Kosovo: Lessons From The Crisis

Chapter 10: Looking to the Future

10.1. The international community has taken on a complex long-term challenge in Kosovo. This is to create a pluralist, democratic, self-governing and law-abiding Kosovo; where prosperity is based on free markets, including investment from outside; where the rights of minorities are respected; and which is beginning to integrate into the European mainstream. We know this is a major challenge. But there should be no doubt that we are determined to see the job through to its conclusion. This will involve a concerted effort by NATO and its Partners within KFOR, the UN, EU, OSCE, other organisations and nations individually.

10.2. Peace, security and stability in Kosovo are key to the future. We must ensure its people can live without fear, whether of external aggression or repression, or internal lawlessness. Our armed forces will continue to play a key role in helping to shape the new Kosovo, both by ensuring that there is no further risk from Serb forces, and through helping to enforce law and order in Kosovo. We will ensure that our forces are at the right strength and have the right equipment for whatever new challenges are thrown up. For example, we announced in March 2000 the deployment of additional Gazelle helicopters, a Phoenix Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) battery, and troops trained in reconnaissance in response to developments on the ground. But equally, we will ensure that troops stay in Kosovo only as long as necessary.

10.3. Police are also vital in Kosovo. The OSCE is running a school to train local policemen, and the United Kingdom provides 40 instructors. While the indigenous force is building-up, police volunteers from other countries are operating under UN auspices, alongside KFOR. Sixty officers from the Royal Ulster Constabulary have been in Kosovo since late 1999, and these were joined in May 2000 by about sixty officers from the Ministry of Defence Police. The Government has also offered to send up to twenty officers from the National Criminal Intelligence Service to strengthen UNMIK’s ability to tackle organised crime.

10.4. Examples of our successes in the security field include:

• The Kosovo Liberation Army has been demilitarised. Over 8,000 weapons have been handed in and 4,000 have been confiscated; 
• There have now been 350 graduates (of whom 100 have been women) from the local police training school, including Serbs and other minorities; 
• Several hundred suspected criminals are being held in detention; 
• There has been a sharp decline in the murder rate, from nearly 40 a week in mid-June 1999 to five a week in March 2000; 
• Over 300 hundred local judges and prosecutors have been appointed by UNMIK; 
• A new legal system has been established, and is accepted by Kosovars; and 
• ICTY has examined 200 grave sites.

10.5. However, an improved security situation is not sufficient. We need also to rebuild civil society in Kosovo. Kosovo has to recover not only from the depredations of the Milosevic years, but also from fifty years of communism.

10.6. We have made good progress over the last year with the reconstruction of Kosovo. For example:

•  More than 810,000 refugees and 500,000 people internally displaced within Kosovo have returned to their homes; 
• Over one million square metres of land has been demined or cleared of unexploded ordnance, which include substantial numbers of mines laid by Yugoslav/Serbian forces as well as unexploded NATO bombs. 15,000 mines or bombs have been removed from public areas. 16,100 houses, 1,165 schools and about 2,000 kilometres of road have been demined or cleared of unexploded ordnance; 
• A thousand schools were re-opened last autumn, a quarter of them having been repaired and refurbished. 90% of children are now back in school. 300,000 children can now be taught in their own language for the first time in 10 years; 
• UNMIK secured the agreement of the Kosovo Albanian political leadership to co-operate in the new Joint Interim Administrative Structures (JIAS). Kosovo Serbs have also agreed to participate, initially as observers; 
• Over 80 post offices have re-opened and Kosovo’s first private foreign bank is now operating; 
• Most of the twenty departments in the new joint administrative structures have been established, bringing together UNMIK administrators and the people of Kosovo. International nominees and inhabitants of Kosovo have been appointed to posts to run these structures; 
• a Kosovo customs service has been established; 
• KFOR has distributed over 1,000,000 roofing tiles, 18,000 stoves and 4,000 truckloads of firewood; 
• 229 km of railway has been made operational; and 
• 200 km of roads have been repaired or rebuilt.

10.7. That is just a start. With UNMIK in the lead, we will continue to work with the people of Kosovo to build an open society, with a market economy, free media and plural democracy. Kosovo Serbs have a real future in the province as a fully-integrated part of a democratic multi-ethnic Kosovo. They must help us to make democratic self-government for all the peoples of Kosovo a reality. In turn, the Kosovo Albanians in particular must also accept the need for tolerance and a multi-ethnic Kosovo. KFOR and UNMIK have taken tough action against the extremists on both sides, and will continue to do so. They are few in number, and we are determined they will not succeed in destabilising the province and undoing the good work which has already been done. There is broad international consensus behind efforts to create an open and tolerant society in Kosovo, part of a wider regional strategy to modernise the states of the former Yugoslavia. Croatia’s decision to reject nationalism and embrace democracy and engagement with the European Union shows the way ahead.

10.8. The United Kingdom has invested very substantial manpower and financial resources in Kosovo. In addition some 3,500 service personnel assigned to KFOR, and some 180 police officers, we have provided manpower to support operations in Kosovo by the ICTY and the OSCE. We have over 30 civilian secondees working on human rights and the rule of law, democratisation, media development, elections and administration. In financial terms our contribution includes:

• nearly £26 million to the cost of the UN operation; 
• over 10% of the costs of OSCE operations in Kosovo – over £6 million for this year; and 
• some £90 million in bilateral aid to the region since the start of last year.

10.9. Following the Lisbon Summit in March this year, the EU will be playing a new role in galvanising international support for, and helping shape the medium term strategy of, the international effort in Kosovo. Already last year the EU provided some 500 million euro (some £300 million) to the region. This year, the EU is making available 360 million euro (some £220 million) for Kosovo. In eight months, EU assistance has made a big difference to life in Kosovo. It has made possible, for example, the urgent repair of large numbers of homes and the emergency repair of transport infrastructure and education facilities. The EU has established a Customs Service for Kosovo, and is laying the foundations for a viable economy - essential for Kosovo’s long-term future.

10.10. UN Security Council Resolution 1244 commits us to establishing self-government for Kosovo within Yugoslavia. That requires a political process between Kosovo and the rest of Yugoslavia to determine what that status should be. That in turn needs a government in Belgrade that is truly democratic, respects the rule of law and the rights of minorities, and does not see violence as the main means for solving its problems. It is clear that democracy will be unable to flourish whilst Milosevic remains in power in Belgrade. But it is equally clear that the international community keenly wants to re-establish normal relations with a democratic post-Milosevic Yugoslavia, and see it restored as a prosperous and thriving country at the heart of the Balkans, on the way to integration within Europe.