UNMIK ON AIR
WEEKLY ROUNDUP
MAY 17 2003
Hello and welcome to
UNMIK on Air’s weekly roundup. On the programme today…
Farmer: It is better to go out on your land, than sit in your home or in cafés and drink and make problems.
And the birth of a Serb baby in the Albanian-run Pristina Hospital a promising sign of progress.
But first:
The announcement that Russian troops are to withdraw from the Balkans has met with mixed reactions. A sense of relief amongst Kosovo Albanians for whom Russia was a kind of fifth column for the ousted Milosevic regime, and a sense of betrayal amongst Serbs, who feel the Russians failed in their duty to protect the non-Albanian population.
For Tirana based analyst, Remzi Lani, the Russian pullout couldn’t happen soon enough.
Remzi Lani: The pull back of Russian forces from the Balkans,
besides being good news, should be seen as a dosage of realism, an admittance
of Russian failure in the Balkans. It also a proof of the theory that Russian
interests have now moved to other parts of the world and I foresee that Russia
will be more present in the middle east.
But the announcement is not a surprise – Russia has already scaled down its troops to a mere 650 in Kosovo and this final phase is the result of a mutual agreement with NATO. The main reason behind the pullout, argues Dr. Andreas Heinemann Gruber, a specialist on the region who teaches at the University of Cologne, is the need to cut costs given urgent priorities elsewhere.
Dr. Andreas Heinemann Gruber: In Central Asia, Tajikistan for example, in the
north of Afghanistan where they are trying to get a stake with some of the
troops of the northern alliance, also in the caucuses where they are heavily
involved in Abkhazia and southern Ossetia additionally they see that at the end
Kosovo will be an independent state and Russia with its participation in KFOR
would be indirectly promoting state independence of Kosovo under the auspices
of KFOR and NATO and that somehow sends a message to Chechenya that they don’t
want to see due to their domestic interests in keeping Chechenya inside Russia.
Moscow’s unwillingness to endorse Kosovo’s independence and the traditionally close links between the two Slav orthodox countries are other reasons for Albanian animosity towards Russia. Remzi Lani, again.
Remzi Lani:
It is clear that the fall of Milosevic regime was the fall of the last fortress
of Russian allies in the Balkans. This is also proven by the fact that
Milosevic’s wife- who is seeked by Serbian authorities herself is in Moscow- In
other words Russia has nothing more to do in the Balkans since it has no more
partners.
Dr. Gruber disagrees. Russian troops were well appreciated by their KFOR counterparts, he says, and their withdrawal from the region simply means Kosovo or Bosnia no longer represent a vital interest for Moscow.
Dr. Andreas Heinemann Gruber: Under
Yeltsin, the Russian military was still somehow influenced by the soviet legacy
and that they should have a stake in certain regional conflicts whereas Putin
is very pragmatic and simply looks at the question, what is in there for
Russia, what is beneficial for Russia and from a cost-benefit analysis there is
nothing to win for Russia in Kosovo or in Bosnia.
Spring has come to Kosovo with a vengeance. The days are longer and warmer; the earth is bursting with fertility. For many people it’s their favorite time of year. For farmers it’s one of the most important.
Farming has always been important to Kosovo. Before the war many made their living from it. These days though much of the land is barren and unused. Many of those who are still farming are Serbs living in enclaves. It’s a way of scratching out a living when there are no jobs. But the problems these farmers face are enormous. We spoke to some in the enclave of Caglavica, only a few kilometers from Pristina but a world apart.
Predrag: We do not have freedom of movement, and no free market, and people would engage themselves more in agriculture work, as well as in growing fruit and everything else, but for four years we are wandering in a magic circle, how to say, in a ghetto, not daring to go out of it. Thus the people have lost the will, the younger ones are leaving Kosovo, looking for an opportunity to get better education.
Toma: Talking about agriculture, there is no profit in it today, but it was left to us from our fathers and grandfathers to work on the land and not to allow to turn to weeds.
Vojislav: Today I have a pig being fatted up to 250 kg and maybe more, a bull maybe of some 700 kg. I offer it but no-one is going to buy, they just want to lower the price. Recently there was Easter, some holidays, but no one showed up to buy.
Toma: We got some humanitarian aid, but we get flour, and our barns are full of flour, because we don’t have opportunity to sell it. These people here could have everything, this is a rich land and everyone is willing to work, to earn.
Vojislav: That minister of agriculture we didn’t meet yet, we never had any meeting with him, we have had not the chance to express what our problems, our needs are here, the needs of us, the farmers, the natives.
Toma: We are trying to manage by ourselves and there is no alternative for us. To keep from going crazy we have to work somehow, and mainly in agriculture. It is better to go out on your land, than sit in your home or in cafés and drink and make problems.
Four years after the conflict, Kosovo’s Albanian majority and Serb minority still live in an atmosphere of deep distrust and suspicion. Their lives continue to run on parallel lines, living beside and not with the other. Apart from the political aspects, the ongoing standoff creates a lot of headaches in everyday life, for both communities.
Which is why the birth of a Serb baby in a Prishtina hospital last week was greeted with joy – not just the natural delight in the entry of a new being into the world, but a sign that inter-ethnic cooperation is possible and is happening.
Jelena Lazic, a woman in her early twenties, lives in Pasjane village near Gnjilane/Gjilan. She was expecting to give birth in early May and planned to travel to Vranje, a town in south Serbia, a few days in advance. But, as it happens so often, life took its own course.
Jelena’s baby decided to announce its arrival when she was still in kosovo. But when she arrived at the Serb hospital in Gracanica, doctors found her baby was underdeveloped and that her life could be in danger if she gave birth in that hospital, which didn’t have the necessary equipment.
Jelena’s only hope was to give birth in the hospital in Pristina. The important thing, she says is that everything went smoothly and that both she and the baby are well.
Jelena Lazic: It was urgent and we did not know where to go.
First we wanted to go to Vranje but instead we decided to go to Gracanica. They
accepted me in Gracanica, but it was very risky, I was told, and thus they sent
me to Pristina. Here they received me well I was frightened for the baby
because in Gracanica they told me she was losing control and that her heart was
stopping but here, after I gave birth they said the baby was small, just 1.800
Kg, but OK.
Some 35 to 40 babies are born each day in the clinic, the majority to K-Albanian women from the Pristina region. But head nurse, Sadije Prenici told us that this is not the first case of a Serb woman giving birth in Pristina since the conflict ended.
Sadije Prenici:
It is not the first time since the war ended that patients from other
nationalities have given birth in our hospital. As far as I can recall, there
have been around ten or more cases up to now. And I suggest you ask the mother
herself about her feelings in being here and in our clinic, we have never
discriminated against patients, not now nor before the war nor even before the
90s. Everyone is treated in the same way; no matter whether she comes from
Belgrade, from Raska, from Prizren or from Pristina. For us every patient is a
patient.
What can be more innocent than a newborn baby? And what could be a more fitting “welcome into our world present” for little Cristina and all the other babies being born today than a Kosovo free of ethnic hatred and distrust?
And that does it for this edition of UNMIK ON AIR. Thanks for listening.