The Shooting Star: Kosovo Under International Rule

GROUND REALITIES

All seemed quite well until I met a Kosovar photojournalist Vedat Xhymshiti. The Gjilan-based cameraman and photographer has worked for numerous media organizations including Euro News. “Things must be going very well in Kosovo for you guys,” I asked Vedat out of contentment rather than curiosity. His reply, to my sheer surprise, was negative. Following is the tale of today’s Kosovo and an insight to the challenges this infant nation is facing despite being in international protection for a decade, told by a Kosovar citizen.

NATO-led KFOR (Kosovo Force) stationed in Kosovo since June 1999 under a UN mandate. It is tasked with mainly peace keeping responsibilities alongside providing support to country’s civilian institutions. Photo – Vedat Xhymshiti

“The KFOR have been able to establish peace in the country and have defeated attempts by some elements in the Kosovar society to form parallel security apparatus,” said Vedat while describing the role of the international force. Though he agrees that they have been providing security to the region and that they have managed to maintain public order in most parts of the country, he is not impressed by the designs of the international force.

“Yes I agree with you, Kosovo has benefitted a lot due to improved security,” he said adding that this is not the kind of security Kosovars are looking for. “We don’t need it because I can’t believe that even a single KFOR military officer is prepared to die in order to keep Albanians in Kosovo safe from Serbia” affirmed the 22-year-old student of media studies.

Kosovo’s Serb minority has staged several violent protests against the UN presence and resisted ethnic Albanian demands for independence. Photo – Vedat Xhymshiti

10 YEARS IN LIMBO

“The arrival of KFOR was greeted by the Kosovars. The Albanian Kosovars wanted them to maintain peace and stability and help them rebuild the country after years of neglect and systematic destruction by Milosevic’s regime. The Serbs living in Kosovo wanted them to protect from anticipated revenge attacks by Albanians. They never happened, at least on a massive scale. But what’s next?” asked Vedat with his big, green eyes. This is a kind of colony, he added bitterly.

Majority of the Albanians supported the declaration of independence approved by the legislative assembly of Kosovo on 17 February, 2007. Photo – Kushtrim Krasniqi

Vedat, like many other Kosovars, wants the nation to be truly independent. And for them, true independence means having a fully functioning government, effective modern military, independent judiciary and free press. The demands, to me, seemed truly justifiable and legitimate. How on earth can a modern state function without these pillars?

“But Vedat, everything comes at its own time. Kosovo is still an infant, isn’t it?” I asked the young man who was growing increasingly perturbed over the status quo of Kosovo. “We’re not free. We want our own army. This is what we fought for, we fought to have complete freedom, to protect our territory and the sons and daughters of this land,” exclaimed the Kosovar with frustration clear in his tone. He added that 10 years of international supervision has failed to fulfill the vision of many Kosovars like him. To supplement his viewpoint, he threw a few more questions to me to which I didn’t had a reasonable answer. “Why Britain has its own army? Why Serbia as well? Why can’t we have it?”