The Potential For A UN Peacekeeping Force — страница 2

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starting a war. The actual events of the Kosovo crisis do with uncanny precision correlate with the movie events as the war was started in the midst of Clinton’s impeachment trial which had in fact soon been forgotten. Maybe the theory is not that far fetched.Alexander also claims that stated objectives are not reasonable; they are the withdrawal of Serbian forces from Kosovo, the ability of the Kosovars to return home along with the implementation of a peacekeeping force and autonomy for Kosovo within Serbia (Alexander A19). Despite criticisms on the war and reasons for the war, the point is that it was started and is presently in progress. Nothing can change that expect a change in the momentum in the form of a peace agreement, or a retreat on the part of either party. Before

exploring possible remedies, a look at the war itself will be helpful to the analysis.March 24, 1999 was the first day of the action when NATO air strikes had begun (”Day by day” PG). On that day, more than 40 Serb targets were struck and Yugoslavia claims that 11 civilians were killed and 60 were wounded in air strikes (PG).The first several days of the air war held reports of further Serb atrocities while Milosevic continued to affirm his stance (PG). Russia demanded a halt to the air strikes and an American stealth fighter went down (PG). It is important to remember that at the time the mission had begun no one was certain of the extent that Yugoslavia was prepared. They did believe that they would have a greater fight than what actually materialized. There were many

demonstrations around the world opposing the action. Russian Prime Minister met with Milosevic in Belgrade on March 30 (PG). The mass exodus from Kosovo began during this first week of attacks.On March 31st it was learned that three soldiers were missing (”Day by day” PG). The very next day, April Fool’s Day, they were paraded on television. They were the first captives of the war but that didn’t last long. Much later on, Jessie Jackson negotiated their release which would essentially lead to peace talks. Although he acted alone, without U.S. support, it was thought that perhaps the bombing could be stopped due to the release of prisoners. But NATO did not take the carrot. The bombing did not stop.Throughout the conflict, refugees continued to pour out of Kosovo which

created a dilemma for the world as they had to go somewhere. On April 3rd, Macedonia said it would no longer accept refugees unless other European nations begin admitting some(”Day by day” PG). Immediately, Germany agreed to accept some refugees if other European nations would follow (PG). At around the same time, the White House announced that additional monies would be used to help the refugees (PG). The very next day, NATO announced plans to create an airlift campaign to bring in refugee supplies and to temporarily settle 20,000 refugees in the United States; they also planned to settle 40,000 in Germany, 20,000 in Turkey and lesser amounts in Norway, Denmark, Romania, Sweden, Austria, Greece, Canada and Portugal (PG). The international community did step in quickly to

help. The mass exodus and resettlement would be televised as the Kosovars were received with sympathy and kindness.However, the bombing continued and accidents do happen. After some successful bombings of facilities deemed to be a threat, innocent people were killed. Such incidents became more numerous. On April 13th, for example, NATO admitted that a bomb accidentally hit a passenger train, killing at least 10 civilians (”Day by day” PG). Of course, some damage is expected but such a move has been criticized. The bridge on which the train traveled was clearly targeted. It was thought that NATO should have known that trains, perhaps with innocent commuters, used that bridge. Another accident occurred soon after, killing 64 refugees (PG). Again, there was much criticism as it

was thought that NATO should have been able to distinguish a group of refugees from a military faction. It was around this time in mid-April that the U.N. estimated about 100,000 new refugees were headed for Macedonia (PG). Germany announced a plan to allow a one-day NATO cease-fire if in fact Milosevic would begin to withdraw troops (PG). He didn’t.On April 23, Russian envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin met with Milosevic, announcing a breakthrough agreement for “international presence” in Kosovo (”Day by day” PG). But peace would not be restored. Further, while President Clinton met with the Russian envoy to discuss the Russian diplomatic effort to try to end the bombing, the U.S. rejected the appeal by Yugoslavia to stop the bombing because they had released the three captive