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No sooner had grief-stricken people attending the funeral of two Albanian boys dispersed than many began wondering the bloody riot, which was unleashed by their deaths and reopened the tinderbox in Balkan, was either an instant eye-for-eye revenge or a premeditated ethnic cleansing. But who should take the blame?
The funeral was held in the village of Cabar, 40 km north of Kosovo's capital Pristina, after peace was restored following days of rioting, looting and arson. The unrest left 24 people killed, over 850 wounded and thousands more homeless.
The violence was triggered on Wednesday by the allegation that three ethnic Albanian boys were chased by Serb youths and drowned in the Ibar River. Public anger quickly exploded and spilled over to the ethnically-divided city of Kosovska Mitrovica in a scale which defied any previous example.
Although, the international peacekeeping forces temporarily kept a lid on the emotional torrent, the nature of the deadly turmoil remained shrouded in mystery. People couldn't help questioning: was it an eye for an eye action just sparked by the drowning tragedy, or a premeditated ethnic cleansing bent on driving the minority Serbs out? And who should take the blame?
Organized ethnic cleansing
Many Serbia-Montenegro and international officials believed this rioting was a premeditated genocide in an attempt to sow ethnic hatred between Kosovo's mostly Muslim Albanians, who long for independence, and Orthodox Christian Serbs, who want to remain part of Serbia-Montenegro.
Branko Krga, chief of the General Staff in the Serbia-Montenegro army, signaled Saturday to the press that the military intelligence agency had controlled Kosovo extremists' plan about cleansing local Serbians, but failed to intervene beforehand.
The chief UN administrator for the province Harri Holkeri and another official of the UN-Interim Administration in northern Kosovo echoed Krga's views, acknowledging that at first, they mistook this violence for an instant revenge rioting, but later it turned out to be an organized genocide.
On the same day, the police army of the UN administration said in a statement the allegation that the Albanian boys were drowned because they were chased by Serb youths, was completely unfounded.
These views received welcome from Serbia-Montenegro Defense Minister Boris Tadic, who termed the remarks as "encouraging" since it marked the first time for the past 14 years the international community acknowledged the existence of ethnic cleansing targeted at the Serbs.
He expressed that the government would do its utmost to defuse the crisis through diplomacy and avoid resorting to forces.
NATO shares blame
The NATO-led international peacekeeping forces should also share the blame for the deadly rioting.
On March 19, Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said the UN interim administration and the NATO-led Peacekeeping Force in Kosovo (KFOR) failed in governance and military management.
The 1999 military campaign succeeded in stopping the genocide against Albanians and replacing the then Yugoslavia with currently Serbia and Montenegro.
However, a successful government reshuffle didn't necessarily replace hostility and hatred with tolerance and coexistence.
Reluctant to adopt active measures to solve the final future of Kosovo, the international community, NATO in particular, also fared disastrously with maintaining security in the area.
To make things worse, NATO even turned a blind eye to the ethnic undercurrents in the UN protectorate. With reprisal killing, looting, bombing, arson, kidnapping and drug or arms trafficking plaguing the area, Kosovo became a haven for those harboring extremism and terrorism.
A NATO spokesman warned Friday that Kosovo had been pushed to the verge of complicated and dangerous situation, reminiscent of that before the NATO-led bombing campaign began in 1999. And the only difference was at that time, the ethnic cleansing was targeted at Albanians and this time vice versa.
Hatred runs deep
Days of violence not only took life casualties, but also dealt a deadly blow to the fragile Albanian-Serbian relations.
On the one hand, many Serbs were forced to flee their hometown with hopes of reconciliation extinguished. On the other hand, hatred was also deep-rooted in Albanians' hearts.
A 13-year-old Albanian boy once told Xinhua reporters that he was ready to join the army to fight for the Albanian independence.
"If I got killed, that would make me a martyr; and many more would rise to fight following my steps."
No matter which side gets the upper hand in this decades-long feud, innocent people would never emerge unscathed. As long as this animosity takes hold, Kosovo remains a ticking time bomb for the Balkan as well as the world.
(Xinhua News Agency March 23, 2004)
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