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GEORGE ROBERTSON, British Secretary of Defense: This will be my last
opportunity of talking in this forum before the Prime Minister, the
Foreign Secretary and I depart for Washington later today to join our
NATO partners for the 50th anniversary of the North Atlantic Alliance.
In Washington, we will reflect on the contribution that the Alliance
has made to a peaceful and stable Europe in the last half-century but
we will also be looking into the next century too - because there is
a monstrous evil on our Continent as we approach the new millennium.
The summit will rightly be focusing on Kosovo and reaffirming Alliance
unity on stopping and reversing the ethnic warfare going on there.
Events in Kosovo have brought to light some of the worst, most
depraved aspects of humanity, genocide, ethnic cleansing, rape and the
virtual decapitation of Kosovar Albanian society. We have all seen the
images, and we have all heard the consistent testimonies of those who
are fleeing; some of them are almost unbearable. But outside of Yugoslavia,
there is almost universal revulsion at what Milosevic is doing and it
was perhaps best summed up by Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the
United Nations, when he addressed the Human Rights Commission on 7 April.
He said: 'Of all the gross violations, genocide knows no parallel in
human history. The tragic irony of this age of human rights is that
it has been repeatedly darkened by outbursts of indiscriminate violence
and organised mass killings. ... The signs are that it may be happening
once again once more in Kosovo.'
Milosevic is no respecter of national boundaries. He brought war to
Bosnia and Croatia in 1991; he regularly threatens his neighbours and
he has tried in recent weeks to expand the conflict to Albania with
incursions across the border. For example, two days ago, after a
20-minute exchange of fire with Albanians, Serb forces crossed into
Albania and reportedly laid land-mines before withdrawing; and
yesterday, we received reports of his troops entering the
UN-controlled region of Prevlaka, a small tongue of land disputed with
Croatia - it is understood that a formal protest has been made by the
Croats to the UN. Britain and NATO remain vigilant and gravely concerned
about his intentions towards Montenegro as well. We believe he may be
about to undermine the position of Milo Djukanovic, the democratically-elected
President of that country.
NATO's mission is to stop Milosevic's reign of terror in Kosovo and
we continue to update all our planning to take account of the new
situation there including the ravages inflicted by Milosevic, the
impact of NATO air strikes and NATO's new demands since Rambouillet
that all Serb forces should withdraw immediately.
We have continued to strengthen our air and land forces as the
campaign develops. More troops are being sent to Macedonia in
readiness for deploying into Kosovo as part of an international
military force, once the air strikes have done their job - and as I
said in the House of Commons on Monday, NATO will continue its
operations until Milosevic complies with the conditions set out by the
international community for ending military action. We are determined
that an international military force will deploy in Kosovo once air
strikes have done their job, so that the Kosovar people can return to
their homes. Milosevic will not have a veto.
Milosevic, by now, can be under no illusion that we mean serious
unrelenting business. Last night, NATO struck and largely destroyed
the Socialist Party headquarters in Belgrade, one of the nerve centres
of the machine which plans the killing in Kosovo. We are now striking
at the very heart of his bloodstained regime, and we shall do so again
and again and again. We also hit the last of the bridges across the
Danube, a critical route for his military and air support; we also hit
numerous other bridges, radio-relay sites and fuel and ammunition sites.
Milosevic will be fully aware of the daily dose of damage and destruction
being inflicted on his military machine, and that is why there is now
widespread panic and concern in the high command at the damage being
inflicted on the Serb military. He cannot and he will not defeat NATO's
military force.
Unlike the Serbs, NATO is a force for good. Our military capability
has been matched with the willingness, the ability and the desire to
work alongside the international aid organisations helping the
persecuted people of Kosovo, who have been evicted into Albania and
Macedonia. None of these people blame NATO for their plight. And British
troops have, in heroic circumstances, overnight built
temporary camps with sanitation facilities, food and medical support,
some 2,660 tents have been erected, 1.6 km of water-pipeline laid and
1.5 km of trackway constructed, massive quantities of food and other
supplies have been flown in and distributed. In the Kosovars' hour of
darkness and of fear, British forces have helped a whole people back
from the precipice.
These people were not made homeless by natural disaster, they are not
victims of an invading army seeking to gain territory, their only
crime was to be Kosovar Albanians; teachers, public servants,
taxi-drivers or simple, rural folk and the rest, they were all driven
from their homes with the same systematic brutality, some of them were
lucky - but 'lucky' is a relative term in these circumstances - and
escaped to neighbouring countries, others sadly did not or were raped
or tortured or brutalised along the way.
SIR JOHN DAY, Air Marshall: In spite of poor weather yesterday and last
night, NATO attacked over 30 targets across Kosovo and Serbia, including
in Belgrade. They attacked bridges, command-and-control sites, military
radio-relay sites, fuel storage facilities and ammunition storage sites,
all NATO's aircraft returned safely. Royal Air Force Harrier GR-7s were
involved in these operations with four aircraft attacking a Serbian
army command post in Kosovo through cloud with 1,000 lb bombs. The weather
however prevented other Harrier GR-7s from finding and attacking Serbian
army and special police targets in Kosovo. Royal Navy Sea Harrier FA-2
aircraft operating from HMS Invincible provided combat air patrols in
support of NATO forces.
NATO's varied and flexible air assets have shown themselves to be
fully capable of hitting Milosevic's forces very hard day or night,
rain or shine and it must be very worrying to the Serbian army and
special police forces in the field and one would think to their
leaders, that NATO's aircraft can operate almost with impunity in the
skies of Yugoslavia and strike with such deadly precision.
The Secretary of State has praised the contribution of British forces
in helping to remedy the sea of human suffering in Macedonia and this
is an achievement of which I believe we can all be immensely proud.
Four days ago, Lt. General John Reith took command in the field of
what is becoming known as AFOR, NATO's Albanian force. NATO has directed
General Reith that his main task is to establish a
sustainable capacity to meet the humanitarian need, working in support
of and in close co-ordination with the Albanian civil authorities and
the international aid agencies led by the UNHCR and assisting them in
the provision of humanitarian aid.
AFOR will be a highly-mobile reaction force, when fully deployed it
will number around 8,000 lightly-equipped troops but it will also
include significant engineer and medical expertise and NATO is
currently finalising the exact composition of the force. The
deployment of AFOR introduces yet another dimension to NATO's
commitment in the region; its commitment is comprehensive and absolute
but we will continue with our military action until our objectives have
been achieved and the Kosovar Albanian people can return to their homes
but at the same time, NATO will also provide the necessary military
support to the humanitarian operations in both Macedonia and Albania.
GEORGE ROBERTSON: Paddy Ashdown is in Skopje; he has been meeting and
experiencing the dilemma of the refugees at first-hand. Welcome, Paddy.
PADDY ASHDOWN, leader of the Liberal Democrats: Thanks, George. You
have asked me to come here and give my impression of what I've seen.
I have done a good deal of tramping round the Balkans in the last five
years, but I have heard things and seen things here which I have found
terrible and terrifying - every single family I have spoken to with
a horror story of its own to tell, each of them living in indescribable
squalor. I have found it my worst experience and my worst trip to the
Balkans.
I think we need to understand very clearly that President Milosevic
is using the refugees as an instrument of war, and we have to win on that
plane just as we have to deny him victory on every other. The scale
of this took me by surprise. I don't know if it took others by surprise
- I was one of those who predicted that he would attempt a final solution
- but the speed, the ferocity, the brutality with which he
has delivered that has astounded me and surprised me. We have to now
devote the resources that are necessary, the co-ordination by UNHCR,
the NATO resources, to make that we do not allow President Milosevic
to use the refugees to destabilise the countries into which they are
now going.
I have asked every single family, in whatever condition I have found
them, the same question: 'Has NATO made it worse?' and I have
unanimously got back the same answer: 'No, NATO has given us the
chance to make it better, we wish you'd have come earlier, we hope
you'll finish as quickly as possible.'
I have spoken to some of the refugees who were in that convoy which
was mistakenly attacked, and they said to me things which perhaps some
armchair commentators at home don't realise: they understand that this
is war and that accidents happen. They said to me: 'The difference is
NATO is not trying to kill us, if it does so it does so by accident.
Milosevic is trying to kill us.' And those who would argue that somehow
or another NATO shouldn't be doing this perhaps might like to come here
and listen to some of those words.
I met a refugee the other day in Kukes, in northern Albania where
40,000 came over last weekend. He said to me: 'I used to believe, and
I was told that NATO fought its wars for petrol. But actually here you
are fighting one for principle.' He said refugees used to be the forgotten
detritus, the consequence of war, but for the first time
this is a war for refugees. I think we need to recognise that. If we
do not get these people back, there can be no victory and we cannot
win.
There are some of course outside who worry that they want to leave
Kosovo and go elsewhere, Macedonia, Albania, stay there, go to the
West. I must say that this is complete nonsense. I had a conversation
with a family who had left the husband behind in the forests just the
day before yesterday, and the woman said to me: 'My house is burned,
my cattle have been killed, my crops have been destroyed, my family
some of them are dead - but I would rather have a tent on my own land
in Kosovo than a palace anywhere else in the world.' I think we have
to make sure that that's what happens.
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