UNMIK ON AIR

24 September 2003

PRESEVO ON THE EVE OF DIALOGUE

(By Zoran CULAFIC)

Reza Halimi: but all such incidents, and the most tragic ones, were based on the relationship between citizens and representatives of the authority, but never between neighbors, it was never that someone from one ethnic community did something bad to someone from the other community.

Reza Halimi, the ethnic Albanian mayor of Presevo. This is the only issue that everyone agrees upon, regardless of ethnic origin – that the conflict in Presevo was never between ordinary people, Albanians, Serbs or Romas, but between Albanians and representatives of Serbia’s state authorities.

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The recent outbreak of violence in southern Serbia, the worst since the end of a six-month conflict in 2001, has however raised fears that the fragile peace there may crumble. There have also been acrimonious exchanges between local Albanian politicians and Belgrade – this as the momentum to dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina gathers pace. Ethnic Albanians in southern Serbia also want to be included in the process.

If Kosovo Serbs are part of the Pristina delegation, they say, Albanians from Presevo must participate in the Belgrade delegation. Mayor of Presevo Riza Halimi believes that there is no need for any tension regarding this issue.

Riza Halimi: There were some harebrained statements about the need for dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade to be conditioned to the Albanian issue here, in the sense, who will be in which delegation, but I think all that was exaggerated. The most important thing is that the dialogue starts, because there are many important issues indeed to be discussed and resolved. And I do not see any need for it to be conditional on the situation here.

Nenad Manic, president of the local branch of the Democratic and member of the Municipal council agrees that inter ethnic relations between Serbs and Albanians in Presevo are much better then one the image projected in the Belgrade and Pristina press. But Manic still believes that recent incidents were politically motivated.

Nenad Manic: It probably is not like some media represent it, some media have exaggerated the situation, but surely recent incidents did raise uncertainty amongst Serbs, who are the minority here in Presevo. And surely the recent incidents are linked to future dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina as well as to the aspirations of some circles here that the issue of south Serbia should be linked to the issue of final status of Kosovo.

The outlawed Albanian National Army, ANA claimed responsibility for 2 attacks on Serbian security forces last month, saying their fight would go on as long as Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac, the 3 predominantly Albanian districts of southern Serbia, remained under Serbian occupation. Many Albanians in southern Serbia believe the region is Eastern Kosovo, and hence should be part of a final deal.

One of their spokesmen is Ragmi Mustafa, the head of the Democratic party of Albanians of Presevo and Bujanovac.

However Mustafa shares the common stance that interethnic relations in Presevo are stable. The only problems, he says, are those between Serbia’s military and police and some Albanian citizens.

Ragmi Mustafa: The community of Serbs, Albanians, Romas and others who live in Presevo have had always problems with the government of Serbia and unfortunately with the last one too, an allegedly democratic one, but which did little to improve the rights of Albanians here but we really never had problems which could lead to conflicts with ordinary people.

Presevo’s mayor Riza Halimi however calls on politicians to be realistic and distinguish between wishful thinking and reality. Albanians from Presevo, he adds, realize that they should look for a solution in the framework of the Republic of Serbia, and not by seeking to unite with Kosovo.

But there are some issues common to future dialogue and stabilizing southern Serbia, he says, like education, culture, and the free movement of people, goods and ideas. Albanians from Presevo must be involved in these discussions.

Riza Halimi: Everyone knows that the majority of students here are studying in Pristina and that issue was not discussed at all in relation to the Pristina-Belgrade dialogue. Not that they were not resolved, but never discussed at all. And there are some other similar issues as well.

Unfortunately, there has been little progress on these issues – for example, it’s been a year since the discussions on primary school education, school curricula and textbooks, yet nothing has happened even though the new school year began a month ago.

Not all agree that such issues be put on the negotiating table. Mica Markovic, a member of the Coordination Body feels some radical ethnic Albanian political leaders are using this to raise tensions ahead of the dialogue. That’s why there have been the recent armed incidents in Presevo, he says.

Mica Markovic: We have two radical options here – one is a political option of some political parties trying to resurrect the 1992 referendum which said that this should be called East Kosovo. They want to be included in the dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade, they want the creation of an Albanian national council and are against military service and the building of a military base here. The second option is recommending armed incidents.

Riza Halimi, seen by many Serb political parties as a moderate, feels such debate is sterile and unconstructive. The main unresolved issue in Presevo, he says, is the slow pace of economic development and issues related to education, culture, the official use of language and symbols. But Halimi stresses that no one can deny that huge progress has been made in Presevo since the new democratic government took over in Belgrade.

Riza Halimi: I think there is much left to be done, the solving of many issues hasn’t even started but there are some concrete results here as well, starting from the project of multiethnic police or the elections which changed the situation in Bujanovac and all the other projects related to public affairs and culture that are underway.

And on that note of optimism from the mayor of Presevo Riza Halimi, we end this edition of UNMIK ON AIR. Thanks for listening.