UNMIK ON AIR

RETURN OF SERB MILITARY & POLICE

29 January 2003

(Zoran CULAFIC)

Hello and welcome to UNMIK on Air with David Balham and Luan Qorraj

Today we look at the row brewing over the tricky subject of the return of Serbian security forces to Kosovo.

Belgrade officials are quoting UN documents to back their claim that the international community has agreed to some Serb police and military coming back to the province.

The Albanians, not surprisingly, disagree strongly.

The Yugoslav federal minister of interior Zoran Zivkovic, who said openly that, according to Kumanovo military-technical agreement and UNSCR 1244, Serb police and military should return back to Kosovo soon.

Zoran Zivkovic: Now we have to request from the international community to create the conditions for that part of the Kumanovo agreement to be fulfilled. As for me, I think it’ll be the best for us to take control over the border with Albania and Macedonia … and the second part will be protecting Serb historical and religious objects. But I’m afraid that one thousand troops are not enough.

That stance is viewed by the Albanians as a clear political provocation and not as a sign of Belgrade’s readiness to help in establishing a new political atmosphere. Ramadan Avdiu, Kosovo PM Bajram Rexhepi’s advisor, claims that such a possibility is not even mentioned in any of the international documents concerning Kosovo.

Ramadan Avdiu: It is a kind of provocation indeed, and it is act of spreading the illusion that there exists a possibility for the Serb forces to return to Kosovo. According to all international documents, which are in force in Kosovo, return of Serb police and military in Kosovo is not possible at all. Maybe it is just that Belgrade officials are making such statements to remain on the political scene and that’s why they are keeping with that nationalistic approach.

But, UN Resolution 1244 states clearly in Annex 2, paragraph 6, that “an agreed number of Yugoslav and Serbian personnel will be permitted to return” to perform the following functions: Liaison with international civil mission and international security presence in Kosovo, marking and cleaning minefields, maintaining a presence at Serb patrimonial sites and maintaining a presence at key border crossings.

The return of personnel will be under international supervision and “will be limited to a small agreed number”, which is, as stated, “hundreds, not thousands”. But still the process is not finally defined in terms when and how the return is going to take place. And so far it hasn’t happened.

Music up

But not all the messages from Belgrade are jingoistic. There are still reasonable voices encouraging the efforts of the international community to stabilize the situation in Kosovo. One such voice came recently from the Yugoslav Army Chief of General-staff, General Krga, who said resolutely that his personnel will not return in Kosovo by force.

And Serbian Justice Minister Vladan Batic claims that the international community has not fulfilled its obligations, particularly concerning the return of IDP’s and security for Serbs. Mr. Batic is not optimistic that Serb police and military will be able to return.

Vladan Batic: They have to ask UNMIK about that. I do not know how they are going to return, by foot or by buses; we’ll be lucky if we could do that, then it’ll mean that we do have sovereignty in Kosovo. Unfortunately, we do not have it. Practically, sovereignty in Kosovo is in UNMIK hands, the hands of International Community.

Dusan Janjic from the Belgrade-based NGO, Forum for Inter-ethnic Relations, agrees that calls from Belgrade for Serb police to return to Kosovo are intended, partly, to send a message to the Serbs themselves that the new democratic authorities are not going to abandon Kosovo. Janjic told us that such messages are, unfortunately, a way of misusing the national feelings of the Serbs.

Dusan Janjic: The problem here is double-sided. First, many in Serbia, and unfortunately the Serbs in Kosovo as well as the Albanians in Kosovo still see in police and military the formal and real representatives of state sovereignty. And second, police and military are the ones who participated in the conflict; e.g. for the Albanians they are the ones who tormented and maltreated them, for the Serbs they are the ones who protected them but later on who abandoned them … So, I think that such statements are, in essence, a manipulating tool to deal with extreme nationalism, and with the prejudice in the Serb political conscience that only physical military protection is a efficient protection.

The fact is that some if not most K-Serbs still expect some miracle to happen and Serb police and military to return to Kosovo to protect them. We talked to IDP’s settled in a village near Belgrade.

IDP: There should be a Serb military and police there, and Serbia should participate in Kosovo institutions, but without our police and military hardly any Serbs will decide to return to Kosovo, I can guarantee that to you.

Professor of international law at Pristina University, Enver Hasani, told us that the return of Serb forces to Kosovo is absolutely not possible right now. He believes the international community is not ready to take responsibility for worsening the security situation, which could be the result, he says, if Serb police return to Kosovo.

Enver Hasani: What they are saying now in Belgrade is too politically colored and it is intended for internal purposes in Serbia and for local Serbs in Kosovo. But, the modality of the return is not specified in UNSCR 1244, neither in the Kumanovo agreement. That means it was left for some better times to come, and that means absolutely that the return should be in compliance with the NATO and EU security scheme.

The stance of international administration in Kosovo is clear: at present UNMIK, KFOR and KPS are the only ones in charge in the province. KFOR spokesman Wing Commander Tony Adams said for our program that KFOR is fully capable of providing a secure environment throughout Kosovo.

Tony Adams: There is no requirement for anyone to come and to guard patrimonial sites within Kosovo. KFOR is fully aware of its responsibility under 1244 and we are fulfilling those responsibilities and we do not need extra personnel and even General Krga has said that his forces are not going to be coming back into Kosovo. So, really, as far as KFOR is concerned, it isn’t an issue. We know what our job is, we’re doing that job, yes, there have been criminal attacks against churches, which we condemn, but there are criminal attacks against various institutions in every country in the world, but that isn’t an overall area security problem.

Tony Adams underlines the cooperative approach of Belgrade officials.

Tony Adams: The Serb authorities are very keen to work closely with KFOR and with NATO. You know, they‘ve already made comments about wanting to come into the Partnership for Peace eventually. And there is currently no role for anyone to look after the security in Kosovo, other than KFOR.

Back in Belgrade, Dusan Janjic suggests the issue of return of Serb armed forces should be seen in the context of the regional security policy, including reform of the Serb police and military. Janjic claims that the future lies in regional cooperation in the field of security, not mass returns of Serb police to Kosovo.

Dusan Janjic: So, I mean not return in the sense of Kumanovo agreement, that is some military experts from Yugoslav Army to walk around Kosovo in their uniforms, but involving them in common training and, say, in some common activities, which will be conducted together with Kosovo police forces and KFOR, maybe. at the same time, to use the issue of security not to create provocation and misunderstanding, but to create a new common security network in Kosovo, in Serbia, and in the whole region.

And for once there seems to be agreement on both sides. Ramadan Avdiu, the Kosovo PM’s advisor, agrees that in future Belgrade and Pristina police forces should cooperate.

Ramadan Avdiu: As for cooperation, I think that in the future will come the time for cooperation between Serb police and Kosovo police, and that is in the field of fighting organized crime. Organized crime is present in every area here so we have to cooperate with each other to fight against it.

A promising approach indeed. And with this we end today’s program. Thanks for listening.