U.N. May Be Forced to Abandon Idea of Multiethnic KosovaBy CARLOTTA GALL
PRISHTINË, Kosova -- As the effort to have Serbs and Albanians live together in Kosova seems to be failing, the United Nations administration has been forced to consider the de facto segregation of Serbian enclaves and even the temporary resettlement of Serbs to protect them.
In the nearly three months since NATO stopped bombing Yugoslavia and took over the devastated province of Kosova, pressure has been mounting from Belgrade and from Serbs within Kosova to formally partition the province into Serbian and Albanian cantons. But the United States and its NATO allies strongly oppose any such formal partition because it would abandon the stated goals of the bombing campaign.
Wednesday, at a heated meeting here with Albanian and Serbian representatives, Bernard Kouchner, the United Nations Special Representative, rejected pleas by the Serbs to do just that. He said the United Nations and the NATO-led peacekeeping force still intended to try to protect the Serbs where they live, even if it means guarding individual houses.
"Only if security cannot be fully insured in some areas and within a certain time span would we consider temporary or provisional resettlement," Dr. Kouchner was quoted as saying by Nadia Younes, a spokeswoman for the United Nations mission in Kosova who was at Wednesday's meeting of the Transitional Council, which includes leaders from both sides in the Kosova conflict.
But some Serbs have already moved to safer places within Kosova on their own, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has moved some 400 people to safer places since NATO's arrival in June.
"If it is a life-threatening situation, we can move them within or out of Kosova," said Ron Redmond, a spokesman for the refugee agency here.
He said that Serbs are already congregating in majority Serbian villages or areas in eastern Kosova.
In Washington, a senior Administration official said that resettling Serbs into what would essentially be ghettos was a "bad idea" that the Administration would try to reverse.
"We don't accept that," the official said. "We're going to try to prevent it from happening." But the official acknowledged that tensions between Albanians and Serbs made it "tough in the short term" to guarantee the Serbs' safety.
The whole fabric of the Administration's policy in Kosova is based on the notion that Albanians and Serbs can live together. If Dr. Kouchner found it necessary to move Serbs into their own areas, the policy -- repeated many times by Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright -- would be a failure.
The top United States envoy on Kosova, Ambassador James Dobbins, is due in Prishtina on Thursday and will tell Dr. Kouchner that the Administration opposes resettlement, the official said. "We're not adopting this as a policy."
The official acknowledged that the current atmosphere was not conducive to "full integration" between Serbs and Albanians -- a situation that has not existed in Kosova in more than a decade.
But Washington would like some of the Serbs who have left Kosova to return, the official said.
Some 180,000 Serbs of a pre-war population of 200,000 have left Kosova during and since the war, and barely 1,000 remain in Prishtina, the capital. Those who remain are being subjected to threats and violence from the returning Albanian population. NATO troops and the United Nations police have been unable to stem the violence and protect the dwindling Serbian population and other minorities, such as the gypsies, bringing the idea of partition back onto the agenda.
The Yugoslav President, Slobodan Miloševic, had pushed the plan for the partition of Kosova during negotiations before the war, calling for the northern part of the province to be made Serbian and the rest to be abandoned to the Kosova Albanians. Western negotiators, Americans among them, rejected the idea.
Dr. Kouchner caused consternation among foreign diplomats, aid workers and in particular the Albanians this week simply by considering cantonization.
At today's meeting of the Transitional Council, he rejected the idea, however, and promised merely to beef up security.
"Dr Kouchner is against cantonization," Ms. Younes said. "The use of the word even we are not keen on. It is quite loaded, and is rejected by the Albanians. But we are very aware that it is essential to protect people. We are trying to steer away from cantons and step up security for the Serbs."
The meeting was stormy, in part because for the first time he brought together the rival Albanian leaders Hashim Thaçi and Ibrahim Rugova, and two Serbian leaders, Bishop Artemije and Momcilo Trajkovic.
Trajkovic, the leader of the Serbian Resistance Movement and the only prominent Serbian politician left in Kosova, called for the creation of cantons last week and presented a modified proposal at today's meeting. Trajkovic wants five distinct areas in Kosova, amounting to approximately a sixth of the territory, to be allotted to Serbs. They would have Serbian law and Serbian-run administrations, essentially creating autonomous islands of Serb control. "Our cause is not to divide but to end the tragedy of people leaving Kosova," Trajkovic said after the meeting. "We are not separating the country but organizing local government."
In Prishtina, peacekeepers are now guarding individual Serbs, living in the top floors of apartment blocks or camping out 24 hours a day in front of a Serbian house. They have been dubbed the "granny patrols" because many of the remaining Serbs are poor and elderly.
Four British soldiers of the 1st Battalion, the Highlanders, have been on constant guard on their Saxon armoured vehicle outside the house of Dušanka Ristic, 54, since her 80-year-old mother, Ljubica Simic, was shot in the face by intruders two weeks ago. Her mother is still in a hospital, and Ms. Ristic never leaves the house, only grateful that the threats and insults from Albanians have stopped since the soldiers began guarding her.
The commander outside says he can spare the men for the constant watch because he has only four Serbs in his district to guard, including a local Orthodox priest. He admits that as the Serbs leave or move away, the job is getting easier. Yet neither he nor Ms. Ristic sees an end to the constant guard.August 26, 1999
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