Fewer Than One Percent Of Serbs Have Returned To Kosovo

Some 2,000 out of 250,000 have returned. No returns to any city that was ethnically cleansed

by P. PASIC

Glas Javnosti, Belgrade, Serbia, Serbia-Montenegro, October 2, 2004

Thirty two Kosovo and Metohija Serbs from the village of Vidanje near Klina, after almost five and a half years, finally returned to their ancestral homes two days ago. This encouraging news at the same time reminds and warns us of an exceptionally discouraging statistic: since the middle of June 1999, when more than 250,000 Serbs were driven out of the southern Serbian Province, only some 2,000 have returned, or less than one percent.

"Credit" for this tragic balance belongs exclusively to the international community, that is, UNMIK and the provisional institutions of Kosovo and Metohija, first of all, the provincial government, who have failed to show a sincere desire for the return of displaced and expelled Serbs to really begin. Serb returns have been realized in only some ten locations, all villages, in Kosovo and Metohija.

There have been no Serb returns to any city that was ethnically cleansed in 1999. Last year returns began "in dribbles" to villages that were mostly or exclusively Serb. In the Pec district, which suffered most five years ago, Kosovo natives returned to Belo Polje near Pec and Bica, Osojane, Grabac, Suvi Lukavac, Saljinovica and Tucep between Klina and Istok.

Near Pristina returns began in Novo Selo, and near Kosovska Mitrovica in Ljestar and Klobukar. In the Gnjilane area, they returned to Podgorce, and in the region of Strpce and Prizren the returnees began to come to the villages of Drajcici, Sredska, Musnikovo, Gornje Selo, Lanjane and Novake.

However, in the unprecedented four-day long wave of violence and persecution against the Serbs which occurred this year [from March 17 to 20], all returnee settlements except Osojane were burned to the ground and destroyed. According to the director of the Section for Returns of the Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija, Vladimir Cucic, 856 persons have returned to Kosovo and Metohija since the beginning of this year; of these, only 254 are Serbs. In accordance with established priorities, out of 1,500 objects intended primarily for returnees, plans foresaw the building of 360 of the highest priority in the first phase, with a special focus on Metohija. These priorities were accepted by the UNMIK Office for Returns and Communities, and the necessary amount of 3.6 million euros was expected to be provided through the budget of the provisional institutions of Kosovo and Metohija. However, the realization of the project has not even started because the aforementioned funding, unfortunately, was not provided after all.

"All deadlines for reconstruction have passed since March 17, especially with regard to the municipalities of the Kosovo district. The dynamics in the municipalities of Pristina, Kosovo Polje, Obilic and Lipljan are exceptionally unsatisfactory, whether we are talking about privately- or socially-owned property," says Cucic.

Even if a building is completed once in a while, returnees cannot move in because of the poor security situation, and the unwillingness or inability of KFOR to do anything to improve the situation. Also, Albanians are carrying out daily obstructions on the buildings themselves or accompanying infrastructure, and destroying what has been begun or completed. For all these reasons, all further activity on restoration has come to a standstill because the number of interested persons has suddenly plunged for all the reasons we have mentioned.

No Rebuilding Of Houses

More than 70,000 Serb houses and apartments in Kosovo and Metohija have been usurped or completely destroyed. More than 350 houses were torched only in the wave of violence in March. Despite many promises by UNMIK and the Kosovo and Metohija Government, restoration has begun on only a few Serb homes. The Kosovo and Metohija government recently tried to deceive the international community by presenting the beginning of work on one building in the old Prizren quarter of Potkaljaja as the beginning of the reconstruction of the entire quarter. A group of 30 Serb returnees is still located in the KFOR base in Prizren.

Life in a ghetto

"We live here like in a ghetto. We have no freedom of movement outside the settlement. We have to take a risk to go to the Pec Patriarchate. We are frequently exposed to provocations from our Albanian neighbors, and for now we can only dream about jobs and a better future," the few repeat returnees to Belo Polje near Pec told our paper.