Kosovo

Fehim Rexhepi of the Pristina Albanian language weekly Koha and AIM news service, reports from the Kosovo capital on May 23, 1998, on the first round of the Serb - Albanian negotiations.

The first round of the Albanian-Yugoslav-Serbian mediated-unmediated negotiations on the Kosovo question began in Pristina. In that respect, the set time has been respected, that is the set timetable for the continuation of the Albanian-Serb dialogue prepared by the American diplomacy, through the direct engagement of the architect of the Dayton Agreement. Richard Holbrooke., begun symbolically by the meeting of Slobodan Milosevic and Ibrhim Rugova a week earlier in Belgrade. According to that agreement, the representatives of Belgrade and Pristina have to meet continuously, at least once a week, wherever they alternately choose.

It is well known how far apart are the positions of the two sides concerning the final solution. Officially, the Serbs are offering a cosmetically improved current autonomy. They have recently published a Draft of the Statutory Decision on the position of Kosovo in Serbia, seeing it in the regionalization of Serbia, that is, local self-governing of Kosovo Albanians and two house parliaments, so that, as it is continuously stressed, sole rule of the majority is prevented, and even a right to a decision without the consent of the locally symbolically represented Serbian population. This proposal probably had political logic in mind, according to which, if this system of autonomy cannot function, this is for the better, because the government in Belgrade will have the possibility to continuously intervene.

With no less insistence than the Serbs, the Albanians are seeking independence for Kosovo and themselves. To give serious grounds to this request, they have building their own parallel system of rule for years, which, no matter how shadowy it is, has introduced a system of dual rule in Kosovo. This system is running into serious hardships, but the Albanians are not giving up on it. After so much denial, sacrifices and bad experiences, particularly in the last ten years or so, it is hard for Kosovo Albanians to even envisage a solution in which the Serbs and Belgrade would be above them, that is, that they would decide what is in the best interest of Kosovo Albanians.

The essence of these confronted stance is: a solution within or outside the framework of Serbia. Actually, this is the essence of the Kosovo question, and in that respect, at this moment it seems, the stances of the two sides are not bridgeable. As far as the alleviation of the security situation is concerned, it is not excluded that the question of the cessation of the use of violence has been discussed. But, from the statements concerning the security of all citizens it is visible that the participants in the first round of these talks see the bearers and causes of this violence in a completely different manner.

This will be one of the following hard problems with which the Albanian/Serb negotiators will be confronted with. The Serb regime considers the use of force as legitimate method towards the goal of establishing the constitutional order of Serbia, that is Yugoslavia.It considers as terrorists anybody who does not respect that order. But on the other hand, there is a more and more prominent opinion in the Albanian public that one cannot speak anymore about isolated armed groups of Kosovo Albanians, but about a mass armed movement of the Albanian population in the crisis regions of Kosovo, which definitely is not a negligible factor, particularly since a question is being posed more frequently - whether the OVK has an already formed political wing.

From the current perspective it does not seem as convincing to speak about security and cessation of violence or armed conflicts, if, for example, the Albanian side does not have even a silent agreement of the OVK. This since it is quite known that the OVK made public on a number of occasions that it will not accept an agreement in the preparation of which its representatives did not participate. After the recent Serb-Albanian top meeting in Belgrade, its members have stated on a number of occasions that OVK is not against a solution through negotiations, but that it thinks that these negotiations have no chance if there is no arbitration by a mediator. But, most importantly, they warned that Rugova only has a mandate to negotiate about the independence of Kosovo.

It is interesting that almost all Albanian political subjects accept the current approach of Rugova to the negotiations with great reservations. The arguments of the opposition seem a bit overblown. If the political and diplomatic side of the problem is set aside, the question of mediation in these negotiations cannot be seen in pure form. Nobody can deny that Holbrooke and Gelbard mediated for the Milosevic - Rugova meeting to take place, as well as concerning the dynamics of the Albanian - Serb dialogue.



Source: AIM media service, May 23, 1998