Deferring recognition of Kosovo
As the US jumps to recognise Kosovo, the Arabs should not follow, despite valid considerations that would say otherwise.
(Galal Nassa, Al-Ahram, Egypt) Friday, March 07, 2008
Arab countries have to make up their minds about recognising Kosovo. Should they do as the US, Germany, Britain and others have done and recognise its independence and follow through with pledges of military, political and material support? Or should they follow the lead of Serbia, Russia, China, Spain and other countries from around the world and refuse to recognise it?
There are several factors that Arab countries should take into account as they determine which way to go on this international policy question. First and foremost is the humanitarian factor. The Serbian government had been excessively oppressive towards the Kosovans. A Human Rights Watch report accused Belgrade of pursuing a policy of genocide against the Bosnian Muslims, an accusation that was affirmed when, in the course of their intervention in Kosovo in 1999, UN peacekeeping forces unearthed numerous mass graves. There were intensive international efforts, some undertaken by powers friendly to the Serbian government, to pressure late Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic into putting a halt to the massacres, but to no avail. So horrific were the humanitarian outrages that persons such as former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, who was asked to issue a report on the Kosovo question, concluded that it would be difficult, if not impossible, for the Kosovans and Serbs to continue to co-exist in a single nation.
The second consideration is the Islamic bond most Arab countries share with Kosovo. The vast majority of Kosovans are Muslim. The Christian minority makes up less than 20 per cent of the population. In view of the current circumstances in the Middle East, in which religion and Islamic identity, in particular, have become powerful and emotive factors in the shaping of public opinion, it is not odd that the birth of the second Islamic country in Europe has been received with general jubilation in the Arab world. Arab governments are certain to feel considerable pressure from their publics to recognise Kosovo.
Ethnic identity is a third factor. Kosovo is not only home to a large Muslim populace but also to a people who differ ethnically from the Serbs. The majority of Kosovans -- about 88 per cent of the population -- are Albanians. Of the remainder, only five per cent are Serbs. It was on the basis of the Albanian ethnic affiliation that the cry for independence gained momentum and, simultaneously, gave rise to the call for a "Greater Albania" comprised of Albania, Kosovo and some other territories that had once been part of Yugoslavia.
These three factors combined clearly propel towards recognition. Even so, Arab governments should weigh them carefully against other considerations. The Kosovans undoubtedly suffered greatly at the hands of Serbian racists; however, we should also bear in mind that some Kosovans were also guilty of kidnapping, murder and, indeed, genocide. In fact, the Kosovan Liberation Army, which had been an emblem for the struggle to free the Kosovan people from oppression, eventually became a byword for such acts. While the injustices and cruelties committed by the Kosovans were a far cry in magnitude from those perpetrated by the Serbs, it is equally true that the lower magnitude had less to do with disinclination and moral reserve than with a lack of ability and means. In other words, the chances are that if the Kosovans could have matched the Serbians in their crimes they would have done so.
Consider, too, that the same religious and ethnic factors that appear to favour a decision to recognise and support Kosovo also justify second thoughts. There are thousands of ethnic groups today that do not have nations of their own. While some members of the international community have a predominant ethnic identity, the majority are multi-ethnic. Why should the Kosovans be given a state of their own? Indeed, why are the major powers so keen to recognise Kosovo's unilateral move to independence at a time when they oppose similar drives elsewhere? US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband maintain that the case of Kosovo is "one of a kind" based on "an extraordinary combination of factors".
Is Kosovo any more unique than Palestine? Palestine is the only country in the world since World War II whose indigenous people were forcefully expelled to make way for another. And today, one can not help but to be dumbstruck at hearing ethnic cleansing being cited as one of the foremost justifications for recognising Kosovan independence when there appears almost an international conspiracy of silence on the ethnic cleansing the Israelis are engaged in against the Palestinians. Surely the suffering the Palestinians have met at the hands of the Israelis is no less than that which the Kosovans encountered at the hands of the Serbs. Indeed, it is many times more. Yet, the administration in Washington, which has rushed to embrace the unilateral declaration of independence of the Kosovans, will not hear of Palestinian independence unless it first receives an Israeli stamp of approval.
This inconsistency, which announces that the newly born Kosovan republic will be a firm friend and ally of the US and an adversary of Russia and its allies in Eastern Europe, should give Arab governments pause for thought. Perhaps it would be wiser for them to coordinate with those countries that have reserved their recognition of Kosovo, all the more so in view of the fact that most of these countries have long ties of friendship with the Arabs.
