“One
day I hope to go back,”
says Artan Bajrami, a Roma/Ashkali
in north Mitrovica, with the
same longing as many internally
displaced persons, or IDPs,
in Kosovo.
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Artan
Bajrami, IDP in north Mitrovica
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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.
"The fear is created
by the Belgrade media
who only speak of Kosovar-Albanians
in negative terms.”
Nexhmedin
Spahiu,
Director of Radio and
TV Mitrovica |
“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.”
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Valdete
Idrizi, IDP in south Mitrovica
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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.
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“Kosovar-Albanian
youths are poisoned
by the idea of living
with Serbs.”
Boyana
Kostadinovic, Radio
Kontakt Plus |
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“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.”
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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
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