Kosovo's Post-independence Inter-clan Conflict - HUMSEC

HUMSEC Journal, Issue 2
Kosovo’s Post-independence Inter-clan Conflict
recognized its sovereignty. How will Kosovo’s independence influence the inter-clan relations
among Albanian families? Will clan-based divisions in Kosovo’s society serve as a
basis for political mobilization of elites engaged in conflicts for wealth, power and status?
Establishing rule of law will be paramount in a newly independent Kosovo. As KFOR
scales down and UNMIK police assumes responsibility only for minority protection and
policing in minority areas, KPS will secure more power and authority. There will be a simultaneous
increase in the role and status of the Kosovo Protection Force (KPC), which the
international community assembled from remnant KLA and FARK rebel forces. The KPC
currently exists only nominally and has no power. The partial or total withdrawal of international
police and military forces will create a power vacuum in the law enforcement sector.
It is likely that this power vacuum will result in a struggle between powerful clans both
at local and national levels. As powerful clans have an interest in gaining as much power
and status as possible, each clan will try to secure access to and dominate the law enforcement
apparatus. Clan politics, particularly the practice of nepotism, is one way in which
clans could secure presence and authority in law enforcement.
Once a balance has been achieved in which all clans participate and hold key positions in
the law enforcement sector - i.e. once police and army positions are ‘equally’ distributed
among the clans - problems will continue to mar Kosovo’s transition to sustainable democracy.
First, it is expected that the Code will prevail over the rule of law as the key principle
guiding Kosovo’s socio-economic life. In some cases, clan interests will prevail over law
enforcement and the concerned authorities - belonging to one or another clan - will lack
incentives to solve a given blood feud-related murder and will have no genuine interest in
finding the culprits and resolving the case. At times, the Institute on War and Peace Reporting
(IWPR) reports, “old political allegiances play a role in how policemen act”. 41 Kosovo’s
post-independence rule of law is likely to closely resemble the situation in Kosovo
prior to independence. The IWPR writes: “As the families of murder victims grow increasingly
resentful of the [KPS] inactions, many come to believe that justice will only be done if
they take matters into their own hands”. 42 The pleas of citizens for KPS to investigate and
prosecute those responsible for violent attacks oftentimes go unheard. Inaction, however,
backfires. Albanians in Peja, for example, have reportedly developed “a widespread lack of
confidence that either the KPS or the UNMIK police was up to the challenge” of resolving
murder cases. 43
The second reason for the possible poor performance of law enforcement authority post-
41 Xharra, Jeta, Muhamet Hajrullahu and Arben Salihu, Kosovo’s Wild West.
42 Xharra, Jeta, Muhamet Hajrullahu and Arben Salihu, Kosovo’s Wild West.
43 Xharra, Jeta, Muhamet Hajrullahu and Arben Salihu, Kosovo’s Wild West.
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