International Supervision of Kosovo Ending in Fall

Ironweaver

After four years of supervised independence, the International Steering Group for Kosovo has decided to grant Kosovar authorities full sovereignity.

Ever since the end of the war in Kosovo in 1999, Kosovo, a separatist ethnic Albanian province of Serbia, was under international administration. Guided by the plan of UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari, Kosovo declared independence in 2008, with limited international recognition, spearheaded by the United States. Its right to independence is denied by Serbia.

Since 1999, 200 000 Serbian, Gypsy and other non-Albanian refugees have left Kosovo after series of pogroms orchestrated by the Kosovar Albanians, led by members of the KLA, a violent resisitance group accused of war crimes, weapon, drug and organ trade that was on the CIA list of terrorist groups until 1998, which high-ranking members currently form the Kosovar government. At this point, most of Kosovo is purely Albanian, with Serbs and other non-Albanians being constantly harassed, excluding four municipalities in the northern part of Kosovo bordering with Serbia, as well as several enclaves, where a total of 140 000 Serbs and other non-Albanians live in anarchic communities walled off by barbed wires, refusing to accept the authority of Kosovar institutions. Since last year, the Kosovar government has made several attempts to subjugate those areas, supported by the KFOR NATO military mission, each of them ending up repulsed by the local populace and, to a certain extent, held back by international authorities.

Now that the Interational Steering Group, led by the US and Turkey, has decided to grant full soverignity to Kosovo and advised them to "establish the rule of law in those areas", which will, undoubtedly, lead to those campaigns being repeated in even larger force. Even though Serbia is currently forming a moderately nationalist government, it has yet expressed unwillingness to stray from the peacenik approach and give up on negotiations.

Could this lead to another campaign of ethnic cleansing in the Balkans, or even another war?

CountryPumpkin

So are you one of those dudes who thinks that it was the fault of the KLA that the Kosovo War happened and not, y'know, the Yugoslav government trying to oust non-Serbs from the Kosovo region? The KLA was a terrorist group, yes, but by that same measure the Yugoslav government is also a terrorist group (and the Serbian government, by that measure, is also populated by terrorists, though many have been persecuted by the ICC). I agree that preventing the exodus of various minorities from the Kosovo area is something to be taken into account and something that needs to be addressed, but at the same time the entire reason Kosovo declared independence was to ensure that ethnic Albanians in Serbia would not be mistreated in the exact same way you outline.

Your blatant assumption that the government of Kosovo is going to continue with ethnic cleansing campaigns that have largely ended already is pretty insulting. It's also insulting to say that the negotiations occurring with Serbia - the ones meant to ensure that both parties live in relative peace - are "peacenik." Because, y'know, the alternative of crushing the population of Kosovo/Serbia is so much more appealing. I do agree that it's probably too soon to end the UN peacekeeping mission there, but only because it helps stymie tensions between the parties and has so far helped prevent any Russian or US meddling in the area. Neither party is truly in the right in this situation, so I find it frankly insulting for you to imply that it is purely Kosovar aggression that causes continued stress in the former Yugoslav reason.

Ironweaver

Easy there chum, don't jump to any conclusions.

I am definitely aware that the KLA didn't start a guerrilla campaign just because they thought it would be fun, and that Kosovo didn't declare independence just like that, without any reason. But still, their reason for doing that is way more complicated than the usual "Serbs wanted to kill everybody because they are evil like that" tripe - I'll probably make one of those long rambling posts on the subject. I didn't mention it because I was sure that most of you are vaguely aware of the war and what led to it - I focused on the bad things that are going on right now, but still get minimal attention by the media.

You are probably right that the Kosovar government wouldn't launch an ethnic cleansing campaign. In truth, I am more afraid of a mob pogrom similar to the one in March 2004. I don't have any reason for optimism, since violence against non-Albanians is still a fairly regular occurence but largely ignored. And don't think that I am calling for a war here - Serbia is in no position to wage a war and, no matter how successful it would be, a new war in Kosovo would still end up hurting Serbia way more than anything else. "Peacenik" doesn't have to automatically hold negative connotations, y'know? And even though I agree that neither side is fully in the right, considering how much Serbia's hands are tied at the moment, I'd say that most of the responsibility for what is happening and what will happen lies on the Kosovar government. With independence comes responsibility, and they will have to accept that burden. All in all, Kosovar Albanians have faced a lot during the past century, and deserve to secede from Serbia and, if they want, even merge with Albania. Serbs will have to face reality and understand that Kosovo is lost. At the same time, Albanians have to realize that history doesn't give them an excuse to bully minorities and that Serbs in the north do not wish to accept their rule. The only solution that can lead to long-time stability is partition. What do you think, what should be done to solve the crisis?

lrdgck

I read that as "ending in Fail".