26 October 2002

CONTENTS


Government as responsibility and obligation (Zëri)

Zëri carries an editorial by Blerim Shala who contrasts the three democratic elections in Kosovo. According to Shala, voting in Kosovo today is the easiest part of the process, as it should be, and the problems come after 26 October, when those elected realize that Kosovar citizens have lost their patience with those who consider governing a privilege and a business. Governing, above all, is responsibility and obligation, he says.

When the first elections were held in Kosovo in October 2000, the voting seemed more important than the election of local government. Thus for UNMIK and Kosovars voting day was more important than post-election process, constitution and functioning of local government. Maybe this was one of the reasons why forming the government lasted for months and not weeks.

In second elections, except that campaign and election day were followed with avid attention here and everywhere in the West, it was supposed that major problems would be distinguished by new relations between the new Kosovo central government and UNMIK. It was realised that Kosovo was entering a new phase of establishment of real partnership between internationals and locals.

Now, on the day of the third Kosovo elections, it seems that we have reached a level when campaign and voting are the easiest part of the process, as it should be. The main problems will appear only after Sunday, 27 October, when the election results will be known.

Government in democracy is above all responsibility, bond, and obligation and not a privilege and possibility for doing business. This is becoming more and more obvious to us. And Kosovar citizens are losing patience. So they are expecting tangible results from the local government in the next four years.

Serbs to vote only in five municipalities? (Zëri)

Zëri reports that while the OSCE mission in Kosovo was making the final preparations for opening polling stations in Kosovo, the representatives of the Serb minority announced that there would only be selective participation, that is, only in the municipalities where Serbs are in the majority.

Zëri also reports that in the meantime, official Belgrade has called on Serb representatives to call upon the members of the Serb minority in Kosovo to show up at all polling stations where they have been registered. "Participation in the elections is the message of the Serbian government," Serbian Deputy PM Nebojsa Covic told Kosovo Serbs in Gracanica on Thursday evening.

"Nonetheless, there is a certain ambiguity surrounding Serb participation in the elections, because of the fact that Serb leaders have decided to vote in only five municipalities," Zëri reports.

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If you don't participate in elections, there will be no decentralization, Steiner tells Serbs (Zëri)

Zëri reports that UNMIK chief Michael Steiner visited Mitrovica on Friday and sent a message through a local radio station, Contact plus, calling on Serbs in northern Mitrovica to participate in the elections. Steiner then crossed the main bridge and had coffee with Albanian journalists. Among other things, he was cited as saying, "It is interesting that there are still some almost crazy leaders who don't realize that things have changed to another direction."

"People…are tired of this situation. What they need is the courage to believe in Kosovo institutions. I don't know if you heard some leaders mentioning the word boycott first, then they asked for selective participation in municipalities inhabited mainly by Serbs, while on Thursday they said vote wherever you are," he said.

Steiner was also cited as saying that we have managed to change things without any open or secret agreement, as was done last year.

He said Serbs are worried about their situation, but it depends from which angle you look at these concerns. "Therefore, I have said that Serbs can certainly talk about decentralization, but not with Belgrade but with local leaders in Kosovo. If Serbs participate in 26 October local elections, then there will be a conference on decentralization in Gjilan. This is why they must be a part of the election process," he said.

Steiner also said that "if we compare the situation in Kosovo with the situation in neighboring countries, I think that people here are not ten but twenty years behind. Since the Berlin Wall went down, Hungary got closer to the European Union, but things here in the Balkans have gone backwards due to Slobodan Milosevic's regime".

Steiner said that it was in the interest of all citizens to look toward the future and move ahead. Steiner said he didn't go to the north to get the votes of the leaders, since "they must decide themselves". "I don't want the leaders to give me their votes, but the people should decide on participation in elections; and if the Serbs don't take part in the elections, there will be no decentralization in Kosovo," he said.

Steiner: Kosovo's partition leads automatically to civil war (all dailies)

All dailies carry an interview that SRSG Michael Steiner gave to the German daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, in which he warned about the dangers that could derive from the partition of Kosovo.

"A territorial partition within Kosovo would automatically lead to civil war. Therefore, it is neither doable nor acceptable to solve interethnic problems through territorial solutions, because a partition of any part of Kosovo, where the international community has been deployed since 1999, would lead toward the building of a monoethnic society," Michael Steiner was quoted as saying.

He said that it was impossible to build a multiethnic society against the will of the people of Kosovo. He also said that cases such as the one when Albanians attacked KFOR and UNMIK Police troops that were escorting a group of Serbs [pensioners in Pec/Peja] are very specific and very rare.

Steiner also said that members of the Serb minority should think about the consequences of boycotting the elections. "It is their right not to participate in the elections. However, many things will happen in Kosovo in the coming years, and Serbs should think a lot about whether or not they want to give up their right to future decision-making. The call of some political leaders of Kosovo Serbs that Serbs should vote only in municipalities where they are a majority is contradictory because the same Serb politicians are heard making the same request that Kosovo Serb IDPs should return to their homes as soon as possible. Other issues such as the aims and plan for the decentralization of political structures at the municipal level cannot be addressed with Belgrade as a representative of minor groups but only in cooperation with the institutions," he added.

Steiner refuted Serb claims that there was insufficient security at the polling stations, as even during last year's general elections, there were no incidents. The stance of KFOR and UNMIK is as following: 'Anyone can feel safe to show up at the polling stations'.

This is not shared in the latest report of Alvaro Gil-Robles, the commissioner for human rights at the Council of Europe. Among other things, the report says that Serb returnees who are outside of Serb enclaves still need protection from KFOR and that it is impossible for these refugees to move about without escort or protection. Steiner said there are only two or three areas that match the assessment of the report. "Most KFOR checkpoints have been removed. The situation has improved," he says.

Steiner also disagreed that the protests held last summer following the arrest or indictment of former KLA members were an early warning that Albanians would sooner or later change their position regarding the engagement of the international community. Steiner said that his most popular goal was the motto that no one is above the law.

Asked whether or not he would still take that position after The Hague tribunal raises indictments against possible Albanian perpetrators, Steiner was quoted as saying, "This depends on whether or not there is clear proof. It could happen that there will be demonstrations; however, in the end, people will accept this."

Steiner said he didn't know when the engagement of the international community would come to an end, and also added that after September 11 the time for solving the status issue is closer. Earlier the international community thought that it would take generations. The turning of attention elsewhere implies that the interest of the international community could move at a completely different tempo. In this respect, Steiner mentioned the agreement under EU mediation for forming the state of Serbia and Montenegro, which foresees the possibility of a referendum after three years. "This is a limitation that Kosovar Albanians know very well," Steiner was cited as saying.

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Matoshi: We want work and they offer us fairy tales (Zëri Weekly)

Zëri Weekly carried a commentary by editor-in-chief Halil Matoshi who comments on one of Kosovo's biggest problems, unemployment, and the manner in which it was treated during the electoral campaign. Matoshi wrote:

We are becoming a melting pot and everything tastes the same in this nonsense of an electoral campaign, but we are forgetting that these blokes are going to govern us for the next four years. We have to raise our consciences because four years is a very long time for us! We have to vote for good municipal government or Kosovo will lose four years of hope.

Kosovo is on the verge of social riot and not one politician can cheat the people anymore by saying "don't start a strike" because Kosovo's final status still hasn't been resolved and organizing strikes is a shame!? Still, no one has offered a solution for unemployment in Kosovo. This means that Kosovo is on the verge of social riot. With 57% unemployed and 11% of the citizens living in poverty, and more than 60% of pensioners without dignified pensions, Kosovo is a place on the verge of social chaos that not only can endanger social peace, which the current government doesn't have the money to buy, can endanger the democratic institutions and even come into conflict with the protectorate…Kosovo is voting for the second time in free and democratic elections for a municipal government with a very bitter experience, a syndrome of alarming corruption among some governmental officials. We do not have a single mechanism to stop those that were elected from stealing our money, our land, and the future of our children, but we have our vote and with it we can threaten our elected representatives that our 'marriage' can be broken at any moment.

The vote this is the key that opens the doors of the citizen to enter the government. It is time that Kosovo citizens demanded something for themselves and their children. I believe that we have given enough for forming of the state of Kosovo. When speaking about local government, Kosovo citizens must realize that they are not voting for a very important issue, but they are voting for a bureaucracy and administration that can steal, impoverish, leave them hungry and defraud them. But it can do something good, for example, open new jobs. But how? Not a single political party during the campaign gave one idea of how to find new jobs for their potential voters, though all of them made promises of "new jobs".

Kosovo is going through rough times. The privatization process has started, which can destroy us totally. To vote is not only a civic duty of the citizen of the state but also a very big responsibility toward other citizens, because if the vote goes to the ones that aren't working to form the state, to a corrupt and incompetent government, then that vote is criminalized.

Vote for whomever you chose; however, you won't be the only one feeling the consequences. We want to work, they offer us fairy tales of the porcupine "for the flourishing of our socialist state" with sunflowers, with computers, with…

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SRSG Michael Steiner: I will attend to the status of Kosovo (Java-Weekly)

Java Weekly carries Dardan Gashi's interview with SRSG Michael Steiner, in which Steiner says, "As long as I'm in charge - disintegration of Kosovo will not occur, and adding that the train has gone for Kosovo to return of the time of Milosevic.

Herr Steiner, the dominant opinion in Prishtina is that the European Union is interested to tying up Kosovo with Serbia once again. What is your point of view on this?
This is a philosophy that exists in the coffee shops, while the provisional institutions of government in Kosovo and the citizens have accepted my platform - which I have also delivered to the Security Council of the United Nations - in which the main purpose and priority is to fulfill the provisions of UN Resolution 1244. But the first thing is to reinforce substantial self-administration in Kosovo. We cannot create something that hasn't got a pillar to be supported by. The concrete things must first be fulfilled, and then we can talk about the formalities.

What does this mean practically?
First of all, the standards must be fulfilled and then the discussion of the status comes. The security situation must first be fixed, a functioning justice system, the serious war against organized crime and a vital economy. This is what every citizen demands here. Like everywhere else in the world, Kosovans also need security, employment, and a future perspective to look forward to.

Does your mission mandate also include attending to the matter of Kosovo's status?
Yes, I have the mandate and I will attend to this matter. The Security of Council has the last word on this matter. With a precondition that there should be a dialogue between Prishtina and Belgrade, but without giving Belgrade the right of the veto. Every smart person knows that it shouldn't be decided by status quo ante. Kosovo can't be governing from abroad after this. Furthermore, disintegration and canonization will not occur - at least not as long as I am in this duty mission. What we need today is a multiethnic society in Kosovo with functional institutions. But as long as the society doesn't know the meaning of respect towards one another, as long as there is not enough security, as long as organized crime isn't strangled, as long as institutions don't function as they are suppose to function, then it is useless to talk about the status in writing.

In this condition, Kosovo will never get partners around the world. Therefore, the duty that started in 1999 will continue. Let's not forget that things have changed since the September 11 and this is a fact of importance. Until that incident, the most dominant opinion was that we still had time - at least for some generations - to finish the job. Today this theory doesn't hold. The Kosovo matter has changed dramatically and isn't the most important priority anymore. Also, the perspectives of the times have changed. My biggest concern is: how will we keep UN interest in solving the remaining issues so that one day the status of Kosovo can be resolved.

However, the fear exists that the status solution could be in Belgrade's favor. It is believed that western sympathy for Belgrade has returned after the changes in Serbia.
Of course, Belgrade has changed; Milosevic doesn't rule there anymore. Naturally, the west appreciates this fact and has a different attitude than it used to have. Serbia is even more democratic than it used to be, and this is appreciated and welcomed. There is no reason to have fear that just because Belgrade is without Milosevic, Kosovo must then return to the previous situation. That train has departed the station.

In your every day work duties, you have to cooperate with at least three different groups: the Albanians, the Serbs, and the United Nations. Are you satisfied with this cooperation?
It is true that I have to find ways to work with all three of them to keep the UN committed to cooperate with the Albanians, the Serbian deputies and with the government in Belgrade. However, you are forgetting the most important point, and that the most important partner and ally is the citizens of Kosovo. We aren't here to satisfy the interest of the parties in government; we are here for the interests of the population that we are working for. For instance it is highly important that the citizens support the platform, "zero tolerance" against crime. Naturally, when we arrest a Serb who has committed a crime, the Serbs raise and protest, this goes also for the Albanians when we arrest an Albanian who has committed a crime. But people generally support this policy.

How content are you with the work of the Kosovo Government?
This government has started from scratch. Naturally, it is still halting along the way. It is not yet as efficient as I would want it to be. But in these circumstances, the work of the government shouldn't be criticized. Generally, there has been lots of work done these last years. There are still some "check-points" in the enclave areas, but they are few, and we have also managed to recruit a multiethnic police force in the minority zones. If you visit Kosovo, you can hear different languages spoken in the streets - even Serbian. This wasn't possible some time ago. This leads us to the status: we will attend to this matter, but the better part of the politicians and the population, for that matter, know that it isn't preferable that the status matter should be opened before fulfilling the demands. And these demands will be fulfilled sooner than one can imagine.

The American role: Today Washington is more committed in the Middle East and the in the war against terrorism. Will the Europeans be able to maintain calm in the Balkans if America withdraws?
In the beginning of the conflict, the Europeans had a different view of things, they were more indifferent and thought that the problems in the Balkans would be solved among themselves. It has been proved that only together can issues like this one be solved, united, America and Europe. Exactly in Kosovo it has been proven that the best concept is - "together we go in, together we leave". America is irreplaceable for Kosovans. I will insist that the American presence - military and civilian -continues their mission in Kosovo until the end.

You have strongly commented on the role of America in the ICC. Will this stance reflect on relationships within UNMIK and KFOR?
Even with excellent cooperation with the US, the view of the US towards the ICC makes me want to value the issue differently, because I was brought up that way and I have different experience. However, this doesn't change the fact that Kosovo has another judicial system and that this matter isn't applicable. I don't believe that this matter - even though it is a global issue - will reflect on Kosovo.

One of your main duties at UNMIK is the fight against organized crime. What are the successes in this? How far have you come?
To stop organized crimes one needs technique and human power. We, for example, have difficulties with the language. Our police force may be as good as they are, but it is hard to fight something when the structures cannot be penetrated. Nevertheless, we have evident successes. We have managed to confiscate millions of cigarettes that were brought into the country illegally. Then we have the special group, Guardia di Finanza, which is ready to intervene quickly. Immediate successes are hard to reach but at the same time I think it is wrong to say that Kosovo suffers from organized crime, when Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Kosovo, all of these places suffer from the phenomenon.

The biggest internationals - that goes on under our noses - are the criminal groups. They don't have ethnic issues and they don't have any problem of moving in and out of the borders. For this reason, we have reached some specific agreements with Albania, Macedonia and Serbia. Coming up is also such an agreement to be signed between Montenegro and Kosovo.

There are complaints from Macedonia that the arms, troops and political support are coming from Kosovo, the main forces that wants to destabilize Macedonia.
There isn't any relevant political force that would either, directly or indirectly, interfere in this business, or would have such an interest. The same is true for Albania, too. It is a common interest for both Kosovo and Albania - this has nothing to do with a "Greater Albania" -such a phenomenon should be stopped in advance. It is true, however, that there are some who are involved in this, but that is a small margin. KFOR forces have made some arrests and we will continue to intensify the cooperation between police units of Kosovo, Albania and Macedonia. The Government of Kosovo fully support this policy.

You have also worked in other parts of the Balkans. What is your view of the future of this region?
The common component of all of the states and regions of the Balkans is that they all want to be a part of Europe. From Croatia to Albania. We must consider this wish. This gives us alternatives to quiet down the nationalistic spirit, a process that is developing with unusual steps. It won't happen that everyone will enter as a block. They are not islands that are forgotten; they indeed have neighbors and they shall not be ignored. Many issues can in fact be resolved together, for example, electricity problems or freedom of movement.

It is therefore very important to cooperate together financially because they are all small states and they need one another. When we have convinced the people that theyy have nothing more to fear, that it is safe and they aren't going to lose their self-government; only when they are fearless only can they sit down and begin a dialogue in the region. People's manners aren't motivated by hate, but by fear. When we can offer security and economic prospects, then we can talk about the vision of the Balkans heading towards Europe.

Would you have the courage to say that the risk of a new war developing in the Balkans is over?
It is, if we end this mission. Otherwise, we will come to the stage where Afghanistan is. However, since the decision was made to intervene here, it is not permitted to leave the mission early - otherwise, only ruins from the intervention will be left. Therefore, there is no risk, if we complete the mission to the end.

What does it mean to finish the job till the end?
There are distinctions. In Kosovo, the reason for the conflict hasn't been eliminated yet, therefore, the status issue. This issue has to be resolved with the internationals that are currently here in Kosovo. When that is resolved, then the European Union will take over with a bigger role to operate the prospect for integration into the EU. This is a long way off. When we have eliminated the main problems, then the number armed forces and civilians will decrease dramatically.
The mechanisms will more and more be handed over to the EU. But for the time being we are here and are going to stay for some time.

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Bates: Final status - now! (Koha Ditore)

Koha Ditore carries a commentary by Scott Bates, former head of the National Democratic Institute office in Kosovo, who claims that it is time for Belgrade officials to face reality and for Kosovars to unite. Bates wrote:

I remember recent days in Prishtina, when some of my international friends told me that it was not the right time to hold talks on Kosovo's final status. "They are not ready for democracy," they said. "The political situation in Serbia might escalate. Maybe within ten years we will keep things stable," they said. Well, I tell them they are wrong. Now is the time for negotiations on the final status.

There is a short timeline to start negotiations on the final status, a time when the decision-making factors should sit around the same table. Negotiations on the final status require the involvement of all parties, Kosovars, Belgrade, internationals, who would look into numerous proposals, discuss the proposals they dislike and then reach a compromise. All parties will be under careful supervision. There will be political pressure from all sides. It is not a good idea to have negotiations on the final status during the election campaign, since opposition parties don't wish to look 'weak' by making compromises in the negotiations.

First, Kosovo elections should end in October and there will be an election rest until summer of 2004. During this period, Kosovar politicians will be able to start serious negotiations without fearing accusations from rival political parties that they are weak toward Belgrade because they are discussing the alternatives for final status.

Second, Belgrade should be over and done with its elections by the end of the year. Most intellectuals say that there is more chance of Labus entering negotiations on Kosovo's final status. However, I have a different opinion. It should be a person such as Kostunica, with the reputation of a nationalist, to make the first step toward negotiations on final status.

Let me remind you that the point when we were the closest to peace in the Middle East was the 'peace of the brave' between Arafat and General Rabin. Kostunica doesn't have to prove to Serbs that he is a nationalist and thus he is in a position to take the risk of negotiating the final status.

One might ask why Kostunica would want to take such a risk? To make the first step toward integration in Europe. If you take a look at the map of Europe and see which countries have remained outside NATO and EU expansion, you will see that it is the corner of the Balkans. Kostunica must face the fact that if Serbia doesn't join European integrations, it will remain in poverty and he will lose power.

Surely the key to all this rests in the hands of the international community. The west should act with courage and decisiveness and make it clear to Serbia that it cannot joint Euro-Atlantic integrations until negotiations on the final status begin.

I tell my international friends who say that we can wait before making this decision that they are terribly wrong. Kosovo's economy will never truly develop unless international corporations start making investments in Kosovo. Who will invest in a country with an undetermined status? In the west, we cannot cease our assistance for Kosovo. Late justice is justice denied. Kosovars cannot and will not wait eternally for their future to start.

Now is the time for action. Starting from January, an 18-month period (without elections) is ahead of us. It is in the interest of all Kosovars, Belgrade officials and internationals to start negotiations on the final status. In this respect, it is time for the internationals to get out of the coffee bars, gather force and launch initiatives. It is time for Belgrade officials to face reality. And it is time for all Kosovars to unite.

Mesic: Kosovo's future will first of all be determined by its citizens (Zëri)

The Zëri weekly published the following interview with Croatian President Stipe Mesic.

You are one of the few politicians from Croatia and the former Social Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRJ) to have remained faithful to your political principles. Even at the most critical time for Croatia, when you were the victims of the Yugoslav Army and Serbia, you mentioned Kosovo and said that it should be a constituting part of a political agreement, even though at that time very few people were concerned about the issue of Kosovo. What were the reactions of politicians when you raised the issue of Kosovo?
At that time, I thought that preserving the political status of Kosovo and Vojvodina would imply the further existence of Yugoslavia, because according to the SFRJ Constitution of 1974, the republics and autonomous provinces were constituting parts of the federation. However, this fact was ignored by the world and Yugoslav politicians, and there were very few political analysts who realized that Yugoslavia would be dissolved if Kosovo lost its autonomy.

A hypothetical question: If the leader of the SFRJ, but also the west, had reacted properly toward the violence in Kosovo and the forceful abrogation of its status, would that have ended a war, which brought countless victims and the political and military involvement of the west?
I think it is quite difficult to say what would have happened, but I think that Europe, the world, as well as the political leadership of SFRJ, in fact yielded before Milosevic. They couldn't understand that Slobodan Milosevic's success in abrogating Kosovo and Vojvodina's autonomies encouraged his criminal plans, specifically his military plans, which later on couldn't be stopped.

The Hague Peace Conference, which aimed to stop the war in the former Yugoslavia and launch the process for a political agreement, was held in September 1991. How come the issue of Kosovo was completely ignored? Was this a consequence of the agreement of western officials to bring Slobodan Milosevic to the conference?
It is true that the issue of Kosovo was completely ignored at The Hague Peace Conference in order to calm down Milosevic. It is known that problems are not solved by ignoring them or by putting them under the carpet.

When the head of The Hague Conference asked you, who was at that time head of the SFRJ Chairmanship, to respond to some very important questions regarding the dissolution of SFRJ, you were the only politician to call on the 1974 Constitution and to emphasize that Kosovo should have the same rights as other federal units. What was the reaction of The Hague Conference to your conclusion?
I must say that in autumn 1991 Slobodan Milosevic managed to remove the issue of Kosovo from the agenda of The Hague Peace Conference. Unfortunately, Kosovo also was not included in the agenda of the Badenter Commission.

One of the reasons for the conflict in Kosovo in 1998 seems to be that Kosovo was ignored at the Dayton Peace Conference. Though it is known that this conference's main goal was to end the war in Bosnia, many people believe that Dayton was the last opportunity to prevent the conflict in Kosovo. Do you agree with this?
I am again forced to enter the logic of what would have happened if something had happened, but I think that if Dayton had addressed the Kosovo issue, conflict the could have been avoided. But I also think that the organizers of the Dayton Conference lacked the power to stop Milosevic.

In 1999, you fully supported western policy toward the problem of Kosovo and the NATO air campaign. Does the military intervention of the west in Kosovo represent a turning point in western policy for the region in general?
The west, specifically NATO, prevented genocide of Kosovar Albanians. Milosevic's plan was first to expel Albanians from Kosovo and then to colonize Kosovo with Serbs from Croatia. By expelling two million Albanians from Kosovo, Milosevic wanted to destabilize Albania and Macedonia. And then he also thought that by becoming the leader of an ethnically clean Serbia, he would also become the main political factor in the region with whom the international community would have to negotiate. But as we know, NATO's actions stopped Milosevic from implementing his plans.

What was your reaction when The Hague raised an indictment against Slobodan Milosevic in May 1999? Were you surprised with the decision of The Hague?
For me, that was no surprise, because in 1991 I told Milosevic that he would be tried for all the evil things he and his regime had done. Thus, my predictions came true. But I also said that he would be tried by Serbs and that they would hang him in the center of Belgrade. Nonetheless, justice is sometimes slow, but in the end everyone must answer for his or her acts, in this case, crimes.

How did you feel when you testified at The Hague? What ran through your mind at that time? Were you thinking about all the destruction and suffering in Croatia, Kosovo and the entire region caused by the Serbian regime and Milosevic's policy?
My testimony at The Hague was only a fulfillment of my obligation as a citizen of the Republic of Croatia. It was my obligation to answer the questions of the judge, the accused, the prosecutor and talk about things I knew. I said several times that Milosevic has planned and led the wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo. Surely, Milosevic didn't like my testimony, which is understandable. In the end, he is the accused.

Finally, a question about the future of Kosovo. What do you think should be the solution for Kosovo's final status? Should the international community allow the citizens of Kosovo to decide on their own fate?
Kosovo's future will depend on many factors, but it will mainly be determined by the citizens of Kosovo.