DANGEROUS VALVE OF THE BOILING POT OF KOSOVO

Liberation Army of Kosovo

AIM Pristina, 17 December, 1997

The latest developments in Kosovo threaten to escalate into open conflicts between the Albanians and the Serb state. The conflict in the vicinity of Srbica late last month and the appearance in public of the members of self-proclaimed Liberation Army of Kosovo (OVK) have become the central topic in this space. The concern of the international community is enormous, especially of European diplomatic circles which fear that escalation of the conflict in Kosovo would lead to new great problems with refugees and asylum seekers. Foreign journalists and analysts are redirecting their activities in haste to the OVK and they are persistently seeking out every detail about them, but despite publicly stated clear objectives and stands, the OVK is still concealed by a veil of mystery. In the meantime much has changed since the time of the so-called Srbica conflict. The OVK has become an unpredictable factor which is above the situation, because practically nobody knows how great its force and military potential is, nor what are its intentions in the near future. By stating a clear stand that it will not recognize any negotiations and conferences on Kosovo held without a representative of the OVK have caused doubt among many Albanians that the announced elections will actually be held, because it is impossible to eliminate the possibility of OVK initiating a series of actions in the foreseeable future which will direct the political situation in a completely different direction. The other significant stand is the appeal to Albanian emigration to redirect its money allocated for financing the Albanian movement towards the OVK. These stands have introduced additional confusion on the Albanian political scene, in which the Democratic Alliance of Kosovo (DSK) was so far the axis of the struggle for the national cause. Now, seven years after the Albanian referendum many expect that with its methods for accomplishing goals, the OVK should take over the role of the centre of the Albanian movement.

Therefore, after this shift, it is not expected that Rugova will organize the elections in a situation unfavourable for him. The Albanian public has also taken a stand towards it and majority of Kosovo Albanians are not doubting the existence of the OVK any more. The crucial fact is the appearance of three members of the OVK at the funeral of the killed Albanian. Only one member of the mentioned organization was masked, and the other two were unmasked, so it is unbelievable that nobody of about 20 thousand people present have not recognized them. Adem Demaqi, president of the Parliamentary Party of Kosovo, addressed an appeal to the OVK, via media, to abstain from actions in the next three months. On the other hand, leader of Kosovo Albanians, Ibrahim Rugova is considerably reserved and still sceptic when OVK is concerned. In the meantime, there are speculations who could be in the background of the organization of the OVK. In the Albanian press contradictory articles have appeared about a "well-known man from Switzerland" who left this region a few years ago, and who is connected with the problem of exposing of one of the earlier organizations.

There are also guesses that it has something to do with the government of Kosovo in exile, headed by Bujar Bukoshi, and that its main intention is destruction of Rugova's peacemaking policy, which according to the opinion of certain political, but also non-political circles, was not fruitful, not being an "active struggle" for independent Kosovo. In any case, appearance of members of OVK at the funeral, and if certain articles in domestic but also in foreign press are to be believed, open inquiries of the young Albanians interested to join this organization, speaks for itself in favour of the opinions that the valve on the boiling pressure pot in Kosovo has been opened.

Generations of young Albanians from villages and suburbs have nothing to lose and why not join the OVK and set out to liberate Kosovo?! However, at the mentioned funeral and on other occasions there has been no public "recruiting", which can be explained by conspiratory nature of the organization. In any case, the region around Srbica has been proclaimed "liberated territory" where the Serbian state and police have no power. Those who consider themselves well-informed claim that "the unit in Srbica has 100 long guns and that it is supplied, among other, by heavy arms". Rumour goes that a helicopter was shot down, and that the number of victims on both sides is much larger, but that it is concealed for certain reasons.

Among the Albanians, there is just a minor number of sceptics grouped around the DSK who are still linking the OVK to the Serbian police and state. Before developments in Srbica, the reason they stated for this was that by organizing a fictitious OVK the Serbian regime was trying to present Rugova and the DSK as hypocritical, and their advocating of a peaceful solution of the problems as feigned. With its alleged choice of the aggressive method, the Albanian movement would lose support of western countries which reject terrorism as a method for attaining political objectives.

The additional reason for suspicion is found in observing the development of the OVK from its appearance to this day. Sceptics claim that intensified activities of the OVK coincide with the needs of Slobodan Milosevic in the sense of diverting attention from acute problems in Serbia to Kosovo and the actions of OVK. In this sense, they stress the attempt on the life of the head of the University in Pristina, Radivoje Papovic, which happened at the time of last year's winter protests in Belgrade and other cities of Serbia. They also state that actions of OVK coincided with the elections in Serbia. Synchronized attacks on police stations, with no victims, took place just before the recent presidential and in Kosovo much more important parliamentary elections. This allegedly offered a perfect opportunity for the then candidate Zoran Lilic and Kosovo Socialists to reinforce their position at pre-election gatherings by resolute support to "uncompromising elimination of Albanian separatism" which is so brutal. The conflict in Srbica could in this sense be observed as preparation for Milutinovic's appearance in Kosovo and as a negative response to the French-German initiative. The existence and actions of OVK such as it is, offered Serbia a larger manoeuvring space in international policy, especially towards countries of the European Union which wish to get rid of the asylum seekers as soon as possible. From the aspect of this larger manoeuvring space one could also explain the departure of the Serbian delegation from the Bonn meeting devoted to implementation of the Dayton accords, the conclusions of which mentioned the issue of Kosovo through the obligation to respect human rights. Comparatively luke warn reaction of the German reaction is also conspicuous, probably also because of the problem of asylum seekers.

According to Kosovo Albanians, the choice of victims is also indicative. They are mostly the few Albanians who openly collaborate with the Serbian state, but which the Serbs do not think highly of anyway. For them, the head of the Universty of Pristina Radivoje Papovic is a minor personage and an unimportant political figure "unworthy" of assassination. The choice of the method chosen for the attempt on his life is also controversial. If somebody had wished to get rid of Papovic, it could have been done with less uproar and risk for the citizens. And as the last reason for incredulity, the fact is underlined that statements of the OVK about its actions are often made through Dnevni telegraf which is here considered to be a media of state security service.

However, sceptics and their theory have hardly any explanation for the developments in Srbica, so that part of the political public mostly refused to comment and analyse them. If one tried to logically follow the line of their sceptic theory, one would have to reach the conclusion that a well organized group of the Albanians collaborate with the Serbian police probably based on compensation. Although this sounds hardly probable, they remind (although not in the media and very quietly) that interests of certain Albanians and their "business deals" are in a strange way connected with the Serbian state. It is possible to hear from these same circles that Serbia is in fact trying to get rid of as large number of the Albanians as possible at the expense of western countries. Despite the signed agreement with Germany on return of asylum seekers, the number of those who are emigrating to that country is increasing. This "burden" of the relations with Germany is increasing, and in the official data it has increased from 120 thousand at the moment of the agreement to the present 140 thousand. The same goes for other westermn countries. The asylum seekers who return to Kosovo have only one goal - to leave again.

To leave to the west has become the dream of the majority of young Albanians. Allegedly, an organized network of channels is assisting them to achieve this goal, leading to certain western countries where jobs or the status of asylum seekers awaits them, but whether intentionally or not, the Serbian state plays a significant role in it - because it is necessary to supply them with passports, airplane tickets, etc. And all that for a few thousand German marks. These circles are concerned also for the brain drain of the ethnic Albanian people in the context of assimilation in western countries and loss of interest for the problems in Kosovo and degrading of the nation. It is often stressed that Kosovo Albanians have after the Second World War crossed the road from an illiterate nation to a nation with the largest number of university diplomas, master's and doctor's degrees per capita in Europe. Nowadays, however, the very best are leaving, and those who remain have no chance to acquire high-quality knowledge at faculties and show what they have learnt in pracice, because this is warranted only by jobs which imply loyalty to the state. This, primarily refers to lawyers, judges, economists, physicians, engineers and similar. The loss of the best cadre, it is often explained and written, is weakening the entire "national project".

In the history of Kosovo Albanians there have often been minor military formations which introduced "law and order" on their territory. In every critical situation in Kosovo after the Second World War, apart from the "main stream" project, there have existed minor conspiratory groups with radical objectives and methods. It is difficult to deny the fact that there have been no radical groups in the past seven years, despite the primacy of Ibrahim Rugova and his peace-making program.

However, the appearance of the OVK is essentially different, because contrary to earlier groups, it still is not personified in a personality of a leader of the rebellion. The difference is that earlier rebellions in Kosovo had the form of a chain reaction and quickly reached maximum intensity, which cannot be claimed about the OVK whose activities remind of Irish or Basque radical groups. The appeal for re-allocation of financial resources by the Albanian emigration is contradictory with the allegation that they are well organized and equipped and as such were illegally brought to Kosovo. Such an operation must have an exceptionally well-organized logistic support, which demands big material resources. In this sense, certain individuals link the appearance of the OVK with dark circles of big arms merchants who are quite an independent force from the peaceful international policy and who have their own ways for making a profit in crisis-stricken regions. The well-informed claim, that the current claimant to the throne in Albania Leka Zogu belongs to this circle, who is a known arms merchant stationed in the South African Republic and who allegedly controls a large number of mercenaries (about 20 thousand).

Apart from credulity or incredulity in the existence of OVK and its background, it is the harsh truth that majority of the Albanians have favourably reacted to "confirmation" of its existence. Energy accumulated for years through living in disharmony with the state and expectation of national "el dorado" is seeking a way out. One can do nothing but hope that the accumulated energy will find certain less dangerous valves than the one opened by the Liberation Army of Kosovo.

AIM Pristina

Slavisa MARIC