Bad Start

Serbian and ethnic Albanian politicians signed a document regulating the implementation of the agreement on education in Kosovo which was signed in September 1996 by Slobodan Milosevic and Ibrahim Rugova. While the ethnic Albanians voiced moderate satisfaction, Serbian students said they opposed the agreement at a protest rally in Pristina. VREME asked Dusan Janjic, director of the Forum for Inter-ethnic Relations and participant in many attempted Serbian-ethnic Albanian negotiations, what he thinks of the agreement.

JANJIC: “The agreement is either a trick or leads to Kosovo becoming a republic. A second look at it shows that it never denies the ethnic Albanians the right to return to schools and the university with their teachers, curriculum, previous knowledge and diplomas. The authorities, specifically Milosevic, never discuss key problems. They wait for an opportunity to trick their opponents, but I admit I haven’t been able to grasp the strategy of the Serbian state. I think it has no strategy: there is no coordination which would consider how we’ll live together in those schools and university. The problem is being solved in haste to score political points.”

VREME: The protocol was interpreted differently at home and abroad?

“The Milosevic-Rugova agreement was signed under the assumption that some important things were resolved, which means the status of Kosovo. That’s where the different interpretations come from: Milosevic, that is official Serbia, said right off that the signing of the agreement does not mean Kosovo gets the status of a republic, but that it is about re-integrating the ethnic Albanians into the education system. Rugova and most ethnic Albanians said that it means he was recognized as the president of the republic of Kosovo, that his parallel system was accepted and that all it takes is for the children to go back to school. Then when the implementation of the agreement didn’t start, the ethnic Albanian student protest started, most probably organized by ethnic Albanian politicians. The student street protest made their political scene more radical. In the meantime, the Serbian political scene got more radical through elections, boycotts, conflicts and breakups and instead of lowering tensions, the agreement was another focal point for more tension.”

Why did the Contact Group insist on the implementation of an unimplementable agreement which you say will grow into a series of manipulations?

“The Contact Group is insisting on the agreement because to them it’s not just an education issue: if 8-9 generations are outside the social integration system, if that many generations don’t get employment, to them it’s a humanitarian problem and a human rights issue and that is a strong instrument for pressure on the Serbian authorities.”

Pristina university Rector Radivoj Papovic said the signing of the agreement is unconstitutional and illegal, that the agreement is treason.

“Papovic is not an ordinary rector: for a time he was the only Serbian state institution in Kosovo. He has a private business, a powerful oil business and everything that goes with that kind of power. Then there’s Ivanovic: he’s more powerful than the Karic brothers, he rigs elections any way he wants and no court has managed to sentence him. Bear in mind that the town of Pec is the informal Balkan black market stock exchange, that the biggest deals are made there, that huge amounts of money go there. That is the structure of the Serbs who will spread fear among other Serbs to prove themselves to be the guardians. I think they are behind these rallies.”

You’re saying that the local Serbs aren’t the problem?

“The local Serbs don’t understand their position in many ways. Specifically, the Serbs at Pristina university are mostly not from Kosovo. Students come here from across Serbia, the RS and Montenegro. Now they’re losing their chance of getting a diploma more easily than at other universities. Greek students also come here to study for small amounts of money. It’s a huge business and a change in the status quo would mean a loss of huge privileges.”

The worst case scenario can be seen. Is there any hope that we could avoid it?

“In times like these, times of chronic conflicts, even a little positive thing like the return of ethnic Albanians to some institutes could contribute to lowering tensions and show that the problem can be resolved as a technical problem. But, if some alternative is not found, a good development platform, a new catastrophe will come in a year. In 10 years Milosevic’s policies from 1989 to 1998 will culminate in divisions, and that’s when the population growth will reach its peak and the issue of integration or division in the Balkans will be raised. All this, the RS, Serbia and Montenegro was foreplay. Now we should base things on market competition not national romance on both sides: that is madness it divides people. Now is the best moment for a new education model and that is happening already in the RS. Maybe it’s not a bad thing that the Milosevic-Rugova agreement will fail if a wider process of political negotiation ensues.”