{"id":52054,"date":"2023-07-06T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-06T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.declassifieduk.org\/?p=52054"},"modified":"2023-09-08T09:59:46","modified_gmt":"2023-09-08T08:59:46","slug":"cluster-bombs-for-ukraine-a-warning-from-kosovo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.declassifieduk.org\/cluster-bombs-for-ukraine-a-warning-from-kosovo\/","title":{"rendered":"Cluster bombs for Ukraine? A warning from Kosovo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
GRACANICA, KOSOVO \u2013 \u201cIn the village where we lived, there were nine bombs dropped by NATO in the space of two minutes,\u201d Dzafer Buzoli recalls, as we discuss his traumatic childhood in Yugoslavia. A leading member of Kosovo\u2019s Roma, his community went from pillar to post. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many were dragooned into Slobodan Milosevic\u2019s Serb-dominated Yugoslav army or targeted by Albanian rebels as suspected collaborators, before Bill Clinton and Tony Blair launched their \u2018humanitarian intervention\u2019 in 1999.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen the first bomb fell, we were just confused and wondered what was happening,\u201d he reflects. \u201cBut after the second bomb I felt the hot air and fell down from the pressure of the blast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEver since then I\u2019ve had a heightened sense of hearing. When there’s a loud noise or people yelling I have to really back up, because it\u2019s too much for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Buzoli was lucky to survive the airstrike. Two soldiers and a five year old boy were killed in the attack on his village of Laplje Selo, which was hit with controversial cluster munitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These scatter a blizzard of ball-shaped bomblets over target areas, like a minefield falling from the sky. Human Rights Watch said NATO killed between 90 and 150 civilians with this weapon across Serbia and Kosovo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thousands of bomblets failed to detonate on impact, posing a hazard to children who mistook their little yellow parachutes for toys. In the decade after the war, these remnants claimed another 178<\/a> casualties in Kosovo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n