Serbs Abandon Homes

Monday, 21 February, 2005

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Jeta Xharra

Three days after the worst violence Kosovo has seen since UN took control in 1999, fears were growing that most of the remaining Serb enclaves had been effectively wiped out, after dozens of houses and more than 20 churches went up in flames.

The international community began deploying over 1,000 fresh troops to bolster the existing force of 17,500, which has failed to prevent what look like well-organised groups of Albanians attacking almost every place where Serbs still live in Kosovo.

The death toll has risen to 31 people, according to UNMIK, while over 600 reported injured. Serbs and Albanians are among the casualties.

The protesters also turned on international forces in the capital. Michael McClellan, of the US Office in Pristina, said,“Today, American troops were attacked by Albanian protesters - this has never been heard of before.”

While world leaders expressed shock and the UN Security Council condemned the violence as “unacceptable”, Serbia angrily protested against the international community’s apparent inability to protect Kosovo’s 100,000 remaining Serbs and called for huge, peaceful protests.

In Kosovo itself, the only Serb church in Pristina was ransacked and damaged by fire and the capital's last 200 or so Serb residents, most of whom lived in a an apartment block near the church, were evacuated from the city.

The protesters seen in and around Pristina, some wearing anti-tear gas masks, appeared more organised than either KFOR or the police, in some places stopping fire engines from approaching the places they were busy torching.

In one incident in Obilic, near Pristina, the protesters stopped a fire engine, opened the door and threatened the driver, saying, “Why go there? We're not burning your house!”

Several Serb villages were entirely abandoned by remaining local Serbs, including Obilic, Staro Gradsko and Svinjare. Nuns at an isolated medieval monastery at Devic, in northern Kosovo, were also evacuated by helicopter and the building reportedly burned.

In Lipljan, in central Kosovo, local Serb officials called on peacekeepers to ensure the peaceful evacuation of some 200 children and old people from the divided town.

Lipljan's entire Serb community spent the night in a Finnish KFOR military base, fearing their houses would be burned, as Finnish soldiers battled Albanian youths trying to attack the local Orthodox church.

Local Serbs said they had been assured that more international forces were on the way to the town.

In Caglavica, a small village near Pristina which Albanians stormed on March 17, burning down several houses, a handful of remaining Serbs stayed in doors protected by US Marines.

In Gnjilane, a curfew was imposed and local Kosovo police appeared to be guarding the church from attack.

Mitrovica remained tense and on edge after several explosions rocked one of the last areas in the Serb-held northern side of town where Albanians and Bosniaks live.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or who was responsible.

Earlier, Oliver Ivanovic, a local Serb leader, had warned of potential trouble from three blocks of flats whose Albanian residents, he said, were armed and had been shooting from balconies.

He said local Serbs had asked KFOR to move the Albanians from the buildings. “I hope KFOR will move them out of there today. Otherwise I fear that the Serbs will do that,” he said.

Mitrovica was where the first ethnic clashes started earlier this week, following the unexplained drowning of two Albanians children who were allegedly chased into the water by Serbs.

A column of 15 Italian and French APCs was seen moving north from Pristina towards Mitrovica to beef up the existing French-led international force guarding the bridge that divides the Serb and Albanian sectors of the town.

Armored vehicles sealed the bridge over the Ibar as troops put up barbed wire to prevent further Albanian attempts to break into the Serb-held northern sector. The UN was reported to have withdrawn its staff from the southern, Albanian, part of town.

Kosovo's prime minister, Bajram Rexhepi, visited the southern side and urged local Albanians there to show more confidence in KFOR's peacekeeping ability.

From the early hours of March 19, packed buses left the northern side for Serbia, taking away men, women and children who feared more violence might be on the way.

Since the UN and NATO took control of Kosovo in 1999, Mitrovica has been the principal flashpoint for ethnic violence in the region.

Ivanovic told IWPR, “The latest events show that the project of a multi-ethnic Kosovo has definitely failed.” He added that the international community was more to blame for this than the local Albanian leaders, though he hoped KFOR reinforcements would calm the situation.

In Belgrade, outraged Serbs remained glued to television and radio, following the unfolding drama in Kosovo.

Most heavily criticised the international community for its inability to protect Kosovo’s Serbs. “How is it possible thousands of KFOR soldiers cannot protect Serbian minority? The Serbs were disarmed by KFOR and now they cannot protect their lives,” one man said.

Church bells rang all over Serbia as about 10,000 gathered for a march towards the city’s main Sveti Sava church, headed by the prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica.

“The international community is condemning the violence but is not lifting a finger,” said one of the marchers.

Some analysts said the government was trying to assert control over popular demonstrations in order to channel people’s discontent positively after the torching of the city’s main mosque on the night of March 17.

In another disturbing sign that hooligans were infiltrating the protests, thugs in Novi Sad attacked the Hungarian theatre building and an area mainly inhabited by Roma. In Belgrade, the Croatian embassy also came under attack.

TV screens went black in response to the government's call for a three-minute silence in solidarity with Kosovo Serbs.

While serious papers have covered developments responsibly, some of the tabloid media have inflamed passions. One daily, Kurir, ran with the banner headline, "Slaugher of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija -SERBIA ARISE!"

Tanja Matic and Jeta Xharra are IWPR’s progamme coordinator and project manager in Pristina respectively. Dragana Nikolic Solomon is IWPR’s country director in Belgrade.