Mass strikes by Albanians in Kosovo

Press, 23 February 1989, Page 8

Mass strikes by Albanians in Kosovo

By

PETER HUMPHREY

of Reuters in Belgrade

Ethnic Albanians have rebelled against attempts by Serbia to reimpose its rule in Yugoslavia’s Kosovo province with a wave of work stoppages and hunger strikes.

The unrest erupted 24 hours before the Serbian Parliament meets to adopt constitutional amendments curbing Kosovo’s self-rule. Serbia is trying to regain control of Kosovo, granted sweeping autonomy under the late President Marshal Josip Broz Tito. It accuses the ethnic Albanian majority in the province of persecuting the minority Serbs. The rebellion erupted at a zinc mine where 1000 miners began a hunger strike deep underground. Workers followed suit at factories throughout Kosovo, standing by their

machines and refusing to work. They demanded the sacking of Kosovo’s new Communist Party boss, Rahman Morina, whom they consider a stooge installed by Serbia. Officials said Kosovo’s state and party leaders held emergency meetings and rushed to factories around the province trying to calm workers. Communist Party officials were worried the strikes could intensify a power struggle at the heart of the Yugoslav Government. The province has become part of a wider

power play in which the populist Serbian Communist Party boss, Slobodan Milosevic, is widely seen as aspiring to become a new Yugoslav strongman. The return of Kosovo and Vojvodina to direct Serbian control would boost Serbia’s power in the federation of six republics. Yugoslavia is hit by the worst political and economic chaos since World War 11, rocked by ethnic conflicts, rivalry between regional leaders and a crippling economic crisis involving a SUS 22 billion debt and almost 300 per cent inflation.