UNMIK/FR/0051/01
FEATURE RELEASE - 6 July 2001

The Mitrovica Bridge - Monument to a City's Future

By Eleanor Beardsley

For the last year Pierre Lottici has been like a permanent fixture on the Mitrovica Bridge.  Rain or shine, you could find him on the bridge's pot holed surface, maneuvering his team of workers between the barbed wire and soldiers, in an attempt to link the two banks of this divided city.  Lottici's employer, Freyssinet, was awarded the contract to reconstruct the Mitrovica Bridge.  As Project Manager, Lottici knew from the beginning that this would be no ordinary work site.  The contract's terms stipulated that Freyssinet hire a multi-ethnic construction team to rebuild the bridge.  Last September the workers were chosen - one Albanian for one Serb.
 
Lottici's worries were not only centred on engineering, construction materials and the weather.  He also had to figure out how to get his crew of 61 Kosovars to work together.  Looking back, he says it was an incredible human experience. 
"It sure wasn't easy in the beginning," says Lottici.  "The question is how do you make people who fought each other work together?  But they did.  We had to rely on people of strong character - both Serb and Albanian - to get the work done.  And we did it. We started it together and we finished it together.  This has been much more than just a construction project." 

The idea of trying to repair the ties between Mitrovica's Serbian and Albanian communities through rebuilding the bridge together was initially conceived by Bernard Kouchner, Kosovo's first UNMIK Administrator. 

"At that time, when the idea was first presented, we wondered should we do this or not?"  remembers Patrick Auffret, Co-Head of the Department of Transport and Infrastructure, the JIAS department overseeing the bridge contract.  "And we decided to take the risk.  I think Kouchner would be proud of what's been done today."
Of course no one is kidding themselves. The situation is still too tense in Mitrovica to open the bridge completely, and for most of the workers it was the DM 1000 per month that motivated them to rebuild it together.  But everyone agrees that the work did go well and that no problems ever ensued between workers on the bridge.  According to Lottici, the distractions came from the outside. 

"After the riots in February, I had to fight to keep going.  Our Serb workers couldn't even come to work.  So I went across and said to those guys who were blocking them, the Bridgewatchers, I said listen, we've got work to do and we need our workers.  And a few days later they were back at work."

A bridge of reconciliation Sasha, a refugee from Gjilan/Gnjilane, says the bridge is helping him pay for his medical studies. "Its true, we're here for the money," he says.  "But when we have a better economy no one will speak about politics anymore.  So maybe something could begin to change."
Perhaps something already has.  The new bridge's metallic, winged arches rise majestically against the surrounding green hillsides, and its wide esplanades beckon to pedestrians.  In the evening, in stark contradiction to the harder feelings of the day, groups of Serbs gather on the north riverbank to admire the bridge, lit up against the night sky.

Micha, a Serb engineer and site supervisor, said that at first he didn't understand the focus on beauty.  " I said to myself, we don't need these arches.  What's the point?  But now I see how beautiful they are and how the Bridge really raises people's spirits.  The French were right to want to build something beautiful - it is very important."

Ymer, who has been a translator for the Albanian workers since the beginning of construction says the bridge, has brought people closer. "Good cooperation arose between the workers. When the Serbs couldn't do something the Albanians helped out and vice versa. It was principally a working relationship, but it was a step toward reintegration. I'm sure one day it will happen."

At the end of June, the new, DM 3 million Mitrovica Bridge was handed over to the City of Mitrovica.  The occasion was marked by a luncheon for the workers and their families, held under the bridge due to the pouring rain.  After the party, and when the rain let up, each side returned to their homes - on opposite sides of the bridge. 

For now it seems, the Mitrovica Bridge stands as a symbol of hope for the future.
 

Note for editors
The full document may be consulted online in English at http://www.unmik.org/. Albanian and Serbian versions can be provided.

For a selection of photographs, please contact Mr Ky Chung at 038 504-604 ext. 5467