Workers World March 23, 2000: 'Every day KLA terrorists kill a Serb'

Email this article

------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the March 23, 2000 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------

Interview in Kosovo

'Every day KLA terrorists kill a Serb'

Following are excerpts from an interview with Zoran Andjelkovic, head of the Center for Peace and Tolerance in Kosovo. Michel Collon, correspondent of Solidaire, the weekly newspaper of the Workers Party of Belgium, conducted the interview in Yugoslavia on Feb. 20. It was translated from the French by Paddy Colligan.
MC: Was your Center for Peace and Tolerance created to defend the Serbs?
ZA: No, it was set up earlier than that--during the summer of 1998--to promote harmony among the various nationalities. Its first action, in September 1998, was to bring humanitarian aid to Albanians fleeing from the region of Decani because of confrontations between the separatist KLA and the police. We helped them go back to their homes.
MC: And since NATO occupied Kosovo?
ZA: The Serbs no longer had anyone to help them, not the government, nor the army, nor the police. They could only turn to KFOR. But when they called and asked for help, the Albanian interpreters immediately hung up the telephone.
MC: Are there still Serbs in Kosovo?
ZA: That varies by region. In the major cities of the south--Pec, Prizren, Decani--none. They have all been kicked out.
There are still a few villages that are completely isolated and encircled. And Orahovac, a big enclave, or let's call it a ghetto, where 2,000 Serbs are shut in and cut off from everything. Yesterday I learned that they burned down two houses, right inside the enclave.
The KLA wants to eliminate them completely; the Serb population has been cut in half in recent months. Near Gnjilane in the American sector, there are still a few hundred Serbs in the villages. Yesterday two were killed. They were shot in the back trying to go to a gas station.
Forty thousand Serbs were living in Pristina, the capital. Now there are scarcely 400, and they are forced to stay in their apartments because there have been a lot of murders.
Kosovska Mitrovica is now the only multi-ethnic city. It is the only region [about one-sixth of Kosovo] where the Serbs have managed to stay on. But the KLA wants to chase them out in order to complete "cleansing" the province.
MC: Also because this region has the rich mines of Trepca?
ZA: Of course. The mines are in the southern sector [Albanian] of Mitrovica. But the processing plants, which are essential, are in the north. The KLA wants to control everything.
MC: NATO declared that it wants to establish a multi-ethnic Kosovo.
ZA: I think it would take a major effort to move towards a multi-ethnic Kosovo. But they are not talking about a multi-ethnic Kosovo anymore.
[Interruption. He receives a call on his portable phone.] There it is! KFOR just took over the Serbian University of Mitrovica. They broke doors and windows, destroyed documents. A big demonstration by the KLA has been announced. I fear for the worst.
You know, there are people who were killed after I persuaded them to stay. That is terrible to live with.
MC: Doesn't KFOR protect the Serbs?
ZA: I took [British] General [Michael] Jackson to Serb gatherings many times. He listened to their grievances. But he has not taken care of one of their demands. KFOR would have been able to keep a lot of Serbs in Pristina just by protecting a hundred buildings. I asked him to. Jackson answered me: "I don't have enough soldiers to put in every building."
In reality, the decisions aren't made here, they are made in Washington.
MC: In sum, NATO hardly seems to be a "force for peace."
ZA: Today, no one is still talking about a political solution. But today the most basic rights of the Serbs are trampled on. Every day a Serb is killed by the KLA terrorists. Some 800 people have been kidnapped. How many of them has KFOR found? Not one.
MC: Is this because KFOR hasn't been able to control the KLA?
ZA: KFOR doesn't want to control the KLA. When the KLA was unable to kick the Serb workers out of the factories, it was KFOR itself that took care of it. It took control of the business "because of problems with the rules."
MC: Are the rivalries between the major Western powers being brought out as they try to corner the riches of Kosovo?
ZA: [Yes], the British, for example, have chosen to focus on the electric generating industry. Now they say that it would be too costly to invest there and they would rather appropriate the Mitrovica mines [in the French sector].
MC: What do you see for Kosovo's future?
ZA: [After a deep sigh] No one can answer that.

This article is copyright under a Creative Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
Support independent news http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)

HOME :: U.S. NEWS :: WORLD NEWS :: EDITORIALS :: SUBSCRIBE :: DONATE