27 persons have been abducted, while 12 of them were released after being questioned and abused at the "KLA headquarters" located in the former Police station in the center of Orahovac.
Vesna Majmarevic, the wife of Gradimir Majmarevic says:
"In July of last year they killed my elder son; less than a year after that they abducted my son Aleksandar and my husband. They were abducted less than 100 meters from a check point manned by Germans. Gradimir tried to release our dogs, lest they die from hunger, but was abducted in front of KFOR peacekeepers by our neighbors. The red Renault in which they were driven away can still be seen driving around Orahovac. However, there is no one who could conduct an investigation based on our reports".
Jelena Grkovic talks about the fate of her husband Sveta:
"Muhamed Balla came with three armed Albanians and demanded from Sveta to hand over weapons. He gave them a handgun and they drove him away to supposedly issue a receipt for it. They also took Marko Vitosevic and Tihomir Miljkovic with Sveta and promised to return them immediately. However, they disappeared. The following day, Mahmut Ukshini came with four armed Albanians and they stole everything I had and ordered me to move out."
Allegedly, "KLA" members had to move their headquarters to her house. Incidentally, Jelena's son Zvonko Grkovic, former director of the pulmonary diseases clinic in Pristina was murdered two years ago. The perpetrators were never found.
The story of Ljubisa Vitosevic (20) is a typical illustration of the lives of the non-Albanian citizens of Orahovac:
"My father Marko Vitosevic stayed in his house in the Donja Mahala neighborhood. He did not want to flee. He stayed there with four neighbors. On June 19 they were abducted by Albanians and taken to the village of Brestovac, the biggest terrorist stronghold in Orahovac Zupa. Tihomir Miljkovic, who was abducted with them, managed to run away and is now held in the Parish home in Prizren. He has serious psychological problems, the result of the torture by 'KLA'. My father suffers from a serious heart disease. He cannot survive without medication and I doubt that he could have survived the torture about which Miljkovic testified to KFOR soldiers".
To the question whether Serbs will stay in Orahovac Ljubisa emphasizes:
"The majority have to leave because of fear. Many have had enough of abductions, rapes and murders. The only Serbs left in Orahovac live in the neighborhood of Gornja Mahala. We are fed life by a spoonful and wait for someone's charity. The state forgot about us although they promised prosperity and better future. No one is asking us whether we can survive and how we are doing. We are now used for target practice".
The attempts to stop abductions and abuse of Serbs and Roma and destruction of heir property with assistance of KFOR haven't been successful. Non-Albanian citizens of Orahovac have given to KFOR names of people who participated in abductions and rapes but so far nothing has come out of that. The Albanian perpetrators are freely sauntering around the town. None of the Serbs has been offered a job [by KFOR], although many of them speak English or German.
"These jobs are for Albanians," emphasizes Ljubisa and adds that "the Albanians continue with their provocations. They tell us that KFOR soldiers are allegedly saying that it is best for us to surrender to the Albanians and accept their rule".
The center of Orahovac Zupa, where 12,000 Serbs lived before the arrival of KFOR, is today a forgotten town. Velika Hoca, at one point the largest Serb settlement in Kosmet, is located three kilometers from Orahovac, on the road to Prizren. In the ghetto in Orahovac, there are 2,712 Serbs, while 1,181 Serbs remain in Velika Hoca.
In the neighborhood of Gornja Mahala, covering about a half kilometer squared, besides Serbs, there are 900 Roma. Since the withdrawal of the Yugoslav Army and Police, until today when the Serbian Government organized convoy delivered nitarian assistance, no Serb officials have visited the town.
"We trusted Andjelkovic [head of temporary Kosmet government appointed by the Serbian government]. Three days after the withdrawal of the Yugoslav Army and Police, he promised to send us buses to evacuate to Serbia. However, the buses never arrived. We have been sacrificed to settle accounts for everything that the Serbs have allegedly done to the Albanians," say the Serbs from Orahovac.
All shops in the town are closed. The buses to other towns within Kosmet or Serbia are not running either. There is a shortage of baby food and milk, and a large number of ill and exhausted people. The only physician in Orahovac, Dr. Radonja Labovic, works in a cellar. "We need medications, especially antibiotics. The number of people with psychological problems is increasing and I do not know how to treat them here. Also, there are more and more people with serious diseases. KFOR has offered to take them to the hospital in Prizren, but we do not trust Albanian physicians any more. We have sent a request to UNHCR, UNMiK and the government of Serbia to at least evacuate the sick and children to Serbia, but..."
KFOR does not even allow evacuation of Serbs with doctor's recommendation. There are also those who are allegedly undergoing a treatment at the hospital in Prizren, while KFOR does not allow their relatives to visit them. Thus, it is assumed that these people have died.
During his recent visit, Andjelkovic promised regular bus lines, twice a week, between Orahovac and Nis. According to his promises, Serbian authorities will in the future regularly visit Orahovac Zupa.
According to the records of the Church-People's Council of Orahovac, four Serbs have been killed in Orahovac Zupa. Only the body of Panta Grkovic (63) has been identified. It is believed that the other three victims are refugees from the Republic of Srpska: Nikola Bigovic, Mihajlo Velimirovic and Budimir Bulic. All three of them lived in Velika Hoca. Nothing is known about the fate of 12 Serbs and three Roma who were abducted.
Two nights ago terrorists threw a bomb at "Trepca's" security workers at the entrance of the Car Battery Plant. One security worker was slightly hurt and was released home after receiving medical treatment. KFOR inspected the location after the incident but found nothing but spent bullet casings.
According to the data of the Serb National Council for the Kosovska Mitrovica District, since the arrival of the French KFOR contingent, terrorists have abducted 15 Serbs, murdered 6, while the civilian U.N. police and French soldiers have arrested 30 Serbs.
Oliver Ivanovic, a member of the Council, says that SNC has suspended all contacts with the Albanian side, UNMiK and KFOR for a week, until they explain why six Serbs have been arrested and then kept illegally in custody for more than 72 hours. Ivanovic claims that UNMiK is more concerned with the history of the NATO bombardment of FRY than with finding terrorists who had abducted and murdered Serbs.
"We haven't been visited by anyone in the last two and a half moths, not even journalists. Nevertheless, pro-government Serbian newspapers published a few days ago an interview with me. There is probably another Slavisa Redzic, a mayor of Strpce, since I have been in Strpce all the time and haven't talked to anyone since the arrival of KFOR because the phone links are down," says the head of the municipality. Redzic explains that there is a shortage of food, medicines and electricity in the town and that they are surrounded on all sides.
"We live surrounded by terrorists. We are fortunate that the Polish soldiers have arrived and that we are safe at least on these several kilometers squared," says dejectedly Dr. Dragana Mrdjanac, while nurse Slavica Jovanovic begs us not to mention politicians because "they are all traitors".
About twenty families have returned to Strpce. The refugees from Prizren, led by local physicians, are determined to return to their homes. Only a few of them have escaped to Serbia. In the meantime they expect to be paid as state employees. "There is no money so that we can't buy even the food and goods which are somehow smuggled to the local market," says Zarko Nikolcevic. Since the arrival of KFOR, 120 employees of the local health center have received a part of the salary for the month of May. The same applies to pensioners.
"Physicians who left Kosmet received 3,000 dinars each and were rewarded for their desertion. We stayed behind and have the right to be treated equally, gh they have already promised all sorts of stuff," says the director of the health center, Sasa Krstic.
KFOR helped the locals get hold of a combine so that about 700 hectares of wheat fields around Strpce will be harvested. The Poles also provided 1,000 liters of oil and the vehicles of the health center are supplied with fuel for free. There have not been attacks and the Albanians are not given a chance to even try to attack. All that gives hope that the Serbs in Strpce "will survive the period of transfer of power".
The new school year, according to Slavisa Redzic will start on September 1. 1,000 pupils will attend the primary school and 420 Commercial-Economic high school. All teachers and instructors are still in Strpce so that only text books and school supplies are lacking.
Since the withdrawal of the Yugoslav Army and Police from Strpce, 9 babies have been born - four girls and five boys.