The New York Times

Thursday, June 3, 1999

THE EVIDENCE

UN Finds Proof Evidence of 'Ethnic Cleansing' in Kosovo

By JUDITH MILLER

UNITED NATIONS -- The leader of a U.N. mission to Kosovo has found what he called "indisputable evidence" of Serbian "ethnic cleansing" of Kosovars, as well as "ample evidence" of "serious" damage caused by NATO's airstrikes.

In a report to the Security Council, Sergio Vierira de Mello, the U.N. undersecretary-general and the emergency relief coordinator, warned Wednesday that the problems of the people inside Kosovo and Yugoslavia would "dramatically deteriorate unless the conflict is soon brought to an end."

"Even the most basic rehabilitation of shelter and essential services will require colossal efforts and resources" and needs to begin soon, de Mello concluded in a written summary of his oral report to the Council, which was released here Wednesday.

"Even allowing for spontaneous, uncontrolled brutality, the team collected indisputable evidence of organized, well-planned violence against civilians," he wrote in the summary.

De Mello and the representatives of 12 U.N. relief organizations and private relief groups traveled more than 1500 miles in an 11-day trip to gather information. He reported that his team found "a depressing panorama of empty villages, burned houses, looted shops, wandering livestock and unattended farms." Signs that the inhabitants had "fled on very short notice, probably in terror, was the most disturbing finding," he wrote.

He also singled out the plight of 500,000 Serb refugees from Croatia and Bosnia, who, he said in remarks to reporters after the Council meeting, were living in what he called "subhuman conditions."

The Russian and American representatives praised de Mello's report.