The fact that the Kosovo’s minister of police sees the Serbian officials as “illegals that need to be arrested”,and the fact that Goran Bogdanovic and Borislav Stefanovic entered Kosovo by “alternative routes”, paints an illustrative picture.
Its most important part are the people who want to stay in their homes even though they are in a crossfire, equally those who are on no man’s land on the North, and those surrounded with not so friendly neighbors in the enclaves south of river Ibar. Pristina and Belgrade are sending them mixed messages, strong enough to make them resort to roadblocks.
They are also confused by the international mediators who see things differently. Though they find the statement of the American ambassador in Belgrade Marry Warlick, that Thaci didn’t have the consent to violently take over the crossings, comforting.
The promise of the president, the Prime Minister, the Government and the Parliament of Serbia that there will be no war looks undoubtedly like treason to the Kosovo Serbs, especially when they are fueled by the local brokers who, unlike them, have a great working relationship with the neighbors. Making millions from drug, human, weapon, car and oil trades, some Serbs whose first name is patriotism and last is criminal, teach them about the sacred Serbian land that is, as it turns out, promised only to them as long as there is a war like state there.
Contrary to that, a great majority of people is living badly, in poverty and fear from the next day and night. Novi magazin team tried to get an answer to the question “Who is setting Kosovo on fire” right at the scene of taken posts and barricades, from the police and from sources which are well informed on the organized crime in Kosovo, but also in conversations with historians who are trying to break the illusions and platitudes about the century long right of the people to that land.
On the scene situation
The establishment of the firm border would undermine Serbia’s sovereignty and unable the established smuggling schemes. At the scene Ratko Femic saw firsthand the overlapping of politics, patriotism and suspicious businesses. The precise report from the field is: the attempt of the Kosovo authorities to take full control over the north part of Kosovo failed, Pristina showed just what it is ready to do, Belgrade and the Serbs from the north showed that they will not just sit and watch idly. Kfor has been on Brnjak and Jarinje for more than a week.
The blockade has been weakened, the supplies are coming, and the medicine is also expected to arrive.
Kfor has taken over the crossings after point Jarinje was burnt down in a scenario similar to the one from three years ago when, after the declaration of Kosovo’s independence, the extremists “patriotically” brought strong Kfor forces instead of the Kosovo police force made out of Serbs. The Serbian answer to the Kfor action is roadblocks.
NO PASSAGE: The summer heat, and then a sudden shower with severe thunderstorm whose blast rips the sky over the village Rudari. Next to the river Ibar tens of people cramped into a trailer of a truck, or nearby stores and taverns, cowered under eaves or parasols placed in the middle of the street, like they don’t care about the changing of the weather. They are on the watch at the barricade and they say that there are more of them, but some have hidden because of the rain.
They say they will not leave until the situation at the North of Kosovo goes back to the previous state, before the intrusion of the Kosovo special police ROSU to Jarinje and Brnjak.
There is a heap of gravel, logs and car tires on the road, which has been blocked even by a bulldozer, and a couple of meters away are some building blocks. Then a truck trailer arrives and on it, right under the Serbian flag, posters of one of the honorary citizen of Zvecan – the Russian prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
A big sign NO PASSAGE. Until now Kfor has understood it well, and the patrols just come to the barricades to see what the situation is. And the situation is that there are more and more people every day. “They will cross only over our dead bodies. We have never been more united and people have been here for 24 hours non-stop. Numerous parties, but here we are one. We have become indurate to the threats, and we have nothing to lose anymore, because everything we have is here”, says Nikica Vitorovic.
Perica Vlaskovic is one of the people who cut their summer vacation short to contribute to “the defense of the previous state”. The gathered crowd explains that it is necessary to preserve the North Kosovo, “because Serbia will then be in contact with the Serbs south of the river Ibar”. The system of informing is working impeccably, so whenever Kfor transporters pass certain places the citizens are immediately animated to come out in large numbers.
Even the barricade shifts have been appointed. You have people of all ages on the barricades. A retiree Miloje Vukovic is 73 and he is on the asphalt every day. “We must not back down. We do not wont nor do are we asking for another country, we just want what is ours. We are worried. Do you know how this ended in Croatia? I am not leaving”. At the barricades you can now more frequently hear the words “Gandhi’s fight”, even though people from this part of Kosovo showed that they are familiar with some rougher methods of fighting, even firearms.
There is fear from the complication of the situation. Even though the Prime Minister of Kosovo Hashim Thacifirst orderedthe ROSU unit to take over the two points and he pulled them back from the North just after a couple of hours, it seems like the invasion is again being prepared. A few days ago Thaci visited the Special Forces again. There are three options. The most unlikely one is preserving the status quo. The other two are bloodshed and involvement in the dialogue about Kosovo and the problem on the North of the Province.
(You can read the entire text in our printed edition)