Subhead: 'Unacceptable,' Official Says, Warning Milosevic
By Isuf Hajrizi (Illyria, Nov.10)
WASHINGTON
The State Department this week called Serbia's
treatment of Albanians in Kosova
"unacceptable" and warned that Belgrade can no
longer ignore the deteriorating situation
there.
Speaking in a Congressional hearing
co-sponsored by Albanian Issues Caucus and the
Human Rights Caucus in the Congress on Thursday,
Eileen Malloy, deputy assistant
secretary of state on European and Canadian affairs,
said the administration is "deeply
concerned" about Kosova and the continued Serbian
repression.
However, despite years of repression
and the deep mistrust Albanians have of Serbia,
the U.S. insists that Kosova Albanians seek a
solution within Belgrade in an "enhanced
status."
"We continue to believe that the
solution to the problems of Kosova can and must be
found within the framework of the Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia. Independence is not a
viable solution and further atomization would
not contribute to regional peace and
security," Malloy told mpderators of the hearing
and co-chairs of the Albanian Issues
Caucus, Reps. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) and Peter
King (R-N.Y.) and some 50 diplomats and
journalists.
Experts disagree with this State
Department policy.
"I think that trying to keep Yugoslavia
together in the present form may lead to a conflict,"
said another panelist, Janusz Bugajski, the director
of East European Studies at the
Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Bugajski who has visited the region several
times, said Kosovar Albanians are losing faith
in the international community as a force
that is willing or able to promote their interests.
"If they are perceived to have failed,
if there are no tangible results after seven years of
patient non-violence, then calls for alternative
methods, including terrorism, sabotage,
guerrilla wars, or mass uprising will accelerate,"
Bugajski said.
But State Department officials hope
that Republic of Kosova President Ibrahim Rugova,
whom they say they fully support, will continue
to keep the increasingly agitated Albanians
under control and pursue his passive policy.
The U.S. feels that violence will just make
things worse for all sides.
"Violence -- whether used
by Serbian police or Kosovar extremists -- does not
contribute to the search for a solution to the
pressing problems of the region," Malloy said
in the hearing.
Last week, 17 Albanians went on
a trial in Prishtine, Kosova's capital, on charges of
"terrorist" activity. Defendants have told
the courts and the human rights groups that
they've been tortured and made to confess to
crimes they did not commit.
"Like the numerous show trials in
the past, there is ample evidence to prove that the new
round of defendants were subjected to physical
abuse and torture while in detention [and]
some submitted confessions under such duress,"
Fred Abrahams of the Human Rights
Watch/Helsinki said in his testimony in Washington
(Statement on page 6).
Malloy, who has recently replaced
Rudof Perina, reiterated that the so-called "outer wall"
of sanctions against Serbia/Montenegro will not
be lifted until there is progress in Kosova.
"The U.S. has been unwavering on
this point," Malloy said.
However, the U.S. may have not been
as steadfast on another issue -- the so-called
"Christmas warning" issued by former President
George Bush in 1992 and later reiterated
by President Bill Clinton.
Asked by Engel if that warning was
still in effect, Malloy said: "There has been no
change on U.S. policy regarding the need to avoid
serious violence in Kosova, [but] I'll also
say that we've made clear to Milosevic that the
U.S. government could not simply ignore
Serb-incited violence in Kosova. But, beyond
that, I really don't want to go into details."
But a source in Washington told
Illyria that the warning "is basically out the window
because they [State Department officials] always
thought of it as unimplementable and
they threw it out."
On the issue of sending a special
U.S. envoy to Kosova, Malloy said Washington
already had a special envoy -- Robert Gelbard
-- who, she said, is planning a trip to
Kosova soon.
"Milosevic cannot ignore Gelbard,"
Malloy warned. She said the U.S. has been in close
contacts with an Italian-based mediation group
which is working on a tentative educational
agreement that would allow Albanian children
and university students to attend classes in
their own language. Albanian students were
thrown out of the state building seven years
ago, when they refused to accept a curriculum
that banned teaching in Albanian and
learning about their culture and history.
The U.S. has shied away from taking
the lead in pressuring Milosevic to allow the
implementation of the agreement.
This week, Albania's Socialist leader
Fatos Nano met with Milosevic in Crete, Greece to
discuss Kosova -- more specifically the
educational agreement. Although Rugova, who
was excluded from the meeting, has responded
calmly to the Nano-Milosevic meeting,
others have sharply criticized it.
A Washington-based Albanian-American group, the
National Albanian American Council, criticized
Nano on the issue.
"The council wishes to put the government
of Albania on notice that it will oppose any
dealing by that government with the authorities
in Belgrade on matters affecting the future
of Kosova. That privilege is the exclusive
moral and legal right of the elected
representatives of the people of Kosova," said
NAAC president Sami Repishti.
CAPTION: Eileen Malloy, deputy assistant secretary
of state on European and Canadian
affairs, confers with Reps. Eliot Engel (N.Y.),
left, and Peter King (R-N.Y.) with Jason
Steinbaum, an Engel aide, looking on.
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