FOREIGN Office Minister Tony Lloyd faced a barrage of questions about the Kosovan crisis during his visit to Lancaster last week.

After being heckled by anti-war protesters on the steps of the town hall, Mr Lloyd was bombarded with public questions about the effectiveness of the NATO bombing campaign.

The debate had been instigated by local MP Hilton Dawson, but the majority of the 100 people who attended the meeting expressed concern about NATO's strategy.

Claiming the Government had no choice but to stand up to ethnic cleansing in Europe, Mr Lloyd said: "I met young women, huddled with their children. They told me they had been in their home village when the military marched in and forced the menfolk apart and shot them. I'm not under the illusion that this violence has not been going on before the NATO attacks. It has and 50,000 Kosovars preferred to live in the mountains throughout the winter instead of risking their lives in their own homes. We want people to be able to return to their homes and feel safe. This will be impossible while Milosevic is in power."

But despite the Minister's assurances there were many in the audience who voiced their concerns.

One asked about why Britain had sold arms to Indonesia who have been accused of ethnically cleansing the Timors. They also made the point that Turkey, a NATO country, has committed atrocities against the ethnic Kurds.

Audrey Harland of Bolton-le-Sands said that the policy of bombing had only served to strengthen the position of Saddam Hussain in Iraq and she questioned NATO's current Balkan strategy.

"One consistent effect of bombing a country has been to promote a popular solidarity behind the leadership. This in turn leads to suppression of internal opposition in the name of patriotic necessity," she said.

"For the people of the region, the humanitarian consequences of the bombing could be made even worse. There is also a possibility of an even greater escalation of the conflict with untold repercussions."

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