Michel Chossudovsky is Professor of Economics at the University of Ottawa and author of The Globalization of Poverty, Impacts of IMF and World Bank Reforms, Third World Network, Penang and Zed Books, London, 1997.
A recent report submitted to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan conceded that the Kosovo Protection Force (KPC), created under UN auspices in September 1999, has been involved in "criminal activities - killings, ill-treatment/torture, illegal policing, abuse of authority, intimidation, breaches of political neutrality and hate speech." 1
In a cruel irony, "the United Nations is paying the salaries of many of the gangsters." 2
The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), known for its connections to organized crime in general and the Balkans narcotics traffic in particular, was officially dissolved. In fact it was transformed into the Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC). Modelled after the US National Guard, funded by US military aid, the KPC is trained by Military Professional Resources Inc (MPRI), a mercenary outfit based in Alexandria, Virginia. The MPRI was heavily involved in the training and command of the Croatian forces that drove 300,00 ethnic Serbs froim the Krajina section of Croatia in 1995.
The Kosov Protection Corps (KPC) was slated by the UN to become - in the words of UNMIK Special Representative Bernard Kouchner -
* "a civilian, disciplined, uniformed and multi-ethnic emergency response... with a mandate to providing humanitarian assistance... and contributing to rebuilding infrastructure and communities...." 3
Shift in military labels.
KLA Commander Agim Ceku was appointed Chief of Staff of Kosovo's new KPC. In the words of Bernard Kouchner during the inauguration ceremony:
* "I look to him [Agim Ceku] to lead the new members of the Corps in the footsteps of Cincinnatus, the model citizen-soldier of ancient Rome – who left his plow standing in the field to answer the call to arms & and at the end of the war refused all honors in order to return to his civic duties." 4
Who is Mr. Ceku?
Barely a few weeks later, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) announced that it was "investigating Ceku for alleged war crimes committed against ethnic Serbs in Croatia between 1993 and 1995." 5
That he was being investigated was known to military and intelligence analysts well in advance of Ceku's appointment. The information was withheld from broad public view by former ICTY Prosecutor Louise Arbour. But the inforamtin was publicly available, though only in limited circles. For instance, Jane Defence Weekly reported that Ceku had:
* "masterminded the successful HV [Croatian] offensive at Medak [in 1993] and in 1995 was one of the key planners of the successful [eviction of 300,00 ethnic Serbs from the Krajina section of Croatia, called] Operation 'Storm'." (Jane 10 May 1999)
These actions involved massive war crimes against civilians.
United Nations Special Representative Dr. Bernard Kouchner must have known about Ceku. The UN had full access to the files of the ICTY, a UN agency. The Tribunal's Chief Prosecutor was required, by ICTY statute, to report the matter to the UN Secretary General.
When the information was released a few weeks after Ceku's appointment, Tom walker wrote the following in the Sunday Times:
* "A diplomat close to Bernard Kouchner the UN special representative [declared] 'If we lose him [Agim Ceku] it will be a disaster' ... 'When you get to the second level of the TMK [Kosovo Protection Corps], you're down to a bunch of local thugs.'
* "American diplomats... have suggested any indictment of Ceku would most likely be 'sealed' and thereby kept out of the public domain... "
* "The possibility that Ceku, a respected figure in Kosovo, could be accused of war crimes, sent shivers through the international community... "
* "Another diplomat said he believed Kfor, the Nato-led peacekeeping force, could not contemplate a public relations disaster with the Albanians by arresting Ceku."
* "The court's inquiries ... relate to atrocities committed in Krajina ... between 1993 and 1995... Ceku's record in Kosovo itself is not thought to be in question, although the office of Carla del Ponte, the new chief prosecutor, said an investigation into his activities with the KLA could not be ruled out..." 6
War Criminals call the Shots
The appointment of Ceku in Kosovo follows a pattern. To put matters bluntly, NATO and the UN are re-using, in Kosovo, the same NATO apparatus, and some of the same local ethnic war criminals, who previously served in Bosnia and Croatia.
This is of course a serious charge; it is also true.
Let's start at the top.
Lieutenant General Mike Jackson, until recently commander of NATO troops in Kosovo, was posted there from Bosnia Herzegovina and Croatia.
The war crimes for which Agim Ceky was under investigation occured when Croatian forces, aided by the US, drove some 250,000 ethnic Serbs from the Krajina section of Croatia. General Jackson was then put in charge as IFOR commander. His job: organising the return of Serbs "to lands taken by Croatian HVO forces in the 1995 Krajina offensive." 7
In this capacity Jackson "urged that the resettlement [of Krajina Serbs] not [be] rushed to avoid tension [with the Croatians]" while also warning returning Serbs "of the extent of the [land] mine threat." 8
According to "Veritas" (a Belgrade based organization of Serbian refugees from Croatia), only 10-15,000 Serbs were allowed to resettle in Croatia.
Jackson's experience in "ethnic warfare", predates the Balkans.
As a young captain he was posted to Northern Ireland. There he wassecond in command in the "Bloody Sunday" massacre of civilians in Derry in 1972. Under the orders of Lieutenant Coronel Derek Wilford, Captain Jackson and thirteen other soldiers of the parachute regiment opened fire:
* "on a peaceful protest by the Northern Ireland civil rights association opposing discrimination against Catholics. In just 30 minutes, 13 people were shot dead and a further 13 injured. Those who died were killed by a single bullet to the head or body, indicating that they had been deliberately targeted. No weapons were found on any of the deceased." 9
Jackson's role in Bloody Sunday
* "did not hinder his Military career." 10
He was reassigned first to Bosnia and Croatia and then to Kosovo.
While Jackson made only token efforts to protect Serb and Roma ["Gypsy"] civilians, those who fled Kosovo during his mandate were not offered UN protection to return. Moreover, in post-bombing Kosovo, massacres of civilians were carried out by the KLA (and subsequently the KPC) under UN/NATO auspices. This was accepted by the "international community" as a fait accompli.
The Installation of a Mafia State
While calling for the democracy based on "transparency" and "good governance," the US and its allies have worked through the UN to install a paramilitary government with links to organised crime. The outcome is the outright criminalisation of State institutions in Kosovo and the establishment of what is best described as a Mafia State. The complicity of NATO and the Alliance governments (namely their relentless support to the KLA provisional government) suggests the de facto "criminalisation" of KFOR and of the UN peace-keeping apparatus in Kosovo.
By providing financial support to the KPC, the donor agencies, that is the United Nations and Western governments, are accessories to this criminalisation of State institutions. NATO and the UN are responsible for the massacres of civilians and the prevailing reign of terror in Kosovo.
NOTES
1. Quoted in John Sweeney and Jen Holsoe, "Kosovo Disaster Response Service Stands Accused of Murder and Torture," the Observer,12 March 2000.
3. Statement by Bernard Kouchner, 21 September 1999 on the occasion of the inauguration of the KPC, see http://www.un.org/peace/kosovo/pages/kosovo5.htm )
6. Tom Walker, "Kosovo Defence Chief Accused of War Crimes, Sunday London Times, 10 October 1999.
7. Jane Defense Weekly, Vol 23, No. 7, 14 February 1996.
9. Julie Hyland, "Head of NATO Force in Kosovo was Second-in-command at "Bloody Sunday" Massacre in Ireland", World Socialist Website, 19 June 1999.
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Further reading...
- A recent confidential UN report makes it clear: the UN has presided over what Prof. Chossudovsky calls "the criminilzation of state institutions" in Kosovo. For more on the secret UN report, and to read a short Emperors-Clothes commentary, see How will you plead at your trial, Mr. Annan? at http://emperors-clothes.com/news/howwill.htm
- To get an idea of the enormity of the crimes committed by Ceku, the Croatian military and their American handlers see Greg Elich's brilliantly researched The invasion of Serbian Krajina at http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/elich/krajina.html
- Could the UN leaders not have known that the KLA was a criminal-terrorist organization? See Prof. Chossudovsky's article, The KLA: Grim Origins at http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/chuss/kla.html
- Prof. Chossudovsky believes the KLA, or rather, its blighted offpsring, the Kosovo Protection Corps, supposed to be the control apparatus for multinational corporations in Kosovo. See State terror and the "free market" Opening up Kosovo to foreign capital by Michel Chossudovsky at http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/chuss/opening.htm
- NATO is apparently suffering from internal conflicts, most apparent in the tormented town of Mitrovica in northern Kosovo, near the administrative border with inner Serbia. What's behind those conflicts?See Why is the KLA shooting at KFOR? at http://emperors-clothes.com/analysis/whyisthe.htm