[ALBSA-Info] Kosovo Albanians Seek Milosevic

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

Kosovo Albanians Seek Milosevic

By ELENA BECATOROS

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) - Fired from their jobs and driven from their homes 
at gunpoint, Kosovo's ethnic Albanians suffered more than most under Slobodan 
Milosevic's repressive regime. 

But now that he appears gone from power, most Kosovo Albanians seem more 
worried than happy at the prospect of a change of leadership in Belgrade. 

A Yugoslav government favored in the West could slam the door on ethnic 
Albanian dreams of independence for their homeland, which the rest of the 
world considers part of Serbia, Yugoslavia's main republic. 

With Serbia a pariah state isolated from the rest of the world and under 
economic sanctions, ethnic Albanians argued, it would be easier for them to 
eventually convince the world of their right to independence. 

Kosovo Albanians boycotted the Sept. 24 Yugoslav presidential and 
parliamentary elections, saying they no longer had anything to do with 
Yugoslavia and were indifferent to the outcome. 

But most realize that developments in Belgrade will eventually affect them. 

Opposition leader Vojislav Kostunica, whom the West has welcomed as the 
Yugoslav president-elect after an uprising Thursday in Belgrade, appears to 
ethnic Albanians as little more than a ``respectable Milosevic:'' a Serb 
nationalist who would never accept an independent Kosovo. 

``I'm not happy. Kostunica is a great nationalist. He thinks the same as 
Milosevic about Kosovo, and maybe we will have the same problems with him,'' 
said Valdrin Xhemaj, 22, a Pristina journalist. 

Kostunica has repeatedly said he will push for the return of the tens of 
thousands of Serb refugees who have fled Kosovo since NATO-led peacekeepers 
took over the province under a deal to end 78 days of NATO airstrikes. 

A photograph of Kostunica, taken during the Kosovo conflict in 1998 and 
showing him brandishing an AK-47 rifle, proves their point, many ethnic 
Albanians say. 

``For me, Kostunica isn't a change. I saw the photo of him during the war, 
and I think he's a nationalist,'' said Ilir Haliti, 32, while he attended 
customers in his Pristina clothes shop. ``I hope the world will see what is 
hiding inside of Kostunica.'' 

With Kostunica at the helm, their fight for independence may become more 
difficult. 

The United States and the European Union have both promised to end economic 
sanctions once Kostunica is securely in power. If that happens, many Kosovo 
Albanians fear the aid and resources flowing now into Kosovo will be diverted 
north. 

``The international community will have their eyes on Belgrade now more than 
on Kosovo,'' Haliti said. 

Top U.N. administrator Bernard Kouchner is aware of such concerns, and rushed 
to address them after the Belgrade uprising. 

``The people of Kosovo have suffered greatly in the past, due to the former 
regime in Belgrade. They have not yet recovered,'' he stressed. ``The 
attention of the international community must not be diverted from the tasks 
at hand here in Kosovo.''