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107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 982

To prohibit assistance for Kosovo unless the President determines and certifies to Congress that residents or citizens of Kosovo are not providing

assistance to organizations engaging in or otherwise supporting ethnically-motivated violence in southern Serbia or in Macedonia, and for

other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 13, 2001

Mr. BEREUTER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on International Relations

A BILL

To prohibit assistance for Kosovo unless the President determines and certifies to Congress that residents or citizens

of Kosovo are not providing assistance to organizations

engaging in or otherwise supporting ethnically-motivated

violence in southern Serbia or in Macedonia, and for

other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stabilization and Pac5 ification of Southern Serbia Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

2 Congress finds the following:

3 (1) On June 10, 1999, the North Atlantic

4 Treaty Organization (NATO) military air operation

5 in the former Yugoslavia concluded with the with6 drawal of all Serbian police, paramilitary, and mili7 tary forces from Kosovo, a province of Serbia.

8 (2) On June 9, 1999, the NATO-led inter9 national security force for Kosovo, KFOR, and the

10 Governments of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

11 and the Republic of Serbia concluded a Military

12 Technical Agreement which, among other things,

13 created a five kilometer (three mile) Ground Safety

14 Zone (GSZ) extending from the boundary of Kosovo

15 into southern Serbia in which forces, except regular

16 police, of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia or Ser17 bia were excluded from entering without the express

18 permission of the commander of KFOR.

19 (3) During the winter of 1999–2000, incidents

20 involving the infiltration from Kosovo into southern

21 Serbia within the GSZ of ethnic Albanian guerrilla

22 forces, designated as the Liberation Army of

23 Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac (UCPMB), were

24 reported by KFOR.

25 (4) The declared objective of the UCPMB is the

26 liberation of the ethnic Albanian population of
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1 southern Serbia from the authority of the Govern2 ments of Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugo3 slavia.

4 (5) The tactics utilized by the UCPMB include

5 the assassination of Serbian police operating legally

6 within the GSZ and the intimidation of Serbian resi7 dents in order to induce them to leave the region.

8 (6) On December 17, 2000, United States and

9 Russian Federation troops serving in KFOR who

10 were patrolling the boundary with Serbia in order to

11 interdict the smuggling of arms came under attack

12 by ethnic Albanians attempting to infiltrate into the

13 GSZ from Kosovo.

14 (7) The Government of the Former Yugoslav

15 Republic of Macedonia (Macedonia), a coalition that

16 includes representatives of the ethnic Albanian mi17 nority in Macedonia, has taken steps acknowledged

18 and applauded by the international community as

19 well as leaders of the Albanians in Kosovo to estab20 lish normal relations with Kosovo.

21 (8) On February 26, 2001, fighting erupted

22 along the border between Serbia and Macedonia in

23 the Macedonian village of Tanusevci between the

24 Macedonian Army and ethnic Albanians.
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1 SEC. 3. POLICY.

2 It shall be the policy of the United States

3 Government—

4 (1) to promote a dialog between legitimate rep5 resentatives of the Albanian community of southern

6 Serbia and the authorities of the Republic of Serbia

7 and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia aimed at ad8 dressing the concerns of both the ethnic Albanian

9 residents of the region and those of the Serbian au10 thorities;

11 (2) to address the deteriorating security situa12 tion in the Presevo valley of southern Serbia in con13 junction with the North Atlantic Treaty Organiza14 tion (NATO), the NATO-led international security

15 force for Kosovo (KFOR), and the Serbian authori16 ties;

17 (3) to urge the authorities of the Federal Re18 public of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Serbia to

19 work with the Government of the Former Yugoslav

20 Republic of Macedonia (Macedonia) to find agree21 ment on a complete demarcation of the border be22 tween Serbia and Macedonia;

23 (4) to support efforts of the Federal Republic

24 of Yugoslavia, Republic of Serbia and the Govern25 ment of Macedonia to maintain security along the

26 agreed upon border;
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1 (5) to support the establishment of an inter2 national observation and monitoring presence along

3 the Serbian-Macedonian border should such presence

4 be requested by the concerned parties; and

5 (6) to oppose any modification of the political

6 status of the Province of Kosovo unless and until—

7 (A) all ethnically motivated violence by

8 Kosovo Albanians against Serbian residents of

9 Kosovo has subsided; and

10 (B) all assistance by citizens or residents

11 of Kosovo to parties using violent means to fur12 ther separatist aims in southern Serbia or Mac13 edonia has ceased.

14 SEC. 4. PROHIBITION OF FUNDS.

15 (a) PROHIBITION.—No funds appropriated or other16 wise made available for assistance for Kosovo under title

17 II of the Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Re18 lated Programs Appropriations Act, 2001 (as contained

19 in H.R. 5526 of the 106th Congress, as introduced on Oc20 tober 24, 2000, as enacted into law by section 101(a) of

21 Public Law 106–429, and as contained in an appendix at

22 the end thereto), other than assistance for Kosovo under

23 the heading ‘‘INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL AND

24 LAW ENFORCEMENT’’, may be expended after June 30,
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1 2001, unless, not later than such date, the President de2 termines and certifies to Congress that—

3 (1) residents or citizens of Kosovo are not pro4 viding assistance to the Liberation Army of Presevo,

5 Medvedja and Bujanovac (UCPMB), or any other

6 organization engaging in or otherwise supporting

7 ethnically-motivated violence in southern Serbia;

8 (2) representatives of the leadership of the

9 major Albanian political parties of Kosovo—the

10 Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) led by Ibrahim

11 Rugova, the Party of Democratic Kosovo (PDK) led

12 by former KLA leader Hashim Thaci, and the Alli13 ance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) led by former

14 KLA Commander Ramuz Haradinaj—are positively

15 exerting their influence to halt ethnic violence within

16 Kosovo; and

17 (3) residents or citizens of Kosovo are not pro18 viding assistance to the Liberation Army of Mac19 edonia, or any other organization engaging in or

20 otherwise supporting ethnically-motivated violence in

21 Macedonia.

22 (b) WAIVER.—The President may waive the applica23 tion of subsection (a) if the President determines and cer-
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1 tifies to Congress not later than June 30, 2001 that it

2 is in the national interests of the United States to do so.

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