MILOSEVIC'S MASSACRE

The Washington Post/The International Herald Tribune

Tuesday, January 19, 1999

For nearly a year, Slobodan Milosevic has been waging war against the people of Kosovo. Throughout that time the Clinton administration has been insisting that it would not stand for the sort of atrocities for which Mr. Milosevic ultimately was responsible in Bosnia earlier in this decade. The brutal massacre late last week by Serbian forces of at least 45 civilians shows just how much the administration's promises have been worth. Kosovo is a province of Serbia, which is the dominant part of what remains of Yugoslavia. Mr. Milosevic, whose title is president of Yugoslavia, is in fact the despot of Serbia. During his decade-long rule, his subjects have steadily lost economic prosperity and political freedom. But he has held on to power by manipulating nationalist hatreds and fomenting ethnic wars against Croats, Bosnians and now the ethnic Albanians who are 90 percent of Kosovo's population. In Kosovo, as throughout the former Yugoslavia, the human toll has been unspeakable. Some 2,000 Kosovars have been kil

led. Hundreds of thousands have been burned and bombed out of their homes. So many villages have been destroyed that, even under ideal circumstances, it would take years for Kosovo to recover from Mr. Milosevie's depredations.

The Clinton administration allowed the Serbs' ethnic cleansing to proceed unimpeded throughout the spring and summer. Then, in October, Richard Holbrooke negotiated a cease-fire. But because Washington and its NATO allies still were not really prepared to confront and stop Mr. Milosevic, they settled for an agreement that delivered far less than administration officials claimed. It did not force Mr. Milosevic to withdraw his troops from Kosovo. It allowed the international community to deploy only unarmed monitors. And even NU. Milosevic's concessions were not enforced. He promised to allow war crimes investigators access, but NATO took no action when he reneged. He promised to free hundreds of Kosovo prisoners, but when he kept torturing them, NATO again took no action. Now the massacre in the village of Racak shows how far from ideal the October agreement really was. Children and old people were killed, some with their eyes gouged out, some shot at close range. U.S. diplomat William Walker, head of the int

ernational monitors, called the massacre "an unspeakable atrocity" and "a crime very much against humanity." United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was "gravely concerned." State Department spokesman James Rubin said, "There should be no doubt of NATO's resolve." The October agreement at least provided access and quick reporting about this atrocity. Now we will see whether that information translates into action. The people of Kosovo cannot stand much more "grave concern" or unquestionable "resolve" from the United States and its allies.