AVOIDING MEDIATORS

OSCE between "Serbian" and "Albanian" Elections in Kosovo

AIM Belgrade, 4 May, 1997

When in the beginning of this year, OSCE Chairman Nils Helveg Petersen, Danish foreign Minister, nominated Max Van Der Stoel to be his personal envoy for Kosovo, it was stated that "the situation in Kosovo should be profoundly studied, and especially prospects for reduction of tensions in the region, in order to avoid breaking out of a conflict". He is also expected to assess possibilities for establishing a constructive dialogue between representatives of FRY and Kosovo Albanians.

Reactions varied. The so-called government of Kosovo in exile immediately declared itself against nomination of Van Der Stoel, stressing that Kosovo Albanians were not and would not be an ethnic minority "regardless of wishes of Belgrade and some members of the OSCE". The stand of the "government in exile" is to refuse contacts with Van Der Stoel while he is at the post of high commissioner for ethnic minorities because Kosovo Albanians declared themselves in favour of independence. After that the president of the Parliamentary Party of Kosovo, Adem Demaci, addressed a letter to the personal envoy of the OSCE Chairman for Kosovo in which he said that Kosovo Albanians could not accept stands and recommendations of this organization because they were treated as an ethnic minority and because of the stance of the OSCE that Kosovo was an internal problem of Serbia which could be solved by establishment of its autonomy.

Yugoslav diplomacy did not react favourably either, although this was an opportunity for it, first by offering hospitality to the High Commissioner for ethnic minorities, to break the ice in a roundabout way in normalization of relations with OSCE, and then, after the negative reaction of some of the Albanian leaders, to lay the blame for obstruction of political talks and refusal of good offices (that is the image of the "bad guys") on Kosovo Albanians. Instead, OSCE representative was denied a visa, they retained the image of the "bad guys", and Kosovo Albanians were offered a chance to defend their fundamentally hard-core separatist course on the basis of failures of Serbian diplomacy.

Ibrahim Rugova used the diplomatic move of the Yugoslav party, it seems by drawing a lesson from the experience of Tudjman's tactics "sign everything, and obey only what you have to", by his consequent statement. At first he assessed that criticism and reservations concerning nomination of Van Der Stoel for OSCE envoy for Kosovo by the Albanian leaders were exaggerated, and then even stressed the significance of the future mission of the High Commissioner for ethnic minorities. In this way, on the international scene, he retained the image of a reasonable and moderate politician ready for a dialogue on the one hand, and on the other, he gave a lecture to his political opponents on relations with the international public, without jeopardizing his consistence in the struggle for independent Kosovo - since due to the Serbian party, High Commissioner for ethnic minorities will not come, so the autonomy will not even be discussed.

In mid April, however, the question of the personal envoy for Kosovo was open once again. OSCE Chairman, Nils Petersen, in his address to the Permanent Council, stated concerning the problem of Kosovo, that he had recommended foreign minister Milutinovic to cooperate with Van Der Stoel, but that "unfortunately, nothing more had been done concerning this initiative".

This means that no move has been made yet from the Yugoslav side, despite the fact that international circumstances and stands of the "international community", or rather of its most powerful members, speak in favour of the official stand of FRY. After the economic and political chaos in neighbouring Albania, objectively speaking, the negotiating position of Kosovo Albanians has weakened especially concerning extremist demands for union with Albania, and after cessation of street demonstrations of students and citizens in Belgrade and most of the cities in Serbia, political circumstances in Serbia have been consolidated and, finally, allergic reactions of Kosovo Albanians to proposals from the world to resolve the issue of Kosovo within borders of FRY through autonomy or some kind of a special status offer a big manoeuvring space to Yugoslav diplomacy to transfer responsibility on the other party and in this way alleviate its position on the international level.

Although the so-called internationalization through OSCE and by mediation of the third party in a dialogue would in fact mean support to resolution of the Kosovo problem within FRY, the repulsive attitude of the ruling Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) is not quite illogical, as it might seem at first sight. In the pre-election year this party and its coalition partner, the Yugoslav United Left (JUL) superimpose state interest to the interest of their parties, taking it for granted that they will again collect mandates from Kosovo by means of the expected boycott by Kosovo Albanians (in 1996 federal elections, out of 13 mandates from Kosovo in the Chamber of Citizens, the ruling party won 12, and the Serb Radical Party of Vojislav Seselj won one). Except for getting the mandates from Kosovo - by imposing "patriotism" as the central issue of the election campaign, the "left coalition" wishes to neutralize its main rival, Together coalition, and on that platform to raise its rating among Serbian voters.

On the other hand, the Parliamentary Party of Kosovo of Adem Demaci demands from Rugova to oppose pressures exerted by the international community which is trying to impose on the Albanians an "unjust solution of the Kosovo issue". Independent Union of Albanian Students from Pristina addressed a letter of protest to Ibrahim Rugova demanding nullification of the Agreement on education (signed in September 1996 by Rugova and Milosevic) and "constitution of the parliament of the Republic of Kosovo in order to create a basis for scheduling presidential, parliamentary and local elections".

As the results, or perhaps better to say immediate cause of these "internal pressures", persisting on the independence of Kosovo as a joint platform of Kosovo Albanians has been announced. President of the DSK Ibrahim Rugova announces that he will continue to work in favour of independence of Kosovo, "regardless of declarations of foreign officials who for the time being do not support this option". He also announces that the Albanians will vote in "their own" elections, and not the "Serbian" ones. Seeking legitimacy for scheduling elections, he organized a meeting of the Coordinating Board of the Albanian political parties in Kosovo in order to discuss scheduling of presidential and parliamentary elections. Pursuant the "Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo", the elections may be scheduled only by the parliament which has not been constituted to this day, so Rugova needs a consensus of the parties for it.

By their hard-core separatist stand and once again announced boycott of the "Serbian elections", Kosovo Albanians are provoking "Serbian patriotism" and once again giving their mandates to the ruling SPS as a gift without a struggle, and on the other hand, with its hard-core stand, the ruling party feeds and justifies separatist ambitions of Kosovo Albanians. And all that at the expense of the citizens of Kosovo, but also of the entire FR Yugoslavia, who are for who knows how many times before, treated merely as an electorate. Engagement of the OSCE will probably be left for some time in the future.

Zoran Lutovac