Not everyone was fooled
These excerpts from the verbatim record of a debate on Kosovo in the UK Parliament in May 2004 demonstrate the extraordinary work of two British MPs (one Conservative, one Labour) who made it their business to point out to their colleagues that the official version of the Kosovo war and its aftermath was nonsense. John Randall, now Lord Randall, continues to do all he can in the House of Lords to draw attention to these matters. Alice Mahon, whose death we noted a couple of weeks ago, remained active until she retired as an MP – and afterwards maintained her interest in a private capacity.
HANSARD – The Official UK Parliamentary Record
Excerpts from Debate requested by John Randall MP
May 2004 : Column 395WH
Kosovo
11 am
Mr. John Randall (Uxbridge) (Con): I am extremely grateful to Mr. Speaker for giving me the opportunity to raise this subject, which, I am afraid, has been rather sadly and mysteriously left off the list of Government priorities.
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Five years after the NATO intervention, the de-facto UN or NATO protectorate is in a dire condition. Lawlessness and corruption appear to be the hallmarks of the area. I am afraid that that legacy was all too easy to foresee. It seems that some observers are beginning to examine what went on five years ago in a new light. After a weekend in which we have all begun to wonder whether we can really believe the evidence before our own eyes, such reflection is not before time.
I read an article in the Canadian National Post from 6 April of this year, in which a Mr. Lewis Mackenzie posed the question of whether we bombed the wrong side. He said:
“Those of us who warned that the West was being sucked in on the side of an extremist, militant, Kosovo-Albanian independence movement were dismissed as appeasers.”
He also pointed out that, at the time, “the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), was universally designated terrorist organization and . . . receiving support from Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda”.
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What makes Mr. Mackenzie’s views particularly interesting is the fact that he was a major-general in the Canadian army and commanded UN troops during the Bosnian civil war of 1992.
I do not want to dwell on what I perceive to be the mistakes of the past, but on the recent events in Kosovo and Metohija. Sadly, the media have turned their attention elsewhere, but there have been some voices.
In September of last year there was an article in Le Figaro Magazine that described a victory for the Albanian extremists who dream of ethnic purification in the Serb enclaves, where the inhabitants live and die like condemned prisoners.
In March of this year, horrific violence against the Serbs erupted, the pretext for which was the tragic drowning of some Albanian boys. Reports have now established that those unfortunates were not chased into the River Ibar by Serbs, but died in a horrible accident. However, the incident was a light that set off much violence. That violence was almost too spontaneous—it was as if it was premeditated. I wonder whether the Minister has any evidence relating to that or any reports from which he can ascertain what happened.
According to UN statistics, 50,000 Albanian Kosovans, in the presence of 18,000 NATO peacekeepers, drove 4,500 Serbs and other non-Albanians from their homes, injuring 900, including 150 peacekeepers, and killing 19, in 33 flashpoints. Kosovo was engulfed in flames, and more than 300 homes, many of which had been recently rebuilt by the international community, were looted and torched.
Human life is obviously the most precious commodity, but the destruction of much else, including 35 additional churches, took place.
I say “additional” because, as most people aware of the region know, since 1999 there has been incredible destruction of churches and monasteries in the area. It is fair to say that, as a result of the desecration of churches in Kosovo, there were retaliations against a couple of mosques, including a very old one in Belgrade.
The Kosovan Government have condemned those retaliations. I mention that because, as in so much of the region, these are more than very important heritage sites; they are symbols. The fact that there is a desire on both sides to eradicate such symbols shows the incredible feelings that still exist.
Last week, I and other members of the all-party group on Serbia and Montenegro, including the Hon Lady (Alice Mahon), met people who had just visited the area. Their witness statements were very telling. I hope that, at some stage in the near future, the all-party group will be able to visit the region to see what is going on and report back. We could also talk to our counterparts at parliamentary level, to see what they are saying and doing about this situation.
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One of the people who came and gave us their views was Her Royal Highness Princess Linda of Yugoslavia, who visited the area from 14 April to 23 April. I would like to read out some excerpts from the speech that she made, because it is difficult for us in London to understand exactly what is going on. The Minister has been there and we will want to hear whether he was able to visit some of these areas outside Pristina. The Princess said:
“The Serb enclaves are not properly secure, even with the presence of KFOR. Albanians have freedom of movement in most of the enclaves, while Serbs cannot go anywhere without escort, which is how I personally travelled between all the enclaves. The enclaves are heavily dependent on humanitarian aid, land cannot be farmed safely. In many areas, Serbs complain that KFOR rarely responds to kidnappings, stonings and physical attacks, or destruction of property . . . The people driven out on March 17–19 were not allowed to take anything with them, even personal documents, by the Kosovo Police Force . . . Most Serbs were in a desperate psychological state even before the March 17–19 events. There is no possibility of jobs. They’ve gone through the NATO bombing in 1999, and have spent the time since as virtual prisoners, behind razor wire.”
I shall not carry on with that quote, because it is one person’s witness, and although I have no reason to doubt it, we have to try to resolve the problem, and to be as dispassionate as possible while understanding the real plight of people on both sides.
There has been some comment in our media but, strangely, the situation does not seem to have caught the imagination of the news desks. On 23 April, The Guardian reported that the International Crisis Group think-tank said:
“Kosovo is in danger of becoming Europe’s West Bank, a destabilising source of unrest in the Balkans, because of five years of flawed and failed western policy-making and peacekeeping”.
The Economist of 27 March quoted Mr. Javier Solana fulminating at the appalling and intolerable behaviour of people during recent events. The article went on to quote Harri Holkeri as saying that trust had been destroyed, and mentioned that one member of UN staff in Mitrovica said that she literally saw all her work go up in flames. Also on 27 March, Christopher Caldwell wrote a piece entitled “NATO’s Kosovo Dream is Dead”.
The picture that I am painting is rather depressing, and that is not something in which I take any pleasure. One image presented to me has stuck in my mind; possibly it is not the most terrible, in terms of human suffering, but it could be regarded as the most upsetting. It is of the church in, I think, Pristina that has been turned into a public toilet. Elsewhere in the world, we are talking about winning over hearts and minds. Can we imagine what the world would say if a mosque were similarly desecrated? We would be rightly shocked if that happened.
The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Mr. Bajram Rexhepi, declared recently that: “if the final status for Kosovo is not resolved by next year, the Albanians are going to have a referendum and will declare independence.”
That is obviously a dangerous prospect; it would increase tension not just in the province but throughout the region. I hope that there will be swift action in response to that declaration, and that a clear message will be sent to the Albanians that the status of Kosovo can be resolved only under the terms of UN resolution 1244, and only through negotiation.
I also understand that the head of the United Nations Interim Administration in Kosovo approved the establishment of a Kosovo office for foreign affairs and dialogue. I understand—although I should be grateful for information on this—that it is not proposed that any Serb will be employed in that office.
On 29 April the Serbian Parliament unanimously adopted a plan of autonomy for Serbs and other minorities
in Kosovo. I should be grateful to hear the UK’s view on those proposals.
I understand that a large amount of weaponry is still in Kosovo, and still coming in. The KLA has, of course, never disarmed, although it gave back a few weapons. Safety and security for all citizens of Kosovo might, obviously, be achieved if the area were to be disarmed. I wonder what progress is being made towards that.
The borders around Kosovo—particularly between Albania and Kosovo, and Kosovo and Macedonia—should be properly guarded. I understand that there are still holes along the borders. I have in the past known the area pretty well and I know that it is easy to say that a border of that kind should be properly patrolled. Still, I think that even I could possibly have penetrated some of those borders, without SAS training. The matter is an important one, encompassing the need to give people confidence that the borders are secure.
I am sorry that I must bring these matters to the Chamber; I have often said, as in 1999 when I was against what NATO did, that I want to be proved wrong. I hoped that everything would be sorted out, and it is a great sadness that things have gone as wrong as they have. Many people, and certainly the Serb community in this country, are bewildered and astonished by what little response has been made in recent years to the destruction and desecration of hundreds of churches, graveyards and cultural monuments, some going back to the 13th and 14th centuries. They even survived Ottoman rule, which was not always regarded as the most enlightened, although that is probably a controversial statement for which I shall get into deep trouble.
I ask the Minister not only to take the issue seriously but to make it a high priority of British foreign policy. Another tragedy is taking place in the Balkans before our eyes. It is an area where tragedies have become almost commonplace. I plead with the Minister to give all the people in the region hope of fairness and equality for the whole area.
Mrs. Alice Mahon (Halifax) (Lab): I thank the hon. Member for Uxbridge (Mr. Randall) for securing the debate. I endorse what he said, particularly about last week’s delegation to the all-party group on Serbia and Montenegro. Our visitors were three people from very different political, cultural and social backgrounds. One was a member of the Yugoslav Government in the 1980s and 1990s. Another was an American citizen who was born, brought up and educated in the United States but is a devout follower of the Orthodox faith. The third, as the hon. Gentleman said, was an English woman who married into the Serbian royal family, lives in Belgrade and does humanitarian work in Kosovo. All three had the same tale to tell: there has been widespread ethnic cleansing since NATO and the UN took over five years ago.
Some 180,000 refugees and displaced persons—Serbs, Roma, Gorani, and other ethnic minorities—are now living in Serbia and Montenegro. The Hon. Gentleman and I visited some of them a year ago. They are living in camps in miserable conditions, often just a few miles from the border of Kosovo, and are desperate to return home. They are simple, byand large agricultural, people. Great events happened around them, but they did not understand why they could not go home. All this took place under the noses of UNMIK and KFOR. To many of us who followed these events closely, it seems that the UN and NATO have turned a blind eye to what has been happening.
When I think of all the debates, statements and passionate speeches about the dreadful ethnic cleansing, albeit temporary, of the Albanians, who fled to Montenegro and Macedonia, I wonder where the sympathy is now for these people who, it seems to me, are permanently ethnically cleansed.
In my intervention, I mentioned the destruction of the churches. I add to that the crimes that have been committed against minorities. Where are the people who have been arrested? Who has been sent to The Hague for crimes against humanity? When will there be justice for people still living in Kosovo but in dreadful conditions in heavily guarded enclaves without any freedom of movement? It is a mockery to say that the elections held there are in any way fair and legitimate when minorities cannot get about and do the usual things that we all do in elections, such as canvas and move about safely without fear of death or injury.
In March, I asked the Minister questions about the recent outbreak of violence in Kosovo. He was not very reassuring. He could not even go so far as NATO did and condemn what was happening. Since then, I have waited for the Government’s condemnation of what happened. Frankly, it is not good enough to say, as was said then, that inter-ethnic violence is to be condemned while studiously ignoring the main source of the violence. Can the Government bring themselves to say that the KLA orchestrated and perpetrated the violence? Not to do so is an insult to the people who are suffering at the hands of the Albanian terrorists, and undermines our position. It also flies in the face of utterances about the war on terrorism to ignore a bunch of thugs, terrorists and Mafiosi who have just purged another 4,500 Serbs and other minorities.
I know that the Minister visited Kosovo recently. I hope that he talked to the same people on the ground to whom the hon. Gentleman and I talked and was not cosseted from the real situation. The hon. Gentleman and I hope to go there in the near future, and we will not let the issue go.
What is happening in Kosovo is incredibly serious; it is an attempt to eradicate a whole culture and a whole history. We must ask ourselves why. We cannot simply pretend that it is not happening. In the short time left to me, I shall concentrate on some of the most salient points that form the background to the latest series of attacks.
First, the scale of the violence lends credence to the claims that it was systematic and planned by Albanian extremists. Amnesty International, for example, says that 33 violent incidents took place throughout Kosovo in mid-March and involved 51,000 people. Dozens were killed and hundreds were injured. Amnesty International also takes seriously claims about the Kosovo police service.
I am all for peace and reconciliation, but I do not understand the decision to put Agim Ceku, who led the KLA pogroms of Serbs and other minorities during and after the NATO bombardment, in charge of that police force. That is obscene.
In March, a senior UN spokesman, Derek Chappell, said:
“This is planned, co-ordinated, one-way violence from the Albanians against the Serbs. It is spreading and has been brewing for the past week. Nothing in Kosovo happens spontaneously.”