Not My Turn to Die

Written by Savo Heleta
Newropeans Magazine
May 29, 2008

In 1999, Western governments and media claimed that about 10,000 Albanians were killed in the Serbian province of Kosovo by the Serbian security forces and that the world had to intervene immediately and stop the conflict. 

They quickly decided to launch air strikes, using over 1,000 airplanes in a bombing campaign. After a short war, 2,100 people were confirmed to be killed in Kosovo by the Serbian forces before the air strikes, while another 2,000 were still missing. 

Since 1999, the UN’s mission in Kosovo became the largest show of strength in the history of the United Nations. NATO deployed tens of thousands of troops to Kosovo. The international community has spent over $50 billion in Kosovo since 1999, which corresponds to $2,800 per capita annually. This is 160 times the average yearly per capita aid for all other developing countries combined.

The European Union is taking over the Kosovo mission this year and deploying 2,200 judges, prosecutors, police officers, and customs officials to run now an independent Kosovo. This is in addition to 16,000 NATO soldiers who are already in Kosovo. The costs of maintaining the EU’s mission alone are expected to be at least $2.4 billion annually between now and 2010.

The conflict in Darfur is in its sixth year. About 200,000 people are estimated to have died from fighting, disease, and starvation since 2003. The UN and aid agencies estimate that over 2 million people are living in camps after fleeing fighting in the region.

For a year now, the UN Secretary-General has been asking the world powers to provide the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur with 6 attack helicopters and 18 transport helicopters so they can start protecting civilians in Darfur.  

Helicopters are essential for any success of the mission in the vast and remote region the size of France. Even though NATO members together possess over 18,000 military helicopters, to this day, no country has supplied even one helicopter for the Darfur mission.

It was easy to find 1,000 fighter jets to punish Serbia for killing a few thousand people in Kosovo, but it is impossible to find 24 helicopters to start protecting people in Darfur.

While billions keep pouring in Kosovo year after year, the World Food Program is having trouble finding money to continue delivering food to more than 2 million refugees in Darfur. Monthly costs of food delivery are (only) $6.2 million.  

Western governments are eager and ready to send troops, equipment, aid, and money to stop conflicts in Europe, while conflicts in Africa are ignored. They have done this in the case of Bosnia in the early 1990s, while ignoring the Rwandan genocide in 1994. They are doing this again in Kosovo since 1999, while ignoring the Darfur conflict and suffering of millions since 2003. 

Whether it is due to skin color, geographic location, natural resources, or effective lobbying, it seems that some people do matter more than others.