VIOLENCE AS DESTINY

AIM Pristina, 18 October, 1997

A combination of circumstances is emerging in Kosovo which is simultaneously increasing hope and fear concerning the future developments. In the contradictory effects of these, conditionally speaking, new circumstances, it seems that expectations which cause concern among the majority of people of this region are increasingly prevailing. It still cannot be said that Kosovo is on the road of no return, but fear due to possible acceleration in that direction appears to be very justified. Increased massive Serb repression, continuation of a series of unclarified attacks on Serb police stations in different parts of Kosovo, new public protests, a new wave of trials... These are just a few of the phenomena apparent on the surface of developments.

The extremely unfavourable situation in Serbia and Montenegro adds to the negative course of developments in Kosovo, as well as the unstable relations between the two federal units. The generally accepted view in Pristina is that Kosovo will be the last bulwark of Serbia in defence from possible serious internal clashes. Kosovo is full of weapons and armed men in various uniforms, and without uniforms, and for a long time it is boiling beneath the surface due to numberless interethnic and intraethnic confrontations. It is therefore very easy to light the fuse, although some people believe that a slow-burning fuse has been smouldering since quite a while.

In relation to the developments in the past year and a half, the novelty is public protests of Albanian students and resoluteness to continue with them. About a year and a half ago, for the first time in Kosovo, the phenomenon was registered of synchronized armed conflicts taking place simultaneously in a few places, which have not been clarified to this day. The combination of these two phenomena make Kosovo an exceptionally volatile region.

The main organizing committee of the students' protest decided to continue the protest on 29 October. It seems that foreign diplomats demanded and were given another fortnight to resolve the problem of education, or at least for a new beginning in seeking a solution. Since there is not a single question in Kosovo which is not political, and education can least of all be that, it is expected that a last-minute solution will be sought. No matter how the problem of normalization of education in Albanian will be opened, separately or as a part of the whole, it is clear to everybody that it will mean opening of the whole dossier on Kosovo. This does not suit Belgrade at all, and that is why the blockade is so firm, the declarations addressed to the Albanians harsh and threatening because they are persisting in demands to get more than the Serbs believe is sufficient for them.

Public protests of the Albanians, especially massive participation which nobody could have expected, destroyed persuasiveness of Serbian policy. Belgrade cannot convince anyone any more that the Albanians, even though unwillingly and despite "pressure of separatist groups", accept life within Serbia. Public protests of the Albanians in the political sense, both for the Serbs and the Albanians, return the clock back to the situation of seven years ago. The leadership which is at the head of the political movement of Kosovo Albanians without interruption since then is also faced with this problem. Quite a few Albanians consider this a period of years lost in vain.

In the past few weeks, attacks on local Serb police stations have become more frequent. Since February 1996, when sumultaneously certain facilities which accommodated Serb refugees were attacked, everything is still wrapped in a shroud of secrecy. That is why this significant political phenomenon has become a part of the propaganda war between the Serb and the Albanian truth.

In the Serb public and in Serb political circles there is no dilemma about perpetrators of these attacks. According to them, they are Albanian separatists and terrorists. However, disapproval and political condemnation, it is believed, do not exceed the limits of an intentional psychological, propaganda war against the Albanians. Based on the most recent activities of the so-called police expeditions in the triangle Djakovica - Pec - Klina, it can be concluded that repression in the form of collective punishment of the Albanians is probably reintroduced, which was characteristic for the end of 1992 and the first half of 1993. Hundreds of inhabitants of seven villages in these municipalities were exposed to brutal torture with the pretext of searching for perpetrators who committed, as stated in the official statement of the ministry of the interior of Serbia, attacks on police stations in Klicina and Calopek. The result of these developments is murdered 25-year old Adrian Krasniqi, and the police suspect that he "acted" in a group with at least another two persons. Cameras of state Serbian television made shots of the body of young Krasniqi dressed in a combat uniform with a bomb in his hand, surrounded by various automatic rifles, German marks and Albanian lekas. The police assume that "after the terrorist attack" Krasniqi had planned to emigrate to neighbouring Albania. On the other hand, due to blocked roads towards Pec and Djakovica and complete isolation of these villages, Albanian sources do not have full information what was and still is happening over there. In political lobbies in Pristina, however, the death of Adrian Krasniqi is assessed as another staged murder. "How is it possible that a person who had planned to run away after this act, decided to do it with a burden of 20 to 30 kilograms of weapons", is the question which will probably remain unanswered. These circles are inclined to think that Krasniqi was killed somewhere else and that his body was moved to the place where it was the most convenient - in front of the building of the police station in Klincina. By the way, the name of this 25-year old is on a list with another 20 Kosovo Albanians against whom an indictment was issued in July this year charging them for terrorism and inimical activities, and who are to be put on trial in the end of this month.

Although Serbian authorities have tried before, it seems that they have not been able to present convincing evidence that the Albanians were perpetratotrs of these armed conflicts. None of the attackers were caught alive in action, nor has any weapon used in the attacks been presented as authentic court evidence. Three Albanians were killed in the beginning of the year on the road between Vucutrn and Pristina and they were also proclaimed to be terrorists. The fourth, arrested Albanian died in jail due to police torture, and then also proclaimed to be a terrorist who had "committed suicide". A trial also with the indictment for terrorism a few years ago was a failure and the indicted was released of charges. This summer at the trial to the so-called "Srb group" with the same indictment, despite the pronounced maximum sentence, apart from extorted confession, Serbian authorities have not presenmted a single piece of material evidence. Serbian authorities have very unconvincingly tried to establish a connection between some of the murders of Albanian young men with secret armed attacks. But this was pushed aside probably not unintentionally.

On the Albanian side, the attitude to armed actions is more complex. In the public and in the Albanian political structures prevails the opinion that regardless of who are actual perpetrators or who accepts the responsibility, Serb secret services are in the background of these attacks. It is claimed that the main motive is the wish of the regime in Belgrade to have tensions in reserve at all times as a valve for intra-Serb struggle for power. Of course, it is added, the attacks are simultaneously used for different forms of repression and intimidation of the Albanains, as well as for their negative presentation to the world.

The Albanians say that they have sufficient reason for doubts, because as they state, in the far and the near past, they have learnt that the Serbs have made up or attributed many action to the Albanians. The public here still remembers very well Serb official statements of a few years ago which spoke of armed attacks of the Albanians, "separatists and terrorists" on police patrols, and that not a single separatist or terrorist has ever been caught. In the latest statement of the Democratic Alliance of Kosovo these suspicions are corroborated by the conclusion that in several ten attacks with automatic weapons, bombs, explosive devices, and even mortars, nobody was either been killed or wounded, and the damage was just material. Parts of the Albanian public and some political structures do not eliminate the possibility that the Albanians are actual organizers and perpetrators of these attacks, starting from the assumption that they have powerful motives to resort to the extreme means in the attempt to have their aspirations met.

Dilemma concerning this issue makes the stand of the Albanian diaspora even more complex. The impression is that conviction prevails there that the so-called Liberation Army of Kosovo (OVK) actually exists and collecting of aid for its needs is greatly advertised. Some activists of the Albanian movement active abroad as of several months ago have started declaring that they believe that the OVK exists.

The OVK has issued about 30 statements since February 1996 assuming responsibility for armed conflicts in Kosovo. Statements are sent by fax mostly to newspaper editors in Pristina and to some abroad, which additionally stirs suspicion about their source. However, regardless of whether the OVK exists, it has acquired a significant role in the developments in Kosovo. As an extremist armed Albanian secret organization or as a cat's paw of Serbian secret services, and even maybe others, it has fitted in the mosaic of general Kosovo confusion and uncertainty with significant influence on directions of development of the situation, disposition and atmosphere in general. And in the situation of uninterrupted tension and threat such as in Kosovo, this is not negligible.

For 27 October, Serbian authorities announced the beginning of the trial to a group of about 20 Albanains arrested in the beginning of the year. They are indicted for having committed several terrorist attacks in the past years as members of the Liberation Army of Kosovo. This will be the first trial to members of the OVK. However, according to knowledge of defenders of the indicted, there are no chances for the court to help clarification of the mentioned dilemma. The lawyers claim that this trial was also fabricated based on extorted admissions.

Slight hopes mentioned in the beginning of this text are linked to the announced German-American or Euro-American initiative on Kosovo. In a few days (21 or 22 October) in Pristina, arrival of American envoy for former Yugoslavia Robert Gelbard is expected, and that of a high German diplomat who has already visited this part of the Balkans a few weeks ago. Regardless of whether they are bringing along a diplomatic proposal, the Albanians are not ready any more like before to rejoice with no foundation. But, it seems that it is true that hope is the last to die.

AIM Pristina

Fehim Rexhepi