yugoslavias implosion

236
ChApter 3
humanitarian organizations and media should have a presence in
Kosovo. The more witnesses there are in Kosovo, the more it is in
our favor … The agreement removes the danger of foreign aggression
and, I hope, [also the danger of ] internal aggression which
looms.” 398
Hill, the u.s. special envoy, continued mediation efforts amid
growing Serbian criticism, especially following the Contact Group’s
initiative (supported by nato) to bring the Serbs and Kosovo Albanians
together in an international conference in Rambouillet, France,
in early 1999. The Serbs in Kosovo, acting in tandem with the spc and
the nationalist bloc of which Vojislav Koštunica was the spokesman,
became more and more vehemently opposed to any agreement with
the Albanians. The government also assumed an increasingly recalcitrant
stance. Koštunica warned that “aggravation of the crisis in
Kosovo is part of a scenario to deploy foreign troops and seek a political
solution whereby Kosovo would be removed from Serbia and the
fry.” 399
General Ljubiša Stojimirović, chief of staff of the First Army, 400
said, “Our state and our military leaders have expressed their determination
to respond to the ultimata: We will defend ourselves
because that is our right, duty and obligation. We will defend our
freedom, territory, independence and integrity, we will defend truth
against lies. We will defend justice against crime. We are preventing
the creation of new mass graves such as Klečka, Glođani and
others before they grow into a Jasenovac, into a new killing fields
of Serbs.” 401 General Savo Obradović, commander of the Podgorica
Corps, declared that the Yugoslav Army was ready to defend the
fatherland with all the means at its disposal, and the Party of Serbian
398 Nasa Borba, October 14, 1998 .
399 Glas javnosti, January 12, 1999 .
400 The First Army covers northern Serbia
401 Glas javnosti, January 12, 1999 .