BREAKAWAY REGIONS LOOK TO KOSOVO PRECEDENT
Reuters
Thu Feb 14, 2008 12:25pm EST
powered by Sphere(Reuters) – Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica went
on national television on Thursday to brace Serbia for the imminent
secession of its historic Kosovo province, which he said Serbs would
never accept.
The West supports independence for the Albanian-majority territory,
but insists it would not set a precedent. Other breakaway regions
around the world disagree. Following are a few that might look with
interest at the Kosovo case:
TRANSDNIESTRIA – Moldova
** A tiny sliver of land on the Dniestr river, Transdniestria broke
away from Moldova in September 1990. A brief war killed hundreds before
Russian troops intervened. The region of 550,000 people is dominated
by Russian-speaking Slavs, who pressed for independence fearing
Moldova’s Romanian-speaking majority would one day join Romania to
the south. Around 1,200 Russian troops remain. Transdniestria covers
one eighth of Moldovan territory but is home to the bulk of Moldova’s
industrial base.
ABKHAZIA AND SOUTH OSSETIA – Georgia
** Home to 200,000 people, Abkhazia is sandwiched between the Black
Sea and the Caucasus mountains and was once a renowned tourist
destination. It fought a 1992-3 war against Georgia and effectively
rules itself. It was isolated for years after the war but has since
forged closer ties with Russia, which has given Abkhaz residents
passports and pensions. South Ossetia fought to throw off Georgian
rule in the early 1990s. A ceasefire was signed but the violence has
threatened to reignite. Russia has peacekeepers in both regions.
NAGORNO-KARABAKH – Azerbaijan
** Sporadic clashes in Nagorno-Karabakh between Azeri and local ethnic
Armenian irregulars began in 1998, escalating by 1992 into full-scale
hostilities between Azeri forces and troops from Armenia. About
35,000 people died and hundreds of thousands fled before a ceasefire
was signed in 1994. The territory remains part of Azerbaijan but
is controlled by Armenian forces. A major BP-led pipeline linking
Azerbaijan’s Caspian Sea oil fields to world markets passes a few
kilometers from the conflict zone.
PAPUA – Indonesia
** In the remote eastern province of Papua, activists have led a
campaign for more than 30 years to break away from Indonesia, while a
low-level armed rebellion has been rumbling for decades. Critics say
military abuses and dissatisfaction over Jakarta’s distribution of
wealth generated by the mineral- and gas-rich province has fuelled
grievances. A 30-year insurgency in Aceh province, killing 15,000
people, ended in a European Union-monitored peace accord in 2005.
BASQUE COUNTRY – Spain
** Basque separatist movement ETA has spent the past four decades
fighting for an independent Basque state in northern Spain and
southwestern France, killing more than 800 people. The semi-autonomous
Basque region in northern Spain is home to 2.1 million people. More
than 750 suspected members have been detained since 2000. ETA declared
a ceasefire last year, but the Spanish government scrapped peace talks
in December 2006 after ETA bombed Madrid airport, killing two people.
THE KURDS – Turkey/Iraq/Syria/Iran
** Around 20 million Kurds are scattered between northern Iraq,
Syria, Iran and Turkey, describing themselves as the world’s largest
stateless minority.
Most live in southeastern Turkey, where Kurdistan Workers’ Party
(PKK) guerrillas have fought an insurgency since 1984 in which more
than 30,000 people have died. A ceasefire was called in 1999, but
fighting resumed in 2004. Turkey fears that Kurds in northern Iraq
plan to set up their own state, stirring tensions among Turkish Kurds.
WESTERN SAHARA – Morocco
** The Polisario movement of Western Sahara fought a low-level
war for independence after Morocco annexed the desert territory
with the pullout of colonial power Spain in 1975. U.N. troops have
monitored an uneasy peace since 1991. It is Africa’s oldest territorial
dispute, over land the size of Britain, inhabited by 260,000 people. A
U.N. ceasefire agreement in 1991 promised a referendum on the fate of
the territory, but it never took place and Morocco now rules it out,
saying autonomy is the most it will offer.