Ottawa, June 20, 2005
By Boba Borojevic, CKCU 93.1 FM
http://f2.pg.briefcase.yahoo.com/pertep (go to CKCU and pick the show)
Rollie Keith, the retired Canadian military officer who served as a OSCE
Kosovo Verification Mission observer in Kosovo in the 1990s said he never
saw any evidence of genocide or ethnic cleansing involving Slobodan
Milosevic and Serbian forces in Kosovo and Metohija.
The 69-year-old Keith, who is a historian, met former Serbian president
Slobodan Milosevic while he served as a OSCE observer in Kosovo in the
1990s. And he testified as a defense witness at Milosevic's trial at The
Hague late 2004.
Why did you agreed to testify at the trial?
It was very clear to me that what took place in Yugoslavia in 1999 with the
NATO invention along with Canada was not justified by the events on the
ground that I was witnessing. As I wrote at that time, I said this was a
frailer of diplomacy and it was wrong to make war on a nation that was
struggling to deal with the insurrection and the problems that were
inherited as ethnic diversity.
As consequence of that I wrote and spoke out six years ago against the NATO
war. When I was asked to participate in the defense of Mr. Milosevic I
agreed to that. I have never stated privately nor publicly on the guilt nor
innocence on the charges brought about against former president Milosevic.
But, I did agree to testify on behalf of truth and justices, because I did
not see that the precepts of the trial based on the charges of genocide and
ethnic cleansing in order constituent parts of Yugoslavia and Kosovo were
correct.
How do you explain discrepancy between your reporting from the ground in
Kosovo and the mainstream media and some NGOs?
That is a very good question. That is the background to why I spoke out and
wrote and continue to believe that we acted incorrectly; that is the West
and Canada and NATO in particular. The mainstream media and many of the
human rights NGOs picked up on the theme of what I thing is a simplicity of
black and white; good and evil. In that the Serbian state, than led by the
former president Slobodan Milosevic, was all bad and others were apparently
the victims of that. What I witnessed and what was very clear to me in my
few months in Kosovo in the spring of 1999, that there was an armed
insurrection-taking place. It had peaked, I guess, in summer of 1998 and
then under international pressure subsided, which led of coarse to the
insurrection of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe
(OSCE) Kosovo verification mission, of which I volunteered and played a
part in. What we witnessed and what I witnessed specially in the area around
Kosovo polje, was the agreement that had been agreed to in 1998, and that
Mr. Milosevic had agreed to as well, to pool back the Serbian and
Yugoslavian military and the Serbian MUT, the Serbian paramilitary police
and the Kosovo Liberation Army or UCK of coarse were supposed to stay where
they were. And this was not happening. They (UCK) were carrying out series
of ambushed, kidnappings, killings. But, there were others who were
retaliating as well. So, both sides were initiating incidents. In my area,
it was my appreciation, and based what I was witnessing and what I was
hearing that the majority of troubles were initiated by UCK. It appeared to
me and it proved to be true that they were purposely trying to initiate a
state crackdown that would justify in their opinion and international
intervention by the NATO forces or the others.
The discrepancy (in reporting between the mainstream media), is because they
in my opinion, picked up on story that they did not realized there were two
sides and it was much complicated than they wrote at the time, from the
reality that was taken place on the ground which is what I just described,
as I witnessed in.
Take for instance the Racak incident. I was not on the ground at Racak right
at that time, but I was close by few weeks after. I heard the accounts of
the people who were there. And of coarse we know the Finish forensic study
left a lot of questions unanswered, in that this did not appeared to be a
crime other than the insurrection that left number of fighters dead and
perhaps a few others. But it certainly was not an incident, and history can
justify, leading to an armed aggression against a sovereign state.
Is it correct that there was no ethnic cleansing on a mass scale, some
"100.000 fleeing or being ethnically cleansed" as reported by the mainstream
media, prior to the NATO attack?
That is absolutely correct. In fact the UNHCR, that was on the ground, did
not report one external refugee leaving Kosovo prior to the NATO attack.
Now, what was happening internally, as I have acknowledged and witnessed, as
the fighting intensified, there were internal refugees that were moving
around to stay out of the battle, which would happen in any type of internal
conflict. But I did not see and I did not hear of any planned state
sponsored program of ethnic cleansing that took place in the area of Kosovo
Polje and surrounding area west of Pristina that I could at all justified
as ethnic cleansing. No.
How would you classify the UCK at that time?
I classified the UCK that I encountered as two forces. In the primary
Albanian ethnic villages, in the rural areas, there were, what I would refer
to as home guards. These were young men armed with the variety of weapons,
some modern some rather antiques, shot guns ect., for the local security as
they saw it. And there were the formed UCK forces. These were not the major
UCK forces that were in my area. But they were a bunch of young men, led by
what appeared to be a fairly well organized cadre. Who in turn when I
questioned what they had been doing and what they aim were, they always said
they would have to refer to higher authority. So, it was a law level of
conflict area in Kosovo at that time, but we had our share of fighting and
ambushes some of which I was a participant in. It appeared to me that the
UCK were not cooperative to us, as cooperative as the police and the Serbian
and Yugoslav authorities, but were trying to provoke a response from the
government authorities to justified international intervention to serve
their interests. I think that history has shown that this judgment was correct.
How do you feel for having to resign from this provincial election just for
telling the truth about what you have seen in Kosovo?
I am quite upset about it. My opponent went back because I had made some
comments to the press in an article that was written in November 2004, when
I commented on the Mr. Milosevic himself. After talking to him for number
of hours on two occasions, I referred to him as I thought he was sincere in
fighting to keep his country together. I found him personable and very
interesting to talk to. I never commented on his guilt or innocence, I just
commented on his human qualities, and my judgment of a brief association
with him in this regard. So, when this was brought up the suggestion was
that I was an apologist for a war criminal. Of course, we know that Mr.
Milosevic is under trial. But he has not been found guilty of any crime yet
to my knowledge. I have some personal judgment, of coarse, that this trial
has a lot of political undertones to it. I thought that my comments on a
human being and my testifying on behalf of truth and justice certainly were
relevant to the provincial champagne here in British Columbia but also, of
course, for me as a candidate and a potential MLE to speak out for truth and
justice is integrity. And that is a kind of character that I would hope that
all politicians would inspired to and not be criticized and have my judgment
and character questioned. I realized that it was becoming a side issue and
that it was destructing the leader and my party from important issues of
health and education and social programs. To stop the media frenzy I agreed
to step down. But I do not think that I should have. I should be allowed to
stay and fight. Coming back to my notion of truth and integrity and
political integrity, which I think, is in short supply in Canada.
Will you stay in politics?
In my federal riding I have a lot of support. They have asked me to ride
federally. I said I would if they want me and if my party endorses me. When
this incident blew at the end of April, my support came out, my champagne
team and community and my constituency here was universally in support of
me. Politics is a calling. I think I am political person. The same reason
that I wanted to work in the former Yugoslavia is the same reason why I
inspired to run for the political office in Canada. I think we need more
diplomacy and politics working on conflict resolution and knowledge of what
goes on in the World. I think that Canada should play a prominent role in
international politics to build a more peaceful, more diplomatically
cohesive world. I am a Europhile. Canada became originally from European
peoples, as did my peoples. I lived in Europe when I was serving with NATO
in West Germany, I traveled extensively. I also served in the Middle East
several years in different times with the UN. I think that Canada can play a
constructive role to build on the European strength.
What kind of policy should Canada have towards the Balkans and Kosovo?
I think we should have an enthusiastic one of initiative and insight. We
have to work with the Serbian people and the state of Serbia and Montenegro
and also with the people of Albanian ethnic extraction to ensure that we
build a cohesive society. I think that is what the people of the former
Yugoslavia should work together to integrate in a strong Europe. I believe
that the peoples of the former Yugoslavia now desire. I think Canada can
play a constructive role in these types of negotiations by building a strong
diplomatic presence and working with the UN and the OSCE and other agencies
to ensure that we move forward do not slip backwards into ethnic conflict.
It will take a lot of effort by the peoples who live in those areas. I think
that Canada has a legacy of constructive international good will and we
should exert that.
**
ROLAND KEITH is a 32-year career military officer in the Canadian military.
He's a former director of the Kosovo Polje Field Office of the Kosovo
Verification Mission, from which position he returned in April 1999. Rollie
Keith lives in Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada.
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