The New York Times

Tuesday, March 7, 2000

A Cash-Starved Peace in Kosovo

Bernard Kouchner, the chief United Nations administrator in Kosovo, has a hard enough job trying to contain ethnic hatreds, establish the rule of law and provide for the medical, educational and material needs of a war-battered population. He should not have to beg European nations to come up with the money they promised for these purposes or to send the international police officers who are urgently needed to restrain ethnic violence.

After the U.N. took responsibility for running Kosovo last summer, the European Union agreed to contribute much of the reconstruction costs, including a major share of the money for basic government services. Europe has financed traditional projects like the repair of power grids. But it has been slow to send the $45 million it pledged for the day-to-day running of the Kosovo administration.

As a result, Mr. Kouchner began the year with insufficient funds for everything from doctors, teachers and local police to garbage collectors, water and gas workers and road repair crews. For now he is maintaining minimal services using contributions from other nations, including the United States, and from new fees and taxes gradually being assessed in Kosovo itself. The European Union says the money is now on the way, but it should have been provided months ago.

Kosovo also urgently needs more international police officers to keep situations like the confrontation between ethnic Albanians and Serbs in the city of Mitrovica from spreading. Mr. Kouchner rightly sought as many as 6,000 police officers from contributing nations. But only 4,800 were approved and just 2,300 have arrived so far, forcing NATO troops into police work for which they are poorly suited and trained. Ironically, one of the most conspicuous laggards in providing these police officers is France, the country whose troops have been most deeply involved in the Mitrovica strife.

More international judges and prosecutors are also needed, especially in Mitrovica, because local magistrates have proved vulnerable to political pressure and intimidation and have inappropriately released suspected initiators of ethnic violence.

The tensions in Mitrovica, which pit a Serbian enclave in the northern part of the city against Albanians trying to reclaim their homes there, have been deliberately exploited by Yugoslavia's president, Slobodan Milosevic. Mr. Milosevic, who is still not resigned to the expulsion of Serbian forces from Kosovo, is now trying to consolidate the mineral-rich area around Mitrovica in Serbian hands as a possible prelude to partition.

The actions of armed Albanian militants close to the Kosovo Liberation Army are also contributing to the Mitrovica conflict. In addition, Albanian fighters have been provocatively training inside Serbia itself, in the largely Albanian-inhabited Presevo Valley just across the border from Kosovo. Such actions only supply Mr. Milosevic with a pretext for his own disruptive efforts.

The West can be proud of its role in ending terror and mass expulsions from Kosovo. But it cannot yet be satisfied with its efforts to help build a functional, law-abiding society there. Correction

In an editorial yesterday we criticized television commercials attacking Senator John McCain's environmental record. The ads were paid for by Sam Wyly, a prominent supporter of Gov. George W. Bush. We erred in asserting that Gov. George Pataki of New York "gave his blessing to the Wyly ads." Governor Pataki has denied being involved, and this page has no evidence that he had any direct role in making or placing the advertisements.