I welcome the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Andrews. Before I ask him to make his opening statement on the Estimates, I will make a brief statement. I am increasingly disturbed by the deteriorating situation in Kosovo. Due to the systematic exclusion of international observers from affected areas, it is extremely difficult to gauge the extent of the suffering to which the unfortunate ethnic Albanian people of Kosovo, who form 90 per cent of the inhabitants of the province, are being subjected on a daily basis at the hands of the Serbian special police and army units. In these circumstances reports that at least 300 people have been killed and 65,000 have fled their homes since the Serb action began earlier this year should be taken as estimates at the lower end of the scale.
The harrowing scenes we see on television depicting refugees, including the elderly and young children, fleeing Kosovo without any possessions and crossing the mountains often in harsh climatic conditions into Albania are all too reminiscent of what we witnessed in the recent past in Bosnia. It is appalling to think, after so much effort has been expended on forging a solution to the problem in the former Yugoslavia, that we are once again facing a situation there which inflicts such hardship on innocent people in the area and threatens to spill over into other countries in the region with possibly disastrous consequences for the stability of the whole Balkans region.
Yugoslav President Milosevic bears the primary responsibility for what is happening in Kosovo. The massive use of force which he has sanctioned, allegedly with the aim of neutralising the separatist Kosovo Liberation Army - KLA - has resulted in widespread death and destruction and the deliberate displacement of large numbers of people.
I welcome the recent additional measures adopted both by the European Union and the Contact Group against Belgrade. The EU decided to impose a freeze on the Former Republic of Yugoslavia's assets abroad and a ban on new investment. These measures are in addition to earlier measures which consisted of an arms embargo, a ban on equipment which could be used for internal repression or for terrorism, a ban on visas for senior Former Republic of Yugoslavia and Serbian officials involved in repression and a ban on government financed export credit.
The Contact Group countries, with the exception of Russia, have also pledged to stop international flights from and to their countries by the Yugoslav state airline, JAT. The countries, including Russia, have also put to the Belgrade authorities a set of essential points on which they require immediate action to prevent any further deterioration in the situation. These points, which cover concrete measures, are to cease all action by the security forces affecting the civilian population and order the withdrawal of security units used for civilian repression; to enable effective and continuous international monitoring in the Kosovo region and allow unimpeded access for monitors; to facilitate, in agreement with the UNHCR and the International Committee of the Red Cross, the full return to their homes of refugees and displaced persons and to allow free and unimpeded access for humanitarian organisations and supplies to Kosovo, and, to make rapid progress in the dialogue with the Kosovo Albanian leadership.
The European Council which met in Cardiff yesterday and today discussed the situation in Kosovo and I look forward to the conclusions of that meeting. I welcome the fact that NATO has ordered aerial exercises on the Serbian border, which are now taking place, and the preparation of military intervention options which I hope will be used quickly if they prove necessary. The meeting scheduled in Moscow today between President Milosevic and President Yeltsin offers Russia an excellent opportunity to bring pressure to bear on the Yugoslav leader to reverse his policy in respect of Kosovo and to work towards a political solution. As the European Union concluded last week, "the priorities in Kosovo are to end violence and to establish a genuine political process which is the only viable alternative to continuing conflict".