By Andrea Saula
Hello and welcome. This is UNMIK on Air,
UNMIK on Air visited Kosovo Polje/Fushe Kosoves, one of the
places where more then 100 Kosovo Serb families lost their homes in the two
days of violence and destruction that occurred last March.
Even though almost all
houses have been reconstructed through grants paid by Kosovo consolidated
budget, the streets of Kosovo Polje/Fushe Kosoves in which K-Serbs used to live look empty.
One of the residents Sasa Krstic comes every day just
to visit his reconstructed house. Him and his family
still live in the collective IDP settlement in Leposavic.
Actuality No. 1 Here you are. I have proves what
is supposed to be done, water meter should be installed. When we asked where is water, the contractor tried to push us to take keys. It
is Baci commerce. The commission should come to see
if the water and electricity are being put in place.
Krstic family claims they don’t have the basic conditions to live in their own house. They complain that someone robbed their house and removed the plumbing.
Actuality No. 2 They took of the sink and the
lavatory and the pipes are broken.
Residents of Kosovo Polje/Fushe Kosoves are not the
only ones who have serious complaints about the quality of the reconstruction.
The Prime Minister’s Office promised they would take complains under
consideration and to try to adjust errors, Killian Kleinschmidt
an official of the UNMIK’s Office for Communities and
Return (ORC) is visiting the reconstruction sites.
Actuality No. 3 It’s the time, on the municipal
level, together with UNMIK officials working in Municipalities, to collect all
the complains, questions, to summarize that all and to deliver it to the
central commission chaired by the Prime Minister’s Deputy. As the SRSG said, I
think it’s the time to help the people. Maybe they didn’t get the quality they had, maybe they are asking fro something that can’t be
repaired according to existing procedures. It’s the time to be flexible and to
rapidly answer to peoples’ demands.
Before last March, Kosovo Polje/Fushe Kosoves had a famous restaurant “Zivin gaj” owned by Miroslav Velickovic. Up to now,
this Premise hasn’t been reconstructed.
Velickovic and his employees are left without income and they
are seriously thinking of leaving Kosovo.
Actuality No. 4 I will take my 7-members family
and I will leave Kosovo and Metohija because I don’t
have resources to survive here. My only incomes were coming from the restaurant
and everybody knows that.
Also walking about, Kosovo Polje/Fushe Kosoves, it is easy
to see that some of reconstructed houses of K-Serbs are sold.
Killian Kleinschmidt
visited other reconstruction sites including Lipljan.
Where 26 K-Serbs houses have been reconstructed however so far until today not
one K-Serb has returned. K-Serbs claim they are not satisfied with the quality
of the reconstruction but also they are not satisfied with the quality of the
reconstruction of their other properties (such as stables and barns) on their
land.
K-Serbs that remained in Lipljan, some 1000 inhabitants, have other concerns.
Including that their local primary school remains an old, dark, damp house.
Although in 2003 UNMIK
allocated 170 000 euros for the construction of a new Primary school building,
nothing has been done. An agreement between the community, the Municipality and
UNMIK has not been reached.
After visiting the primary school, Kleinshmidt appealed to all the sides to get together and start working on finding a solution for the issue.
Actuality No. 5 I think we
should stop blaming each other and start doing something. When I say we, I
think on everyone, local authorities, UNMIK, institutions in charged for
education. There’s a project and finally we have to start doing something.
Back announce: In all the places where the reconstruction has taken
place since the last March riots, the owners of the reconstructed houses list
their complaints on the quality of the reconstruction and deliver them to the
local authorities. The Prime minister’s Office has promised that any major
faults in the reconstruction work will be corrected.
And tomorrow -
the main bridge in Mitrovica has been reopened
recently for civilian traffic. The Serbs from the north side oppose the move,
claiming that still it is not time for allowing free movement across the
bridge, and a few stoning incidents have been recorded so far. More in
tomorrow’s story on UNMIKON AIR
That would be all for
today. Stay tuned.