"Croatia will have an important role in the stabilization of the situation in this region. That is why I am encouraged by the position of Stipe Mesic that Kosovo under no circumstances can be an internal issue of Serbia"
Agim Ceku, the commander of the Kosovo Protection Corps, comments on the current situation in Kosovo during an interview with "Nacional". He completed military secondary school in Belgrade and the Military Academy in Zadar where he remained to work. With the beginning of the aggression against Croatia he transferred from the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) to the Council of the National Guard.
After "Operation Maslenica", during which he was the head of the artillery division of Velebit sector, he transferred to the Ninth Engineering Brigade in Gospic, where he participated in "Operation Medak Pocket" after which he was wounded. As a Croatian disabled war veteran he was named as commanding officer of the Ninth Engineering Brigade. Shortly afterward he as named as commanding officer of the district of Gospic. In "Operation Storm" he was responsible for the primary direction of attack, for connecting with the Fifth Corps of the BH Army. After "Storm" he took part in the liberation of western Bosnia. Upon the conclusion of the war, in the reconstruction of the Croatian Army (HV), Franjo Tudjman named him commanding officer of the Fifth District Region in Rijeka and it was from this function that he retired. During this entire period, Ceku's wife Dragica and three children live in Zadar, while his parents and brothers are in Kosovo.
NACIONAL: You joined the former KLA after retiring form the Croatian Army and upon your personal request in April of 1998. There was talk that some other officers of the HV who are of Albanian origin, such as general Rahim Ademi, wanted to retire but did not succeed in accomplishing this?
CEKU: I am not aware that they sought to retire at all. On the other hand, I never asked to retire. I asked to be freed of the responsibility to serve in the Croatian Army because I was already deeply involved with the Kosovo Liberation Army. My wish since 1991 was to place myself entirely at the service of my people but I did not wish to become actively engaged without the permission of the Croatian ministry of defense (MORH) in order not to compromise the Croatian state. My request was under consideration for a year, from March of 1998 to February 1999.
NACIONAL: Did you learn the reason for such a lengthy process?
CEKU: I assume that it was not believed that the KLA would develop into a respectable force capable of accepting responsibility for the fate of Kosovo. I did not give up and worked conscientiously and responsibly on everything I was asked to by the HV. I am thankful to the Croatian state for finally allowing me to retire, allowing my family in Zadar to have at least some means of subsistence.
CEKU: Ademi is my friend. He is still a general in the ministry of defense. My informal engagement with the KLA, prior to February 1999, provoked different reactions. Talk began than a senior officer of the HV was involved in the conflict in Kosovo. Since I performed my job in Croatia without media coverage, the media presumed that the officer was Ademi. Of course, he had no idea what was going on. He was never directly involved in the Kosovo war and he did not directly cooperate with the KLA but his experience and advice have helped me greatly.
NACIONAL: After retirement you immediately went to Kosovo and formally joined the KLA which was then divided into two currents. They say that you enjoyed great authority in the ranks of the KLA immediately upon your arrival.
CEKU: A month after my arrival in Kosovo was spent in informal status and without specific duties. By the decision of the then current political leadership of the KLA, on April 2 I became the commander in chief of the KLA and I remained there until the transformation of the KLA into the KPC when the UN representative named me commander of the KPC. By the decision of the temporary administration of Kosovo in August 1999 I was promoted to the rank of general of the army which was recognized by the international community. Internal currents in the KLA never existed but outside the KLA there were parallel formations organized by Bukoshi's government which lacked the desire to come into armed conflict with the Serbian regime. This was a parallel structure which was active not in Kosovo, but in Albania. When I assumed responsibility, I announced a general mobilization, united the front and established a common chief command. The KLA quickly became a real military-political force which won the respect not only of the people of Kosovo but also of the international community, our friends, and our enemies as well.
NACIONAL: What is the present organization of the KPC?
CEKU: During the war in the KLA organization, and now in administering and organizing the KPC my experiences in the HV have been on great benefit to me. That is how we managed to create a contemporary organization according to world standards in Kosovo. We have a chief command which includes an inspection office and other supporting services, and eight departments - personnel, intelligence, operations, logistics, a civil-military relations service, a command information systems service, an education and training service and a resource administration service. We have six zones, based on operative and territorial command, similar to that of Croatia - where there are six district regions. They have their organization, command and formations. We also have the Kosovo Guard as the elite part of the KPC which has responsibility for the entire region of Kosovo. We have a Defense Academy or Officers' Academy, a command for training and doctrine, a main logistical base, an engineering formation, a sanitation formation, a helicopter fleet and a ABKO formation.
CEKU: Since we acknowledge the resolution of the Security Council, we demilitarized the KLA but we transformed it in several directions. Those who wanted to get involved in politics founded a political party - the Democratic Progress Party of Kosovo. A part which wanted to remain organized as a military structure remained in the KPC, while another part went into the Kosovo police which is being established. The greatest number were demobilized. Some members of the KLA found jobs in non-government organizations for demining which are active in Kosovo, and the remaining part of the KLA must undergo a program of rehabilitation so the IOM - an international organization which developed several programs for assistance for disarmed defendants - was engaged in Kosovo.
NACIONAL: How founded are the rumors of secret arming by the Serbs and Albanians?
CEKU: There are weapons in Kosovo, there always have been but I do not believe that an organized inflow of weapons exists but that these are the weapons which have been left over and which are being found every day by KFOR forces and by the police and confiscated.
NACIONAL: The position of Franjo Tudjman was that Kosovo is an internal issue of the Serbian state. Can you tell us how the policies of the former Croatian government were reflected in the situation in Kosovo, and whether any significant moves have been made in cooperation with the newly elected government in Croatia?
CEKU: The initiative to partition Kosovo, that is, the position that Kosovo is a Serbian issue, is unacceptable to us. The people of Kosovo welcomed the will of the Croatian people to change the political parties in power. I think that better conditions for stronger cooperation between our two peoples have been created.
NACIONAL: Have you had an opportunity yet to discuss this with representatives of the new Croatian government?
CEKU: Recently I was received by president Mesic and I am very encouraged by his position that Kosovo under no circumstances can be considered to be an internal issue of Serbia. He said that Kosovo was an issue in the entire region, an issue of the international community of which Croatia is an authoritative member.
CEKU: I am not a politician but a soldier and my responsibility lies exclusively with the KPC. The situation in Kosovo is not what we in Kosovo, but also the international community, would wish it to be. Elections are essential in order for Albanians and all others living in Kosovo to finally establish legitimate institutions of government. I believe that we will demonstrate that we are a constructive element both in Kosovo and in the region, and that we are able to govern Kosovo. That is also the goal of all the political parties. We voted in favor of an independent and democratic Kosovo by referendum and there will be no departure from this. The hardest part is behind us, we have finished the war. Now Kosovo is free, the international community is in Kosovo and it is beneficial to the security of Kosovo. We have a historic opportunity to continue on the road to an independent Kosovo, of course, with the cooperation of the international community.
NACIONAL: How do you assess the contribution of the international community toward the stabilization of the situation in Kosovo?
CEKU: Stabilization is too slow because of the undefined status of Kosovo. No one wants to take a stand on the status of Kosovo because it is a part of the general stabilization of the region. We wish to build our future according to the concept of the international community. We are not asking for independence with an army at the border. We want to be a region in a Europe of regions. In ten years borders will not be important. We do not want to apply pressure on the international community to recognize our independence. We want to prepare for independence, to earn it and with the supervision of the international community to construct democratic institutions of government, to demonstrate that we can govern Kosovo ourselves, that Kosovo can survive economically, market-wise and in every other sense. When we have achieved this, when Kosovo is democratic, multiethnic, I think that independence will come of its own accord.
NACIONAL: What is the disposition of the people of Kosovo and the KPC toward UN troops these days?
CEKU: The relations of the KPC and the UN, and of the people of Kosovo, too, are more than good. We are thankful to international community for assisting us in freeing Kosovo, for helping us now to construct a democratic society.
NACIONAL: Do you have any information on the results of the recent visits to Kosovo of Madeleine Albright and James Rubin?
CEKU: They arrival certainly will bring changes to Kosovo. Their well-meaning advice offers us answers to many questions.
CEKU: This is an orchestrated campaign of certain circles of the international community to place equal responsibility for the slow stabilization of the situation on the Serbian and on the Albanian sides. By this they wish to strengthen the positions of NATO and the international community in this triangle. It was concluded that the stabilization is too slow and causes are being sought. The directed moderate attack on the Kosovo Protection Force, the only measurable value in Kosovo, is not accidental but I responsibly claim that it is completely untrue. We have always condemned extremists, believing that no form of extremism brings good.
NACIONAL: Can you comment on the situation in Kosovska Mitrovica?
CEKU: The only responsible party for the situation in Mitrovica is the regime of Slobodan Milosevic. I don't blame the Serbs who live there. Elements of Miloseviic's regime have been injected who want to partition Kosovo and who are still thinking about some kind of cantonization of Kosovo in which Mitrovica would be the most powerful canton, from where such policies could be implemented, where the laws of the international community would not apply but the laws of the state of Serbia. Through the stubborn insistence of the local Serbs on accepting such a policy, the attempt is being made to maintain the division of Mitrovica. The international community has finally comprehended this and all those who do not live in Mitrovica and all those who came with the intention of destabilizing Mitrovica and Kosovo must leave. Mitrovica must be cleansed of such people and of weapons. In order to carry this out, KFOR has increased its supervision, forces came from other countries besides France. KFOR is attempting to make Mitrovica one city again but this does not meet with the approval of Serbian extremists who resist the idea of Albanians returning to the occupied part of Mitrovica. KFOR is responsible for resolving the problem in Mitrovica and we are prepared to contribute to this.
NACIONAL: Many Albanians consider Rugova to be also responsible for the bad situation in Kosovo. What is his position today?
CEKU: Rugova does not enjoy the confidence which he had in 1990. At that time the people gave him their confidence to oppose Milosevic's regime, but he did not succeed in this. He did not recognize or support the KLA and this lowered his rating among the public. In the most difficult moments for the Albanian people of Kosovo, when the whole world was against Milosevic, he tried to negotiate with him?! This was frivolous to say the least. Today Rugova is only the president of one of the political parties in Kosovo and one of the co-chairs of the Temporary Administrative Council of Kosovo.
CEKU: It is hard to get by. In Kosovo all power was seized by members of the Serbian regime, while Albanians until recently did not participate in either production or in government, nor in any institutions. Almost all residents of Kosovo have returned to their homes. There are big problems with water, electricity, assistance but the international community, various humanitarian organizations, the diaspora and Albanians have done everything to make the winter pass as pleasantly as possible and that Kosovo is prepared for the reconstruction which should begin in the spring.
NACIONAL: Is peaceful coexistence of Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo possible?
CEKU: It will be a rather difficult and long-term process but it is certainly possible. That is one of the prerequisites for the implementation of a democratic, free and stable Kosovo. The desire for revenge is traditional in Kosovo but I think that the people of Kosovo are slowly comprehending that there are more important things.
NACIONAL: Since you are the same generation and completed the same military academy, I believe that you know Tihomir Blaskic. How do you comment on the judgment of the Hague tribunal?
CEKU: I know Blaskic personally, we were in school together and met several times during the course of the war. I think that a great injustice has been done by the very fact that he went to the Hague. A court on that level should be objective and I cannot believe that this Draconian judgment was a kind of political message. I think that the judgment by the Hague was not in regard to Blaskic's guilt but in regard to something else.
NACIONAL: Since you know Larry Rossini, who was actively involved in the resolution of the Kosovo issue, can you assess the significance of his possible appointment as U.S. ambassador to Croatia?
CEKU: I am enthusiastic about such a possibility. I know him personally, I have worked with him and I think that a man of his experience, who is well acquainted with the situation in the region and able to articulate the policies of his country, would do an excellent job in Croatia.