UNMIK on AIR

SRSG to Pec/Peja

By Andrea Saula

Hello and welcome. This is UNMIK on AIR.

The official visit to the Pec/Peja region in late August ended the first round of joint trips for Kosovo’s new UN head, Soren Jessen-Petersen and Prime Minister Bajram Rexhepi.

The final destination on this visit was the Serb returnee area in Southwestern Kosovo, Belo Polje, where local authorities promised to finish the reconstruction of houses damaged during the March riots.

UNMIK On-Air was there as Jessen-Petersen addressed Belo Polje villagers and local media.

Jessen-Petersen - "Today, we have been visiting this region of Peja and there, I’m sorry to say, it still seems that too much time is spent talking about the past. The past is very serious. There have been deplorable tragedies but we have to deal with them, but as long as we invest more in talking about the past we will have very little energy left to move forward."

Moving forward on returns issues has been a central theme in Jessen-Petersen’s first month as head of the UN administration in Kosovo.

As for Belo Polje, the first Serbs displaced there during the 1999 conflict returned in mid 2003. Due in large part to close cooperation with local authorities, rebuilding for the damaged houses in Belo Polje also began in 2003.

But, before the houses had been fully reconstructed, 24 of them were damaged or entirely demolished in the March violence. The municipality of Pec/Peja established the Committee for the assessment of the damage, and a few months after the riots, German companies like THW started to rebuild them.

Last week owners of 16 houses accepted keys for their reconstructed property, but only two houses were actually finished. One owner in Belo Polje greeted the delegation in a less than friendly manner.

Belo Polje Home Owner -"It’s good that you came today to see for yourself because some ten days ago we’ve been told that all the houses in Belo Polje are finished and practically not even a house is finished. There’s no water, no electricity."

However, residents did get assurances from Prime Minister Rexhepi that in the coming days all houses damaged in March would be completely finished. Violeta Ukaj is a senior planner with the Pec/Peja Municipality. She seemed to contradict claims that Serbs were not happy with the reconstruction process.

Ukay - "I hope that very soon the works will be finished and that the Serbian community from Belo Polje will be happy. I can for sure say that 99% of them are already satisfied."

Atmosphere of Construction sounds.

Still, when UNMIK On-Air spoke to the residents of Belo Polje, reconstruction was only one part of a list of concerns. Chief among the concerns was rebuilding mutual trust with former neighbors, and dealing with municipal responsibilities.

Belo Polje’s representative, Mile Vasic.

Vasic - "We are trying to clean the garbage now and to start a dialogue with or neighbors in order to be able to access to our arable land."

Official sources say that the return of 40 additional Serbian families to Belo Polje is expected this year. An estimated 30 people are living in collective housing until their houses are completed.

Among them is Mileta Bacevic, who came back to Belo Polje some two months ago. For Bacevic, life goes on despite the hardships.

Bacevic - "I’m going to my fields. Yesterday I had a walk in the field and I had no problems. I met two shepherds, Albanian women from Tropoja and I had a talk with them. We agreed to meet today again to talk about things."

Walking together, talking together, farming together - Kosovo’s future is dependent on ethnic cooperation. Prime Minister Rexhepi reinforced the idea during his visit to Belo Polje.

Rexhepi - "On the request of all communities and the community of Belo Polje, we will together with KFOR, UNMIK and all Kosovo’s institutions, create one normal environment in which everybody is going to be free. In order to achieve the success I have requested the Serbian community to help us in rebuilding trust between communities. They promised they would do their best because in Kosovo there’s enough room for everyone."

Meanwhile, UNMIK's Office for Returns and Communities, or ORC, says the Pec/Peje municipality is further developing their Returns Strategy to provide a framework for future returns activities. Belo Polje residents expressed hope that the process should begin sooner than later.

And this concludes today’s edition of UNMIK On-air. Stay tuned as UNMIK On-Air brings you news and views from in and around Kosovo.