Monitor: All the news of the world - Refugees from Kosovo: The price of ethnic cleansing

World comment on the exodus of ethnic Albanians from Kosovo, resulting from Slobodan Milosevic's programme of ethnic cleansing

Le Monde

France

ON THE thirteenth day of Nato's bombardment campaign there was one result that no one contested: the proven pathetic incapacity of these raids to stop the "ethnic cleansing" of Kosovo ordered by the president of Yugoslavia, Sloboadan Milosevic. If our objective really is about bringing back the refugees - at least a certain number of them - to Kosovo, it will involve one form or another of ground intervention. Even a negotiated return would impose a ground protection against Kosovars.Maybe it is time to tell the truth: the defence of the refugees' right to return is an empty statement if one continues to categorically exclude the sending of ground troops.

Daily Star

The Lebanon

THE THOUSANDS upon thousands of refugees, trudging their way through mud and snow to safety in Albania and Macedonia, are the ones who will continue to pay a price in human misery and suffering. Nato's air strikes, as much as Mr Milosevic's regular and militia forces, will in the end achieve the ethnic cleansing of Kosovo. There will be very few Albanians left to cleanse.

Frankfurter

Rundschau

Germany

NATO DIDN'T imagine its 50th birthday this way. The alliance that for decades earnestly maintained peace finds itself not only in a war with Serbia, it is threatened with losing. The primary war goal of Nato - to stop the murder and expulsion in Kosovo - has not been achieved. In a few days Milosevic's troops and gangs will have completed their ethnic cleansing of Kosovo. Hundreds of thousands of Albanians are fleeing, and the gigantic task to aid them has become the central point of the war, far more so than the air attacks. A success for celebrator Nato can now only be measured on how quickly and in what dimension they succeed in giving back the Kosovars their homeland.

Jerusalem Post

Israel

THE ENORMITY of the catastrophe currently taking place in Kosovo is now sinking in, and linking up with the collective memory of the Jewish people. One word rings with particularly stark familiarity: deportations. This is a cause with which Israel should proudly identify, both morally and strategically. Israel should be noting the military ties that have reportedly arisen between Slobodan Milosevic and Saddam Hussein, and be encouraging any Western attempt to stand up to threats from aggressive dictators. As it turns out, the emotional humanitarian response on the part of many Israelis may reflect a sounder analysis than the supposedly strategic thinking of the Israeli government.

New York Times

US

IN MACEDONIA, relations between the country's Albanian minority and its largely pro-Serb majority were always tense, and the government fears an influx of ethnic Albanians will lead to unrest. Nato must be sensitive to this danger. Stability in Macedonia keeps the war from spreading. But Macedonia's concerns are no excuse for its harsh treatment of the refugees and its attempt to limit their number. Nato should be carrying out its pledge to move 100,000 of them to temporary homes in Western Europe. The United States will house 20,000 at the Guantanamo naval base in Cuba. Only a few European countries have so far volunteered to take refugees. That must change, and quickly.

Syria Times

WHAT IS particularly miserable is the plight of the Kosovo people who were driven out of their country by force and intimidation. Even worse are the suggestions to transfer a lot of them to other countries either in Europe or further afield. The scene of Kosovars fleeing their country in large number brings back the memories of those Palestinians who were forced out of their country, in the late Forties and early Fifties, by the Israeli army and Zionist gangs. History is repeating itself.

Iran News

AFTER THE disintegration of the Soviet Union, the West, led by the United States of America, adopted the doctrine of "New World Order" and tried to impose a unipolar system on the rest of the world by monopolising every aspect of international relations. The continuation of the Balkan war will benefit no one but the unholy alliance of Washington and Nato. Therefore, the bloodletting must be stopped immediately through diplomatic channels before it is really too late to save the lives of almost a million innocent Muslim Kosovars.