Serb and Montenegrin apartments in the cities are usually usurped by Albanians coming from rural areas. They include numerous former KLA members. Many of them claim that they "have earned apartments in the struggle against the Serb military and police". Data of the International Committee for Human Rights mention 2,127 cases in which Albanians have usurped 3, 4, 5 or more apartments or houses each.
If the Coordination Center of the Government of Serbia, with assistance of the international community, speeds up the return of expelled population, Serbs and Montenegrins will be able to find accommodation. In Sirinicka Zupa on the hills of the Sar Mountain, there are more than 20,000 Serbs, and the situation in the nearby Sredacka Zupa is similar as many Serb families still live there.
"People are building houses, restaurants and shops in Brezovica. Many of those who would like to return to their burnt homes, and cannot, only ask for small plots of land, to build new homes here. We, who remain here, do not even think about leaving," Jovica Buduric, political activist and director of Brezovica hotel "Narcis" is adamant. The hotel is currently operating successfully.
In this region Serbs won in the most recent local elections, as well as in the Kosovo Morava Valley region, Gracanica and in the north of Kosmet [abbreviation for Kosovo and Metohija], in four municipalities.
Albanians are now between a rock and a hard place. While on the one hand they get recommendations to "intensify negotiations in connection with purchase of Serb owned real estate", so that as few Serbs as possible return, others tell them not to worry because there will be no return.
In this "confusion" some Serbs did quite well. Some of them are still successfully exploiting "undefined situation".
"I lived in the YU program building in Pristina. When I went to Belgrade I left the apartment to an engineer, a Serb from Suva Reka. He forged the apartment documentation and for two years, claiming that he was the owner of the apartment, collected 1,500 Euros a month from Russians for rent. My wife died in exile, and I now have to prove that I own the apartment in court," Nebojsa Radosevic, coach of the soccer club Pristina, complains. Unfortunately, he paid for his generosity.
In the nearby University settlement, whose residents are now mostly foreigners, as well as in the YU program building, a small number of apartments has been sold.
"We know who profitably sold their houses and apartments. Those who decide not to sell have two choices - to keep collecting high rents or to sell their real estate to the Serbian state, while we will build new apartments for them in Zvecan," says Ranko Djokic secretary general of the Rectorate of the University in Kosovska Mitrovica.
"Whatever the case, the remaining Serbs, about 130,000 of them, are not leaving Kosmet. As many as 130,000 of them want to return to their homes. Albanians who have profited from their suffering will be forced to ‘pay' by the international community," believes professor Dr. Gojko Savic, member of the Presidency of the Kosovo Parliament. He says that the international community will have to reconsider the true situation in the province. And in that context the usurpation of Serb property. Because, many of Serbs who sold their apartments and houses under pressure have filed complaints with UN representatives demanding to be compensated for the difference in price between the sale price and the true value of their property, or to get their property back, while they would pay back whatever they were given for it. A new spring is coming. And with the spring comes the determination of displaced persons to "urgently" fill in return questionnaires. Only on last Friday the office in Kraljevo had a list of more than 5,000 Serbs and Montenegrins who want to return. Most of them to Metohija [western part of the province, Dukagjin in Albanian].
"It has been indicated from Washington that the Serb entity would keep parts of Metohija, Decani, Pec with the Patriarchy monastery, Ibar Kolasin, and all of northern Kosmet, which borders Serbia proper," says Milivoje Ribac, head of the Pec district. A few days ago, with a group of compatriots from Kraljevo he had talks with UNMiK administration for Pec regarding the return of 5,000 Serbs this spring.
In the eastern, Kosovo part of the province, based on these principles Serbs would get Kosovo Morava Valley, Sirinicka Zupa and Sredacka Zupa on the Sar Mountain, and the valley around Gracanica, where most of Serbs stayed.
In both parts of Kosmet Serbs have sold negligible amount of tillable land. They have mostly sold small plots next to important roads.
The determination of expelled and displaced persons to return is reaching the "boiling point"; thus it is becoming increasingly obvious that the international community will have to finally fulfill its promises and create conditions for the return of a significant number of Serbs.
"Now we have confirmed that hardly any land was sold in Metohija. Even though we were offered enough money to buy hundreds of hectares in Vojvodina [northern province of Serbia, its]. That is church land, which the Serbian Orthodox Church since the time of Saint Sava provided to its believers for tilling, and our ancestors later bought it," says Milivoje Ribac, coordinator of expelled persons from Metohija.
Metoh means church land. Serbs and Montenegrins from Metohija say that they have no right to sell that land. Their ancestors did not abandon the land even during the great migration to the north under patriarch Arsenije Carnojevic. Even the Ottoman empire had more or less respect for church possessions. And today?
"At the start of the 21st century our Christian brothers spurned our appeals for help, so that we were forced for the first time in our history to collectively abandon our ancestral homes," adds professor Dr. Svetomir Samardzic, member of the coalition "Povrtak", also expelled from Metohija. He openly says that people are sick of life in collective refugee centers, in expensive rented apartments, or with relatives. "All of us have our own land, and we have been denied our right to live on our land in our own homeland. Consequently, we demand to return to our homeland this spring".
"We want to go back. We'll live in tents if necessary, like nomads. We'll build new homes on the foundations of our old burnt homes. I hope that our Christian brothers from Europe and America will help us reclaim our homes. If the world advocates multiethnic Kosovo, it will have to help," says Rade Zivkovic from Klina.
"Someone wanted, after everything that has befallen us, to turn us into Balkan Kurds [stateless people]," claims Dr. Sava Stanojevic from Djakovica. "Just consider our status today. We have our land and houses. We cannot reach them without armed escort. We are not asking for something that does not belong to us. Why is the world so unjust with its allies from WWII and with a nation that has done a lot for the world civilization?"
UNMiK and KFOR still don't know what they are going to do, while Serbs from the village of Drsnik near Klina yesterday registered 120 families for return. A day before, residents of Dolac, who are somewhat more numerous than those of Drsnik, had also expressed their readiness to return to their homes. A final list, which is being updated daily in Kranjevo, will be submitted on March 27, 2003, to Mr Mistri Ajiya, and Indian national from the UNMiK office in Pec. The list will be submitted by a delegation of Serbs from Metohija led by Milivoje Ribac.
"I am convinced that some representatives of the international community in the province are trying to meet the expectations of Albanian leaders and prevent the return of Serbs. There are many reasons that motivate such behavior and we shall speak about them very soon," emphasizes Dr. Milan Ivanovic, president of the Serb National Council for northern Kosmet. He stresses that in that part of the province Serbs are building houses, restaurants and stores in earnest and none of them intend to leave.