Vol. XXXVIII / 1 - Studia Moralia

208 M. B. RAMOSE
and the Serbs living together in Kosovo is the question of title to
territory. The deeper philosophical meaning of this is the
question of identity. It is an attempt by each side to answer the
question: who and what am I? For each side being the bearer of
title to Kosovo territory is an ineradicable attribute of their
identity. Does the territory of Kosovo, and thus sovereignty over
it, belong by right to the ethnic Albanians or the Serbs? Each
population group answers the question affirmatively but in its
favour. Whether or not the basis for the answer is mythical or
historically justified appears to be a secondary consideration in
the light of the fact that each group is convinced about the truth
of its claim. 28 For the Serbs the conviction that Kosovo belongs
to them contains a religious dimension underlined by the battle
of Kosovo (Kossovo). 29 On this basis the loss of Kosovo to the
ethnic Albanians would be in breach of God’s will that Kosovo
should remain their eternal possession. Since the death of God
is unthinkable for the Serbs it follows that sovereignty over
Kosovo may be ceded to the ethnic Albanians only when the
Serbs no longer exist. In this sense for the two groups the
struggle for Kosovo is a matter of life and death. In the more
than six hundred years of this struggle blood has been shed
periodically. 30 Again in the second half of the 1990’s there was
constitutional engineering 31 designed to balance the conflicting
claims. Intermittent bloodshed was also a feature of the struggle
for Kosovo. The latter gradually escalated into brutal inhuman
“ethnic cleansing” verging on the genocidal. It even took the
form of cruel and forced massive exodus of the ethnic Albanians
out of Kosovo. The nature, kind and the scale of Serb cruelty and
inhumanity towards the ethnic Albanians was unreasonable and
thoroughly out of proportion to the declared aims pursued by
Belgrade. It had undoubtedly assumed the character of gross
violation of human rights. It shook the conscience of people of
goodwill. It called for action to make Belgrade desist from such
28
Detrez, R., Kosovo, De uitgestelde oorlog, Houtekiet:Antwerpen –
Baarn 1999, p. 12.
29
Detrez, R., Kosovo, Antwerp, 1999, p. 18-20.
30
Detrez, R., Kosovo, Antwerp, 1999, p. 139-166.
31
Detrez, R., Kosovo, Antwerp 1999, p. 125-136.