Kosovo: Alle Seiten einbeziehende Lösung noch immer eine Möglichkeit

Das Drängen auf eine Entscheidung über den endgültigen
Status des Kosovo ist laut Transitions Online
verständlich, aber eine Entscheidung kann noch warten, sofern
endlich Gespräche eingeleitet werden, die nicht an Bedingungen
gebunden sind.

In mid-2005, the UN is set to examine the Kosovo government’s
commitment to democracy, its governance and adherence to human
rights standards. A group of countries calling themselves the
Contact Group – the three Western powers, plus Russia, Germany, and
Italy – is to decide then whether to start a process to determine
the province’s final status. 

The main stakeholders in Kosovo seem to agree that the status
quo is unsustainable, even if they disagree profoundly how it
should be changed. 

The ethnic-Albanian majority and literally all its political
representatives have argued for years now that only an independent
Kosovo will be capable of delivering stability and the political
standards demanded by the international community, including the
protection of minorities.

Since the eruption of mob violence against ethnic Serbs in March
2004, the Kosovo Serb community has made it clear in many ways,
including by a boycott of the October 2004 elections, that it finds
its own situation unbearable. 

Top Belgrade leaders may entertain different visions for the
future of Kosovo, but they all agree that changes to foster those
visions should be initiated immediately.

Numerous independent thinkers, think tanks, and non-executive
Western politicians have also publicly urged changes. They all call
for immediate measures to move toward determining Kosovo’s final
status. Along with long-time champions of the Kosovo Albanians’
cause among U.S. legislators, the influential International Crisis
Group (ICG) think tank argues in a comprehensive report on Kosovo
published today, 24 January, that the province should become fully
independent by mid-2006 in a process that should start now and that
would keep Kosovo within its present borders.

Add to the above the openly wielded threat of a new outbreak of
mob violence if the Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for
the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) indicts Kosovo’s new prime minister,
Ramush Haradinaj, and the scene is all but set for some big-time
action in Kosovo and relating to Kosovo. 

To read the article in full, visit the Transitions Online website.