Vol. XXXVIII / 1 - Studia Moralia

ONLY THE SOVEREIGN MAY DECLARE WAR AND NATO AS WELL 213
countenance the search for a United Nations Security Council
resolution. This is the message of Article 6 of the “Statement on
Kosovo” declaring: “NATO is prepared to suspend its air strikes
once Belgrade has unequivocally accepted the above mentioned
conditions and demonstrably begun to withdraw its forces from
Kosovo according to a precise and rapid timetable. This could
follow the passage of a United Nations Security Council
resolution, which we will seek, requiring the withdrawal of Serb
forces and the demilitarisation of Kosovo and encompassing the
deployment of an international military force to safeguard the
swift return of all refugees and displaced persons as well as the
establishment of an international provisional administration of
Kosovo under which its people can enjoy substantial autonomy
within the FRY. NATO remains ready to form the core of such an
international military force. It would be multinational in
character with contributions from non-NATO countries.” 42 In the
result the alliance secured a United Nations Security Council
resolution – Resolution 1244 – subtley conceding the core
military role to NATO. NATO’s military success, under American
leadership, 43 enabled it finally to secure legality rather than
legitimacy for its war on Yugoslavia. Under American
leadership, it has demonstrated the virtues but not necessarily
the efficacy of military power in a seemingly unipolar world. 44 In
this way it is the reaffirmation of the maxim that auctoritas non
veritas facit legem. Yet, its conquest has failed to move the
principal contending parties away from their original
convictions about their title to Kosovo territory. 45 Similarly, it
has left observers sceptical about precipitate resort to war on
ostensibly the right reason but for the wrong purpose. This logic
of conquest must give way to volunatary and informed consent
as the only foundation of law.
42
NATO Review, No. 2 Summer 1999, (Emphasis added).
43
Wills, G., Bully of the free world, Foreign Affairs, Volume 78, Number
2 March/April 1999, p. 50-53.
44
Huntington, S.P., The lonely Superpower, Foreign Affairs, Volume 78,
Number 2 March/April 1999, p. 39.
45
Le Monde Diplomatique (Guerre dans les Balkans) août 1999, p. 2.