This week UNMIK prevented Ali Kadriu, a resident of the district of Kroi i Vitakut in the northern part of the town of Mitrovica, from entering his house in order to start to rebuild it. Mr Kadriu’s house occupies a strategic position on the top of a hill above the town and it was destroyed by the Serb army during the war. The Serbian government has offered him 1.2 million euros to buy his property, but he has refused.

 

All of Kosova has been mesmerized by this man’s struggle to return to his own house because he has been prevented not just by Serbia, but by UNMIK.

On the first day, Mr Kadriu was stopped by UNMIK police. UNMIK officials, in a meeting they held with the villagers, stated that Mr Kadriu needs permission from UNMIK to enter his property and permission to begin any kind of external and internal rennovation. (here in Kosova the UN can even determine whether you paint your living room or not). When Mr Kadriu refused to turn back, a large crowd of Serbs arrived at the scene, demonstrating a dubious level of coordination with UNMIK police. On the second day, when Mr Kadriu tried to enter his property, he was met by a line of UNMIK riot police and he was arrested. Albanian riot police were also brought in to prevent him from entering his property. This is the first time that Albanian riot police have been allowed north of the river Ibër since independence – to deal with an Albanian. The end of this mini-crisis has been a half-hearted compromise in which Mr Kadriu was allowed to enter his shell of a house to clean it.

Just think for a moment of the occupation of the court house in the north of Mitrovica; of the burning of the border posts; of the occupation of the railways. Where were the hundreds of UNMIK riot police acting to prevent these actions? Where were they when Serbia illegally held elections inside Kosova on 11th May? Why are Albanian police allowed north of the Ibër to stop an old man entering his home, but not to police territory which is within the borders of Kosova? This incident has demonstrated quite clearly that it is Serbia which rules in the north of Kosova and with the agreement and cooperation of the UN.

This week, NATO Secretary–General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer made a brief visit to Kosova, followed by the British Foreign Secretary, David Milliband. The pressure is building on Kosova to reach another compromise. Having compromised on independence in Vienna, and accepted the Ahtisaari Plan, now Kosova is being asked to compromise on the Ahtisaari Plan and accept Ban Ki-moon’s institutional partition. On top of that, we are being asked to accept an EU mission (EULEX) which will manage and constitute the system of law and order in Kosova, but will not recognize our independence and thus the constitution. Apart from being absurd to ask a people to accept a security force which does not recognize its basic laws, this is impracticable. It means that governance in Kosova will become ever more complicated and Kosova’s development ever more impossible.

All of these compromises have been sought from Kosova in order to placate Serbia. The states which led the recognition process of Kosova’s independence and the Ahtisaari Plan, after 17th February did nothing to allow Kosova to physically take control of its territorial integrity and to stop Serbia’s interference inside Kosova. Having left Kosova without any military force and dependent on NATO troops and UNMIK policing, they acted as disinterested spectators while Serbia symbolically and physically declared her control of the north of Kosova. The culmination of this attitude was the widespread condemnation of Serbia’s decision to hold elections inside Kosova on 11th May, but the refusal to take any action to prevent the elections. As a result, Serbia has physically, symbolically and politically institutionalized its control inside Kosova. No stick is being used against Serbia in Kosova, nor at home.

Kosova has never been given the independence to act on its own, but has remained hostage to international interests expressed through UNMIK and the new EU missions. UNMIK has never had the political will to dismantle the parallel structures over the last nine years. In the last nine months, the international community has simply wrung their hands while watching Serbia strengthen its position inside Kosova. Serbia has exploited this situation and created a new reality on the ground. Now, after all this, it is Kosova who is being asked not just to compromise, but to commit suicide: To accept an EU mission without recognition and to accept partition under a different name.    

 
Albin Kurti leads Vetëvendosje (Self-determination) Movement, which opposes international administration of Kosovo. 

 

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