The wheel appears to have come full circle in the Balkans. Previously the international community were deemed sympathetic to the plight of Albanians living out with Albania. That was the message conveyed by the Kosovo war. It is demonstrably no longer the case. With NATO’s approval, Serbia’s troops have returned to its Albanian-inhabited side of the border with Kosovo, specifically allowed back to crush Albanian activists operating in the region. NATO even forced the Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac, as the rebels call themselves, to give up the fight against Serbian forces in the Presevo Valley, and are busy ensuring they keep their word.
Every day a stream of Albanian rebels crosses the border into Kosovo, where they are processed by American forces, sign declarations that they will not return again to their homes in southern Serbia and are then allowed to find a new life in Kosovo. Ethnic-cleansing continues; except that whereas previously it was condemned by the international community, it now takes place with international blessing. This is ethnic-cleansing in a more subtle guise. The Albanians are no longer being force-marched into exile by the brutal forces of an evil regime; instead their men folk are simply being pressured by NATO forces into removing themselves and agreeing not to return, with the knowledge that, once they have gone, their families are likely to follow.
The end result is the same nonetheless: Albanians are being forced out of Serbian-controlled territory. Macedonia provides an even more dramatic indication of the end of the affair between the Albanians and the international community (or rather between the Albanians and the West which for the past eight years has driven the international community’s decisions in regards to the Balkans). This past week the EU took an unprecedented hard line against Albanian rebels there. In an effort to reduce tension, the leaders of the main constitutional Albanian parties had held talks with the activists’ political representatives, resulting in an agreement on a peace formula and a common political platform.
It was not altogether surprising that the talks should have angered Macedonian politicians who had ruled out any negotiations with the activists. Such views are, unfortunately, both arrogant and dangerous for they can only fan the flames — something yesterday’s fresh offensive by the Macedonian Army will most surely do. What is surprising, though, is the stand taken by the EU. It condemned the negotiations and demanded that the constitutional parties renounce the agreement reached. The Europeans have acted like ostriches. To ignore reality will not calm the crisis. There is no doubt that Macedonia’s problems have been fueled by a massive injection of arms and men from Kosovo and southern Serbia. The agenda of many of the newly arrived fighters is to prise aside western Macedonia and join it to a greater Albania. That is an objective which legitimately concerns the EU: it would open the door to a mass scramble for territory throughout not just the Balkans, but much of central and Eastern Europe.
If Greater Albania, then why not greater Serbia, greater Croatia, greater Bulgaria? Even Hungary is beginning to get noticeably itchy about the three million Hungarians who live beyond its current borders. Nonetheless, Macedonia’s Albanian rebels also have less shattering demands, not least that their existence should be recognized in the country’s constitution.Macedonia’s Albanians account for between a quarter and a third of the population. These are not people who can be ignored or easily crushed. The EU may have legitimate fears about the country’s future, but it needs to be even handed, and be seen as such. The same goes for NATO in southern Serbia.
