Area Serbs yesterday condemned the NATO bombings in Yugoslavia and expressed fear for the safety of their friends and family there, but local Albanians praised NATO for acting against their aggressors.
Nick Lalich, 83, whose parents were born in Yugoslavia and who considers himself Serbian, said he doesn't think most Americans know where Kosovo is, so he questions why the United States would get involved in the country's conflict.
"I disagree with President Clinton on this," said Lalich, who lives in the 2000 block of Rogers Ave. in Baltimore. "This is a sovereign nation; the U.S. should let them settle this inside the country."
NATO began bombing Yugoslavia on Tuesday, attacking several military targets, in what President Clinton has said is an effort to stop atrocities by the Yugoslav military.
Mirela McDonald, 33, an Albanian who left the capital, Tirana, in December 1996, said NATO intervention was the only alternative for establishing stability in the area.
"I'm really, really happy," said McDonald, who lives in Bethesda. "I can't find the words in English, or even Albanian, to express my gratitude to NATO for this."
Although she sympathizes with the Serbian civilians who are endangered by the bombing, McDonald said Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic brought the attacks on the country. "When you have a dictator like Milosevic, you have to show him there is a democracy."
But Father Ray Valencia, a Serbian Christian priest at Columbia's Orthodox Church of St. Matthew, said the Kosovo conflict is about more than just one person.
Evoking the historic place of Kosovo in Serbian history, Valencia said, "I think that this issue of Kosovo is an issue that reaches to the very heart of the Serbian people. I think it is beyond the one personality, the personality of Milosevic."
Regardless of the politics, the attack means that more relief will be needed in the region, said Constantine M. Triantafilou, executive director of International Orthodox Christian Charities. The Baltimore-based organization has been providing relief to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia since 1993.
The organization has provided more than $15 million in emergency aid and development assistance programs to the area. Representatives dispersed food and supplies on Monday and Tuesday throughout Yugoslavia but were forced to leave Wednesday for safety reasons.
"We're very concerned from a humanitarian perspective," Triantafilou said. "We continue to do all that we can to address the needs of innocent civilians who have been impacted by the conflict."
Gordana Utzschneider, 24, who left Montenegro as a student in 1992 and later married here, said she called her mother yesterday to check on her family's safety. Her mother told her several of her cousins have been recruited to join the Yugoslav army.
Montenegro is the only other republic left with Serbia in what remains of the former Yugoslavia.
"I'm very concerned about my family," said Utzschneider, who lives in the 200 block of Hawthorne Road in Baltimore. "The whole situation is very terrifying for them to get through."
Utzschneider said she disagrees with NATO's mission, adding that it will only strengthen Milosevic's power.
Arsim Cejku, 46, an Albanian who left Kosovo in 1990, said he's optimistic the bombing will bring peace to the area. But it should have been done years ago, he said.
"I hope something good comes of it," said Cejku, adding he's been unable to reach his pregnant sister in Prizrin.
Cejku, a medical technologist at Good Samaritan Hospital, lives with his mother, wife and their two daughters in the 800 block of S. Rappolla St. in Baltimore. He has filed away newspaper and magazine articles documenting the Albanian struggle.
"This will be for both sides a much better solution. Appeasement isn't working, the Serbs are getting crazier and crazier."
Sun staff writer Jamie Stiehm and contributing writer Young Chang contributed supplied information in this article.
Pub Date: 3/26/99