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Will Kosovo's independence be an anti-climax?
Written by: Nina Brenjo
A Kosovo Albanian crosses a road in the capital Pristina, Feb 2, 2007.Ahtisaari hands over his plan for the future of the breakaway Serbian province on Friday in Belgrade and Pristina. REUTERS/Hazir Reka (SERBIA)
"(Nearly) eight years after NATO ended Serbia's brutal dominion over the province, the international community is about to impose a solution. Too bad it's the wrong one", says Timothy William Waters, who helped prepare the indictment of ex-Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic for war crimes in Kosovo, writing in the International Herald Tribune. Waters' commentary is one of many that sprang up in the world media after U.N. special envoy Martti Athisaari presented the plan for Kosovo's future to both Serbs and Albanians in the province on Friday. But Waters is the odd one out among most other opinions, since he's one of very few voices suggesting the partition of Kosovo, a solution ruled out long ago by the international community. But what's so wrong with the partition, Waters asks. After all, Kosovo's independence is a form of partition from Serbia, but no one in the international community is questioning that at all. The international community's "all-Kosovo fixation" has only spelled trouble and what we now have is "complex power-sharing schemes to accommodate two mistrustful populations", the author says. Too bad, when separating the Serb-populated north and attaching it to Serbia could actually solve Serbia's resistance to the secession of Kosovo and give Kosovo Albanians long-awaited independence sooner, he argues. In the end, partition has its risks, but if borders "fail to ensure security or promote welfare, they should be changed. That's why we favoured separating Kosovo from Serbia in the first place", Waters concludes. Another writer with a slightly different take on the issue of Kosovo derides the Western media for predicting the "all hell (will) break loose in the Balkans" scenario as a consequence of Kosovo's gradual independence. Tihomir Lozo, writing for Internet magazine Transitions Online says it's crazy to predict that Kosovars will "freak out" because independence isn't even mentioned in Athisaari's proposal. "Kosovo Albanians are not wild political animals who fly into raging fits every time they are denied immediate gratification of their desires," he writes. Besides, they know that all they need to do now is be patient in order to get what they're striving towards. But surely Serbia wouldn't give up Kosovo without fight? The chance of Serbia mustering support for military action in Kosovo is "precisely zero", Lozo says. The democratic parties, which when counted together were the real winners of the recent Serbian elections, have explicitly ruled out military intervention. And what about Bosnia? Another media myth, in the eyes of Lozo. Republika Srpska Prime Minister Milorad Dodik effectively confirmed this when he threatened to use force against anyone looking to exploit the likely dissatisfaction with Athisaari's proposal. The rest of the media mainly applaud the proposal to grant Kosovo supervised independence. "All along it's been obvious what the permanent solution must be: the recognition of Kosovo as an independent nation, with protections for its Serb minority," says the Washington Post. Whether this can be achieved without any protests, both from Serbia and its ally Russia, is another question, says the paper. "Resolution of the Kosovo question is grossly overdue," says Britain's Daily Telegraph. "Above all, the Kosovo Albanians... deserve the right to self-determination." Kosovo's ambiguous status for the past eight years has left it with a weak economy and high unemployment, argues Soren Jessen-Petersen, former special representative of the U.N. secretary general in Kosovo, writing in the International Herald Tribune. And the sooner Serbia gives up Kosovo, the sooner it will be able to tackle its own economic and other problems, Jessen-Petersen concludes. Some media outlets are a bit less hawkish. Athisaari's proposal is right, but Serbia needs to be dealt with carefully, they say. Britain's Economist suggests dangling the carrot of EU membership in front of Serbia as consolation for losing the province that is finally coming out of a state of "suspended animation". The EU door must be left open for Serbia, Britain's Financial Times agrees, adding that a certain amount of aid to Kosovo Serbs wouldn't go amiss. So, all-around cheers and support for Kosovo's eventual independence in the world media. But how will independence really affect the Kosovo Albanians who have been working towards that goal for so long? "Indeed, Kosovars may find independence...to be an anti-climactic experience", says TK Vogels, Balkans editor for Transitions Online, writing on openDemocracy.net. It certainly won't solve their everyday problems, such as economy dependent on remittances. "But if Martti Ahtisaari's report...secures the acceptance of the international community, they can look forward to at least one day of celebration", concludes Vogel. "After that, and in the face of the ambivalence or indifference of much of the rest of the world, and the enduring opposition of the Serbs, it will be reality-time."
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9 responses to “Will Kosovo's independence be an anti-climax?”
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06 Feb 2007 19:49:21 GMT
Partition of Kosovo would be a dangerous move. One should understand that Kosovo itself is not partitioning from Serbia, because Kosovo always had it's border. Kosovo and Serbia like six other republics and province of Vojvodina had an equal status in former Yugoslavia, and they could vetoed any decission that wouldn't be in their interest. Finally, International community clearly stated that Kosovo cannot be partioned, nor can join another country.
08 Feb 2007 13:43:00 GMT
KOsovo is part of serbia more than 900 years ,it is the place where serbia has born.Kosovo with borders has not egist before WWII and before WWII there was many more serbs then albanians.After WWII serbs slowly besame to leave kosovo because there was alway silent preaashure on them from albanians who didnt want to live with serbs,so in 50 years they grow from 35-40% to 90%.No one is mentionig 250 000 people who flee to serbia in 99 and after 8 years UN have frogot them.More than 2000 serbs have been killed since 99 and no one is mentionig that.My father went 99 to pristina to bring my grand father and grandmother to our home in central serbia ,but he never come in pristina and never came home only because his plates on our car were from central serbia.Kosovo and Vojvodina have never have same status in Yugoslavia like other republic because they were not republic ,they were in serbia and serbia was republic,a part of YU.
12 Feb 2007 13:35:59 GMT
"Kosovo Albanians are not wild political animals who fly into raging fits every time they are denied immediate gratification of their desires,"
I guess that explains this week's Albanian anti-UN plan riots in Priština, right?14 Feb 2007 09:36:55 GMT
"KOS" is the Serbian name for "blackbird". "Kosovo" means "of the blackbird", and refers to "the field of the blackbird" in Serbian, "kosovo polje". "Kosova", as the Albanians refer to the Province, means nothing in Albanian. Serbs have lived in this area since about the 6th Century. In 1159 Nemanya was proclaimed Grand Zhupan, or King of Serbia. The architecture was said to have surpassed that of Byzantium. In 1389 the Serbian forces were defeated by the Ottoman Turks, and in 1459 Serbia vanished from the map of Europe. Serbs who did not accept Islam were exiled to the north, and Albanians started moving in. In 1804 the Serbs rebelled against the Muslim Turks, and eventually reestablished their State. Fought on the side of England, France and USA in two world wars. For them, Kosovo is sacred land soaked in Serbian blood. Their national consciousness and Christian religion were preserved during five centuries of Turkish dominion by memory of Kosovo and the legends it inspired. One needs to understand the ethos of a people, before allowing oneself to judge them. I am not Serb nor Albanian, yet I understand them both, and hope and pray that Wisdom may seize all involved parties, especially the Machiavellian so-called "Great" Powers.
19 Jun 2007 10:21:36 GMT
Serbia is the Spearhead of a Slavic Aggression that Slowly but Surely Trend to Move toward the West.
14 Jul 2007 21:12:45 GMT
Why do Serbians want so much to have kosovo under them? Yet a free referendum was held in Montenegro and it was peaceful, what happens if the same thing is held in Kosovo? Serbians will never accept it. I don't understand why every Serbian has the same idea of Milloschevic??? Although i'm sure exist somewhere in Serbia some intelectuals that recognises that an indipendet Kosovo will make all the region safer and all our Balkan countries will have an open road towards the EU. Regarding the historical facts (which I'm sure Albanian historians describe quite contrary), what about the fact that in Kosovo live 90% Albanians that want to have an indipendent democracy? this would joy also the 10% of serbs and other minorities.
17 Jul 2007 09:29:52 GMT
Itâs about time to recognize the historical right of Kosova to have its destiny fulfilled-That is full independence. Kosova never was a Serbian province. It was there, since the times of birth of European civilization, a very distinct Dardanian/ Illyrian identity. Always populated by Dardanias who, although under constant pressure of forcefully migration by Tito's Yugoslavia & Milloshevic's Serbia, still make up 92% of the population. Serbs always have been a minority there. We know that Serbs appeared in Balkans (then Illyria) only by the 6th Century AD. They have always been a minority and 'the story' of Kosova being the heartland of Serbia is just a pure Serbian nationalist fantasy. Facts Speak Louder Than Words and Serbianâs Lies Will Collapse by Themselves. Serbs always have been considered as oppressors there, not just by Albanian majority, but also by other ethnic groups to. Serbs just occupied Kosova during the rise of the Serbian nationalism early 20th cent. from Ottomans who by then were loosing the Balkans after 500 years of occupation. Now Kosova should be Free!
28 Jan 2008 14:15:14 GMT
honestly why shouldent kosova be free why should the serbs have power over kosova when they came in and killed inicont people for no good reason i was in that war myself and i was just 10 years old many family meber were killed and for what all couse serbia wanted more power?or more land?it makes no sense to deny freedom to kosova it should be free and independent as soon as possible
05 Mar 2008 10:27:12 GMT
"Fools rush in, where angels fear to tread." The latest Balkan fools are the United States and the European Union, which have rushed in to recognize what Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica rightly calls the "fake state of Kosovo." Why is it a fake state? Because there are no Kosovars, only Serbs and Albanians. The action of the U.S. and the E.U. in stripping Serbia of Serbs' historic homeland is both a crime and a blunder. It is a crime, first, because no one, not even the U.N., has a legal right to dismember a sovereign state, and second, because the narrative used to justify the illegal action is a lie. The stated justification is that the Serbs, under Slobodan Milosevic, were ethnically cleansing Kosovo of Albanians. As German courts have established, there was no ethnic cleansing of Albanians in Kosovo.
The Genocide word continues to be used against the Serbs. Compiled research data indicates that within the year to year and a half of Kosovo fighting before the NATO bombing, there were about 2,000 fatalities out of the province's 2 million population. About 500 of the 2,000 casualties were Serbs, who at the time were said to make up 10% of the population. Per capita wise, Serbs suffered considerably more. A good number of the Albanian casualties included those who showed a willingness to work within the existing government framework.