Danas, Belgrade, Yugoslavia
January 24, 2001

INTERVIEW

Momcilo Trajkovic, the newly appointed president of the Federal
Committee for Kosovo and Metohija

Without resolution of Serb issue, there can be no multiethnic Kosovo

"Unlike Milosevic, whose policy was to undermine the UN mission in
Kosovo, our new government wants the mission to succeed. The federal
government, as well as the Serb ethnic community, want to help the new
head of the mission and UNMIK to implement UN Resolution 1244 to the
fullest extent possible. Whether this will be successful or not will
depend on whether Kosovo is multiethnic or not. Are multiethnic
institutions being created or not? Is Kosovo moving toward independence
or staying within the framework of Resolution 1244, leaving the
possibility for the international community, our country, the Serbs, the
Albanians and others to take part in the resolution of Kosovo's status.

"We have some guidelines but the plan for a state program for Kosovo is
still not complete. It will be defined in talks with all the significant
factors. First and foremost, I mean the Democratic Opposition of Serbia
(DOS), the federal and republic governments, President Kostunica but
also all relevant political forces in Kosovo and Metohija. We have
several goals. First, to reintegrate Kosovo and Metohija into Serbia and
Yugoslavia. to take part in the stabilization of the situation through
the creation of security conditions and, in direct cooperation with the
international community, to enable the return of the expelled Serbian
people. To improve humanitarian conditions for both the people who are
here and those who are living in central Serbia in collective housing.
Of course, one of the goals will also be the uniting of all relevant
political forces in Kosovo and Metohija, regardless of their positions.
All those who are saying that the committee will only serve to create
divisions are wrong.

"The committee will create an environment which will enable Serbs to
have their maximum independence in local administration but also bind
them to elementary principles in the implementation of state policies.
Since the committee is a federal institution, it will be include experts
who are competent on individual issues. We will attempt to create a
symbiosis of personnel from the federal state, the republic and from
Kosovo and Metohija. I would be happy if the Albanians would also agree
to participate in the federal committee, as well as experts from other
ethnic communities."

Does a wait of a month and a half to appoint the president of the
Federal Committee mean that there were several different candidates
proposed by DOS? There were rumors that [Kostunica's] Democratic Party
of Serbia (DSS) vetoed your appointment several times?

There were talks, debates, pressures but more from the sidelines. Forces
which did not participate in the elections attempted to create influence
inside DOS and to influence its personnel choices. The DSS was reserved
toward my appointment but this was overcome and in the end DOS
unanimously upheld my appointment. Unfortunately, not one and a half
months but three months have passed in a fog with very little or nothing
being done in Kosovo and Metohija. My political platform, and that of
DOS, is to unite all relevant political forces with the exception of
those who were extremists under the former regime. I think that this is
the way to resolve problems?

Either crazy or determined

Is the issue of Kosovo and Metohija perhaps the most sensitive part of
state policy at this moment with the exception of foreign affairs?

It is a great responsibility. Only someone who is crazy or determined
would agree to go to Kosovo and Metohija and personify the state under
these circumstances. But I stayed in Kosovo and Metohija with my family.
My political activity has been known for some time. I stayed and I
survived. Many people who used to say the same thing ran away. As a
figure representing the policies of Serbia and Yugoslavia, I believe
that this is a very serious role, not only in resolving the problems of
the Kosovo Serbs but also with respect to the survival of our country
and our people, our national and state interests. The Federal Committee
should be composed along those lines. In order to achieve success, it is
necessary to formulate a strategy for our country. There are still many
contested issues: whether the current Yugoslavia will survive, what kind
of consequences this will have on the position of Kosovo and Metohija...
One man cannot carry it all, it has to be the federal government. A
federal committee is not a executive [inokosni] but an advisory
[kolegijalni] organ.

That means that it can debate on problems and make proposals to the
federal government. It is up to that government to ratify the policies,
strategy, tasks and goals which the committee and its subcommittees need
to achieve.

Would it have been better if a meeting of all the representatives of the
Kosovo Serbs was held before the appointment of a president of the
Federal Committee, as Bishop Artemije proposed to President Kostunica?

That is an unavoidable question. It is very important to have all the
political options in order to define the strategy. I have exceptional
respect for the opinion of Bishop Artemije. Whoever is aspiring to work
on resolving the Kosovo crisis and does not want to cooperate with
Bishop Artemije and with the Church cannot hope to accomplish anything.
I want to talk with the bishop. I hope that it will be soon; I hope that
talks with the Serb National Council (SNV) of Kosovo and Metohija, the
SNV of Kosovska Mitrovica, with Strpce, with central Kosovo and with all
political parties will take place soon. We cannot circumvent the
Socialists, either. The DOS is the fulcrum [stozer] because the people
gave us their support in the elections but it would be a catastrophic
mistake on our part if we did not display largesse and ask for help from
everyone, because Kosovo is a national and a state issue. The diaspora
will also have a critical role; it needs to be included in an organized
fashion in the creation of policies concerning Kosovo.

The SNV of Kosovo and Metohija in its cooperation with the international
community to date has realized and continues to work on multiple
projects, among others, a program of return for Serb refugees. Will the
committee continue this cooperation?

Despite the fact that I have some reserve toward this cooperation, I
cannot deny some of the results which it has yielded. Nothing which has
already been achieved can be thrown away but we will seek far broader
activity and more serious commitment on the return of the
Kosovo-Metohija Serbs. I think that we need to analyze some of the
decrees made by Kouchner which, in our opinion, are not in harmony with
Resolution 1244. That is the task of the Federal Committee, whose team
of experts will analyze all strategic questions. At the level of the
republic government, a Council on Kosovo and Metohija has been proposed
to be composed of competent people. Working together we must find
answers to all key questions and then defend our positions in contacts
and in cooperation with the international community. If we establish
this type of cooperation, I think that we are entering a completely new
phase.

I support the work of the Joint Committee on Returns (JCR) which is now
headed by Mr. Haekkerup. I have already proposed that the federal
committee have a subcommittee on returns and I expect that the first
serious cooperation between our country and UNMIK will be on that very
issue.

Three burning problems

The committee is confronted with three burning problems at this time:
the sale of Serb property, the protection of Orthodox churches and
monasteries, and the depleted uranium issue. What do you plan to do?

The issue of real estate sales is the most important one for the Kosovo
Serbs right now because the Albanian separatist movement wants to simply
buy up some strategic points and finish up the expulsions in this way. I
have talked about this with Haekkerup. Unfortunately, there are also
some Serbs participating in this who are helping to organize the sale of
Serb real estate in collaboration with the Albanian mafia. It is now up
to UNMIK to issue a decree banning sales. Even though regulations of
this sort frequently don't give the best of results, it may help. We
cannot forbid anyone from selling his property but those who are
intermediaries in dirty deals must be brought to justice before our
courts. As soon as they cross Merdare they must be arrested because they
are directly responsible for the ethnic cleansing of Serbs. We know who
these people are and what they are doing but we can't touch them here.

KFOR's decision to turn over the protection of Orthodox churches and
monasteries to UNMIK and the Kosovo Protection Corps is a violation of
Resolution 1244. One of the first subjects in talks with General
Cabigiosu must be the correction of this mistake.

As far as depleted uranium is concerned, everyone is concerned about
soldiers but not about civilians. The people may suffer as a result of
this. However, only now does everyone understand to what extent this is
our joint misfortune. I have no specific information but in talks with
some of our physicians in Gusterica I heard that the number of cancer
cases was increasing. Mr. Jaksic is saying the same thing in Mitrovica.
Who knows what is happening among the Albanians. We also plan to form a
subcommittee on health which will have to address this issue in direct
cooperation with the UNMIK department of health.

Many interpret the depleted uranium "scandal" as an attempt by the
international community to withdraw "honorably" from Kosovo and
Metohija?

The UN mission cannot withdraw from here because things have gone too
far. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, the
mission is going to stay for a long time yet because it is still far
from solving the problem. I would be happy if our policies would succeed
in finding a solution for Kosovo but under these disrupted, pathological
relations and great hatred it is not possible. The only road is a
serious policy by the international community which will have a serious
partner in the democratic forces here in Kosovo but also in our
democratic country. Some of our people say that KFOR should withdraw. I
doubt that there would be a single Albanian who would wait for that to
happen, even knowing that our country has set up a government here which
has the best of intentions toward everyone. Millions of refugees would
again head toward Macedonia and Albania out of fear and new problems
would be created. That it is why we must accept that our task is to help
the UN mission to succeed even though it will take a long time.

Jelena Tasic

Montenegrin interests

Will the committee include representatives of the Montenegrin government
and how will that work?

We have held talks and there will be more talks. Montenegro should be
included as a part of Yugoslavia. I keep repeating the same thing that I
told Mr. Djukanovic during our recent meeting: Montenegro has national
and state interests in Kosovo and Metohija. Bulgaria and Macedonia
believe that they have interests here but Montenegro doesn't. I support
the appointment of committee members from Montenegro who will work with
others from central Serbia, and Kosovo and Metohija, in seeking
solutions to problems. Appointments will be made by those who comprise
the federal government, DOS and the [Montenegrin] Socialist People's
Party (SNP).

Translated by S. Lazovic (Jan. 24, 2001)