New Kosova Report

A water pipe becomes problematic in a Kosovo village

Friday, 25 July 2008

It has been three weeks and nine tries since Albanian residents of Suhadoll village, which is located in the restless northern part of Mitrovica municipality, started to construct a water pipe that would bring water to their village.

The pipeline has to pass through a small Serb populated portion of the Mitrovica municipality. And that is proving a problem, as the Serb neighbors obstruct all construction work.

Last week UN officials promised the Suhadoll villagers that they would have a solution, but it ended up being an empty promise. While the UN blocked the continuation of the work on the pipeline, unchecked constructions projects in the north by the Serb government are common.

The northern portion of the town of Mitrovica today is populated mostly by Kosovar Serbs after the ethnic cleansing of most of the Kosovar Albanians there in 1999, but its vicinity such as Suhodoll and other surrounding villages remain populated by Kosovar Albanians who still constitute the overall majority in the municipality.

After promises of UN officials to resolve the problem turned to naught, the residents of Suhadoll asked a NATO logistics battalion to assist in building the water pipe.

Large police units and NATO forces arrived in the morning yesterday at the construction site, to prevent Serbian extremists from fomenting any violence as the NATO logistics battalion would assist the Suhadoll village residents to continue building the water pipes.

As a small crowd of Serb extremists began throwing stones at the NATO soldiers and police units, the decision was taken to stop all construction work, angering Kosovar Albanian residents of Suhadoll.

The UN police headquarters reported that Kosovar Albanians of Suhadoll kept the situation under control by not falling under any provocations, believing that the NATO logistic battalion will continue the construction pipeline work. One representative of Suhadoll was quoted saying: "Not sure what these [Serb] thugs want, but if no one will help us, we will continue to build our water pipeline by ourselves. We plan to live here peacefully with all communities."

The only part of Mitrovica municipality that remains divided is the city core. This small north portion of Mitrovica municipality made up of around ten thousand Serbs, a Bosniak neighborhood and a closely guarded section of three 15 floor buildings populated by Albanian residents. UN Police and NATO forces have been reluctant to act in this area despite continuous proof of smuggling and other illicit activities and lack of freedom of movement for the Kosovar Albanian populace.

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Sebaneau said:

	... EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT: Police attack demonstrators by Stephen Schwartz, THE KOSOV@ POST 22 July, 2008 http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dc2m8p62_218gx6ggkgp
	report abuse vote down vote up

July 31, 2008
Votes: -1

Sebaneau said:

...
"In one example of Serbian aggression, there are frequent clashes in the northern Kosovo community of Suhodoll, which means, appropriately, "dry valley." Foreign aid paid for the installation of a new sewer and water system in the locality, but Serb militants began assaulting the Albanian residents with stones and gunfire, and work on the utilities was interrupted. Serbian authorities, directed from Belgrade, claim jurisdiction over any improvement to the area. The UN stands aside and allows constructive work to be impeded."
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/015/353pgsbk.asp

July 29, 2008
Votes: +0

bluerose799 said:

...
http://www.towardfreedom.com/h...8&Itemid=0
A sense of normalcy has returned to many parts of Kosovo. In the eyes of many of its inhabitants, the status of Kosovo has been settled in spite of the continued UN administration. Signs of positive change in Kosovo are obvious, yet the dilemma of inter-ethnic reconciliation remains. As the United States Institute for Peace says, "No solution for Kosovo can last without a solution for Mitrovica."

Mitrovica is Kosovo's notorious ethnically divided city. On the northern side of the Ibar river lives a majority of Serbs, on the southern side lives a majority of Albanians. The city is embroiled in what observers call a 'frozen conflict’: while inter-ethnic violence has decreased, an intractable tension persists between the Serb and Albanian populations.

The white bridge straddling the Ibar in the center of Mitrovica is reminiscent of the Berlin Wall and has come to symbolize division between ethnic groups. Rarely will you hear Albanian spoken in Northern Mitrovica, and the lone Albanian who does venture in carries fake ID and speaks English. Serbs fear traveling into the southern area, although the region has been relatively secure since 2004. While movement between the areas is not limited per se, both communities are distrustful. Ylber Kusari, a young Kosovar enrolled in a Master’s program in Balkans Studies in Toronto, points out that Northern Mitrovica is unofficially Serbian territory; Belgrade continues to support and act as the de-facto government there. On May 11th, Kosovar Serbs were invited to vote in the Serbian elections at voting booths set-up in their neighborhoods.