NATO's continued bombing of Yugoslavia following Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's announcement of a unilateral cease-fire has increasingly polarized the opinions of Harvard students from the Balkans.

As the war continues without an end in sight, students from both sides denounced the conflict while expressing their desire for eventual peace in the region.

But the solutions they proposed leave little potential for common ground.

Many students from Serbia condemned NATO's bombing campaign, particularly now that Milosevic has announced a unilateral cease-fire for Orthodox Easter, which should last at least until the holiday is observed on Sunday.

"Obviously Milosevic backed up a little bit and I hope that NATO will recognize that and recognize that it also needs to stop bombing and start talking, because that's the only way we're going to get a peace agreement out of this," said Luka Djunic '01, who is from Belgrade, Yugoslavia.

"Yugoslavia did what NATO wanted it to do. Cease-fire is the basis for everything else, [but] instead of encouraging it by a cease-fire of its own, NATO just goes in...and still bombs...which sends the wrong message to the people in Yugoslavia and to Milosevic," Djunic added.

However, students from other areas in the region generally expressed support for NATO's continued bombing, saying that Milosevic's past behavior demonstrates that he cannot be trusted to keep his word.

"I don't think Milosevic has spoken a word of truth in the last seven years, so one would have to be a complete idiot to believe anything Milosevic says without clear support from his actions," said Emir Kamenica '01, who is from Sarajevo in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

"It only speaks to NATO's experience with Milosevic that they're not responding to his probably empty talk," Kamenica said.