Final status and the internally displaced

“Kosovo’s final status” is a phrase that is on most people’s lips but Belgrade and Pristina must first come to an agreement and that involves talking.

Serbia wants the province back under Belgrade administration. The Kosovar-Albanians want a self-governing independent state. They are deadlocked over the future of Kosovo.

The UN administration for Kosovo is gradually sharing power with the Provisional Institutions for Governance, a locally elected body headed by a Prime Minister. But progress is too slow for many Kosovar-Albanians.

Final status talks are due to start in the autumn but there are several key issues that must be resolved, one of which is the fate of the internally displaced people living in Kosovo.

Kai Eide, the UN special envoy to Kosovo, is assessing the progress made towards democracy, including the rate of IDPs returning to their former homes.

The international community is eager to have ethnic harmony in the province so Mr Eide’s report will be have a significant impact on the final status talks.

But the rate of returning IDPs halved after the violent inter-ethnic clashes of March 2004 in Mitrovica.

And, as Kosovo is in a state of political flux this year with the talks beginning, the UNHCR does not expect displaced minorities to show much interest in returning home.

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Returning IDPs
City of IDPs