Kosovo unrest

Five years after a NATO bombing campaign put an end to Serb atrocities against Albanians there, Albanian mobs burned Serb-owned houses to the ground. It’s yet another distressing instance of victims of ethnic-cleansing campaigns resorting to the same horrific type of violence.Kosovo is a ward of the international community, governed by a UN mission alongside local administrators, and policed by NATO-led forces. The ethnic Albanians are increasingly eager to take full control. Ethnic Serbs make up 10 per cent of the population, and are the most vulnerable.

The violence began earlier this month after three young Albanian boys drowned in a river. Another boy who survived said that his friends were chased to their deaths by a gang of Serbs. His account has not been confirmed, but it set off riots throughout Kosovo. About two dozen people died and 850-odd were wounded.NATO has since added 2,000 new soldiers to its 18,000 in Kosovo, a needed precaution. But the damage from the violence will linger. Kosovo’s government claims that Albanians are frustrated in part by uncertainty over the province’s eventual status, but the recent violence will only put off any final determination. Whether Kosovo ultimately gains its independence or is reintegrated into Serbia with some measure of autonomy is not a question for mob rule to decide. — The New York Times