CNA - 3-month Report (April

Until 24th March 1999 there were so many things to be worked on in order to
build peace and civil society in the region of Balkan. Since then, it seems to be
much, much more.

On 24th March 1999 war broke out in the FRYugoslavia. The impact of this on CNA personally and professionally is large. There was a short-term paralysis in the immediate work of the office as we focused solely on these events. The war in Yugoslavia directly effects one member of staff from Belgrade, for the member of staff from BiH the effects are equally as personal if less direct.

Differences of opinion developed in the CNA team towards various issues that this situation has brought to the surface. These have resulted in long discussion and debate which have developed into various actions and projects described below. It has made us more aware of the differences we need to respect, inside and outside the office. A vital and ongoing lesson for all of us.

The CNA work plan is effected by the war. For example how can the Training for Trainers meetings continue when male participants from FRY cannot cross the border to attend? How much strength do our partners and participants in RS have at the minute? How possible is a multi-ethnic training event in Macedonia in the near future? We are assessing the impact of the war to enable us to amend and adapt our plans. This is time consuming; it
involves quite a lot of travel and a lot of communication with other organisations, entities and countries. But the main point is that it is possible. The results so far are given below.

But we continue. Work taking is place and projects are being planned, as this report will confirm. The priority that the war has taken does not mean that it takes over the work of CNA. Indeed one reason why we are able to continue is because we have been working with people and issues from Yugoslavia/Kosovo, and Macedonia, Republika Srpska as a central part of our work strategy. The present tragedy in Yugoslavia simply confirms how
important it has been to stick with this.

TRAINING FOR TRAINERS

It has been necessary to postpone the final stages of the Training for Trainers programme. Follow-up meetings that were due to take place in March and April had already been deferred for various reasons. The outbreak of the war in Yugoslavia has ensured that many of these meetings will be postponed for the foreseeable future.

The final official gathering of the participants for Training for Trainers event was due to take place on May 1st 1999. After contacting the participants to ask their opinion we decided also to call off this event. The impossibility of men from Yugoslavia being able to cross the border to BiH, and the growing difficulties for the women, would have left the training weekend without a very vital section of our participants. But CNA is very aware of the need to continue the momentum that the Training for Trainers has started, and we are working with the intention that these events will eventually take place.

In the meantime we are also aware of the skills and potential of the people in this team and want to use them, as well as create the space for them to gain greater experience and skills. We are actively recruiting members of the group into training events that we are implementing, and passing on requests for jobs to the group from other organisations. As the CNA workplan fills up for the year we see the need of a more concrete form of passing on these requests and recruitment, and in the meantime we are in contact with all the people involved, through e-mail, telephone, and where possible by visiting. Below are brief updates on a number of participants, categorised by geographic area:

Gorazde 27.04.99.

The CNA team visited one of the participants from the Programme "Training for Trainers" in Gorazde. The purpose of the visit was to explore the possibilities of future co-operation, from the perspective of a greater involvement of this new generation of trainers into future CNA trainings. We also discussed support that CNA could offer. The woman we visited has
already conducted workshops with a women's group in Gorazde, including women from the surrounding Republika Srpska. She told of the negative impact the war in Yugoslavia has made with any Cupertino across the entity line. We also spoke of the possibilities of organising some kind of meeting with people from both entities on the theme of the war in Yugoslavia, but she informed us that this is too difficult an issue to be dealt with at present time.

Banja Luka 8.-9.5.99.

We visited two participants here. One of the two women works as a teacher in elementary school, the other one is actively involved in Banja Luka's "Youth Communication Centre". They both emphasised the need to keep in regular contact and exchange ideas and information.

The question "How can I improve my skills and widen my experiences in future training work?" was explored, and again we discussed the possibilities of greater involvement in future CNA training events. Similar to Gorazde, all activities across the entity border lines have been frozen and some meetings and seminars have been cancelled. Mistrust and fear have risen again. We were told that people from the Federation of BiH claim that it is too dangerous for them to travel to Republika Srpska (RS), because virtually all foreigners had left the entity at the time of our visit (since NATO bombing had started). The response of people from RS was similar, rejecting the idea of travelling to the Federation to meet people. We heard reports that the population in RS had a strong feeling of solidarity with the Serbs in Yugoslavia, which was clearly motivated by national feelings.

The conclusion of the meeting was that even more communication is needed, and that it is very clear that concrete Cupertino is desired. CNA would also like to see more frequent communication between the two participants from Banja Luka, themselves.

Beograd

Two members of the Training for Trainers group are presently involved in a project based in Belgrade which is working with children of the city who are traumatized by bombing. This project was initiated by a small group of individuals and CNA has helped with contacts for raising funds. One of the members of this group will also join the training team in an SHL summercamp seminar which CNA will be implementing (please read Future Events), and is presently discussing further work with CNA throughout the rest of this year, with the intention of bringing this experience home.

Sarajevo

One Sarajevan member of Training for Trainers is in the training team for a police training which is presently under development (please see Future Events). He is also a member of the working group for the 'Peace Workshop' initiative (please see Peace Workshop). He is also currently discussing further work with CNA in the future.

Acknowledgement to CARE International

At this stage we must acknowledge the great support of the training funders CARE International who have allowed us to delay these events without putting pressure that we return funding immediately because they have not all taken place as planned.

SHL Media Conference Seminar 18.3.99.

Schueler Helfen Leben invited CNA to facilitate a one day training that was part of a week long seminar they were conducting. The seminar revolved around the theme of journalism, with participants from Germany and BiH. CNA's job was to introduce them to each other and to approach assets of communication that would be relevant to the theme.

Within the structure of the day we developed a highly competitive and discriminatory version of musical chairs to highlight discrimination and prejudice awareness. An evaluation of the game became quite heated and brought out feelings varying from:

I felt sick watching all the people pushing each other out of the way.
I was confused why you discriminated against the other team, but I did not mind.
You as an outsider were playing the music, and you were making up the rules, just like conflicts throughout the world such as Vietnam.
It was only a game.
I didn't notice.

Travnik and Jajce 4.1.99.

At the one day training within the SHL Media conference which gathered youth from BiH and Germany, a contact was established with a young man from Travnik. It has been a mutual wish to maintain this contact, and that we eventually come to Travnik for a visit to the Youth House where the young man is active. The whole CNA team paid a visit on 22nd April, when we spoke to a number of activists and the director of the Youth Centre. We
discussed possibilities of cooperation and information exchange, and the activists from the Centre expressed a great interest in participating in trainings in nonviolent dealing with conflict. We agreed to forward them invitations for future programmes and indeed we have had the opportunity to do so since this meeting. It is ever again encouraging to encounter interest for the training.

In Travnik we also visited the "Independent Cultural and Meeting point Centre - CIN". We spoke to the staff and the co-ordinator of the Centre about their work and difficulties within. We also asked for opinions about the war in Yugoslavia/Kosovo. The main response we got was that they see no alternative to NATO air strikes. One positive point of the meeting was that the activists of the Centre expressed interest in training and wished to receive
future invitations.

On this visit to Travnik we also invited the co-ordinator of a Youth centre from Jajce, in order to introduce the different organisations to each other. Jajce is a town close to Travnik, but unlike Travnik which is presently predominantly Muslim populated, Jajce is currently populated by a vast majority of Croats. At present there is hardly any communication or
co-operation happening between these two towns. Our colleague from Jajce had visited CNA before and expressed interest in closer co-operation with us and generally in more networking of NGOs.

Trainers meeting

United Nations Volunteers (UNV) held a meeting of organisations dealing with training in the field of nonviolent conflict transformation. This meeting was well attended by representatives from all over BiH, and put across a desire for some type of network to be established. CNA held a further meeting with UNV and Care International which has resulted in plans for a seminar later in the year, aimed at discussing the different types of work presently in use in BiH. See 'Future Events'.

Fundraising seminar in Jablanica 23.5.-23.5.99.

CNA was present at a three day fundraising seminar organised by Quaker Peace and Service - Sarajevo, which was focused on the question: "How will local NGOs be able to secure funds, once the large NGOs pull out of BiH?" The participant group consisted of NGO activists from various parts of BiH and Croatia. The workshop leaders from Slovakia and BiH were very effective. Themes included: strategies of fundraising, organisation, presentation, writing project proposals and financial reports etc.

For a personal opinion on aspects of this event please see 'My Feelings In Hotel Jablanica' in the Personal Opinions Section.

Peace workshop

This is the working name for an organisation which is presently in the process of foundation. An initiative council consisting of altogether 25-30 people predominantly from Sarajevo, but also Banja Luka and some other towns in BiH, have been meeting regularly once a week for the past 7-8 weeks. The idea is to found an organisation which will consist of three subcentres dealing with:
- peace research
- peace studies
- peace action

Most of the members of the initiative council are young people, but in the core of the group are two older professors (philosophy and theology). Although CNA has been represented at all of the meetings, we still feel unable to predict further development of this idea and have our concerns in particular in view of the human resources that will be necessary to implement such an ambitious project. The work and communication at meetings visited on
average by 15 people, is often very difficult. CNA sees the capacity in the good will and the interest of people to invest energy into such work, and we feel open to co-operate with this future organisation (should there be one). We have decided to stick to our long term strategy and work plan rather than modify them in order to respond to the needs of the Peace workshop. The organisation is still very much at the beginning stage, and presently busy with beaurocratic issues such as registration etc.

NGO meeting on war in Yugoslavia 1st April 99.

After NATO attacks on FRY started on 24.3.99, CNA in co-operation with Quaker Peace and Service and Abraham initiated an NGO meeting to give people the space to speak of how they felt about the violence in their neighbouring country. It was also important for CNA to learn how the NGOs were reacting to the escalation of violence in FRY. To see if there was any common ground. Altogether 15 people came to the meeting, some as individuals, some representing local NGOs. A number of local NGOs who have offices in the same building that the meeting took place, did not attend because the meeting was scheduled at 5 PM, after regular working hours

We discussed the ongoing activities of NGOs in regard to the situation and possible further steps. A draft version of 'Appeal for Peace in Kosovo/Yugoslavia' written by Nenad and Cara (CNA) was handed out for discussion. For the majority present, the CNA paper's condemnation of the violence was not possible. There was a feeling that NATO's violence was justified. Solidarity with the suffering of the Kosovo Albanians was very emotionally expressed. The only form of constructive action would be humanitarian aid. Milosevic's regime was the main player, NATO and the UCK were reacting in order to protect human rights and the innocent. Quotes to illustrate this are:

- We need the bombing because negotiations have never worked with Milosevic
- Yugoslavia to me is like Germany; it is a foreign country
- The most important thing is concrete help for the people of Kosovo and Sandzak. Like bread and milk for the women and children.
- I feel that I can help by greeting refugees at the bus station and offering them food or something to drink.

As a reaction to this widespread opinion, a question came from one of the people: "How long shall we run after things and try to extinguish fires? Would it not make sense to try and prevent fires being started?". The vision of non-violence as a practical alternative was not seen as a feasible response to deal with what was seen as the main problem - dealing with the situation of the refugees.

One of the groups who attended - The Centre for Information and Support of Local NGOs (CIP) - sent us the following day a copy of the press release they wanted to send out. It reported the meeting as a discussion on the 'present situation in FRY/Kosovo, with a special accent on the 'serious humanitarian crisis and its consequences throughout the whole region', and how there would be a joint humanitarian action to deal with this. Non violence
was not mentioned. Indeed violence was not mentioned. When CNA suggested the press release should mention the escalation of violence since the start of the NATO bombing, CIP told us they would prefer to write that the 'violence has escalated over the past 10 days'. It was clear that they did not want to make reference to NATO being an aggressive force.

Since that original meeting, two more have been organised, attended by much fewer people than the first one. The focus of these meetings shifted from nonviolent action to humanitarian aid. Their conclusion was that the NGO's that were present should inform each other about actions in support of refugees from Yugoslavia and possibly do these actions together. One poster, appealing for solidarity with refugees was produced and posted throughout Sarajevo, as a joint NGO action. The people who put up the posters were stopped by the police for addressing the public without permission, but managed to get away without being arrested.

The meeting has left CNA with much to think about. A very concrete outcome for us was that we were given a picture of how local NGOs felt about the violence in Yugoslavia. We must remember that this original meeting was 3 months ago, we have not discussed the original theme with most of those present since then. Attitudes may have changed.

For a personal opinion of aspects of this meeting see 'NGO Meeting 1.4.99' in Personal Opinion section.

CNA Website www.soros.org.ba/~cna

The CNA website has been running for around 4 months. A further section has been added which is responding directly to the war in Yugoslavia/Kosovo and is made up of reports, statements and articles connected to the conflict. We are noticing that the site is being linked on a growing number of other websites. These other sites vary from 'Women leaders online Women organizing for change' (boasting of female members of the US congress as prime figures in the group!) to Balkan Black Box Berlin - a festival of independent experimental art from central South East Europe. The page needs regular updating and this job is done by Ivana Franovic, Training for Trainers participant and trainer from Belgrade.

Feedback about the webpage is more than welcome. It takes up quite a lot of work, and this work should be as accessible to as many people as possible. If we can or need to improve particular aspects of the site we need you to let us know.

In the last week the page received 66 hits. In total 875 people who visited us since the beginning of March. For detailed information on the domains we were visited from, please see section 'Top Domains'.

Nenasilje

Again in response to the war in Yugoslavia CNA has set up an interactive discussion group called NENASILJE (nonviolence). The idea for this came from the many discussions, questions and differences of opinion within the CNA office about the war. We decided to use these issues to create a space for discussion for these and other matters related to the war.

The discussion group is made up of around 20 people. Most of the group consists of individuals connected to the Training for Trainers, but also involves others simply interested in the theme. The discussion is in local language and participants come from Croatia, Serbia, both BiH entities, and a small number of countries outside former Yugoslavia. An example of a letter sent to the discussion group entitled 'How Far Away From Me The War Is' can be found at the end of the report in the Personal Opinions section.

The changes to our workplan that have been necessary due to the present circumstances encouraged us to ensure that we are still working within the confines of CNA's work strategy. As mentioned in the introduction, our initial strategy has very much included all countries of former Yugoslavia, and we have found our strategic position to be unchanged due to this. The stated goals of the projects are also on course. However the workplan has shifted. A number of projects are effected:

Training for Trainers, last phase -postponed
Trainers networking meeting -postponed to Spring 2000
Macedonia training for activists -deferred until Autumn

Many discussions have taken place inside CNA on the strategy of handover to take place in September next year. We are involving two people in these discussions who are not presently official members of the team. Both of them, and CNA , see them as potential 'local' staff for the future. One is from Belgrade and one is from Sarajevo. There is also very initial discussion about the setting up of CNA offices in Belgrade and Macedonia in a number of
years. It must be emphasized at this point that these are initial discussions and no concrete plans or intentions are formed.

A detailed description of CNA goals, strategy and workplan, including examples and illustrations will be presented in the Annual Report in September.

Tuzla

Another contact was established through the workshops conducted by CNA at the SHL Media conference with two volunteers from the Youth Centre of IPAK ("despite" is the translation) in Simin Han by Tuzla. We received a request to conduct trainings in their Youth Centre and so decided to have a look at the centre, meet people involved there and discuss their needs and our possibilities. It was arranged that a 4 day training, focussing on
communication, teamwork skills etc, should be held for the activists and users of the centre, hopefully this Summer, until August. The training team consists of young trainers from three different NGOs.

Trainers seminar

In early September CNA in co-operation with Care International and UNV, is planning to hold a one day workshop event to discuss different methods of work used by trainers in the region. This event also has the potential of being a preliminary meeting to gather information for a trainer networking seminar next year.

Discussion/workshops on war in Yugoslavia/Kosovo

Since the beginning of May '99 we have been working on the organisation of a number of workshops or discussions between youth from BiH on the theme of the war in Yugoslavia/Kosovo. Our inquiries about possibilities to hold such a meeting have been repeatedly answered with "it is difficult at the moment for such a theme, because it is so sensitive". However we will keep on working on it, taking sensitivities into account.

Pilot project "The role of police in civil society"

CNA is in the process of developing a training event for police in nonviolent dealing with conflict. A working group has been formed which is gathering information and making contacts to pursue this idea. The aspect of contacts is particularly important in this case because so many official bodies, local and international, are involved with the police service and their training. We have so far had meetings with UN IPTF (International Police Task Force), OSCE Democratization Office and the Police Trade Union. All of the above mentioned have expressed interest in our project and we hope to be able to implement it this year. Nevertheless, gathering information about present ongoing training for police has proved to be unexpectedly difficult. The training curriculum of the Police Academy (recently opened) which has been created by IPTF, is not available to the public, so the IPTF officer who tried to obtain a copy for us has not received permission to do so. As well as that it is not easy to get access to the local police directly in order to implement a needs assessment. Four members of the working group will be included in the training team. The working group itself includes participants from the "Training for Trainers" programme, and it represents the direct cooperation of three different local NGOs.

Macedonia

Embassy for Peace and CNA have decided to continue planning for a training event to happen in Macedonia later in the year. When the war started in Yugoslavia, and the crisis in Macedonia unfolded CNA was very unsure of the feasibility of continuing with our plans. However our partner in Macedonia never lost hope, and as the necessity for work on nonviolent dealing with conflict becomes ever more immediate, we are including it in our workplan for the year.

Of course changes and amendments will need to be made. Already changed is the timing of the training, originally intended for late Spring it is now to be changed to late Autumn. The make-up of the participant group is another matter of concern at this particular time, and changes in the focus of the training are also under discussion.

We were relieved and pleased to hear from the 2 Training for Trainers participants from Kosovo that we had lost touch with. Both of them are safe and as well as can be expected in Skopje. One is presently working with a humanitarian aid organization and the other is acting as an interpreter for an international journalist. The latter has contacted us about doing some training in Macedonia, and although the details of what he is intending are still unclear, we can still see potential for cooperation between this individual and Embassy for Peace, including CNA when and if required.

SHL Summercamp - Conflict? Nonviolence?

CNA has been requested by SHL to conduct a 10 event on introducing nonviolence called 'Conflict? Nonviolence?' in Tata, Hungary. At least 1, and possibly 2 members of the Training for Trainers group will be involved in the training team. This is the first training event that CNA are advertising on the WebPages, accompanied by application form.

This summercamp actually consists of 2 events, of which CNA is implementing one. The first event is to be facilitated by an international team who have conducted many such camps for SHL virtually free of charge. However the condition for CNA conducting the second camp was that SHL amend their funding strategy for Conflict? Nonviolence?, and apply for training fees for the CNA facilitators of the camp. The point of this condition was the need to establish an attitude towards local trainers of professional work that needs to be paid for in the same way that other professional work is charged. It is impractical and unfair to establish an attitude that local trainers can always afford to do this work on a voluntary basis. This of course adds further expense to the training event for SHL, but they have amended their funding proposal accordingly and are in full support of the local trainers in the team receiving a living wage for their work. It must also be mentioned here that SHL have been very involved in the CNA Training for Trainers programme, and therefore can see this point as an issue for their work here as well.

Conscientious objection inBosnia and Herzegovina and the neighbouring region

Bosnia Herzegovina is obliged by the Dayton Agreement to apply the highest human rights standards. One of the Council of Europe's recommendations refers to conscientious objection as fundamental human right. Legal regulations providing alternatives to military service have been adopted by both BiH entities, but fail to meet international standards and preserve a punitive character of alternative service.

The issue of conscientious objection is one of the crucial objectives affecting return of refugees. In practice compulsory military service is an obstacle to the return of ethnic minorities within BiH. The Office of the High representative in BiH is working together with the Council of Europe on the preparation of new legal regulations which would change the current solutions and adjust them to the 'highest international standards'.

CNA as one of the very few NGOs which considers the importance of the issue in BiH, has been approached half-officially to be included in the process of preparation of the new laws and has been provided information on the current process development. We will keep up with this issue as much our capacities allow.

All this comes at a time where we experience a small wave of war resisters from Serbia who illegally cross the border into BiH and need some support, usually in obtaining visas for third countries. Through our private channels we have tried to do as much as we can, but as we all know, conscientious objection is not recognised as human right by the UN and not recognised by Western countries as the sole reason to grant anyone political asylum. The
behaviour of Western governments comes as no surprise since they have blatantly practised this policy throughout the past 8 years of war in Croatia, BiH and now Yugoslavia. Yugoslav soldiers are guilty of being Yugoslav soldiers, and Yugoslav war resisters are guilty of not serving the army 'which is an obligation, that must be fulfilled'.

Ivana Franovic
Ivana Franovic from Belgrade has been staying and working with CNA since the middle of April, about 2 weeks after NATO started bombing. Apart from working on the CNA website and offering a fourth angle on the work of the office, she has also remained highly active with the Students Union of Yugoslavia and has recently returned from the European Students Union Annual Conference where she represented her own branch. Minutes of this
conference can be requested from Ivana at :
vana@afrodita.rcub.bg.ac.yu

Milica Minic
Attended the same KURVE International Training in which Cara and Nenad first met each other in 1996. Milica is also a resident of Belgrade and has worked until recently with SOS Centre for Girls in the City. She came to Sarajevo for 'a holiday' before returning to Serbia for the foreseeable future. No matter how much she enjoyed her visit, she found the damaged buildings of Sarajevo a truly depressing site due to the fear of what state Yugoslavia will be in by the end of the bombing.

Heinrich Boell Stiftung
Visited our office and exchanged information about each others work and plans for the future. Considering the closeness of our understanding of peace work, we all expressed interest in future co-operation. The Heinrich Boell Foundation opened their regional office officially on the 12th June1999.

Situation in Bosna and Herzegovina

The political arbitration on Brcko and the final decision which made Brcko a special district in BiH, belonging neither to RS nor to the Federation of BiH, has warmed up tensions in the whole country. The assassination of a Croat viceminister of Interior, in a car bomb attack in Sarajevo, has caused outrage of the Croats and worsened relations in the Federation of BiH. Adding up the great economic problems in wake of the privatisation process, sums up to the picture of very bad situation. All this has been worsened with the war in Yugoslavia/Kosovo and one can expect negative consequences to be felt for a long time in BiH.

Peace agreement on Kosovo!?

Summoning results after cease fire agreement

The celebrated 'peace agreement' about Kosovo signed between Yugoslav military representatives and NATO, is not a peace agreement, it is a capitulation contract concerning only the territory of Kosovo. It has been signed by military representatives which clearly defines it's purpose and limits. It contains no details on political settlement, as one would usually imagine a 'peace agreement'. NATO claims victory, they got what they wanted, they will be able to march into Kosovo, which has been one of the two main demands that the Yugoslav delegation rejected in Rambouillet.

How possibly could a peace agreement be reached without representatives of one original conflict party, the Kosovo Albanians and the KLA, being involved into process?

NATO obviously took for granted that they have the mandate to 'negotiate' in the name of Kosovo Albanians. It might even suit the Albanians to have it like this at this stage, but I wonder if they will be asked about anything in the future, or will NATO remain the one to keep Kosovo at their disposal.

NATO systematically bombed power plants and electrical installations, just as water supply capacities. Without an eye wink they justified it with 'showing that they have the finger on the light switch' - that could have been the statement of Radovan Karadzic during the Sarajevo siege. But, obviously in the Western public torturing human beings and torturing Serbs is not the same. The Serbs seem to have been wiped out of the human race just within two months of NATO press conferences. And let it be mentioned, one third of the Yugoslav population are not of Serb origin, especially in Vojvodina, Sandzak and Kosovo. Barbarity is justified if in service of a 'just cause' as the British Prime minister would put it. The tradition of justifying Hiroshima because of Pearl Harbour and justifying the Dresden bombing because of Auschwitz, continues on. Yugoslav forces tortured, expelled and killed thousands of Albanians, so we (NATO) may cut water and electricity supplies to some million people, bomb everything they lived of and destroy their natural environment. Sarajevo daily 'Oslobodjenje' which was awarded the prize of the worlds best independent daily in 1992, referred on the front page to NATO bombing as a 'campaign of implementing democracy in Yugoslavia'.

What was the originally proclaimed goal at the beginning of NATO war against Yugoslavia?
Originally NATO formulated their goal as intending to bomb Milosevic into signing the Rambouillet agreement - the so called 'peace agreement' that one of the parties disagreed with. The goal has not been reached. The military capitulation document, just as the statement of the Serbian Parliament (not in charge of federal affairs), bear not even outlines of the political agreement. Withdrawal of Yugoslav forces and Serbian police forces have been agreed upon, nothing else.

What goals have been achieved and what consequences do inhabitants of the region have to live with in the future?
NATO has proved to be the mightiest military power in the world. And even more than that they have shown to the world that they are ready to use it whenever they feel like it, with cruelty and cynicism, some of us could not have dreamt of just three moths ago. The whole world is afraid; NATO is the greatest power not afraid of any other! Despite this fact they are not the 'international community', as they like to call themselves, but only a group of
19 economically very powerful countries.

NATO is united and has demonstrated its steadfastness and resolution. NATO must remain united, the USA will not allow any rift in the alliance, and the complaints will be ignored.

NATO troops will rule Kosovo in the military sense. They will control the borders to Macedonia and Albania and most likely enable the return of Kosovo Albanian refugees who were forced to leave their homes, since the beginning of the war. An unknown number of Kosovo Albanians, Serbs and others have fled into Kosovo direction of Serbia proper, a fact not so well known. These 'internal' refugees are not registered and are usually accommodated by relatives and friends.

The hatred between Albanians and Serbs is greater than ever, confidence and tolerance as preconditions for sustainable peace are further distanced than they were 3 months ago.

All of the original problems have been made worse and within the past two and a half months thousands of people have been killed by three warring parties (Yugoslav security forces, NATO and the KLA), the infrastructure (civilian) and industrial capacities of Yugoslavia have been wiped out, including Kosovo.

The basis for living for all has been virtually destroyed, either by NATO bombing or by Yugoslav security forces who have killed an unknown number of people and expelled hundreds of thousands within Kosovo, which means also destroyed crops, killed animals and burnt houses.

This promotion of the new world order policy by the economically powerful Western democracies has inevitably caused reactions world-wide: Ukraine and Belarus want to regain their nuclear power status, Russia decided to update their nuclear arsenal. NATO's violation of the UN principles and disrespect that they have shown towards all non-NATO countries is indeed astonishing. With good reason this can be perceived as the rule of the stronger, as the pillars of the new world order.

In an economic sense the whole region suffered severely. Not only Kosovo and Serbia proper, but the whole region has been brought to long term complete dependency on foreign aid, from humanitarian aid and reconstruction of basic infrastructure, up to investment in the economy. This is most likely what NATO strategists have counted on, being now in the position to blackmail any government in the Balkans, conditioning aid with concessions and obedience to their dictate. There is no doubt that in particular the USA
and the UK, who pushed landslide infrastructure bombing despite objections from various NATO member countries, have fulfilled one of their goals with this result.

It remains questionable whether the people of Serbian towns will blame their government and not NATO for the lack of water and electricity, for absence of heating next Winter (usually very cold) and possibly even famine that may be a result of incapability to plant, harvest, process and transport basic food products. The heads of governments who are able to inflict deliberate water supplies destruction are well able of watching mass starvation unless their dictate is obeyed. Whether the public of these countries will be capable of
digesting explanations that it is justice remains to be seen.

What may Kosovo Albanians and Kosovo Serbs expect of the future?

Kosovo Albanians can hope for reconstruction, those who fled can expect a chance to return. Kosovo will be an international protectorate for years, since it will be very difficult to reach any political agreement after all the suffering that has been inflicted. They will be living in a Serb free Kosovo, something that most of them will be looking forward to.

The Serbs from Kosovo will flee with the Yugoslav army and Serbian police; those who remain can expect a life in ghettos with a heavy military presence for their protection. The majority of Kosovo Serbs will flee to Serbia proper and can expect no support from the government as they will be angry and feel betrayed, something that Milosevic's regime will not allow being heard in public.

Officially kept up, the territorial integrity of Yugoslavia, combined with a lack of any political settlement, will lead to constant tensions and possibly to new war. After the Dayton agreement in Bosnia Herzegovina, the USA introduced a military armament programme 'equip and train' for the Bosniak-Croat Army. The military spending in Bosnia Herzegovina equals the total of all foreign aid to the country, delivered weapons are of Western origin.

It is to be expected that similar things will be done for the Albanians in Kosovo also. The response by Serbia will be to renew their military arsenal and get ready for the next war, better equipped with air defence systems, than they were this time. Nowadays one can buy badges in Belgrade with a heart and three letters in the midst of it 'PVO' letters, meaning 'air defence'.

The only problem the Yugoslav government may face is the lack of money for this, but we may feel confident that priorities will be set very clearly, disadvantaging civilians on behalf of the army.

What are the prospects of democratic development?

In Serbia they are worse than ever before. Any new government, which could replace Milosevic, will just as well set for military armament. Many people from Serbia who were engaged in peace and human rights work over the past 8 years have left the country. Western democracies have completely lost any positive credibility in the eyes of Serbian citizens. In winter 1996-97 hundreds of thousands marched through the streets of Belgrade, protesting against the election fraud, many flags of various western countries were carried, as a symbol of belonging to the civilised 'western democracies'. One may confidently claim that this will never happen again, these flags stand now in Serbia for destruction, violence, cruelty and hypocrisy. This does not necessarily mean that those who have this opinion automatically support Milosevic's regime. One Belgrader has put it plainly: 'We do not want to change our government, just because NATO says that we must'. This sad consequence seems to be the only way left of preserving self-respect and dignity.

It is very unlikely that citizens of Serbia will ever hear the truth about the police, paramilitary, and army activities in Kosovo during this war. The media control remains steady in the hands of the regime and if Milosevic goes, it is very likely that Seselj (extreme right wing nationalist) will come to power. Even with the sudden and unexpected freedom of the media, hardly anyone in Serbia will be able to develop empathy or solidarity with Kosovo Albanians, the pictures of fleeing Kosovo Serbs will remain in their memory as another
injustice, like the pictures of tens of thousands of Croatian Serbs who fled the Croatian Army offensive in Krajina in 1995. Nobody remembers them in the West and nobody in Serbia wants to remember them. There were 600 000 refugees of Serb origin in Serbia who fled Croatia and Bosnia Herzegovina by 1996. The fate of Kosovo Serbs will be identical.
Economic collapse that has already happened will keep people busy with surviving; they will resent and show no will to fight for any ideals of democracy.

In Kosovo, if the transition ever happens and self-government is established, the militant and conservative KLA will take over. So far all Kosovo Albanian political groups have shared the same goal, the independent Kosovo, their divisions were about ways to achieve this and pure power struggles. There is even less political pluralism than in Serbia, so one can not be very hopeful about the development of civil society. What will be the actual political contents of independent Kosovo still remains to be seen. A paradox of new
buildings of monoethnic states for the proclaimed purpose of 'developing democracy' continues on. New states based on nations instead of citizens directly challenge the basis for democratic development, the one of civil society, which means the community of citizens, not the community of blood brothers and sisters.

And whether Kosovo alone will satisfy the ambitions of Albanian nationalists in the KLA is granted by no means. The shapes of Great Albania, covering Kosovo, Western Macedonia and Albania itself are not the imagination of Serbian propagandists; they are visions of Albanian nationalists. If they will achieve their goals and at what price, also remains to be seen and depends most of all on those who will control Kosovo now, the NATO led by USA.

How Far Away for Me the War Is

I visited yesterday the new SHL house in Stup in Sarajevo, in a valley beside the airport and while watching the surrounding mountains of Igman and Trebevic, a thought crossed my mind that it is so wonderful that no cannons are shooting from these mountainsides. I have never ever had such a thought in my mind before. This might seem ridiculous to anyone who has spent the war here, but for me it was something new, possibly because I feel the closeness of war more than ever before. During the past Balkan wars I have been in Germany, far enough not to get the idea that it is 'wonderful because nobody shoots'. I am not able to understand how it is to be in Belgrade right now, and it is even harder for me to imagine how it feels to be standing in the mud at the Macedonian border, feeling danger from all sides, or for example, how that soldier feels standing in a row at that border line and waiting. I lively remember the talk on those experiences from July last year, that O. mentioned in his last mail. A conclusion that I have carried away from that talk was that experiences can not be valued and that people can not be valued based on their previous experiences (has been in war or has not been in war). In my experience, the question of mutual understanding or even (non) acceptance usually reduces the knowledge of the main life experiences of the other person (whom I do not understand), and maybe not even wanting to accept as such, because my emotions do not let me do so.

It is important for me to hear O's experience from the military, which remained so vivid in his memory, I remember now that he had told me the same story once before, but I forgot it in the meantime. Rewinding the pictures, I remember that many years ago I was listening about the demonstrations of Albanians in Pristina, where they silently carried a coffin as a symbol for the death of the university education in their native language. I still remember that I liked the gesture itself, but the actual cause I was indifferent to and I should not have been indifferent, because I know now that my indifference has been one small step towards the war that happens now.

I can not rewind the time, but I may work on a different future, no matter how late this may appear. I sincerely wish to understand O. and the others. I wish to requestion myself and search for leftovers or new forms of my previous indifference. I can partly recognise myself in the Albanian soldier that O. wrote about, who did not want to 'greet' the flag and got severely punished for it. I did not want to greet that flag for my own reasons and have had a similar fate, but I know that even then I could have hardly solidarised myself with his reason (if it was other than mine, what I suppose).

Repression has not always (never) chosen only nation.
Maybe for the reason for me being a degenerated Yugo-nostalgic, or for some other reason, the wars in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina have not been 'elsewhere' for me - I say this despite the fact that I have been in Hamburg all the time. The war in Iraq has been elsewhere for me, as it is today, but still much closer than in 1991, so are the ones in Kongo, Somalia
and Indonesia

I have been doing what I could, without choosing a side that should be supported and helped out, and I felt quite lonely doing this, as my 'side' was neither of the three which were being offered (Croats, Bosniaks, Serbs).

In the present war I repeatedly reject taking one of the three sides offered, thanks a lot! I am for peace and life in dignity for all and war can not bring it to anyone.

O: 'The hardest part of my life I consider changing myself'
I completely agree with you O, and wish to add: 'also, the nicest part.' .

Threer months after the NRW course, in CNA team with
Cara Gibney i Nenad Vukosavljevic

Jasmin Redzepovic

The worsening of the political climate through the war in our neighbourhood has made it difficult for us to plan and conduct training events. Therefore I have not been able to use some of the skills learned at the 3 months education course "Civil dealing with conflicts". Despite that I feel that some of the work done at the course has been very valuable, this particularly concerns the themes of international organisations, media and dealing with stressful situations which are a part of my daily life. I sincerely hope that in the future training I will also get the opportunity to use my other skills.

I am experiencing work in the CNA team as very good and feel that the presence of Ivana Franovic from Belgrade has been of particular enrichment to all of us.

The past few months have been a difficult time and I am very pleased that we have gone through it in a process-oriented manner. I am also glad that my English has improved, easing communication in the office with Cara who communicates with me at the same time in my language.

NGO meeting 1.4.99. - Difficulties with the CNA Appeal for Peace

For myself (Jasmin) it was difficult at this stage to approve the appeal because of my experience of war years in Sarajevo under siege. I did not know how I could condemn UCK, if I believed that everyone has a right for self-defense. My great difficulty lies in setting the border between defense and attack. It has been a difficult time for me and the whole of CNA team. Shortly after the meeting I wrote an open letter concerning the war in Yugoslavia and agreed upon a CNA version of the "Appeal for Peace in Yugoslavia/Kosovo". All this work has not just been important for the time being but also for our future work.

My feelings in Hotel Jablanica

In October 1998, I took part at the first phase of the Training for Trainers programme in Hotel Jablanica, together with people from BiH, Belgrade, Pristina and Zagreb. Fortunately all of those people are still alive, but unfortunately many of them live under war circumstances or have left their homes. I have been deeply touched to hear inquiries by the hotel staff who
well remembered this "strangely mixed group" and asked about the well being of people from Belgrade and Pristina (What has happened with those young people from Belgrade and Pristina, how are they now, where are they?)

Top-domens (Countries):

DOMEN BROJ PROCENAT
Unknown (.???) 92 (18%)
Networks (.NET) 85 (16%)
Commercial (.COM) 64 (12%)
GERMANY (.DE) 39 (7%)
BiH (.BA) 38 (7%)
Educational (.EDU) 28 (5%)
MEXICO (.MX) 20 (3%)
CANADA (.CA) 15 (2%)
United Kingdom (.UK) 15 (2%)
JAPAN (.JP) 10 (1%)
UNITED STATES (.US) 9 (1%)
AUSTRALIA (.AU) 9 (1%)
DENMARK (.DK) 8 (1%)
SWEDEN (.SE) 7 (1%)
GREECE (.GR) 6 (1%)
Int. Organizations (.INT) 6 (1%)
Organizations (.ORG) 6 (1%)
IRELAND (.IE) 5 (0%)
MALAYSIA (.MY) 5 (0%)
ITALY (.IT) 5 (0%)
BRAZIL (.BR) 4 (0%)
NORWAY (.NO) 3 (0%)
CZECH REPUBLIC (.CZ) 2 (0%)
SINGAPORE (.SG) 2 (0%)
SPAIN (.ES) 2 (0%)
US Dept of Defense (.MIL) 2 (0%)
SWITZERLAND (.CH) 2 (0%)
FRANCE (.FR) 2 (0%)
YUGOSLAVIA (.YU) 2 (0%)
ISRAEL (.IL) 2 (0%)
CROATIA (.HR) 1 (0%)
SOUTH AFRICA (.ZA) 1 (0%)
AUSTRIA (.AT) 1 (0%)
COLOMBIA (.CO) 1 (0%)
EL SALVADOR (.SV) 1 (0%)
THAILAND (.TH) 1 (0%)
TURKEY (.TR) 1 (0%)
FINLAND (.FI) 1 (0%)
PAKISTAN (.PK) 1 (0%)
POLAND (.PL) 1 (0%)

Cara Gibney
Jasmin Redzepovic
Nenad Vukosavljevic
For Centar za nenasilnu akciju
the Project office of KURVE Wustrow

In Sarajevo, 15th June 1999

Many thanks to all of those who are supporting the project of KURVE
Wustrow - Centar za nenasilnu akciju, financially or through their
engagement that made this project possible and helped to secure its
implementation and all of those who are with us in their thoughts.

Aktionsgemeinschaft Dienst f�r den Frieden - AGDF
Berghof Stiftung & Berghof Institute for creative conflict menagement
Care International - Banja Luka
CNA Support group Hamburg
Deutsche Friedensgesellschaft Vereinigte Kriegsgegner - DFG VK Bielefeld
Internationale �rzte zur Verh�tung des Atomkrieges - IPPNW Deutschland
Menschenrechtsreferat des Diakonischen Werkes
OSCE Democratisation office, Sarajevo
Pax christi - Deutscher Zweig
Quaker Peace and Service
Sch�ler Helfen Leben
Towae Stiftung

CNA will very much welcome feedback, suggestions, questions and criticism concerning this report and our general work.
Your thinking along, helps us!
Thank you.

This report may be distributed freely with the aknowledgement of the source.
� CNA