Ponts to be made on Kosovo, March 2004

1. Kosovo matters to the US
   We invested taxpayers' money, moral authority and prestige, and its directly relevant to our nation's ongoing quest for international stability, security and war on terror. At stake are not only priceless cultural gems of Western civilization, but above all core values of civilized conduct that we have undertaken to uphold and protect in this region of the world.

2. The present violence is large-scale, premeditated one-way terror, based on a racist ideology and with clear culprits. Quotes follow:

   • "The violence in Kosovo today has obviously been planned in advance", [UNMIK spokesman, Derek ] Chappell told Austrian state television ORF. "There has been violence in Kosovo before, but this time it's coordinated action. The violence erupted in a number of places at the same time which shows that it was planned in advance," he said. "Over the past four and a half years, we have seen numerous protests and acts of violence in Kosovo," he said. "What we have not seen is an outbreak of violence of this scale, of this speed, of this intensity... involving thousands of people attacking Serb people, Serb property and Serb symbols."

   • According to another UN official, ".Kristallnacht is under way in Kosovo. What is happening in Kosovo must unfortunately be described as a pogrom against Serbs: churches are on fire and people are being attacked for no other reason than their ethnic background."

   • The Chief Commander of the Southern Flank of NATO, Admiral Gregory Johnson said, "Such activities are actually ethnic cleansing. That must not continue and that is why we came in Kosovo. Johnson yesterday said that the mass violence was "orchestrated" since there was a "matrix" as per which the violence was going on.

   • Commenting the Albanian attacks in Kosovo-Metohija, commander of US forces in Kosovo-Metohija general Rick Erlandson has said that riots in the province was provoked by those whose security is being protected.

   • The Commander of MNB Southwest Italian General Alberto Primisseri told 'Corriere de la Serra': "The wave of violence set off by the Albanians hasn't shown signs of calming down. I believe they've been ready for some time to lay waste to Kosovo,"

   • The SFOR Commander, General Virgil Pecket has confirmed that the riots in Kosovo were well organized and orchestrated.

   • Lt-Colonel James Moran, a K-For spokesman, was more explicit. "There was a lot more organisation today than we saw yesterday," he said. "People had organised buses to take protesters to different areas. We turned several around." Whoever was behind that agenda has certainly succeeded in nullifying the UN's attempts to build bridges between Serbs and Albanians over the past four years.

   • "Maybe this began spontaneously, but after the beginning, certain extremist groups had an opportunity to orchestrate," said Harri Holkeri, the special U.N. representative who is the chief international administrator of Kosovo. "That is why we urgently have to work to get the perpetrators."

   • There has definitely been orchestration," said Col. Horst Pieper of Germany, a spokesman for the peacekeepers. Pieper said the peacekeepers initially made protecting their own forces a priority, a decision that delayed the aggressive pursuit of gunmen and rioters.

   • from THE FINANCIAL TIMES (UK) Why Kosovo must not submit to violence; By Carl Bildt, March 22 2004
     "There can be no question that this was a deliberate attempt to drive away as many Serbs as possible, to inflict maximum damage on the UN and to test how far Nato could be driven into accepting the new realities.
     We will learn over time to what extent the offensive was pre-planned and by whom. But once started, its political objective was abundantly clear in the choice of targets. This was a campaign of ethnic cleansing." […]
     The writer is a former Swedish prime minister and former United Nations special envoy to the Balkans; he is a board member of the Centre for European Reform

   • [Jonathan Eyal, interview with Blic] Jonathan Eyal, Director of the Royal Institute of Armed Forces in London, has no dilemma when he is speaking about the latest Albanian attacks on Serbs. 'This is a plan prepared in advance and not spontaneous events', Eyal says. In his interview with Blic he notices that the violence occurred at the most inconvenient moment. "That has not happened accidentally. There were ongoing debates about withdrawal of large number of NATO soldiers from Kosovo and Bosnia. It is clear that for the authorities in Belgrade the crisis occurred at the worst possible time, only few days after setting up of new government. On the other hand this is an ideal time for Pristina. Albanians think that the world has lost interest in Kosovo since the countries of the West are preoccupied without world spots of crisis," Eyal says.

     So, you have no dilemma that everything has been premeditated?

     "I have no dilemma about that at all. It is characteristic that Kosovo politicians are silent and that they show not a slightest wish to stop the violence by Albanians against Serbs. Everything has been directed so to attract the attention of the US and force it to speed up the settlement of Kosovo status. There was also large propaganda by Albanian television in Pristina, which abused the tragic incident with children that lost their lives in the River of Ibar. World media completely failed. They all know what is going on but they do not want to say so. They are trying in every possible way to draw the equality sign between Serbs and Albanians. It is clear to everybody with good intentions that the Albanians are behind the violence and that they initiated it. Media do not want to say that."

   • "It's very, very bad," said a UN official in Pristina. "Certain politicians and [Albanian] media have laid the foundations for this. There's a mood of intolerance towards the Serbs and an [Albanian] feeling that 'this land is our land'."

   • "To the Serbs, the signal is that there is no life for them in the province and they should leave," Goran Svilanovic, Foreign Minister of Serbia-Montenegro. .

   • Noted Kosovo Albanian journalist Veton Surroi said that Albanians had organized the current wave of violence in Kosovo with the aim of expelling the Serb population. Surroi, who published Pristina daily Koha Ditore, said that the violence had entered a second phase, which is obviously organized and orchestrated. "The aim is to intimidate the Serb population and expel them from central Kosovo by destroying their homes and churches. "There is also accumulated rage directed towards UNMIK and KFOR which would have been unthinkable before yesterday," said Surroi.

3. The UN mission in Kosovo has effectively failed in its present form - its stated goals have not been achieved.

   Painful as it is, this must be openly admitted and adequate adjustments made in due course. A quick restoration of security, justice, accountability and refugee return is a mandatory first step for any genuine reversal of this. The belated bolstering of KFOR numbers and adjustment of rules of engagement is a welcome first step, but much more must be done here. All this should be followed by a reassessment of the institutional framework that governs the province. If this can not be achieved, the international mission should be terminated and sovereignty over the province factually realigned with its formal status, i.e. returned to the state in effect prior to NATO's illegal intervention, and allow interested parties to negotiate any possible status adjustments in direct contacts within the institutional framework of Serbia.

4. The solution to the problem is definitely not independence for Kosovo

   As part of (3), it must be realized that ever increasing transfer/devolution of authority from UNMIK to the Albanian-dominated PISG, with increasing attributes of statehood, has had disastrous effects; continuing that trend can only make matters worse. Peter Schieder, President of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, in an open letter to Bajram Rexhepi, PM of the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government of Kosovo: " Kosovo cannot build its future on the blood of innocent people and the ashes of their burned homes and churches. […] It is already evident that the Albanian majority in Kosovo - and its political leadership - are failing to demonstrate that they can create a future of Kosovo in which all its people will have a chance to live in peace and stability."

   Former Swedish PM and fomer UN Special Envoy to the Balkans, Carl Bildt (op cit. - see above): "In the US, some are now saying that a multi-ethnic Kosovo is not realistic and that in the wake of the violence we should reward the perpetrators with immediate independence: status - without standards. But giving in to violence today would give a powerful incentive to the ethnic cleansers of tomorrow. It is a principle as dangerous in the fight against ethnic violence as it is in the fight against terrorism. It risks betraying everything we have stood and fought for in the region for more than a decade."

   If these issues are not addressed properly, we risk setting up a state destined for failure. It is high time we wake up to the realities of Kosovo - not in order to accept betrayal of our principles, but in order to assert them. Further specific examples: the provincial Parliament has repeatedly committed scores of improprieties - from routinely breaking procedural and other rules in order to discriminate openly against minority representatives to attempting to pass legislation and declarations outside jurisdiction and legal framework - warranting SRSG (UN governor) intervention.

   Another: the KPC (Kosovo Protection Corps), headed by an indicted war criminal, has been shown to have clear ties with the declared terrorist organization ANA (Bombing of the Zvecan rail bridge)

   Another: elements of the KPS (Kosovo Police Service), based on credible eyewitness accounts, had been seen directly aiding and abetting, not attempting to prevent, the current Albanian mob rampage. (cf. Bishop Atanasije report from Lipljan; 3/22 Kosovo Polje report)

   This thesis is only further strengthened by the important considerations of regional stability and international legality:
   - First, at a time when we are engaged in a serious confrontation with global terror networks, with their recent dangerous forays into hitherto quieter areas of Europe, allowing a consolidation of their beachfront in the Bosnia - Kosovo axis (or Bosnia - Kosovo - Albania triangle) is a clear invitation to trouble.
   - Second, the precedent set but any such independence would have direct destabilizing effect on Bosnia-Herzegovina, FYROM, Serbia proper and beyond, with further serious consequences; the hitherto observed export of unrest and terrorism from Kosovo to Western Macedonia, Presevo valley etc. has been well documented.
   - Thirdly, at a time when the US political maneuvering space is being under serious pressure from much of the international community based on a perception of disregard for international law and multilateral institutions, the condoning (sanctioning) of any such anomalous independence, in total contravention of several key international legal acts, would only further put the US diplomacy on the defensive and compromise its ability to effectively confront and influence other issues of great national importance.

5. Status adjustment/determination

   "Final status" can certainly not be discussed until standards of civility and normalcy are established in the province, but "interim status" must be brought in line with Resolution 1244 ASAP, while at the same time providing for a workable and sustainable level of security, as well as economic prosperity for all citizens of the province. [ UN SC Resolution 1244 (ch. 10, Annex II, 5) to establish "a substantial autonomy (of Kosovo) within the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (i.e. Serbia-Montenegro)" ] Immediate consideration should be given to plans for a decentralization and/or cantonization of the province.

   Credible proposals for implementing this have come from the Governments of Serbia and S-M, as well as competent international circles; contrary to popular belief, this does not constitute a "partition" of the province, rather a delicate but necessary political arrangement required to address complex problems, already utilized in analogous situations, as well as in the relation of the province itself with its parent state of Serbia: Special Raporteur for Human Rights in former Yugoslavia, the Czech diplomat Jiri Dienstbir: Consistent respect of the authorized UN resolution, cantonization of Kosovo and the arrest and sending to the ICTY Albanian extremists is the only way of resolving the Kosovo crisis, Czech diplomat Jiri Dienstbir said. He assessed on the Czech national radio that Kosovo should be resolved after the model of Cyprus or Bosnia by creating self-administered cantons, i.e. entities that would remain within SaM