Peace in Kosovo: Rebuilding a Future for the Balkans
A conflict arose around the question of a Russian sector, which was strongly demanded by Yeltsin. The Russian troops had taken everybody by surprise, by arriving first at Pristina and occupying the airport of the city while the British troops were still on the march. When British and French troops finally arrived, trying to enter the airport, the Russian commanders denied them access. Moscow has now agreed to cooperate under a unified command, but is still asking for an occupation zone of its own. Getting along with the proud Russian generals in a good partnership is still requiring a lot of patience and good will from everybody.
Immediately behind NATO troops advancing from Albania and Macedonia followed the fighters of the KLA and the first returning refugees. The number of refugees outside Kosovo was estimated about 900.000 with another 600.000 uprooted inside the province. Despite security warnings, many of these could not be held back and started to reenter their homeland immediately. The streets were blocked by the stream of vehicles and unfortunately a certain number of casualties occurred caused by mines left by the Serbs.
The first days of K-For operations in Kosovo saw also a series of conflicts with a number of people killed among Serbs, Albanians and even journalists. Before retreating the Serbs tried to cover the atrocities by burning the bodies of their victims as well as the houses where the torture and killing occurred. Despite these efforts, however, the NATO troops arriving have found over 100 mass graves containing probably more than 10,000 bodies, among them even many children. They found wells full of cadavers and even evidence of systematic torture. Albeit many testimonies have been collected, it will be hard to get grip of the criminals responsible for these atrocities. The inquiries and trials are probably due to go on for years.
A big problem is also the destiny of the Kosovar Liberation Army. The Kosovar freedom fighters entered the province together with NATO troops and tried to occupy strategic positions. In order to prevent Kosovar revenge against Serbs, the KLA fighters must surely be disarmed, if peace shall last, but this task does not look too easy. The worst thing that could happen would be a reverse ethnic cleansing of Kosovars
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