COMMENTARY: Serbs looking for way to save face
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By Tanja Vasama
Former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari begins negotiations on the final status of Kosovo this month.
Not everyone is pleased. "The criminal is returning to the scene of the crime", declared Tomislav Nikolic, the acting leader of the Serbian Radical Party, Serbia's most popular political party, referring to Ahtisaari's peace mission in the Balkans six years ago.
But although most Serb politicians can accept the personality of the negotiator, it will not make the actual work any easier.
Bitterness divides Kosovo. Serbs live in their communities in a province with an Albanian majority. They form a majority only in a small area north of the Ibar River.
Some feel that the dispute would be solved by drawing the border at the Ibar; the north would remain with Serbia, and in the south, the Albanians would get an independent state. Dual administration is already a reality. An Albanian administration has developed in the south with the support of the UN, while in the Serb areas, the government of Serbia holds real power.
However, the international community has rejected the partitioning of Kosovo in advance, as well as keeping it a part of Serbia, or having it join Albania. And in fact, dividing the province would not accomplish anything.
Although a large proportion of Kosovo's Serbs are living in the north, the area is fairly insignificant for the Serbs. Most of the Medieval churches are further south, as well as the historical battle-sites used for the strengthening of national feeling.
The Serb leadership is looking for a way to save face.
One possibility is to withdraw from the process at some point. The loss could be sold to the people as a solution forced upon them by the outside world, leaving Belgrade with no other option than to pull out of the process.
Ahtisaari will not necessarily have it any easier in Pristina. Albanian politicians are divided, but nobody will compromise on independence.
A likely outcome of the talks is expected to be a kind of "conditional independence", in which the rights of the Serbs and other minorities would be guaranteed by giving them special powers in decisions on their own affairs. In addition, Kosovo will need foreign aid for a long time to come. Even the mission of the army would be carried out by a peacekeeping operation led by NATO.
Some kind of "conditional independence" is the only viable solution. However, it is not likely to satisfy anyone. The negotiation mission of Martti Ahtisaari is extremely challenging, but not impossible.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 12.11.2005
More on this subject:
 Ahtisaari's difficult mission
Previously in HS International Edition:
Ahtisaari facing a large and difficult challenge (Editorial) (3.11.2005)
TANJA VASAMA / Helsingin Sanomat
tanja.vasama@hs.fi
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