The issue of national identity is taken seriously by Balkan people – including the least serious among them.
Returning to the Front Line
Pristina | 25 December 2009 | Petrit Collaku
But some of those who have moved back into their homes, following government-funded reconstruction, feel let down and part of a political game.
Quiet has again descended on the controversial neighbourhood of Kroi i Vitakut/Brdjani.
The small village outside of Mitrovica was rarely out of the spotlight this summer as large and sometimes violent protests were held by local Serbs, angry at attempts to reconstruct Kosovo Albanian homes.
At the time, the area, which is to the north of the river Ibar, seen as the dividing line between Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo, was swarming with KFOR troops and EULEX police officers.
Today, almost unnoticed, the Kosovo Albanians at the centre of the controversy have moved back into their Government funded homes and are attempting to get on with their lives.
And trucks and concrete mixers have replaced tanks and armored vehicles, as the reconstruction of homes continues apace.
One of the families to have returned is the Rama’s – Habib, 62, and his wife Dinore, 55. They moved back into the home that they left during the 1999 conflict this autumn.
“I have changed 12 houses in Mitrovica before this,” Habib told Balkan Insight.
“It’s not easy to move with nine family members from one place to another. We were walking with blankets on our backs.”
The house has a new façade, and some work has been carried out inside, allowing the couple to live in a sitting room.
But the rest of the house remains out of bounds, waiting for the family to invest their own money.
Habib said that there are many things missing from the renovation of the house. “I am happy to be back at my home but we cannot live like this,” He said. “I have already spent 3,500 euro to renovate some things in the home.”
Dinore hopes to furnish another room soon and she hopes that next year the family will be reunited again. “I also hope that my son will get married,” Dinore added.
The couple believes that the house is not ready yet for the return of the seven other family members. They continue to live in Mitrovica town.
Mitrovica municipality is in charge of the project. Rasim Veseli, it’s director urbanism, told Balkan Insight the project only includes the reconstruction of the house
“We build the house and renovate the first floor. For the rest, it’s up to the family to invest,” he added.
Habib said that he made many attempts before 2009 to reconstruct his house but he was stopped by KFOR.
“Many times, I was handcuffed by KFOR. They did not allow me to be here,” said Habib. But today, Habib continues to hope that his home will be complete and he will live normally.
He said that the situation is calm but he cannot relax because of the constantly changing situation in Kosovo’s volatile north.
“For the time being, the situation is good, unless they[the Serbs] are making a plan. They are quiet and this is not good,” he said. “But we are used to that and we don’t care. We don’t have elsewhere to go anyway,” he added.
Habib remains feels that the reconstruction effort in Kroi i Vitakut was more a political move than for his, and other resident’s, benefit.
“I think that the houses are made only for political reasons,” stressed Habib. “Where were we before 2009? We have lived poorly and badly and we continue to live like that.”
He claims that Kosovo’s government could do more for those families. “For many years we’ve been non-citizens of Kosovo. The government was not interested in us. Our issue only came under consideration just in 2009,” Habib said.
Habib works for the public company Pastrimi and earns 135 euro a month.
He said that he is diabetic and that the hard economic situation has worsened his health. “When I see my children working as bag carriers, my heart weeps,” said Habib, trying to hide the tears.
Habib watches from the window the reconstruction of the new apartments in which many Serb families will be accommodated soon. He blames Albanians for selling their properties to the Serbs.
Today, Kroi i Vitakut is labeled a multiethnic neighborhood. Balkan Insight asked Habib if Albanians and Serbs could live together, he said: “We will be forced to live together. We have nowhere else to go. Don’t ask me about politics.”
Memli Krasniqi, government’s spokesperson, told Balkan Insight that the return of Kosovo Albanians to Kroi i Vitakut has broken a psychological barrier.
He said: “One of Kosovo government’s priorities is returning people to their homes.
“Kosovo’s government has broken the psychological barrier in this neighborhood which existed since 1999.”
