OSCE observer: No mass humanitarian disaster in Kososva until NATO started bombing.

At a community meeting in Vancouver on April 10th organized by End the Arms Race, OSCE observer Rolly Keith disputed media reports and NATO claims of “genocide” in Kosovo prior to NATO’s bombing campaign began.

Keith, a long-time worker in international security teams, participated in the OSCE Kosovo Verification Mission to monitor a peace agreement negotiated between the Yugoslav government and the KLA. The peace agreement quickly fell apart when, in Keith’s opinion, the KLA violated the peace agreement and began conducting terrorist attacks and killing policemen in order to provoke the Yugoslav authorities.

Keith was in Kosovo until March 20th when the OSCE’s 1300 observers were quickly withdrawn a few days before NATO began its bombing campaign. Keith reported that during his time in Kosovo, he saw no signs of genocide or ethnic cleansing. There were no signs of religious fundamentalism, and ethnic Serbs and Albanians were coexisting peacefully, albeit with some minor problems. However, he did observe political leaders exploiting nationalism and culture to turn Kosovo into “a world gone mad.” Keith reported that there were some civilians being displaced because of terrorism, but, “there was no mass humanitarian problems until NATO bombs came down.”

Steve Staples

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