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Kosovo
Albanians: The Other Side Lituchy: No assistance from the United States? Jasari: No assistance from any organization. The government of Serbia arranged [accommodations]. Lituchy: Were any members of your family attacked? Jasari: No one from my family. The KLA didn't have time. The KLA is looking for me, even now. If they find me, they will kill me. Freeland: Was KFOR {EC Note: KFOR is the name for the NATO operation in Kosovo.} Jasari: KFOR does nothing to protect us. They don't do their job. Lituchy: Did you have discussions with KFOR? Jasari: I sent an open letter to Mr. Kouchner [UN special representative for Kosovo] to discuss the situation in Kosovo and with my party but I received no response. Where is democracy and pluralism in Kosovo? I can't go there. I can't take part in the political process. Where is democracy? Lituchy: Approximately how many Albanians were forced out of Kosovo by the KLA? Jasari: About 150,000. About 200 were killed. Lituchy: Tell us a little bit about the KLA. Jasari: Initially the KLA was a separatist organization and then became a military organization. They killed loyal Albanians, Serbs, also Albanians who held public office. Lituchy: What happened at Rambouillet? Jasari: During 1998, the [Yugoslav] government tried to meet with KLA leaders 17 times, but the leaders refused. When Western countries asked Yugoslavia to meet the KLA in Rambouillet, Yugoslavia sent representatives. Lituchy: Did they ever meet face-to-face? Jasari: Only once, at the first meeting with Jacques Chirac. Lituchy: An introductory meeting? Koteska: Yes. Lituchy: Why no negotiations? Jasari: Our representatives tried to meet them face-to-face every day but they refused. They did only what the United States told them. Lituchy: Did you ever walk up to one of the KLA people and say, 'why can't we discuss this?' Jasari: We couldn't even meet them in the hotel. We only had meetings with American and British officials, their Western supervisors. Lituchy: Whom did you meet with from the United States? Jasari: Ms. [Madeleine] Albright, Mr. [James] Rubin and Mr. [James] Hill. They told us to sign our names to the paper drafted by the United States. In this paper it was written that Kosovo must be a republic [i.e., independent of Serbia]. At first, they thought the delegation from Yugoslavia wouldn't go to Rambouillet. Later, they saw that wasn't true, and when they also saw that not only Serbs, but also Roma, Albanian and Egyptian representatives were in our delegation, they were shocked. |
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© Janette Rainwater 1997-2004 All rights reserved.
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