Page 953 - Kosovo Metohija Heritage

Italian KFOR troups
ADDITIONAL ANALYSIS (SEPTEMBER 2003)
App 1
Precise figures of post-conflict ethnically motivated
Chaos and Disorder
Perhaps, if we should say what the real success of the Kosovo peace mission is, we can frankly admit that the situ- ation on the ground after the withdrawal of the former Yu- goslav forces would have been much worse without their presence, humanitarian assistance and protection of Serb enclaves and some Orthodox Christian holy sites. all its other “successes” are purely relative and concern primarily the ethnic albanian community.
KOSOVO—FRAGILE PEACE
IN THE SHADOW OF CONTINUAL
crimes in Kosovo
Fr Sava Janjić, eRP KiM info-Service
Devastating figures of 1,192 killed and 1,303 kidnapped
Serbs since the UN/KFOR arrival in Kosovo clearly dem- onstrate that the sufferings experienced during the conflict have simply been replaced with an organized Kosovo al- banian campaign of ethnic terror against Serbs and other non-albanians in times of “peace.” although some UN- MiK officials stubbornly try to minimize the post-conflict tragedy of Serbs, Roma, Bosniaks, Croats etc. and to justify their ethnically biased mission, the families of the Serbs killed or abducted despite the UN/NATO presence auda- ciously bear witness to albanian ethnic terror and injustice which continues under the UN and NaTO flags.
instead of stopping violence and disarming KLa gangs, UNMiK allowed KLa to legalize its existence, entering the political life of Kosovo and using the UN-sponsored insti- tutions as a smokescreen for ethnic discrimination. instead of implementing a requirement of UN SC Resolution 1244 (Ch. 10, annex ii, 5) to establish “a substantial autonomy (of Kosovo) within the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (i.e. Serbia-Montenegro)” and re-establish a multiethnic soci- ety prior to the final status settlement, the UN Mission de facto created an ethnic albanian quasi-state without any links with the internationally recognized state to which the Province officially belongs. The inability of UNMiK and KFOR to prevent ethnic albanian extremism and to isolate their leaders politically has resulted in the largest ethnic cleansing during the period of a peace mission.
in the beginning of the second millennium of Christian- ity the UN -administered Kosovo Province is the only part of the civilized world in which Christian shrines (churches and cemeteries) are exposed to unrestrained destruction and desecration by Muslim albanians. at the same mo- ment that more than 100 demolished churches lie in ruins despite the international presence, some Western politi- cians still speak of a european future of the Province which more resembles afghanistan than any european country.
Unwillingness of Kosovo Albanian leaders to confront extremists in their own ranks makes them accomplices in the ethnic cleansing of the Province
Fr Sava Janjić, eRP KiM info-service Gračanica, 5 September 2003
in the past ten years or so the Balkans have seen too much blood, suffering, refugees and destroyed holy shrines. The common characteristic of all regimes under which crimes against members of other ethnic communities are committed is their complete unwillingness to face the fact that there are crimes committed against others and that others have the right to live in their homes even if they have a different ethnic background and speak a different dialect. Stories that were regularly circulated by members of the Milošević, Tudjman and izetbegović regimes are so similar to each other that they seem to have been written by the same people. in fact, these regimes based on crime as a means for achieving political goals were creating the same type of consciousness, one recognizing or conscious- ly denying committed crimes as a legitimate method of deceiving the public. Unfortunately, very few people had the strength to openly oppose this policy, but there were some nevertheless. Let us remember the thousands of young Belgraders and citizens of Serbia who ran to meet billy clubs and tear gas in the streets because, for them, the future did not lie in the rule of terror and lies.
Things change but not in Kosovo
at long last, things began to change, slowly and self-con- sciously, but nevertheless they changed. The new political establishments in Belgrade, Zagreb and Sarajevo are in- creasingly and more courageously opening the bloody files of their predecessors in the attempt to bring the period of darkness and madness to its final close, and to replace it with a new period of mutual cooperation and trust. Of course, the wounds will not heal quickly, but the process has begun and the results are increasingly visible. The new generations of politicians understand that the Balkans bur- dened by its bloody legacy can only remain a black hole in europe and the world, and that otherwise thousands of
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ETHNIC TERROR
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