 202-737-5219

WASHINGTON - The Executive Committee of the Balkan Institute issued a statement today calling on the Clinton administration to reiterate its warning to Belgrade that massacres in Kosovo will prompt U.S. military intervention. Executive Committee members also urged that a NATO observer mission be deployed to Kosovo, a special presidential envoy be appointed to manage the Kosovo issue, and comprehensive financial sanctions be reimposed on Belgrade.
"The time to act is now, before large-scale violence makes any settlement impossible," said Ambassador Morton Abramowitz, a member of the Balkan Institute's Executive Committee. "We missed our opportunity to prevent the war in Bosnia, and we and the Bosnians have paid the price. Leaving the issue 'to the parties,' as the Pentagon wants, is a formula for violence."
Jeane Kirkpatrick, former U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations and also a member of the Council's Executive Committee, emphasized, "At some point we need to confront the realities of the Milosevic regime in Serbia and its program of ethnic hatred and violence. In Kosovo, the consequences of Milosevic's persecution of the Kosovar Albanian majority could be devastating if we ignore it. And the longer we wait, the higher the price of our inevitable involvement."
Balkan Institute is dedicated to promoting peace, stability, and democracy in the Balkans. Members of the Institute's Executive Committee signing the statement include Morton Abramowitz, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Frank Carlucci, Jeane Kirkpatrick, and William Howard Taft.

The Balkan Institute Executive Committee statement follows:
Serbia's escalation of violence in Kosovo threatens peace in the region. It is the worst violence in Kosovo since the second world war. This violence must be ended if there is to be any chance of a settlement in Kosovo. This means that the U.S. and NATO must become involved in the crisis.
Following the visit by Ambassador Robert Gelbard to Kosovo and Belgrade last week, Serbian security forces significantly increased the violence against Kosovar Albanian civilians. Using helicopter gunships and armored vehicles, they attacked innocent civilians, including women and children, in several villages over the weekend; forcefully broke up peaceful demonstrations in Pristina, Kosovo's capital, on Monday; damaged the offices of Kosovo's leading newspaper, Koha Ditore; and beat several foreign and local journalists and Koha Ditore's editor, Veton Surroi.
The crisis presents the Clinton administration with a Bosnia-like situation: remain on the sidelines as a party to a violent breakdown and all its destabilizing consequences, or muster the resolve to involve itself in a serious way. If we have learned anything from Bosnia, it is that early intervention is essential to halt Balkan conflict and prevent spillover in the region.
The West has allowed Slobodan Milosevic considerable latitude in his repression in Kosovo. Accustomed to being treated as the indispensable Balkan peacemaker after he fomented war, Milosevic believes the West will sacrifice Kosovo to keep him engaged with Bosnian peace efforts. The West needs to treat him as the source of the problem and rely on serious Western involvement as the foundation for a solution. We call upon the United States to take the lead with the allies in carrying out the following measures:
1. Hold an urgent meeting of NATO foreign ministers to consider the situation in Kosovo.
2. Reiterate the Christmas warning of 1992, conveyed to Milosevic by President Bush and reinforced by former Secretary Christopher, threatening U.S. military intervention to halt provocative violence by Belgrade against the Kosovar Albanians.
3. Introduce a NATO observer mission throughout Kosovo to prevent further violence.
4. Appoint a presidential envoy of recognized political stature to manage the Kosovo issue.
5. Revoke the four concessions to Milosevic announced by Ambassador Gelbard last week in connection with events in Bosnia.
6. Reimpose comprehensive financial sanctions against Serbia (except for democratic assistance).
7. Insist that Milosevic lift the martial law measures imposed on Kosovo in 1989 and withdraw security forces.
8. Announce that a NATO-led international force will remain in Macedonia beyond the scheduled August termination date for UNPREDEP, the U.N. Preventive Deployment force.

The Balkan Institute
P.O. Box 27974, Washington, DC 20038-7974
TEL (202) 737-5219
FAX (202) 737-1940
bi@balkaninstitute.org



First Measures against Belgrade
Contact Group Adopts a Range of Measures
against Belgrade over Kosova Crackdown

The foreign ministers of the six-nation Contact Group met for several hours Monday, March 9, 1998, in London to discuss the extremely tense situation in Kosova following the Serbian crackdown on Albanian villages in the Drenica region this past week. The meeting lasted for a couple of hours longer than expected.
Following is a statement on Kosovo issued on Monday by foreign ministers from the United States, Russia, Britain, France, Germany and Italy.

1. We the foreign ministers of Contact Group countries, together with representatives of the European Commission and the Office of the High Representative, met in London on 9 March to discuss the increasingly tense situation in Kosovo, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), and the unacceptable use of force over recent days. The Balkans region has seen too much bloodshed in recent years for the international community to stand aside.

2. We recalled that when we met in New York on 24 September, 1997, we voiced deep concern over developments in Kosovo and called on the authorities in Belgrade and the leadership of the Kosovar Albanian community to join in a peaceful dialogue. We are dismayed that in the period since September, rather than taking steps to reduce tensions or to enter without preconditions into dialogue toward a political solution, the Belgrade authorities have applied repressive measures in Kosovo. We note with particular concern the recent violence in Kosovo resulting in at least 80 fatalities and condemn the use of excessive force by Serbian police against civilians, and against peaceful demonstrators in Pristina on 2 March.

3. Our condemnation of the actions of the Serbian police should not in any way be mistaken for an endorsement of terrorism. Our position on this is clear. We wholly condemn terrorist actions by the Kosovo Liberation Army or any other group or individual. Those in the Kosovar Albanian community who speak for the different political constituencies should make it clear that they, too, abhor terrorism. We insist likewise that those outside the FRY who are supplying finance, arms or training for terrorist activity in Kosovo should immediately cease doing so.

4. We condemn the large-scare police actions of the last 10 days that further inflamed an already volatile situation. The violent repression of non-violent expression of political views in completely indefensible. We call upon the authorities in Belgrade to invite independent forensic experts to investigate the very serious allegations of extrajudicial killings. If those accusations are borne out, we expect FRY authorities to prosecute and punish those responsible.

5. Our commitment to human rights values means that we cannot ignore such disproportionate methods of control. Government authorities have a special responsibility to protect the human and civil rights of all citizens and to ensure that public security forces act judiciously and with restraint.

6. In the light of the deplorable violence in Kosovo, we feel compelled to take steps to demonstrate to the authorities in Belgrade that they cannot defy international standards without facing severe consequences. The Contact Group has decided to take a broad range of action to address the current situation on an urgent basis. The Contact Group welcomes the continuation of consultations in the United Nations Security Council, in view of the implications of the situation in Kosovo for regional security. Against that background, the Contact Group:

  • requests a mission to Kosovo by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
  • urges the office of the Prosecutor of the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia) to begin gathering information related to the violence in Kosovo that may fall within its jurisdiction. The FRY authorities have an obligation to cooperate with the ICTY. Contact Group countries will make available to the ICTY substantiated relevant information in their possession.
  • supports the proposal for a new mission by (former Spanish prime minister) Felipe Gonzalez as a personal representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office for the FRY that would include a new and specific mandate for addressing the problems in Kosovo.
  • supports the return of the OSCE long-term missions to Kosovo, the Sandzak and Vojvodina.
  • recommends that the special session of the OSCE Permanent Council meeting on 11 March arrange for embassies in Belgrade of OSCE participating states to intensify their visits to Kosovo so as to provide for a continuous presence.
  • will continue vigorously to support (humanitarian group) Sant Egidio's efforts to secure implementation of the Education Agreement, and identify resources to assist a fair and acceptable arrangement.
  • proposes the establishment of an international consortium including non-governmental organisations that would promote civil-society building in Kosovo and the distribution of humanitarian assistance.
  • recognising that neighbouring countries of the FRY have legitimate security concerns stemming from violence and unrest in Kosovo, will arrange an urgent meeting of the Contract Group with representatives of governments in the region to discuss the grave consequences of an inter-ethnic conflict and its possible spillover to other parts of the region. We expect them to do all in their power to prevent support of terrorism.

The meeting will in particular address: the possible despatch of a short-term OSCE monitoring group to enhance the ability of the Albania mission's Shkodra field office to monitor the FRY (Kosovo) border. the possible strengthening of the present OSCE mission in Skopje.
  • recommends that consideration be given to adapting the current UNPREDEP (observer force in Macedonia) mandate, and would support the maintenance of an international military presence on the ground in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia when the current mandate of UNPREDEP expires.
  • will monitor the situation in Kosovo by frequent joint visits to Pristina by Contact Group and other representatives.


7. At the same time, it is not enough for the killing to stop; too much damage has already been done to human life and to the FRY's credibility. Because of the gravity of the situation, we endorse the following measures to be pursued immediately:

a) U.N. Security Council consideration of a comprehensive arms embargo against the FRY, including Kosovo;

b) refusal to supply equipment to the FRY which might be used for internal repression, or for terrorism;

c) denial of visas for senior FRY and Serbian representatives responsible for repressive action by FRY security forces in Kosovo;

d) a moratorium on government financed export credit support for trade and investment, including government financing for privatisations, in Serbia.

The Contact Group notes that the Russian Federation cannot support measures c) and d) above for immediate imposition. But if there is no progress towards the steps called for the Contact Group, the Russian Federation will then be willing to discuss all the above measures.



We call upon President (Slobodan) Milosevic to take rapid and effective steps to stop the violence and engage in a commitment to find a political solution to the issue of Kosovo through dialogue. Specifically, he should within 10 days:
  • - withdraw the special police units and cease action by the security forces affecting the civilian population.
  • - allow access to Kosovo for the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) and other humanitarian organisations as well as by representatives of the Contact Group and other embassies.
  • - commit himself publicly to begin a process of dialogue, along the lines in paragraph 10, with the leadership of the Kosovar Albanian community.
  • - cooperate in a constructive manner with the Contact Group in the implementation of the actions specified in paragraph 6 above which require action by the FRY government.
If President Milosevic takes these steps, we will immediately reconsider the measures we have now adopted. If he fails to take these steps, and repression continues in Kosovo, the Contact Group will move to further international measures, and specifically to pursue a freeze on the funds help abroad by the FRY and Serbian governments.

The Contact Group has decided to meet again on 25 March to assess the response of the government of the FRY.

8. Belgrade's own actions have seriously set back the process of normalisation of the FRY's relations with the international community. Unless the FRY takes steps to resolve the serious political and human rights issues in Kosovo, there is no prospect of any improvement in its international standing. On the other hand, concrete progress to resolve the serious political and human rights issues in Kosovo will improve the international position of the FRY and prospects for normalisation of its international relationships and full rehabilitation in international institutions.

9. No one should misunderstand our position on the core issue involved. We support neither independence nor the maintenance of the status quo. As we have set out clearly, the principles for a solution of the Kosovo problem should be based on the territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and be in accordance with OSCE standards, Helsinki principles, and the U.N. Charter. Such a solution also must take into account the rights of the Kosovo Albanians and all those who live in Kosovo. We support an enhanced status for Kosovo within the FRY which a substantially greater degree of autonomy would bring and recognise that this must include meaningful self-administration.

10. The way to defeat terrorism in Kosovo is for Belgrade to offer the Kosovar Albanian community a genuine political process. The authorities in Belgrade and the leadership of the Kosovar Albanian community must assume their responsibility to enter without preconditions into a meaningful dialogue on political status issues. The Contact Group stands ready to facilitate such a dialogue.