UNMIK ON AIR

“How to Initiate a Civic Dialogue”

23 April 2004

(Valon A. Syla)

Slug: Nobody contests that dialogue between communities is a must…but who should be the initiators? Civic society or political leaders?

The organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE, organized a recent gathering in Pristina inviting NGO-s from Serbia, Kosovo, and Bosnia- Herzegovina to discuss ways in which to improve communication and interaction among embattled communities.

Hello and Welcome, This is UNMIK on Air:

After the armed conflict of 1998 – 99, relations between Serbia and Kosovo were distant and icy. For the last five years, the international community in Kosovo worked to normalize relations between Serb and Albanian civic societies. But the violence in March prompted the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, OSCE, to invite NGO-s from Kosovo, Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina to brainstorm and present possibilities for renewing and facilitating communication.

Zivorad Kovacevic, the former Yugoslav ambassador to the United States, who is now the current director for European Movement in Serbia, says everyone is scarred by recent events:

Zivorad Kovacevic: “In today’s conference different comments with frustrations and depression have been stressed, because the dialogue in a form has started and it has been brutally interrupted. We all together thought that between us is a new challenge… to continue the dialogue because it has no other alternatives, that is a thing that we have learned. And against evil there is only one way… to fight it together. If everybody does that from their bunkers, we will help in liquidating the troubles between us.”

Community leaders who spoke at the forum indicated that not one aspect of society is to blame, but all share in the responsibility to rehabilitate. Vehid Sehic, Executive Director of the Civic Forum of Tuzla, shared experiences from Bosnia… urging NGOs from Kosovo and Serbia to work together in order to rebuild trust:

Vehid Sehic: “I have came to Kosovo with reason to help because of the latest troubles happening in my neighborhood. Because I expect the same from my neighbors if something bad happens again in Bosnia. The basic motive for all of us should be objectivity and to build trust between us. I would like to mention an old person’s saying: ‘who throws stones at you, you throw him bread’. We in this moment should make efforts throw bread but not rocks”

If the aim of all the Balkan communities is to one-day join the European Union then the dialogue between the communities should be a priority adds Sehic.

On the other hand, the Director of Kosovo Action for Civic Initiatives, or KACI, Ylber Hysa, believes that the civic dialogue between communities and grassroots organizations should be based on existing mutual interests and not necessarily long term goals like that of EU membership:

Ylber Hysa: “With interests I mean that all communities should find a joint agenda, and that is peace, normal life and democratization. That I think are interests of all communities in the region, and can be easily identified and it would help in coexistence. We also need to be realistic to know the limits to which dialogue can be stretched, because we can only be supporters of the dialogue that started between institutions.”

Most participants detailed immediate needs to normalize relations between communities in order to improve current living standards, by calling on members of communities to act and work together. But Fisnik Halimi, an NGO researcher from Pristina, says politicians need to jump-start the first stages of renewed dialogue, which then can be supported by civic groups:

Fisnik Halimi: “I think that the conciliation, reconciliation and dialogue of the peoples in Balkans should be initiated by politicians and not from society and other segments of it. Because we live in an ambient where politics leads with the society and not the society with politics.”

As the discussion of reconciliation ran the gamut from community initiatives to political leadership, the youth was also stressed as a vital component to improved relations. Father Dom Lush Gjergji, head of the Kosovo- based NGO “Mother Theresa”, believes that dialogue should start as soon as possible between communities, and should not exclude youth:

Lush Gjergji: “Youth organizations should take the biggest part in the dialogue, especially those from high schools and university. Women’s associations should also be involved, together with the media. The information should reach all people in the region not only in ears but also in their hearts of which are sad, and poor, and in those moments it is important to be objective and tell the truth.”

This is one of the first gatherings of this kind since the March unrest in terms of sharing ideas to rebuild a fragile trust and confidence amongst people in a conflict-torn region… but the main point agreed upon by all the participants in the reconciliation discussion is that dialogue is the only tool to achieve compromise in the region.

That was all for this edition of UNMIK on Air, Thanks for listening, and stay tuned for more.