Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj has surprisingly resigned after being requested to face a special war crimes tribunal in The Hague. This will have far-reaching political consequences, says Vilma Filaj-Ballvora.
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Twenty years after the end of the Kosovo War, many wounds have yet to heal. To this day, many of those who perpetrated war crimes have escaped justice. And reconciliation between Serbia and Kosovo seems a remote prospect.
Nevertheless, there is some good news. Kosovo's parliament has agreed to the creation of a special tribunal to investigate the crimes of Kosovo Albanians during the war. The tribunal, which is based in The Hague, has already collected evidence and begun to question witnesses.
Now, the court has made headlines by requesting to question none other than Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, a former officer and leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). His court hearing is set for next week. In response, Haradinaj has resigned from office.
This will be the second time that Haradinaj has voluntarily traveled to The Hague to be heard in court. Back in 2005, he also resigned from the position as head of government for the same reason. Serbian authorities accuse the former KLA officer of having committed crimes against Serbian civilians during the Kosovo War. He was acquitted in 2005 due to lack of evidence, though rumors that witnesses had been intimated and even murdered persisted. Even so, when Haradinaj returned to Kosovo, he was hailed as a national hero.
Haradinaj's resignation could have far-reaching consequences for Kosovo, as it significantly shifts the domestic balance of power in the small Balkan state.
DW's Vilma Filaj-Ballvora
Haradinaj, the leader of Alliance for the Future of Kosovo party, came to power in 2017 after snap parliamentary elections. His government coalition, made up of so-called "war wing" parties, was unstable from the get-go. Moreover, it faced tremendous challenges: a rocky relationship with Serbia, domestic corruption, high unemployment and the special tribunal. A premature collapse of the coalition was very much on the cards.
Haradinaj's departure will also change Kosovo's relationship with Serbia. Haradinaj had been adamant about not making dialogue with the Serbian side dependent on preconditions, and strictly opposed a redrawing of borders such as that mooted by Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic.
This position made Haradinaj popular within Kosovo and in Western Europe. Germany, and many other EU states, have insisted that borders in Europe should not undergo change.
When Haradinaj's government imposed steep tariffs on Serbian imports, however, massive international criticism ensued. Since this step was taken, the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia has been suspended — which has also impacted on talks about a possible land swap. Despite intense negotiations, Haradinaj did not give ground.
If Haradinaj had remained prime minister, his stubbornness could have ultimately proven his downfall. The Hague hearing has expedited his resignation. His decision to cooperate with the judiciary is a step that is both logical and right.
But Haradinaj's departure from the political stage, even if temporary, will fundamentally change Kosovo's political landscape. Above all, President Thaci and his Democratic Party of Kosovo have lost their most important champion in negotiations with Belgrade. This means the proposed deal that has been under discussion by both sides for a good year — trading land in return for Serbia's recognition of Kosovo — could gain momentum. But any such deal, if struck without the support of a broad majority of Kosovars, would not be a good foundation for a permanent, long-term solution of the vexed Kosovo question.
The Hague special tribunal on Albanian war crimes during the Kosovo War has now taken an important step toward a legal reckoning with the past. This is an encouraging sign. But the political consequences of Haradinaj's resignation will soon be felt. In particular, it is likely that talks between Kosovo and Serbia will be restarted. However, an unsatisfactory deal arising on the basis of Kosovo's domestic political weakness should be prevented at all costs.
NATO intervention against Serbia — a look back
The 1999 NATO bombardment of Serbia ended that country's violence against Kosovo Albanians. Still, more than 20 years later, the war, which was conducted without UN backing, remains controversial.
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Traces of war on the Kosovo field
The Kosovo conflict intensified at the end of the 1990s. Ten thousand people were displaced. When all efforts to bring peace to the region failed, NATO started air strikes on Serbian military bases and strategic targets in Serbia on March 24, 1999. After 11 weeks, Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic finally backed down.
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Non-violent resistance fails
Protests against Belgrade's attempts to undermine the rights of the Albanian majority in Kosovo began in the mid-1980s. The 1990s saw a massive increase in Serbian repression. Ibrahim Rugova (l.), who took the reins of Kosovo's political movement in 1989, called for non-violent resistance and sought to convince Slobodan Milosevic (r.) to change course — to no avail.
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Armed guerrilla war
An armed resistance formed in Kosovo, in which the self-proclaimed Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK) began a brutal guerrilla war. The UCK undertook violent attacks on Serbia as well as against Albanians it considered to be collaborators. Serbia retaliated by torching houses and looting businesses. Hundreds of thousands of people fled.
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Systematic expulsion
The war grew increasingly brutal and Serbian forces stepped up attacks on civilians in an attempt to destroy the UCK and its supporters. Scores of people fled into the forests. Thousands of Kosovo Albanians were loaded onto trains and trucks to be transported to the border, where they were thrown out without passports or other personal documents that could prove they were from Kosovo.
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Last attempt to negotiate
In February 1999, the USA, France, the United Kingdom, Russia and Germany convened a meeting of warring parties in Rambouillet, France, in an attempt to establish autonomy for Kosovo. Kosovan representatives accepted the proposal, yet Serbia was unwilling to compromise. The negotiations collapsed.
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'Humanitarian intervention'
On March 24, 1999, NATO began bombing military and strategic targets in Serbia and Kosovo in an attempt to end violence against the Albanians. Germany also participated in the bombing. "Operation Allied Force" became the first war in NATO's 50-year history — one conducted without the backing of the UN Security Council. Russia harshly criticized the intervention.
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Crippled infrastructure
Beyond military targets, NATO also bombed supply lines, train tracks and bridges. Over the course of 79 days and nights, allied forces flew more than 37,000 sorties. Some 20,000 missiles and bombs rained down on Serbia. Many civilians were killed: "collateral damage," in the words of NATO.
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Toxic cloud over Pancevo
Industrial sites were also targeted. In Pancevo, near Belgrade, NATO bombs hit a chemical and fertilizer factory. Massive amounts of toxic substances were released into rivers, the ground and the skies — resulting in grave health risks for the nearby civilian population. Moreover, Serbia accused NATO of deploying uranium-enriched munitions as well as cluster and fragment bombs.
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Targeting the propaganda machine
State television offices in Belgrade were attacked in an attempt to deprive Slobodan Milosevic of his most important propaganda tool. Although the Serbian government was warned of an impending attack in time, Belgrade withheld that information. Sixteen people were killed when the site was bombed.
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Misguided bombs
NATO bombs in Kosovo inadvertently hit a group of Albanian refugees, killing an estimated 80 people. NATO also claimed that the accidental bombardment of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade was another case of "collateral damage." Four people were killed in the misguided attack, leading to a diplomatic crisis between Beijing and Washington.
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The ghastly toll of war
In early June, Belgrade signaled that Slobodan Milosevic might be prepared to surrender, prompting NATO to end its campaign on June 19. The final toll of the war: thousands of dead and 860,000 refugees. Serbia's economy and large swaths of its infrastructure were destroyed. Kosovo was put under UN administration.
