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Kosovo Stalemate Makes Former Fighters Restive

02 07 2007  With no sign of a result to talks on the territory, former fighters wonder if they may need their guns again in future.



By Krenar Gashi in Decan/ Decani and Pristina

Abdyl Mushkolaj is worried. Sitting in his Kosovo War Veterans Association office in Decan/ Decani, eastern Kosovo, he is deeply concerned that the diplomatic process may not deliver the long-awaited resolution of Kosovo’s final status in the form of independence.

“Those who once fought for this country are willing and ready to fight again,” says Mushkolaj, 42, referring to the guerrilla war that Albanian fighters waged in the late 1990s against the Serbian government.

Abdyl Mushkolaj in his office in Decan/i

“I would not like to take a weapon and be a soldier again but if it is necessary I will do it do defend Kosovo,” he continues.

A widely respected former fighter in the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA, Mushkolaj is one of a growing number of radicals demanding full and immediate independence for the disputed territory.

His office looks like an exhibition, lined with portraits and pictures of Albanian martyrs to the armed struggle against Serbia. The most prominent is a large framed picture of Ramush Haradinaj, Kosovo's former prime minister, who is now in the Hague, having been indicted for war crimes.

He has nothing against the minority Serbs celebrating their festivals in Kosovo but will do all in his prevent the restoration of Serbian power in his homeland. “If necessary, we will take up weapons and fight again,” he says.

Radical voices in Kosovo are growing in strength as the resolution of Kosovo’s final status is postponed once again – hopes of a quick settlement blasted by Russia’s resolute opposition to independence.

Vetevendosje’s protest of 30 June (photo by: Sokol Ferizi)

About 500 people marched through Pristina on 30 June in a rally called by the Vetevendosje (Self-determination) movement, which is demanding a referendum on immediate independence. The crowd threw rolls of toilet papers at the parliament and government buildings.

“We recognize only one language, the language of the referendum and the will of people for independence,” Glauk Konjufca, a Vetevendosje's activist, said.

Activists paraded dummies of Kosovo’s negotiating team on final status, dressed in suits with the various politicians’ names on them and pumpkins instead of heads.

Numbers at the protest were smaller than before. The movement mustered 3,000 demonstrators at a rally on 10 February, which turned violent and ended in two deaths. But that protest was supported by war veterans and some political parties, which was not the case last weekend.

Lulzim Peci, an expert on security issues, said Vetevendosje now suffered from a credibility crisis and was not in much of a position to articulate people’s frustrations on final status any longer.

“Frustration is very much present among the population,” Peci said. “[But] there are no channels to lead this frustration positively”.

In the meantime, the political stalemate over Kosovo’s future continues. Russia has already rejected four project-resolutions in the Security Council sponsored by US and EU members of the council.

The Kremlin has made it clear it will block any solution for Kosovo that goes against the wishes of Serbia, which bitterly opposes Kosovo’s secession. “We can negotiate with Serbia for 2000 years and they still won’t recognise our independence,” Mushkolaj complains.

The former fighter criticizes Kosovo’s authorities for not doing their job properly, as he sees it, in terms of running the negotiations. “If our fate depends on Putin and Russia…. then the [Kosovo] Prime Minister's salary should go to Russian president,” he jokes.

Kosovo politicians have promised Albanians independence ever since the territory was placed under international administration in 1999. While the promises have become ever more frequent, the dates have routinely changed since the status determination process began in 2005.

Bajram Kosumi, Kosovo’s former prime minister, unwisely promised independence by June 2006. His successor, Agim Ceku, once suggested May 2007 as a likely date. Many others members of the negotiating team have given different dates before recently stopping predictions altogether.

“I am surprised that people are so patient,” says Mushkolaj, who says foreign diplomats are abusing the passivity of most Kosovo Albanians.

“I want this patience to stop,” he continues. “We should all go out onto the streets and paralyse life in Kosovo. Then the world would take us more seriously.”

On 29 June, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, NATO’s secretary general, asked Kosovo’s politicians to show more patience during the status-resolution process. “My message was a message of restraint and moderation,” Scheffer told reporters during last Friday’s visit in Kosovo.

Pressure inside Kosovo also eased for a while after the US President, George Bush, clarified his support for Kosovo’s independence during a historic first visit to Albania on 10 June. Bush said if diplomatic efforts to resolve the Kosovo issue ran out of steam, “You’ve got to say: that’s enough – Kosovo is independent”.

But Kosovo radicals like Mushkolaj are not satisfied by mere statements. “That is not enough, we need to know when independence will happen; we need to know a date,” he says.

If trouble does come to Kosovo, it will probably come from the ranks of the 30,000 or so former KLA fighters. Some hold down jobs with the Kosovo Police Service, KPS, and Kosovo Protection Corps and are unlikely to get involved. But many others are jobless, drifting around and representing more of a potential threat.

Kosovo Albanians hopes are now focused on a positive outcome to the meeting between President Bush and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, taking place at the Bush family home at Kennebunkport.

Mushkolaj says if nothing comes from the meeting, not only war veterans such as himself, but the entire population will be radicalised even further.

Lulzim Peci agrees. “Their negative energy will be expressed in an uncontrolled way,” he cautioned.

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