Artan Bajrami, IDP in north Mitrovica

Artan is an interpreter and journalist who used to live in south Mitrovica. His community was destroyed by Kosovar-Albanians who believed the Roma and Ashkali were Serb allies during the war.

Before the war the ethnic groups were mixed in Mitrovica. Now people are displaced and homes mixed up. They live in single-ethnic groups separated by the bridge over the river Ibar.

Many IDPs live in camps less than a kilometre from their former homes, which are now inhabited by strangers. Serbs occupy Kosovar-Albanian houses in the north and vice versa.

Nexhmedin Spahiu, Director of Radio and TV Mitrovica in the south, remembers when there was ethnic harmony.

“Mitrovica was the most westernised and civilised of cities in Kosovo. Four rivers meet here, which was representative of the meeting place of multi-ethnic and multi-religious communities.”

Now, IDPs like Valdete Idrizi are separated from their home by less than five minutes walk across the notorious bridge that was closed after the March 2004 violence.

“I have changed houses eight times since 1999 but it’s not possible for me to return to my home across the bridge.”

Valdete Idrizi, IDP in south Mitrovica

Valdete is Kosovar-Albanian. She used to live in north Mitrovica but she also fled from her home during the war.

She is committed to reintegration and heads a local non-governmental organisation that prepares the ground between returning IDPs and the receiving community.

Mitrovica, population 70,000, is known as “The City of IDPs” and a volatile flashpoint for violence.

Last March it was the scene of the most violent ethnic clashes since the war, when 31 people died and almost 4,000 Serbs were driven from their homes.

Nexhmedin says that it’s still too dangerous to mix the ethnic groups.

“You can go and visit your house in north Mitrovica with a KFOR escort but if you go alone you will face the Serb paramilitary and police. You will be beaten or killed.”

Boyana Kostadinovic is a young Serb journalist at Radio Kontakt Plus in north Mitrovica. The station's journalists often work with Nexhmedin's team in the south to build ethnic bridges over the river Ibar.

But Boyana agrees with Nexhmedin that going into a different ethnic enclave alone is too dangerous.

“An elderly couple tried to return to their house but they were almost beaten to death.”

A French battalion of the multi-national task force (KFOR) keeps a tense peace, particularly at the bridge.

Sometimes accused of ethnic favouritism, Captain Theirry Reymbaut responds: “We are here to protect both Kosovo-Serbs and Kosovar-Albanians. We don’t make any difference between them.”

Alex Anderson, Project Director for the International Crisis Group in Kosovo, says Mitrovica is the major security risk in the province.

“The Serbs there will not accept independence and want Belgrade rule.”

Mitrovica

North Mitrovica is the only remaining urban community for the Serbs with strong ties to the Serbian capital. But Nexhmedin blames the Belgrade media for creating a false fear.

“Most Serbs are afraid to move out of their enclaves because they are still thinking it’s 1999 and not 2005. The fear is created by the Belgrade media who only speak of Kosovar-Albanians in negative terms.”

But Boyana is equally disappointed. “Kosovar-Albanian youths are poisoned by the idea of living with Serbs. I just don’t see the possibility of living together.”

Find out more about...

Why there is trouble at the bridge
Returning IDPs
The IDP price of peace