A DECLARATION ON KOSOVO

Signed by 7 members of the CNN discussion board on the Peace in the Balkans
October 20, 2000

1. The Kosovo civil war was a confrontation between the Albanian separatist extremism, lead by the KLA and the repressive nationalism of official Yugoslavia, as designed politically by Slobodan Milosevic and the other FRY leaders and practiced by the FRY army, the police and the paramilitaries. The Albanian part received considerable financial and military  support from abroad.

2. The Rambouillet peace negotiations were intentionally undermined by USA (Mrs. Albright), who presented certain last-moment implementation clauses totally unacceptable by any sovereign country.

3. The Allied Force Operation was an illegal act of aggression, not justified by international law and not approved by UN. It caused extended material and human losses in Yugoslavia, without been able to avoid bloody armed confrontation, expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Albanians out of Kosovo and further exaltation of ethnic hate.

4. The NATO aggression was accompanied by an unacceptable propaganda war, targeted not only the FRY government, but also the whole Serbian nation. Nevertheless, a significant part of the people in the NATO member countries and also in the countries of the Balkan region was against the NATO operation and played certain role for it's termination.

5. The output of the Allied Force Operation was much worse than what could be achieved by peaceful means, especially if only a part of those billions spend for destruction was directed to support a strong UN peacekeeping operation. The exclusion of FRY forces resulted in emigration of over 200 000 people of Serbian and other ethnicity, accompanied by the illegal entrance of many Albanians from Albania proper, which further complicates the search of a peaceful and sustainable solution.