christic@igc.org (06/29/91)
/* Written 6:38 pm Jun 28, 1991 by warresisters in cdp:pn.alerts */ /* ---------- "STATEMENT FROM SLOVENIA" ---------- */ Posted by War Resisters' International on behalf of the Centre for the Culture of Peace and Nonviolence, Mestni trg 13, 61000 Ljubljana SLOVENIA (Tel +386 1 224666) To all friends of the peace movement on the planet: Re aggression in Slovenia (Message 3, 28 June 1991) [note from WRI: we haven't been sent messages 1 and 2, but will post them if they do exist and relate to the current aggression] Dear friends, For years we kept in touch and tried to inform and warn you about the situation in Yugoslavia -- first the violations of human rights, later about state violence in Kosovo; and over the past few years about the threats made by the federal state against Slovenian sovereignties. What everybody feared did happen yesterday. The federal government had ordered the federal military to invade Slovenia and take the power from the hands of the legitimate Slovenian authorities. The federal military is using all means of aggression including bombing and threats of chemical weapons. Slovenia found itself in a war. Most of the borders are closed. Many people -- soldiers and civilians -- have died, including some foreign reporters. We have never judged the decision of the Slovenian people to form their own state. But we have always judged the process, qualities, and motivations accompanying these decisions. And again we have had criticism of official Slovenian behaviour. The peace movement in Slovenia had for years been concentrating all its efforts on: * promoting peace politics in Slovenia in its dispute with the Yugoslav state, especially to maintain good communications with the other Yugoslav republics. * stimulate foreign policy to engage seriously in the Yugoslav crisis and to enable mechanisms for nonviolent conflict resolution. Neither of the two was successful. We are of the opinion that Slovenian policy could be much more wise; in particular we have criticisms of its one-sided measures concerning foreign policy and defence policy. We were always of the opinion that _military logic and military preparations can never lead to constructive solutions_. We did warn the Slovenian government that the formation of a Slovenian army could lead to crisis, and we suggested alternative mechanisms. Despite our dissatisfaction we have to underline that Slovenian policy did not take any violent measure against any party. Our criticism of the Slovenian government does not and cannot offer any apologia for the three factors which in our view contributed largely to the military occupation by the Yugoslav state in Slovenia. 1. The militaristic and centralistic policy of the federal state, led by prime minister Ante Markovic, which proved in all cases of widespread conflict in Yugoslavia that the federal state is ready to defend the status quo with the most brutal methods and violations of human rights. The federal government ordered the intervention of the federal military and is fully responsible for the casualties and damage caused. 2. International politics, which in our view gave Markovic full justification to use the military against Slovenia, by supporting the Yugoslav state and not allowing any option of independence for the northern republics. The foreign public did not want to understand that the individual republics in Yugoslavia have the constitutional right of self-determination and did not understand that the rigid socialist power-holders in Belgrade want to maintain full and centralised power over the whole state. 3. The failure of the mechanisms of the UN and CSCE to act before the conflict evolved into a violent crisis. Moreover, the secretary general of the UN made a statement today expressing his "inability to _make any comment_ on the situation in Yugoslavia, since this was an internal problem of Yugoslavia". The international policies of the USA and EC in our view bear the whole responsibility for the violence of the military in Slovenia. The peace movement should be aware of this fact and we are sorry to be drawn into a position where we have to put it in such a hard way. Once again, following the Gulf War, international policy has failed -- despite the fact that it has been warned so many times about the worsening situation in the country. All the world knew about the possible scenarios in Yugoslavia and it did not find enough consideration to make a serious move to prevent violence. How many people must die for the world to make a stand against violent and mad regimes? We ask you to: * interpret the events in Slovenia as a military intervention in a sovereign state and not as a civil war * make pressure on your governments to denounce the military intervention of the federal government, request a ceasefire and the beginning of negotiations * request European governments to activate CSCE mechanisms for conflict resolution * express criticism to the UN and make pressure on the Security Council to activate its mechanisms for a peaceful solution of the conflict, and to initiate a peace conference under the auspices of the UN. The first step must be a ceasefire and a freeze on all further military activity by the Yugoslav and Slovenian authorities. The next step is to provide mechanisms and conditions for negotiations. International politics should not judge the form of the state(s) in the Balkans, but insist instead on a fair and nonviolent decision- making process by the parties involved. This time, this is of course an extremely urgent appeal, and we ask you to do your best to spread the information and keep in touch with us. Yours in peace, Marko Hren Please keep in touch and await an issue of the _Intruder_ (formerly _Independent Voices_) very soon.