UNMIK ON AIR
11JAN. 2003
Week Round-Up
(Martin Redi)
Hello and
Welcome to this edition of UNMIK on Air with…. On the program today:
-We visited Sarajevo to see
for ourselves if
Sarajevo really gone back to the way it was before the
war, or is it still suffering the after-shocks?
And
We talked with Branislav
Krstic and very unusual Kosovo Serb.
But first
The second municipal elections
held on the 26th of October last year, were considered an important
stage in the creation of functional and democratic institutions in Kosovo.
The elections passed of
quietly and peacefully, though the turnout was far lower than in the first
elections; hardly reaching the percentage required for them to be valid.
For the first time, Serbs took
part in the municipal elections, though again, not in satisfactory numbers, and
not all across Kosovo.
We visited Lipjan, some 15 km south of
Pristina to see what changes these elections have brought and what people and
officials there expect from them.
MUSIC
75.000 people live in the Lipjan
Municipality; around 9000 of them are Serb.
Cecilia Piazza, has been working as a
Municipal Administrator in Lipjan for
almost two years now, she says things have been proceeding well so far.
Cecilia Piazza: Of course it is too early to
have a very accurate assessment in the sense that for the time being the
Municipal Assembly has dealt with election appointments, there is no
substantial object that has been brought to the attention of the Municipal
Assembly
No political party obtained a
majority of votes in the last municipal elections; PDK won 14 seats, LDK 13,
Serb parties 2 seats, AAK 1 and PDAK 1.
This led to the need to form coalitions, which took time.
Xhevat Olluri, the president
of the Municipal Assembly is happy with the security situation in Lipjan.
Xhevat Olluri: There have not been major
incidents, and minority citizens can move a bit more freely. It is good that
they took part in the elections and that they are represented in the Municipal
Assembly.
It
is true that it is the first time Serbs took part, since they didn’t in the
first municipal elections. This is a positive thing since concerns can now be
addressed and solved in an institutional way, including Serb minority concerns.
Until now there was a division, and many issues were solved separately. It was
almost an enclave in Lipjan Municipality. They had some offices but there was
no monitoring from the municipality, the same with education and health
institutions, they were just receiving salaries, there was no control over
their curriculum or the number of staff.
Nenad Arsic, a Serbian youth
from Lipjan is not at all happy with the security situation. He doesn’t expect
much from the newly Serb elected representatives.
Nenad Arsic: It is shit, to tell you the
truth. First, it is not safe at all. More effort needs to be made It will be
even worse now, I do not know, but I feel it will be worse. We have our people
there (in the assembly) they are there for themselves, not for us, for sure.
Frankly speaking, I am not optimistic because there have been no improvements
over the last two years. It is the same as before though it is a bit quieter
now, but still there is still fear to move.
Municipal administrator
Cecilia Piazza says future developments will very much depend on the attitude
of Albanians and Serbs living in Lipjan.
Cecilia Piazza: The participation of Serbs in
the election, although we all know that all over Kosovo the participation was
not big, but still there is a participation which has led to having two elected
members, that means that people have to respect the results. This participation
shows that there is a change of trend, and we can expect a bigger participation
in all the different institutions now. We cannot speak about normal situation
in the sense that people do not move as freely as it would be in a normal
situation.
Dialogue and cooperation
between the communities is the only way to reach that stage sooner, adds
President of the Assembly Mr. Olluri.
Xhevat Olluri: We have had talks with the
Serbian community, and I promised them that their rights will be respected by
the institutions, this issue will be monitored, on the other hand there should
be a reduction of enclaves and parallel institutions so that they gradually
fall under the control of Municipality.
Sarajevo’s Markale market
place, in the centre of the old part of town. These days it’s thriving, a reasonably
good-natured throng of people jostling around the packed tables to buy fresh
flowers and produce, as well as cigarettes, hardware, and virtually anything
else you’re looking for.
It wasn’t always so. In
February 1994 dozens of people were killed in this marketplace by what is
believed to have been a Serb shell. The carnage shocked even a world used to
televised pictures of Sarajevo under siege, and led to the creation of
NATO-protected U.N “safe areas”.
Markale is as good a symbol as
any of post-war Sarajevo. Seven years almost to the day since the Dayton
Agreement ended the war, the city looks good. A few gaunt shells of high-rise
buildings still stand as stark reminders of the three-and-a-half-year siege.
But many other buildings – including some which seemed to have been damaged
beyond repair – have been rebuilt.
The city has a prosperous and
welcoming air, in stark contrast to the days of the war when it was literally a
death-trap. People were shelled randomly from the hills, or shot by snipers like
fish in a barrel.
For someone returning like
myself for the first time since the war it’s all slightly eerie, like stepping
back in time. But has Sarajevo really gone back to the way it was before, or is
it still suffering the after-shocks?
Sandra
is 22, and works as a receptionist at a hotel. Though she’s from Sarajevo, and
says she loves the city, she’s looking forward to leaving.
SANDRA: I think that Sarajevo is an interesting
place, people can find fun, that’s for sure, but speaking about the life in
general, it is not OK. The salaries are small, it’s difficult to find a job and
I’d like to run away from here; as soon as possible. I wouldn’t be glad to
raise my family here, the children to grow up here.
Sandra’s one of the lucky ones
– she has a job. Official unemployment figures in Bosnia hover around 40
percent, a catastrophic number, though the thriving “grey” economy means it may
be somewhat lower. Whatever the figure, though, there’s no question that Bosnia
is one of the poorest countries in Europe, and people are struggling to
survive.
Sandra’s boss Ibish also says
it’s hard to make ends meet, and he’s gloomy about prospects for the future.
IBISH: For an ordinary man, who was born here,
the life is different from what it was before the war in 92. Naturally, the
economic situation is very difficult, the political situation is not definitely
resolved in Bosnia, so I think that’s the reason for huge immigration of the
people from Bosnia. The people are not satisfied firstly because the employment
was not put in order; one cannot see any better perspective. And I cannot see a
way for our people, our politicians, to resolve it. Foreign investments are the
only way …the people here alone can’t do anything.
For
what we thought might be a more up-beat point of view we caught one of
Sarajevo’s famous trams, and went to a rather glittering social event – a gala
party at the Sarajevo museum. Somewhere between the buffet table and the string
quartet, I found a woman in an elaborate fur coat. Her assessment? Qualified
optimism.
WOMAN: As much as a man knows, and can hear,
can see, it seems to be OK. I think that huge moves forward were made, I don’t
want to make a difference between this authority and the other, this coalition
and the other. All of them tried to make something good, but it was very
difficult. One English philosopher or scientist, I’ve read it once, said – When
you make scrambled eggs once, then you can never make it to be a sunny-side up
egg. And here indeed was made a horrible scrambled-egg and we are happy every
day if we feel that it is a little bit better.
But even here
people were talking about leaving. Another woman said she saw no future for her
12-year-old son in Bosnia. She blamed the government, or rather governments –
Bosnia has three, as well as three mutually suspicious main communities, which
devote much time to wrangling about such matters as linguistic differences.
The
UN’s last chief in Bosnia, Jacques Klein, has a colorful and well-rehearsed
metaphor to describe Bosnia and its ills. It is, he says, like a convalescent
patient.
KLEIN: The best way to
describe this place to you now is you have here a patient recovering from a
very grave illness. The patient’s not dying, the patient’s recovering. The
patient has life support systems: economic, the EU, the multi-lateral, the
bilateral, the political the OHR, and the security, the SFOR, IPTF that we
provide. Now none has defined how healthy the patient has to be, so you don’t
know when you can disconnect the life-support systems. Secondly the patient has
five doctors: SFOR, OSCE, UNMIBH, UNHCR and OHR. Each of these doctors is very
well-meaning, and is doing niche mandate implementation. Niche
counter-indicated medication. Surgery, psycho-therapy, vitamin therapy, prayer
and spiritual healing. And the patient lies there and says, “Well, today wasn’t
bad. Let’s see what tomorrow brings”. But the patient doesn’t aid in his own
recovery.
The recovery of the patient,
of course, is of vital importance: for Bosnia itself, for the prosperity and
stability of the region, for the credibility of the international community
which let the country down so badly during its war.
Branislav: Hello (in Albanian).
That was Branislav Krstic, a journalist
now living in north Mitrovica, one of the few Serbs who does not hesitate in
speaking Albanian, furthermore, who sees it as a great advantage in the
everyday life.
Branislav: That’s right; as an advantage
and not as a barrier. The barriers are made, mostly, by those who want to have
them. But there are people who have thought and realized that it would be much
better for them if they spoke Albanian, much better from the point of
friendship, everyday communication and, if you want, the job as well. And
therefore I’m very embarrassed by some Serbs who, from the very reasons just
known to them, do not want to speak the language, or say, they are not talented
for languages.
Branislav was born in Djakova and now
for three and a half years he and his family are living in Mitrovica. Brana, as
his friends know him says that all his friends from Djakovica/Djakove, both
Serbs and Albanians, are familiar with both languages.
Branislav: In Djakovica/Djakove, in the
street where I was living, almost 90 percent of the Serbs were speaking
Albanian language very well, and I can say I’m the one who speaks it a bit
poorer because I was almost ten years in Belgrade studying and then working.
But it seems to me that the strength of the man, no matter from what ethnic
community he comes, is much bigger if he speaks any other language, Roma,
Serbian, Albanian, Turkish. So, knowing the languages, knowing Albanian, it
seems to me sometimes that I can speak much better my own language, Serbian.
And I do not agree with those who think that Serbian language does not need any
albanization, it’s a big mistake. In any case, I think that both Albanian and
Serbian languages need each other.
QU: You are one of a few Kosovar Serbs
that can speak Albanian, what do you think why most of Kosovar Serbs do not
speak Albanian? Is it because they do not want to learn Albanian, or they
cannot learn it or how did you manage to learn it?
Branislav: I ask myself the same question quite
often, why? To live in Kosovo where Albanians are in majority, it is necessary,
though not enforced by law, to talk to people outside my community, and to move
forward. There are people who do not want to speak Albanian, they know why, but
there is also a number of those who do not have the opportunity and possibility
to learn and speak, not only Albanian. I was born in Djakova, Emin Duraku
Street, now it is KLA street, and like 30 % of Serbs who used to live there
have never moved out of Kosovo not even gone to towns in Serbia, they speak
fluent Albanian. Why? Because they learned it, while living together with
Albanians.
Branislav is very emotional when it
comes to talking about his hometown – Djakovica/Djakove and he is sure that one
day he will go back.
Branislav: I’d like most of all to go
back and I think it is possible when we are talking about the Djakova citizens.
We all know each other, we grew up together and we managed to live normally,
prior the war, to make friendships and to have many things in common – from
music, jobs and if you want, going out at night. But, my return could be seen
as a big problem for those who came from various villages later. We know that
their homes were destroyed during the war, and there are families who have lost
indeed many, many family members, and it won’t help me the fact that some of my
friends Albanians could say – we know Branislav, he is our friend.. I think it
will need some more time for those people to forget. What hurts the most is the
nostalgia, but what is giving them more pain is the fact that they have lost a
member of their family.
Maybe
in the near future the dream of a multiethnic, multilingual society; not afraid
to speak the language of their neighbors will happen and Branislav Krstic will
go back to his hometown and refresh memories of childhood with his neigbours.
And that was all
for this week round up of UNMIK on Air. Hope you all have a great weekend.