The jig is up, time to waltz
Jerry Gallucci, who is an eloquent spokesman for the views of northern Kosovo Serbs, writes:
No matter what the Kosovo Albanians say to their internationals, the local Serbs do not believe that they will be allowed to remain in possession of the land, water and border with Serbia in the north should they be forced to accept Pristina law and control.
Let’s not dissemble. No one is intending to leave the local Serbs in control of the land, water and border with Serbia in the north. Under the agreement Belgrade and Pristina have signed onto, the local Serbs would govern themselves at the municipal level in most respects. Their property rights would be respected under Kosovo law. But sovereignty would clearly be exercised by Pristina, not by the locals or by Belgrade.
This means customs duties would be collected at the border. Pristina will manage the Gazivoda reservoir and other water resources. I assume this will be true also for the mines of the north. Whoever told the northerners that they would be allowed to walk off with most of Kosovo’s water supply and a good piece of its (so far as I know worthless) mining assets?
I get, as Jerry puts it, that in the north
the great majority simply refuse to accept rule from Pristina because they see it as eventually being used against them. They don’t trust NATO and the EU to remain and protect them.
They are correct. NATO will not be in Kosovo five years from now. The troop contributing countries want out. The EU likely won’t be there either. The EU rule of law mission has been extended only through mid-June 2014, but it isn’t very good at protecting anyone anyway.
In five years though, Kosovo can hope to be lining up to get candidate status and a date to start negotiations with the EU. So I fully expect the northern Serbs to find EU leverage used on their behalf, if need be.
Those whom Jerry describes as frightened and hating need to consider their serious options. They mock Pristina’s office in the north as “Potemkin,” but it is clearly intended to begin providing services there, and Pristina has made it clear it is prepared to expand economic development efforts in the north. Those who don’t want that are entitled to stay and vote their consciences, as Serbs south of the Ibar have done in recent years. Last time I passed through Štrpce/Shtërpcë there was a big sign painted in English on a rock at the entrance to town: “Kosovo Is Serbia” it read. Those Serbs who don’t want to stay should be entitled to leave. Belgrade should be prepared to absorb those who want to live under its rule.
Jerry describes the northern Serb resistance this way:
The northern Serb resistance so far has been almost entirely peaceful. Perhaps KFOR is simply more aware of the tensions in the north as the locals feel that they have been abandoned by their government as the price for EU admission.
KFOR knows better because of experience. Its soldiers have been injured. That’s one of the many reasons Chancelor Merkel decided she would not put up with the resistance any longer. And no one should doubt that northern Kosovo Serbs prevent return of Albanians, and exercise of UN and Pristina authority there, by the threat and use of force.
The truth is Belgrade has abandoned its claim of sovereignty over northern Kosovo as the price for beginning negotiations on EU admission, which won’t actually happen until after 2020. Making the best of this deal would require that serious people in the Serb communities of northern Kosovo sit down with the Pristina authorities, including Serb officials, and discuss the details, in order to ensure a smooth and peaceful transition.
The jig is up. Time to waltz.
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Daniel, why Pristina is so upset by the deal signed between Illinois based New Generation Power consortium and Serbian government on technical cooperation assuming that mining assets are worthless?
So you guarantee that Bondstill will not be there under the same purpose as now? I just don’t believe in that.
KFOR soldiers have been injured as they exercised powers which they were not within KFOR responsibilities (to secure implementation of Security council resolution 1244). UN Security council resolution 1244 does not mention KFOR support for ROSU neither Pristina’s authority over northern Kosovo.
New Kosovo never was meant to be multi ethnic society. They can write what ever they want in constitution but its implementation is completely different.
Which kind of multi ethnic society is Kosovo “`where the oppressed, once liberated, themselves oppress”?
Daniel maybe you know the answer?
Micha,
You are wrong. KFOR, in fact, did not fulfill entirely its mandate as paragraph 9 of UN SC resolution 1244 is VERY CLEAR in securing FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT so KFOR should have removed ALL barricades in the roads.
Kosovo IS multi-ethnic society in the level Serbs accept it. Pristina can’t impose force to the Serbs for accepting of rights they have. Pristina, for sure, can’t be blamed if Serbs do not accept having their rights.
Fadil, I was worrying about you, long time no see here. Freedom of movement, is that how you call it south of Ibar?
Yes of course there is freedom of movement south of river Ibar while, unfortunately, not in the north of Kosovo. I can’t go, for instance, in northern Kosovo with my car and RKS (Republic of Kosovo) plates because I would be hardly attacked by Serbian extremists there.
In other side, I see every day cars, trucks, buses with Serbian plates every part of Kosovo.
So if you see them why do you attack them with Molotov cocktails? http://tinyurl.com/o47yoqa
That much on freedom of movement south of Ibar.
I always appreciate Dan Serwer’s highlighting one of my pieces. And his titles are almost as glib as mine sometimes are. But I do have a few comments.
1. I did not talk about the local Serbs “control” over the north but their “possession,” in the sense of continued occupancy. They believe that Pristina would use its control to terminate their occupancy.
2. I wonder how Dan defines the “exercise” of sovereignty? How does one exercise a concept of territorial ownership? That is at the core of the northerners’ concerns – what actions would Pristina eventually take, especially after EULEX might leave. Would it “manage” the northern resources as it did the other social and public property in the south, through confiscation and unilateral sale irregardless of local interests? (Decentralization must include economic assets to be real decentralization.)
3. BTW. NATO and the UN cannot simply leave Kosovo as long as UNSCR 1244 remains unaltered. The EU’s departure would simply mean the UN would have to pick up the slack again.
4. NATO learned the hard way that the use of force does no good. The injuries to NATO were at its own instigation in using force against civilians for political purposes. (It is not even clear that some of the NATO injuries weren’t friendly fire. KFOR prevented a UN investigation into the matter. And the case of the Pristina ROSU policeman killed has never been clarified, including what he was doing in that Serb village during an aborted effort to seize the north.)
5. I am sure that no one in Kosovo wants to exercise their “right” to leave, as Dan suggests the Serbs might. What everyone wants is the right to stay.
I find Daniel’s comment about “those Serbs who don’t want to stay should be entitled to leave” very offensive assuming they are coming from somebody who is professor and working at US Institute of peace. Also from someone who might have been refugee himself in the past.
If those 14 farmers knew what would happen to them in 1999, they would have left Kosovo. However, they trusted KFOR and now they are dead. KFOR original mission was to protect all those in Kosovo regardless of their nationality and not to help Kosovo’s Albanians independence.
Trepca worthless??! Even after being exploited since Roman times it still has enormous reserves – of lead, zinc, cadmium, silver… (and apparently lithium, with isn’t usually listed). At its height it accounted for ~25% of regional (= Yugoslav?) industrial production. (Trepca radi, Beograd se gradi – Trepca works and Belgrade builds up, they said.) These days it’s probably even more valuable for the number of jobs it could generate – it once employed 23,000.
As a result of socialist economic principles Trepca received ongoing subsidies/investments (the ore was delivered to Slovenia at state-set prices, which sold the ore at world prices, and sent funds to Serbia for “investment” in Kosovo. And for building up Belgrade.) Its facilities may be derelict, but UNMIK in a 13-vol study concluded it was still “promising if not a golden goose.”
Serbia wants to pick and choose the pieces of Kosovo it retains – areas with majority Serb population, religious sites (preferably with the lands Serbian governments assigned to them over the years), the water supply, this major mining complex, ski resorts, … The Albanians can have whatever’s left. Until “conditions change,” and Serbia is able to recover its cradle/heart/Jerusalem in its entirety.
With the agreement for technical cooperation signed with an American company last week, the Belgrade government seems to think it has acquired powerful political protection in the U.S. that will help it improve its bargaining position,and that Prishtina will not be able to oppose it because of the number of jobs it could open up for both Serbs and Albanians. Despite the insinuations that this has Washington’s blessing, the Embassy in Prishtina says they had no dealings with the company, and the State Department says it told NGP, as it tells all companies interested in investing in Kosovo, that Serbia has no jurisdiction there.
Time to waltz? Maybe not yet – “The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing” said the Roman emperor. He may have had the Balkans in mind.
Amer, this is something that I agree with you, mining assets in Kosovo are not worthless as Daniel wrote.
Reading Mr Serwer’s post and Mr Gallucci’s comment, it’s clear that one thing has changed in thinking about the Kosovo north: the Pieter Feith-Christopher Dell myth of a Serb community intimidated by gangsters and their radical nationalist paid politicians into resisting peaceful integration into Kosovo, and that the problem there is simply one of liberating ordinary Serbs from their tyranny, is dead. Both Mr Serwer and Mr Gallucci agree that the northern Serbs’ loyalties and sense of identity are focused on Serbia while their fears and sense of enmity are focused on Kosovo, and therefore the problem in the north is that of overcoming the “general will” of an entire community. Where DS and JG differ is in how to accomplish this.
DS is indignant at the Serbs for feeling as they do, and reckons that they need to get their heads knocked together: cut off their funding, minimize their self-administration, move in lots of Albanians (while seemingly not bothering with moving back lots of Serbs), let them take their chance with EU protection against Albanian oppression (though perish the thought that there’ll be any), and if the Serbs don’t like it, let them move out.
JG is sympathetic to the Serbs, and reckons that they have to be treated with kid gloves: move slowly, maximize their self-government though definitely under Pristina’s sovereignty, give them a say in Albanians moving back in, don’t forget about moving back Serbs, and in dealing with Pristina in general, proceed on the basis of “trust, but verify.”
To me it seems that if the intention is to arrive at a situation where the Serbs live relatively comfortably within a national state that they ultimately don’t feel part of (the usual situation of minorities within nation-states) JG’s approach is the one to go with. If, on the other hand, the desire is to arrive at a situation where the government of what will be basically a Kosovo-Albanian nation-state has the usual powers of governments over its entire territory (which admittedly will leave open the possibility of making life uncomfortable for the Serbs), then DS’s line is the one to follow. (I think we can exclude the notion that Kosovo will ever be a multiethnic democracy all of whose citizens share in heartfelt Kosovar constitutional patriotism.)
For myself, I’m more sympathetic to a community that is being obliged to go where it doesn’t want to go than to the statesmen and stateswomen of powerful countries who have decided in their cabinets where that community is to go. Whatever happens, we can be certain of two things: it’ll be the statesmen’s and stateswomen’s fault, and they’ll blame the Serbs.
I don’t often reply to comments, as I figure I’ve already had my say. But this one so grossly distorts my views that in posting it I feel compelled to make that point: read me, not Gavin Lewis’ inaccurate account of me.
Daniel, with no offense, but you do recognize that is you who is he talking about in last paragraph of his post? Gawin has a valid point as you will always say “Kosovo Isn’t the Problem, Serbia Is”.
I have to admit that I did Mr Serwer an injustice. I was mainly struck by his call for “Belgrade to end the financing that makes resistance in northern Kosovo possible” (“Keep Going in the Right Direction”); his reference to “something like 10,000 Albanians who would like to return to homes north of the Ibar river” (“Pandora’s Box Opens Also in Serbia”) combined with no mention of the something like 4,000 Serbs in the north who would presumably like to return to homes south of the Ibar river (OSCE estimate); and his statements (here and “Done Deal, Now the Hard Part”) to the effect that Serbs who don’t want to stay should be allowed to leave (which I’m not the only one to find threatening, judging by other comments here).
On the other hand, I neglected to pay attention to Mr Serwer’s desire for “Pristina to make integration attractive” and that “elite pact-making” should be accompanied by “a broader peacebuilding process” (“Keep Going in the Right Direction”) that will end the separation between Albanian and Serb citizens. In view of this, I should have made clear that Mr Serwer’s integration scenario involves coaxing as well as bullying the northern Serbs.
But the bottom line is still that the northern Serbs will still be obliged to move in a direction that violates their legitimate loyalties and sense of identity as well, to be sure, as their illegitimate prejudices and sense of enmity. The precedents for disarmament of attitudes in such situations are not good. Nearly a century after they came under Italian rule, South Tyroleans refused to join in the 150th anniversary celebrations of Italy’s unification, in spite of enjoying a degree of autonomy that has been denied to the northern Serbs; after the same time span since they were assigned to Slovakia with less autonomy than will be allowed to the Serbs, Hungarians there make a point of speaking their language louder than necessary in confined public spaces, so that there can be no doubt about which nation they’re proud of belonging to.
Of course, neither the South Tyroleans and Hungarians nor the majority nations among whom they live have been subjected to the ministrations of NGOs, public diplomacy personnel, and aid-dispensing organizations to get them to change their minds about each other. Maybe that will do the trick, but it seems to me that the precedents (Bosnia? Israel-Palestine?) aren’t good here either. And after all, if a South Tyrolean/Hungarian-type situation of uneasy but peaceful and prosperous coexistence between separate nations in one state were to develop, that wouldn’t be so bad, would it?
I appreciate Micha Amareto’s coming to my defense, but I didn’t have Mr Serwer in mind with my last comment about the statesmen and stateswomen in their cabinets. I was thinking more of the actual decision makers in Washington, Bonn, Brussels, and other power centers. Mr Serwer presumably agrees with them on this issue, but I wouldn’t question his independence from them.
Professor Serwer done quite a bit for Kosovo’s independence. He done also more than a bit to demonize Serbs.
As far as I remember the original idea to occupy Yugoslavia came from him back in 1999?
How man like that can be impartial in his writings?
However, I am glad that people like Gerald Gallucci and Gawin Lewis see things differently.
People like Gallucci and Gawin just do something (without exaggeration) would be called racial approach. They, somehow, have fallen in love with the Kosovo northern Serbs and treat them as special specie.
The question of whether the Serbs in the North truly fear and despise the Albanians and their state or are being kept in line by the Serbian forces that Dacic just recently discovered have been present there all along may be moot, since it looks like Vucic at least has decided to whip their leaders into line. At the most recent meeting of the leaders and Vucic (the one with the photo showing the leaders leaving, looking like thunder), little time was spent on the Brussels agreement while they discussed (or Vucic talked to them about) new water systems and dumps, all to be paid for by Serbia.
This raises interesting possibilities that our ambassador to Canada might want to take up with Ottawa. Detroit, for example, would probably not object violently to a suggestion that their large southern neighbor (check the map) take a role in providing it with public utilities. Since Canada is only 5 times larger than Serbia and Detroit has 10 times the population of the 4 northern municipalities, Canada would not of course take over/fund all services. I imagine they’d forgo the police force entirely, being a sensible people. As a friendly gesture, Canada might even provide a few buffalo to graze the parts of the city that are slated to be returned to a state of nature. (On the other hand, if they really want to send a few Mounties, I personally would have no objection.)
Only problem with your ironic statement is Detroit never belonged to Canada were as the same cannot be said about Kosovo and Serbia.
On the other hand, how long will it be before Serbs start asking their government just why they’re investing in the infrastructure of a foreign country?
You are doing the same mistake as Gallucci – advocating a treatment of Kosovo northern Serbs as a special specie of planet Earth. Northern Serbs have such an offer something non imaginable for minorities in every part of planet Earth. But this is not enough for them!!! To be more strange it is not enough even for their advocates!!! A Serb from northern Kosovo may be elected as MP with just few votes or even without votes since he/she has RESERVED seat at Kosovo Assembly. He/she may speak in his/her mother tongue at Kosovo Assembly and in every part of Kosovo. A new municipality in Kosovo may be established once reaches just 5,000 inhabitants. They have local courts, police, educational system, health system entirely under their control. Can an Albanian in southern Serbia (although more in numbers then Serbs in northern Kosovo) imagine such situation???!!!
What is very strange to me is that when it comes to Albanians, for people like you, the math is different in favor of the Serbs. If there is 2+2=4 for Albanians then, according to you, it must be 2+2=100 for Serbs!!! I don’t understand this math!
This is a prime example of how twisted perceptions of some people are. The problem is not that Kosovo Serbs are not represented in the parliament of Kosovo–they don’t want to be part of it to begin with. They don’t wanna ‘speak their own language in Kosovo’s assembly’–this parliament has no influence over their daily lives. Forcing them into Kosovo’s institutional framework by Western powers will only create more problems. They do have their own health, education and what-not systems but not because of Kosovo’s government, but exactly because they refused to let go off them ever since after the war! In addition to this, they are paid by Serbia and not by Kosovo. So, before you start spilling your ‘bad Serbs vs. multi-ethnic Kosovo’ propaganda, at least try to make it less transparent.
Micha,
Don’t try to make a point with ONE case of stoning buses from some kids while being provoked by Serbs.
I am telling you the situation in EVERYDAY life. In everyday life no one can go in the north and and not being attacked from Serbian extremists if drives cars with Kosovo plates. Actually as for molotov cocktails, bombs and other weaponry, the north of Kosovo is very well known. Its hard having a week and no throwing bombs from Serbian extremists attacking those who “collaborate” with “fake state” – Kosovo. Some have very bad fate as a Bosniak from the north who died in an attack of Serbian extremists who punished him since he participated in Kosovo elections.
If you have proof for that you should inform Eulex who should be able to perform thorough investigation. Speculations don’t help.
How do you know they were provoked? You been there? Albanian journalist wrote this article, not any mentioning they were provoked.
You always find excuse for any crime committed by Albanians, shame.Does this qualifies you as hard core nationalist or a patriot?
I did not find excuse for what happen with the bus and attacked people. It was shameful act, although there were some provocations.
My point was that you tried to make the point by just one example. Just one case, two or three wont make you the point. I am telling you, every day people can see cars, trucks, buses with Serbian plates in Kosovo streets, south of river Ibar while no one can see cars, trucks, buses with Kosovo plates in northern Kosovo because of constant attacks from Serbian extremists, particularly the so called “bridge guards” in Mitrovica bridge.
“People like Gallucci and Gawin just do something (without exaggeration) would be called racial approach. They, somehow, have fallen in love with the Kosovo northern Serbs and treat them as special specie.”
You can not choose who you fall in love. You can either fall in love for someone or you pretend that you fall for someone in exchange for money. When you fall in love (for other reasons than money), you will feel very happy. In other case you can pretend that you are happy, but your love will not last forever, until next opportunity comes.
Micha,
I agree for your second option – “falling in love” for personal benefit. Just imagine such contradictory approach as Jerry Gallucci and others alike when by all of their energy deny Kosovo statehood while fighting very hard for just 3 municipalities in Kosovo, which have in total less inhabitants than medium size municipality in Kosovo. Some go so far that want self-determination for Kosovo northern Serbs but I am amazed why such rights is denied for much larger groups in Serbia, such as Hungarians, Bosniaks and Albanians??
Fadil, Galucci is not the one I meant to fall in love for personal benefit. It is directed to those supporters of independent Kosovo who trying to make case for Kosovo and they don’t succeed with their lousy arguments.
The only way how Serbs can feel safe from Albanians in Kosovo is to be separated from them, there are not any other option. So far Kosovo was not able to provide security for Serbs nor it will do in the future. Kosovo is not multi ethnic state (never meant to be) and it will never be, no matter what is written in you constitution.
Micha,
Sure, one may have realized your thoughts but reality is different.
As for Serbs “not being free” its just a kind of propaganda. The link I am providing shows you that your propaganda is baseless.
http://www.b92.net/info/vesti/index.php?yyyy=2013&mm=05&dd=22&nav_category=640&nav_id=716100
It tells about group of Serbs visiting Pristina and having chats with former neighbors – Albanians.
Nevertheless, when it come to separation, what would happen with Serbs in Strpce, Gracanica, Rahovec, Partes, Klokot, Novo Brdo?? How they can be “separated” from Albanians while being surrounded by them??
OK, your argumentation is so fallacious it is just ridiculous. So, when other commenter provides a link to a piece on bus being stoned and set to fire, that is not good enough for you and only amounts to anecdotal evidence. However, your link on this one visit proves that Kosovo is multiethnic and tolerant? Is that really your idea of an argument?
OK, take a look at this.
http://www.e-novine.com/srbija/vesti/84647-Kosovska-zastava-centru-Beograda.html
How tolerant Serbs must be, allowing Kosovo’s flag in their own capital? And how mean and vicious these Albanian students must have been, abusing Belgrade’s hospitality for their trivial, little, nationalistic ideals or, more likely, a really cool Facebook profile pic?
I think you should follow comments before you do reply. The link I provided is just ONE of many other cases of freedom of movement south of river Ibar. Freedom of movement IS NOT something common in the north as Serbian extremists attack everyone who does not follow their “rules”. This is the point that you don’t grasp.
Oh, I followed them. That is why I bothered to reply.