The Serbs enter Albania
Armed soldiers and civilians enter the border area Pages 6-7
Kosovo and politics
BY Fatos LUBONJA
Without a doubt, the war that has now brought Kosovo to a point of unprecedented madness is a serious, indeed terrible, concern for some authorities in our country, in Albania. Sali Berisha as well.
It is not only a matter of the intensity of these concerns, motivated by the anarchy caused by the projection of Mr. Berisha’s word as the Man for the liberation of Kosovo. It is clear that it was more out of political caution than out of anger or the feeling of a frightening farce, despite the changed security climate. This heated mindset has not always been like this, because the Albanian government in general has taken its official stance on Kosovo, following Western policy too: no support for violence and for Kosovo’s independence, because the integrity of the Balkan borders had to be preserved. Let us remember that a year ago high-ranking Western and Albanian officials were rushing through chancelleries to counter the Kosovo opposition, the “liberators,” with Albanian weapons prepared and supplied by Tirana’s “brotherly” support, in response to armed action. Only by helping to prevent the obscurity that was being defended at the time was it necessary to prepare both the government and Albanian public opinion around the principle of non-intervention in Kosovo. There have been denunciations by Albanian opposition figures in Albania themselves about armed actions on the border with Kosovo, of which the main Albanian opposition in Tirana could not have been unaware.
The issue was gradually placed on the political stage with the outbreak of the 1997 revolt. Let us remember that the government in Vlora and its senior officials openly declared in public that they wanted a joint war with the KLA, and then, when the prospects for clashes in Kosovo increased, the author of the government’s political propaganda was assessing that everything was heading toward war, and that it would be the most natural thing if it happened. I am also referring here to last Saturday’s V. P. for the portrait of Adem Jashari and the writings of his family members.
As if the mobilization for war, which has reached the brink of an official attack through the Tirana media, had not gradually increased, the Albanian public opinion’s image has been prepared for the necessary maturity of the voice of feelings about war and existence in Kosovo. The defense of the Albanian people in Kosovo, articulated in order to stop at any cost this issue from being shaped by the hostilities of weapons, all the more so as the war is now being written, gives this message an unclear, and at the same time dangerous, meaning. Why? Because there is a risk of being carried away even more by the pathos created in recent days by political opinion in Tirana, that it is moving toward a shaky adventure. In fact, the ties built on this side of the border with the organizers of armed actions in Kosovo did not develop only over the last three weeks, because of sensational news about massacres and revenge, but have a longer, often silent reach, and involve specific political and economic networks.
This is at the center of the assessment of the turn the situation in Kosovo is taking. It is clear that after the outbreak of the revolt in Albania, although the authority of the state fell, the border became more permeable than ever before, something that was exploited both by criminal structures and by groups with political and military aims. Today this situation is producing consequences that require careful policy, not rhetoric. This means that the government in Tirana must have a clear understanding of the national and state interest, without mixing them up in emotional appeals. Otherwise, the risk of importing the conflict is real and will weigh precisely on Albania.
The reports [?] of the years have suggested to you: Easd [?] err man, Newsweeker, I reconcile the shq [?] homonuk [?] some years ago the State Security, on which so much is at issue, later the clarity of the Albanian people in Albania alarmed the mangjitja [?] so as not to hear from this pain. Strictly devoted and as Tuesday with the strong Serbs, but with which more cannot be solved. (Briefly from KOS and Skanderi of Albania). (Gazeta e KOS)
It is not the first time that in Kosovo and elsewhere in Kosovo, they serve with everything that they profit from with the situation in Kosovo the worse with force. (the article continues on pages 6-7)
Yesterday the Minister of Defense inspecting military equipment in the Kukës Division Photo REUTERS