THE GLOBE AND MAIL
31 oct. 2006
KEEP AN EYE ON THAT DAMNED SILLY THING IN KOSOVO
Serbian voters have approved
a new constitution that, among other things, reaffirms sovereignty over Kosovo
which, since the bombing of Serbia in 1999, has been administrated by the United
Nations with the help of NATO troops. The weekend referendum result will further
complicate efforts of Western policy- makers to grant independence to Kosovo
since, to do so without Serbias consent, would violate the U N Charter on
territorial integrity and inviolability of borders. Nevertheless, there have
been indications that the UN special envoy, Marrti Ahtisaari, will soon
recommend that Kosovo be separated from Serbia and become an independent
country.
This would be a
mistake.
For the past seven years Kosovo
has become one of the most dangerous places on Earth. It is the center of
heroin, weapons and human trafficking into Western Europe. Murder and abduction
of non Albanians are a daily occurrence. Civil society is non-existent and
living standards are equivalent to those of Haiti. There is evidence that
Islamic extremists with Al Qaeda connections are a growing presence. In short,
Kosovo has all the characteristics of a failed state.
Under the watchful eyes of
the UN and NATO, more than 200,000 Serbs, Jews, Romans and other non-Albanians
have been expelled from Kosovo. Those who remain are in constant danger. And
some of those encouraged by the UN to return have been murdered The Prime
Minister of Kosovo, Agim Ceku, a former leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army,
has been accused of war crimes by the Serbs. He is the man who led Croatian
forces in 1993 that over ran Serbian villages protected by Canadian
peacekeepers. When his fighters were driven out, the Canadians found all of the
civilians and animals in the villages had been slaughtered.
One of the crimes committed
by the Albanian majority in Kosovo has been the razing of over 150 Christian
churches and monasteries. Many of these churches dated back to the 13th and 14th
centuries. Their destruction has been a deliberate effort to remove all
semblance of Christian heritage in Kosovo. Shamefully, there has been no
international outrage, no serious attempt to apprehend the perpetrators and no
_expression_ of alarm or protest on the part of Christian churches in the West.
The U N resolution that
ended the bombing campaign against Serbia guaranteed that Kosovo would have a
functioning civil society, democratic institutions, security for all citizens
and respect for the rule of law. It called for the disarming of the Kosovo
Liberation Army and other armed groups. It provided for the return to Kosovo of
limited numbers of Serbian security forces to guard the Christian Holy places.
And it reasserted Serbias sovereignty over Kosovo.
Sadly, it seems the UN and
NATO had no intention of honouring these commitments. These are hard facts and
they stand as a testimony of failure. The performance of these two international
institutions has been marked by duplicity, double standards and
cowardice.
Independence for Kosovo would
establish a dangerous precedent. President Vladimir Putin of Russia has already
warned that a decision to grant Kosovo independence could be applicable to
post-soviet territory .He has particular interest in regions of the former
Soviet Union that have aspirations for independence. The most volatile ones are
the Georgian provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia; these two regions broke
away from Georgia in 1992 and want independent status. Recognition of Kosovo
independence would give them their precedent. And could result in bloodshed with
serious implications for world security.
Bismarck, once said that the
Balkans were not worth the bones of a single Pomeranian grenadier. Yet, he also
predicted that, if there were to be another war in Europe, it would be because
of some damned silly thing in the Balkans. The assassination of Archduke Franz
Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914, sparking off the First World War, proved him
right.
Ominously, there is again a
strong possibility that another damned silly thing is taking place in the
Balkans: the seeming determination of Western policy makers to grant the Serbian
province of Kosovo its independence. In foreign policy, as in other human
endeavours, you cant get good results if you do dumb things.
James Bissett (former Canadian Ambassador to Yugoslavia)
