"Massive" ethnic cleansing in Transnistria

Western bureaucrats argue that Kosovo should be a special case because of the genocide it experienced under Serb rule and the overwhelming desire of its population for independence.

" - There is no situation anywhere in the world that bears a resemblance to Kosovo," lectured Daniel Fried, the US assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, at a roundtable talk in March. "There is no case where NATO was forced to intervene to stop a massive process of ethnic cleansing."

Although NATO openly took the side of one group, the Albanians, against their enemy, the Serbs, the reality is that both sides were equally guilty of atrocities. The so called "ethnic cleansing" in Kosovo, which Fried refers to, was carried out by both of the warring sides, Serbs and Albanians alike, against each other.

In the year before the NATO campaign, it is estimated that approximately 2,000 people were killed in Kosovo, mostly ethnic Albanians killed by Serbs. In the year following the NATO intervention, approximately 2,000 people also were killed in Kosovo, this time mostly Serbs killed by Kosovar Albanians. Both Serb and Albanian leaders have been indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.

Kosovo at the time had a total population of more than 1,960,000 people. The victims, 2,000 per year, represented a mere one-tenth of one percent of Kosovo's population: 0.10%. Or, to put it another way: One out of every 980 people were exterminated.

This is relevant to the issue of Transnistria.

Although Daniel Fried and others in the West reject comparisons, the comparison is straightforward.
The war in Transnistria in 1992 led to more than 1,000 dead. All of them in the same year. Of these, the majority were Transnistrians: A recognized total of 823 Transnistrians were killed by Moldova, in addition to 90 Cossacks who fought on the Transnistrian side.

Was this ethnic cleansing?
Transnistria, at the time, had a population of just over 600,000 people. 823 dead out of 600,000 represents 0.14% which is significantly more than Kosovo's 0.10%.
Or, to put it another way: One out of every 729 people were exterminated. For a pro-independence Transnistrian, the risk of dying at the hand of the enemy in Transnistria was one-third higher than the same risk for a pro-independence Kosovar in Kosovo.

If Kosovo indeed had a "massive process of ethnic cleansing", as the State Department's Daniel Fried claims, then so did Transnistria - only more so. When put in proportion, and compared to the size of the population, Transnistria had 33% more ethnic cleansing than Kosovo. Or, in State Department parlance, Transnistria's ethnic cleansing was not merely massive but truly, overwhelmingly, more than massive.

These are the facts, based on the officially released death toll which is accepted by both sides in the conflict and recognized by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a mediator.

Pushing the case for independence, some in the international community say that by killing Albanians in Kosovo, Serbs lost their right to govern this land in the future.

" - You can't ignore what happened between '89 and '99, the killings, the Serbian police squads and thugs," says Albert Rohan, Austria's former foreign minister and deputy to the UN special envoy to Kosovo who is in favor of independence and self-determination. "You can't really say all of a sudden they are nice guys in Belgrade and so lets go back to before 1989. You can't go back to something viscerally rejected by 90 percent of the people there."

In Transnistria, the corresponding figure in favor of independence is 97 percent of the people, not just 90 percent as in Kosovo. The results of the independence referendum held in Transnistria on 17 September 2006 in the presence of 130 international observers showed that 97 percent of the population supports independence and closer ties to Russia. A stunning 94 percent also rejected outright any talk of giving up independence to become part of Moldova.

A case can be argued that it is impossible to ignore what happened between 1989 and 1992, when Moldova sent its police squads and also sent its recently released prisoners across to the other side of the Dniester river in a killing spree against Transnistria. Echoing the words of Albert Rohan, "you can't really say all of a sudden that they are nice guys in Chisinau and so lets go back to before 1989." And, more potently still, "you can't go back to something viscerally rejected by 97 percent of the people there."

Kosovo may or may not have a right to independence, but so does Transnistria which has waited longer and where more people died, relatively speaking. If the cost of independence is measured in how many lives the other side took, as the State Department clearly implies, then Transnistria has already paid a higher price than Kosovo.

Before Kosovo is given independence — like our United States government so eagerly wants — let us first give the Transnistrians what they have waited seventeen long and hard years for: A country to call their own. To do otherwise is to say that a Transnistrian life is not as valuable as a Kosovar life.

Denying statehood to a group of people who have suffered 33% more than Kosovo would make a mockery of morality and consistency.

Also by John Moynihan:
» Memo to State: Face up to reality
» The Fourth World: Invisible countries
» Ending the Transdniester frozen conflict
» Double standards over Kosovo
» Why 1924-thinking for Transnistria - Moldova unification won't work
» Transnistria next in line for recognition?