The headlines in Kosovo today are not very different from those a year ago: murders, abductions, bombings. In this round of atrocities, however, the victims are Serbs and Gypsies (many of whom threw in their lot with Milosevic’s thugs during the war). Brutal killings–like the slaughter of 14 Serb farmers 11 miles southwest of Pristina on July 23–have left most Serbs afraid to wander from their homes. Many cower behind doors barricaded by iron bars, tables and chests. But staying home is no guarantee of safety. In Pristina last week, the fully dressed corpse of a 78-year-old Serb woman was found slumped over the side of her bathtub; an unknown assailant had drowned her.
The scale of atrocity isn’t the same as the widespread massacres by Serb paramilitary forces during the war. But the effect is similar: more than 120,000 Serbs and Gypsies have fled the province since NATO troops arrived on June 12, and more are preparing to run. In Pristina, virtually everything that used to be owned by Serbs–hotels, shops, pharmacies, dental clinics–is now run by Albanians. A formerly Serb-owned kiosk in the town center that used to offer newspapers and cigarettes now sells tapes and CD’s glorifying the Kosovo Liberation Army. According to Sava, fewer than 1,400 Serbs remain in Pristina, down from 30,000 before the war.
The attacks on Christian sites have taken a devastating toll. Sava estimates that ethnic Albanians have destroyed 40 Orthodox churches and monasteries since NATO troops took control of Kosovo two months ago. “These are the acts of people who have military training and explosives,” says Sava. Two Serb priests are missing, he says, and one was seen kidnapped by uniformed soldiers of the KLA. Another went to an Albanian-owned shop and never came back to his monastery. “Attacks on churches are highly symbolic acts of violence,” says Ben Ward, a researcher for Human Rights Watch. “The message is that there is no future for Serbs in Kosovo.”
Those who remain often are too old to leave, or just don’t have the money to escape. Jelica Cimbrovic, 87, is one of only three Serbs left in the town of Podujevo, 20 miles north of Pristina. She’s lived there since 1933; her husband died long ago, and she has no children. Six British soldiers take turns guarding Cimbrovic and her 72-year-old Serb friend, Jelica Milanoc, 24 hours a day. An Albanian neighbor brought them food for a while; now the British guards deliver handouts from an aid agency. “If it wasn’t for the soldiers, I would be dead,” she says.
U.S. officials, flush with their success in the war, sometimes seem oblivious to what’s happening. “Never again will people with guns come in the night,” declared Madeleine Albright during a visit to Kosovo on July 29. Speaking before a cheering crowd in Pristina, the secretary of state dismissed critics who believe the Balkans will never overcome centuries of bloodletting. “Today I want to predict that you will prove those critics wrong… Democracy cannot be built on revenge.”
But who is building democracy? The NATO forces in Kosovo today are overstretched just trying to do simple police work. “We react to every call for help,” says Major Jan Joosten, KFOR spokesman in Pristina. “But we cannot be on every corner, we cannot be in every street, we cannot be in every house.” Ethnic Albanians turn out en masse to jeer at Serbs as they flee under KFOR protection. (In one incident last week, a Serb in a convoy shot an Albanian, and Albanians fired back, killing a Serb.)
Human-rights workers suspect the attacks against Serbs and Gypsies might be encouraged or orchestrated by KLA leaders. A report issued last week by Human Rights Watch, an international watchdog group, stopped short of alleging a systematic campaign by the KLA, but it documented many abuses committed by people in KLA uniforms. One explanation for attacks on Serbs and Gypsies was simply revenge, the report said. But “another related motivation for the abuse is to drive members of these minority groups out of Kosovo.”
The KLA, which is busy creating a shadow government in Kosovo, denies involvement. “We would like to find out who are those people who are shaming the KLA,” said spokesman Lirak Celaj. He noted that anyone can obtain KLA uniforms for 30 German marks, or $16. “That’s not a convincing explanation,” says Joanne Mariner, one of the authors of the Human Rights Watch report. “Clearly, members of the KLA are involved in some of the most serious abuses… It’s critically important that the KLA be more active in stopping them.”
Sava blames Milosevic for most of what has befallen the Kosovo Serbs, and believes his ouster is key to the future of the province. But the soft-spoken priest worries that Kosovo may be empty of Serbs by the time that happens. “In two months, if there is no improvement in the security situation and if the terror is not stopped, I think there will be no Serbs in Pristina and other multiethnic areas,” he predicts. Many Albanian Kosovars, of course, say good riddance–and even some Western analysts suspect that separation of the two populations is in the best interests of all. But Sava says that separation will never bring peace. He warns that Kosovo to the Serbs is much like Jerusalem to the Jews: it’s a holy place with a bloody history, and will never be forgotten.
