Archive 1986 – 2017

The Nato bombardment of Yugoslavia was undoubtedly illegal, since it contravened the fundamental principles of the United Nations Charter, which enjoins all members to refrain “from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state”; and which commits all members “to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace”. These are the points of departure for an article by the Swedish jurist, Ove Bring, published in the Autumn number of the Nato Review, 1999. Professor Bring tells us that there are only two justifications for the use of force which are acceptable under the UN Charter. One of these is covered in Article 51, which permits actions of self-defence only “until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to...

Richard Norton-Taylor Washington warned the EU yesterday that Americans may no longer be prepared to carry most of the burden in future Nato military operations – but expressed concern about European plans for a body that might rival Nato. The US deputy secretary of state, Strobe Talbott, said increased security cooperation among Europeans must not be allowed to divide the alliance. Speaking at a London conference on Nato’s future – at which he also insisted that the US was opposed to a Kosovo independent of Yugoslavia – Mr Talbott expressed concern about some of Brussels’s plans for a European Security and Defence Identity. The US had a stake in a “strong, integrated, self-confident and military capable Europe”, he said. But he added: “We do not want to see an ESDI that comes into being first within Nato but then grows out of Nato and finally grows away from Nato.” Washington...

Lack of Money Could Delay Force, Australia Fears By Michael Richardson International Herald Tribune MELBOURNE – Australian officials cautioned Wednesday that an ambitious UN military and civilian operation to prepare East Timor for independence within three years could be delayed by a shortage of money. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Tuesday proposed a plan to install nearly 9,000 UN peacekeeping troops who would take over from the Australian-led multinational force in the Indonesian territory. The Australian officials also warned that the plan could be upset by any sudden worsening in the security situation in East Timor – especially if pro-Indonesian fighters in West Timor undertook a guerrilla war against the Australian-led force, as they have threatened. Mr. Annan recommended to the Security Council in New York on Tuesday that it quickly approve a UN transitional administration that would include up to 8,950 soldiers ”with robust rules of engagement and a rapid-reaction capability,”...

BRUSSELS – When Javier Solana took over as secretary-general of NATO four years ago, some of his harshest critics were American congressmen who recalled how the Spanish Socialist fought hard – if unsuccessfully – to prevent his country from entering the Western military alliance.But Mr. Solana quickly disarmed his antagonists by claiming his anti-NATO stand was a mild case of juvenile delinquency. The former physics professor said he had revised his thinking over the years and become a stout proponent of the alliance’s system of collective defense, observing that ”only idiots never change their mind.” As he prepares to leave NATO headquarters this week to become the European Union’s new czar for foreign and defense policy, Mr. Solana observed Tuesday that the alliance, too, has experienced a dramatic transformation to stay abreast of the rapidly evolving security environment in the post Cold War era. ”The changes have come incredibly fast,” Mr....

By R. Jeffrey Smith Washington Post Service Paris, Wednesday, October 6, 1999 CAMP BONDSTEEL, Yugoslavia – The United States is building a bunker community here in south-central Kosovo, at a cost of tens of millions of dollars, to house its peacekeeping troops in a little bit of home – complete with fast food and American candy bars. The purpose of the installation is to safeguard the bulk of the U.S. military stationed in Kosovo in a sealed environment with as much comfort as possible and maximum protection against terrorist attack. The scale of the 775-acre (314-hectare) site and the substantial construction under way, which raises immense clouds of dust over the war-damaged surroundings, suggest that the United States plans to have its troops hunkered down in Kosovo for a long time. The base, east of Urosevac, seems to do justice to the American military’s reputation for ”going in heavy and making...

By James Carroll The Boston Globe When Americans read an Associated Press report last week of No Gun Ri, where hundreds of Korean civilians may have been massacred by GIs during the Korean War, first comparisons were drawn with My Lai, where GIs killed something like 500 Vietnamese civilians. But a difference quickly became evident. The Americans at My Lai were regarded as berserk. However much their actions resulted from the inherent stresses of that war, their brutal targeting of noncombatants was said to be an exceptional deviation from orders. But according to documents found by the AP, the GIs at No Gun Ri may have been acting under orders. Shooting civilians was seen to be necessary because enemy soldiers used flows of refugees as cover, and it was thought the only way to kill the soldiers was to kill the civilians. The rush with which the Pentagon announced an...

NATO Notes is a new publication of the Centre for European Security and Disarmament. NATO Notes will regularly report on and highlight timely NATO-related issues, gathering information from interviews and briefings in Brussels. CESD will also provide information to interrelated activities in other fora where possible. Information from NATO Notes may be used or reproduced, provided proper citation is given. Brussels, 5 October 1999 Written by Christopher Bollinghaus Annual Informal Meeting of NATO Defence Ministers in Toronto, 21-22 September, 1999 BRIEFING The informal Defence Ministerial in Toronto primarily served to indicate in which direction NATO is headed in the next few months. Most major decisions were taken at the Washington Summit in April and therefore few new policy initiatives were expected in Toronto, especially given the informal nature of the meeting. On the agenda, according to NATO officials, were the lessons to be learned from Kosovo, the emerging gap in...

“Do you remember Kim, the 9-year-old Vietnamese girl, running as she was hit by napalm from U.S. warplanes in 1972? That picture haunted John Plummer for 24 years; he had been a helicopter pilot and helped organise the napalm raid. His marriage crashed, he isolated himself and took to drinking; he eventually became a Methodist pastor in Virginia. In 1996, Kim and John met and he says: ‘Kim saw my grief, my pain, my sorrow… She held out her arms to me and embraced me. All I could say was “I’m sorry; I’m sorry” – over and over again. And at the same time she was saying, “It’s all right, I forgive you.” They are now good friends and call each other regularly. This may be a unique story, but how can we talk about restoring peace after wars’ hurt and harm without paying attention to the human aspects of...

“Da li se još sećate Kim, devetogodišnje vijetnamske devojčice koju su 1972. godine pogodili napalmom američki ratni avioni? Ta slika je 24 godine proganjala Džona Plamera; on je pilotirao helikopterom koji je omogućio taj napad napalmom. Njegov brak je propao, on se izolovao od prijatelja i rodbine i propio; posle svega postao je metodistički pastor u Virdžiniji. Kim i Džon su se sreli 1996. godine i on kaže: „Kim je videla moj bol, moju tugu, moje sažaljenje… Ispružila je ruke i zagrlila me. Jedine reči koje sam uspevao da prozborim bile su: ‘Žalim, žao mi je’ – i to sam ponavljao i ponavljao. Ona je tada govorila: ‘U redu je, u redu, opraštam ti.” Njih dvoje su sada dobri prijatelji koji se često čuju i razgovaraju. Možda je ovo jedinstvena priča, no kako uopšte možemo govoriti o obnavljanju mira posle ratom nanesenih ozleda, štete i zla, a da svoju pažnju...

“Those who wrote the Report of the UN Secretary-General on the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) must have had other aims than accurate reporting. The report is biased, embellished, slanted. It omits important aspects which point toward the fact that this mission ignores Security Council Resolution 1244 on which it is based and is a failure in the making on its own criteria,” says TFF director Jan Oberg upon his return from TFF’s 37th mission to the region and his visit to Pristina, Skopje and Belgrade. “The report (S/1999/987 of September 16) covers the period in which at least 150,000 legitimate non-Albanian (Serbs, Roma, etc.) citizens were driven out of the province. Normally this would be called ethnic cleansing. It has happened under the very eyes of 45,000 NATO soldiers, 1,100 UN civilian police and thousands of other internationals, including the OSCE and EU. The report does NOT state that...

By Laura Rozen in Pristina Days of dispute slowed progress towards Monday night’s agreement on the demilitarisation of the Kosovo Liberation Army and highlighted a profound disagreement between the Kosovars and the international community on the nature of the force that will replace it. The KLA made no secret of its intention to transform itself from a rebel army into a real army that will serve to defend a future independent Kosovo. The internationals have tried to compromise by agreeing to the formation of a 5,000 person ‘Kosovo Protection Corps’, which they see as a civilian national guard type force that they intended to be as harmless as the Boy Scouts. Sunday’s scheduled high-profile ceremony to mark the official end of the Kosovo Liberation Army failed to come to pass and another day of talks was needed to close the deal. The creation of the Corps was finally agreed on Monday...

14. september 1999 INTRODUCTION This is the Executive Summary of a proposal for AID AND RECOSTRUCTION IN YUGOSLAVIA – NEED AND NECESSiTY, which was prepared by the expert teams of five Belgrade independent, think tanks and NGOs: CENTER FOR POLICY STUDIES (coordinating body focused on social and political part of the project);GROUP 17 (reformist economists focused on economic aspects);PALGO CENTER (Center for Public Administration and Local Government: in depth analysis of case studies of several Serbian cities);EUROPEAN MOVEMENT (working on developing concepts and relations with neighboring countries);AAEN (Alternative Academic Educational Network: preparation of maps and data bases);ECOLOGICAL CENTER (ecological research and mapping). Work on this complex project was initiated while NATO bombing was ongoing. In difficult conditions, the authors found this task as the best way to give some sense to their professional responsibility and to contribute to the efforts of a regional future looking approach. This is work in...