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Read this report from the London Times and see if you don't find
yourself asking the question: If what is described was so perfectly
predictable(*) a result of Clinton's and NATO's Kosovo policy - supporting
a criminal terrorist organization under the auspices of 'liberation,'
inflaming ethnic Albanian chauvinism and expansionism, and launching an
altogether unnecessary and unjustitied war - then why was it really
done?
Recall that cantonizaion and partition were plans suggested by the
Yugoslav government and others much earlier, and their implementation
then could have spared all parties involved great misery, death and
deprivation.
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(*) Cfr., in questo sito, La violenza degli Alleati (nota di "Controcorrente")
The Times (London)
February 13 2000
EUROPE
West abandons dream of a unified Kosovo
Tom Walker
A YEAR after Nato's intervention, the West's dream of Serbs and
Albanians living together in Kosovo is dead. Diplomats openly concede
that monoethnic cantons are the only solution to the province's
intractable hatred, with Serbs confined to the north and vulnerable
pockets in the centre and south.
Tit-for-tat bloodshed in Mitrovica, an industrial town where Serbs have
been allowed to drive thousands of Albanians from their homes, has
illustrated the stark choices facing a territory where Nato's Kfor
troops and the United Nations civilian administration have failed to
beat the rule of the gun and terrorism.
Western policy-makers have decided that pragmatism must prevail over
notions of reconciliation and justice.
"There's no point banging on about it while you can't speak Serbian in
Pristina without having your throat cut," said a senior western
diplomat. "The Serbs have got to have somewhere to feel safe, and it
looks like being Mitrovica."
Albanians have staged angry demonstrations against the tactics of French
Kfor troops in Mitrovica, and on Friday they were reinforced by a
company from the Royal Green Jackets. But the military objective in the
town remains to keep the two populations separated.
Yesterday there was more trouble for Kfor, as an American peacekeeper
recovered fron gunshot wounds he received while on guard duty in
Gnjilane, and three Albanians were arrested after shooting at Norwegian
soldiers near the Serbian community in Obilic. A Russian vehicle also
hit a Albanian landmine.
The diplomat, like many others, has run out of patience with the
Albanians, for whom the Kosovo Liberation Army continues to run amok.
Between 400 and 700 Serbs have been murdered since last summer.
Even Bernard Kouchner, the UN special representative in Kosovo, who has
championed the concept of "peaceful co- existence", has confided to
aides that he is "fed up" with the KLA leadership.
The current Serbian population in Kosovo is estimated at between 70,000
and 100,000, less than half its pre-war total. The UN believes that
municipal elections, planned for the late summer, will identify the
handful of Kosovo's 29 municipalities where Serbs remain in the
majority, and that from these will be formed the Mitrovica canton and
two pockets - probably around the monastery of Gracanica in the centre
and the ski resort area of Strpce and Brezovica in the south.
The acceptance of a fundamental failure in the Kosovo mission coincides
with rising bellicosity in Belgrade. Slobodan Milosevic, the Yugoslav
president, and his generals have eagerly reminded the UN that, under its
charter for Kosovo, there is provision for the return of limited numbers
of Yugoslav army and Serbian police units.
They have also pointed out that the UN's mandate runs out in June, which
the Milosevic regime is billing as a cut-off date for western
intervention. In a recent interview with the Politika daily, Milosevic
referred to Nato's presence as "temporary".
General Nebojsa Pavkovic, head of Yugoslavia's Third Army, meanwhile
said his troops would return to Kosovo, probably in June, as authorised
by an agreement signed with Nato last year. Diplomats rule out any
reimposition of authority from Belgrade, at least for as long as
Milosevic remains in power.
Ron Redmond, a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR), said he feared many more Albanians would leave northern Kosovo
as Serbian extremists there continued to push for an ethnically "clean"
chunk of territory.
Officially, 650 Albanians have left the area under Kfor escort, but the
unofficial figure is much higher. Some western sources estimate several
thousand Albanians have moved over the past week.
If Serbian cantons are established, Kfor's work will become considerably
easier and more like that of its sister force in Bosnia, where, despite
five years of peace, the Serbian, Croatian and Muslim communities remain
resolutely divided.
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