Sat, 24 Apr 1999

World community must help Kosovo

Like everyone else I am appalled by the suffering of the people of Kosovo, who are fleeing their homes and having to seek aid and shelter in foreign countries with nothing but the clothes they are wearing. They have lost everything. There is no point in wasting time trying to apportion blame for the current situation. No party is going to say "I am sorry, it is our fault this has happened".

The international community has strong reservations about the NATO policy of bombing Yugoslavia because of the international laws the policy appears to contravene. Many countries consider the principle of noninterference in the internal matters of other countries to be of paramount importance; indeed it is part of the UN charter. Even the Dayton accord on Bosnia stipulated that Kosovo was an integral part of Yugoslavia. So bombing Yugoslavia for actions its government has taken in its own territory is arguably in contravention of the UN charter and international law.

However, it is incontrovertible that ethnic cleansing and other crimes against humanity are being committed by the Yugoslav government in Kosovo. Is the international community right to stand back and just watch this happen? Have we lost sight of the lessons of the Holocaust, the Killing Fields of Cambodia and the genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda? We must find a solution.

The refugees must return to their homes. They will not do so without military protection. The Yugoslavian government has said it will not allow a NATO-led force on its soil.

President Tito of Yugoslavia, president Nasser of Egypt, prime minister Nehru of India and president Sukarno of Indonesia were the founding fathers of the nonaligned movement. It has been said that this movement has become irrelevant because of the end of the Cold War. If ever there was a time for it, it is now. Let troops from the nonaligned movement lead the peacekeeping force in Kosovo. It is quite possible that this will be acceptable to the government of Yugoslavia, NATO and Russia. Let the government of Indonesia be the leader in pushing for such a solution and putting an end to the suffering of innocent people in Kosovo and Yugoslavia.

JOHN LESTER

Jakarta