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Comment: UN Regime in Kosovo Shows Its True Colours

Visar Ymeri

15 02 2007  Illegitimate regime revealed its violent character in the bloody suppression of a peaceful protest.

By Visar Ymeri in Pristina (Balkan Insight, 15 Feb 07)

When Arben Xheladini, father of a three-year-old son, and Mon Balaj were shot dead by riot police of the UN Mission in Kosovo last Saturday, February 10, they died because they had decided to make a peaceful protest.

Their deaths showed Kosovo has entered into a new phase of its history - a phase of transparent violence used by official institutions against the very people they should be serving and protecting.

More than 80 other people were wounded in the demonstration simply because they joined the others and said “NO” to the partition of Kosovo and the new autonomous status being prepared for their country.

About 20,000 people marched through the streets of Pristina to make their voice heard and say they will not settle for anything other than full and unconditional freedom.

When they shouted “vetevendosje” - self-determination - they called on the world to recognise their most basic human right, which is to freely determine their country’s political status and thus freely pursue their own political, economic and cultural development.

Instead, UNMIK and the Kosovo government it has created, once again confirmed that they do not respect human rights or international law.

They fired rubber and plastic bullets, some made of metal and covered with a layer of plastic, at unarmed demonstrators. These bullets have been condemned by human rights organisations, by medical authorities, and even by the UN itself.

Several people have died in the Northern Ireland conflict since 1969 from plastic bullet wounds. At close range, they are deadly. At the protest in Pristina, barely ten metres separated the police and the protesters when they began firing.

Standard regulations require that these bullets be fired at the legs of demonstrators. The international police were intentionally shooting to injure and kill.

According to the public testimony of his cousin who was with him at the protest, Mon Balaj was chased by a special police officer into the Iliria Hotel in the centre of Pristina and shot at close range. It was a cold blooded and intentional execution.

A regime imposed upon a people with the intention only to suppress their political will is a violent regime. UNMIK is a violent regime since it takes no regard of the people’s will and interests.

Therefore, its manifestation is bound to be violent. Pristina on February 10 saw this regime’s real face. Its violent essence explains its violent actions as well as many of its other unethical deeds.

Ulpiana Lama, spokesperson to the Kosovo government, claimed on the very same day that the police resorted to the lawful, professional and proportional use of force. One wonders how the killing of two and the wounding of 82 peaceful demonstrators can be described as a professional and proportional use of force. By intentionally hiding the crimes committed by the police force, Lama became a partner in its crimes.

What happened on February 10 was institutionalised crime. It represents the logical outcome of a political regime of UNMIK and the Kosovo institutions that it created to expand its power, that functions without legitimacy and accountability. It is a political regime that has been imposed on the people without their prior consent. Therefore, it is a political regime that will be torn down.

Crimes can be concealed for a time but not for ever. Last Saturday, when it was confronted by people who demanded a government from the people, by the people and for the people, UNMIK found it was unable to conceal its true nature any longer.

The people of Kosovo demand a political status that is based on their will and their will only. They will not accept a Kosovo that comes out of negotiations in Vienna, or a Kosovo that seems to be pleasant enough for the group of politicians gathered in the negotiating team.

People do not want a country based on institutionalised crime. They want a country that will not kill people like Arben and Mon because they choose to protest peacefully. They are determined to have a Kosovo that is unconditionally free and sovereign.


Visar Ymeri is an activist from Vetevendosje movement, organisers of Saturday's protest against the UN plan for Kosovo. Balkan Insight is BIRN’s online publication.