The Day Against Violence

AIM Pristina, September 22, 2000

A rally against violence organised in the capital of Kosovo and six other towns, which was planned to be magnificent, not only failed to prevent political and inter-ethnic violence, but rather increased it. In only 48 hours after this manifestation, at least four murders were registered in Kosovo, out of which in two cases outstanding personalities of Kosovo's public life were the victims. It is generally believed that they were killed because they only cared for their work and refused to abandon their principles.

On that Saturday, September 9, all speakers made an appeal for peace and stopping of killings for whatever reasons. "Kosovo without violence is the future of Kosovo", was the message the Kosovo Administrator, Bernard Kouchner to several conveyed to a dozen thousands of gathered Pristina denizens. He read his speech in Albanian, but also uttered two short sentences in the Serbian language.

However, his demonstration of the tolerance of languages did not meet with approval. To his words spoken in Serbian, the masses both times reacted with whistles and disapproval. They certainly did not whistle down to the contents of his message "let's live together", but rather to the language of a nation led by Slobodan Milosevic, a person accused of war crimes. As far as the contents of the messages are concerned, it is widely believed that the Kosovo Albanians are not the ones who have destroyed cohabitation, but that Milosevic and his followers have done that with their actions in the last decade or so. Anyway, Numan Balic, President of the Party of Democratic Action addressed the gathered people in the Albanian and Bosniac languages. However, he got perhaps the greatest applause and support.

What was noticeable, but previously announced, was that the Kosovo Serbs did not participate in this rally which was originally conceived as a joint protest against violence. True, one person of Serbian nationality, Sonja Nikolic (a member of the Department for Democratisation), stood on the stage together with Kouchner and Albanian, Turkish, Bosniac political leaders and representatives of non-governmental organisations, but did not address the audience. Security was given as the main reason for the non-participation of Serbs. Serbs from Gracanica did not allow the Kosovo Albanians to come to this village near Pristina and join the protest, same as the Albanian organisers would have been unable to guarantee security to Serbs had they decided to go to Pristina. One of the protest organisers, Reshat Sahitaj from the Party of the Liberal Centre of Kosovo, explained that the "Albanian wounds inflicted by the Milosevic's power apparatus are still fresh in the Albanian memory". On the other hand, the Kosovo Serbs announced that they would hold services in their places of worship at that time. However, they did not do that. Namely, instead on Saturday, the usual services were held on Sunday and attended only by the congregation. The Kosovo Serbs told the press that they had received the information on the anti-violence protest too late.

The organisation of anti-violence manifestations was a result of much deeper talks conducted between representatives of the Kosovo Albanians and Serbs in the American Office in Pristina, which were actually a continuation of a previous meeting held two months ago in Early House near Washington, when the Albanians and Serbs signed a declaration whereby they undertook to oppose any form of violence in Kosovo. In that sense, it is perhaps not by accident that on behalf of the political leader the central manifestation in Pristina was addressed by Naim Maloku, a moderate man respected for his moral and national credibility which gave him the right to demand of his fellow countrymen to stop the violence. After the war, Mr.Maloku, one of the former KLA commanders, formed a party called the Liberal Centre of Kosovo which every political party in Kosovo aspiring to win the elections, considers a desirable ally.

"The meeting in Early House prompted us to make this move in order to put a stop to violence in all forms in Kosovo, convinced that this is the only way for Kosovo to realise it interests", said Maloku to several dozen thousands gathered Pristina citizens who welcomed him with applause.

However, the march that International Administrator for Kosovo Bernard Kouchner, together with two strongest Albanian leaders Hashim Thaqi and Ibrahim Rugova, led after that showed that the gathered people did not carefully listen to what Mr. Maloku had said several moments earlier. Mr. Rugova's followers approached Mr.Thaqi's numerous bodyguards shouting "Rugova, Rugova", while on the other side, Mr.Thaqi's followers treated Mr.Rugova's bodyguards in the same manner. At certain moments, movements of the masses threatened to complicate the whole situation. Instead of carrying banners or similarly expressing their protest against violence, from the very beginning of this rally the masses showed their political feelings and sympathies for the main leaders. The following day, some papers even carried texts entitled: "Whose name was more loudly and frequently shouted"!?

And already a day after, perhaps by coincidence, the actual situation showed its true face. True, the main objective of this gathering was probably achieved since no case of inter-ethnic violence was reported on those days. However, on Sunday noon, near Prizren, two armed persons came out of the woods and tried to abduct a girl from a wedding procession. The girl was wounded and lost one eye, while the criminals escaped. Some time later, another group of criminals attacked the house of a gas station owner and after robbing him killed him in cold blood...

However, another murder that shocked the public, clearly showed that the manifestation against violence had no effect. It happened at midnight on Sunday in a small town Vucitrn on the road from Pristina to Mitrovica. Shefki Popova, a journalist of the oldest Kosovo daily "Rilindja" was killed in front of his apartment. Witnesses told the UNMIK police that they had seen two persons fleeing from the scene of the crime. Those who knew Popova well said that he was an even-tempered man and had no quarrel with anyone. On Monday, the spokesman for the OSCE, Roland Bleis stated that "it is too early to say whether Shefki Popova's murder is connected with his profession". His colleagues from the paper did not rule out a possibility that he had been murdered by the Serbian secret service "because he was one of the most productive journalists in uncovering of crimes committed by the Serbian forces in Kosovo". Such opinions are frequently forwarded in Kosovo, although in most cases without sufficient facts and just as a speculation. There are those who reminded that journalist Popova was a respectable activist of the Social-Democratic Party of Kosovo, led by Kaqusha Jashari, and that he was on that party's ballot as a candidate. It is hard to tell whether this murder was politically motivated, or whether personal or professional reasons were behind it. One thing is certain: only Popova's murderer knew the real reason.

And at the time Shefki Popova's colleagues were returning from his funeral commenting on their loss and not hiding fear that they could be next, because it was concluded that this murder marked the beginning of a circle of violence against journalists at the start of the electoral campaign, another piece of news shook the capital of Kosovo. On his return from a three-day symposium dedicated to the future and development of Pristina, a famous Kosovo architect and current Director of the Pristina Town Planning Administration, Rexhep Luci was killed at the front door of his apartment.

Mr. Luci was well known as a man who made town plans for the development of Pristina and a fierce opponent of illegal construction which has made the Kosovo capital ugly, particularly in the last year, although no one showed any interest in town planning in the previous 10 years either. According to the analyst Ylber Hysa, from the daily "Koha ditore", just a few hours before his murder, Mr.Luci spoke how numerous people had threatened to kill him for opposing illegal construction.

On the other hand, some witnesses reported that after killing him with at least six bullets, the murderer said to a man who happened to be near at that moment that "someone had been electrocuted" and continued slowly towards the exit where an escape vehicle was waiting. Veton Surroi, publisher of the "Koha ditore", said that Shefki Popova and Rexhep Luci were murdered because they differed both in their thoughts and deeds from their killers.

On the other hand, various circles warn of the possibility of a new cycle of violence being opened during the electoral campaign which started on September 13. The International Police, KFOR and OSCE have formed a group for the protection of electoral candidates, but, as Roland Bleis, spokesman for the OSCE said, that is very hard to carry out since there are usually no witnesses to the attack and "it is very difficult to determine which attack was politically motivated, and which not".

Be it as it may, it has been proven on several occasions that violence cannot be buried in Kosovo with the organisation of public manifestations, no matter how large they may be. What Kosovo needs is an efficient police force, because as things stand now, many candidates at the local elections will be forced to withdraw their nominations or will not be able to guarantee safe life to their voters when they are incapable of protecting themselves and ensuring the basic right to others - the right to life.

AIM Pristina

Rrahman PACARIZI