yugoslavias implosion

252
ChApter 3
elections. His Democratic League of Kosovo (ldk) party was forced
to share power after parliamentary elections in 2001.
The ethnic pattern of division that the Serbs had managed to
impose since the outbreak of crisis—a pattern that was accepted by
others—had a boomerang effect on Serbia Proper. The republican
and federal governments were united in their resolve to crush the
Albanian rebellion in southern Serbia, which had been provoked by
the failure to solve Kosovo’s status. Belgrade tried to deal with the
rebellion by applying a common recipe: ethnic cleansing of Albanians
from three border municipalities (Bujanovac, Medveđa, and
Preševo). However, defeated and militarily weakened, Serbia was
forced to allow the international community and nato (who acted
swiftly and resolutely) to restore law and order. Cooperation with
the international community (i.e., nato) was of key importance
for the suppression of the rebellion and the adoption of solutions for
South Serbia. “Our interest,” said Nebojša Čović, the deputy prime
minister in Đinđić’s government,
lies in cooperation with kfor and unmik and in making sure that
Resolution 1244 is respected, that it should remain in force as long as
possible while a long-term solution for Kosovo and Metohija is being
prepared. War which would break out upon the departure of the international
forces would not be waged only on the territory of Yugoslavia.
It would surely spread to Macedonia, and one wonders how it would
affect the problems in Montenegro and whether it would not set ablaze
Sandžak and Bosnia and spread to places where old wounds are yet to
heal. 444
The nato intervention did not immediately bring down
Milošević despite the political vacuum that emerged in its aftermath,
mostly because the opposition sided with Milošević during the
444 Nin, an interview with Nebojša Čović “How to deal with the Albanians”
by Stevan Nikšić (Kako sa Albancima), p . 18–20 . March 3, 2001 .