Global Policy Forum

By Shaban Buza

The United Nations launched an ambitious plan Wednesday to put Kosovo's bloodied peace process back on track two weeks after the province exploded in ethnic violence. It detailed policies Kosovo's authorities must implement before talks can begin on its bitterly disputed final status, at the earliest in 2005. Majority Albanians demand independence but beleaguered Serbs say the province should remain part of Serbia.

The road map, with deadlines for meeting democracy and human rights conditions, was already in the works before Albanian mobs attacked Serb villages and churches in two days of bloodshed that left around 20 people dead and some 900 injured. But officials said the U.N. mission rushed to complete the 120-page document after the worst ethnic clashes since the international community established control of the landlocked territory from Serbia five years ago.

The attacks, blamed by NATO on Albanian extremists bent on driving remaining Serbs out of Kosovo, dealt a severe setback to Western hopes of bridging the ethnic divide. Around 3,600 minority Serbs fled their ghettos homes in fear. "Kosovo is still a long way from recovering from the violence of two weeks ago," U.N. governor Harri Holkeri, a former Finnish prime minister, told a news conference, adding that the clashes had underlined the need for a clear policy.

Standards Before Status

The province of two million is legally part of Serbia and Montenegro but has been under international rule since NATO's 1999 bombing to end Serb repression of Albanians. Some 220,000 Serbs fled to avoid the subsequent wave of revenge attacks. Western powers announced late last year they would judge in mid-2005 whether Kosovo had stabilized enough for status talks to begin, saying it must first achieve progress in key areas such as freedom of movement and the return of Serb refugees. The aim was a "truly multi-ethnic, stable and democratic Kosovo which is approaching European standards."

Wednesday's document specified how this should be achieved, setting deadlines for actions including rebuilding all destroyed property by the end of this year. "In the light of the violence of March 17-20, the immediate priority is the establishment of the rule of law, prosecution of perpetrators and public respect for law and order," it said.

Kosovo's ethnic Albanian Prime Minister, Bajram Rexhepi, has condemned the anti-Serb violence and his government earmarked five million euros ($6.12 million) for more than 800 destroyed or damaged houses, public buildings and churches. "The government is determined to fulfill these standards and after the evaluation by mid-2005 to start the process for defining Kosovo's final status," he told the news conference. Kosovo Serb leaders, who before the latest violence often accused the United Nations of failing to ensure the minority's safety, boycotted work on the plan. They were not immediately available for comment Wednesday.