The Green Party has said "the illegal US-led NATO bombing of Yugoslavia" must stop immediately. It has also called on the Government to voice its opposition to the bombings.
Speaking at a press conference in Dublin yesterday, the party's foreign affairs and defence spokesman, Mr John Gormley TD, said: "The only things that the NATO illegal air strikes have achieved are an escalation of the Serbian massacre of Kosovans and a strengthening of support for Slobodan Milosevic. And we all knew long before any war plane left the ground that these would be the outcomes.
"The bombings must stop and the peace negotiations be reopened," he said. The situation in Kosovo had got worse as a direct result of NATO's actions. "Bertie Ahern admitted as much in the Dail, yet the Government has not condemned the air strikes," he said.
He called for reform of the UN as a priority. "It has been argued the UN has become impotent because of the veto. Yet those powers that argue this, from Britain, France and the US, have never called for the removal of the veto or for real UN reform," he said.
The Green Party supported the establishment of a two-tiered UN force, one responsible for traditional peace-keeping and the other responsible for "preventative deployments and the establishment of safe areas to protect civilian populations."
The Green MEP, Ms Patricia McKenna, said NATO and US defence of the bombings on a humanitarian pretext was "ridiculous, given their history. This Orwellian `War is Peace' stance is very cynical." It had totally undermined the role of the UN, she said. It was obvious "that NATO's intentions are that it becomes the world's military police force with the Americans deciding when and who to attack."
She called for an immediate ceasefire "to be implemented by all aggressors, including NATO, the Kosovo Liberation Army, and the Yugoslav forces. The UN should agree to oversee it and the OSCE peace-keeping force which left when the bombing started should return and be strengthened if necessary."
