Renewed conflict in Kosovo: Bankrupt Serbian nationalism is still virulent

By Christophe Chiclet, Le Monde diplomatique, November 1997

A brief history of the Kosovo region of Serbia from 1389 to the present, with the acute difficulty of its 90% Albanian community and growing signs of irredentism.

The Kosovo region of Serbia, inhabited by 1.8 million Albanians who form almost 90 % of its total population, has served as a laboratory for Greater-Serbian nationalism since 1989 and is a key component of the Albanian question.

Kosovo was the birthplace of medieval Serbia. It was here, at the battle of Kosovo Polje on 15 June 1389, that the Ottoman Empire finally vanquished the Serbian kingdom. Serb nationalists claim the province was Albanised and Islamicised under the Turkish yoke. But it was also one of the strongholds of the Albanian national revival in the 19th century, and Albanians see it is an integral part of the Albanian nation.

Mindful of the Albanian demonstrations of 1968 and fearing a resurgence of Serb nationalism, Marshal Tito imposed autonomy for Kosovo in 1974. In 1981 Kosovar demonstrators, demanding the status of a fully fledged republic within the Yugoslav Federation, clashed violently with the Yugoslav police.

One of the first decisions taken by Serbia's new boss, Slobodan Milosevic, was to repeal Kosovo's autonomy and station troops throughout the province. The institutional, political, cultural and social rights of the Albanians were abolished. Hundreds of thousands of Kosovars were interrogated, thousands arrested and several dozen killed.

Throughout 1991 and 1992, under the guidance of the pacifist Ibrahim Rugova, the Albanians of Kosovo built up an alternative society comprising a presidency, a government, a parliament, schools, universities and dispensaries. This was followed by a unilateral declaration of independence and the establishment of diplomatic representation in Tirana. The pragmatic leaders of the Democratic League managed to avoid direct confrontation with Belgrade and eventually took advantage of the Dayton agreements to loosen the Serbian grip. On 2 September 1996 Mr Rugova and Mr Milosevic signed an agreement to reopen schools and universities in exchange for abstention by the Albanians in the Yugoslav elections. It was the failure to implement the terms of this compromise that gave rise to last month's student demonstrations, which were savagely broken up by the police. For the last two years hardline nationalists in Belgrade have been campaigning for the partition of Kosovo, with the east to be annexed by Serbia and the west to remain independent or be incorporated into Albania.

The present stalemate is working to the advantage of opponents of Mr Rugova's pacifist line who have founded a Kosovo Liberation Army and want to fight it out. If the region explodes, the neighbouring Republic of Macedonia, already struggling to contain the irrendentism of an Albanian minority backed directly by Albania, is likely to break up.