Hunger As an Instrument of War
The refugees
BLACE, MACEDONIA--Serbian troops are turning a new weapon on the people of Kosovo: hunger.
Refugees crossing the border into Macedonia in recent days have been emaciated and faint. "The Serb forces are shelling villages to push civilians into enclaves and then cut off their food supply," says Lindsey Davies, spokesperson for the United Nations World Food Program (WFP).
The experience of the village of Slovia, in central Kosovo, is typical. Ethnic Albanian refugees say their Serbian neighbors told them not to fear when troops surrounded the village on April 15. "They said, `Don't get excited, the Army only wants to meet with you,' " recalls Rasim, who declined to give his last name because family members remain in Kosovo. Panicked villagers tried to flee. Some were shot. Masked men--who the ethnic Albanians believe were their neighbors--helped Serbian paramilitaries in green rectangular hats to round up others.
Ayet Krasniqi says that he slipped into the hills but that his wife and 15-year-old daughter were gunned down. He also says he watched from a hill as the Serbs selected 16 men, took them into the woods, and executed them. After wandering for days through the mountains, Krasniqi and about 100 other famished survivors of Slovia finally crossed into Macedonia in search of something to eat.
Worst case. A sudden surge of refugees last week exceeded the capacity of camps in Macedonia and left many without tents. Painfully aware of such inadequacies, the U.S. Agency for International Development is planning for a worst-case scenario of 1.5 million refugees--the 700,000 who already have left Kosovo, plus an estimated 800,000 who have left their homes but remain inside the province. "We cannot allow Milosevic to defeat us with refugees," says USAID administrator Brian Atwood.
Relief workers think that as many as 500,000 Kosovars are trapped in embattled enclaves that are running short on food. "After villagers have been forced to flee from their small villages into the mountains, they are then pushed down into larger towns," says Davies of the WFP. "When they stand in line to buy food, they are asked to show their identity card. If they are not Serbian, they are turned away. In one case we heard the store manager was saying: 'Ask Clinton to feed you. In Kosovo, Serbs eat first.'"
This story appears in the May 10, 1999 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.