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Kosovo Must Choose Between Prosperity and Violence
by
Neeraj K Singh

Some days back I had an opportunity to travel in a helicopter. Flying over Kosovo, one is overwhelmed by the pristine beauty of the gently undulating meadows stretching into lush green hillocks – embellished with a sobering touch of light brown crops awaiting harvest, with a rich garnishing of lively red roof tiles – a vast expanse of grassland losing itself in the sharply emerging black mountains that embroider the fringes of this land. There is a certain demureness in the way the mountains seem to cling on to the last remnants of the melting snow, as if too shy to reveal their black rocky underbelly. Ensconced in its rocky cocoon in all its serenity, Kosovo can only be described as “God’s own country”. Certainly, the last thought that comes to mind amidst such environs, is VIOLENCE.

Once back on the streets of Kosovo though, one cannot escape the feeling that violence has become a cult with the people here. I have yet to understand what underlies this ironical juxtaposition of such a wondrous geography against such macabre history. For the people of Kosovo seeking an answer to that, it may be tempting to look outwards for extraneous origins of their problems. But part of the answer always lies within. It is ultimately for the people of Kosovo to decide whether they are to make their land an abode where peace and tranquillity prevail, or a haven for drug peddlers, gun-runners and the like. And there cannot be a more opportune moment to make that decision than this one. At this time when Kosovo has been so violently wrenched out of its past, it should not allow the past to become its future.

Unfortunately, that is precisely the way the people of Kosovo seem to be headed. Those they perceived as their predators have long since left the land. A heavy mass of the international community has descended here to help them re-build their world in an atmosphere of peace and order. Yet they hold on to their guns to protect themselves against some imagined enemies. They forget that those very guns would some day recoil on them with a ferocity that would once again uproot an oft-uprooted populace. They forget that violence has a way of coming back full circle, with today’s perpetrators becoming tomorrow’s victims. There can be no better witness to that maxim than the land of Kosovo.

On the 9th of July, a furnace burned on the outskirts of Obilic. As prominent representatives of society watched in solemn ecstasy, soldiers of the British KFOR poured 700 assorted firearms into the furnace. The weapons were then removed and put through a press to render them unusable as firearms. The people of Kosovo had joined the world in marking the ‘Small Arms Destruction Day’ sponsored by the UNDP. The symbolism of the event cannot be lost.

It was just last month, on the 4th of June, that the Weapons Amnesty announced by UNMIK Police and KFOR had ended. During the amnesty period that lasted a month, a massive information campaign was launched throughout Kosovo, prompting people to voluntarily surrender their arms and facilitating it through mobile weapons collection services by the UNMIK Police and KFOR. During this period, 524 rifles, 116 pistols, 142 support weapons, 30 anti-tank weapons, 25 missiles, 312 grenades and 14,377 rounds of ammunition were voluntarily surrendered.

Clearly, this was not enough and a good number of small arms continue to be illegally held by people across Kosovo. In view of this, despite the end of the Amnesty, UNMIK Police and KFOR have continued to appeal to the people to voluntarily surrender their weapons without fear of reprisal or legal action against them. Yet very few volunteer to give up that chimera of security that lurks in their wardrobes, waiting to kill or maim innocent victims.

In a two pronged approach to the problem, UNMIK Police has on the one hand been issuing appeals for surrender, and on the other, vigorously enforcing the law against weapons offenders through raids and seizures. In the one month following the expiry of the amnesty period, in 82 separate cases of seizures of illegal weapons, UNMIK Police has seized 414 various guns and rifles, 38 pistols, 3 anti-tank weapons, 1,014 rocket propelled grenades, 570 grenades and 28 anti-personnel mines, besides several thousand rounds of assorted ammunition. 63 persons were arrested for illegal possession of weapons during this period.

On June 14, UNMIK Police in Pec'/Pejë uncovered an attempt to smuggle a huge quantity of military weapons into Kosovo. The strategic location of Pec', wedged between Montenegro and Albania, renders it an easy transhipment point for goods smuggled between Albania and Montenegro. Regular movement of heavy vehicles on this route provides an easy mode to smuggle contrabands into Kosovo and the adjoining trouble spots in FYROM and Southern Serbia. The heavy loads make a thorough check of every vehicle an impracticable security option.

To counter this problem, UNMIK Police has been carrying out intensive patrolling in the region and random checks of vehicles at multiple points. It was during one such random check on this date, that a truck carrying a load of timber which had just entered Kosovo through the Kulina border post from Montenegro, was ordered to stop. The driver panicked and fled on foot leaving the truck. On close examination of the vehicle, UNMIK Police discovered a hidden compartment underneath the timber. Inside was a cache of weapons including 318 Kalashnikov AK-47 rifles, 605 AK-47 magazines, 1008 rocket propelled grenades and 512 hand grenades. Obviously, these were not defensive weapons; they were weapons of war that could only be used to destabilize Kosovo and the region.

What is more worrying are the repercussions when such weapons end up in the hands of the common people. More often than not they end up using those weapons against friends, neighbours or family members in a fit of rage or over petty disputes. A typical case is that of two neighbours in Pec' town who had an argument over a property dispute late in the evening of 7th July. Suddenly, one of them went to his house, took out a pistol, returned and shot the other in the stomach. That the offender had not pre-meditated such an act was obvious from the fact that he was so shocked and overcome by the gravity of his crime that he then tried to take his own life by shooting himself in the neck. Luckily for him, the bullet grazed the rear of his hand but did not kill him. He now faces serious criminal charges even as his neighbour fights for his life in Pristina Hospital.

Property disputes are essentially civil matters, which can well be settled through recourse to legal channels. In this case though, in a sudden rush of blood, it had turned into a major criminal offence that had endangered two lives. The primary reason is not hard to find. It is the ready availability of an illegally held weapon that promised its possessor an easy solution that never was. The only way to avoid such occurrences is for the people to voluntarily give up their illegally held weapons and put their trust in the law enforcing agencies. If firearms are to be used to settle petty neighbourhood squabbles, we still remain far from achieving a civil society in Kosovo.

Early in June, a family argument in Pristina escalated into a shooting as two brothers fired at each other with automatic weapons. It was fortunate that the only casualty was a sister who was hit in the hand. UNMIK Police arrested all the five individuals concerned. But they could well have ended up like the royal family of Nepal. In Gjakova, at 10pm on 2nd June, three masked men armed with AK-47 rifles attempted to rob a house. They ordered the family into the bedroom and two of them searched the house while the third watched from outside. The father of the family managed to slip out of the bedroom, retrieved his shotgun and fired at the gunman outside. In a flurry of automatic fire, the father fell dead as the robbers fired back at him. A shotgun against three automatic assault rifles – an indicator of how possession of a weapon can blur one’s sense of rationality and lead to foolhardy acts.

What the heads of families should consider is that if they subscribe to the gun culture, their children too will follow suit, spawning an entire new generation bred in the shadow of violence and impunity. Recent informal surveys conducted in Kosovo at the behest of the UNDP revealed that between 5 and 20 per cent of all students are armed at school. Between 25 and 50 per cent of the youth interviewed across Kosovo say they could personally and easily obtain a firearm within 24 hours. Grim portents for times to come.

Elsewhere in the world the continued availability of weapons in post-conflict situations has crippled economies and impoverished millions. It has been documented that small arms kill 2,00,000 to 3,00,000 people across the world every year and 80 per cent of the victims are women and children. In Latin America, where firearms are easily available and the rates of weapon-related death and injury are high, the costs have been estimated at 14% of GDP in terms of health and damage to person and property caused by illicit weapons.

International administrators and policemen are here today, will be gone tomorrow. It will not be long before Kosovo will cease to be the favourite focus for international diplomacy. Soon new points of conflict will emerge in other parts of the world. Israel is again emerging as a hot spot. Violence is simmering in parts of Africa and the Far East. On the other hand, Milosevic’s extradition to the Hague has paved the way to soothe international frenzy over the Balkans. As the United Nations is compelled to reallocate its scarce resources to other problem areas, Kosovo will gradually fade as a priority. The people of Kosovo have to think beyond that, of creating a safe environment that is conducive to sustainable development. As Secretary General Kofi Annan said, there is a need for “breaking the vicious cycle of deprivation and conflict, and replacing it with a virtuous cycle of development and peace.”