Balkan Natives React To Continuing Attacks

NATO's continued bombing of Yugoslavia following Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's announcement of a unilateral cease-fire has increasingly polarized the opinions of Harvard students from the Balkans.

As the war continues without an end in sight, students from both sides denounced the conflict while expressing their desire for eventual peace in the region.

But the solutions they proposed leave little potential for common ground.

Many students from Serbia condemned NATO's bombing campaign, particularly now that Milosevic has announced a unilateral cease-fire for Orthodox Easter, which should last at least until the holiday is observed on Sunday.

"Obviously Milosevic backed up a little bit and I hope that NATO will recognize that and recognize that it also needs to stop bombing and start talking, because that's the only way we're going to get a peace agreement out of this," said Luka Djunic '01, who is from Belgrade, Yugoslavia.

"Yugoslavia did what NATO wanted it to do. Cease-fire is the basis for everything else, [but] instead of encouraging it by a cease-fire of its own, NATO just goes in...and still bombs...which sends the wrong message to the people in Yugoslavia and to Milosevic," Djunic added.

However, students from other areas in the region generally expressed support for NATO's continued bombing, saying that Milosevic's past behavior demonstrates that he cannot be trusted to keep his word.

"I don't think Milosevic has spoken a word of truth in the last seven years, so one would have to be a complete idiot to believe anything Milosevic says without clear support from his actions," said Emir Kamenica '01, who is from Sarajevo in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

"It only speaks to NATO's experience with Milosevic that they're not responding to his probably empty talk," Kamenica said.

Students also stressed that NATO meant the bombing as a demonstration to the Serbians that they would no longer be allowed to kill the ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.

"I think the NATO bombing is a reaction of a society that feels a responsibility and won't watch one's neighbors getting killed," said Berislav Marusic '01, who is from Croatia.

Though students' reactions to the cease-fire and continued bombing are the latest in a long list of differences in opinion, the most recent events have polarized feelings on both sides of the issue.

Most Serbian students said NATO's attack on their sovereign country is illegal.

"What NATO is doing is against international law, against their founding charter and they aren't endorsed by the UN," said Marina Jovanovic '01, from Belgrade.

"NATO is definitely overstepping its boundaries," said Srdjan L. Tanjga '01, also from Belgrade. "NATO is bombing a sovereign nation which has not jeopardized NATO members and...which has not provoked NATO."

But other students from the region who had already expressed support for the NATO bombings said that recent events have strengthened their commitment to NATO's actions.

Marusic told The Crimson two weeks ago that while the bombings might not stop the genocide, "the likelihood they will stop is greater." Now he calls his former comments "kind of hesitant." The Serbs are "aggressors," he said, adding that the latest news coming from Kosovo is proof of the necessity of the bombings.

"I think the Serbs are the aggressors. They attacked first Slovenia, then Croatia, then Bosnia, then Kosovo...If you look at what happened in Croatia, I can not help but conclude that there's a massive genocide going on in Kosovo," he said.

Kamenica, who recalls running across bridges while being shot at and being captured by the Serbians during the war in Bosnia, agreed that the NATO bombing was necessary.

"The Serb pattern of ethnic cleansing, genocide, and other war crimes has continued basically uninterrupted for almost seven years... [The NATO bombing is] signaling to the Belgrade government that they can't continue with their pattern that they've engaged in for the past seven years," he said.

But students from Serbia said that the bombings were unlikely to accomplish anything, and are making the situation worse.

"I believe and I pray that [peace] will come but I also think that bombing is not going to solve any of the problems," Tanjga said.

"The strikes are not going to achieve anything. In the past 13 days that they've been bombing what we've seen is only the worsening of the crisis," Jovanovic said.

"I also don't see how the airstrikes are going to end because NATO has not really stated a goal that they are trying to achieve so there really isn't a NATO strategy," she added.

Students from Serbia also expressed concern for the relatives and friends who remain behind.

"Obviously I'm concerned about their safety. We live in a relatively residential area, but then again last night one of missiles hit a residential area," Tanjga said. "I'm always very scared when I call until they pick up."

While both sides said they were eager for peace, their proposals for ending the conflict have little in common.

Many non-Serbian students from the area said that Kosovo should be granted autonomy or independence.

"I find it unfeasible that the Serbian government as it stands today would allow ethnic Albanians to live in Kosovo with basic rights," said Kamenica, who said he believes that the Kosovars should therefore be independent.

But Serbian students are adamant that Kosovo remain a part of Yugoslavia. Many compared the current conflict to America's civil war.

"How would you feel that if a part of your country was trying to secede, a part that holds a special place and a special meaning, which Kosovo has for my nation?" Jovanovic said.

"I think [Kosovo] should remain a part of Serbia and consequently a part of Yugoslavia. There should be some changes in the civil rights of people who live there, but I'm strongly opposed to secession or any independence as a separate state," she said.