Kosovo and Serbia's road to reconciliation

Ask a member of the Czech Republic's sizable Serbian community about Kosovo's recently celebrated half-decade of independence, and you'll likely get an explosive response befitting an angry Diaspora. At an annual demonstration coinciding with the Feb. 17 celebrations in Pristina, some of its members gathered on Wenceslas Square to voice some of the perceived injustices of this aspect of the Balkan conflict and its reconciliation process. Far from the sterilized rhetoric we're used to hearing from Brussels, which periodically instructs the two sides to "improve neighborly relations," these pro-Serbian activists orated in detail about gruesome scenes of rape, murder, torture and organ trafficking, all of which they directly attributed to two of Kosovo's most prominent statesmen - former KLA leaders Hashim Thaçi and Hamush Haradinaj. Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who was recently videotaped uttering an anti-Serb remark after members of the local community stormed her Prague book signing, also got a mention, figuring in the speeches as the "Balkan butcher."

These days, local pro-Serbian rallies draw mere handfuls of people and are much less politically salient than five years ago, when the Czech government's decision to become a frontrunner in recognizing Kosovo's autonomy drew the ire of a significant portion of the local electorate. In the months that followed, Prague discussion forums were rife with orations from members of the largest political parties, who claimed the act threatened to shatter a historic Czech-Serbian alliance. Karel Schwarzenberg, then-foreign affairs minister in the Cabinet led by the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), was tirelessly berated by opposition MPs who viewed his diplomacy as a servile, pro-American move typical of the Mirek Topolánek government.

While slightly reminiscent of Czech diplomacy's autumn decision to become the sole EU country to vote against the formal recognition of Palestinian statehood in the United Nations, the Kosovo matter now gets only scant attention in the halls of Parliament and is largely kept alive by the hard-line core of the Serbian expatriate. It is also championed by local right-wing extremist groups like the Workers Youth (DM), who used the Feb. 17 occasion to stage a pro-Serbian march in Ostrava. Unsurprisingly, the reasoning behind the group's activism has racist as well as ultra-nationalist undertones.

With the European Union struggling with its own slew of economic problems, it is understandable that the Kosovo issue - still an open sore for Serbs as well as Kosovar Albanians - has become a marginal topic here. But with memories of horrific atrocities alive on both sides, the issue still warrants public awareness, especially in countries that were once seen as Yugoslavia's key partners. As nationalist forces in crisis-stricken Serbia gain traction and Kosovo makes little progress in stymieing corruption and chronic poverty, an open and comprehensive approach by outside players is needed to make headway in the reconciliation process. Sending mixed diplomatic messages - or nudging the two sides to "improve neighborly relations" - doesn't quite cut it.