APPENDIX
Memorandum submitted by The Lord Byron
Foundation for Balkan Studies
1. Find enclosed "The Kosovo Dossier",
a book recently published by ourselves.
2. The Foundation is keen to offer expert
witnesses to testify at the hearings of the committee. We have
in mind Sir Alfred Sherman, Dr Michael Stenton and, circumstances
permitting, Dr Stanisa Vlahovic.
3. The Foundation urges the committee to
investigate NATO's deliberate rejection of an intervention which
was consistent with the UN Charter and less violent than bombing.
Common sense, international law, regional stability and, not least
humanitarian considerations dictated from early 1998 onwards that
Albania's lawless border region with Kosovo be sealed to stem
the flow of weapons to the KLA and to close down its training
camps. Such action could have had a Security Council mandate since
a Russian and Chinese veto would not have been forthcoming. Furthemore,
Albania was in no position to object given that it was bankrupt
and a client state of NATO.
Imagine the impact on Ulster if the Irish Republic
had descended into anarchy with all of its armouries looted, and
the IRA took control of the border areas. Yet the equivalent occurred
in Albania.
If only NATO had moved against the KLA in Albania,
Kosovo would have been spared much of the ensuing violence and
retained its multi-ethnicity. The "terrorist" KLA would
not have supplanted the "pacifist" Rugova. Kosovo's
Albanians would have also realised that enhanced autonomy—already
conceded in principle by Belgrade, providing it did not open the
door to secession— was the most that could be achieved.
Limited military action in Albania would have reinforced diplomacy's
refrain that Yugoslavia's territorial integrity was inviolable.
At the very least, valuable time would have been bought.
The House Select Committee on Foreign Affairs
may care to investigate this aspect.
4. The Foundation suggests that the committee
should investigate whether the mass exodus of Kosovo Albanians
was a predictable consequence of NATO embarking upon a campaign
of bombing Yugoslavia? May we draw the committee's attention to
a statement by John Bruton, former prime minister of Ireland.
He had attended a meeting in Berlin—NATO having announced
that morning that it would bomb but before the bombing had commenced—at
which Carl Bildt, former prime minister of Sweden, predicted that
the bombing would result in a million refugees. See below Irish
Times article downloaded from the net.
Robinson urges Irish
generosity to refugees
. . . Meanwhile, the leader of Fine Gael and
former Taoiseach, Mr John Bruton, yesterday angrily denounced
those who claimed that the vast refugee exodus in Kosovo could
not have been foreseen.
In a statement, Mr Bruton said: "The British
Foreign Secretary, Mr Robin Cook MP, is simply not making a truthful
statement when he said today that no one could have foreseen a
refugee crisis on the scale of the one now happening in the Balkans,
following the decision to bomb Yugoslavia while refusing to commit
ground troops under any circumstances. He is wrong."
"After the NATO announcement of bombing,
but before the bombing had started, I attended a meeting in Berlin
where Carl Bildt, Swedish Opposition leader and a former mediator
in Bosnia, specifically predicted one million refugees within
two weeks of the bombing starting," Mr Burton said. "This
outcome was guaranteed by the public announcements by President
Clinton that ground troops would not be committed."
Mr Bruton called for a four-day cessation of
the bombing next weekend, to coincide with the Orthodox Christian
Easter. He said this time should be used to seek a negotiated
settement, possibly using a non-NATO European statesman such as
Mr Bildt.
The foundation suggests that you seek Carl Bildt
as an expert witness.
5. The Foundation looks forward to co-operating
with the committee.
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