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02/21/2008
Kosovo
[Posted Feb. 18]
On Sunday evening, Kosovo declared its independence. It was
back in 1990 that Serbia dissolved Kosovo’s autonomous
assembly and Yugoslavia sent in troops to impose control. Over
the next two years, however, separatists in Kosovo, which is 90%
ethnic-Albanian, built a rival state, with Ibrahim Rugova (the
fellow who wore the ascot, if memory serves me right), elected
president in 1992.
Over the next six years, the separatist Kosovo Liberation Army
emerged, claiming responsibility for various attacks as it seized
land. Clashes between the KLA and Serb forces escalated,
resulting in 78 days of NATO airstrikes, commencing March 24,
1999, against Serbia and its leader Slobodan Milosevic. On June
10, 1999, Milosevic agreed to withdraw troops from Kosovo,
NATO moved in, and Kosovo became a UN protectorate.
10,000 died in the civil war. Then in February 2002, Rugova
becomes Kosovo’s first elected president and a parliament and
government are established.
Since then, the U.S. and most members of the European Union
have been forging a path to independence, which has been
vehemently opposed by Serbia, which still considers Kosovo to
be part of it. Serbia’s ally, Russia, has also been a vocal critic.
Of the 2 million in Kosovo, about 120,000 ethnic-Serbs remain
in two enclaves, north along the Serbian border and a small one
in the south next to Macedonia. The government in Belgrade has
long maintained the Serbs would be driven out of Kosovo by the
Albanians, but at the same time Belgrade wanted them to stay as
proof of Serbia’s right to the province.
Russia’s fear is that Kosovo’s move will lead to further inroads
by separatist movements inside Russia, but at the same time the
Kremlin lends its support to two in Georgia; Abkhazia and South
Ossetia. President Putin probably wouldn’t mind sticking it to
pro-West Georgia in one form or another.
And within the European Union, while the U.K., France,
Germany and Italy are among those lending their support to
Kosovo; Spain, Romania, Cyprus and Greece are withholding
theirs as they worry about the signal sent to various separatist
movements they may have to deal with.
Similarly, Asia and Australia are split, with Taiwan and Australia
supporting Kosovar independence, and Indonesia and China
opposing.
Currently, NATO has 16,000 troops in Kosovo and the EU has
agreed to send another 2,000 police and justice officials to
oversee Kosovo’s transition to full independence.
But with Russia and China against independence and both having
the veto in the UN Security Council, the debate is heating up
quickly. Will violence break out all over again?
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Various remarks
President George W. Bush:
“The United States will continue to work with our allies to do the
very best we can to make sure there’s no violence. On Kosovo,
our position is that its status must be resolved in order for the
Balkans to be stable.”
U.K. Foreign Secretary David Miliband:
“(Europe) will help the western Balkans close two decades of
violence and conflict and strife and open a period, whatever the
strains and the stresses and difficulties, of security and stability.”
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner:
“It’s not the victory of one over the other, it’s not the victory of
the peace, the victory of good sense and certainly the victory of
Kosovars over the Serbs, it’s the victory of the two populations.”
Statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry:
“On February 17, Kosovo’s Provisional Institutions of Self-
Government declared a unilateral proclamation of independence
of the province, thus violating the sovereignty of the Republic of
Serbia, the Charter of the United Nations, UNSCR 1244, the
principles of the Helsinki Final Act, Kosovo’s Constitutional
Framework and the high-level Contact Group accords. Russia
fully supports the reaction of the Serbian leadership to the events
in Kosovo and its just demands to restore the territorial integrity
of the country.
“We expect the UN Mission in Kosovo and NATO-led Kosovo
Force will take immediate action to fulfill their mandates as
authorized by the Security Council, including voiding the
decisions of Pristina’s self-governing institutions and adopting
severe administrative measures against them. Russia calls for the
immediate convocation of an emergency UN Security Council
meeting to examine the situation and take resolute and effective
measures for a return to the political settlement process in
accordance with the provisions of UNSCR 1244.
“It is impossible not to be aware that the decisions by the Kosovo
leadership create the risk of an escalation of tension and inter-
ethnic violence in the province and of new conflict in the
Balkans. The international community should respond
responsibly to this challenge. Those who are considering
supporting separatism should understand what dangerous
consequences their actions threaten to have for world order,
international stability and the authority of the UN Security
Council’s decisions that took decades to build.”
A senior Georgian member of parliament and the ruling party:
“Our position will be absolutely restrained and we should rule
out any recognition of Kosovo. We should work intensively to
prevent use of Kosovo precedent in respect of Georgia.”
Self-proclaimed Abkhazia leader Sergey Baghapsh:
“Kosovo recognition will become a new precedent in the world
and Abkhazia will apply to Russia and other international
organizations to recognize Abkhazia by considering Kosovo
precedent. We’ll have new initiatives, new ideas, we have our
hands free.”
South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity:
“South Ossetia will in the near future appeal to the UN with a
request to recognize our independence.”
China’s Foreign Ministry:
“China expresses its deep concern about Kosovo’s unilateral
declaration of independence. All along China has deemed
negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo to reach a mutually
acceptable plan as the best way to resolve the Kosovo problem.”
[Financial Times, BBC News, Georgian Times, South China
Morning Post]
Hot Spots will return Feb. 28.
Brian Trumbore
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