[Henry Braesal, funzionario dell'UNMIK in Kosovo, ha sperimentato
direttamente gli effetti della politica di apartheid razzista praticata
in Kosmet da ONU e NATO a partire dal 1999, e l'ha riassunta in una
lettera inviata ad un giornale...]
Kosovo Standards and Not-So-Hidden Aid Agenda
From almost the first moment that UNMIK moved into Kosovo in June 1999,
a process of "Kosovarisation" was set in place. One example was the
sending home of non-Albanian employees of the electricity company KEK
in June 1999 by KFOR with the promise that they could reapply for
their jobs within three weeks. To date none has been reinstated. In
addition, almost all non-Albanian, and in particular Serb staff, have
been ejected from the hospitals, public services and from Pristina
University, schools and colleges.
Letters
By Henry Braesal
(the following text is a contribution from one of our international
readers in Kosovo who is employed in UNMIK)
Having visited Kosovo many times since the year 2000, I have often been
struck by the disparity between what is said and what is done by those
whose responsibility it is to administer the province in accordance
with Resolution 1244. Most recently, the United Nations Mission in
Kosovo (UNMIK) has put forward eight "standards" to be met in Kosovo's
road to development and before its future status is finally determined.
The logical presumption is that the procedures to ensure that these
standards are met, should be fair, transparent and equitable, along
the lines of the best traditions of western democracy. However, the
reality is very different. As regards the standard of good governance,
the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government (PISG) and the local
municipal structures have failed to exercise the powers devolved to
them in a just, democratic fashion. Many of the elected
representatives who now form the PISG and municipal structures not only
have no experience in governance but were directly connected with the
Kosovo Liberation Army responsible for expelling 270,000 persons in
1999 - 2000 and also for the continuing campaign of intimidation and
violence against non-Albanian elements of Kosovo society.
Furthermore, the failure of the international community to facilitate
the return of the non-Albanian communities who were expelled from
Kosovo in the wake of the arrival of international peacekeeping troops
KFOR (and the withdrawal of Serbian military and civil authorities),
brings into question the true meaning of the standards being proposed.
Many internationals who work in Kosovo that I have spoken to, are
convinced that statements from both UNMIK and the PISG encouraging
return are merely "tokenism", paying lipservice to the right of return
for the sake of international acceptability but in reality covering up
the deliberate and systematic obstruction of return to Kosovo by Serbs
and other non-Albanians. In fact, returns is not a demand-driven
process, as there is no free choice for the displaced to return in
safety and dignity as there was for the Albanians in 1999. The Serbs
and Roma who wish to return have to be vetted by a process at both
municipal and UNMIK level which has nothing to do with choice or the
internationally accepted right of return.
The proposed standard of the proper functioning of, and respect for,
the rule of law is still far from established in Kosovo with the bulk
of crimes, including murder, committed in Kosovo since June 1999
unsolved. For instance, no one has ever been charged with any of the
90 murders committed in Western Kosovo in 2001 alone. As regards
dialogue with Belgrade no serious attempt has been made to initiate
meaningful discussions with a view to normalising relations. The first
meeting between Belgrade and Pristina in Vienna in October 2003 was in
the opinion of most internationals I have spoken to, little more than
a cosmetic exercise with no serious intent to tackle the most pressing
issues; the fact that the Pristina PISG did not even attend
demonstrated how important a priority it was for them.
From almost the first moment that UNMIK moved into Kosovo in June 1999,
a process of "Kosovarisation" was set in place. One example was the
sending home of non-Albanian employees of the electricity company KEK
in June 1999 by KFOR with the promise that they could reapply for
their jobs within three weeks. To date none has been reinstated. In
addition, almost all non-Albanian, and in particular Serb staff, have
been ejected from the hospitals, public services and from Pristina
University, schools and colleges.
More sinister still are remarks reputedly made on several occasions in
2000 by the then head of EU Pillar II, part of the UNMIK
administration, who stated in front of many witnesses that Serbian
would never again be spoken in Kosovo. Effectively, "Kosovarisation"
means "Albanisation" with all traces of non-Albanian presence in
Kosovo eradicated.
As recently as October 2003, a leading official in the Housing and
Property Directorate (HPD) admitted to me that in the absence of an
effective system of law and order and where intolerance, terrorism and
organised crime are the 'order of the day', the effect of HPD's
decisions has been to ethnically cleanse Kosovo by economic means. In
the experience of this official, Serbs and other non-Albanians who
dealt with HPD stayed in Kosovo just long enough to sell their
property and leave.
It must be kept in mind that since Kosovo came under UNMIK and KFOR
administration over two thirds of the non-Albanian population has been
expelled and 112 Serb Orthodox churches have been destroyed.
Effectively, this means that 112 villages have ceased to exist, given
the Orthodox Christian tradition of communities developing around the
local ecclesiastical centre. The expulsion of the population is
accompanied by the destruction of the church to eradicate all traces
of their ever having been there and to discourage their return. This is
not the "balance sheet" of a successful international intervention in
the name of justice and democracy.
Now, Kosovo is to all intents and purposes a mono-ethnic, mono-cultural
inward-looking society. The structures set in place by UNMIK have all
but precluded the possibility of non-Albanians receiving anything
approaching fair treatment. As part of the "Kosovarisation" process,
aid to Kosovo was and is systematically and exclusively aimed at the
ethnic Albanian population. The few 'crumbs' that have fallen to
non-Albanian communities still resident in Kosovo are provided on
condition that they form part of a multi-ethnic package which must
involve the majority Albanian population. This leads to the impossible
situation where to provide aid to Serb enclaves for instance, projects
must also help the surrounding Albanian communities whereas aid to
ethnic Albanians has never been tied to the conditionality of
multi-ethnicity. More than one international has commented to me that
the idea of 'multi-ethnicity' is now nothing more than a tool to stop
minorities from receiving aid.
Today, according to cadastral records, 60 % of the arable land in
Kosovo belongs to Serbs yet little or none of it can be accessed
safely by them and much of it has been illegally occupied and built
upon. In towns and cities, many Serb-owned properties have been
illegally occupied or destroyed. To give but one example; German KFOR
troops in Prizren have been occupying several Serb-owned properties
for over four years now but they have refused to pay rent or offer any
compensation to the rightful owners. It is now some four and a half
years since UN Resolution 1244 was passed and UNMIK took over
responsibility for running Kosovo. In this time Kosovo has become
almost completely Albanised and the future of non-Albanian communities
in the province remains bleak. In the face of all this, the so-called
standards that the authorities in Kosovo claim to be working towards,
are little more than empty words. Such empty words cannot hide the
fact that the Kosovo established under the auspices of UNMIK and KFOR
is an undemocratic, lawless society where organised crime and
terrorism flourish and where not only the non-Albanian population but
any traces of non-Albanian culture are critically endangered.
It is distressing to contemplate the human tragedy concerning the
expulsion of 270,000 people from their homes but this is compounded by
the self-congratulatory tone of statements from those encharged with
the administration of Kosovo whose pronouncements bear little
resemblance to the reality of the situation. Where else in the world
would the destruction of a unique and irreplaceable cultural heritage
go largely unnoticed by the western media and be ignored by the
governing authorities? The Orthodox churches of Kosovo, many of which
date back to medieval times, contained some of the finest examples of
Byzantine architecture and Christian religious art. One might ask 'Why
such a systematic effort not only to drive out the present Serb
population of Kosovo but to destroy their churches?' Could it be that
the existence of distinctly Serb Orthodox churches dating from as far
back as the 11th and 12th centuries would prove awkward for exponents
of the "Kosovarisation" process and the theory that Kosovo was
originally Albanian?
The first 'Standard' one should adhere to is 'Truth', however truth in
Kosovo, to paraphrase the well known words of US Senator Hiram Johnson
(1917), has become the first casualty.
SOURCE: ERP-KIM InfoService - January 6, 2004
Copyright 2004 ERP-KIM InfoService
Posted for Fair Use only.
Reproduced at:
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/erpkim010603b.htm
direttamente gli effetti della politica di apartheid razzista praticata
in Kosmet da ONU e NATO a partire dal 1999, e l'ha riassunta in una
lettera inviata ad un giornale...]
Kosovo Standards and Not-So-Hidden Aid Agenda
From almost the first moment that UNMIK moved into Kosovo in June 1999,
a process of "Kosovarisation" was set in place. One example was the
sending home of non-Albanian employees of the electricity company KEK
in June 1999 by KFOR with the promise that they could reapply for
their jobs within three weeks. To date none has been reinstated. In
addition, almost all non-Albanian, and in particular Serb staff, have
been ejected from the hospitals, public services and from Pristina
University, schools and colleges.
Letters
By Henry Braesal
(the following text is a contribution from one of our international
readers in Kosovo who is employed in UNMIK)
Having visited Kosovo many times since the year 2000, I have often been
struck by the disparity between what is said and what is done by those
whose responsibility it is to administer the province in accordance
with Resolution 1244. Most recently, the United Nations Mission in
Kosovo (UNMIK) has put forward eight "standards" to be met in Kosovo's
road to development and before its future status is finally determined.
The logical presumption is that the procedures to ensure that these
standards are met, should be fair, transparent and equitable, along
the lines of the best traditions of western democracy. However, the
reality is very different. As regards the standard of good governance,
the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government (PISG) and the local
municipal structures have failed to exercise the powers devolved to
them in a just, democratic fashion. Many of the elected
representatives who now form the PISG and municipal structures not only
have no experience in governance but were directly connected with the
Kosovo Liberation Army responsible for expelling 270,000 persons in
1999 - 2000 and also for the continuing campaign of intimidation and
violence against non-Albanian elements of Kosovo society.
Furthermore, the failure of the international community to facilitate
the return of the non-Albanian communities who were expelled from
Kosovo in the wake of the arrival of international peacekeeping troops
KFOR (and the withdrawal of Serbian military and civil authorities),
brings into question the true meaning of the standards being proposed.
Many internationals who work in Kosovo that I have spoken to, are
convinced that statements from both UNMIK and the PISG encouraging
return are merely "tokenism", paying lipservice to the right of return
for the sake of international acceptability but in reality covering up
the deliberate and systematic obstruction of return to Kosovo by Serbs
and other non-Albanians. In fact, returns is not a demand-driven
process, as there is no free choice for the displaced to return in
safety and dignity as there was for the Albanians in 1999. The Serbs
and Roma who wish to return have to be vetted by a process at both
municipal and UNMIK level which has nothing to do with choice or the
internationally accepted right of return.
The proposed standard of the proper functioning of, and respect for,
the rule of law is still far from established in Kosovo with the bulk
of crimes, including murder, committed in Kosovo since June 1999
unsolved. For instance, no one has ever been charged with any of the
90 murders committed in Western Kosovo in 2001 alone. As regards
dialogue with Belgrade no serious attempt has been made to initiate
meaningful discussions with a view to normalising relations. The first
meeting between Belgrade and Pristina in Vienna in October 2003 was in
the opinion of most internationals I have spoken to, little more than
a cosmetic exercise with no serious intent to tackle the most pressing
issues; the fact that the Pristina PISG did not even attend
demonstrated how important a priority it was for them.
From almost the first moment that UNMIK moved into Kosovo in June 1999,
a process of "Kosovarisation" was set in place. One example was the
sending home of non-Albanian employees of the electricity company KEK
in June 1999 by KFOR with the promise that they could reapply for
their jobs within three weeks. To date none has been reinstated. In
addition, almost all non-Albanian, and in particular Serb staff, have
been ejected from the hospitals, public services and from Pristina
University, schools and colleges.
More sinister still are remarks reputedly made on several occasions in
2000 by the then head of EU Pillar II, part of the UNMIK
administration, who stated in front of many witnesses that Serbian
would never again be spoken in Kosovo. Effectively, "Kosovarisation"
means "Albanisation" with all traces of non-Albanian presence in
Kosovo eradicated.
As recently as October 2003, a leading official in the Housing and
Property Directorate (HPD) admitted to me that in the absence of an
effective system of law and order and where intolerance, terrorism and
organised crime are the 'order of the day', the effect of HPD's
decisions has been to ethnically cleanse Kosovo by economic means. In
the experience of this official, Serbs and other non-Albanians who
dealt with HPD stayed in Kosovo just long enough to sell their
property and leave.
It must be kept in mind that since Kosovo came under UNMIK and KFOR
administration over two thirds of the non-Albanian population has been
expelled and 112 Serb Orthodox churches have been destroyed.
Effectively, this means that 112 villages have ceased to exist, given
the Orthodox Christian tradition of communities developing around the
local ecclesiastical centre. The expulsion of the population is
accompanied by the destruction of the church to eradicate all traces
of their ever having been there and to discourage their return. This is
not the "balance sheet" of a successful international intervention in
the name of justice and democracy.
Now, Kosovo is to all intents and purposes a mono-ethnic, mono-cultural
inward-looking society. The structures set in place by UNMIK have all
but precluded the possibility of non-Albanians receiving anything
approaching fair treatment. As part of the "Kosovarisation" process,
aid to Kosovo was and is systematically and exclusively aimed at the
ethnic Albanian population. The few 'crumbs' that have fallen to
non-Albanian communities still resident in Kosovo are provided on
condition that they form part of a multi-ethnic package which must
involve the majority Albanian population. This leads to the impossible
situation where to provide aid to Serb enclaves for instance, projects
must also help the surrounding Albanian communities whereas aid to
ethnic Albanians has never been tied to the conditionality of
multi-ethnicity. More than one international has commented to me that
the idea of 'multi-ethnicity' is now nothing more than a tool to stop
minorities from receiving aid.
Today, according to cadastral records, 60 % of the arable land in
Kosovo belongs to Serbs yet little or none of it can be accessed
safely by them and much of it has been illegally occupied and built
upon. In towns and cities, many Serb-owned properties have been
illegally occupied or destroyed. To give but one example; German KFOR
troops in Prizren have been occupying several Serb-owned properties
for over four years now but they have refused to pay rent or offer any
compensation to the rightful owners. It is now some four and a half
years since UN Resolution 1244 was passed and UNMIK took over
responsibility for running Kosovo. In this time Kosovo has become
almost completely Albanised and the future of non-Albanian communities
in the province remains bleak. In the face of all this, the so-called
standards that the authorities in Kosovo claim to be working towards,
are little more than empty words. Such empty words cannot hide the
fact that the Kosovo established under the auspices of UNMIK and KFOR
is an undemocratic, lawless society where organised crime and
terrorism flourish and where not only the non-Albanian population but
any traces of non-Albanian culture are critically endangered.
It is distressing to contemplate the human tragedy concerning the
expulsion of 270,000 people from their homes but this is compounded by
the self-congratulatory tone of statements from those encharged with
the administration of Kosovo whose pronouncements bear little
resemblance to the reality of the situation. Where else in the world
would the destruction of a unique and irreplaceable cultural heritage
go largely unnoticed by the western media and be ignored by the
governing authorities? The Orthodox churches of Kosovo, many of which
date back to medieval times, contained some of the finest examples of
Byzantine architecture and Christian religious art. One might ask 'Why
such a systematic effort not only to drive out the present Serb
population of Kosovo but to destroy their churches?' Could it be that
the existence of distinctly Serb Orthodox churches dating from as far
back as the 11th and 12th centuries would prove awkward for exponents
of the "Kosovarisation" process and the theory that Kosovo was
originally Albanian?
The first 'Standard' one should adhere to is 'Truth', however truth in
Kosovo, to paraphrase the well known words of US Senator Hiram Johnson
(1917), has become the first casualty.
SOURCE: ERP-KIM InfoService - January 6, 2004
Copyright 2004 ERP-KIM InfoService
Posted for Fair Use only.
Reproduced at:
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/erpkim010603b.htm