[ALBSA-Info] Seven Kosovar Brothers Say 'Enough Is Enough' After Attack

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

Seven Kosovar Brothers Say 'Enough Is Enough' After Attack
New York Times

By CARLOTTA GALL 

RISTINA, Kosovo, Feb. 21 — The seven brothers of the Geci family were always 
at the forefront of the war against Serbia, and their home lies in the hilly 
central heartland of the Kosovo Albanians' fight for independence. Last 
weekend, they took a courageous step of a different kind, gathering the 
people of their village to denounce the bomb attack that killed at least 11 
Serbian civilians last Friday. 

There is a climate of fear in Kosovo: although most Albanians say they are 
tired of violence, and voted overwhelmingly for the more moderate of their 
political parties in last October's municipal elections, few will speak out, 
let alone act against the perpetrators of violence. 

But the Geci brothers, led by Fadil Geci, 39, a regional leader of the 
Democratic League of Kosovo, a moderate party, decided with the bomb blast 
that enough was enough. "We had a meeting in the village and decided it was 
the worst, most cowardly thing what happened," Mr. Geci said. "We must find 
who did this. It would be easier to breathe freely and for the internationals 
to do their job if we do." 

Only one Albanian-language daily, Koha Ditore, expressed outrage at the bus 
attack, the bloodiest and most brazen assault on the Serbian minority in more 
than a year.

Bota Sot, the newspaper that supports Mr. Geci's own party, played it down, 
placing the story on an inside page. Albanian politicians issued standard 
statements, and only one, the former rebel commander, Ramush Haradinaj, 
condemned the bus bomb as an act of terrorism. "That was a brave move, to use 
the word terrorism," said Veton Surroi, publisher of Koha Ditore. "At last we 
are not alone." 

Because he dares to speak his mind, Mr. Geci said he fears his life is in 
danger from hard-line opponents of his party. 

In an interview at his home in Lausa, a village still in ruins from the 1999 
Kosovo war, he accused people by name, in particular the former political 
leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army, Hashim Thaci, and his associates, of 
being behind much of the violence in the province.

Mr. Thaci denies orchestrating the violence and pointed to his public 
statements condemning the latest attack and others. Nevertheless, the public 
perception that he is involved in corruption and violence cost him in last 
October's election, where his party finished with a disappointing 27 percent 
of the vote.

The violence in Kosovo has acquired new dimensions in the last few months. 
There are now daily clashes between Albanian rebels and Serbian forces across 
the border east of Kosovo, where three Serbian police officers were killed 
when a land mine destroyed their car two days after the bus blast, and armed 
activity and gunrunning is spilling into neighboring Macedonia.

Extra troops have been sent to join the American soldiers patrolling the 
eastern border. United Nations police officers have had three riot teams on 
standby since Friday as protests have flared in the Serbian enclaves across 
Kosovo and blocked the main road south from the capital, Pristina, for days. 

In the cycle of blood and vengeance that has driven the death and destruction 
of the past 10 years, no one questions that there will be more violence. A 
Yugoslav minister warned this week that Albanian rebels were planning a 
coordinated offensive in March across Kosovo, southern Serbia and even into 
Macedonia.