| Vizitorët online në arkiv:
vizitorë |
|
| » At long last, Kosovo gains a measure of nationhood |
| Postuar mė datėn: 2007-02-05 01:28:37 nga admin2 :: Kategoria: English |
| » Opcionet për artikullin |
|
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The two million people of Kosovo found themselves living in a place with a future this morning, as the leaders of the ill-defined region planned to declare themselves an independent nation after the UN ended almost a decade of ambiguity.
For eight years, the poor southern province of the former Yugoslavia has been a ward of the United Nations, a status that began after NATO bombs ended Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic's drive to force out its Albanian-speaking majority in 1999.
Two decades after communism collapsed in eastern Europe, Kosovo remained the last mysterious grey patch on the map of Europe, an embarrassment to the armies and agencies that had tried to bring unity to the region.
Yesterday, after two years of heated negotiations, the UN turned Kosovo into something meaningful. Both nationalist leaders in Serbia and Albanian radicals in the Kosovo capital of Pristina said they would oppose the UN's compromise, perhaps violently. But most experienced observers on both sides believe that Kosovo will likely slide with minimal friction into poor but stable nationhood.
|
|
In a move bound to anger leaders in both Serbia and its ally Russia, UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari gave Kosovo a status that makes it everything short of a nation: It can have its own flag, passports, taxes and government (under a European Union overseer); it will be eligible for membership in the European Union and the UN; it will have full sovereignty over private and public land, as long as its 200,000 Serbian citizens are given strong minority rights.
Members of the Kosovo parliament said they will immediately begin talks to declare their province a full sovereign nation, after a 120-day transition period ends.
UN officials said yesterday that they decided not to declare Kosovo independent themselves since such a move would surely be opposed by Russia in the Security Council. A unilateral declaration would simply be recognized by most nations.
Even without national status, officials and business people in Kosovo said that the new status will make them part of the normal world.
For the past eight years, life in Pristina has seemed like something between a refugee camp and a military base.
"We definitely want to move as soon as possible to make it a full nation, though there will be difficulties," said Besim Beqaj, president of the Kosovo Chamber of Commerce.
"Even without national status, this is going to be the beginning of the stabilization of Kosovo -- it opens the possibility of international contracts, membership in international bodies and the ability to attract development funds from other nations."
In Serbia, the reaction has been far less angry than many observers had feared. Kosovo is the historic heart of the medieval Serbian empire, and home to several sacred sites in the Serbian Orthodox Church, images of which have been used in the past by nationalist politicians to provoke the Serbian public to support violence. But Serbia is also suffering economically because of its isolation from Europe, and the EU has promised that a quiet acceptance of Kosovo's independence will lead to economic aid and trade ties.
So while Serbian President Boris Tadic said yesterday that his country would never accept Kosovo's independence, aides to Mr. Tadic said in interviews that Serbia's opposition would likely only be rhetorical.
"Of course, President Tadic said that it is unacceptable to have independence for Kosovo, which means that nobody will sign this agreement," Radomir Diklic, a member of the Serbian government's negotiating team on Kosovo's status, said in an interview.
"But this does not mean that Serbia will be able to create a major problem. I feel that Serbia should just live with the fact of Kosovo's independence, and I believe that is what will happen at the end of the day."
The worst-case scenario, Mr. Diklic said, would occur if a coalition of radical and nationalist parties ends up forming Serbia's government. Serbian national elections took place on Jan. 21 and the moderate, pro-European parties are in the midst of a difficult struggle with nationalist parties to form a government. The Kosovo issue could be used by extremist parties as a rallying point, though most observers say that calls for violence are unlikely given Serbia's fragile condition.
Radicalized Serbs could pose a threat to Kosovo by demanding that its northern section, especially the Serb-majority city of Mitrovica, be made part of Serbia.
But radical Albanian nationalists within Kosovo pose an equally dramatic threat to the region's status. Yesterday, Albin Kurti, the leader of a rebel movement opposed to anything but full and immediate national sovereignty for Kosovo, told The Globe and Mail that he is advocating violence against the EU body that will oversee Kosovo's government.
"The UN will be replaced with the EU, which will continue with the negation of the will of the people for full independent status for Kosovo. One colonial occupier will be replaced with another," Mr. Kurti said. "Our movement will organize and mobilize dissatisfied people in the future weeks and months, starting with our next demonstration on Feb. 10. This system is inherently violent, and we will oppose it with violence if necessary. Our youth are ready to take risk and sacrifice to win their independence."
The possibility of showdowns between Kosovo's Albanian majority and its 10-per-cent Serbian population means that its government will likely have an EU overseer, with power to veto legislation and reject election candidates for years to come, much as Bosnia does.
But most observers said that this system is most likely to bring more stability to Kosovo rather than more conflicts, as it will bring a degree of economic improvement to the region.
Key dates in history
1968 First pro-independence
demonstrations by ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.
1974 Yugoslav constitution declares Kosovo an autonomous province within Serbia.
1989 Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic strips Kosovo of its
autonomy.
1991 Separatists proclaim Kosovo
a republic.
1996 Pro-independence Kosovo Liberation Army emerges.
July-August 1998 KLA seizes control of 40 per cent of Kosovo before being routed in Serb offensive.
September, 1998 Serb forces attack villages; ethnic Albanians found massacred.
1998 NATO allies authorize air strikes against Serb military targets.
January, 1999 International officials demand a war-crimes investigation.
March-June, 1999 NATO conducts air strikes against Yugoslavia; Serb forces push out an estimated 800,000 ethnic Albanians.
June, 1999 NATO-led peacekeepers begin deployment in Kosovo.
2004 Worst outbreak of ethnic violence since the war ended as ethnic Albanian mobs attack Serbs.
February, 2006 UN-mediated talks begin on the future status of Kosovo.
October, 2006 Serbia approves new constitution declaring Kosovo an
integral part of the country.
February, 2007 UN envoy Martti
Ahtisaari details recommended guidelines for Kosovo's eventual statehood.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
theglobeandmail.com |
| --------- |
| • TITUJ TĖ NGJASHËM |
|
Copyright © 2000-2008 DERVINA.COM - Tė gjitha tė drejtat e rezervuara
Arkivi u punua nga A.Nushi - Webmaster |
|
