Crowded together on the hill

[Albanian] Esat Haxhijaha: "We are building 41 houses for Serbs"
[Serb] Ljubisa Djuricic: "Fires are constantly being set in the Serbian part of Orahovac"

Orahovac: Patrolling the Serbian street

The best place to see how Serbs live today in Kosovo and Metohija is in the municipality of Orahovac in the southwest of the province. We found them crowded together in an enclave on the hill above Orahovac from where they say they do not dare venture. Their movement is limited to a radius of a few hundred meters and the downtown area, especially, is something they avoid.

From Orahovac they can be reached by the so-called Serbian street. The part of the street bordering with the Albanians has been completely torched and destroyed. Even this border zone is off limits to the Serbs.

Despite the fact that the Albanian authorities emphasize that comprehensive measures are being implemented for returns and the improvement of living conditions, many Serbs still feel unsafe. Reporters from Serbia who had an opportunity to visit a few enclaves inhabited by Serbs and other non-Albanians at the end of June upon the invitation of the Kosovo government could see for themselves that there is no freedom of movement and that there is unlikely to be anytime soon. Serbs live in a unique ghetto with security of sorts provided by members of international forces who constantly patrol the vicinity. However, only a day after our arrival unknown perpetrators in Orahovac wounded three UNMIK policemen.

Before the NATO bombing, Orahovac municipality had a population of 50,000 people, 5,000 of them Serbs. A similar number of minority Serbs stayed for a brief time after the end of the war prior to the beginning of the departure process. Now where are slightly over 1,000 members of the Serbian minority remaining and departures are continuing...

Orahovac municipality president Esat Haxhijaha said that the population of Orahovac is primarily engaged in agriculture - viniculture and vegetable growing.

"The grape has been cultivated here for two thousand years but because of the war we lost our market. In the past good and harmonious interethnic relations prevailed here. Serbs and Albanians were even close family friends. Now we want to make everything the same as it was before. That is why we have founded a special work group that later grew into a permanent committee of 17 members that will be dealing with these issues. As far as freedom of movement and returns are concerned, there has not been a lot of progress."

Haxhijaha, who speaks exceptionally good Serbian, further stated that the municipal administration will soon be starting construction of 41 houses for Serbian returnees in the nearby village of Zociste, adding that the project is being funded from the budget of the provincial government.

Ljubisa Djuricic, municipal vice president, sees the situation differently. He complained to reporters that as far as Zociste is concerned, the administration is conditioning the rebuilding of the destroyed monastery of the Unmercenary Physicians, Sts. Cosmas and Damian - on the return of Serbs to the village!

Djuricic, a member of the Return Coalition, said that at the present pace it will take "several hundred years to return the remaining 3,800 Serbs to Orahovac"! During "go-and-see" visits, explained Djuricic, it frequently happens that Serbian owners cannot visit their homes because "the usurpers will not allow it and the administration does nothing to sanction them".

Djuricic said that since the arrival of international forces in Kosovo and Metohija, 14 Serbs have been killed in Orahovac municipality. Four had died before, immediately after the departure of our army and police during a period of anarchy. Before the war 40 Serbs were kidnapped (from Orahovac municipality) and 26 more were abducted after June 10, 1999. Since then, approximately 250 Serbian homes and six churches in Orahovac have been torched, and 155 apartments have been illegally occupied, Djuricic said, informing us of the horrifying statistics.

"The message that is being sent to some Serbs from Zociste by the Albanians is not to return because they will be arrested for alleged war crimes! The Serbs in the enclaves of Kosovo and Metohija have lost their safety and their freedom of movement, their right to work and health protection. Only since the end of 2004 has short and limited movement through the territory of Orahovac municipality become possible for about ten of us but the rest of the members of the Serbian community is extremely frightened and cannot move around without serious consequences," said Djuricic. He added that after six years, members of minorities still do not have the possibility of returning to their jobs in socially-owned companies.

Our collocutor said that intimidation and terror are still not finished in Orahovac.

"Fires are constantly being set in the upper, Serbian part of Orahovac. For example, on December 20, 2004, the house of Stojan Grkovic was burned down. He had built the house in 2001, that is, after the war! Furthermore, official forms in municipal institutions are still available only in Albanian. If things stay the way they are, there will be a continuation of the departure process instead of a return by Serbs. I must point out that Serbs are constantly leaving from Orahovac and that soon none of them will remain," appealed Ljubisa Djuricic.

(Translation by sib on July 10, 2005)
Original Published by Politika, Belgrade,July 5, 2005, www.politika.co.yu