Politika, March 4th 1999
Juan Pablo Cordoba Elias

As in the big movies, it seams it's not hard to understand the action: Kosovo - Serbian province, Yugoslav major republic - was for decades now, especially during last year, the battlefield of ethnic-religious conflicts between two political factors: rebelled Albanian groups, which represent the majority in the region, and Serbian military forces.

Since the beginning of nineties, the rebels have considered that zone the republic of Kosovo, where they represent the majority of 2.100.000 citizens, and their goal is creation of an independent state. As a difference to that, Serbs are calling the same territory the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohia and are against the independence of that region.

In order to comprehend the political essence of the conflict, one should keep in mind the fact that neither good nor evil is always complete.

It's not a question of ordinary local conflicts or instability that they are provoking in Yugoslavia. It's about a real possibility of expanding the war beyond Yugoslav borders. In this conflict between ethnic groups and religious elements, the essential part have political games in the process in which are also included NATO, so-called Contact Group (France, Great Britain, Italy, Germany, Russia) and one actor in the group that is acting for its own benefit: USA.

Involvement of the European and Asian powers in the conflict, failure of the peace negotiations on Middle East, suspicious "on time" catching of Kurdish leader Abdul Odzalan, expensive OUN silence, and, finally, NATO and US Government using time, benefit to the doubt that there are also other actors and interests involved in the show whose scenario is being altered from day to day. In 1389 Ottoman Turks occupied Kosovo, which was at the time a political center of Serbian Empire, strategic bridge between Asia and Middle East and a place where the most significant churches and monasteries were located. To permit the independence of Kosovo, in Serbian mind would mean not only to give up the religious obligation but also to abandon the task that originates from their entire cultural past.

Kosovo represents a strategic zone for terrorism and drug trade. Terrorists are trained in Albania in Ljabinot and Kuks as well as in the military schools in the municipality of Bayram Curri, that borders on Yugoslavia. It is also known that the training camps exist in Libane, near Elbasan, Surca on the mountain Dajti, and some other on Kosovo itself, for example Prizren, but also outside Kosovo, as well as in Montenegro, Macedonia and Sweden.

From the ideological point of view, Albanian terroristic organizations arose from the military ultra-left wing. For example, the oldest movement, so-called "National liberation of Kosovo" originated from four previously separate secret organizations: "National liberation movement", "Marxian-Leninist organization of Kosovo", "Communist Marxian-Leninist party of Albanians in Yugoslavia" and "National red front".

It is well known that this terroristic internal structure was supported by Albanian communist leader Enver Hoxha - died in 1985 - and former Albanian president Sali Berisa. Most of people recruited in Balkans are conservative villagers - descendants of "balists", famous Albanian fascists who, together with Italians, fought against Serbs during World War II.

If we add to all this the fact that the terrorists are mostly Moslems, it seams that things are getting quite another dimension.

Commanding center of so-called "Kosovo Liberation Army" (KLA) is consisted of military and police forces that self proclaimed republic of Kosovo tried to create until 1992 as its own constitutional forces.

Both organizations, "National Kosovo liberation movement" and "Liberation Army" are typical terroristic organization by their organized structure, with leaders outside Kosovo and Metohia.

It is considered that there are around 6.000 trained terrorists on Kosovo and Metohia, and that 3.000 more are on the training courses in Albania, Turkey and western part of Germany. The Intelligence center of the "liberation army" - located somewhere in the region near Pristina - is not only in charge of Kosovo and Metohia but also all the places in Former Yugoslavia inhabited by Albanians.

Among Albanian terrorists are also foreign mercenaries from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Egypt, Malaysia and other Islamic countries. Muslims with radical determination are supporting Albanian terroristic machinery, not only through participation in their terroristic activities but also supplying them with arms and offering appropriate training (among terroristic instructors there are also Turks and Chechens). From their side, Iran as well as Sudan are delivering arms.

Terroristic organizations are following such a model of warfare whose political goal is secession, and which, as an Islamic factor, applies the famous "hamas" tactic - carefully planned terroristic attacks. It's not by accident that Drenica and the region of Metohia were chosen for the terroristic center, regarding the fact that the largest part of Metohia borders on Albania, where the first and strongest logistic support to their cause is expected.

In the beginning of February this year, the Italian press has discovered that the heroin market in Lombardy is controlled by Kosovo Albanians. Those smugglers are not 'laundering' money but directly transferring it to "KLA" on Kosovo and Metohia and partly to Switzerland in order to finance arming of "KLA".

During 1998 the police in charge of the struggle against narcotics from Genoa and Hungary has been warning that Albanians are controlling 80 percent of heroin market in their countries. Last year, in Czech Republic, the police broke up one Albanian gang smuggling narcotics, arresting 16 persons who had 40.000 hidden doses of heroin around 300.000 DEM worth.

Russian statements of support to Milosevic are being ignored, while at the same time Contact Group admits that NATO has about 400 battle airplanes ready, including 8 British bombers B-52 and 12 Italian F-117. In reality, the entire NATO troops are including 260 American airplanes, while 4 battleships with cruising rackets "Tomahawk" are also from the USA.

Within all that, what is noticeable is that a military disposing is underway, and somebody will have to pay for it one day.

The basic problem regarding Kosmet Albanians is that unacceptable conditions are being set - NATO military disposing in this zone and possibility of establishing a transitional period with referendum on eventual independence after three years as goal.

Possibility of foreign intervention, whether NATO or USA, would only lead to cohesion of Serbian nationalism, for those who doubt all that it should be enough to mention wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the siege of Sarajevo.

Failure of the discussion in Rambouillet, France, is an introduction to the new migration wave, which benefits to regional disintegration as well as to stimulating xenophobic elements present in the conflict.

Europe is one more time showing its incapability, as in the question of unity and regional balance within its own zone of influence as in the relation to the creation of mutual foreign policy in accordance to the interests of the continent.

Beside that it is obvious that nobody is considering appropriate the consequences that would come from the support to independence of Kosovo: that would be oxygen for internal extremism and project of "Great Albania".

That is the new international order, within which Kosovo factor is exclusively the insert in the film announced by the fall of socialist project and, for the absentminded, shown this year, 1999, for the first time.