Sir, - In the aftermath of the Serbian President's excessive use of force in Kosovo during the past few months, 270,000 people have been displaced by the conflict which has left hundreds of people dead and more than 100 villages destroyed. Up to 50,000 people are camping out in the open, too fearful to go back to their homes.
The conflict has also affected hundreds of thousands who have been hosting those displaced by the fighting.
With winter just around the corner, these civilians caught up in this outrageous conflict must be given life-saving assistance. Adequate funding is critical to avert further tragedy in the freezing hills where tens of thousands of displaced people are huddling.
"The UN agencies are very concerned," says Sadako Ogata, High Commissioner of UNHCR. WFP, WHO, the UN office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, etc. are forced to pick up the pieces after the political powers of the UN and the EU remained silent and inactive in the face of blatant violations of human rights, carnage, disruption of people's lives and destruction of homes, villages and towns.
Why such deafening silence? - Yours, etc.,
Norman Fitzgerald,
C.S.Sp.,
Executive Director,
Refugee Trust,
Stillorgan,
Co Dublin.