Kosova: A Balkan Tinderbox

 

“Kosova: A Balkan Tinderbox”

by John Fund, Editorial Page Writer of the Wall Street Journal
(Prepared specially for this book)

No one who reads about Kosova can fail to be troubled by the human rights abuses he learns are taking place there. The two million Albanians in Kosova live in what may be called the largest jail left in Eastern Europe. All the other nations in the region have won their freedom or have good prospects of doing so. But what is left of Yugoslavia, including the Serbian-occupied region of Kosova, is still in the grip of a thuggish dictatorship run by Slobodan Milosevic. The Serbs run Kosova as if it were a natural colony, even though 90% of its inhabitants are ethnic Albanians.

Adem Demaci, a writer and dissident who spent 28 years in Serbian jails, is an eloquent spokesman for Kosova. Last year, he won the Andrei Sakharov international human rights award. He says the world should grieve over the tragic deaths in Croatia and Bosnia, but should also not forget Kosova, a simmering crisis in danger of coming to a fast boil. “Along with the Bosnians and the Croats, Kosovans have never asked for anything more than basic human rights and self- determination,” he says. “Instead we have only gotten the deaths of our mothers and children.”

Serbia’s policy toward Kosova has always been overbearing. Since the region had its autonomy and local government rescinded in 1990, Serbian policy has turned brutal. Some 100,000 Albanians out of a work force of 240,000 have been fired or had their places of work closed. Last year, the authorities dismissed 6,000 Albanian teachers in Kosova who refused to give up teaching of the Albanian language. In turn, over 400,000 students boycotted classes and attended private schools set up by the unemployed teachers with donations.

Since Kosova was virtually occupied by the Serbian army in 1990, Albanian monuments have been torn down, streets have received Serbian names and the local culture and language have been suppressed. The media has been taken over by Serbian officials. The majority of ethnic Albanians in the media have been fired. Take the case of Rifat Rexhepi from the publication.

“Bujku.” He was arrested in November 1991 while covering a peaceful demonstration and taken to a local police station. There he was beaten badly, and thrown out on the streets after being told he no longer had a job.

The confrontation between Kosovans and Serbian troops occupying their region is becoming ever more tense as the fighting in Bosnia and Herzegovina spreads. The Serbs are cracking down more with each passing day. “No matter what kind of government will come in Belgrade, Serbian policy towards Kosova remains the same,” says Adem Demaci. “Simply, they don’t want us to be free.” Even Serbian opposition leaders, such as Vuk Draskovic, take a tough, uncompromising line on the need to occupy Kosova.

But there is some room for hope. The recent wars against Croatia and Bosnia have shown the world that the government in Belgrade is run by people who are little more than pirates. The Serbian people are fmally waking up to the fact that much of what they read and see on TV is only government propaganda. A Serbia weakened by international sanctions may have to make concessions to its internal minorities in order to be accepted again into the family of nations. The Albanians in Kosova stand ready to compromise. “This war we don’t view as a war between the Serbs and Albanians,” says Demaci. “This war is not against the people, but against the dictator Milosevic. We are ready to show the Serbians who will remain in Kosova in the future that the only things we want is to be free and to live in peace.”

Let us hope that the lamp of freedom that has been carried to so many countries around the world recently will finally shine on Kosova.