Issue 337 - March 21, 1998

Those who do not believe this to be at all possible, those who think that every concession to Albanian demands inevitably leads to secession, should at least ask whether Serbian policy up to now has been efficient?

There only remains the hope that Serbian and Albanian political leaders will realize that the time for cynical calculations is up and that the fire in Kosovo must now be hurriedly put out

Last year’s public opinion research of Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo—the first such research conducted since 1990 with published results (see VREME insert from August 1997 and last week’s issue)—unequivocally confirms the conclusion of sociologist Srecko Mihajlovic that “Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo share the same degree of poverty and absence of a future, while everything else appears not to be shared and to be set against each other”

The Belgrade authorities will only allow Kosovo to remain what it is, a Serbian province, with the full support of the opposition and the public on this issue. The ethnic Albanians will settle for nothing short of independence, although they wouldn't mind becoming the third Yugoslav republic. The western powers want the Serbian authorities to give Kosovo back the autonomy it had before 1989. Under the 1974 constitution, the provinces were constituent elements of the federation and enjoyed all the privileges the republics did, except the right to secession. A compromise is not in sight, meaning that the threat of new sanctions against Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is looming large

The President of Montenegro speaks for VREME on Kosovo, on the threat of sanctions, dysfunction of the Head Committee for Security and relations within the federation

The socialists and the radicals have come dangerously close in talks on the new Serbian government. The future looks very sad, for basic human rights are hard to protect in countries falling apart or believing they have been attacked.