War - In Whose Interest?

AIM Pristina, March 7, 2001

Villages deserted by their inhabitants are the first "results" of the appearance on the scene of the "National Liberation Army" as armed groups of the Albanians which operate in the village of Tanusevci in Macedonia call themselves. The other result of their "liberating" activity is transformation of the Albanians from "victims" that they were until just recently into the "destabilising elements" in the region who are risking to be isolated by the international community. They probably did feel isolated in this first week of March when one day Kosovo wakened with its border crossings towards Macedonia, the main arteries of movement of the people and goods, closed. Three Macedonian soldiers killed in Tanusevci, two of them in the explosion of a mine, and the third by a bullet shot by a sniper, "cast a shadow on the process of normalisation in the Balkans", it was stressed by high representatives of the international community in Kosovo. Hundreds of soldiers, mostly American, from the ranks of KFOR peace forces, have been deployed along the border with Macedonia in the operation of preventing escalation and spreading of violence within the borders of Kosovo. Military representatives who had until March 3 tried to turn a blind eye to the allegations on the existence of Albanian armed forces in Tanusevci are nowadays shouting at the top of their voices that they have seen persons in black uniforms who operate on the territory of Macedonia. In order to prove that and their commitment against these groups, the international NATO peacemakers arrested a few persons with radio stations and binoculars.

The condemnation of the killing of Macedonian soldiers arrived immediately and it was very sharp. This time Western diplomacy was very similar in its evaluations with the Eastern one. While American State Department, NATO, OSCE condemned the killing marking it as an act of extremists, official Moscow hurried to draw a parallel between Kosovo and Chechnya. Russian general Vladimir Putin said that "Kosovo, like Chechnya, remains a country where extremist groups are gaining in strength and which have aspirations to act outside their borders". Official Sofia offered soldiers to Macedonia, and many international organisations declared that they would justify every military action of Macedonia in protection of its territorial integrity.

Diplomatic rhetoric has probably been the sharpest since the fall of former Yugoslav president indicted of war crimes, Slobodan Milosevic. Representatives of the international community made it clear that such extremist actions in Tanusevci cause damage not just to the Albanians in Macedonia, but to the Albanians in the whole region. The greatest burden rests on Kosovo, of course. Although international peacemakers declared that "they have not seen armed Albanians crossing from Kosovo into Macedonia", all the eyes are turned towards Kosovo. Very fragile security situation, high rate of murder and unexplained crimes, existence of great ethnic and political hatred, turned Kosovo into the main target of accusations as a "cradle of extremism". Some say that Kosovo is gradually turning into a "Balkan pothouse" which drunkards are going in and out of leaving unpaid bills behind which somebody certainly has to pay.

However, some observers believe that responsibility is partly shared by those who have (with or without voters' support) taken the destiny of the nation into their hands. This time, when the situation is more than serious, political leaders of Kosovo Albanians are repeating the customary condemnation of violence and extremism, appealing for a peaceful and political solution. Their appeals (indeed unconvincing) are sometimes addressed to “abstract centres”. None of them states whether they have information on the existence of what pompously calls itself (although from the dark and the fog of Tanusevci) National Liberation Army. The developments in Tanusevci are already turning into a deadly asteroid which is threatening to hit the whole of Kosovo, and consequently the publicly stated objectives of their leaders that it becomes independent, local commentators claim. Nevertheless, local leaders stated that “Macedonia should have a moderate approach and the whole issue should be transferred to the political track”. They criticised the Macedonian state for closing the border, estimating this act more like a propagandistic blowing up of the problem more than really necessary. The only sharp words referred to their disapproval to the establishment of the five-kilometre security zone between Kosovo and Macedonia, on the territory of Kosovo.

Despite everything, condemnation was inevitable. Official Tirana openly declared itself against the “extremists” and Pristina could not act differently. Tetovo, the third centre of Albanian decision-making (as the Albanians like to say) split into two factions. For ones, the Liberation Army is a group of criminals, and for the others they are a group of citizens frustrated by the policy of Macedonian government. However, the rhetoric of “legitimate demands of Albanian inhabitants” this time cannot be heard for the noise of gun and mortar fire in Tanusevci. For the world, territorial integrity of Macedonia is threatened there and it has the right to defend it. In other words, this implies an approval for the Macedonian army to settle the matter by force. Therefore, this time the Albanians may come out “both barefoot and ashamed”. For the second time Skopje is becoming the place from where the foundations of Kosovo “transition” are shaken. Just a few days before shooting of firearms shook the fragile peace around their borders, representatives of countries of South-Eastern Europe gathered at the Summit in Skopje, had reproached Kosovo for the high level of violence, and the Albanians were unanimously proclaimed the destabilising factor in the region. Whether what was and still is happening in Tanusevac is another proof for this allegation, wonder local observers for whom everything that is happening in Tanusevac is covered with a thick veil of fog like the village itself. The analysts who like to think of themselves as “independent” persist in the stand that they “cannot afford the luxury to go deep to the heart of this problem”. Other observers, however, claim that it is also a luxury to be silent while the war is encircling Kosovo again and that its isolation is not any more just a “scarecrow” made to intimidate it.

In any case, severe damage has been inflicted to the process of stabilisation of Kosovo, and “Kalachnyikov” machineguns have become the synonym for the groups which are responsible for crimes and “local” wars for often very vague interests except for their leaders. On the other hand, hundreds of refugees are wandering around Kosovo villages without a single valid explanation why they are not in their homes. They appear as if they do not dare speak or ask about their destiny, and it seems that the weary citizens of Kosovo also lack courage, they are fed up of wars and graves and monuments to new heroes decorated with Russian “Kalashnyikov” machineguns ...

AIM Pristina

Besnik BALA