By Vladimir RADOMIROVIC
"Until recently with first dusk they would go into their houses and not come out until morning. Now the people are a little more relaxed," says Halimi, who is the president of the leading ethnic Albanian party in this part of Serbia, the Party for Democratic Action (PDD).
Halimi says that he has heard from the residents that in the demilitarized zone five kilometers wide toward Kosovo there is a group of ten or so armed Albanians, but emphasizes that he has no contact with the "Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac" (UCPMB).
"I have heard that the headquarters of the UCPMB is in the village of Dobrosin but it is practically impossible to get to this village and verify these stories. One of the biggest problems is the police checkpoints in the direction of Kosovo, through which it is necessary to pass to get to some of the villages. A few days ago the police held our delegates from the Bujanovac municipal government for seven hours. They wanted to find out what had happened to an old man from the village of Muhovac who had been kidnapped earlier by the police. In addition to this, the problem is that our relatives from Kosovo cannot cross into Presevo and Bujanovac because the police will not allow them to. When we are returning from Kosovo, we usually have to wait as long as two hours to cross the border because the American soldiers thoroughly inspect each vehicle. The Russians are more lenient. At their checkpoint there is usually no backup." Somewhat later, in a pizzeria in the center of Presevo, a group of Albanians is debating the situation.
"The most important thing is that the killing stops," says the owner of the pizzeria, and in answer to the question if there will be war, he responds: "War, just like bed, takes two. We cannot fight. We can only flee."
While in the streets of the city, which is located on a strategic commercial route, trucks and military vehicles avoid each other, one of the Albanians says: "We are welfare cases who earn nothing, and spend two hundred dinars [Yugoslav currency] a day."
It seems that these people are more preoccupied with business and smuggling than with the battle for annexation to Kosovo.
Day two: Kraljevo, a refugee camp for Roma from Kosovo. UNHCR has created a camp for approximately one hundred refugees, mostly from Pristina, near the industrial zone. 26 tents have been pitched, washrooms have been built, but the Roma are not satisfied, even though many of them have spent the winter in an atom bomb shelter in extremely unhygienic conditions.
"It was better in the shelter than here," says 20 year-old Ganija. "Our tents are not fenced in. We have no electricity, at night we cannot see anything. The washrooms are worthless because we cannot heat the water. We have not eaten meat for nine months, they only bring us spaghetti. I don't care if I only eat spaghetti but what are little children supposed to eat."
Ganija's wife, with a four month-old baby in her arms, adds: "They would not bring other children here but they tossed us here because we are Roma."
"If we had only been smart and stuck with the Shqiptars [ethnic Albanians], instead of with our brothers the Serbs," says a young man in the camouflage Police t-shirt. "We Gypsies have always been first to back the Serbs, but when we Roma need something, then we get screwed. They told us they were giving apartments to those who fought. I was on the border for three months and now there is nothing."
Eleven year-old Besim Curoli is the most vociferous protester. "I am in the fourth grade and I am begging at the station, I have nothing to eat," says Besim. "All because of them." When asked "Who is them?" he responds: "Because of UNHCR... and because of Milosevic. Let Slobodan come and eat what we eat, and let him send to us what he and his son eat. I have not been in school for two months, I have money for nothing. My teacher is crying because of me but I cannot go to school."
Only a few hundred meters further, for five years already forty odd Serb refugees from Croatia are living in a shack. None of them harbor any hopes that they will return.
"Kraljevo is now the largest refugee city in Yugoslavia. Recently a registration of refugees from Kosovo was carried out in that municipality. 16,868 persons were registered. UNHCR and the commission for refugees assess that between 80 to 90 percent of those expelled actually registered. Including the refugees from earlier wars, it turns out that practically every third resident of the municipality is a refugee. The attitude of the long-term residents toward them is not always good. When, after months of seeking a place to live, a group of refugees from Klina entered an abandoned house, they were confronted with everyday abuse. Various people came claiming that this was their house and trying to evict them by force. Today more than 40 people live in this single story house. Living in a room of approximately 20 square meters [approximately 12' x 15'] are six brothers belonging to the Staletic family from the village of Veliko Krusevo near Klina. Their mother is with them in the room. A camouflage police uniform hangs on the wall of the room. "Our brother is now in Presevo," says Milenko. When asked whether he would return to Kosovo he says: "Only when KFOR goes home."
Refugees from the region of Pec, residing in a former exclusive restaurant on the outskirts of the city share that opinion. "KFOR can even stay, but our army and police must return," a former resident of the village of Belo Polje, recently completely leveled to the ground by ethnic Albanians, speaks for all. "We took care of the Shqiptars' houses, and then they set everything on fire and now leveled the ruins with bulldozers. I can come to terms with the loss of my house but not with the loss of a church which is 700 years old. Fuck it, that's a sacred site!"
Day three: Cacak, the municipal board of the Yugoslav United Left (JUL). There are burn marks on the entrance door. In the night following the Belgrade rally, someone tossed a Molotov cocktail at the JUL door, presumably guided by the principle "fight the Communists with Communist weapons".
Fortunately, the fire did not spread but the secretary of the directorate of the Yugoslav Left, Ratko Krsmanovic, used the opportunity to accuse the "terrorists" of "leaving their signature in this cowardly manner, under the cloak of night, in a manner which the so-called KLA has practiced for ten years".
A framed pre-election poster of Slobodan Milosevic "For Serbia" is hung above the sofa of the president of the municipal board, Dusko Simovic.
"You have heard the messages of the opposition leaders. At their demonstrations they called for murder and hanging," says Simovic. "This was probably the initial step in their campaign. Thanks only to good fortune the fire did not spread. What they are saying now, that we set the fire ourselves, I think is stupid, lies so they can wash themselves clean. We have clearly heard their calls for a lynching."
Board vice-president Milenko Tutunovic adds that it is difficult for leftist politicians to work in a rightist environment such as Cacak. "It takes courage to be a member of the Yugoslav United Left or the Socialist Party of Serbia here because the rightist citizens have been seduced. The city is now governed by parties which did not even participate in elections, which are led by people who have changed political affiliations two or three times. Despite this, we will not waver; we are not afraid since we are working in the interests of the people. We are a stable, modern organization and as of today we are prepared for the elections which will be, I wish to emphasize, held as scheduled. This year our state is being strengthened, the world will recognize our leadership, they will see what human rights are all about."
Tutunovic then shows us a building, the legacy of the Ivkovic family, whose son Miodrag was the secretary of the Communists at the University of Belgrade during World War II.
Painted over graffiti can be seen in several spots on the facade. One of them is still legible: "With faith in Christ against the Communists". Next to it the fist of the Otpor [Resistance] Movement. Tutunovic insists that we inspect the window broken the night after the burning and says that in the morning they found a copy of the "Blic" newspaper in the window.
Not far from the almost abandoned Ivkovic house, in the office of the mayor of Cacak, Velimir Ilic, there is a completely different atmosphere. In front of a copy of the icon of the Bogorodica Trojerucica [Three-Handed Madonna] to which a photograph of general Mihailovic is attached, ten odd people have gathered. All of them have come to ask Velja [nickname for Velimir] for help. Some need money for the phone and for planting seed, others need a job, yet others need a horse. As he admitted during an interview with "Reporter", Ilic collected the money to buy a horse for Sreten Babovic from the village of Trnave. As the mayor hands him an envelope before the camera of the local television station, Sreten's eyes fill with tears of gratitude.
Several minutes later, Ilic admits that this is a part of his campaign. "You can talk all you want but you have to keep your promises. I promised I would buy a horse and I bought a horse. What I am doing is a campaign, more so than putting up posters that say 'Only Vuk'[Draskovic]! Let Serbia be witness to how a good Serb head of household conducts a campaign!"
At the exit from Cacak there is a traffic sign which reads "Have a nice trip". Beneath it someone has added with spray paint "Best wishes, Veljo Ilic".