Sir, - It seems extraordinary to me that nobody, even among the experienced OSCE observers, signalled the exodus from Kosovo. The result is that the small countries around its border must bear the major responsibility for administering to the needs of this misplaced, tragic human chain, and in the process get world criticism and blame for their perceived inadequacy. This is so unfair and shows a gross ignorance of the ongoing struggle for survival in these countries.
Through seven years of working on development programmes in both Macedonia and Albania, I have witnessed the desperate, painfully slow advancement both countries have made to realising a civic society and achieving political democracy.
Albanians regard the Kosovars better-off cousins, but I know these kind and generous people are sharing what little they have with them as refugees. The destitution of Albania is unimaginable. Its people live with crippling electricity and water shortages every day and endure grave housing, medical and educational shortages. Their industries, roads and infrastructure are reminiscent not of Europe but the Third World. For Macedonia, the reality is as grim. It is a small country plundered by former Yugoslavia, with an unfriendly Greece to the south, and coping with the needs of a 25 per cent Albanian minority in the north - and it is coping through diplomacy, not conflict. The NATO campaign could at best set Macedonia back by decades, at worst turn its land into a theatre of war.
This is no longer just a Kosovo crisis, it is a massive regional tragedy, apparently out of control with no credible leadership or vision, and policy apparently being made depending on the last atrocity. Dare one ask what contingency plans exist if the women, children and elderly begin a mass exodus from the Belgrade bombing? War games are no solution to this human tragedy, nor are the fragmented and often confusing and contradictory political media statements from world leaders and ministers.
Diplomacy, utilising global allies, quantifying the true problem on the ground in Kosovo, and above all a conference of world leaders must be the priority now. - Yours, etc., Nuala Fennell,
Dalkey, Co Dublin.