Albanian Armed Group Re-emerges from Shadows

11 10 2007  The return of the secretive Albanian National Army to Kosovo's countryside causes worry about the threat it might pose to security.

By Krenar Gashi in Pristina

”War is unavoidable! The only way to avoid war in the Balkans is to grant Kosovo full, internationally-recognised independence”, says Gafurr Adili, a representative of the hardline armed group, the Albanian National Army, ANA.

Adili, whose organisation – branded by the UN as terrorists - is fighting for unification of Albanians from all areas and countries where they live in the Balkans, told Balkan Insight that “Kosovo’s independence is the minimum demand”.

The recent appearance of the ANA, known in Albanian as Armata Kombetare Shqiptare, has sparked confusion in Kosovo. While some dismiss it as not a real threat to security, others warn the organisation could gain more ground as further delays in resolving Kosovo’s long-term status increase tensions in the UN-administered entity.

Those tensions are already rising as the countdown for a new round of negotiations over determining Kosovo’s political status has got under way. While Kosovo politicians have been preparing to meet the Serbian delegation at a meeting scheduled for Brussels on October 14, the ANA has returned to the public stage.

Video footage filmed near the Kosovo–Serbia border in the municipality of Podujevo showed a group of 10-12 armed men in black uniforms – some carrying sophisticated sniper rifles - patrolling one of Kosovo’s most important highways and checking passing vehicles.

“We did not return. We were always there. It’s just that now we have decided to take up our weapons again because the [Albanian] population is being threatened by many military groups entering Kosovo from Serbia”, Adili explained on the telephone from neighbouring Albania.

“We are operating in the areas where KFOR [the NATO-led peacekeeping mission] troops in Kosovo do not operate. These are mainly villages near the border with Serbia where there are no peacekeeping troops patrolling”, says Adili. “We will not confront NATO troops… If they decide to put this area under control and guarantee the security of the local population, we will drop our weapons and go home.”

Colonel Betrand Bonneau, KFOR spokesperson, says they should do so immediately. “Let them drop their weapons and stay at home to live without violence, or use the democratic way to participate positively in determining the future of Kosovo”, Bonneau told Balkan Insight.

“These groups are as dangerous as they are useless for security”, he argues, and explains that every day KFOR is “conducting synchronized patrols with the armed forces of neighbouring countries, including Serbia”.

Concerns for Kosovo’s security are rising, although the authorities and many experts believe the ANA does not represent a genuine danger to public order.

Kosovo has been under UN administration since 1999 when a NATO bombing campaign forced the Serbian authorities withdraw their troops from the territory. The NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping mission was installed in order to maintain peace and security, and to support the UN administration.

Members of the ANA have been seen in the territory periodically since the conflict ended in 1999. They have taken responsibility for several bomb attacks in Kosovo since then. However, the group shunned publicity for a time while an earlier phase of the internationally-mediated negotiations on Kosovo’s status was underway. Until last week, they had not been sighted since early 2006.

Interior minister Blerim Kuci seems worried. “I am concerned. Every parallel structure is illegal and harmful. We don’t know what and who they represent”, Kuci told Balkan Insight referring to the ANA which describes itself as the military wing of the Front for Albanian National Unification.

However, Kuci said that it was easy these days for someone in Kosovo to bluff. “There are many weapons in Kosovo, and anybody can easily grab one and declare himself as the representative of a group, be that the ANA, or ANA1 - or whatever they want to name themselves.” He adds that that while Kosovo’s political status remains unclear, it will be more difficult to deal with shadowy groups, such as the ANA.

“Our men are idealists. They are veterans who fought in all previous wars in the Balkans. They are people who used to lead the illegal movements during the communist era and people who are ready to die, if necessary, for the freedom of their nation”, explains Adili, who refuses to reveal the number of fighters in the ANA, arguing that this information is of strategic value. “I can only say that the number is growing.”

Rame Arifaj, the prime minister’s adviser for security, linked ANA’s appearance to the hitches in reaching a settlement on Kosovo’s status. “Multiple delays to Kosovo’s status resolution are directly reflected in dissatisfaction among the population who are losing their patience”, says Arifaj. Arifaj believes that the ANA “don’t have the willingness or the capacity to cause trouble”, but he argues that they should not be totally ignored.

Lulzim Peci, an expert on security issues, agrees. “In practice, they are not a force that poses a threat. They might have the capacity to cause small incidents, but not major ones”, he says. However, Peci remains concerned that the overall situation in Kosovo favours the creation of armed groups, similar to the ANA, from all ethnic communities.

“Kosovo will have its own security force to protect itself in an institutional way”, Prime Minister Agim Ceku told reporters recently. But Ceku, who back in 1999 led the Kosovar Albanians’ guerrilla force, the Kosovo Liberation Army, in the fight against President Slobodan Milosevic’s clamp-down on ethnic Albanians, added a warning: “The appearance of such individuals does not send a good message for Kosovo”.

Adili takes an altogether different approach. ”When all the political means have been exhausted, then the time comes for democratic acts of violence”, he says. “We have always won our fights on the battlefields, and always lost them when we returned to the negotiating table”, he concludes - with words that some fear may spell more trouble for Kosovo.

Krenar Gashi is BIRN Kosovo Editor. Balkan Insight is BIRN’s online publication