RIGHTS-KOSOVO: Peace Activists Call for End to NATO Bombing

By Farhan Haq Reprint | | Print |

THE HAGUE, May 16 1999 (IPS) - The worldwide arguments over the rights and wrongs of NATO’s war on Yugoslavia over Kosovo held centre stage at the close of a four-day peace conference here and peace activists called for a halt to the bombing and greater UN involvement in the crisis.

The Hague Appeal for Peace (HAP) wrapped up debate Saturday in the wake of another NATO attack gone wrong – when some 80 Kosavar refugees died in an air raid 24 hours previously.

Many speakers contended that the NATO operations against Yugoslavia, intended to prevent the expulsion of the ethnic Albanian majority from Kosovo, had failed.

Maj Britt Theorin, president of the International Peace Bureau, said the conflict was a “war started to save human beings from ethnic cleansing, which resulted in increased cleansing and more than one million refugees.”

She argued that the NATO bombing must stop and that UN peacekeepers be sent to the region.

“It is time for all parties to accept the role of international law,” she said. “If we don’t react to a war going on now in our neighbourhood, it could be seen…as acceptance of military means, in which we do not believe.”

William Pace, HAP secretary-general, told the closing plenary that crises like Kosovo underscored the reason for holding an international conference on peace and justice issues. “We are here because conventional approaches to peace have failed miserably, and are failing even as we speak,” he said.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan declared it was pointless to apportion any blame for the worsening of the Kosovo crisis in recent months as “no doubt each of us could have done more.”

“What matters now is that peace be restored as soon as possible,” Annan said. He called for a political solution “based on the rule of law and justice and safety for the victims.”

Delegates applauded Annan’s call for a larger UN role, in contrast to the reception given the speech by Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok, who was jeered as he defended NATO’s continuing offensive.

“I would love to stop the bombing, but you have to use military means if they are necessary,” Kok said.

The estimated 7,000 delegates at the Hague Appeal, held on the centennial of Csar Nicholas II’s 26-nation Hague peace conference, held more than 400 meetings over four days on subjects ranging from disarmament to human rights.

None provoked as much heated debate as Kosovo.

Still, many participants said there was a need to look beyond the unfolding conflict in Europe to deal with what Annan called the “ignored” wars.

These included the displacement of some 780,000 Angolans in recent months of fighting, the flight of more than half a million people from their homes during the Eritrea-Ethiopia war and the deaths of nearly two million people in southern Sudan.

The conflicts in African and Asia, Pace agreed, “must receive equal attention from the international community.”

Delegates also discussed the peace processes in Cyprus, East Timor and Kashmir; the launching of an International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA); the start of a non-governmental campaign for the early entry into force of the International Criminal Court; and the presentation of new reports on landmines and weapons of mass destruction.

As Pace acknowledged, peace activists did not win agreement on all of those issues.

Some of the topics, such as a disarmament report by former International Atomic Energy Agency chief Hans Blix, were heatedly debated by peace activists, while others – like the Kosovo crisis – led to a plethora of proposals but no ultimate resolution.

Still, the conference succeeded at bringing together messages of support for peace from dozens of government and UN officials, non- governmental leaders and Nobel laureates.

The size of the gathering also provided for odd juxtapositions, as East Timorese Nobel Prize co-winner Jose Ramos Horta convened a gathering of Kashmiri public figures and Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed discussed peace issues with Annan and veteran peace activists.

It also afforded an opportunity for leaders to bring their own regional conflicts wider attention, as when Sheikh Hasina told the closing plenary how her government’s recognition of the “distinct characteristics” of the people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts helped win a peace agreement ending the insurgency there.

Similarly, in a message to the HAP this week, jailed Timorese pro- independence leader Xanana Gusmao argued that the struggle of East Timor’s people to find a negotiated end to Indonesia’s 23-year occupation showed the importance of peace efforts.

“We are but a small drop of water in a vast ocean,” Gusmao wrote. “However, our contribution to the cause of peace in the world has only just begun.”