BELGRADE, October 16 (Itar-Tass) - The so-called Albanian National Army (ANA) threatens to establish control over Kosovo northern areas, populated by Serbs. “Official representative” of this terrorist organisation Gafur Adili said on Tuesday in an interview with the Pristina-based newspaper Epoka e re that the ANA would establish control over northern Kosovo if this is not done by the KFOR, the UN Mission and the Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC) by November 1.
In real fact, the UN administration and the KFOR fully control Kosovo since 1999, including the northern part of the province. However, the Serb population in the north of the province, separated by the Ibar River, introduced partial self-government and does not participate virtually in the work of Albanian power structures, including those formed by elections.
The KPC, to which Adili appealed, is a paramilitary structure with a numerical strength of 5,000, formed in 2000 on a decision of the UN Mission. It was made up mostly of gunmen of the former “Kosovo Liberation Army” (KLA). The KPC is officially charged with functions of overcoming aftermaths of natural calamities and emergency situations. However, in actual fact it is regarded by the Albanian authorities as the core for forming armed forces in the province.
In 2003, the UN Mission announced the ANA a terrorist organisation after two of its gunmen had died in an attempt to mine a rail siding to northern Kosovo. All in all, the ANA assumed responsibility for a dozen of terror acts and attacks on police and military units in Macedonia and southern Serbia.
The main aim, proclaimed by the ANA, is to create “Grand Albania” which would include Albania proper and parts of Serbia, Macedonia, Greece and Montenegro. There is no exact information on the army’s numerical strength, armaments and sources of funding.
Albanian ANA re-emerges from shadows
The return of the secretive Albanian National Army to Kosovo’s countryside causes worry about the threat it might pose to security. From IWPR.
By Krenar Gashi in Pristina for IWPR (BIRN) (16/10/07)
“War is unavoidable! The only way to avoid war in the Balkans is to grant Kosovo full, internationally-recognized independence,” says Gafurr Adili, a representative of the hardline armed group, the Albanian National Army (ANA).
Adili, whose organization - branded by the UN as terrorists - is fighting for unification of Albanians from all areas and countries where they live in the Balkans, told Balkan Insight that “Kosovo’s independence is the minimum demand.”
The recent appearance of the ANA, known in Albanian as Armata Kombetare Shqiptare, has sparked confusion in Kosovo. While some dismiss it as not a real threat to security, others warn the organization could gain more ground as further delays in resolving Kosovo’s long-term status increase tensions in the UN-administered entity.
Those tensions are already rising as the countdown for a new round of negotiations over determining Kosovo’s political status has got under way. While Kosovo politicians have been preparing to meet the Serbian delegation at a meeting scheduled for Brussels on 14 October, the ANA has returned to the public stage.
Video footage filmed near the Kosovo-Serbia border in the municipality of Podujevo showed a group of 10-12 armed men in black uniforms - some carrying sophisticated sniper rifles - patrolling one of Kosovo’s most important highways and checking passing vehicles.
“We did not return. We were always there. It’s just that now we have decided to take up our weapons again because the [Albanian] population is being threatened by many military groups entering Kosovo from Serbia,” Adili explained on the telephone from neighboring Albania.
“We are operating in the areas where KFOR [the NATO-led peacekeeping mission] troops in Kosovo do not operate. These are mainly villages near the border with Serbia where there are no peacekeeping troops patrolling,” says Adili. “We will not confront NATO troops… If they decide to put this area under control and guarantee the security of the local population, we will drop our weapons and go home.”
Colonel Betrand Bonneau, KFOR spokesperson, says they should do so immediately. “Let them drop their weapons and stay at home to live without violence, or use the democratic way to participate positively in determining the future of Kosovo,” Bonneau told Balkan Insight.
“These groups are as dangerous as they are useless for security,” he argues, and explains that every day KFOR is “conducting synchronized patrols with the armed forces of neighboring countries, including Serbia.”
Concerns for Kosovo’s security are rising, although the authorities and many experts believe the ANA does not represent a genuine danger to public order.
Kosovo has been under UN administration since 1999 when a NATO bombing campaign forced the Serbian authorities withdraw their troops from the territory. The NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping mission was installed in order to maintain peace and security, and to support the UN administration.
Members of the ANA have been seen in the territory periodically since the conflict ended in 1999. They have taken responsibility for several bomb attacks in Kosovo since then. However, the group shunned publicity for a time while an earlier phase of the internationally mediated negotiations on Kosovo’s status was underway. Until last week, they had not been sighted since early 2006.
Interior Minister Blerim Kuci seems worried. “I am concerned. Every parallel structure is illegal and harmful. We don’t know what and who they represent,” Kuci told Balkan Insight referring to the ANA, which describes itself as the military wing of the Front for Albanian National Unification.
However, Kuci said that it was easy these days for someone in Kosovo to bluff. “There are many weapons in Kosovo, and anybody can easily grab one and declare himself as the representative of a group, be that the ANA, or ANA1 - or whatever they want to name themselves.” He adds that that while Kosovo’s political status remains unclear, it will be more difficult to deal with shadowy groups, such as the ANA.
“Our men are idealists. They are veterans who fought in all previous wars in the Balkans. They are people who used to lead the illegal movements during the communist era and people who are ready to die, if necessary, for the freedom of their nation,” explains Adili, who refuses to reveal the number of fighters in the ANA, arguing that this information is of strategic value. “I can only say that the number is growing.”
Rame Arifaj, the prime minister’s adviser for security, linked ANA’s appearance to the hitches in reaching a settlement on Kosovo’s status. “Multiple delays to Kosovo’s status resolution are directly reflected in dissatisfaction among the population who are losing their patience,” says Arifaj. Arifaj believes that the ANA “don’t have the willingness or the capacity to cause trouble,” but he argues that they should not be totally ignored.
Lulzim Peci, an expert on security issues, agrees. “In practice, they are not a force that poses a threat. They might have the capacity to cause small incidents, but not major ones,” he says. However, Peci remains concerned that the overall situation in Kosovo favors the creation of armed groups, similar to the ANA, from all ethnic communities.
“Kosovo will have its own security force to protect itself in an institutional way,” Prime Minister Agim Ceku told reporters recently. But Ceku, who back in 1999 led the Kosovo Albanians’ guerrilla force, the Kosovo Liberation Army, in the fight against President Slobodan Milosevic’s clamp-down on ethnic Albanians, added a warning: “The appearance of such individuals does not send a good message for Kosovo.”
Adili takes an altogether different approach. “When all the political means have been exhausted, then the time comes for democratic acts of violence,” he says. “We have always won our fights on the battlefields, and always lost them when we returned to the negotiating table,” he concludes - with words that some fear may spell more trouble for Kosovo.
Krenar Gashi is BIRN Kosovo Editor. Balkan Insight is BIRN’s online publication.
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