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NEWS & LETTERS, April 2004Our Life and Times by Kevin A. BarryKosova violenceThe worst ethnic violence since 1999 spread across Kosova on March 16, following the drowning deaths of three ethnic Albanian children being chased by an ethnic Serb mob. This took place in Mitrovica where, with tacit UN approval, local Serbs prevented Albanians from entering the northern part of the city. In the days that followed, Albanian mobs surged into northern Mitrovica and other Serb enclaves, engaging in totally unconscionable and indiscriminate attacks. In the end, 28 lay dead, the majority of them Serbs. Several thousand Serbs fled their homes, many of which were then burned, along with 25 Serbian Orthodox religious buildings. A few Albanian leaders, like the mayor of Decani, intervened to dissuade the mobs, but most delayed any condemnation of the violence. Inside Serbia, these events sparked anti-Albanian demonstrations and attacks on several mosques. In some cases, however, Serbian Orthodox priests intervened to defend local Muslims. At the root of the current conflict in Kosova is the fact that the province’s overwhelming Albanian majority wants independence, but is instead living under a UN administration that grants a measure of autonomy, but nothing more. A second factor behind the violence is the fact that, as against Bosnia, there is little tradition of multiethnicity in Kosova. |
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