Conflict Zone: Kosovo, Research Paper Example

A Case for the Minority Serbian Kosovars in the newly Independent State of Kosovo

The Kosovo crisis involves a long-standing dispute over territorial sovereignty of the state of Kosovo between the Christian Serbs and the predominantly Muslim Kosovo Albanians, also known as Kosovars. Kosovo, the disputed territory, lies in Southern Serbia, and its population comprises of majority Albanian Muslims, who make up about ninety percent of its two million inhabitants. The Albanians have been fighting for full secession and independence from Serbia, leading to the creation of an independent state of Kosovo, a move that the Serbian government has repeatedly objected through repressions and military actions. Part of the problem that has prolonged the crisis is a decades-old enmity between the two ethnic groups, which at various points in history, and depending on the politically dominant faction of the moment, has encouraged ethnic cleansing attempts by either side. Following Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008, and in light of Belgrade’s reluctance to recognize the new state of Kosovo, this paper explores the likely aftermath in a country with majority Albanians and minority Serbs. By drawing parallels with past incidences where ethnic cleansing campaigns were launched by any side that found itself at an advantage, the authors of this paper proposes for the secession of the northern territories occupied by Serbian Kosovars to Serbia to avoid their marginalization and potential persecution by the majority Albanians.

Considering themselves the rightful owners of Kosovo, at least in light of numbers, the Albanian Kosovars have severally tried to expel the minority Serbians from Kosovo. They further claim to be descendants from the ancient Dardanians (Illyrians), who once occupied the western Balkan territories prior to the arrival of Slavs between the 6^th and 8^th centuries AD (Jansen, 2008). On their part, the Serbians contend that they are the ancient inhabitants of Kosovo, the Old Serbia, going back to the late 13^th century in 1297, when the medieval Serbian Orthodox Church established itself at Pec, Kosovo. To support their claims, Serbians point to the many Orthodox monasteries in Kosovo as prove of their ancestry in the region. Thus, by giving conflicting claims of original and legitimate occupation of Kosovo, and by seeking to establish a mono-ethnic autonomous state, both sides have fueled the crisis largely through their unwillingness to co-exist, or to be part of a larger federal system. The Serbian minority who occupy the northern parts fear that they will be marginalized in an independent Kosovo. They felt that their interests were better off as long as Kosovo was ruled from Belgrade, Serbia. On their part, the Albanians felt threatened, especially following the rise to power by Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic in the late 1980s. Milosevic re-ignited ethnic cleansing by expelling Albanians from Kosovo and encouraging the resettlement of Serbians from the north. The attempt to reverse the population imbalance backfired because it ignited an Albanian uprising to by Albanians.

In this regard, it appears that the fight over Kosovo between Serbs and Albanians is also a war over its true history, and in effect, establishing its rightful owners. Such territorial disputes pitying two ethnic groups against each other have been the cause of many wars around the world, the most longstanding one being the Israel-Palestine crisis in Gaza. More often, each side believes that it is right, and that their human rights are being violated. This encourages retaliation and fuels enmity, leading to genocides and ethnic cleansing attempts aimed at consolidating control over the disputed territory. The saddening truth in most ethnically fuelled crises, as is the case of Kosovo, is that other factors such as religion, political instability and perceived historical injustices serve as catalysts for armed confrontations. Accordingly, the Kosovo crisis not only deteriorated because of the political instability of the former Yugoslavia, but also because the Serbs felt it was payback time when Milosevic came to power. Similarly, religious differences hindered sustainable peaceful coexistent, while the Belgrade leadership’s political interests in Kosovo continues to make the region volatile.

Several atrocities in the form of ethnic cleansing have been committed in Kosovo by both sides since the formation of Yugoslavia in 1931. Kosovo had been ceded to Serbia following the Balkan War of 1912, a settlement that also resulted in the independent state of Albania. The Albanians who were previously a majority in Kosovo suddenly found themselves a minority in the multiethnic Yugoslavia that was born out of the merging of the Serbians, Croatians, and Slovenians. Historian Robert Bideleux writes in History Today, that “The new multi-ethnic state accomplished little to assimilate, reconcile or expel its Albanian-speaking minority in the interwar years” (Bideleux, 1998). This scenario created a situation where the Albanians got stuck in a territory where their presence was resented. Again, in 1941, following the destabilization of the three-kingdom federation of Yugoslavia by the Axis Powers, Kosovo was incorporated into the Greater Albania, by then a fascist-Italian controlled state. The fortunes changed as the Kosovars corroborated with their Albanian brethren to kill and drive out thousands of Kosovo Serbs. The persecuted Serbs’ revenge will come three years later, in 1944, when the Yugoslav Communists liberated Kosovo, and turned upon Albanian Kosovars by killing, expelling, and dispossessing them of their assets (Bideleux, 1998).

However, it is the leadership of Slobodan Milosevic that plunged the region into a catastrophic humanitarian crisis. Intent on keeping Kosovo tightly under the authority of Belgrade, and keen on stamping out the resurgent Albanian nationalism in Kosovo, president Milosevic launched systematic military assaults targeting Kosovars. The situation deteriorated in the summer of 1998, when “a quarter of a million Kosovar Albanians were forced from their homes as their houses, villages and crops were destroyed” (NATO, 1999). In a historical review of the Kosovo War, Glen Ruga and Julie Mertus of the Center for Balkan Development paint a grisly picture of the massacre carried out by Milosevic’s army upon Albanian Kosovars in response to NATO airstrikes against Serbian military targets. They state:

Milosevic’s forces responded by an all-out campaign to ethnically cleanse Kosovo of its Albanian population, driving hundreds of thousands across the border into Macedonia, Albania, and Montenegro. Heavily armed Serb paramilitary forces, infamous for their tactics in Croatia and Bosnia, descended on Kosovo. At gunpoint they forced thousands of people from their homes, burning their towns and villages afterward. Many civilians were summarily executed. Most had all their money taken and their documents destroyed (Ruga & Mertus, 1999).

Estimates by the UN Commission for Refugees indicated that as of April 1999, there were 226,000 refugees in Albania, 125,000 in Macedonia, and 33,000 in Montenegro as a result of the Serbian-led ethnic cleansing in Kosovo.

In 2008, Kosovo declared her independence from Serbia, and was immediately recognized by the United States. To date, it has been recognized by 88 states around the world, including 22 of the 27 European Union member countries (Woherel, 2012). However, her independence is still contested by Serbia, and minority Kosovo Serbs who fear that as an ethnic minority, they would be mistreated in the newly independent state of Kosovo. It is doubtable that the minority Christian Serbs will be peacefully assimilated into the predominantly Muslim-Albanian Kosovo, given their longstanding animosity.

Nevertheless, regardless the intervention of the international community to step up security in the region, a permanent solution must address the issue of ethnic imbalance, which is a central factor in the ongoing conflicts. It is clear that the Kosovo crisis is not just political, but also fuelled by the strenuous relationship between two ethnic groups that are antagonistic to each other, and therefore, cannot coexist peacefully.

Speaking on behalf of the minority Serbs in Kosovo, history shows that even if there will be peace, they will always remain a marginalized group. Perhaps the first mistake was made in 1912 when Kosovo ceded to Serbia. Following the formation of the independent state of Albania, the secession should have taken into account the ethnic composition of the Kosovo regions that should have been annexed to Serbia. The fact that many Albanian territories were forcefully placed under Serbia was a time-bomb that will explode many years later in an ethnic cleaning campaign. The same mistake is being repeated today by letting a minority Serbian group be part of a predominantly Albanian and Muslim state. From Darfur in Southern Sudan to the Niger Delta in Nigeria where, in both cases, the Muslims of the north have been at war with their southern Christian counterparts, it is evident that inter-ethnic animosities will always hinder peaceful coexistence. While the Darfur and Nigerian situations hinge on the distribution of oil resources, the Kosovo situation is worsened by the fact that one faction is a minority. In this regard, it is this team’s view that the minority Serbs in the northern regions should be allowed to remain under Serbia. An ethnically homogeneous state of Kosovo, comprising of Muslim Albanians, will be more politically stable than one where Serbs will form a minority. The secession of the northern Serbian territory to Serbia will not only protect the interests of Kosovo Serbs, it will also, perhaps, encourage Belgrade to recognize Kosovo’s independence and prevent future conflicts.

References

Bideleux, R. (1998). “Kosovo’s Conflict: The Troubled History of the Region, and the Deep-

Rooted Antagonisms between the Different Ethnic Groups laying Claim to It.” Journal of History Today, 48 (11).

Jansen, G. R. (2008). Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo: An Abbreviated History. Fort Collins, U.S.A: Colorado State University.

NATO (July, 1999). NATO’s Role in Relation to the Conflict in Kosovo: Historical Overview. Retrieved April 23, 2012< http://www.nato.int/kosovo/history.htm

Ruga, G., & Mertus, J. (April, 1999). History of the War in Kosovo. Maynard: Center for Balkan Development.

Woehrel, S. (March 13, 2012). Kosovo: Current Issues and U.S. Policy. Washington: Congressional Research Service.