Sir, - NATO bombs are falling on Kosovo, night after night, day after day. The result is not the "peace" which President Clinton and Prime Minister Clinton claim that bombing will bring. NATO has given Milosevic the opportunity to clear Kosovo of the majority group of inhabitants, those of Albanian origin. The death toll is mounting rapidly and the number of refugees which this new situation has created is growing to enormous proportions. There is no sign of Milosevic being willing to negotiate. In the end Serbia will probably have guaranteed itself possession, at the very least, of northern Kosovo with its mines and natural resources and close historical connections with the Serbs - which is what Milosevic wanted before the bombing began.
The argument for bombing Kosovo seems to rest on the assumption that there is no alternative if Milosevic is to be stopped. The fact is that the alternatives have not been given a chance. The groups within Kosovo which for years have been seeking peaceful solutions to Kosovo's internal conflicts have received no support from outside. The UN's peacekeeping arm, the OSCE, of which Ireland is a member and is supposed to support, is starved of resources and only half of the full OSCE peace monitor contingent which was promised last year ever reached Kosovo. The UN's Security Council has been bypassed.
In the meantime the Irish Government has nothing to say on Kosovo, one way or another. The Irish people will have their own views on events in Kosovo. Are we going to support the UN as the international rule of law with all its peacekeeping facilities as we have in the past, or are we going to indicate our support of NATO by joining NATO's Partnership for Peace? Surely at the very least a referendum on the PFP should be held as a matter of urgency. - Yours, etc., Gloria Frankel,
President, Irish Section, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Ballyneal, Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary.