by Vojkan RISTIC
The president of the Coordinating Team of the State and Federal governments for municipalities of Bujanovac, Presevo and Medvedja, Dr. Nebojsa Covic, on December 19 met Sean Sullivan, General Cabigiosu's advisor for political issues. Previously representatives of the state and federal governments talked in Bujanovac to a high ranking delegation of the State Department led by James Pardew, a White House envoy, and ambassador William Montgomery.
The meeting was sealed by a visit on the highest level. That was the first visit of the KFOR commander to the land security zone in the Bujanovac municipality. This is most definitely the most significant move of the Yugoslav diplomacy since the attack of the Albanian terrorists on the village of Lucane on November 21, when three policemen were slain and five suffered light and grave injuries.
In the meantime president Kostunica visited Bujanovac twice. Both the state and federal governments met in the town. Now, Dr. Covic is a sort of a governor of the municipalities Bujanovac, Presevo and Medvedja. Residents of Bujanovac waited in cold weather in front of the City Hall for General Cabigiosu who arrived at noon from Pristina, passing through the Presevo valley, a day before the UN Security Council met. Although the people from this region may have expected more having in mind president Kostunica's letter in connection with the modification of the land security zone in the south of Serbia, the presidential statement of the Security Council, immediately behind a Resolution in importance, opened additional space for diplomacy ahead of force. The locals are aware of that, in spite of their still obvious fear.
According to the official information, the Albanian terrorists have entered about a mile inside the security zone in the village of Lucane.
In Bujanovac many believe that the visit of the KFOR commander is "a consequence of serious problems", but at the same time it is assessed as a good sign that could start something and at first, at least stop disappearances, executions and attacks on policemen.
"That could be seen even before, but here the local authorities proclaimed Mirjana Markovic for a honorary resident, and she hasn't visited the town since then," conclude Bujanovac residents.
Here Dr. Stojanca Arsic, the current mayor, is criticized for "finding more time to participate in the JUL election campaign than to deal with the difficult conditions in which refugees live." Anarchic leftist local authorities were portrayed by Nebojsa Covic as the authorities "run by local gods who only took away, never even considering to give back or invest something." That was confirmed by the co-minister of Internal Affairs (Police) in the transitional government, Stevan Nikcevic, who said that the Serbian criminal police has discovered in cooperation with colleagues from Vranje many "illegal abuses of official prerogatives" by the directors of "Heb", "Vrelo", "Komunalac", "Prolece", in the Directorate for the Construction of Bujanovac, as well as at the border crossing Presevo on the Yugoslav-Macedonian border...
In the village of Veliki Trnovac [Big Trnovac], the village of 9,000 Albanian residents, there is still very little trust in the "young Serb democracy", although it has on several occasions so far doused the flames of mistrust and fear that had hitherto been stoked by the Socialist authorities who exclusively spoke only about "terrorists, smugglers, and drug dealers" among Albanians in this village, which has been on the Interpol list for a long time.
Serbs in the settlement "Train station" at the entrance into Presevo, think exactly like their compatriots Albanians. "We have been useful exclusively as a tool, instead of as active people who have the right to their own views," say the people from this settlement, which as if weren't a part of the Presevo municipality, which in turn appears not to be a part of Serbia. Many paradoxes illustrate numerous problems in coexistence of these people.
"We have received more assistance from the European Commission and German government, than from the former government of Serbia," says Beluli Nasuf, a member of the Presidency of the ethnic Albanian Party for Democratic Action, and the director of the Culture Hall in Presevo. Presevo has received DM250,000 and 100 tons of asphalt as assistance. DM250,000 is a quarter of the annual municipal budget in Presevo, one of the least developed municipalities in Serbia. If it weren't for about 4,000 Albanians who work abroad, the economic situation would be even worse.
Bujanovac also appears neglected. The Sport Auditorium that was hastily put together during the Socialist election campaign has become unusable only a few months after the official opening. Simply the dampness has raised the wooden floors and the Auditorium now only serves as another monument to the former authorities. There are more similar examples here.
In spite of everything, the Socialists and JUL members have not given up. The fifty-hours-long blockade of the international highway Nis-Skopje at the entrance to Bujanovac serves as an illustration. Some politicians, above all from the SPS, wanted to manipulate justified demands of Serbs from Bujanovac and those who in front of the attacks of Albanian terrorists had abandoned their homes in Kosovo and Metohija and found shelter in Bujanovac.
At the barricades on the highway, in a rather fired up atmosphere the people demanded to be addressed by the president of FRY, Dr. Vojislav Kostunica. The whole protest was redirected by Covic with his collaborators, once he realized that in spite of all inter-ethnic problems, Serbs in Bujanovac are also divided. "That must be stopped and we must understand that only together we can solve old problems," Covic said at one of press conferences.
The blockade of the highway is only one detail for the completion of the "political diagnosis" in the south of Serbia, after which the Coordinating Body consisting of state and federal officials was formed. It is headed by Dr. Nebojsa Covic, while the vice-president is Dr. Rasim Ljajic.
Many years of neglect in all fields are especially evident in the media picture in the south of Serbia, which has been assessed as "worse than catastrophic". Biserka Matic-Spasojevic, the co-minister for Information in the transitional Serbian state government, emphasizes that Albanians in Presevo had no media in their language.
"We have very quickly agreed regarding the assistance for the opening of a radio station in Presevo, and we have also started education of the Radio Bujanovac staff. We have a significant problem in finding the right profile of workers because people are not ready to immediately start making a program. That is why we have sent instructors from Radio Belgrade, who have to our satisfaction also been accepted by Albanians in Presevo.
In the Bujanovac City Hall journalists received very good conditions for work and about ten phone lines, several computers and fax machines. The TV Serbia has opened a studio with a permanent connection with Belgrade. Foreign journalists have an option of sending TV reports directly from Bujanovac. Representatives of the Serbian government have announced an urgent reconstruction of the local phone exchange, and they have already identified the local companies that represent a "healthy core" that will be able to function in the forthcoming tumultuous market and other transformations.
At the example of Bujanovac, Presevo, and Medvedja, it became clear that the new democratic authorities in FRY are taking several exams; in diplomacy, internal policy, economy and the media. That job is not at all easy and results cannot be expected overnight, but it is clear that progress is being made. The most important thing is that, beyond this winter, diplomacy and tolerance cool down hot heads and gun barrels in the hands of some Albanians.
"Otherwise, we shall respond with all available means and we shall not apply 'stop-start' tactics," concludes Covic.
"Their decisive desire to help us is obvious, unlike in some other politicians who only cared about their own interests. That must be prevented and we need to overcome the gap between Vranje and Bujanovac. We all know who until recently talked about 'California in the south' and some 'southern Switzerland'. They are nowhere to be found," ordinary people in Bujanovac comment.