Ethnic violence in Kosovo

Abstract

On 17-18 March 2004, ethnic Albanian mobs began a concerted drive to ethnically cleanse small and vulnerable Serb and Roma (Gypsy) communities from their homes in Kosovo. The extremists who coordinated the mobs evidently calculated that their actions would seize the attention of the West and force the issue of Kosovar independence. Yet the price of independence may well now be far higher than it was before March. Indeed, behind the ritual lamentations and condemnations of Serbian leaders in Belgrade, it is possible to detect a note of discreet satisfaction; many believe that the Albanian extremists have handed them a means not only of beginning to disengage from Kosovo, but also a way of partitioning it – with Western blessing.