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Under the new
circumstances Kosovo is still deeply troubled, with both Serbs and
Albanians resentful and international authorities frustrated.
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AFTER ALL, Kosovo, the historic homeland of ethnic Albanians, Serbs,
Roma (Gypsies), Turks and several other minorities, was unmistakably a
festering sore for more than a century. Its Albanians and Serbs vied for
and alternately won suzerainty, repeatedly chasing out thousands of their
ethnic rivals.
Under the new circumstances
Kosovo is still deeply troubled, with both Serbs and Albanians resentful
and international authorities frustrated.
Now the nearly 2 million Albanian inhabitants vastly outweigh the
barely 100,000 remaining Serbs and members of other minorities, having
driven out 230,000 non-Albanians during the almost helpless governance of
the United Nations and a NATO military contingent now numbering 30,000.
The minorities live in 24 ghetto-like settlements.
CRIME AND
POVERTY
Despite pious, almost
weekly declarations by the United Nations that the protectorate will be
“multiethnic,” Kosovo is essentially Albanian and will remain so in the
distant foreseeable future. A mere 2,500 Serbs and other minority members
have returned to their communities, and even those are only able to do so
under heavy international guard.
Violent
crimes occur almost weekly. The province is a hub of organized crime for
the central Balkans. |
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 Albanians
continue to murder Serbs and sometimes other Albanians. On Nov. 16 two
Serbian Orthodox churches in the Istok municipality were severely damaged
by explosives, adding to 110 Serbian churches destroyed or desecrated
since June 1999. The evening of Dec. 13 a car bomb detonated on crowded
Bill Clinton Avenue in downtown Pristina, injuring 32.
On a typical day, Dec. 5, troops of the international Kosovo
Force reported separate confiscations of a machine gun, two large mortar
bombs, four grenades and one pistol. Bigger caches are routinely
discovered.
Although Pristina, the Kosovo
capital, boasts images of bustling activity such as many new Albanian
houses, the U.N. Development Program has estimated that half the
population of the province lives at or below the poverty line.
Unemployment hovers around 50 percent.
HISTORY OF
TURMOIL |
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Sadly, this is
nothing new. During four decades of Yugoslav Communist rule, Kosovo
persisted as an economic basket case despite billions poured in from
richer parts of the federation as assistance to the “underdeveloped
region.” The U.N. now appears to be haplessly replicating the Communists’
unsuccessful strivings to create a harmonious and prosperous province. It
is “not a viable economic entity,” said Elez Biberaj, head of Voice of
America’s Albanian service.
On the surface
there are faint signs of normality. Kosovo has a president, a parliament
and municipal authorities. But they have few powers. Real authority is
vested only in Michael Steiner, who is in charge of the United Nations
Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and who routinely undoes decisions taken by the
many Albanian and the few Serbian institutions.
In the view of Susan Manuel, until recently the UNMIK spokeswoman,
this has created a “culture of dependency,” where provincial officials
tend to shirk making decisions because they know international authorities
will have the final say.
As they have for
two decades, Albanian leaders press constantly for an “independent” Kosovo
and are regularly told by everyone from U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan
on down that no change in the status (defined by U.N. resolution 1244,
adopted in 1999) can be contemplated until “benchmarks” are achieved,
starting with “a society based on the rule of law.”
After a 24-hour visit in Kosovo in November, Annan pronounced
the international effort “a successful mission.” Rather, by its own
performance definitions on communal security, interethnic dialogue and
returns of minorities, the U.N. effort is a failure.
FACING THE
CONUNDRUM
No one wants to address
the Kosovo issues in terms of a realistic compromise — not a division of
territory giving the Serbs a small slice of their own, not a program of
guaranteed returns for displaced minorities and not a simple empowerment
of the Albanians. |
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Yet there are the
murky, changeable factors of time and of resources. The donor world is
already preoccupied with Afghanistan and other desperately needy
populations. The United Nations has pulled out of Bosnia, transferring its
responsibilities to European institutions. Europe is also scheduled to
take over NATO’s mission in Macedonia in the spring. President Bush said
Nov. 24 he expected that the 5,000-person U.S. contingent in Kosovo would
“gradually reduce in size.”
Sooner or later
but inevitably, the United States and Europe will again have to face the
Kosovo conundrum.
David Binder began reporting on Kosovo for The New York Times in
1963.
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