yugoslavias implosion

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ChApter 3
James Rubin, spokesperson for the State Department, offered an
unambiguous statement of Washington’s position:
Ethnic Albanians in Kosovo are still denied their most basic human
and political rights and suffer repeated abuses at the hands of Serbian
authorities, particularly the police and the courts. Real progress
on improving the situation in Kosovo remains a central element of the
Outer Wall of sanctions against Serbia. There will be no relief from
sanctions until Belgrade has taken concrete steps to address the legitimate
grievances of the Kosovo Albanian community. … At the same
time, the United States does not support independence for Kosovo. The
unilateral redrawing of borders would not contribute to the stability of
the region. A solution to the problems of Kosovo can and must be found
within the framework of Serbia and the fry... The United States is
deeply concerned about terrorist actions in Kosovo and political killings
that have taken place there this year. The ldk should publicly condemn
any such incidents. The trials in Kosovo of suspected terrorists,
however, have fallen far short of Western judicial standards. Belgrade
should not use concern about terrorism as an excuse to increase the
pressure on the Kosovar Albanian community still further. 373
The Serbian media watched the developments in Kosovo keenly,
focusing on the activities of the self-styled liberation army, the
Kosovo Liberation Army (kla), which had first appeared in 1996
and which became increasingly active in 1997 and 1998 in the form of
a guerrilla movement of lightly armed fighters operating without
a single, unified command. Resentful that Kosovo had been left off
the agenda at the Dayton negotiations and that, while they had been
adhering to a non-violence campaign, Bosnian Serbs had used violence
to secure their own quasi-state, young Kosovars began to turn
to taking up arms. Violence against Serbian policemen and Albanians
373 James P . Rubin, spokesman, regarding Secretary Albright’s Meeting with Dr
Ibrahim Reugova, August 15, 1997 (file ID: 0708153 .GWE Gopher)