>rethinking the question of partition, which I now see as
>not so impossible to do. I don't think it ever showed up here.
Yup, it did.
Doug
----
From: "J. Barkley Rosser, Jr." <rosserjb at jmu.edu> To: <pen-l at galaxy.csuchico.edu>, <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com> Subject: Partition reconsidered Date: Mon, 24 May 1999 13:33:24 -0400 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.3155.0 Sender: owner-lbo-talk at lists.panix.com Precedence: bulk Reply-To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
Over the weekend I have reconsidered my strong rejection of partition as an aid to solving the Kosmet situation. This is partly due to looking at maps of the West Bank and the crazy quilt of zones of control there and the likely outcome of any "final" negotiation between the Palestinians and the Israelis that might arise there, not to mention the bizarreness of the nevertheless reasonably stable zones in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Here is how a possible partition might work that might allow for at least some return of Albanian refugees into zones of de facto Albanian control from which Serbian troops could be removed (I see no likelihood of any Albanians returning to any place where there are any Serbian troops or police).
First let us review what a map of Kosmet looks like more or less. It is shaped approximately like a diamond, with points north, east, south, and west. Bordering on the southwest is Albania, on the southeast is Macedonia, on the northeast, north, and part of the northwest is Serbia proper, and on the west is Montenegro.
About 80% of the prewar Albanian population was in a swath running across the middle of the country from the southwest to the northeast. An obvious base for an Albanian safe zone would be in the middle of this and including most of it, with the center to the west of the provincial center in the Drenica area which has long been a major base of the UCK/KLA and apparently still is under their control to some extent.
The obvious zones for Serb control would include the city of Pec in the west with the Serbian Orthodox patriarchate, a strip running along the border to the northeast of that and including the far north with Mitrovica and the mines in it. Then most of the east would be in their zone, extending far enough west to include the capital of Pristina with its suburban historical site of the battlefield of Kosovo Polje. The far south would also be in, heavily populated by Serbs, with this zone also including Prizren with various historical sites. More problematic, but probably necessary would a be zone in the southeast to connect these southern and eastern zones. This would bring in the important monastery of Glaganica, but has been heavily populated by Albanians. However, it appears that a lot of them, possibly most of them, have been "cleansed" and expelled, but this zone is a possible bone of contention.
The most difficult to resolve area would be in the southwest, the source of most of my past rejections of such an idea. It contains many Orthodox monasteries, the most important probably Decani on the Albanian border. The zone around Pec could perhaps extend far enough south to get it at least. But this zone also is the obvious link to Albania and the issue arises as to whether the Serbs would allow such a link. Clearly this area has been heavily cleansed and so for both strategic and historical reasons they might not want to let the Albanians have any of it. Where to draw the lines there and whether or not there would be a corridor between the Albanian zone in the center of Kosmet and Albania proper would be very serious matters for a final negotiation on all this.
Two other difficult spots stick out in my mind. One is near Pec in the west. Just north of Pec is a major area of local UCK/KLA control with a large displaced Albanian population. Clearly the Serbs would demand Pec, but would this patch be Albanian controlled ?(it is at least partly on the ground right now apparently, an important fact in such negotiations). If that patch were granted to the Albanians, would it have a corridor to the main Albanian zone or not? If it did then would mean that the Pec patch of Serb control would be isolated from the rest of the Serb zones of control, which I am sure they would resist? There is a potential parallel here to the situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina where the western part of the Srpska Republika is connected with the rest of it by a disputed corridor through the city of Brcko, taken away from them after this war started. The same city is the corridor between the northern and southern zones of Muslim control as well. Something like this might happen in western Kosmet.
The other problem area, although probably not as difficult, is in the northeast where the Albanians are very populous and have not been expelled as much. There is also a major pocket of UCK/KLA control up there near the city of Podujevic. Perhaps the Serbs would let this go to the Albanians as they would have a link through Serbia proper between their two main zones of control.
A final issue is that of whether or not the Albanians would get any cities. It is clear that a lot of "cleansing" activity has been focused on the main cities such as Pristina, Pec, and Prizren. The two candidates for cities for the Albanian zone look like Podujevic in the northeast and Djakovica in the southwest, a very heavily contested zone. I suspect that the disposition of the latter would be one of the most hotly disputed issues and would also be linked to the existence or nonexistence of a corridor between Albania proper and an Albanian zone, Djakovica being located in an obvious spot for such a corridor, halfway between Pec and Prizren.
Does anybody know where the fascists drew the line when they partitioned the province in WW II?
BTW, for Serbian Orthodox monasteries or religious sites ending up in the Albanian zone, there might be an exception made for some kind of Serbian police protection. Even Albright has now declared this as an exception to the demand for removal of all Serb forces from the province. (Another btw is that I have seen a claim in the Wash. Post that Serb claims of bomb damage of religious sites are fabricated for propaganda purposes).
And a final btw, propanda without truth is an empty vessel that leads where the former Soviet Union went, the ashcan of history.
The bottom line is that partition is not necessarily as unreasonable as I have made out, and although problematical, may eventually play a role in whatever the final outcome of this tragic mess is. Barkley Rosser