UNMIK ON AIR

ANA: the terrorist threat

24 April 2003

Sputnik Kilambi & Luan Qorraj

Voice: On midnight of the 12^th of April 2003, in a place called Lozhiste, Northern Mitrovica, while performing a political-military action of the utmost importance, blowing up a railway bridge, that connects occupied Albanian territories with Belgrade, 2 heroes have fallen while performing this holy duty…

Ominous words from the website of the Albanian National Army, now declared a terrorist organization by the international administration in Kosovo.

Hello and welcome to UNMIK ON AIR with Sputnik Kilambi and Martin Redi.

The ANA claimed responsibility for several attacks in recent months in both Macedonia, southern Serbia and Kosovo, but its claims were never taken seriously. There was no evidence, said UNMIK police and KFOR that the group existed as an organized structure. The abortive bridge attack, which the ANA said would be followed by others, has changed all that - tough sanctions are in store for anyone belonging to the group.

The group is probably small, says UNMIK spokesman Barry Fletcher, but Kosovo is awash with weaponry and getting hold of explosives still relatively easy.

Barry Fletcher: Right now we can say positively they were trying to destroy the bridge and its possible they were planning to do this while the train was crossing the bridge. If that had happened, then all the people on the train, which would include the Albanians who use it, would be in danger of losing their lives.

The incident came days after Serb leaders in Kosovo called for the creation of a separate entity in the UN-administered province.

The ANA claims the attack, which took place at midnight, was deliberately timed to avoid casualties and that the action was purely political. Mitrovica, it says, is a symbol of the UN’s failure in Kosovo and the ANA has taken on itself to destroy what it calls connecting bridges to Belgrade.

The attack has now been squarely condemned by the political mainstream in Kosovo, even if not as soon as the international community would have wished. And rumors have been rife that the dead men were either former or serving members of the Kosovo Protection Corps, the KPC, most of whom were fighters in the now defunct KLA. Rumors that KPC chief Agim Ceku was quick to dismiss.

Agim Ceku: We distance ourselves from the actions of individuals or illegal organizations who stand behind this condemnable act and all those who encourage, support or finance similar acts. Regarding the possibility of involvement of a KPC member, we consider the attack as an individual act, which has nothing to do with the institution

The timing is significant though – despite all the complaints, things are getting better in Kosovo says Barry Fletcher, and these people are trying to make a point.

Barry Fletcher: Crime has stabilized, the security situation in terms of crime is better than in most large western European cities, and certainly better than in most large American cities, you’re much safer walking the streets of Prishtina, than you are walking the streets of London or Paris. The political process is also moving along and I have to wonder what their motives were. This kind of attack is not just a symbol, this Albanian struggle against Serbian domination that they claim on their website. This endangers the whole political process.

For noted Albanian political commentator, Fatos Lubonja, such acts raise serious questions about the caliber of the political leadership in the region.

Fatos Lubonja: This is a problem that results mostly from the inability of Albanians to govern and organize themselves, to build clear policies with clear visions. And, from this perspective, when extremist groups like that appear, they can be looked upon as a failure of Albanian politicians. I think this phenomenon should incite Albanian politicians who do not support such methods to take a look at themselves because when people decide to resort to extremes- it usually means that the politics have failed.

Several people were detained this past week but released without criminal charges. KFOR too is questioning alleged suspects. But, assures UNMIK police spokesman Barry Fletcher, those arrested will be prosecuted according to due law and form.

Many questions remain as to where they get their money and support from, but the phenomenon itself is not new, he adds. Disaffected ex guerilla fighters who do not see a place for themselves in the changed political landscape often find homes in groups such as this.

Barry Fletcher: If for example you’ve been a guerilla fighter for some time, maybe before you were an ordinary person, then you joined a guerilla group and for quite a while that’s what you’ve been doing, well if there is no struggle, if there is no war, you have no purpose in life Its not just here, we see it all over the world in post-conflict areas, and the UN has actually developed mechanisms to reintegrate former guerilla fighters back into society, those mechanisms don’t always work, but again, its because some people don’t want the struggle to end.”

And they would do well to heed the UN’s warning, stresses Fletcher.

Barry Fletcher: Its very different when the UN declares a group to be a terrorist organization and it becomes a crime to belong to that organization. This is not something that I think possibly that they expected and I certainly hope that anyone around the world who might now think of supporting them will think twice.

The ANA emerged out of the Albanian insurgency in Macedonia in 2001 and is believed to unite former fighters of the National Liberation Army, NLA, who opposed the Ohrid deal. It also includes members of other militant groups that have since dissolved, such as the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA, and the Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedje and Bujanovac, UCPMB, which mounted an insurgency campaign in southern Serbia. But the ANA’s vision for pan-Albanianism is doomed to failure if it persists with the gun, warns Tirana based analyst Fatos Lubonja.

Fatos Lubonja: I think that the vision of uniting Albanians, maybe as a future federation or such as it is today but with cultural cooperation, is a vision, which can be brought to life without violence and through democratic means. By developing a cultural identity and adopting a European attitude, not by using violence

Fatos Lubonja on the line from Tirana, ending this edition of UNMIK ON AIR. Thanks for listening.