It is now one year since NATO bombed Yugoslavia in an alleged attempt to save Kosova from ethnic cleansing. As talk of partition persists, violence escalates and the UN presides over chaotic conditions, many Kosovars may justifiably ask just what they were saved from. Australia has dispatched Kosovan refugees homeward on the comfortable assumption that all is now well, the war is over, and reconstruction is under way. Not only is this an inadequate excuse for deportation, it is also false. Throughout Kosova there is a lack of basic amenities such as drinking water and shelter.
Food rations consist of flour, oil and sugar.
Thanks to the bombing and the ruthless ethnic cleans-ing of Milosevic's paramilitaries, almost no services or amenities remain intact. Reports consistently indicate that reconstruction is being hampered by corruption and feather-bedding at every level of the UN administration. As usu-al in such operations, more is spent on inflated salaries and perks than on those who are in need of help. Worse yet, violence is endemic and getting worse. All over Kosova gangs and ex-KLA factions are engaged in black marketeering, profiteering and standover tactics.