The Rugova Case

It is manifest that the meeting of Ibrahim Rugova with President of FR Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milosevic, as well as the following meetings with Vice-Presidents, Ratko Markovic and Nikola Sainovic, made western leaders very upset. At the outset, the western propaganda machinery attempted to demonstrate that that meeting has never occurred. When they realised their nonsuccess, they tried to do everything they could to put their former favourite beyond the margins, and then to forget that he had ever existed.

After the State Television of Serbia (RTS) had broadcast the pictures of the meeting between Milosevic and Rugova on April 1st, as well as their signatures on the document in which a political solution to Kosovo crisis was demanded, the reactions in Washington and Brussels were coated with the unpleasing silence. The NATO political assemblymen needed two days to interpret that event and they ended up with nothing better that to claim that the meeting actually never took place. "It is a mere fraudulence", said NATO spokesman, Jamie Shea. "Pictures shown by RTS are two years old, from the time when Serbian and Albanian leaders signed a contract on education." At the same time, NATO foremen claimed that they were still trying to determine whether Ibrahim Rugova was alive and where he actually was. This explanation given by NATO became even funnier if one has in mind that during the time of signing the education contract, no meeting between Milosevic and Rugova was held; the document was signed by each of them individually. This unsuccessful attempt to conceal the truth was destined to failure on April 5th, when Rugova received Yuri Kotov, Russian Ambassador to Belgrade, to have a short conversation with him. At the press conference held after the meeting, Kotov stated that he had not perceived that Rugova was under pressure of Serbian authorities. "On the contrary, I would say that he is helped by them, since his life is endangered by the Albanian extremists", said Kotov, stressing that during their conversation he had the impression about Rugova's consistency to his attitude that Kosovo problem cannot be solved by force, nor by NATO bombs.

Accordingly, they should have found a new way of pushing Rugova to periphery. That was done by way of German Spiegel, which published a story last week by an anonymous journalist, who allegedly managed to break into Rugova's house in Pristina and interview the Albanian leader. According to that newspaper article, Rugova was under house arrest, and he was taken to those meetings with Milosevic and Kotov by force in the company of Serbian police. In the same text, the alleged Rugova's appeal to NATO to continue with bombing, and to introduce ground troops as soon as possible "until Serbia's final breakdown", was cited. But what this 'sensational' article lacks is a convincing explanation how this supposed Spiegel journalist managed to avoid the police guard that surround Rugova as a home prisoner, and even more to interview him without anyone taking notice of it.

The result is, therefore, that there is no such thing that Rugova might say or do to persuade the West that he really represents something. This is even more bizarre since it is known that the Albanian leader has lived for ten years under protection of these countries. During his trips abroad, Rugova was often welcomed with the honour reserved for presidents and prime ministers, while in those newspapers he was described as a "Kosovo Gandhi".

The explanation lies in the fact that the West needs no Gandhi at the moment, and particularly not from Kosovo. It is simple: the West is on the war track, and so far, there are no indications of their readiness to accept any peaceful initiative. Hence, the more suitable person for them is now Hashim Thaqi who, from his cozy nest in Tirana, pleads for war at any cost. Having formed the 'exile government' after the Rambouillet negotiation collapse, consisted only of hard current terrorists, Thaqi became very successful. Not only that CNN defined him as a "witness of massacres over innocent Albanian population", but he is also, according to German and British Foreign Ministers, in a permanent contact with the leaders of NATO countries. It is unbelievable that Robin Cook and Joschka Fischer publicly admit this, in spite of the well-known fact that Thaqihimself took part in brutal killings of Serbian civilians around Orahovac last Summer.

As long as the aggression lasts, people like Thaqi will have a positive connotation in the west, but the question is what will happen to him when peaceful negotiations revive, and that has to happen sooner or later. Then the question will arise: on what basis did Thaqi get a title of 'the leader of Kosovo Albanians'? At which elections did his 'party' win? Rugova can, at least, boast with two illegal elections organised by Albanians in Kosovo, at which he won, no matter how funny those 'elections' were. Apart from that, Thaqi's statements from Tirana that "Rugova has abandoned his people" are capricious, while Rugova stays in Pristina which is being splashed with bombs and rockets every night.
However, Rugova's party, the Democratic Alliance of Kosovo (DSK) had already condemned Thaqi's usurpation of the title of the leader of Kosovo Albanians. In a notification published on April 6th in Tirana, the exiled government of DSK claims that Thaqi's supremacy is illegitimate, because in the present circumstances "it is objectively not possible to form a new government". To make matters more complicated, Kosovo even has the third 'government in exile', which has been established in Switzerland by Bujar Bukoshi, the long-standing rival of both Rugova and the KLA.

Concerning that perplexity, it is obvious that among Albanians, apart from all attempts to remove Rugova out of the game, there is no such a personality able to replace him at the proper time for serious negotiations. It is only a question of time when will the West realise this fact, even along with the current martial blindness. Then, Thaqi will be surprised with the swiftness with which he and his company will be rejected by the same people who are now holding them at the highest esteem. The destiny of the West lovers can often be very cunning in these territories.