Movement for Self-Determination!

The special zones around Orthodox churches have been defined and established, and the EU mission is already taking decisions that affect the lives of the people of Kosova.

Rudesh is a small village in the municipality of Istog. Before the war, about 73 families lived there. The majority were Roma, and a few families were Egyptian, Since 1999 these families have been displaced in Camp Konik, in terrible conditions, in Montenegro. The municipality has been trying to arrange the return of 27 Roma families who have stated that they will only return to their former homes in Rudesh, but the plan has been blocked because the village is now incorporated with the Special Zone around the monastery of Gorioc. As many of the Roma homes in Rudesh were informal residences, without property titles, the municipality proposed a land swap with AKM, which owns a piece of land by the village of Rudesh. The municipality offered AKM 26 hectares of municipal land outside of the zone, in return for this area in the village. UNMIK has blocked the swap because Rudesh is within the Special Zone around the monastery, even though the Ahtisaari Plan has not been formally accepted as part of the conclusions to the negotiations process.

In a letter dated October 16^th to the Head of the OSCE, Guildman, the SRSG states, “While I am in agreement that the returnee site will contribute to achieving the goal of a multi-ethnic society in Kosovo, it is important to ensure, in close coordination with the PISG, that unauthorized constructions do not take place inside the proposed protected zones throughout Kosovo. In this context it should be noted that the PISG has recently issued Administrative Instruction (AI) 11/2007 suspending all construction activities in the proposed protected zones. Please be informed that UNMIK in cooperation with the other interested actors including the International Civilian Office is currently looking into possible solutions that would enable the construction of the returnee site without unduly affecting the proposed protected zone in question.” This letter is copied to Jonas Jonsson, Head of ICO.

The blocking of this small returns project reveals a number of very interesting facts. First, it shows that the special zones, defined as part of the compromise suggested in the Ahtisaari Plan, are already being established and implemented. Second, it shows that the solution to this problem is being dealt with not by the municipality, not by the OSCE or UNMIK, but by the ICO, which has absolutely no legal authority to deal with this issue. And third, it shows that the goals of ‘multi-ethnicity’ and integration, which are touted as the standard by which Kosova is being judged as ‘mature’ enough to be independent, are being blocked precisely by a Plan which proclaims to have ‘multi-ethnicity’ as its goal. This right of these Roma families to return to their homes is being obstructed by a Plan which has at its heart the division of society within Kosova and not its integration. Furthermore, should the head of the municipality decide to defend the rights of the Roma in Rudesh, he may find himself facing sanctions imposed by the International Civilian Representative who, according to the Ahtisaari Plan, has the right to remove from office public officials who oppose the principles of the Plan. Thus, the head of the municipality, an elected official defending the people who he represents, may find himself removed from office by an unelected and undemocratic institution, because he was defending the principle of ‘sustainable return’ and multi-ethnicity’!

Silently and slowly, the Ahtisaari Plan is being implemented, beyond the gaze of the public, although there has been no final agreement to Kosova’s status, and no official acceptance of this Plan as part of that Agreement. This ‘painful compromise’ as it was described by the Kosova negotiation team, which will divide Kosova into ethnic entities and provides for its continuing governance by an International Mission, is being implemented without anything given in return. Not even the promise of sovereignty in fifty years time. It is being implemented without any transparency or accountability to the people of Kosova, who have been excluded from the entire process as an irrelevance. This reflects what we know of how UNMIK operates, and indicates what Kosova can expect of a new EU mission.

The plight of Rudesh sends a bleak message about the future of Kosova. Today it is just 27 families, one village and one municipality who are affected. But tomorrow, it will be every family and every municipality in Kosova that faces a similar crisis.

By: Alexandra Channer in Prishtina.

Alexandra is human rights and Vetevendosje activist in Kosovo. 

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