“Recak and Rambouillet promoted operation”, confession of Jamie Shea on the eve of the 27th anniversary of NATO intervention

He said he is happy that NATO 27 years ago experienced diplomacy first.

When you start a military campaign you never know what will happen. You don't know if it'll be successful, how fast it will be and how long it will last. But it is always known that when a military campaign starts, things will be complicated and there will be obstacles. We're seeing this in other military campaigns now taking place in the world as in the Middle East as well as Putin, Russia-Ukraine”.

“On the other hand, I am happy that NATO 27 years ago has proven diplomacy first. We went to Belgrade to meet Slobodan Milosevic, whom we offered a diplomatic route if he wanted to admit. There were negotiations in Rambouje, where Serbs had every opportunity to find a peaceful solution and stop ethnic cleansing against Kosovars”.

My feeling since then was that it would not be easy to use military force, but it would be justified and necessary to stop human rights violations in Kosovo.

So on one side caution whereas on the other, the feeling that we NATO have justice on our side and we had a good cause and it was important for the north-Atlantic alliance that I promise and not to act on NATO's credibility where the action was necessary this should be done and the action was taken”.

Two events occurred at that time. The first occurred was Massacre in Recak in January 1999, which the macabre event showed that despite all international warnings, Serbs were using force and were not stopping at all in force use. That's killing innocent Kosovars. Recall that Recak also had teenage boys executed. This was a truly terrible incident; it turned political opinion very strongly against Belgrade”.

Because on one side, Belgrade said we should deal with the situation in Kosovo, but clearly they were using great force, disproportionate means and cruel means. So it had a huge impact on international opinion as well,”, said former senior official of the NATO”, reports Clen Kosovo, broadcast Periscope.

Shea mentioned dealing with disagreements in Rambouille.

“Aty offered the Referendum for Kosovars in self-determination that would give them back their autonomy they had before 1989 in the Old Yugoslavia. All thought it was a good diplomatic way to move forward was a fair compromise. But then Milosevic and his President Milan Milutinovic returned and said no, we refuse and we don't. So it became clear that Serbs only pretended to be interested in diplomacy, but were not at all. So they would act on a violent solution. Therefore, it took strength to stop Serbs once they really decided on extreme unilateral violence. So it was the events in Recak and Rambouille that led NATO to launch the operation in March 1999, he added. /Periscope