A False Peace

Our colleagues from foreign newspapers had different interpretations of the incident. For instance, Victor Mayer, a German journalist, wrote about an alleged scenario according to which "Serbian extremists are preparing a massacre in order to expel 100,000 ethnic Albanians to Albania". Ibrahim Rugova (leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo) announced after last month's elections, "the first constituent session of the Parliament of the Republic of Kosovo", while Mr. Momcilo Trajkovic, a socialist MP from Kosovo, is warning the public that "the state of Serbia will never allow ethnic Albanians to establish the government of the so-called Republic of Kosovo".

The image of peace is disturbed by long lines in front of the passport office in Pristina. People are trying to catch the last train heading West where life is safer. The black market is functioning perfectly well, "the dealers" are on very good terms with the police, at a price of only DEM 100 to 200.

Ethnic Albanian political parties and associations see the inauguration of Dobrica Cosic as a "Serbian affair". However, they reminded that they cannot have a wonderful opinion of the man who in 1968 said that Albanians in Serbia cannot expect to be treated even as second class citizens. All in all, Cosic, the father of the nation, and Milosevic, the saviour of the nation, are still receiving telegrams of support from Serb-ran Kosovo firms and with resolute condemnation of the opposition and DEPOS. Since Matija Beckovic's appearance as the spokesman of DEPOS, he has been frequently criticized and his photographs torn up.

At the moment, it is hard to tell who is innocent and who is guilty. This is illustrated in the case of Azem Vlasi, the former Communist Party leader in Kosovo, and of the other 14 accused in the notorious trial held in 1989. Vlasi was one of the first victims of Milosevic's "anti-bureaucratic revolution". As we learned from reliable sources, the DA's Office recently dropped the case for lack of evidence. Aziz Abrashi and Burchan Kavaya, second and third accused, said that such an outcome was expected: "We think that this decision is only too logical, the regime finally had to yield to irrefutable arguments and pressures from world opinion. Justice has triumphed, but deep inside we'll always remember the torture, humiliations, and above all, the regime's cruelty to the victims of this trial. We will demand to be rehabilitated and given back our former jobs. What an irony! At the beginning of the trial Milosevic was at his peak, and this clearing verdict, according to all indications, will coincide with his fall".