Socialist Action /February 1999
Imperialists Step Up Pressure on Kosovo Rebels
BY GERRYFOLEY
By issuing an ultimatum to both sides in the Kosovo conflict and raising
the perspective of a NATO military occupation of the rebel region, the United
States and its allies have in fact stepped up their pressure against the
Albanian liberation forces.
"The United States and its European allies have all agreed that
the two warring parties must be forced to accept a political solution,"
Craig R. Whitney reported from Brussels in the Jan. 29 New York Times.
"No nation has said exactly how many troops might be needed to enforce
an eventual agreement in Kosovo, but both European and American diplomats
said today that the allies are willing to contemplate sending tens of thousands
of troops as peace keepers."
The Belgrade opposition weekly Vreme commented in its Jan. 30
issue: "Although the Western allies still have to iron out some disagreements
among themselves, it seems that a Dayton-type peace conference will be held
... and that ground troops can be expected to be sent in soon."
The threat of imposing a "peace" in Kosovo by military occupation
represents a major escalation of the intervention in the conflict by the
imperialist powers. Vreme pointed to the obvious fact that in the
context of the Western threats, the talks at the proposed peace conference
would only be "negotiations in a very relative sense."
It is quite clear that the Western powers intend to impose a version
of the Hill plan, which involves two main points: (1) Kosovo must remain
within Serbia; (2) The Serbs have to grant the Kosovars some concessions
in the form of local autonomy, including a role for ethnic Albanians in
the police force.
The Serbian chauvinists are of course trumpeting that the Kosovo conflict
is a purely internal matter for Serbia. But despite their ruthlessness they
face a growing likelihood of defeat if the conflict continues.
In the wake of the massive Serbian offensives, the Kosovo Liberation
Army (KLA) has in fact extended its field of operations considerably.
Thus, the principal effect of NATO intervention will be to save the Serbs
from defeat, as it in fact did in the Bosnian war. The KLA is certainly
aware of this, as indicated by statements in the pro-KLA press that a Bosnia-type
settlement is undesirable.
The Kosovar politician that the KLA has chosen for its spokesman, former
political prisoner Adem Demaci, said in the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana,
on Jan. 28:
"In the present circumstances, in which the Serbs are continuing
their attacks, it is impossible for us to sit down to any negotiating table."
According to the Jan. 29 on-line edition of the Pristina daily Kohe
Ditore, Demaci said that the Albanian side was not prepared to make
the same mistake that had been made in Bosnia, when the Muslim leadership
discussed all sorts of plans for ending the conflict, while the fighting
was still going on:
"We will support only discussions that are held in an independent
Kosovo."
But the Western powers refuse to accept an independent Kosovo, and now
they even seem prepared to occupy the region militarily to prevent that.
That is, after all, the only way they can intervene, without risking strengthening
the position of the KLA.
In its Jan. 30 issue, Vreme pointed out: "The reports of
the Contact Group meeting indicate a 'new approach' to the Kosovo crisis.
What is new is pressure not only against Belgrade but against the Albanian
armed groups....
"Of course, NATO would maintain its threat against the Serbian side
and its sanctions against Belgrade, but it would also cut off the flow of
arms to the illegal KLA and prevent them from collecting money and buying
arms and materiel in the Western countries. The authorities in Tirana would
be warned that collusion between Albania and the KLA 'will not be tolerated.'"
Air strikes against the KLA would be useless militarily, and they would
be impossible politically. But it will be hard for the KLA to oppose NATO
military intervention on the ground, when it claims to be coming to save
the Albanians from Serbian genocide.
Nonetheless, the KLA must know, as in fact it has indicated, that the
Western imperialist powers are their enemy.
The KLA may not be able to say this, but in the imperialist countries
themselves all those who support the democratic right of peoples to self-determination
have to say it and oppose their governments' plans to impose a military
occupation on a people fighting for its rights.
Socialist Action /February 1999 |