05 August 1998
TEXT: CSCE LETTER TO PRESIDENT CLINTON ON KOSOVO
(Urges immediate action to stop conflict) (910)

Washington -- Senator Alfonse D'Amato (R-NY) and Representative Christopher H. Smith (R-NJ), co-chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), sent a letter to President Clinton August 5 calling for "immediate and decisive action to stop the conflict in Kosovo before the ethnic cleansers win."
     The letter said, "We believe that strong action to stop the fighting is urgently needed. We need a forceful response to these Yugoslav/Serbian attacks, or a new crisis in the Balkans will result."
     D'Amato and Smith urged Clinton "to seek an agreement within NATO to act directly against those within Kosovo who are attacking civilian populations."
     They stressed that "an active and direct response ... is what is needed most right now.... Delay will prove costly and reduce the chance for success."
     In conclusion, they warned that "if the ethnic cleansers win, even while the spotlight of international attention is turned on them, hope for a peaceful future for all of mankind where each individual's rights are respected under the rule of law will be diminished for the foreseeable future."
     The CSCE, also known as the Helsinki Commission, is an independent agency of the U.S. government mandated to monitor and encourage compliance of the participating States with the Helsinki Final Act and subsequent documents. It is composed of nine members from the United States Senate and nine members from the House of Representatives, as well as one member each from the Departments of State, Defense, and Commerce.

Following is the text of the CSCE press release and the letter:

(Begin text)

CSCE NEWS RELEASE
August 5, 1998

Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe
Washington, D.C. 20515-6460

Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, Chairman
Rep. Christopher H. Smith, Co-Chairman

Washington, DC -- The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe today delivered a letter to President Clinton signed by Chairman Sen. Alfonse D'Amato (R-NY) and Co-Chairman Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-NJ) that calls for "immediate and decisive action to stop the conflict in Kosovo before the ethnic cleansers win." The letter cites the escalating violence, increasing numbers of refugees, and possible resurgent ethnic cleansing efforts of the Yugoslav/Serbian forces in calling for President Clinton to "seek an agreement within NATO to act directly against those within Kosovo who are attacking civilian populations."

Full text of the letter follows:

The Honorable William J. Clinton
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC  20500

Dear Mr. President:

We urge you to take immediate and decisive action to stop the conflict in Kosovo before the ethnic cleansers win.
     Yugoslav/Serbian forces using tanks and other heavy weapons are attacking Albanian-inhabited towns and villages in several regions of Kosovo. Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic is engaged in a major escalation of the conflict, despite his personal assurances to the contrary to U.S. officials just last week. The dead numbers at least in the hundreds, though the actual number may be much higher. The displaced population has climbed rapidly to 200,000, and humanitarian organizations face mounting difficulties obtaining access to them as winter approaches, threatening the largest humanitarian catastrophe to date in the Balkan wars.
     We believe that strong action to stop the fighting is urgently needed. We need a forceful response to these Yugoslav/Serbian attacks, or a new crisis in the Balkans will result. This crisis cannot be avoided by additional aid, but only by stopping its cause -- Milosevic's use of armed force to pursue his political ambitions. Moreover, we know Milosevic's record not only in Bosnia-Herzegovina from 1992 to 1995 but now in Kosovo as well. Milosevic will only cooperate with our diplomatic efforts when he can no longer freely use force to attain his goals.
     Therefore, Mr. President, we urge you to seek an agreement within NATO to act directly against those within Kosovo who are attacking civilian populations. We understand that the Alliance is planning for action in Kosovo. Furthermore, unless attacks against innocent civilians are halted, the continued slaughtering and displacement of innocent people will preclude a viable negotiated agreement on Kosovo's future. The Serbian ethnic cleansers will have prevailed.
     Dozens of Senators and Members of Congress have already written to you urging a variety of responses to Kosovo. We support these efforts. An active and direct response, however, is what is needed most right now. It is strongly in our interest to prevent this conflict from escalating further rather than to wait until massive atrocities, or the flow of fighting and refugees across international borders brings other parties into the conflict, and compel our involvement under even more difficult conditions. As with Bosnia-Herzegovina, delay will prove costly and reduce the chance for success.
     Mr. President, the Balkan wars have presented the greatest challenge to internationally protected human rights in Europe since the end of World War II. If the ethnic cleansers win, even while the spotlight of international attention is turned on them, hope for a peaceful future for all of mankind where each individual's rights are respected under the rule of law will be diminished for the foreseeable future. The promise of Nuremburg will have been repudiated by Milosevic's successful aggression. The time for action is now.

Sincerely,

Alfonse D'Amato, U.S.S. [U.S. Senate]
Chairman

Christopher H. Smith, M.C. [Member of Congress]
Co-Chairman

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