UNMIK ON AIR

RETURNE TO BJELO POLJE

August 6^th

CUT 1 Dragan Cirkovic

For us it’s difficult everywhere. But after almost 4,5 years I do believe that we’ll reconcile with our neighbors and that everything will be ok, because we haven’t done anything wrong.

LINK: Dragan Cirkovic, one of 24 Serbs who have returned to Bjelo Polje, their native village in the Pec/Peja Municipality.

Hello and welcome to UNMIK on AIR with

Atmosphere

LINK: The Peja/Pec municipality in western Kosovo – a region devastated during the 1999 war and where some of the worst atrocities were committed by Serb forces against K.Albanians. Not an easy place to return to, even if these people have nothing to reproach themselves with. In fact this was the first return of Serbs to Peja since the conflict ended and was carefully planned by the Coordination Centre for Kosovo and UNMIK and KFOR. Though security for Kosovo Serbs has been downgraded over the past year, these returnees are under Italian KFOR protection.

Atmosphere up

The village of Bjelo Polje lies on the outskirts of Pec/Peja but these men haven’t yet dared to set foot in the town. And municipal representatives are already afraid that Bjelo Polje will become a new enclave like nearby Gorazdevac.

Speaking on a recent visit to Peja/Pec and Gorazdevac, UNMIK acting chief Charles Brayshaw stressed that the majority had an obligation to integrate the minorities and not allow them to live in enclaves.

The return hasn’t gotten off to a good start – the example of Gorazdevac gives little confidence to Albanians – according to Peja municpal chairman Ali Lajci, Serbs who have returned to Gorazdevac have yet to register with the authorities, they refuse to accept KS license plates and that their loyalties basically remain with Serbia and the ousted Milosevic regime. Lajci’s argument is not that returns should stop but that they should be sustainable and not lead to the creation of more enclaves.

CUT 2 Ali Lajci: Their return is in line with existing projects of Nebojsa Covic and UNMIK. We are pro individual returns as we always said. Our municipality does not have a working group for this process. Because we want to integrate the locals first and then we go to the other phase. The municipality is against new returns to enclaves, we are for sustainable returns.

LINK: An argument that Serb representatives in Bjelo Polje do not contest – their aim, they say, is not to isolate themselves in enclaves but to start the process of making changes. Mihajlo Lazovic, Serb representative in Pec/Peja Municipality denies accusations that Bjelo Polje is going to be a new enclave.

CUT 3 Mihajlo Lazovic:

Return to Bjelo Polje means real return. Everything after Bjelo Polje could be achieved easier. If it is not possible to come back to Bjelo Polje it is absurd to expect it to happen anywhere else. As the Pec/Peja Mayor Ali Lajci said, the aim is for this not to be an enclave. This place is basically a part of the town and that’s the reason why Bjelo Polje has been chosen as a place for return.

LINK: Most of these people have lived in collective IDP camps in Serbia for the past 4 years. They might have lived in more security, but conditions in IDP camps are miserable. The Serbian government has neither the resources nor, some claim, a real interest in the fate of Kosovo Serbs. Life in Serbia hasn’t been easy, to put it mildly. And that was a major reason for them to come back, says Radomir Kostic, one of the returnees.

CUT 4 Radomir Kostic:

Life in exile is hard. It’s hard when you don’t have your own house. We had to make a decision to come back.

Atmosphere

LINK: This return, they hope will be different – that’s why the emphasis is on direct cooperation with the Albanian majority. All building materials, for example, are being bought from the K-Albanians.

Municipal representative Mihajlo Lazovic is optimistic - K-Albanians are interested in cooperating and have already begun submitting business proposals.

CUT 5 Mihajlo Lazovic:

The economy is the only thing that can unite people. That’s the best way. And given that the economic situation is very bad in Kosovo, we should use this moment. The money that is supposed to come into Bjelo Polje should be used to bond people.

LINK: Ali Lajci remains skeptical though. Look at Gorazdevac, he says, the process of integrating Serb returnees hasn’t even begun.

CUT 6 Ali Lajci:

We are pro integration of the communities who have remained in Kosovo, because we want to be a good example for their integration into our institutions. They need to be involved in the changes underway in Kosovo, to have the same obligations and aims as all the other communities here. The integration of Serbs who remained here is the first phase. Only then do we go to the second phase, the return of the IDPs, of all communities. Maybe then the focus will be on the Serbs.

LINK: Serbs need to want to be integrated, Lajci stresses. But perhaps the mayor should listen to some of the returnees to Bjelo Polje - Radomir Kostic for example, who says he accepts Kosovar institutions.

CUT 7 Radomir Kostic:

We don’t mind that. We just need freedom of movement and a normal life. They (Albanians) can go wherever they want. We just want the same.

Music

LINK: Of course there are fears – and the shadows of the past hang heavily over this area. Albanians in Peja haven’t forgotten what was done to them and the old wounds are still open.

But these returnees to Bjelo Polje are not demanding special privileges – they are prepared to discharge their obligations, all they want is to be treated like everybody else. Some of their former neighbours apparently think so too - Branko Pavlovic says there was happiness on both sides when some of them came to visit.

CUT 8 Branko Pavlovic:

They came here and we talked to them on the phone. They accepted our return and they congratulated us. They say they are satisfied.

Back announce: So there is a silver lining – some 1000 people have returned to Kosovo since the beginning of this year and there are grounds to hope that the return process will progress, slowly perhaps but surely.