April 25, 2000
Kosovska Mitrovica, Yugoslavia - A Serb leader in Kosovo is planning the first return of Serb refugees, testing a U.N. commitment to a safe life for all in the province.
Most of Kosovo's estimated 200,000 minority Serbs fled the Yugoslav province last year when ethnic Albanians went on a spree of post-war reprisals that tens of thousands of arriving peacekeepers failed to stop.
The KFOR peace force lacked the manpower to guard every Serb neighbourhood and donor nations have fallen short on pledges of police for the U.N. administration (UNMIK). Serbs felt betrayed by the breakdown of the U.N.'s security mandate.
Oliver Ivanovic, a prominent Kosovo Serb political leader, said he was now organising the return of an initial 1,000-1,500 Serbs to the province and he was counting on the support of KFOR, UNMIK and the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR. In an interview, he said Serbs in the pilot scheme would seek to resettle a depopulated valley between the towns of Klina and Istok in northwest Kosovo, starting in June.
"We have to (first) get insurance from KFOR that everything will be safe," Ivanovic, speaking in English, told Reuters in the divided city of Mitrovica. "We will need supplies. The Albanians cut the water, electrical, telephone supplies in the area. They have to be repaired by KFOR before we send in the first group," he said.
"If they do that and secure the area, it's enough for the start. It will be the first organised return of Serb to Kosovo," said Ivanovic, local head of the Kosovo Serb National Council. He said the relevant international organisations had "agreed in principle" to support his initiative. Meetings were being arranged to sort out the details. Serb refugees from the Istok-Klina area were depressed by their wretched living conditions in impoverished Serbia and were anxious to come home, Ivanovic added.
UN Cautions Against Large Serb Return
But Dennis McNamara, special UNHCR envoy in Kosovo, warned that security conditions in the Yugoslav province remained too shaky to permit any large-scale return of Serbs.
Ethnic Albanian leaders in the Klina-Istok region seemed willing in principle to allow Serbs to return but believed two to four years were needed for explosive hatred to subside. And they wanted an unprecedented Serb apology for past atrocities.
"For (Serb returns) to work a few basics must be in place first, starting with a safe reception in the target area. It's more than physical security, it's also freedom of movement and access to public services," McNamara told Reuters. "At the moment we are still busy protecting Serb enclaves to ensure they can survive," he said.
"We have some way to go on stabilising and integrating the existing enclaves before we start creating new areas of return, especially if they are isolated and must be permanently guarded by KFOR, which would be the case with Ivanovic's proposal. "Unless we build confidence between communities first, do this step by step, any organised return could cause a backlash."
No Pre-Return Dialogue
Ivanovic said ethnic Albanians had no cause to oppose the project because the selected valley was "totally empty." But he had no intention to include Kosovo Albanian leaders in talks to coordinate the return.
"Albanians never consulted us in returning their people (after the war). They just want Kosovo to be without Serbs. It's very clear," said Ivanovic, a 43-year-old father of three who is an engineer by trade. "I think it's the responsibility of KFOR and UNMIK to explain to Albanians that this (mono-ethnic Kosovo) cannot be allowed."
McNamara said he planned to visit Ivanovic's designated valley on Wednesday to canvass local Albanian opinion. UNHCR staff were also meeting Kosovo Serb refugees in Serbia proper to ensure they really wanted to come back soon. "We hear a lot of statements from political actors on this, we need to hear out the people themselves," he said.
Ivanovic denied his return plan was a political manoeuvre hatched in Belgrade to burden UNMIK and KFOR with an impossible task as part of an agenda to discredit their mission. "We have had bad leadership. The (Belgrade) government had 10 years to solve problems peacefully with Albanians. No one in Kosovo can win by force. Co-existence, economic integration, is the only way forward. This is the 21st century."
