§ 10. Mr. WatersonTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans Her Majesty's Government have to recognise the republic of Kosova.
§ Mr. WatersonDoes my right hon. Friend accept that the 90 per cent. ethnic Albanian population in Kosova have been regularly and cruelly oppressed by the Serbian military and police, and that in a recent poll—with turnout of approximately 80 per cent., which is creditable by our democratic standards—99 per cent. of the population voted for autonomy?
§ Mr. HurdAnd that surely must be the right answer. I agree with my hon. Friend. As he says, Kosova is largely inhabited by people of Albanian origin, but it is also regarded by Serbs as the heartland of their country. A few months ago Lord Carrington's peace conference suggested the same answer as my hon. Friend—full autonomy.
§ Mr. Menzies CampbellWhile accepting the Government's reservations about the employment of ground forces in the Balkans, if it becomes clear that combat aircraft and Royal Navy ships are necessary to achieve the purpose of the United Nations, will the Government make such resources available to the UN?
§ Mr. HurdWe are considering, almost daily, in the Security Council and with our partners in Europe and in NATO, what help we can give, first with the humanitarian air lift. Our planes are standing by, ready for the go-ahead which the UN has asked us to await before we start to send supplies to Sarajevo. We have to look ahead—
§ Mr. SkinnerThe question is out of order.
§ Mr. HurdI am answering the supplementary question of the hon. and learned Member for Fife, North-East (Mr. Campbell). We have to look ahead, and I am sure that we would play our part, although not with ground troops, in any future UN plans for humanitarian relief.
§ Mr. WareingI welcome the Foreign Secretary's answer to the orginial question. I advise caution before making the same mistake in prematurely recognising Kosovo as we made with Croatia and Bosnia. Does he realise that to give in to those who want Kosovo to be recognised prematurely would simply send the same message to the minority Serbs in that region as was sent to those in Croatia? They would fell that they had been abandoned, and such action would play into the hands of the extreme Serbian nationalists in Belgrade.
§ Mr. HurdI do not want to add to what I have said about Kosovo. On Croatia, which was one of the republics of the former Yugoslav federation, there was an argument about timing, but I am sure that it was not wrong to recognise it. Last week, we followed up that action by establishing full diplomatic relations with Croatia, which I hope that the hon. Gentleman would consider to be right. I hope to name the first British ambassador in Zagreb soon.