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The Washington Post March 24, 2005
Editorial
Back to the Balkans
IT'S BEEN A long time since policymakers in Washington were preoccupied with
the problems of the Balkans. Yet, while the wars that devastated
southeastern Europe in the 1990s and that twice prompted U.S. military
intervention receded long ago, the region has never regained stability.
International trusteeships for two former battlefields, Bosnia and the
Serbian province of Kosovo, have failed to provide prosperity or lasting
political solutions. Neighboring Serbia, though now a democracy, still
struggles to shed the malignant nationalism that fueled much of the
bloodshed. The Bush administration and other Western governments have found
it convenient to relegate this troublesome area to a back burner for most of
the past several years, even while U.S. and European troops keep the peace.
That hiatus will soon end -- whether or not the region and outside
governments are ready.
One trigger of a Balkan reengagement is the scheduled review of Kosovo's
government by the U.N. Security Council this summer. That internationally
supervised administration has performed poorly; its latest prime minister
recently was obliged to surrender to the Balkan war crimes tribunal at The
Hague. But Kosovo's continued poverty and ethnic tension are also the
products of its unresolved status. Western governments seem to agree that
the territory, whose population is mostly ethnic Albanian, can never be
returned to Serbian rule, which means it must become independent in some
form. But there's no consensus on how, when or under what conditions Kosovo
might be granted sovereignty. Some Western experts, such as former defense
secretary Frank Carlucci, have proposed that the process be completed by the
end of next year, while others say it should be linked to an integration of
the Balkan states into the European Union, a process that could take many
more years.
Serb leaders, meanwhile, reject independence or dream of annexing the
Serb-populated enclaves in the province. They find sympathy in Russia, which
has been harboring some of the Serb war criminals still at large.
Untangling this and formulating a workable plan and timetable for Kosovo's
independence will require concerted and skillful consensus-building by the
Bush administration with the European Union. Officials say that process has
begun, but President Bush should consider whether a special U.S. envoy is
needed to catalyze it; proposals for a U.N. special representative seem to
have stalled. Such an official could also work on a concrete plan to lift
Bosnia from its continued status as an international protectorate and on the
means to encourage Serbia to pursue a future of integration with Europe and
NATO, rather than a nationalist agenda. But neither Serbia nor Russia -- nor
the reluctance of a busy administration to take on another problem -- should
be allowed to stand in the way of resolving Kosovo's future and developing a
broader plan for the Balkans this year. Delay will only invite a resumption
of the terrible conflict that plagued the West a decade ago.
Copyright 2005, The Washington Post Co. All Rights Reserved
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