THE OBSERVER (London)

Serbian upheaval scares Kosovars

Special report: Serbia

Tim Judah in Pristina
Observer

Sunday October 22, 2000

It is one of the most surreal yet symbolic scenes of the post-war
Balkans. Every night a faint glow can be seen through the
windows of the great, unfinished Serbian Orthodox Cathedral in
the centre of Pristina, the capital of Kosovo.

But the gentle light comes not from candles, ghosts or angels.
Inside the church is a large tent. And inside the tent are three
Royal Marines commandos. If you come at the right time, they
will all be sitting on their sofa clutching mugs of tea and
watching EastEnders. A fourth will be outside keeping guard,
making sure the church is not razed by Kosovo's Albanians who
see it as a symbol of a past and a people they hate.

Three weeks after Slobodan Milosevic fell from power, and a
week before Kosovo's Albanians cast their votes in their first
internationally supervised free election, everything and nothing
has changed here. While there is little doubt British troops will
be watching EastEnders and protecting Kosovo's Serbian
churches and churchgoers for years to come, it is also clear the
events in Belgrade have altered the political landscape.

Sixteen months ago, at the end of the Kosovo war, as 850,000
Kosovo Albanian refugees streamed home in the wake of Nato's
victory, Kosovo's independence seemed imminent. But, now,
with the rehabilitation of Serbia's image at the fall of Milosevic,
the international community's sympathy for Kosovo's Albanians
is over.

Their leaders were dismayed at Milosevic's fall. Hashim Thaci,
ex-leader of the guerrilla Kosovo Liberation Army, says: 'I fought
for democracy in Kosovo - not for democracy in Serbia!'

Across the street from the Serbian Orthodox Cathedral is the
office of Pleurat Sejdiu. During the dark days of Serbian
repression he sought asylum in Britain where he drove a
minicab. When the war began in 1998, he emerged as the KLA's
spokesman in London. Now he shares the job of Kosovo's
Minister of Health in the United Nation's administration. 'What
happened in Belgrade is good for Serbs but neither good nor bad
for others,' he says.

Others say Vojislav Kostunica, Yugoslavia's new President, is a
Serbian nationalist just like Milosevic. A picture of him holding a
Kalashnikov in Kosovo is proof, say Albanian newspapers, that
he was a paramilitary leader. There is no evidence of this and
Kostunica says the gun was thrust into his hands during a visit.

But there is little doubt that when Kostunica has consolidated
his power, probably after Serbia's elections on 23 December, he
will turn his attention to Kosovo.

UN Security Council Resolution 1244 may have sealed Serbia's
defeat, but it did specify that, pending a resolution of its final
status, Kosovo remained part of Yugoslavia. It also said that at a
certain, unspecified time 'hundreds' of Yugoslav and Serbian
'personnel' would be allowed to return to Kosovo.

So, Kosovo's leaders have been looking on with increasing
horror as they see Kostunica courted by Western leaders as
diplomats dust down old plans for a federation or confederation
of Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo. 'There will be no links with
Serbia in any confederation,' says Sejdiu, 'end of story.'

But it will not be the end. Bernard Kouchner, the Frenchman
who runs the UN's Kosovo administration, is clearly not relishing
the day when Kostunica wants to visit again. 'OK, welcome!' he
says. 'But, we would have to organise that in terms of security,
so it is a bit premature. But the idea is not stupid. It is really a
question of time.'

As the Kosovo Albanians go to the polls, this is not what they
want to hear. But their leaders have no policies, except
independence, about which they all agree. While Serbia's
politicians look to the future, Kosovo's poll is about who did what
during the war and the last 10 years.

Kosovo's Albanian leadership will have to think of a more
sophisticated strategy to deal with Serbia than it has had until
now.

Tim Judah is the author of 'Kosovo: War and Revenge' published
by Yale University Press