“If a UN operation had gone this wrong from the
beginning, if the mandate had been violated to this extent,
politicians, diplomats and media worldwide would have cried
‘Failure!’ But since it is a US-lead NATO operation,
independent-minded evaluations and criticism is
conspicuously absent from mainstream media and the political
discourse. The homogenisation of public opinion with NATO
propaganda throughout the Western democracies is
disheartening,” says TFF director, Dr Jan Oberg.

1. THE NATO DOG WILL WAG THE UN TAIL

While NATO troops have been in Macedonia the last 8
months, only on June 14 could the UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan present a plan for a civil UN administration for
Kosova. It puts the EU in charge of reconstruction and gives
the OSCE primary responsibility for establishing democratic
institutions, organising elections, and monitoring human
rights. The UNHCR will take charge of the resettlement of
refugees and displaced persons. The UN Interim
Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) will administer the
police, justice, schools, public transport,
telecommunications, and power plants. An international
police unit of up to 2,000 will oversee the establishment of
a Kosova police force. On 12 June, Annan appointed UN
Undersecretary-General Sergio Vieira de Mello of Brazil as
interim – interim! – special representative.

SC Resolution 1244 consistently mentions “the rapid
early deployment of effective civil and security presences”
and consistently mentions the two components simultaneously.
Reality on the ground is already totally different. Evident
for everyone who wants to see, the NATO dog will wag the UN
tail as it pleases, in time and in space. And it will take
months before the civilians are in place and co-functioning.
Remember that it took 5-6 months to get the former OSCE KVM
mission of 1200 deployed – only to be forced out due to
NATO’s bombing plan.

This is catastrophic. Precisely in this type of conflict,
the need for social, village-based security provided by
civil police and what the UN used to call ‘Civil Affairs’
staff is absolutely essential. While NATO is simply not
trained for this or has any experience in it, the UN an OSCE
and civilian NGOs everywhere have.

IMAGINE instead that world leaders had wanted to increase
the capacity for civilian conflict-management, had wanted to
finally realise the UN Charter’s finest norm: peace by
peaceful means. Imagine that the international ‘community’
and leading security organizations had spent energy, money
and creativity since 1989 on adapting the global system to
civilian conflict-management, that the UN had had a pool of
thousands of civilians – social workers, psychologists,
economists, police, lawyers, teachers etc. – on stand-by for
rapid deployment in post-war regions. Imagine that the OSCE
and the UN had been given just a fraction of the funds, NATO
has at its disposal. Imagine, in short, that the civilian
aspects and the human dimensions of security and
conflict-resolution had been nurtured and new civilised
tools had been given priority, including early warning to
prevent wars and violence in the first place.

2. THE KOSOVO LIBERATION ARMY – KLA/UCK – IS NOT DISARMED

Resolution 1244 states in para 9 a) that the security
presence shall prevent renewed hostilities and b)
demilitarise KLA and other armed Kosovo-Albanian groups.
They must comply with the requirements ‘laid down by the
head of the international security presence in consultation
with the Special Representative of the S-G.’ The latter
however is not yet on the ground!

And indeed, why should KLA comply? As they see it,
they have liberated ‘our Kosova’ (albeit with a little help
from their NATO allies) and they are not signatories – as
are no Albanian – to the deal made in Belgrade. A major
player was simply ignored (or given secret promises as to
the future?)

Literally speaking, of course, it is impossible to disarm
or demilitarise a force like KLA in this culture. In
contrast to the Yugoslav forces, it is not an ordinary army
– many of their members are simply armed civilians.
Kosovo-Albanian leaders always responded to the question
‘Who is UCK?’ that ‘it is me, him and her over there, we are
a people in arms.” But! NATO – the organization that flexes
its muscle and just issued demands and refused to negotiate
with the legitimate government (at least not officially) in
Belgrade – will now NEGOTIATE with UCK, a force that has
never obtained a mandate from the constitutional authorities
or parliament of the independent republic of Kosova.

Yes, this is true! This is what Radio Free Europe
reported on June 16: “NATO Negotiates Disarmament with UCK.
U.S. Army General John Craddock told dpa from Skopje on 16
June that NATO officials are negotiating with the Kosova
Liberation Army (UCK) about its demilitarisation. Craddock
did not release details about the content or location of the
talks. He added that the UCK’s possible disarmament is up to
the “discretion” of the respective peacekeeping troops.
Craddock said that “we approach it in a fair and even-handed
manner…Our soldiers are not instructed to routinely disarm
[the guerrillas]. However, we have got to make sure
we defuse explosive situations. We don’t want armed
[UCK] in proximity with withdrawing Serbs.” Pentagon
officials said in Washington that both the Serbs and the UCK
have initiated confrontations resulting in as many as “two
dozen” deaths. They added, however, that “we are generally
satisfied with the amount of compliance” with NATO’s ban on
armed violence.

It is difficult to understand the American general’s
statement as anything but a violation of UN SC Resolution
1244. Virtually all important media around the world have
told us that the West can not trust Milosevic or the Serbs.
What prevents people from not even now asking the opposite
question? Up till now the Yugoslav government has kept its
side of the G8 Agreement and withdrawn its forces according
to schedule. Not so NATO, the UN and KLA.

IMAGINE instead that the UCK/KLA had not been fed
with weapons, ammunition, uniform and training by a number
of Western countries, private arms dealers and, presumably,
intelligence services. Imagine instead that the parties had
been persuaded to sit down and talk at some point since
1992, that moderates on both sides had been supported by the
West and that an economic development program had been
promised for the Kosovo province – in exchange for
democratization in Serbia and a lifting of sanctions and
diplomatic isolation. Imagine that OSCE had not suspended
Yugoslavia and that OSCE’s mission in Yugoslavia had
therefore not been abrogated in 1992. Imagine some of this –
and you may begin to see a possible truth: this war, this
humanitarian catastrophe, all this irreparable hate could
have been avoided.

3. STABILITY?

Resolution 1244 welcomes the EU and others ‘to develop a
comprehensive approach to the economic development and
stabilisation of the region affected by the Kosovo crisis,
including the implementation of a Stability Pact for South
Eastern Europe..’ There can be no doubt that this
formulation covers not only the Kosovo province but also the
rest of Yugoslavia and countries such as Macedonia and
Albania as ‘affected.’ President Clinton, President Chirac
and other government leaders, however, have already stated
that no economic aid (presumably including reconstruction
aid) will be given to Yugoslavia as long as President
Milosevic is around.

This conditionality has no back-up in the
UN Resolution. Furthermore, who would believe that
there can be stability in this region if 11 million citizens
of Yugoslavia shall be kept for decades in a poor, war-torn
society?

“Remember,” ends Jan Oberg – “old Yugoslavia began to
break down when the effects of global capitalism’s
restructuring produced the economic crisis of the 1970s and
1980s hit Yugoslavia hard. Economic and social misery breads
dissatisfaction, scape-goating, nationalism and ultimately
violence.

The West first introduced sanctions, isolation and
demonisation, then destroyed the country’s civil society,
economy and infrastructure. It also forgot to care for its
650.000 refugees. If the West now refuses to give
reconstruction aid it is a sure indicator of a future plan:
to bring about the further destruction of present Yugoslavia
in, let’s say, Sandzak, Voivodina and ultimately Belgrade.
But don’t worry, we will be told by the managers of the
military-industrial-diplomatic-media complex that it’s all
the fault of one man and that the Serbs deserve it.”

© TFF 1999

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