WHAT SERBS EXPECT IN 2005

By Zoran CULAFIC

Hello and welcome, from the studios of UN Radio in Kosovo…

Kosovo Serb leaders are still a no-show in Kosovo’s Institutions almost three months after Parliamentary elections. Last week, in a meeting with Kosovo’s top administrator, the Organization for Security and Cooperation’s Chairman in Office, Dimitrij Rupel said it is crucial that Kosovo’s institutions reflect its ethnic make-up.

As SRSG Soren Jessen-Petersen meets with top officials in Belgrade today, UN Radio in Kosovo went to one Kosovo Serb enclave to see what their expectations are for 2005.

Nenad Rikalo is executive director of the Gracanica-based non-governmental organization Future, which focuses on ethnic reconciliation issues. Not surprisingly, Rikalo says that so-called “everyday living issues” are of the utmost concern, and he says significant improvements on human rights issues and freedom of movement must be attended to if Kosovo Serbs are to approach any sense of inclusion in Kosovo society.

ACTUALITY 1 – NR - Track 25 – Out of all these issues I think that what is most important for us (Serbs) is the issue of employment, only one part of the larger economic picture. If we have this issue solved, then we do have a reason to hope, to stay in this region and to live here.

Nebojsa Milovanovic is the 23 year-old owner of Matrix Cafe in Gracanica and he says he is optimistic about 2005. Surely, I do believe positive changes are ahead, if I did not, I would not be here now, Milovanovic said.

ACTUALITY 2 – NM - Track 8 – I would not like what happened last March to be repeated. In the New Year, in 2005 I want to see happiness, good health and goodwill for everyone in Kosovo … a lot of job opportunities … all the best things because ALL OF US hope to have a better life here.

Still, the increasingly isolated nature of Serb enclaves throughout Kosovo is cause for concern, this according to Zorica Krstic, a 23 year-old journalist with KIM Radio in Caglavica. She says that peace, freedom and the return of the displaced are among her top wishes for 2005. Krstic said her hope lies with the youth, and with the abolishing of the culture of ethnic separation.

ACTUALITY 3 - ZK - Track 44 – What I wish for myself, I wish of course to all the others who live in Kosovo, particularly to young people, and that is freedom of movement, that they could travel freely throughout Kosovo

But Zorica said that Kosovo’s leaders need to spend more time on the ground winning the trust of the people.

ACTUALITY 4 – ZK - Track 57 – At the moment I do not trust Kosovo institutions or international ones, but frankly I do hope they will do something to get things improved and to have us living better here in Kosovo.

Her colleague Marjana Simic, also a journalist with KIM Radio, echoed concerns that trust-building measures are not enough of a priority for Kosovo’s Institutions. In framing what she wants for 2005, Simic recounted personal hardships in 2004 for her family and for herself.

ACTUALITY 5 – MS - Track 66 – I would rather say what I would not like to happen in 2005, that is to continue going to visit my cousins in Serbia under KFOR escort. I would not like to see children going to high (secondary) schools here in central Kosovo under KFOR escort … EDIT TO Track 68 - I would like to see violence against Serbs stopped and to have my University diploma in Pristina, where I was studying for three years. I.e. not to go to Mitrovica or Vranje or some other towns in central Serbia to pass exams, I’d like to have my diploma at Pristina University, in Pristina, where we have spent the most beautiful days of our youth.

Many young people in Kosovo, regardless of their ethnicity, do hope and believe in a better future, better job opportunities and better educational opportunities. It is now up to prominent political officials to recognize such wishes and to do their best to make Kosovo a better place for all its citizens.

With this we end today’s program, thanks for listening and stay tuned.