[ALBSA-Info] Kosova:Interesting Devs

[Kreshnik Bejko]

UPDATE 2-West faces dilemma in Kosovo over poll






PRISTINA, Yugoslavia, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Western powers and the United 
Nations were grappling with a major dilemma in Kosovo on Thursday after 
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic"s party said federal elections would 
take place in the province. The move by Milosevic leaves the West with a 
choice of trying to ban elections in a territory where it fought to 
establish democracy or sanction a poll which could be flawed, spark violence 
and keep an indicted war criminal in power. A senior Yugoslav official 
raised the stakes further when he said Milosevic himself would visit Kosovo, 
although he would not say if this would happen during the campaign for the 
September 24 presidential, federal and Serbian municipal elections. Although 
Kosovo has been ruled as a de facto international protectorate since June 
last year, the U.N. Security Council resolution which ended NATO"s bombing 
campaign states that the province officially remains part of 
Serbian-dominated Yugoslavia. The territory"s U.N.-led administration, 
headed by former French cabinet minister Bernard Kouchner, said it had not 
yet reached a decision on the Yugoslav elections and would consult with 
major capitals and local politicians first. The announcement by Milosevic"s 
ruling Socialists, reported by Belgrade media on Thursday, prompted a flurry 
of diplomatic activity in the Kosovo capital Pristina as Kouchner met with 
envoys from the big five Western powers. SOLANA CAUTIOUS Although the 
possibility that Yugoslav authorities would try to hold elections in a 
territory they still consider their own had always existed, the move seemed 
to wrong-foot international officials, who could give no firm position on 
the issue. "I have been very careful not to give the last word of the 
European Union," stressed Javier Solana, the EU"s foreign policy chief, on a 
visit to Pristina. He said the final decision would be for Kouchner and his 
staff. "In principle, everybody has a right to vote," Solana said. "But 
there"s practical reasons why the security may not be guaranteed, the time 
may be too short, et cetera." Solana said the Security Council resolution 
made clear the U.N. Mission in Kosovo was the only body which could organise 
elections. But a Yugoslav official said the only role of UNMIK and the 
NATO-led KFOR peace force would be to provide security. "UNMIK and KFOR have 
the sole duty to provide a safe life for Kosovo citizens," said Nikola 
Sainovic, Yugoslav deputy prime minister and senior Socialist, told 
reporters in Belgrade. He also announced the president"s planned visit to 
Kosovo. A trip to Kosovo by Milosevic would be like waving a red rag to a 
bull for the province"s ethnic Albanian majority, who suffered years of 
repression at the hands of his forces. UNMIK has also made clear Milosevic, 
indicted by a UN war crimes tribunal for the actions of his forces in 
Kosovo, would be apprehended if he set foot in the province. "He can come 
and he"ll be arrested," UNMIK spokeswoman Susan Manuel said. FEAR OF FRAUD 
But any form of campaigning by Serb politicians is likely to enrage 
Albanians and prompt more of the sort of violence meted out to minority 
Serbs by Albanians in the 14 months since NATO and the UN took over 
responsibility for Kosovo. Even the idea of a Yugoslav election on Kosovo 
soil could anger many Albanians, who want complete independence for the 
territory and resent any association with Belgrade. International officials 
also worry votes from Kosovo could be rigged by Milosevic, whose opponents 
have accused him of manipulating the Kosovo vote in his favour in previous 
polls. "Every single vote he can claim from Kosovo, he will -- whether he 
really got it or not," one Western diplomat remarked. But diplomats are also 
wary of playing into Milosevic"s hands. Some believe a refusal by UNMIK to 
let the election take place in Kosovo runs the risk of bolstering his 
anti-Western stance among voters in Serbia proper. Some officials also 
question how the UN could physically stop the elections if people in 
Kosovo"s Serb enclaves decide to organise them, unless the West is ready to 
sanction major force -- which could also give Milosevic a propaganda boost.



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