Follow up to 'Vigil of St. Vitus Day'

Although I do not have any personal pictures of the scenes at Gracinica or Gazimestan for St. Vitus Day, you can view some pictures here from Kosovo's Koha Network online newspaper. Reports say that approximately 1,500 Serbians visited these two towns, and that there were about the same number of Kosovo police officers present. No major incidents occurred, but I did see video on TV of Serbians trying to light an American flag on fire (I don't know if they were successful).

One picture on Koha net shows Harley Davidson bikers, who are part of a humanitarian event for orphaned children in Kosovo's Mitrovica municipality. The bikers rode in from Serbia but are from Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina as well. This one article reports that on the morning of June 28, four bikers were attacked in Mitrovica South (the Albanian dominated side of Mitrovica), but that the injuries were not severe. This reports also states that bikers were from Australia, France, Austria, and Macedonia.

Vigil of St. Vitus Day

A quick post:

On Monday, June 28, 2010, was the commemoration of the Battle of Kosovo, also known as Vidovdan in Serbian (St. Vitus Day) which occurred in 1389, a battle between the advancing Ottoman Empire into the Balkans and the Serbian Orthodox Empire. Although most have said that the Serbian Empire was defeated and the Ottomans took control, academics such as Noel Malcom and Anna Di Lellio have pointed out that the battle was more of a stalemate between the two sides; however Sultan Murad, the Turkish army leader, and Prince Lazar, the leader of the Serbian army were both killed in this battle. It was actually not for another half century that the Ottomans fulled took over the Serbian empire and conquered much of the Balkans.

The Battle took place on St. Vitus day, and in the early morning Prince Lazar and one of his knights, Milos Oblic, took communion s early in the morning and then fought to their deaths. Oblic was the one who killed Sultan Murad. The holiday of St. Vitus Day is a day for remembering the fallen soldiers of the battle, and also is a day that "symbolizes the death and resurrection, the despair and hope, and the end of an epoch and the beginning of a new era."

What is interesting is that citizens of Serbia come to Kosovo to commemorate the day, including the Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Irinej. Patriarch Irinej was first in Gracinica, where he gave a small mass and blessing and then went on to Gazimestan, where there is a monument for the Battle of Kosovo (see here). The actual battle is supposed to have taken place near Gazimestan, in Kosovo Polje, which meant 'field of the Blackbirds.' I heard around 3000 Serbs attended the ceremonies today and that Kosovo Border Guards were on high alert for any suspicious activity, but at the same time were more respectful of Serbs crossing the border.

It is actually an interesting story and there are myths that surround the battle. Speaking with one Kosovar Albanian about this day, he did not quite understand why Serbians would want to celebrate this day, considering it was the beginning of the downfall of their Empire and that Serbia has not won any war. But actually the memory of the Battle of Kosovo, which displays the courage of the Serbian people, plays a role in Serbia's history and identity, and is a reason why Serbia does not want to give up Kosovo.

This post will probably be a bit less educational, but I will see what I can do. I had the fortune to travel to Albania the past weekend, and here is what I have to say:

Albania is a potential candidate for accession into the European Union and although it has reformed, much more needs to be done. I am not going to regurgitate this article, but like Kosovo, and other countries in Balkans, corruption and rule of law (i.e. judicial actions, legal recourse) are two areas that need to be improved for approval into the EU; however this can take years, since Albania is just a potential candidate for accession, not an actual candidate on the path to accession. To this end, through the EU Commission, Albania is under the initial phase of Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (Kosovo is as well). This basically means that the EU is assisting Albania on building democratic and transparent institutions and is also eligible for cross-border cooperation with other potential candidates, such as Kosovo, as well as candidates and EU member states.

Approximately 95% of the population is Albanian, but there is around a 3% Greek population, and actually the area of Chameria, in southern Albania that borders Greece is contested between the two states. Traveling throughout Albania, especially towards the south, one can see graffiti that reads "I [heart] Chameria" and "F*ck Greece." (Sorry was not able to get any pictures, and there was only one reference to "F*ck Greece," but I imagine there are more closer to Chameria). Further regarding the population, 70% is Muslim, 20% is Orthodox, and 10% Catholic, and they all tend to be more secular (although there are always reports of Islamic fundamentalism being more of a force as well as the Orthodox trying to save their religious places and blaming Islam for the destruction of some of their churches/monasteries). In the capital Tirana, they are actually building a Catholic church (see below), and although the city is built up nicely, much of the development has occurred in the past 20 years.

(this is the main square)

Albania will most likely have an economic boom in the years to come as vast amounts of oil and natural gas reserves were found in the country in 2008. Yet to export their resources, Albania will have to stabilize and further develop its infrastructure, here meaning highways as the country is very mountainous and rugged, but its valleys are quite traversable.

Currently Albania is completing its main highway, (contractor is Bechtel Corporation, an American company) and much is complete; however there are times when one is driving in the mountains on dirt roads or very narrow roads. The trip from Pristina takes about 8-10 hours to the town of Dhermi on the southern coast of Albania, and I was told before the highway it would be closer to 16-18 hours (and you can still see the dirt roads alongside of the mountain that were once the old highway). Interestingly, this highway, under Bechtel, is also being constructed in Kosovo, so that there will be one main road from Pristina to the ports of Albania, which will make transportation much smoother for these countries.

I stopped in the town of Durres, which is on the Adriatic and stayed in the town of Dhermi, which is on the Ionian Sea, which is basically the Mediterranean Sea. Durres is much more developed and tourist-y, and many Kosovars come here for vacation because Albania is one of the few countries a Kosovar can travel without a visa (the visa issue is a big issue for Kosovars). The beaches of Durres are heavily crowded and dirty, as you can see by the pictures below, but still retains its beauty because the town is on the Adriatic Sea. It is also on a valley, so Durres is much more accessible to the general population (and closer to Kosovo, whereas Dhermi is another 2 hours or so from Durres). Also, I did see a man walking a bear down the street in this town - twice actually - while passing through (sorry, no picture).

There is trash lying the ground everywhere, and the water probably isn't the cleanest.

Case in point, there are trashcans practically in the water, and most are overflowing with trash.

My guess is that within a few years, Dhermi will be a major tourist attraction all summer long, and one for internationals as well (I don't want to mislead anyone, internationals do go to Dhermi). It is a town in the mountains, on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, and absolutely gorgeous. The water is crystal clear but the beach is rocky (this can be overlooked instantly). The beaches only get crowded in July and August, so any time in June is best. The town is pretty desolate when one gets closer to the water, so unless one wants to hike up the hill, then all your supplies are bought at the resort restaurant (you need to come prepared). The roads to get here are long and windy, up and down mountains, with some close turns. There are some grave stones (some with elaborate head pieces) as well as Orthodox prayer stations along the way. I am sorry I did not get any pictures, but they were neat to see. There are also roadside vendors that sell olive oil and honey - the beehives were next to the road as well, and although at certain points when the mountainside flattened there were 2-3 vendors selling the same products, there really is no other job opportunities in that area for the local population.

- the blue, white, and yellow boxes are beehives.

Unfortunately, there is always the trash problem. Sanitation services are a must in Albania.

Mixed neighborhoods and Government Intervention

I must clarify. Mitrovica is a municipality in the North of Kosovo where the Iber River happens to run through it. Within in the municipality there is a large city and this city is divided by the Iber into Mitrovica North and Mitrovica South. The North is predominately Kosovar Serb and the South Kosovar Albanian. However, in the northern part of the Mitrovica municipality, which is very rugged, mountainous, and underdeveloped, there are small villages or neighborhoods of Albanians, Serbians, and Bosniaks. But there is a Kosovar Albanian and Bosniak population in Mitrovica North; thus I do not want want to draw a picture like West Germany and East Germany during the Cold War, even if Mitrovica North really only answers to Belgrade. This is not the case. Anyone can cross over the main bridge (and people do this frequently) although there is a Kosovo police car sitting in the middle, for monitoring purposes. There are other bridges to Mitrovica North, and at least two that I have taken lead in to K-Albanian neighborhoods.

This is makeshift bridge along a dirt road. You can see the rails in the center of the first photo, and ahead is a a Kosovar Albanian village. The second picture is going across the bridge in the car, below is the Iber River.

This is a K-Albanian neighborhood in Mitrovica North. It is surrounded by K-Serbs for the most part, but there is not constant fighting between the two. The red flags are Albania's national flag. The bridge is at the end of the road, as unlike the bridge above, this is more suitable for traffic,. and is also guarded with a Kosovo police car.

Interestingly, the Kosovo government is trying to devise a way to create mixed neighborhoods in the north part of the municipality (i.e. the mountainous regions that can be developed). This is the plan but again, it remains to be seen how this will go. Below is the construction of a K-Albanian house that is the first house in over nine years to be funded by the government. This house is being built to create a mixed village - the thing is, the Kosovo government does not want funding or assistance from Belgrade.

I'm not certain but from what I can fathom is that Belgrade is not happy with this plan and believes it will only be a village for K-Albanians. This is probably not far off, and thinking like this is common in this situation. And as a side note, looking at the second picture of the tilled dirt, I believe that the houses behind this is actually a Serbian village, therefore Belgrade could view this construction as a blockade to expanding the Serbian village. This leads me to another interesting facet in this new village. Not more than 100 yards away did the Serbian government start constructing its own buildings right between two K-Albanian houses.

The two large buildings on the right hand side, the first one is bright red, are the buildings constructed by the Serbian government. Every other house or building you see is K-Albanian. Things like this are not uncommon in the Mitrovica municipality and it really hinders any type of cooperation or feelings of security for the citizens. It's like a chess game, a very strategic chess game that hopefully will not end in violence.

Mitrovice/Kosovska Mitrovica, Part 1

**Albanian name/Serbian name when talking about most places (if not all) in Kosovo, but I will just 'Mitrovica' for simplicity.

Not the best picture unfortunately, but this is the main bridge crossing, that divides Mitrovica across the Iber (ee-ber) River. Within the city of Mitrovica, the North side (which the side the picture looks to) is Serbian dominated; the South Side (from where the picture is taken) is majority Albanian - both being Kosovars but not following the same government nor same institutions or rule of law. It is a tense place, with the last protest/riot coming on May 30, where Albanians protested against "illegal" (in the eyes of Kosovo and most of the international community) elections that were held in Mitrovica, authorized by the Serbian government, which has de facto rule in the North and influences decent power over the area as well. Although this was a larger protest, there have been other protests, demonstrations, and riots in this area since the end of the Kosovo War in 1999.

The graves are KLA members. The city below is Mitrovica.

Why is this a tense area? Well there are many, many reasons for this. North Mitrovica is one of the last real areas that Belgrade (Serbian government) has a hold on. There are few other Serb enclaves in Kosovo and within these enclaves Belgrade seems to be losing influence. For example, there were successful elections in the municipality of Leposavic (Serb-majority), that even the US Ambassador Christopher Dell heralded. These elections took place with the consent of the Kosovar government and the international community, and it is hoped that the newly elected Serb politicians will work cooperatively with the Kosovar government. From reading and talking to people in Kosovo, it appears that Serbian Kosovars are not really interested in politics and fighting with the Kosovar government over power, rule of land, and independence, rather they are more concerned about safety, jobs, and a better life.

Mentioning independence, Belgrade (and yes, other Serbians as well) do not recognize Kosovo's self-proclaimed independence and holding on to Mitrovica is the main way to hold on to Kosovo as a whole.

Fighting for North Mitrovica may or may not work for Serbia, this remains to be seen. But not recognizing Kosovo's independence and Belgrade leveraging their power in the North are two of the more obvious reasons that tensions persist.

To take a step back, Serbia deems Kosovo as its "Jerusalem," being at the heart of its Orthodox religion and the cradle of Serbian civilization (for a lack of a better phrase), which dates back to the 6th century when Serb tribes migrated to the area around Kosovo under the Byzantine Empire. The Serbs built an empire from the 1100s to the 1400s, and the seat of the Orthodox church was in Peje/Pec but has since been moved to Prizren/Prizren, Kosovo. In fact, the Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch just visited the seat in Prizren on June 18th. History is important in the relationship between Kosovo and Serbia; however it is not all about history when it comes to Mitrovica. There are also resources in the mountains of Mitrovica that both sides would like to own full possession.

(These are some of the mountains in the North. The red and white smoke stack to the right is a mineral factory, that used to refine gold, which is still able to be mined in the mountains. It also was a lead factory. The factory is still in use but not fully capacity and not to mine gold.)

Some other problems is that there really is no rule of law in North Mitrovica. If anything, Serbian law is followed in the North and Kosovar in the South; however nothing is enforced and the International Crisis Group reports in their latest report that safety comes from the goodwill of the population. There is a cooperation set up that is part of the Kosovo Police force where there is a mixed police force in the North, but really this means there are about 10 Albanians that are supposed to patrol mixed areas in North Mitrovica, but there is no evidence if this actually happens. Any Serb police official or local government official do not really communicate with the Kosovo Police force, so there is no cooperation or joint-exercises to ultimately provide safety and security in the North. Another interesting thing regarding police, Belgrade sends its own "plain-clothes" cops down to the North to monitor the situation and watch over the Serb/Albanian police officers in the North, probably reporting back to Belgrade. This causes insecurity with any police officers in North Mitrovica because they must be worried about repercussions from Belgrade for their actions (and thus probably don't act).

I apologize as I have gotten off track a bit, but this is not the half of it and I will write more about this whole situation in later posts. It is a very complicated area, as is the whole of the case for Kosovo, and hopefully I'll be able to make a dent in it while I am here this summer.

The Iber River. The right is North, left is South. This water is polluted with lead, and lead poisoning is a big problem in Mitrovica. This comes from the mining around Mitrovica, especially in Trepce, which was a huge mining factory outside of Mitrovica.

The facotry again. There is a mound of black dirt to the right and of regular dirt in the center-right. This is just to show that the factory is still in use.
The Main street in North Mitrovica. The flags hanging across the street in the background are of Serbian President Boris Tadic.

Headscarf Protest

On Friday, June 18, students gathered outside of the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology building to protest the government's decision to ban the wearing of religious symbols in school, namely in this case, the Muslim headscarf, or hijab. Apparently this stems not only from the law to ban religious wear in school but also because a Muslim girl was denied access to the school lest she take off her hijab. Kosovo is over 90% Albanian and the majority of the population is Muslim (over 90%), with small Catholic and Orthodox sects. This protest only adds to the troubles of the Ministry of Education, as it is being investigated for corruption and the misuse of funds by the European Rule of Law Mission (EULEX).

The protest was not violent and most students chanted in unison, following the lead of a few speakers situated at the steps of the Ministry. At one point there were a group of Muslim females outside the ring of the protest, and the staff escorted them to the front of the lines to make sure that the Ministry was able to see those who are "being discriminated against." The organizers of the protest also passed out bottles of water and the staff was placed throughout the crowd, most likely to ensure peace.

A friend ascertained information from a Swedish NATO-Kosovo Force solider and a local Albanian that this was the largest protest the city has seen in approximately four years and that Kosovo is at a tipping point for nonsense in the government, meaning that the government is not working for the people, but rather themselves. Aside from the large corruption, bribery, and kickbacks that transpire in the government, the best description I have heard is that the government is a 'kleptocracy.'

Another day

The capital of Kosovo - Pristina - "perhaps the ugliest, and most fun, capital in Europe." This Boston Globe article may have come close the mark, describing the not so aesthetic city in contrast to the lively nightlife, flowing cafes, and optimism of the young population. I have let on about Kosovo and Pristina already in my "Oh Kosovo" post (scroll down to find it) and now I want to post a few pictures to display somewhat of a visual description of the city. I will add to this post again, because there are still many pictures that I have yet to take, and the ones I'm adding here do not tell even part of the story.

I also want to mention some other blogs that have focused on Kosovo that I have ran in to (this list is not exhaustive). Outside the Walls is written exclusively on Kosovo by the Former UN Regional Representative to Mitrovica, Gerard Gallucci, who blogs about current events going on in the country, especially in Mitrovica. Todd's Wanderings, authored by Todd Wassel, is about his life and travels for the past 10 years; however he lives in Kosovo now and had the same experience I had trying to find a US soccer jersey - unsuccessful (they love America but not that much). Lastly, I was directed to Alyssa Milano's blog (I do not follow it) but she was in Kosovo at the end of May with UNICEF working with the Roma population, which is need of help. Although she is no political actress like Angelina Jolie, George Clooney, or Bono, it never hurts to have a celebrity advocate for a cause as they tend to have more 'popular' followings and perhaps it helps get those involved who would otherwise have not.

This piece of art was erected on independence day, 2/17/2008. Although it is tagged up with graffiti, people were asked to sign it when it was first erected, so the graffiti is not totally out of place (most people signed it with a marker). The building behind the figure is part of the University.

This is the main strip in Pristina, called "Mother Teresa Street" since she was Albanian. This is a pedestrian walkway and the street is lined with cafes, street vendors selling food, seeds, toys, and tourist trap items, as well as small stores.

Many, many apartment buildings.

Unfortunately there are many stray dogs here. This one has found some water to drink, but up close, the dog is a sorry mess, having lost its share of fights. Feral dogs and cats are a big problem here, but there doesn't seem to be a solution as of yet. If you can see, the side walk is pretty much unpaved and nice walking shoes around the city are a good idea.

Another reason to wear shoes and not open-toes or flipflops. There is always some sort of run off, even though it never rains. In the streets, many businesses clean their sidewalks with water (which is a waste) but also creates puddles and mud because there isn't a good drainage system here. Also there are "war washes" (auto larje) around the city, and these usually drain onto the street.

Always construction and this is on Bill Clinton Boulevard (need to get a picture with his statue), but for the most part, the city is under construction.

This is a small side street that is filled with cafes and some important international houses, which you will see in the following pictures. It is odd and neat at the same time, to walk by a plethora of cafes and in the middle of it, there is an embassy or a UN house.

Not the actual building, because there's really nothing to see, but at least a street sign pointing to where it is.

The International Civilian Police house, and notice the American Flag at the top.

Swedish and Switzerland shared Embassy.

As I took this picture, I realized there is a London Cab in it, which is one of the more reliable cab companies in the city. However, in the background, there are houses on the hill, which is where Pristina lies...on hills.

One of the newer and more modern buildings in Pristina, this is a government building and it's not incredibly attractive.

What does human security mean in Kosovo?

This is a great question and it has been a topic of concern since the end of the war in 1999. I attended a pseudo-conference at al-Gërmia restaurant in Gërmia Park, that was held by a student group associated with the London School of Economics (LSE) in collaboration with the United Nations Development Program (who will fund the final report). The UNDP has its own webpage on Kosovo you can find here. As background, groups of two students where given a municipality in Kosovo and interviewed officials, professionals, and civilians on the security situation in Kosovo.

There was no concrete definition given to human security, which in a way is a problem because human security encompasses many things from physical security to economic opportunity. The topic of human security has been on the rise in the international affairs spectrum, with discussions focusing more on the individual rather than just the state as a whole. In the case of Kosovo, the LSE group concluded that job creation and transitional justice were the main concerns of the Kosovar population that was interviewed (unfortunately I do not know the statistics of the study). Some interviewees stated that they were insecure with the institutions in Kosovo, meaning the government and other organizations that are supposed to be developing Kosovo into a solid economy (this of course is hard due to current times). And actually Kosovo has a large informal or "grey" market, not outright black market, but things like people working under the table and shop keepers not having all legal authorization to commence business. There are also considerable "street" vendors that sell products, with cellphones, cigarettes, and phone cards popular items (as a side note, many people smoke cigarettes here, and while at a cafe or restaurant, people will walk around trying to sell cigarettes to you directly, it's a nice service if your a smoker.).

Other issues that came up in the interviews were the corruption that the government of Kosovo is currently dealing with, inefficient rule of law, and the fear of "complaining" to law officials as a means of pursuing justice to crimes. The latter is interesting because most interviewees want the noise about crime and corruption to reach a higher level in the hopes that someone will doing something about it; at the same time, they are scared to voice their own opinions for fear of retaliation or loss of personal benefits, i.e. job, access to services, etc.

I must reiterate that I do not know how many people were interviewed, how everyone responded, what questions were asked, the makeup of the interviewees, etc, etc, and that this report by the LSE is not indicative of the entire Kosovar population; however the conference was good insight into the ground level perception of human security in Kosovo.

The conference also tried to draw up some solutions for these problems. Mainly accountability on all levels is the number one policy recommendation, most likely through the use of a watchdog organization. Or this watchdog could be civil society as a whole, which would help to strengthen civil society as it is perceived to be weak in Kosovo at this time. Another option is decentralization of the Kosovar government in municipalities, meaning breaking up bigger municipalities into smaller municipalities and trying to bring local governance into the hands of the people (The International Civilian Office focuses on decentralization in Kosovo). The Kosovo government also needs to create more jobs and perhaps some sort of micro-financing for small start-up businesses needs to be put in place. On international trade, tariffs and taxes needs to be placed on imports because right now Kosovo has a few free trade agreements with its trading partners and does not make any money in this sense. (Serbia is not taxed on its imports to Kosovo not because of a free trade agreement but because it doesn't recognize Kosovo and still has a hand in parts of Kosovo).

I think the LSE and UNDP will publish this report at the end of the year and I will try to update this post when I receive any other information on this. If interested, there are many great organizations that focus on security in Kosovo other than the UNDP, such as Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, KIPRED, KDI, and IKS to name a few.

Oh Kosovo...

Well Kosovo is an interesting story. There are few decent academics that have written about the history of Kosovo, including Noel Malcolm's Kosovo: A Brief History (not incredibly brief, around 450 pages) and Anna Di Lellio's A Case for Kosovo, which is an compilation of authors' pieces on different aspects of Kosovo's history. Tim Judah also writes well about Kosovo, as he has been a journalist in the Balkans for many years. These are just 3 names that I am more familiar with. There is a blog called "Outside the Walls" about Kosovo penned by Gerard Gallucci, a former foreign service officer for the US, but his reporting isn't always straightforward as I've been told.

I've written a decent briefing on Kosovo and you can find it on zohoviewer.com here. This briefing is by no means exhaustive, but it's a little insight into the world's newest state. I will get some pictures up soon and will write more, but here are some of my observations.

The capital city Prishtina/Pristina is developing. There are no bombed out houses or buildings here, but the infrastructure is a shoddy. The pavements of streets and sidewalks contain potholes and large cracks in most places, but it's not as bad as it sounds. There is no efficient drainage system, and because most businesses use water to wash their sidewalks, there are always puddles. These puddles along with dirt and dust from construction do not allow for clean shoes when walking. Actually the city of Prishtina is trying to catch up to its population of around 500,000-600,000. If I heard correctly, after the war in the early 2000s, the population in the city doubled within 2-4 years, and because it is the capital, Kosovars living outside the city want to move to Prishtina for economic opportunities, although there aren't many available. Unemployment is around 45%, with many young, potential workers having nothing to do. Kosovo in general is a young society, the average age around 27 years old and approximately 75% of the population is under 35 years old.

Traveling outside of Prishtina and one can see ruins and skeletons of houses affected by the war. There are bigger towns but as Kosovo is mountainous terrain, there are many villages, such as you would see in the mountains of other European countries. In these villages, as well as in the towns (including Prishtina), there are many half-constructed houses and buildings. This is interesting to see because some of these houses are quite grand in size, and many buildings look as if they will house businesses. There are a few reasons for this: 1) the funding for the construction dried up (perhaps due to corruption); 2) Families building these houses are waiting on more remittances from abroad to finish the job and this money may not roll in like it used to due to the economic crisis. For more info on Kosovo remittances, look at pages 7-9 in this report and this Reuters article. And #3 is linked to #2 - families and companies pay for construction of houses and buildings like a mortgage: they chip away at the overall sum little by little every year, thus when they have money, they develop the house. I have also seen individuals working on houses themselves, without a professional company, most likely to minimize costs.

Everyone in Kosovo is very friendly and it is true, they do love America (for authorizing NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999 and ending the War). In fact, Kosovo may be the only place where you will find people that love both Bill Clinton and George Bush equally. There is a "road" named after Clinton and his statue has been erected along this road, a picture will come soon.

Kosovo Liberation Army

The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) or Ushtria Çlirimtare e Kosovës (UÇK) in Albanian was the resistance movement against the Serbian forces in the 1990s. It was a small organization and lost about 2,000 members of its organization in the Kosovo War. It was founded in the late 1980s and early 1990s by three high school students, one of which is the only survivor of the war, Rexhep Selimi. You can find some information on Selimi here, however please note that it comes from a Serbian newspaper.

In the beginning stages, the KLA worked as a clandestine organization with a goal of liberation as their only goal. This goal remained the same throughout the 1990s, however the protection of Kosovo and family were of course priorities as well. The founders felt that fighting was the only way to obtain liberation from the Serbian state. Tim Judah, in his books War and Revenge and Kosovo: What Everyone Needs to Know, points out that in the early 1990s, many Kosovar Albanians were not supporters of the KLA because they wanted peace, not war with the Serbs. Also, many did not know who the KLA was or who was actually in the organization. It functioned with a few cells of 2-4 people out in the field doing recon and intel work, with only one member reporting back to the head of the KLA. The structure of these cells kept changing so that infiltration was harder, with only 1 person in the cell having contact with the KLA leaders. But with the help of Adem Jashari, the KLA became more of a military organization to serve the security of the Albanian people.

On anecdotal evidence, the KLA had approximately 10 members in 1994 and 200 in 1997. But in November 1997, support grew astronomically for the KLA. On November 25, the Serbian army attacked a KLA base and the next day the KLA responded, coming under more fire from the Serbian army. An Albanian school was shelled by the Serbian army and a teacher sustained a fatal wound, dying on the 27^th. In cultural and traditional Islam custom, the funeral was held on the 28^th, which also happened to be Kosovo National Flag Day. The KLA leaders capitalized on this funeral, where hundreds turned out to rally in support of liberation from the Serbian state. The leaders of the KLA, including Selimi, "unmasked" themselves and came out publicly in order to be less "cowardly." After this, support grew for the KLA and I’ve heard – again anecdotally – that there were about 20,000 KLA members by the onslaught of the war in 1999 (unfortunately I don’t have the time to check this, but hopefully as the blog grows, I will be more accurate and factual).

As we all know, NATO intervened in March 1999 with a bombing campaign that ended the war and brought Kosovo under an international protectorate. There is a Western criticism that the KLA provoked the Serbian army to attack civilians so that NATO would intervene sooner, however, this would be denounced by any KLA member or Kosovar Albanian for that matter. Throughout Kosovo, there are many, many memorials for the KLA and the tombstones of former KLA members are usually ornate and well kept.

The KLA lives on, aside from the memorials, graves, and memories. The KLA was "disarmed" after the war and the military was incorporated to what is now called the Kosovo Security Forces (KSF), which is a part of the Kosovo Protection Corps. The Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) is the political offshoot of the KLA, and Prime Minister Hashim Thaci is a leader of this party. Officially, the KLA does not exist, but I've heard that unofficially the KLA is still a group.

This is a memorial for Adem Jashari over the entry to the Kosovo Security Forces.

Memorials and graves.

Behind this statue is the Albanian Flag, like the defacto flag of the KLA.