UNMIK ON AIR

April 14^th 2004

SERBS NEAR PRIZREN AND PEC/PEYA

By Zoran CULAFIC

WEB SLUG: Serbs living in two villages in the southern part of Kosovo have had different experiences during the recent March unrest. Belo Polje neighboring Pec/Peja was attacked fiercely, while Novake--located outside of Prizren-- was relatively undisturbed; but these Serbs have similar fears and thoughts about the future in Kosovo.

The very day Belo Polje was attacked on March 17th, some 30 Serbs had a morning meeting in the village and finalized a list of internally displaced people, their relatives and former neighbors, who wanted to return from Serbia to Belo Polje….

Hello and welcome this is UNMIK on Air.

Aside from 25 houses that were already rebuilt in their village with the help of international organizations and NGO’s, there was a firm arrangement in place to build an additional 67 houses. But the March unrest and attacks put into question all those plans.

Some 30 Serbs in Belo Polje did hope to soon revive the village….the morning of March 17th started as a pleasant day, remembers Vinko Arsenijevic sadly….but by the early evening hours, the whole village had turned into a hell, he said.

Vinko Arsenijevic: Some of us did not even enter our new houses, some of them were not finished yet completely. The others had the opportunity to live in the houses just in two-three months. We all were happy because of these houses, we very happy knowing that some new houses are going to be built in the very near future too; some 67 new houses. The Coordination Center was supposed to build 25 and European perspective 42 houses, the very day they attacked us, in the morning, we had a meeting and we made an agreement about the schedule for these new houses. We made that agreement with people who wanted to return too; so we planed to do all of that.

Arsenijevic told UNMIK on Air that he and his neioghbors decided to return to Belo Polje last year, after UNMIK and Coordination Center for Kosovo launched a campaign to speed up the process of return. But the key point for them was, as Arsenijevic explains, the public appeal made by Kosovo Albanian political leaders:

Vinko Arsenijevic: We organized ourselves and we came here last year, we had help not only from the Coordination center, but also from UNMIK and at the same time we heard the appeal from the political leaders in Pristina that we can return in Kosovo. So we organized ourselves very quickly and it turned out to be very fast.

Today they put an end to these plans temporarily and probably, and speculate that it was the aim of the attack against Belo Polje and other Serb villages throughout Kosovo.

Nevertheless, the Serbs in Belo Polje are determined to try again and to stay in their village, hoping to have a better future.

Despite what happened in mid March, Dragan Bacevic told us that he and most of his neighbors still believe that living together with Albanians in Kosovo is possible:

Dragan Bacevic: Yes, it is possible; just the law enforcement must be firm and one must react at time, some people, who make all this mess, should be isolated in time; these who commit crimes should not be left unpunished.

His neighbor Vinko Arsenijevic agrees and points out that international community could do much of the job… but in the end of the day – Arsenijevic says the success of multiethnicity in Kosovo lies in the sincerity and readiness to build and strengthen relations between the embattled communities:

Vinko Arsenijevic: Under these circumstances we cannot live here anymore; we cannot live with Albanian people if they behave like this. As for us, we came to live here in peace, just to live; they are now the majority, and if they don’t want us to live here, they can organize demonstrations and burn our homes everyday, and what can we do, start again and again from the zero. We cannot have a better life if Albanian people do not turn the page and guarantee that we can indeed live here, because, KFOR does guarantee our safety, and I say, “thanks to them and UNMIK police for what they did for us”, they really saved our lives, but at the end, Albanians are the other side that we have to talk with, we want just to live here, nothing else.

Five years ago, after the armed conflict ended in Kosovo, there was hope among Serbs that a multiethnic society was possible.

But today, especially in light of recent attacks, most Serbs have difficulty trusting that aim. Particularly if Kosovo becomes independent. Again, Dragan Bacevic:

Dragan Bacevic: If Kosovo becomes independent then I think there is no chance for us to stay here.

Momcilo Savic was born in Belo Polje, and he hoped that his 20 of his family members would soon join in Belo Polje.

Momcilo Savic: All of them waited for the time to return here. I was hoping it could be now for Easter, all of us to return here and to live in happiness. After what happened on March 17th the thoughts have changed; my opinion is that the situation would result in a nice time here, but I am aware that even the worst tragedy could happen. That something nice could possibly happen if our government and international community comes to an efficient solution for us or that something bad could happen; that if we continue to trust them (Albanians), as we did, then even the worst tragedy could take place. Belo Polje was demolished and burned down for the second time now; I don’t know, cannot understand such acts of vandalism, such a plundering, such hatred in their eyes, such furious rage.

Momcilo Savic: My next move here, our small community of 24 homes, we are going to try once again, but now with great stress and fear, and with the firm determination of the world community, if they want, to save our lives and provide us with conditions to live out a future here, If they can, If not, then we have to find some other solutions.

Just southeast of Belo Polje is the village of Novake located outside of Prizren. Novake was not attacked during the March unrests, and Serbs here assume it is probably because Albanian - Catholics, who were friendly with Serbs even during the war in 1999, inhabit the surrounding villages. Many Serbs from Novake told UNMIK on Air that their Albanian neighbors saved their lives and protected them from KLA fighters in June of 1999.

Spasa Djordjevic and his cousin Dragan are living in Novake today with their families. Spasa is happy seeing his two young granddaughters playing in his front yard. Jordanka just celebrated her second birthday, and her sister Jovanka is five. Still, the future for them is not certain in Novake, says Spasa Djordjevic:

Spasa Djordjevic: First you should have safety here; secondly a doctor, and a job, just to work on something. I was looking for a job in Serbia, I was working some 30 years as a driver and the answer was always – you are too old for the job and too young for retirement, where to go, who is going to support me; no job, nothing; how can I survive? And here, we don’t have a doctor, no school and who is going to return to the village in these conditions. If you want to go to Prizren you risk your life and of that (Albanian friend) who would drive you there, so there is no safety.

Djordjevic says that even living in Novake which was physically unaffected by the recent violence, the quality of life has been limited:

Spasa Djordjevic: Under the current circumstances – no; you can give me the whole of Prizren and Kosovo, but if I don’t have freedom, what does it mean for me to wonder around my home, not having the opportunity to go outside and in case someone gets ill, where to go, who to see for help. For example, I’d like to go up there to Brezovica, but who is going to drive me there, who? There is no one to drive me; I have some friends Albanians, but even if they are ready to help me, they dare not to do it because of the others, because he is risking his life. So in that sense, we are here now, like in a camp. Look there, I had a hundred fruit trees here before, but all were cut down, nothing, we are planting it now, but how many years we have to wait for them to grow up.

That is all for this edition of UNMIK on Air- thanks for listening and stay tuned for more.