BY BOBBIS MISAILIDES AND NATASHA TERLEXIS
PRISTINA, Kosova - "Observers" from the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) can now be seen here in
the capital of Kosova, patrolling the central streets in their
jeeps. Their forces are expected to rise to 2,000 according to
the accords signed - under the threat of NATO air strikes against
Yugoslavia - between U.S. special envoy to the Balkans Richard
Holbrooke and Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic. An
imperialist intervention force of 2,000, touted as back-up for
these observers, has begun deployment in the neighboring Republic
of Macedonia. Some 1,150 troops are already in place, 650 of whom
are from France.
While most Albanians here do not object to the OSCE presence and see it as a sign of international concern for those fighting in Kosova for their national self determination, no one these reporters spoke to viewed them as a form of protection from attack. "The UCK is the only force defending Albanians from Serbian police attack," said Bujar Dugolli, president of the Students Independent Union of the University of Pristina, in an interview here.
The Kosova Liberation Army, known by its Albanian initials UCK, is fighting for independence from Serbia. Kosovar Albanians, who comprise 90 percent of the population in this region, face severe discrimination and repression from the regime in Belgrade. Washington and other imperialist powers have used professed concern for the rights of the Albanian majority to justify deepening their military intervention in the Yugoslav workers state.
The inauguration of the regional headquarters of the OSCE observers in Mitrovica, as reported in the Albanian-language press here, did not include a single Albanian nor did it have simultaneous translation.
At the same time as this deployment, and just two months after the signing of the imperialist-inspired accords, hopes for a diplomatic settlement to the conflict are fading under deepening attacks by the Milosevic regime in Kosova. Forty-six people were reported killed in the week before these reporters arrived here. The killing of 33 Albanian youths near the Albanian border December 12 was the turning point in this escalation. The UCK conducted a large-scale military funeral for them December 20.
In Pec, Serbian officials have been harassing and arresting Albanians since six Serbian youths were killed in a bar in mid- December.
Eleonora Halimi, an aid worker who travels extensively in the region, confirmed that Serbian troop movements are on the rise. "They come in, but they don't come out," she observed. The accords as they stand allow for a 25,000-strong Serbian military presence in Kosova.
Refugees, ostensibly allowed to return to their bombed villages, reportedly face frequent harassment. Many fear to return unless protected by UCK fighters.
The local press carries daily reports of small scale attacks on villages and skirmishes with the UCK. In the wake of the killings in Polje, as well as that of a Serbian deputy mayor of Kosova police December 18, harassment by the police has intensified under the guise of "fighting terrorism." The UCK forcefully denies charges that it is responsible in these killings After dark, Pristina becomes a booby trap of police check points for young Albanians, as observed by these reporters.
Under these blows workers and farmers are becoming disillusioned with the results of the cease-fire, and there are heightened expectations of a new wave of fighting. "The UCK is necessary in today's situation," said Agim Hajrizi, president of the Assembly of the Union of Independent Trade Unions of Kosova. "After you have lost your job, your home is destroyed. You are forced to go to the UCK to protect what is left of your former home."
Milosevic has also intensified his crackdown on democratic rights in an effort to stop opposition among working people and youth to his regime. A new media law has targeted newspapers and radio stations that have been critical of the regime's brutal oppression of the Albanian in Kosova. Under the new law so far two independent newspapers were forced to shut down while local radio station were denied licenses for "promoting defeatism" and "undermining the state's security."
Teachers have been dismissed from the universities because they refused to sign loyalty oaths to the Milosevic regime that is required under a new law.