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Pastimes : Kosovo -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Stormweaver who wrote (7167)	5/7/1999 12:56:00 AM
From: JBL	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 17770

Washington Post May 7, 1999 Adrian Karatnycky KLA Rule? 'Its leadership is dominated by anti-democratic, pro-fascist, pro-Stalinist clans.' As NATO pounds Serbian targets and Slobodan Milosevic pursues his brutal "ethnic cleansing," it is easy to think of the conflict as a struggle between Yugoslavia and the Atlantic Alliance. It is also easy to forget -- as NATO did by excluding Kosovar political leaders from its recent summit -- that the Kosovo Albanians are more than passive spectators or inchoate victims of the unfolding events. Until a few weeks ago, the Kosovars were not an atomized mass of refugees. They had developed cohesive and coherent communities with established local leaders. Twice, first in 1992 and again in 1999, Kosovars participated in the process of selecting their leadership, headed by Ibrahim Rugova, who yesterday was released from house arrest by Slobodan Milosevic and is now in Italy. Hundreds of thousands of Kosovars braved Serbian repression and intimidation to vote in orderly elections, conducted clandestinely. This democratic legacy should not be squandered. Indeed, if NATO is in this struggle for the long haul it is essential that the alliance and the United States assist the Kosovars in reestablishing a civic political leadership that gives voice to their concerns and forms the democratic architecture of eventual autonomous rule. With the majority of Kosovars now outside their homeland's borders, Kosovo's democratic roots should be nurtured through the reconstruction of a civilian leadership. Such a civic leadership is central to any solution the NATO states ultimately decide to support. A political leadership is needed to ensure civilian control of Kosovar military formations fighting to protect their people and free their territory. Such a leadership also is needed if we expect the Kosovar forces to fight alongside an eventual NATO ground force or to serve as an effective post-NATO factor in the regional military balance. A civilian political leadership also is essential for a smooth and rapid transition to local rule in post-conflict Kosovo, whether it is to be an international protectorate, a sovereign state or an autonomous part of a post-Milosevic Yugoslavia. Who, then, speaks for the Kosovars today? The question is hardly academic. Kosovar Albanians had established structures of political leadership over the past decade despite Milosevic's repression. These structures, headed by Ibrahim Rugova, should not be dismissed lightly. The Rambouillet process led to an agreement within the ethnic Albanian delegation to form a transitional "government" of national unity consisting of three major forces: (1) The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA); (2) Rugova's presidency, "government" and political party, the Democratic League of Kosovo; and (3) The nationalist United Democratic Movement. Each formation was to be given equal shares of power in a civilian government of national unity. But that government never had an opportunity to coalesce, and today two major parties are claimants to the mantle of political leadership: Rugova's government and the KLA's government, recognized by Albania. It is ironic that Rugova, a man who is an important factor in the shaping of a future Kosovo, was a prisoner of Milosevic's for more than six weeks. It is incredible that the NATO forces did not secure Rugova's safety before they launched their air campaign. Milosevic understands the propaganda value of Rugova and shamelessly exploited his captive to create the false impression that Rugova supports an end to the NATO campaign. (Rugova vociferously denied these propaganda distortions through communications with journalists, and now that he has been released from captivity, he will make his views on a solution known directly to the West.) For years, the United States dealt with the moderate, pacifist-inclined Rugova, but it weakened his standing at Rambouillet in an effort to placate the KLA. With Rugova and many of his colleagues now abroad, the Western countries should help them play a leading role in shaping a civilian authority on a pluralistic, multiparty basis. Clearly, the KLA cannot be ignored in any established civilian authority. But its leadership is dominated by anti-democratic, pro-fascist, pro-Stalinist clans, themselves guilty of criminal behavior and atrocities. Having committed blood and treasure in behalf of the Kosovars and against ethnic hatred, we must ensure that liberal democratic values survive in a post-conflict Kosovo. America's and NATO's strategic aims require the rapid emergence of a civilian Kosovar leadership on the model of the Free French under Charles de Gaulle. De Gaulle not only served as a rallying point for French opposition to Hitler's occupation but also helped create the basis for the postwar emergence of democratic forces in France and prevented the electoral victory of the pro-Stalinist Communists who, like the KLA, dominated the leadership of the internal armed resistance. Of course, it is wrong to demonize the brave men and women who have joined the ranks of the KLA in a fight for survival. They have acted out of civic courage and are, like most Kosovars, committed to civilian rule. But it is equally clear that the narrow clique sitting atop the KLA little resembles the majority of Kosovo's Albanians. The KLA's leaders are a narrow group of obscurantist, anti-democratic thugs linked to drug-running and political extremism. Now that Rugova is free, the effort to resurrect a civilian democratic political leadership among the Kosovars is the best way of ensuring that our morally just aims are attained and a democratic Kosovo reemerges from the ashes of war. The writer is president of Freedom House, which has worked with Kosovo's civic democratic forces over the past decade.