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Security Council

Fifty-fourth year

included precise commitments and obligations on the part of the Yugoslav Government.

Those obligations were not respected by Belgrade. However, every effort was made to prompt the Yugoslav Government to meet its obligations on the ground and t adhere to the Rambouillet agreements. Those efforts have been exhausted.

In recent weeks we have witnessed, together with the inflexibility of the Belgrade authorities in negotiating a peace agreement, an increase in tension and confrontation, with the massing of a powerful offensive capacity by the Yugoslav army, inspiring fears that there will be a new upsurge of massacres in a community of 2 million people. We cannot abandon that community to violent repression. What is at stake today is peace, peace in Europe — but human rights are also at stake.

The actions that have been decided upon are a response to the violation by Belgrade of its international obligations, which stem in particular from the Security Council resolutions adopted under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter. The Belgrade authorities must be persuaded that the only way to settle the crisis in Kosovo is for them to halt their military offensives in Kosovo and to accept the framework defined by the Rambouillet agreements.

Mr. Hasmy (Malaysia): The Security Council is meeting today in reaction to the dramatic developments that are now taking place in Kosovo. For the past 13 months the continuing crisis in Kosovo has caused tremendous hardship and suffering to the civilian population in the province. The continued repressive actions on the part of the Yugoslav security forces against the Kosovar Albanian community, which have again intensified during the past few days, have led to tragic humanitarian consequences. Many lives have been lost, while more than half a million Kosovar Albanians have been forced to flee their burning homes and villages and seek refuge elsewhere in Kosovo and in the neighbouring countries.

The violence against the civilian population has been on the increase in recent weeks and days. The intensified terror tactics and military assaults by the Yugoslav forces against the ethnic Albanian community in many parts of the province represent the continuation of a systematic repression by the Yugoslav authorities to drive innocent civilians, especially women and children, out of Kosovo, reminiscent of the policy of ethnic cleansing that was carried out during the dark days of the Bosnian crisis.

According to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the current security environment in Kosovo is characterized by a disproportionate use of force, including heavy weaponry, by the Yugoslav authorities against the poorly armed Kosovar Albanians. One thing should be clear: combating the so-called acts of terrorism in Kosovo does not in any way justify gross human rights violations or the failure to respect international norms and international humanitarian law.

The Security Council supported the peace process initiated by the Contact Group back in January this year, which was designed to settle the crisis in Kosovo through peaceful means. My delegation cannot fail to express its appreciation for the strenuous efforts made by the members of the Contact Group, and in particular those that were determined to bring about the success of the peace negotiations in Rambouillet, which resumed in Paris last week. Unfortunately, the outcome of the negotiations was not as the international community had expected. Yugoslavia continues to reject the Rambouillet accords and has rebuffed all efforts to change its mind, while the Kosovar Albanian side has put its signature on them, despite serious reservations on its part. My delegation welcomes the decision by the Kosovar Albanian delegation to sign the Rambouillet accords. By that act, the Kosovar Albanians have chosen the path of peace, instead of continued conflict. That was, indeed, a courageous decision which ought to be commended by the international community and this Council.

My delegation believed that the crisis in Kosovo could have been resolved through dialogue and negotiations predicated on good faith and the necessary political will on the part of the parties concerned. Clearly, the Kosovar Albanian side has demonstrated this good faith and political will but, regrettably, the Yugoslav authorities have not. We had hoped that the intensive diplomatic efforts, culminating in the Rambouillet talks in February, which resumed in Paris last week, including all the efforts made right up to the eleventh hour, to secure an agreement from Belgrade, would succeed in finding a peaceful settlement and thereby avert the catastrophic humanitarian situation now unfolding in Kosovo. Regrettably, the hopes and expectations of the international community were dashed by the continued intransigence of the Yugoslav leadership.

As a matter of principle, my delegation is not in favour of the use or threat of use of force to resolve any conflict situation, regardless of where it occurs. If the use of force is at all necessary, it should be a recourse of last 9