Peace and Bombs

In April, Hisseni rallied a group of his supporters from the LDK and the Forum of Kosovo's intellectuals to form his own party, the New Democratic Alliance of Kosovo (NLDK). The party was joined by a prominent ethnic Albanian writer, Rexep Cosja. When Rugova agreed to unconditional dialogue with Milosevic after Richard Holbrook's visit, Hisseni walked out on Rugova's negotiating team known as G-15. He did so in protest and said the team was illegitimate.

Hisseni spent ten years in jail for joining the movement for Kosovo's independence, which made him a hero among ethnic Albanians. He speaks excellent Serbian and says that he is one of the few ethnic Albanians still nurturing friendly relations with his Serb neighbors in spite of everything that has happened. Shortly before his interview for the weekly Vreme, news that a fight between Serb and ethnic Albanians students broke out came round.

H: I was afraid this could happen. What we had was a conflict between the Serbian regime and the ethnic Albanian population, but it still wasn't a confrontation of two nations. Now we have students, teachers and even peasants fighting each other. That is a prelude to civil war.

Still, you walked out on G-15 just before the talks started. How do you explain that?

H: I resigned because I feel the time for genuine talks is not yet right, not because I am against the talks. The best way to prevent a just solution to the conflict is to discredit the idea of a genuine solution and turn the problem into some kind of a game. That's exactly what Rugova's communication with Belgrade is.

What should be done to open a genuine dialogue then?

H: We first need to create a common ethnic Albanian platform and we need an all-Albanian dialogue for that. Second, there can't be any serious negotiations without foreign mediation. Third, the talks would have to take place on neutral territory, and fourth, the violence brought about by the Serbian police and army must stop.

None of the conditions you mentioned has been met so far. What will you do to make it happen?

At this time, we are regrouping so I can't tell you anything specific. The important thing is to stop discrediting the peace process. There is a lot of room for a non-violent and fruitful solution between extreme radicalism and Rugova's extreme pacifism. We will try to make use of that room.