Nearly 10 weeks after the last Yugoslav forces pulled out of Kosovo, ethnic cleansing has once again reared its ugly head in the troubled Balkan province. This time around, however, it is ethnic Albanians that are terrorizing Serbs and forcing them to flee. Reports are heard daily of Serb deaths or beatings. Western officials estimate that the Serb population of Pristina, the provincial capitol, has been reduced from a prewar total of 30,000 to less than 2,000 now. It is believed that there are only 22,000 Serbs left in the province, only one-tenth the number six months ago.
To their credit, since entering Kosovo June 12, NATO's 40,000 KFOR troops have brought a semblance of order to the province. A brisk trade has resumed with bordering states, shop shelves are full and Pristina's cafes and restaurants are thriving once again. However, the seeming inability of NATO to stop attacks on Serbs raises doubt over whether it can fulfill its mandate to establish a free and multiethnic society in Kosovo.
The attacks on Serbs appear to be systematic, indicating that they go beyond a random desire for revenge for atrocities committed by Serbs against Kosovars. Whether the Kosovo Liberation Army is behind the ethnic cleansing, as most Western officials suspect, remains unclear. KLA leader Hashim Thaci has condemned the attacks, and has even offered the use of the KLA police to crackdown on disorder (an offer the U.N. administration has wisely turned down for fear of legitimizing the KLA's claim to the leadership of Kosovo).