17th
December 2003
Mitrovica
snapshot
(By Andrea
Saula & Gzim Kasapoli)
The recent incident in Mitrovica when premier Bajram Rexhepi and a visiting World Bank delegation came under attack from a mob of angry Serbs highlights yet again the ethnic divisions there. It’s been over a year since the town, often described as a flashpoint for ethnic unrest, came under UNMIK control. There have been several initiatives and efforts, local and international to help Mitrovica bridge the divide, - the creation of a confidence zone around the bridge over the River Ibar, KPS patrols that have not just replaced KFOR but are also deployed in the Serb dominated north, cultural exchanges - but it’s clear that the road to normalcy is a long one.
There have been attempts to repaint parts of the city in order to give it a much-needed face-lift, but this is more skin deep than anything else. There is a palpable sense of despair and hopelessness amongst the people – Serb or Albanian. Suspicions run high on both sides economic insecurity has also increased with recent layoffs by international and other organizations, and ordinary people either despair or lapse into nationalist rhetoric.
Vox Pop: Mitrovica today is the poorest city in Kosovo and
this is as a result of the division. People’s minds are still in the north
while they are living in the south. This is the reality in our city. Everybody
is pessimistic for a positive solution to this situation.
Vox Pop: A couple of years ago I thought that we
wouldn’t need much time to improve the situation, but because of the
consequences of war and the divisions amongst us, nothing has really changed
even after 4 or 5 years.
Ismet Idrizi and Nikola Vlajic are colleagues. They are both lawyers, both were born in Mitrovica, although Ismet now lives in the South and Nikola in the North. They are amongst the privileged few – at least in terms of moving from one part of Mitrovica to the other. Because of the nature of their work they cross the bridge regularly and hence have an idea about how life is on the other side. But with the passage of time, the majority on both sides has in a way accepted the new environment and a new way of life. It’s hard to push them to talk about how it used to be before the division, especially in the Serb-dominated North, where some parallel structures still exist. A small town has become even smaller for all practical purposes, says Nikola Kabasic.
Nikola Kabasic: Start with space. Now we live
and work on 7 times less territory than before. Everything is happening in two
streets, which amounts to around 700 meters. Life happens between the Bridge
and the Gas station, or let’s say, an imitation of that life we had before the
war.
But one thing common to people on either side of the
bridge is the dire economic situation. Shaqir Maliqi, a lay judge with the
Mitrovica municipal court based in the North.
Shaqir Maliqi: Mitrovica is one of the poorest
municipalities in Kosovo though it was a highly developed industrial city. The
Trepce mining complex employed more than 23.000 employees, of which 16.000 were
from Mitrovica. Nowadays almost none of them work and the economic situation is
very bad. It is different from other municipalities. Because the others can
rely on agriculture and farming, but nothing functions here. The only thing
that functions is the small street trading. Mitrovica is in a critical
situation.
In this climate it is not surprising that criminals
from both sides have found ways to continue their business. “Crime sans
frontieres” – some would say. Kerim Mandak, a Gorani, is the owner of a bar in
the Mitrovica North.
Kerim Mandak: Problems are more or less the same
both in the North and in the south - anarchy, disorder, increasing crime.
Criminals from North and South have the best cooperation. Other common problems
include water supply and a catastrophic electricity situation.
Mitrovica is a noisy, crowded town – yet on the bridge it’s
the silence that prevails. Although there is no KFOR checkpoint and only a
handful of KPS officers on patrol, pedestrians are rare on the bridge.
The bridge has become a kind of wall, people fenced in
on either side, each to their own.
Ismet Idrizi.
Ismet Idrizi: I go very rarely to the north
because I don’t feel safe. I don’t know when I’ll be able to go freely there
and to see northern Mitrovica as a normal and a free place.
As for people in the North, most don’t feel the need to
cross the bridge at all, because of the existence of parallel structures. Nikola Kabasic again.
Nikola Kabasic: No I
haven’t been to the South for a long time, for four years. Before the war I
used to live in this town. I don’t know even how to imagine the southern part.
So many things have happened over four years. Time and distance have also
helped create deeper divisions. I don’t even think about the Southern part. We
are more or less self-sufficient in the north today; we have institutions,
churches, and a graveyard. We found alternatives. The need to go to the South
is becoming less and less important.
UNMIK is putting a lot of effort in dismantling or
integrating parallel structures into the PISG, a key element of the recently
announced Standards for Kosovo. But it
is an uphill task to reverse the deep alienation of people in the North and
South. Kerim Mandak, for one, is less and less optimistic.
Kerim Mandak: Time is passing but we are all
in fear and we feel uncertain. We expected more. Some people come here like on
a safari. They are just trying to finish their job in the easiest possible way
without problems. We who are staying here have to deal with those
problems.
A bleak snapshot of Mitrovica today and a reminder of the
challenges for the international community and local authorities, and above
all, for the people of Kosovo.
There we end this edition of UNMIK ON AIR. Thanks for
listening.