yugoslavias implosion

Kosovo, the regime strove to hamper unmik’s efforts and to prevent
the Kosovar Serbs from cooperating with unmik (which Belgrade
saw as part of a malign “new world order.”) 442 Bishop Artemije and
Father Sava, who tried to further Serbian interests by participating
in the Transitional Council (a high-level consultative body established
under Resolution 1244 and meant to help pave the way for a
democratic Kosovo), were sidelined over time; negotiating power
remained in the hands of Kosovska Mitrovica—a town in northern
Kosovo under the control of Belgrade.
The Albanians were dissatisfied with the behavior of Ibrahim
Rugova during the intervention and afterwards. He appeared on Belgrade
tv with Milošević in May, 443 went abroad but failed to explain
why he had done so, delayed his return until the war had ended,
and came back only under pressure from the international community.
Hashim Thaci, who had helped organize the kla, appeared on
the political scene as a substitute for Rugova. Amid an institutional
vacuum immediately after the intervention, Kosovo found itself in
a state of anarchy that the international presence could not immediately
overcome, especially because the Albanians had functioned
outside the institutions of the state for almost a decade. The military
leaders who had fought the Serbian security forces took advantage
of the situation to engage in illegal activities, including arms smuggling
and trafficking in humans and weapons. As a result, the entire
population of Kosovo felt insecure and Serbs in Kosovo increasingly
feared for their lives and property. Most Albanians switched their
allegiance back to Rugova as a moderate leader following a spate of
retaliatory acts against Serbs and other non-Albanians and the criminalization
of their society. Rugova was elected president in the 2002
442 The widely accepted belief that Serbs are victims of New World Order, the term especially in use
by the Serbian elite such as Dobrica Ćosić in Vreme zmija, Službeni glasnik, Beograd, 2008, p .35
443 At the peak of the 79 days of NATO bombing, Rugova went to see Slobodan Milosević in
Belgrade to discuss the possibility of a negotiated settlement . Photographs of the two men
were sent around the world and were considered by some Albanians as evidence of treason .
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