8 October 1998 Edition
Kosovo - Bosnia revisited
By Soledad Galiana
UN General Secretary Koffi Annan's report on the present situation in Kosovo hints that Yugoslavia has not complied with a UN Security Council resolution, but doesn't suggest possible actions. The US government and its European allies said that the Serbian president, Slodoban Milosevic, is confronting the possibility of a NATO attack if he doesn't change his policy in Kosovo in accordance to UN demands. These are a ceasefire, the withdrawal of all troops, negotiation and the safe return of Albanian refugees. Russia and China have announced they will vote against any military action against Serbia if this is brought to the UN Security Council
The US special envoy to the Federal Republic of Serbia, Richard Holbrooke, met Milosevic last Monday in what could be seen as the last western diplomatic effort to solve the crisis in the Balkans. Meanwhile, the Russian government sent the new Foreign Affairs minister, Igor Ivanov, and Defence Minister, Igor Sergueyev, to put pressure on Belgrade's government to declare a ceasefire and retire its troops from Kosovo.
Russian PM, Yevgueni Primakov, announced that the declaration of an allied war against Serbia will be ``a catastrophe for humanity'' and, although the Russians are not threatening a military response in defence of their Serbian allies, he pointed out that a NATO attack would ``break the international relations system''.
Any international reaction is arriving too late for the Albanians. The Serbian government has used the war in the area to carry out ethnic cleansing. The Albanian refugees will not be able to come back to their homes because the Serbian army has destroyed them, burned their crops, and killed their animals. Winter is already there for the more than 300,000 Albanian refugees who are too terrified to go back to their villages after news of the massacres carried out by the Serbian army and Special Police reached them.
There are 200,000 Serbs and 2 million Albanians in the area. Ten years ago, Kosovo had an autonomous parliament democratically elected. Milosevic ended the parliament and instituted Serbian rule from Belgrade. Notices bearing the new motto Samo za serbski (only Serbs) have appeared in the university, restaurants and the Grand Hotel in Pristina, Kosovo's capital.
This political change brought massive dismissals for Albanian civil servants and workers in favour of their Serbian neighbours. In the schools, a Serbian studies programme was imposed. The racial segregation created two separate societies.
When Serbian PM, Mirko Marjanovic announced last week that the Serbian army had defeated the Kosovo National Liberation Army and life was back to normal he was presenting the end of the campaign of ethnic cleansing in the area.
The attitudes and actions of the international community bring back the images of the Bosnian war. The West has witnessed unmoved the Serbian ``anti-terrorist operations''. The West rather prefer a Milosevic victory than an independent Kosovo and the drawing of new borders in the Balkan region. But Washington and the European Union failed in their efforts to push Belgrade to negotiate with moderate Albanians the possibility of a return of an autonomous government. Last February, the Kosovo National Liberation Army was a minority. Today it is looked upon by the Albanians in Kosovo as the only way to free themselves from Serbian oppression.
UN General Secretary Koffi Annan's report on the present situation in Kosovo hints that Yugoslavia has not complied with a UN Security Council resolution, but doesn't suggest possible actions. The US government and its European allies said that the Serbian president, Slodoban Milosevic, is confronting the possibility of a NATO attack if he doesn't change his policy in Kosovo in accordance to UN demands. These are a ceasefire, the withdrawal of all troops, negotiation and the safe return of Albanian refugees. Russia and China have announced they will vote against any military action against Serbia if this is brought to the UN Security Council
The US special envoy to the Federal Republic of Serbia, Richard Holbrooke, met Milosevic last Monday in what could be seen as the last western diplomatic effort to solve the crisis in the Balkans. Meanwhile, the Russian government sent the new Foreign Affairs minister, Igor Ivanov, and Defence Minister, Igor Sergueyev, to put pressure on Belgrade's government to declare a ceasefire and retire its troops from Kosovo.
Russian PM, Yevgueni Primakov, announced that the declaration of an allied war against Serbia will be ``a catastrophe for humanity'' and, although the Russians are not threatening a military response in defence of their Serbian allies, he pointed out that a NATO attack would ``break the international relations system''.
Any international reaction is arriving too late for the Albanians. The Serbian government has used the war in the area to carry out ethnic cleansing. The Albanian refugees will not be able to come back to their homes because the Serbian army has destroyed them, burned their crops, and killed their animals. Winter is already there for the more than 300,000 Albanian refugees who are too terrified to go back to their villages after news of the massacres carried out by the Serbian army and Special Police reached them.
There are 200,000 Serbs and 2 million Albanians in the area. Ten years ago, Kosovo had an autonomous parliament democratically elected. Milosevic ended the parliament and instituted Serbian rule from Belgrade. Notices bearing the new motto Samo za serbski (only Serbs) have appeared in the university, restaurants and the Grand Hotel in Pristina, Kosovo's capital.
This political change brought massive dismissals for Albanian civil servants and workers in favour of their Serbian neighbours. In the schools, a Serbian studies programme was imposed. The racial segregation created two separate societies.
When Serbian PM, Mirko Marjanovic announced last week that the Serbian army had defeated the Kosovo National Liberation Army and life was back to normal he was presenting the end of the campaign of ethnic cleansing in the area.
The attitudes and actions of the international community bring back the images of the Bosnian war. The West has witnessed unmoved the Serbian ``anti-terrorist operations''. The West rather prefer a Milosevic victory than an independent Kosovo and the drawing of new borders in the Balkan region. But Washington and the European Union failed in their efforts to push Belgrade to negotiate with moderate Albanians the possibility of a return of an autonomous government. Last February, the Kosovo National Liberation Army was a minority. Today it is looked upon by the Albanians in Kosovo as the only way to free themselves from Serbian oppression.