Kosovo: A Human Tragedy; United Nations Efforts Aim To Alleviate Suffering Of 800,000.

The United Nations is spearheading international efforts to address a sweeping humanitarian crisis - characterized by one of the largest refugee flows in Europe in the 20th century, with nearly 800,000 men, women and children having fled their homes in the Serbian province of Kosovo in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY).

The massive exodus of Kosovo Albanians took place over a number of weeks after the onset on 24 March of bombing by North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces of specific sites in the FRY, a campaign launched following the rejection by the Yugoslav authorities of a political settlement. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said it was tragic that diplomacy had failed, but there were times when the use of force "may be legitimate in the pursuit of peace". At the same time, it was the Security Council, he stressed, that had the primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security.

On 3 June, FRY President Slobodan Milosevic accepted the principles of a political solution worked out in consultation with Finland's President Martti Ahtisaari and Russian Federation Special Envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin. On 10 June, the Security Council authorized an international civilian and security presence in Kosovo, adding a new dimension of responsibility for the United Nations.

Perilous Price Peace

"Nothing is really important to you and, in fact, you neither love nor hate, for to do either you must at least for a moment stand outside yourself, express yourself, forget yourself, go beyond yourself and your vanity. But that you cannot do; nor is there anything for which you would do so even were you able. Someone else's sorrow cannot move you, how much less hurt you; not even your own sorrow unless it flatters your vanity. You desire nothing and you find joy in nothing. You are not even envious, not from goodness but from boundless egoism, for you do not notice the happiness or unhappiness of others. Nothing can move you or turn you from your purpose. You do not stop at anything, not because you are brave, but because all the healthy impulses in you are shrivelled up, because save for your vanity nothing exists for you, neither blood ties nor inward considerations, neither God nor the world, neither kin nor friend. You do not esteem even your own natural capacities. Instead of conscience it is only your own wounded vanity that can sting you, for it alone, always and in everything, speaks with your mouth and dictates your actions."

- From "The Bridge on the Drina" (1945) by Ivo Andric, Yugoslav Nobel Prize winner for Literature

Sergei Vinogradov of the UN Chronicle reports:

It was a heart-wrenching scene: frail old men and women, infants, young children and their parents, angry-eyed young men, tearful teenaged girls, some trudging along mountain roads, some in haycarts piled high with household possessions, their numbers growing by the thousands every day.

The Security Council on 14 May, in reaffirming the right of all refugees and displaced persons to return to their homes in safety and dignity, called for access for United Nations and other humanitarian personnel operating in Kosovo and other parts of the FRY. It adopted resolution 1239 (1999) by 13 votes to none, with 2 abstentions (China, Russian Federation).

At the outset of the meeting, a minute of silence was observed in tribute to the families bereaved by the conflict. Briefing Council members, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata - whose office is coordinating all UN relief activities in the region - said Kosovo was being emptied - brutally and methodically - of its ethnic Albanian population. Ethnic cleansing and mass forced expulsions were "yielding their tragic results faster than we can respond - faster than anybody's response". In spite of that, the humanitarian response was gaining momentum.

However, the fundamental problem was not the inadequate response: its root cause was the systematic and intolerable violence waged against an entire population and the failure to prevent it, Mrs. Ogata went on. Capacity of the receiving countries had been stretched to its limit and beyond. "Nobody had foreseen deportations, and a refugee outflow from Kosovo on such a massive scale and at such a speed."

Readying Response

The response to the refugee crisis could be described as consisting of four elements, the High Commissioner said. The first, "perhaps the biggest challenge, given the uninterrupted stream of refugees which compels us to constantly review contingency figures and plans", was the recaption of refugees at borders and their temporary accommodation in transit camps. The second was the search for more suitable accommodation beyond such camps. In that regard, since many - about half of those in the FYR of Macedonia, for example - were hosted by families, Mrs. Ogata praised the people in all countries of asylum who were sharing their meagre resources with refugees. "Were it not for their generosity, this would be an even greater tragedy", she stressed. UNHCR was coordinating projects with Governments and non-governmental orations to provide host families with cash grants and food assistance, and was setting up camps away from insecure border areas.

The third and fourth elements were related to the situation in the...