October 1998
Our Life and Times

Serb war against Kosovars escalates

By Kevin A. Barry and Mary Holmes

The military onslaught in Kosova directed by Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic began as a campaign against the Kosova Liberation Army (KLA) but soon phased into a terrorist war against the Albanian civilian population. Unable to defeat the KLA with arms, Milosevic's military machines turned on the KLA's base of support in the Kosovar people.

Since July, Milosevic has ordered a scorched earth campaign through wide swaths of Kosova. Serbian planes and artillery have bombarded towns and other population centers which clearly have no military value. The residents have been forced to flee, after which their homes, farms and shops have been looted and burned by the occupying Serbian forces.

It is estimated that by the end of September, well over a thousand people, mainly Kosovar civilians, have been killed. At least 250,000 more have been driven out of their towns. Some have escaped into Albania and Montenegro. But an estimated 100,000 refugees, mostly women, children and the elderly, are hiding out in remote areas of Kosova without food, shelter or medical assistance.

Milosevic is repeating in Kosova the genocidal campaign of ethnic cleansing he succeeded with in Bosnia. And once more, the U.S. and West European leaders are standing by and watching the nightmare rerun. The Clinton administration rejects the Kosovar demand for full independence.

Instead, the U.S. and West Europe are scrambling unsuccessfully to find support in Kosova for a settlement based on "autonomy." However, "autonomy" within Serbia is exactly the political status which Milosevic assaulted in 1989, setting up instead an apartheid-type system in which Albanians were stripped of their jobs, their schools, their language, and any meaningful political control. The KLA and the majority of Kosovars reject anything less than full self-determination, much less a settlement that may be brokered with those who have collaborated with the Milosevic regime over the past decade.

The de facto impunity granted by the U.S.-West Europe to Milosevic to execute his bloody campaign in Kosova also signalled his faction in Bosnia to openly retake power in the Serbian-dominated entity. It is obscene to talk about any kind of "democracy" in this safe zone for genocidal butchers, also known as the Serb Republic. However, the political party of Milosevic-Mladic-Karadzic retook power in the September elections, defeating the faction which the Clinton administration tried to make more palatable and propped up with over $1 million in aid. This is the latest rotten harvest from the Dayton accords.

Kosovars have no illusions about the U.S. or West Europe intervening on their side against Milosevic. As one Kosovar human rights activist said earlier, "They have given the green light to everything the Serbs are doing. That you are witnessing this tragedy at the end of the 20th century in the center of Europe is absurd. But we will not give up. We have nowhere else to go."

U.S and West Europe leaders may wring their hands in false anguish when winter sets in and thousands of Kosovars are faced with death, or may turn their backs if some status quo is reached with Milosevic. It is more urgent than ever for us to condemn the Milosevic regime, demand the pullout of Serbian occupying forces, reject any sellout of self-determination for Kosova, and extend full practical and theoretical solidarity to the Kosovar people.

CLICK HERE TO GO BACK TO CONTENTS PAGE

CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO NEWS AND LETTERS