POLITICS-UN: Council Gives Murky Decision on Force in Kosovo

By Farhan Haq Reprint | | Print |

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 24 1998 (IPS) - The latest move by the U.N. Security Council to end the crisis in Yugoslavia’s Kosovo region is murky enough that both critics and supporters of the use of force in Kosovo believe it supports their case.

The Council decided Wednesday by a 14-to-0 vote, with only China abstaining, to demand cessation of hostiltities in Kosovo, specifically calling on Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic “to resolve all existing problems by political means” and “not to carry out any repressive actions against the peaceful population”. It also asks that “security units used for civilian repression” be withdrawn.

But the Council resolution, crafted to win support just as much from Russia – Yugoslavia’s main ally – as the United States, is muddled over whether the United Nations will allow the use of force in the worsening crisis. The resolution invokes Chapter Seven of the U.N. Charter, which allows for the use of force, but avoids any explicit threat to do so.

As a result, different nations have predictably read different meanings into the way the Council will address Kosovo.

“No measures of force and no sanctions at this stage are being introduced by the Council,” Russian Ambassador Sergey Lavrov said. He noted that the body would have to meet again to consider further options if Belgrade fails to comply.

On the other hand, British Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock said the vote puts Milosevic “on notice” that nations would respond “vigorously” to any failure by the Belgrade authorities to comply.

How vigorously is another question entirely. China, which abstained from the resolution despite its lack of any clear repercussions for Yugoslavia, is opposed to any outside interference in what it deems is still an internal conflict.

“The sovereignty and territorial integrity of Yugoslavia should be respected,” said Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan. He noted pointedly that “peace and stability in the Balkans have not come by easily and should be cherished all the more.”

Similarly, Hubert Vedrine, France’s foreign minister, said that his nations has “never ruled out an eventual recourse to force,” but he also cautioned that any use of force must await the Council’s explicit approval.

“I hear voices which urge that one should forgo the authorisation of the Security Council,” Vedrine said in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly Wednesday. “But after this case, there will be another and then another. Little by little, any state will declare itself entitled to intervene wherever its interests or security or ambitions so require … We must remain firm on this principle.”

Even the United States, which has struggled to adopt a policy to protect Kosovar civilians, is not eager to push headlong into an intervention in a province which is still clearly part of Yugoslavia.

U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen this week called the latest crackdown in Kosovo “a challenge I don’t think NATO (The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) can run away from.” On the other hand, Washington has stood by for months as Yugoslav troops shelled Kosovo, prompting thousands of ethnic Albanians to leave their homes in recent months.

According to U.N. officials, there may be as many as 300,000 people displaced from the fighting between the Yugoslav troops and the separatist fighters of the Kosovar Liberation Army. One official warned recently that “constant, heavy rains” in the area threatened to add to the humanitarian crisis already spreading among the refugees.

The Council vote was an effort to display unity among European states on the crisis that would prompt Milosevic to ease the current crackdown; similarly, NATO defense ministers are meeting in Vilamoura, Portugal, this week to decide on how to respond.

If the sudden burst of coordinated efforts is intended to warn Milosevic, however, the Serbian leader – who has lasted even after Slovenia, Macedonia, Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina successfully broke away from the Yugoslav Federation, the latter two after brutal wars – has not backed down. Even as the Council vote went through Wednesday, Belgrade continued an offensive in Kosovo’s Cicavica hills which has already uprooted some 10,000 Albanians.