In a the divided city of Mitrovica in northern Kosovo last year’s Balkan war goes on. The Serbs control an enclave in the north, the Albanians hold the south. International peacekeeping forces patrolling the sector are coming under attack by both rival groups.
Interethnic violence and killing continues. There’s a shortage of police and no functioning judicial system. Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic is said to be trying to consolidate this enclave with the rest of Serbia, and militants close to the Kosovo Liberation Army have been training inside Serbia just across the Kosovo border.
A year after the 78 day air war in Kosovo and eight months after peackeepers entered Kosovo, Mitrovica symbolizes the West’s failure in Kosovo. And at a time when American foreign policy is centered on keeping Kosovo out of the headlines during the presidential campaign, some people are suggesting it may be time for constructive engagement with Milosevic.
An update on the peacekeeping in Kosovo in this hour.
(Hosted by Christopher Lydon)
Guests:
Dusko Doder, journalist and biographer of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic,
Steve Erlanger of the New York Times,
and Steve Berg, professor at Brandeis University.