New Victims of an Old War

[one...two...tree 2,762]

by Tze Yong Ng

When Slobodan Cuckic, a 16-year-old Serb, returned to Kosovo three years after the successful end of the NATO bombing campaign, home had turned into a very different place. Many Serb houses lay in ruins, torched and looted by Albanians. Slobodan's house was spared, but one month after returning, someone rolled a grenade into his living room. Luckily for Slobodan, he was having lunch in the kitchen and escaped unhurt. It was a poignant moment for him, and reminded him why, of the 12,000 Serbs who lived in his hometown of Gjilan before the war, only 250 remain today. They etch out a tenuous co-existence with the town's majority Albanian population, virtually confined within the 100-meter radius area that is what's left of the Serbian quarter. Albanians live outside this zone, and for a Serb, venturing there means a beating on the street—if he is lucky.

The very same Albanian friends he played with four years ago now threaten him. "Go back to Serbia," they say. "This is our Kosovo." Slobodan is determined to stay, however. "This is where I was born. Where do you want me to go?" He prefers this to the life of a refugee. When he was living in Serbia, Slobodan's father, who was working in Germany, would call every night. "We would take turns talking on the phone," Slobodan said. "Everyone cried."

Sad as it is, this is the price that Slobodan has to pay for the war that ravaged Kosovo. In 1999, fierce fighting broke out between pro-independence Albanian guerilla forces and the Serb paramilitary in Kosovo, which was then a province of Yugoslavia. It marked the breaking point of a decade of repression by the Serb government on the Kosovar Albanian population. To quell the rebellion, Serbs began a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing, massacre and burning of Albanian villages. Hundreds of thousands of citizens fled, until NATO intervention brought an end to the fighting. Peace returned momentarily, but shattered again as returning Albanians began a series of savage revenge attacks on the remaining Serb population in a cruel switchover of a #######-for-tat.

Four years later, things have quieted down a little. Kosovo, with the ambiguous status of a UN protectorate, has achieved a separation from Yugoslavia, but without the formal independence of a country. The Albanians are happy for now, but the Serbs live as the newly repressed. Most of them have fled for the safety of neighboring Serbia, but many choose to remain. The United Nations Mission In Kosovo (UNMIK), which was created in the aftermath of the war, initially concentrated on peace building, civil administration and economic reconstruction. Today, the returnee issue is its new focus. It sees the return of Serb refugees as pivotal to the future of Kosovo. Mr. Marcel Cintalan, UNMIK Regional Representative of Gjilan, said, "Our ultimate goal is to rebuild a multi-ethnic society."

But UNMIK knows it is playing with fire. Serbs continue to face harassment, beatings and grenade attacks from their Albanian neighbors. To compound the problem is Kosovo's blundering economy. The unemployment rate is soaring at 45 percent and, needless to say, any available jobs aren't going to the Serbs. "We cannot guarantee the returnees paradise," Mr. Cintalan said. "A lot of returning refugees think that the UN can provide everything, including jobs. We can't. There is a lot of work to be done; the returnee process is not just about quantity."

Today, Slobodan is playing basketball in the parking lot of the Saint Nicholas Church, a Serbian Orthodox church in Gjilan. He comes here everyday. It is not as if he has other things to do or other places to go, he tells me. Since the end of the war, Serbs in Kosovo have lost their freedom of movement. Most live in small enclaves—usually villages fringing Albanian towns or areas within those towns. Without security and freedom of movement, they live an abnormal life, almost a virtual prison sentence. "Every day is boring," Slobodan says with frustration and resignation. It is a school holiday now and when he is not playing basketball at the church, Slobodan is at home sleeping or watching TV. The only excitement happens when he goes partying in a neighboring Serb enclave on Saturday nights to "find girls."

Inside the Saint Nicholas Church, Father Predrag Jokic sighs as he tells me how Sunday Services are now a quiet affair. The congregation used to number 100; now there are ten. Outside, armed American soldiers—part of the NATO peacekeeping force—man two entrances with mounted Humvees. "It's dangerous and difficult to remain in Kosovo," the 48-year-old priest says. "But I had to stay on for my people. Without the government's protection, they had no one else to turn to." Indeed, following the end of hostilities, many Serb churches were sacked by Albanians. The Saint Nicholas Church escaped destruction, but on its potholed walls, grenade attacks have left their scars. "Albanians are God's people too," Father Jokic tells me quietly. "Kosovo is big. There is enough land and sun for all to live together."

Over in Silovo, a neighboring Serb enclave, I meet Aleksandra Aleksic. It's Friday evening and like the other youth in town, the 21-year old journalist is hanging out on the main street—a dirt road that leads to the highway. Although Silovo is one of the larger enclaves, it's little more than a village. The town is tucked on the outskirts of Gjilan, and besides a school and a handful of shops, there isn't much else.

While the rest of Kosovo uses the Euro, Serbs continue to use the Serbian dinar, whether out of pragmatic or nationalistic reasons. The unemployment rate in Silovo soars at 70 percent. What's making it worse is the frustrating lack of freedom of movement that persists four years after the war. It is still dangerous for Serbs to move outside of their enclaves, so many take weekend trips to Serbia, a half-hour car ride away. "There, I am free," one Serb tells me.

Every evening in Silovo, the youth come out dressed in their finest: chic shirts, miniskirts and all. It looks like they are heading out for a night of partying, until you remember they can't really go anywhere outside the safety of their enclave. While two kilometers away in Gjilan, the cafes and clubs are swollen with people, the Serbs spend their night loitering along the dirt streets of their village, chatting quietly in groups, listlessly walking up and down. The scene is strange and sad.

"Life is not normal," Aleksandra says. "How can you live your life entirely in an area of two kilometers?" Aleksandra works at a Serbian television station in Silovo that was started a year after the war. She blames the war on politicians. "Albanians and Serbs share a similar background and mentality," she says. "We could have been good friends, but because of politics, we are divided and cannot understand one another." Despite the tensions, Aleksandra still has Albanian friends in Gjilan with whom she meets up often. Seeing my surprise, she shrugs: "Sometimes, friendship is more powerful than politics. True friendship, that is."

But for all her idealism, Aleksandra is a rare exception. For almost everyone else, Albanian or Serb, the war has torn apart their lives and everything in them—family, friendships and self-identity—instead superimposing a simplistic and polarizing view of "us" versus "them." Vukman Manic used to have some good friends who were Albanian. "Now, I don't speak to them. They want to kill me," he says.

The 13 year-old student in an all-Serb school in Silovo was nervous talking about the war. "I don't know why the Albanians hate us," he says. He calls the Kosovo Liberation Army—the pro-independence Albanian guerilla group—a "terrorist" group. He does this in a casual manner, the way people refer to Al Qaeda. Yet everywhere in Kosovo, elegant black marble tombs, perpetually surrounded by wreaths of fresh flowers, are symbols of the debt Albanians feel toward KLA soldiers. To every Albanian, the KLA paved the way for their freedom and existence today.

Four years later, memories of those who died in the fighting remain painful. "So many people have died," Slobodan says. "Albanians and Serbs can never live together again." Any political compromise is a potential insult to those who paid the ultimate price for their cause. Indeed, ethnic violence continues to be a very real threat to everyday life. In August, a group of Serb teenagers were swimming in a river in another city and were attacked by a mysterious gunman. Protests erupted in Serbian enclaves all over Kosovo.

For the UN and the many non-governmental organizations working in Kosovo, it was a major setback and another speed bump on the long road to peace. "You can never forget the memories of war," Aleksandra says. "The hatred will always be somewhere in your soul. If someone kills your sister, how can you forget that?" Like in all wars, there are two sides and victors neither. But often, lying just beneath the surface, there is hope: sometimes hidden inside anger or disguised as cynicism. As Aleksandra prepares to leave, she pauses and tells me, "You can't hate all Albanians because of some. Slowly, step by step, you have to learn to forgive. If you can't forgive, you cannot live."

Originally from Singapore, Tze Yong Ng is studying at Brown University with a concentration in International Relations. He spent the summer of 2003 volunteering in Kosovo.

http://www.glimpseabroad.org/Serbs-in-Today's-Kosovo

[Shpat_Argjira 0]

Edited August 14, 2008 by Shpat

[one...two...tree 2,762]

At some point there has to be a moving forward for lasting peace.

[Shpat_Argjira 0]

At some point there has to be a moving forward for lasting peace.

Dude Serbs hate us man dont be fooled by this 16 year old c1unt.

Edited August 14, 2008 by Shpat

[Shpat_Argjira 0]

Check youtube videos, if they want to live in Kosova they've got to obey our laws. The same way we couldnt do sh1it when Miloshevich was the president of Serbia.

Firing our parents from jobs, taking our schools...thats the future right there, they never wanted us to move forward with our lives.

So with that said...if some of them live in our country we've gotta beat the sh1it out of them everyday.

Edited August 14, 2008 by Shpat

[merijan 0]

At some point there has to be a moving forward for lasting peace.

Its very easy to say this when you have never seen the masacre of your family and friends , when your whole entire country is turned upside down, when you find yourself a refugee at the mercy of other nations . Perhaps its very hard to understand unless your in that situation. And as Americans we never experienced that untill 9-11 wich was nothing compared to the suffering of people in the raveges of war, or Occupation.

And after 9-11 how many Americans hated Arabs, Afghani's, Paki's, etc.??? Because they were told this is who is responsible . Yet we all lived our lifes, had our homes and in all we are not suffering still. We have no idea what Shpat has been through, we cant imagine. Even when he tells us we dont realize it.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

At some point there has to be a moving forward for lasting peace.

Its very easy to say this when you have never seen the masacre of your family and friends , when your whole entire country is turned upside down, when you find yourself a refugee at the mercy of other nations . Perhaps its very hard to understand unless your in that situation. And as Americans we never experienced that untill 9-11 wich was nothing compared to the suffering of people in the raveges of war, or Occupation.

And after 9-11 how many Americans hated Arabs, Afghani's, Paki's, etc.??? Because they were told this is who is responsible . Yet we all lived our lifes, had our homes and in all we are not suffering still. We have no idea what Shpat has been through, we cant imagine. Even when he tells us we dont realize it.

I understand the sentiment and the anger, even some of the hatred. What I don't understand is why continue to turn that into being militant about it? When does avengement stop? When do people finally say enough is enough? Obviously it's not an easy thing for many to do, but history has shown that we can and we must move forward and not let hatred dictate our behavior.

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

One of the first arguments we're taught in Political Science is human nature is violent and brutal and that is a cause for war. However, it's not a very good argument because we can ask why it doesn't apply to all cases.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

One of the first arguments we're taught in Political Science is human nature is violent and brutal and that is a cause for war. However, it's not a very good argument because we can ask why it doesn't apply to all cases.

I don't understand the 'eye for an eye' mentality. You killed my brother, so I kill your mother...now your father wants vengence and he kills my son...and on and on and on. Exacting vengence never works so neatly because there'll never be a repayment. I thought that humanity had made progress in reason to recognize the shortcomings of that philosophy.

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

One of the first arguments we're taught in Political Science is human nature is violent and brutal and that is a cause for war. However, it's not a very good argument because we can ask why it doesn't apply to all cases.

I don't understand the 'eye for an eye' mentality. You killed my brother, so I kill your mother...now your father wants vengence and he kills my son...and on and on and on. Exacting vengence never works so neatly because there'll never be a repayment. I thought that humanity had made progress in reason to recognize the shortcomings of that philosophy.

Some portions of humanity have. War world wide has been shown to be on the decline in the last 500 years.

[alienlovechild 75]

Video of the masked guys slashing throats in front of the Albanian flag is a joke, right?

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Video of the masked guys slashing throats in front of the Albanian flag is a joke, right?

It's hard to say. He really hates Serbs.

[Teacher Mark 53]

Video of the masked guys slashing throats in front of the Albanian flag is a joke, right?

Well I'm certainly impressed.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I seriously think that this kind of murder-fantasy stuff has no place on family immigration site - for... obvious reasons.

As I said before I totally get the resentment, but when it manifests in racist diatribes and vague threats of violence I think there's some very poor judgement on display.

One of the first arguments we're taught in Political Science is human nature is violent and brutal and that is a cause for war. However, it's not a very good argument because we can ask why it doesn't apply to all cases.

I don't understand the 'eye for an eye' mentality. You killed my brother, so I kill your mother...now your father wants vengence and he kills my son...and on and on and on. Exacting vengence never works so neatly because there'll never be a repayment. I thought that humanity had made progress in reason to recognize the shortcomings of that philosophy.

Some portions of humanity have. War world wide has been shown to be on the decline in the last 500 years.

Modern judicial systems also did away with the idea that someone can be held personally criminally responsible for the actions of their relatives or ancestors.

[Yiyi and Chris 0]

I definetly that's not a topic to be discussed at an immigran site... Not even for an Off Topic Forum... Shpat is "unique", he has recentfull for almost everything that is alive...

Not all Serbs "are evil", like not all Afganistan's are terrorist... WAR IS OVER (at least in Kosovo) Get over it