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"Beleaguered and Somber"
  22 November 1999

<< http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/europe/112299kosovo-chaos.html
>>

(( It appears from the dateline below that the NYTC has unilaterally
decided that K-4 is not to be handed back to Yugoslavia.  The vowel on
the end (as also "Pristina" rather than "Prishtina") reveals that the
place won't be handed over to its inhabitants either.  Apparently the
status quo is just the ticket, despite various little problems mentioned
in the story.  But possibly I overinterpret.

(( Anyway, "problems" are always relative to the particular organism, as
St. John D. teacheth.  You can think of this situation as, say, "The
Twilight of Doctor Kouchner" if _Weltschmerz_ amuses you, but why not
put on rose-colored spectacles and salute the Dawn of Dilbertaria?  Why
not let the Wicked State go smash and see what sort of omelette
develops? ))

Chaos and Intolerance Now Reign in Kosovo Despite U.N.'s Efforts
  By STEVEN ERLANGER

PRISTINA, Kosovo -- Five months after NATO forces moved in to take
absolute control of Kosovo, there is little electricity and an
inconstant water supply, the streets are full of garbage, traffic is in
chaos without working stoplights or police direction, few cars have
license plates, and no one has new identity papers.

Hundreds of thousands of Albanians driven out by the Serbs have returned
from refugee camps, and the Serbian and Gypsy minorities continue to be
harassed and attacked. The United Nations government here, starved of
funds by the countries that fought and won the war, is unable to pay
salaries even to the public employees it is supposed to control.

Justice is rare and court trials nearly nonexistent, so few are
punished; robberies, apartment thefts, extortion and even murders take
place with near impunity, some of it a function of organized crime.
There are only 1,700 international police officers so far to provide
daily security, and the patrols of the NATO-led peacekeeping force are
generally static and unaggressive.

The burning of Serbs' homes takes place almost daily in an organized
fashion, increasing the pressure on the Serbian minority to flee the
province or ghettoize itself in enclaves, surrounded by hostile
Albanians who remember their own years of repression.

President Clinton, who will arrive in Kosovo for a few hours on Tuesday
to thank American troops and wish them a happy Thanksgiving at their
huge and heavily secured base, Camp Bondsteel, will see little of
today's Kosovo.

(( Aha! There had to be a special reason the NYTC would bore us with
this particularly forgettable little rathole. ))

The reality of revenge and intolerance is eroding the United Nations'
goal of multiethnicity, and the only multiethnic organization actually
functioning in any way is the nascent police force, where a few of the
170 or so cadets graduated thus far are Serbs or members other
minorities. It would be wonderful enough, officials say, if the people
here would simply stop killing one other or turning away as others kill,
and manage at least to live side by side. But no one expects that happy
prospect any time soon.

The United Nations' special representative on human rights in the former
Yugoslavia, Jiri Dienstbier, a former Czech dissident and foreign
minister, reported this month that "the spring ethnic cleansing of
ethnic Albanians accompanied by murders, torture, looting and burning of
houses has been replaced by the fall ethnic cleansing of Serbs, Romas,
Bosniaks and other non-Albanians accompanied by the same atrocities."

"Our problem," he continued, "is that now this is happening in the
presence of Unmik, KFOR and the O.S.C.E." The organizations behind those
missions here -- the United Nations, NATO and the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe -- represent nations that for years
criticized President Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia for his harsh
repression of Kosovo's Albanians.

(( Some people like this J.D. need to rein in their superegos if they
are to keep their sanity in an alien and bewildered world.  Why should
our spotless Natoholics blame themselves for anything?  Their presence
is not the cause of anything bad, is it?  I mean, they just happen to be
standing there. _Post hoc sed non propter hoc_.  "We meant well." ))

There are vivid signs of rebuilding, of the reconstruction of houses and
the rapid development of small businesses, especially in the major
towns, where foreign workers now based in Kosovo are flush with cash.
Those foreign aid workers are giving vital food and help in countless
ways -- providing emergency shelter and 900,000 meals a day, for
instance, in a province believed to contain about 1.4 million people
now. But despite the presence of as many as 55,000 foreigners -- 42,000
of them peacekeeping troops -- the energy one sees comes from the
Albanians themselves, with access to money of their own or of relatives
abroad, and not from international efforts.

(( Is this still the same story?  A most unexpected modulation from
minor to major.  But, like late Schubert, SE is going to modulate right
back where he came from in the next paragraph: ))

Criticism of the situation here comes from Albanians, Serbs and many
international agencies, and the mood among the staff of the United
Nations Mission in Kosovo, the transitional government run by Bernard
Kouchner, is beleaguered and somber.

Baton Haxhiu, the editor in chief of the Albanian newspaper Koha Ditore,
said bluntly: "I'm depressed that after 10 years of sanctions, Serbia is
building bridges, and apartments have electricity and water, and we have
42,000 Western soldiers and police and 335 aid agencies, and we don't
have the basics of a state -- no justice, no security, no electricity,
no water and no identity documents.  It's alarming."

(( Let our own loons and anarchos mark those sinister identity documents
in particular.  Or rather the demand for them.  _Koha Ditore_, as they
no doubt remember, is the voice of wimpish moderation.  Naturally its
staff would find the Brave New Disorder unpleasing.  They're just
chicken. ))

Linda Gusia, a young Albanian who works as a translator, said: "You sit
in your apartment with little electricity or water and look out the
window at the traffic, and it's a chaos. The United Nations has not
spent all the glory of NATO's victory yet -- people still view them as
saviors. But if they don't produce soon, they will spend all the glory.
People want civic structures here and a normal life. People don't
understand simple things, like why the police don't get out and direct
traffic when there's no electricity."

(( As JTK might ask, "What would give the police any right to direct
traffic?"  Surely not the absence (or presence) of electricity!  Animal
magnetism might do, though. ))

Kouchner and his aides say that work is going ahead to fix the
dilapidated and badly maintained generators in Kosovo, which they took
over from the peacekeeping force a month ago, and to secure more power
from abroad. They promise that power and water supplies will be close to
regular by mid-December, if not before. A second mobile telephone system
will be set up.

They are waiting for governments to provide more police officers, as
promised; Kouchner wants 6,000. The registration of citizens, which must
happen before Kouchner can even contemplate any kind of elections, is
planned, but not yet financed.

The registration of cars will start soon. They are trying to get more
Albanian and Serbian judges to work, and will bring in some
international jurists to help.

(( Study international law for twenty years, then go to K-4 and help
register automobiles!  Well, at least we learn what the Natoholics think
I.L. is practically good for. ))

Their main problem, they say, is less their own inefficiency -- which
they admit is real, but insist is diminishing -- than the simple lack of
financial support from the same Western alliance that won the war.

"Governments are always tired of giving money," Kouchner said,
especially for unglamorous ends like paying salaries. "But this is the
first time that we are in charge of a country, and we have to rebuild
the whole administration from nothing, and we need a minimum budget to
pay for public services and salaries."

(( Advanced exercise: specify the exact antecedent of the Kouchnerian
"we." ))

It is ridiculous, Kouchner says, that he is able to pay doctors, lawyers
and teachers a stipend in lieu of salary of only about $170, and that
not even every month as promised, but every other month -- far from
enough to feed a family.

(( If he can't afford the upkeep on his province, perhaps Dr. K. should
sell it to Bill Gates or somebody like that who can. ))

There have been long and bitter discussions between Pristina and
European and American officials about how to get the $25 million needed
to cover this year's shortfall, and the estimated $150 million gap in
next year's budget for the United Nations mission in Kosovo.

"That's the price of half a day's bombing," a senior United Nations
official said with real rancor in his voice. "The West has got to invest
in the peace or this place will fail. And no one wants it to fail more
than Slobodan Milosevic."

(( Not a fair criticism.  Bombing is something "we" are *good* at,
whereas "our" technique of colonial administration has been allowed to
grow rusty. ))

[A donor's conference of Western governments on Kosovo on Nov. 17
produced a pledge of $1 billion in aid for reconstruction for next year
-- but only $88 million to cover the budget for the United Nations
mission, just half of what is needed.  And officials said any funds
would arrive too late to make a real impact this year, when moods, and
public services, are at a nadir.]

(( No traffic cops today, but there'll be jam tomorrow ))

Besides money, Kouchner said, his biggest concern is security for the
minority population, especially the Serbs, who are believed now to
number 60,000 to 70,000 in Kosovo, senior officials say, down from
perhaps 200,000 to 250,000 two years ago.

Since not every Serb can be protected, Albanian efforts to drive them
out of cities like Pristina, Pec and Prizren have largely succeeded,
with perhaps 600 Serbs left in Pristina and fewer in the other two
towns. In Podujevo, officials say, two or three elderly Serbs remain,
their apartments guarded around the clock.

(( Perhaps they could be stuffed and installed in a Museum of Diversity
permanently? ))

Senior officers with the NATO force acknowledge problems, but one said
bluntly, "Our major problem is to wait for the civilian side to catch
up."

(( Miles Gloriosus is no doubt busy keeping the Miloshevite hordes out
of the chicken coop up north.  Or something. ))

The officer said the force, known as KFOR, "can't build a judicial
system, and it can't issue identity documents," adding: "We can detain
people and bring them to a local magistrate and get them held for six
months, but they have to have a trial, and they don't exist. There has
to be a process through a system."

(( The military don't do system!  That must explain why the
Dilbertarians have that soft, mushty spot for them in their otherwise
flinty hearts.  I never thought of it, but now the reason for the
apparent inconsistency is obvious.  Military operations are
entropy-friendly.  A revelation. ))

The officer decried apparent Western governmental delay and fatigue,
saying, "Kosovo has not become the quiet and happy place the world
community expected."

(( Quiet is all "we" really need.  Hush up at once, Steve Erlanger! ))

In an echo of feuds between foreign military and civilian officials
overseeing Bosnia, senior KFOR officers blame the United Nations for
being slow to punish crimes, while United Nations officials here say the
NATO force could also patrol more aggressively, especially in the
Italian and German sectors in western Kosovo.

"KFOR, with all its intelligence resources, must have better information
on those responsible for ethnic violence," an official said, but the
force will not share it with civilian authorities.

(( Is there anybody around who can both speak Albanian and be trusted by
the occupiers, whether civil and military?  A pedestrian consideration,
but I have a feeling it might be important. ))

United Nations officials and moderate Albanians note that the Serbian
atrocities of the last decade in Kosovo were a function of a modern
state and represented a form of state terrorism. The Albanian
atrocities, they say, show signs of at least local organization from
those who want all minorities out of Kosovo. But there is little
evidence of any order to that effect from former Kosovo Liberation Army
leaders like Hashim Thaci or Gen. Agim Ceku, who have both spoken
publicly, when asked to, in favor of tolerance.

(( My word.  Biting the visible hand!  Ayn Rand come to Turtle Bay!
Those "signs of at least local organization" mean that "our" liberatees
are starting to slip back down the slope again, but they seem to
recognize the danger.  When asked to. ))

But there is also little resistance to abuses against Serbs, a senior
United Nations official said. Among the Albanians, he said, "the voices
of moderation and tolerance are few and not representative, and they
themselves are under threat." He added, "Just watch the kids spitting on
Serbs or stoning them, and no one says a word."

(( That language gap again, perhaps? maybe "we" just don't know what
word to say. ))

Some Albanian newspapers, especially Bota Sot, are full of hate speech
directed at Serbs, Gypsies and even moderate Albanians, with even some
incitement to violence.

This month, in the American zone near Gnjilane, workers of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe discovered a leaflet
issued by the Kosovo Protection Corps, the new organization formed from
the supposedly disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army and intended to be
purely civilian, calling on all Albanians not to buy any Serbian
property.  Concerned United Nations officials provided a translation.

"With criminals," the appeal says, "we must exchange other things, not
buy our properties from them."  Those who do buy Serb property, the
leaflet says, are "completely irresponsible and anti-nation Albanian
speakers who are not freedom-loving people."

(( So far, so good.  I think our North American loons and anarchos can't
object to such voluntary non-association.  But "our" liberatees in the
Balkans run off the rails afterwards: ))

It warns: "Whoever does not respect our request will be put before
responsible authorities," adding that "it is known which are the
responsible authorities" -- clearly not KFOR or the United Nations.

(( clearly not anything Dilbertaria is likely to approve of ))

Senior United Nations and military officials also say that two detention
camps were discovered on the grounds of the Kosovo Protection Corps,
which is supposed to have no police functions, and that the camps
contained both Albanians and Serbs suspected of war crimes, some of whom
bore evidence of beatings.

And they note the killings of at least two local leaders of the party of
Ibrahim Rugova, a political rival to Thaci -- as a sign of increased
political intimidation among Albanians, about which foreigners here know
very little.

(( Language gap again? In any case, if there is so much ignorance going
around among the occupiers, who is to be sure what is "political
intimidation" and what is, for instance, assisted suicide? ))

The remaining Serbs, caught between Milosevic and angry Albanians, feel
especially threatened.

Father Sava, an aide to Bishop Artemije of the Serbian Orthodox Church,
has had to move from the Decani monastery near Pec, in western Kosovo,
to Gracanica, near Pristina, where there are more Serbs and better NATO
protection.

He says individual KFOR companies and soldiers have been excellent on a
local level, but failed to prevent retaliation against the Serbs,
Gypsies and other minorities. "They simply want to avoid military
confrontation with the Kosovo Liberation Army, and don't want them
becoming a terrorist organization that shoots them as they did
Milosevic's soldiers and police," he said.

More than 70 Serbian Orthodox churches, monasteries and holy places have
been damaged or destroyed since NATO forces arrived in June, he said,
including a dozen from the 14th and 15th centuries. The Church of the
Virgin Mary near Suva Reka, dating from 1315, has been leveled.

Father Sava acknowledges that the Serbs damaged or destroyed many
mosques during the war, and has forcefully repeated his and the church's
regrets for Serbian crimes against Albanians in Kosovo.

On Nov. 8, he told the United Nations radio here that he again wished
"to express my greatest regret for everything that was done by the
members of the Serbian people and special forces against Albanian
civilians, which is a very serious crime, but I also sincerely expect
that reasonable and honest Albanians would also raise their voice
against the violence we now witness in many cities of Kosovo, which are
almost cleansed of their non-Albanian population."

Father Sava also noted: "Now we can see that many Albanians would like
to stop the violence against Serbs, but they cannot, they are
intimidated, they are scared, as many Serbs felt before."

He, like Haxhiu and most Albanians, says the main problem of Kosovo is
criminal impunity. "If you behave like a criminal you should be brought
to court," Father Sava said. "But courts are not working, there's no
legal system, and this is a paradise for crime."

(( The tradition Throne-Altar combo struggles to reassert itself. ))

In an interview, Kouchner, an emotional man, spoke sadly about the
intolerance of a society traumatized by war and brutality.

He said he had approval from Secretary General Kofi Annan to try to
share government duties with local leaders, with himself retaining
ultimate power.  But even local elections seem far off -- maybe fall or
winter of next year.

It is difficult to get either the leaders or the people in both the
Albanian and Serbian populations to cooperate, Kouchner acknowledged.
"People from both communities are mostly unable to think about the
suffering of others, only about their own suffering."  It is more
understandable from the Albanians, he said, who do not always refuse
cooperation, but are suspicious.

(( Am I hearing right?  Did BK just say that naturally "we" would expect
Serbs to be more altruistic than Albanians?  But probably SE has glued
together two separate remarks in a misleading way. ))

"It is hard to come to help and find that you are perceived sometimes as
an enemy, and not just by the Serbs but also by the Albanians who we
came to defend," he said. "Every failure, every assassination, every
murder here is a victory for Milosevic."

(( "The buck stops in Belgrade."  A really remarkable pile of
horsefeathers, that one.  As if everything will be just fine in
Prishtina tomorrow if Slobodan the Vile dies of a heart attack this
afternoon.  One begins to understand the stories that many people in
Paris feel themselves well rid of Dr. Bernard Kouchner, that emotional
man. ))

== Yours, J. H. McDove ==  ... sobie spiewam a Muzom ... ==


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