wfn.org | Stated Clerk Appeals to Clinton For Kosovo Solution

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23-March-1999 
99117 
 
    Stated Clerk Appeals to Clinton For Kosovo Solution 
 
    by Jerry L. Van Marter 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.-With the peace effort in the Albanian province of Kosovo in 
Yugoslavia collapsing and the violence increasing, Presbyterian Church 
(U.S.A.) stated clerk the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick wrote to President Bill 
Clinton March 15, offering the prayers and support of the denomination in 
the search for a solution in the troubled Balkan region. 
 
    In his letter, Kirkpatrick reiterated the position taken by the 1998 
General Assembly asking "whether the time has come for international 
humanitarian intervention" in Kosovo. 
 
    The complete text of the letter: 
 
    "Each day more innocent people are killed in Kosovo and each day the 
danger grows that the violence in Kosovo will explode into a much wider 
conflict.  For many months it has seemed clear that peace in Kosovo will 
only be possible with the active intervention by the international 
community.  Indeed, as long ago as June 1998, the General Assembly of our 
church, meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina, voted to ask the United 
Nations Security Council to deliberate `whether the time has come for 
international humanitarian intervention' to prevent further killing in 
Kosovo. 
 
    "Presbyterians believe that a non-violent and just solution to 
international conflicts is always better than a violent solution.  However, 
it is now likely that the only remaining chance for a non-violent solution 
to the conflict in Kosovo is a negotiated peace in which both sides accept 
the presence of an international force to guarantee that the terms of the 
peace are respected.  In the context of such an agreement it would be 
reasonable and responsible to deploy U.S. forces as part of that 
international presence. 
 
    "As I write, however, it appears possible and even likely that one of 
the parties, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, will not agree to any such 
international presence in Kosovo.  If that happens, the United States and 
the international community as a whole will face a difficult choice. 
Should the nations of the international community put the lives of soldiers 
and civilians in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in danger, not mention 
the lives of their own air and ground personnel, to get the Federal 
Republic of Yugoslavia to accept an international presence which could 
prevent further killing in Kosovo?  Or should the international community 
continue to refrain from any use of its military in Kosovo or the Federal 
Republic of Yugoslavia in the conviction that violence never stops 
violence, even when that violence is employed for the purest of motives? 
On these last questions Presbyterians, like all people of good will, are of 
different minds. 
 
    "What Presbyterians do agree on is that the killing in Kosovo cannot be 
allowed to continue, that peace in Kosovo is a goal very much worthy of our 
most focused attention and that the absence of peace in Kosovo endangers 
the peace of the whole of southeastern Europe.  Presbyterians also agree 
that no people should become the object of disdain or indifference, no 
matter how much we might disagree with the decisions of their leaders. 
Presbyterians also unite in supporting relief efforts for those who have 
born the brunt of the violence of this conflict.  No matter what happens in 
the days to come, Presbyterians will continue to pray for you, Mr. 
President, and for the members of the United States armed forces who might 
be sent to implement an international solution to the violence in Kosovo. 
We will also continue to pray that the peoples of Kosovo and the Federal 
Republic of Yugoslavia may find the peace they deserve but that so far has 
been denied them." 

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