Albanians call for independence of Kosovo

Ibrahim Rugova, the leader of the Democratic Alliance of Kosovo, who is likely to become the province’s future President , declared in Pristina on Saturday that he is to request the United States of America and the European Union to formally recognise the full independence of Kosovo.

In a New Year message, Rugova declared that the Democratic Alliance of Kosovo, the largest Albanian political grouping, will “work intensively on the formal recognition of the independence of Kosovo, with our friends in America and the European Union, to contribute to the calming of the situation in this part of Europe and the world”.

He added that “In fact, Kosovo is already independent but we are seeking formal recognition and integration into NATO and the European Union”.

Rugova said that his main objectives were to build a democratic and tolerant society, with security and the integration of other ethnic groups.

He will have his work cut out. The second largest Albanian party, whose president is the ex-UCK leader Hashim Thaci, abandoned the parliament, leaving a void which has yet to be filled. A coalition government has still not been formed after the elections in November and as a consequence, Kosovo continues to not have a President as the Albanians bicker among themselves.

The point is that the Albanians never had a united political programme. What they wanted was the Serbs out of Kosovo, the birthplace of the Serbian nation, since these were the only people who knew how to keep the Albanians under control. NATO’s illegal and murderous campaign against Yugoslavia, which incidentally left large swathes of Kosovo contaminated with Depleted Uranium, created the notion of the monster which 500 years of Balkans history had been trying to prevent: a Greater Albania.

Kosovo was never Albanian, although these people infiltrated and bred so prolifically that they now constitute 90% of the population. The purpose of the Albanian wife is to bear as many children as possible, wherever that may be, preferably outside Albania since living conditions in any of its neighbours are far better than at home.

Albanians, like Afghans, are not one people, but rather a collection of tribes which call themselves “Shqiperije” (Eagle People). The language itself has very little written tradition and was tacked together into a grammar only in the twentieth century, being a mixture of Gheg and Tosk, two tribal dialects. The notion of Albania (a word foreign to either of these dialects) is anywhere that the “eagle people” live.

To recognise the full independence of Kosovo would be paramount for a foreign power to demand that the USA recognise the right of Mexico over Texas or California. It would be a victory for terrorism, providing new fuel for the fires in Corsica, the Basque Country, Brittany, the Liga Nord, Aztlan, Scots nationalism, Welsh nationalism, and any other fringe separatist group.

That the Albanians should have their own institutions within a Yugoslav Federal Province of Kosovo, acting under the auspices of Belgrade, would seem reasonable. The atrocities committed by certain rogue Serbian elements were as lamentable as those caused by the Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK) against its own people. Many were the Albanian girls who fled into Serbian areas to escape being forced into prostitution rings by this group.

That the UCK, basically a terrorist organisation with strong links to Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda, should be handed a moral victory by granting full independence, would be an insult to all those who expressed their horror at the September 11th events.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY PRAVDA.Ru