Ruairi O'Connell

A troubled day in Northern Kosovo

A troubled day in Northern Kosovo.

On Friday 14 March, a mob, armed with metal bars, overran and destroyed the police points outside the court in North Mitrovica, and occupied the building. UNMIK made clear, early on, that such behaviour would not be tolerated, and the SRSG directed the police to restore law and order in Northern Mitrovica.

UNMIK attempted throughout the weekend to talk with those occupying the court to resolve the issue. By Monday, it was clear that these efforts would not bear fruit. UNMIK also had intelligence that K-Serb extremists were planning to attack another building in Mitrovica (either police or prison). So, in the early hours of 17 March, UNMIK Police, supported by KFOR forces, entered the court building and detained those still occupying the compound. They did not use force - they didn't need to (but they did, naturally, handcuff those they  detained ). They made preparations to remove them for questioning elsewhere in Kosovo .   

In response, an angry mob of Serbs formed by the courthouse. When UNMIK tried to move the second group of prisoners, they attacked the convoy, using vehciles to block its path, and set the prisoners free. They then turned their attention to KFOR and UNMIK  at the courthouse, whom they attacked with rocks, firearms and grenades. Over  50 police and soldiers were injured, some seriously. 1 Ukrainian police officer, tragically, died of his injuries. KFOR and UNMIK were forced to defend themselves from the mob; Serbian media have reported 60 injured amongst the inhabitants of Mitrovica.

These are the facts of the matter as I understand them (see the UNMIK/KFOR press briefing [PDF] for more details, or the BBC report )

Serbia's 'Minister for Kosovo and Metohija'*, Slobodan Samardzic called  the arrests 'unjustified', and accused  UNMIK of violence.

But in a situation where a Serb mob overran and occupied the Court (which is run by UNMIK  under UN Security Council Resolution 1244 - see unmikonline)  and  UNMIK exhausted every effort to persuade them to surrender with no success, the police would be justifed in taking action to resume control of the court - without harm to those inside.  

And in a situation where  the police came under sustained fire from an angry mob while carrying out its duties, the police, supported by KFOR, would be justified in responding with the minimum force necessary to retain control of the court building and protect their own personnel.  

For two weeks, the court has been the focus of protests, and attempts at capture, by a group of former employees of the Serbian court system. This has prevented the court from carrying out its work for some time (the court covers all of Mitrovica region - not only for the Serb community). The protestors claim that they were expelled from their jobs in 1999, and only want them back. This is misleading. In 1999, the Serbian Court system (run by Serbs, for Serbs) was, along with other Yugoslav state structures, removed from Kosovo. In its place, UNMIK established a multiethnic  judicial system, run for all Kosovo's communities. The protestors are not simply asking for their jobs back; they are asking us to turn the clock back to 1999, to an unacceptable situation where Kosovo Albanians were denied access to justice .

What we saw yesterday was an attack on law enforcement officers trying to carry ot their duty in ensuring justice for all in Kosovo, as mandated by UN Security Council Resolution 1244. To call this unjustified and to accuse UNMIK of violence seems to me like a return to the worst thinking of the past and echoes the kind of behaviour, and tactics, we saw in the Balkans in the 1990s.

*More name issues. During Kosovo's period of autonomy in Yugoslavia, it was known simply as Kosovo; when Milosevic came to power, he renamed the province to an earlier Serbian name - 'Kosovo and Metohija', Metohija being the Western part of Kosovo (known as Dukagjin by Albanians) home to many of the most historical Churches - from metokhe, Greek word meaning religious community. UNMIK, and the British government, simply use Kosovo.

Posted at 11:48 20 March 2008 by Ruairi O'Connell  |  Comments[1]

Mitrovica

A flying visit to Mitrovica, yesterday, allied to our 'outreach' efforts.

I've mentioned Mitrovica before. This Northern Kosovo city is a symbol of Kosovo's ethnic divisions. Put very simply, Mitrovica was Kosovo's most prosperous city, built on the mineral wealth in the nearby Trepca mining complex. The city had an identity - based on the mines and its successful football team - that transcended ethnicity. However, following the war, Mitrovica has been split in two. Essentially, ethnic Albanian extremists expelled Serbs from the southern part; Serb extremists expelled the Albanians from the North (except for two parts of the town - the 'Little Bosnia' area and three tower blocks beside the river Ibar/Ibri which divides the town). Nowadays, for the most part, Serbs keep to the North, Albanians to the South, many living in properties occupied by displaced people just a few hundred metres away across the river. In the North, leather-jacketed thugs make sure that no Albanians enter 'Serb' areas; few Serbs want or feel safe enough to cross South of the river.

The town has repeatedly been the scene of clashes following the war, most seriously in March 2004, which helped to trigger riots across Kosovo that left 19 dead (both Serbs and Albanians).

Unsurprisingly, there is a lot of media interest in the situation in the town; it's hard to take two steps down the main street without bumping into a camera crew. Community leaders on both sides of the river, however, have grown more savvy - they understand that whichever 'side' makes the first 'mistake' will lose the media fight. They are at pains to show that they have taken all measures to ensure that there is no violence or intimidation over the coming days. I think this message has got across - but people are still nervous about what could happen. In any event, it was clear to me from my visit yesterday that KFOR and the KPS are ready - and more importantly, determined - to deal with any problems (in response to Howard's comments earlier, I agree fully that the community itself must take action for dealing with its own thugs: the 'internationals' can support this process, but local ownership of, and responsibility for, justice is vital). Still, Mitrovica will remain under the international media glare in the coming days.

Posted at 18:49 15 February 2008 by Ruairi O'Connell  |  Comments[2]

Outreach II

I was down in the village of Babljak/Bablak*, south of Pristina, on Friday. An encouraging visit.

Bablak's history demonstrates an interesting problem in Kosovo. In 1999, the Albanian villagers were driven out, and many of their homes were destroyed. In 2004, many of the Serbian villagers in the Pristina had their houses burnt. In both cases, it was people from outside the village who caused the problems.

Relations in the village now are much the same as ever . The villagers talk to each other, get on, and have similar concerns, mostly about unemployment. The head of the municipal administration recently visited the village. The K-Serb villagers told me that the visit had been 'super'; they were happy to receive guarantees from him and the local police chief - but were now looking to the local politicians to fulfill their promises.  But both Serbian and Albanian villagers are concerned that 'outsiders' will cause problems in their village. This is a lesson that we have learnt since 2004. In order to promote values of tolerance, and reconcile the communities, we need to focus less on the point of interaction between the communities (i.e. stop having multiethnic round tables) and deal more directly with each community. 

This leads me to some of the points that Rory and Stefan have made - I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

The first is the idea that the Kosovo institutions discriminate against Kosovo Serbs, and that Kosovo Serbs cannot leave their villages 'without the danger of being shot'. Clearly, immediately after the conflict, when NATO entered, life was hard for the Kosovo Serbs. Many left - either by choice, through fear, or by force.  There were revenge killings directed against the Kosovo Serbs who had chosen to stay. Progress was made; but the events of March 2004 were a big setback, when 19 people (Serbs and Albanians) were killed in riots across Kosovo.

However, the situation has improved since. Regarding K-Serb safety, it is true to say that many Kosovo Serbs feel insecure - the outreach programme is meant to help address this. But levels of inter-ethnic violence are low and decreasing. Hundreds, if not thousands, of Kosovo Serbs come to Pristina daily, mostly, but not exclusively, for work. People speak Serbian on the streets. People interact in the villages; I was at a point-to-point horse race south of Pristina last year, where Serbs took part alongside Albanians (I was the only foreigner there - the multi-ethnicity was spontaneous, not prompted by the international community). The story isn't the same across Kosovo; Serbs in North Mitrovica (the divided city in Northern Kosovo - see http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=3650&l=1) do not feel safe to travel to South Mitrovica, and Albanians in the South (excluding those few tolerated in North Mitrovica) are prevented from crossing the river that divides the city by leather-jacketed thugs. But I can't agree that Serbs in Kosovo are in danger of being shot if they leave their homes; things have improved.

Equally, about the Kosovo government. I've frequently said in the past (including in the Kosovo media) that I'm not paid to lobby on behalf of the Kosovo government. They have got things wrong. But how one responds to problems is quite indicative. The riots of March 2004 were appalling. But the Kosovo government's reaction to it, I think, is interesting. Unprompted, they pledged to rebuild, from their own funds (the Kosovo budget even today is less than 1bn euro annually) every destroyed house and church. They have come through - although Church reconstruction is held up by disagreements in the committee designed to oversee the process, almost every house has been rebuilt.

The sense I got from  my current and previous work in the Balkans is that it is almost impossible to talk about the Balkans without people seeing the issue in a zero sum way; if you want to help Albanians, then you must be 'against' the Serbs.

It is clear that the Serbs have suffered too since the start of the 1990s. My Serb friends often tell me that the Serbs were Milosevic's biggest victims. I don't buy this. But I would agree that no-one has done more harm to the Serbs - whether in Serbia or elsewhere - than Milosevic and the people who carried out his policies. In any case, I am clear about what our (UK, Europe, my) long-term goal is - it's to get the whole of the region ready for EU membership. The only way for this to work, is to shed the zero-sum mentality.

* All Kosovo's villages, towns and cities have at least two names - in Serbian and Albanian, and sometimes also in Turkish - similar to Londonderry/Derry in Northern Ireland. The UN convention is to list both in English, putting the name used by the majority population first. We follow this convention, but it can be a bit clunky, especially in speech ("I went to Ferizaj/Urosevac the other day"), so I often mix it up - use one name first, then the other. This works in Kosovo (where everyone knows the various names), but can be confusing for outsiders at first.

Posted at 13:36 12 February 2008 by Ruairi O'Connell  |  Comments[3]