[ALBSA-Info] FW BPT-K Monthly Report No. 15, June 2000

[Mimoza Meholli]

>==============================================================
>This is the mailing list "BPT-Reports-Kosovo-a"
>It is a distribution mailing list for the BPT public reports.
>==============================================================
>Balkan Peace Team-Kosovo/a
>Monthly Report No. 15
>
>June 2000
>
>
>Balkan Peace Team in Kosovo/a
>Rruga Nëna Tereze 72-A/9 or Vidovdanska 72-A/9
>Prishtina, Kosovo
>Tel/Fax: ++381-38-42 708
>E-mail: BPT-K at BalkanPeaceTeam.org
>
>*******
>
>International BPT Office
>Ringstr 9a, D-32427 Minden, Germany
>Tel: ++49-571-20776
>Email: BPT at BalkanPeaceTeam.org
>
>*******
>
>If you wish to use or require clarification of any of the information
>included below, please contact the Balkan Peace Team at the above address.
>Please forward this report to anyone you think may be interested.
>
>*******
>
>CONTENTS
>
>I. WORK OF THE TEAM
>1. BPT Coordinating Committee Meeting
>2. Observation of Kosovar Women's Meetings
>3. Campagna Kossovo per la Non-violenza e la Riconciliazone
>4. Dragash/s update
>
>II.  KOSOVO/A POLITICAL UPDATE
>1. Returnees
>2. PPDK General Assembly
>3. Preshevo Valley
>4. Civil registration
>5. Assassination of Ekrem Rexha
>6. Mass trial in Serbia
>
>
>I.  WORK OF THE TEAM
>
>1.  BPT Coordinating Committee Meeting
>
>The quarterly meeting of the Balkan Peace Team's Coordinating Committee
>(CC) was held in Prishtina from 5 May through 7 May.  The meeting provided
>an opportunity for team members to update CC members on the work in
>Kosovo/a and to plan future strategies.
>
>A major decision was taken by the CC to cancel the "Stories of Survival"
>project.  The decision followed a recommendation by the team that the
>project, as it was originally conceived, was no longer appropriate for the
>changing environment within Kosovo/a.  The team had consulted with several
>local activists during the month of April to reassess the need of local
>communities to have their stories heard and recorded.  These contacts
>suggested that local communities' willingness to revisit potentially
>traumatic experiences at this stage is limited. This was particularly true,
>they felt, when the request came from internationals, who as a group are
>widely perceived to have failed to deliver justice since their arrival to
>Kosovo/a.  While the CC agreed to cancel the "Stories of Survival" project,
>there was general recognition of the importance of issues of collective
>memory in post-war Kosovo/a. The CC encouraged a new project addressing
>collective memory in the future.
>
>2.  Observation of Kosovar Women's Meetings
>
>The team observed two meetings in May that proposed to engage local women
>in public dialogue on their future role in Kosovo/a.  On 13 May, the Gender
>Task Force of the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and the Prizren
>office of the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) jointly sponsored a meeting on
>"Gender, Governance and Leadership in Kosovo."   The Prizren event gathered
>approximately 150 participants, including both local and international men
>and women, from around Kosovo/a.  Participants included representatives of
>local women's groups and organisations, women politicians, businesswomen,
>representatives of Municipal Boards and Councils, and members of the
>academic community.
>
>Nina Lahoud of the Office of the Special Representative to the Secretary
>General (SRSG) gave the opening remarks, focusing on the initiatives
>undertaken by the SRSG, Dr. Bernard Kouchner, to address issues of gender
>perspective and balance and to increase the representation of women in
>Kosovo/a institutions.  These remarks, delivered to an audience anxious for
>the opportunity to express their own views on the representation of women
>in Kosovo/a, were followed briefly by panel presentations from Ms. Elheme
>Hetemi, president of the "Progressive Women" organisation within the PPDK;
>Ms. Pakize Kiseri, Director of Education and member of the Administrative
>Board of Prizren; and Mr. Ross Reid, a representative of the National
>Democratic Institute.  Both Ms. Hetemi and Ms. Kiseri pointed out some of
>the current obstacles challenging Kosovar women's involvement in positions
>of leadership.  Ms. Kiseri identified the prevalence of gender
>discrimination and a lack of childcare and support services as major
>hurdles.
>
>These panel presentations were followed by a brief "question and answer"
>session intended to involve the attendees in public discussion of issues of
>concern to them.  However, time constraints severely limited this
>discussion and many local participants expressed dissatisfaction with the
>meeting's format, claiming it did not allow for a genuine exchange of views
>on the important issues being raised.  As a result, a follow-up meeting was
>scheduled for 27 May.
>
>On 27 May, the Office of the SRSG sponsored this second meeting, focusing
>on "Women in Elections and the Peace Process in Kosovo."  At this meeting,
>UNMIK representatives called upon "distinguished" members of the Kosovo/a
>women's community to come forward and share their concerns.  The need for a
>genuine, "democratic debate" was again a primary concern for the local
>women present.  In fact, many of the well-known activists who were called
>upon to speak defied the agenda created by the SRSG's office; they made a
>point to turn their time over to the local women present who do not often
>have the opportunity to share their views in such a forum.
>
>3. Training workshop in conflict transformation and reconciliation
>
>  From 26 May to 28, May team member Kajsa Svensson participated as a
>trainer in the first of three workshops for future local trainers in
>conflict transformation and reconciliation.  The workshop was organised
>jointly by Campagna Kossovo per la Non-Violenza e la Riconciliazione and
>the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).  Local
>OSCE employees and representatives of local organisations, including one
>Serb and one Turk, were participants in the workshop.  Kajsa contributed
>her theatre skills to the skills of co-trainers Pat Patfoort and Professor
>Alberto L'Abate.  Two more workshops will take place in June for this group
>of participants.
>
>* Note: The Monthly Report for April reported erroneously that Kossovo per
>la Non-Violenza e la Riconciliazione was jointly organising this series of
>training workshops with the UN Mission in Kosovo.  Please note that these
>workshops are being jointly conducted with the Organisation for Security
>and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), not with UNMIK.
>
>4.  Dragash/s Update
>
>Members of the team attended the Dragash/s secondary school's 30th
>anniversary celebration on 11 and 12 May.  The celebration had been greatly
>anticipated during March and April by the school administration. It held
>particular significance since the school, opened in 1969, actually marked
>its thirtieth year last spring during the war.
>
>In an opening presentation, Feyzullah Trinjaku, the school's principal,
>proudly reminded attendees of the school's multiethnic character. (Gorani,
>who are Slavic Muslims, also attend the school) He pointed out the fact
>that the Dragash/s secondary school is the only school in Kosovo/a
>currently conducting classes in both the Albanian and Serbo-Croatian
>languages.  However, most of the presentations and performances that
>followed were celebrations of Albanian culture and achievements in
>reopening the school after last year's war.  In one of the very few
>performances by Goran students, a young Goran woman was loudly heckled and
>"booed" by the Albanian audience.  Overall, the celebration made clear that
>the school is still struggling to accomplish the truly multiethnic and
>neutral environment the administration speaks of.
>
>Throughout the month of May, the team continued with its course of English
>language classes for Goran and Albanian students in the secondary school
>and for a mixed group of teachers from the school.  This first round of
>classes ended on 31 May with exams, evaluations, certificates, and a
>"graduation" party for all.
>
>The team continued its efforts this month to have a space for the youth
>centre donated by the municipality of Dragash/s. As that proceeded,  the
>language classes provided us with an opportunity to build trust within both
>communities as well as to develop individual relationships with students
>and teachers alike.
>
>As part of our closing "ceremonies" with the two groups of students, the
>team discussed the concept behind the youth centre project. We explained
>that the centre will be developed with their input and guidance and that it
>will be a space that is open to both Goran and Albanian youth.  It was
>difficult to assess what impact this information had upon the students, as
>no one registered a reaction.
>
>As it happened, the team's final session with the Goran and Albanian
>students coincided with the last day of classes for those students who were
>graduating from the secondary school.  The team's sessions with these
>students are separate.  We meet with the Goran students first and shortly
>thereafter we have our session with the Albanian students.  One could not
>help but notice very different perspectives among the graduating students
>in our classes, regarding their future prospects.  In the Goran class, for
>example, there was a young man who said that he was happy he was graduating
>because it meant that he no longer had to do homework.  However, he then
>stated that he was unhappy because he no longer had any freedom in post-war
>Kosovo/a.  As a Goran, this young man can not attend the University of
>Prishtina because of issues of physical safety. This is a situation quite
>unlike that of his Albanian peers who, when they entered our classroom on
>their final day of classes, were dressed in their best clothing, had just
>attending a special dance held to celebrate their scholastic achievement,
>and discussed with eagerness their plans for university study.  The
>Albanian graduates were, in a word, hopeful - a feeling that was not shared
>by their Goran counterparts.
>
>
>II.  KOSOVO/A POLITICAL UPDATE
>
>1.  Returnees
>
>In a plan brokered by United Nations Mission in Kosovo this month, the
>three Kosovo/a Albanian political leaders on UNMIK's Joint Interim
>Administrative Council (Ibrahim Rugova, Hashim Thaci and Rexhep Qosja),
>agreed to a series of meetings with representatives of the territory's
>Roma, Ashkalija and Egyptian communities.  These meetings will be held to
>begin the process of building trust between the groups, so that the return
>can be facilitated of an estimated 30,000 members of the Roma, Ashkalija
>and Egyptian communities to their homes.
>
>What seems to be an important step forward in mending broken relations
>between these various minority groups and the Albanian majority has been
>taken. Leaders of the Roma, Ashkalija and Egyptian communities have
>recognised that some of the members of their respective groups had
>perpetrated crimes against humanity during last year's war.  In return,
>Rugova, Thaci and Qosja rejected the notion that the entirety of these
>communities should be held collectively responsible for the crimes
>committed by a few.  However, both Thaci and Qosja refused to participate
>in a planned visit to a Roma community in Ferizaj/Urosevac with the heads
>of UNMIK and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). They did this
>after they learned that Rugova would not be returning from a holiday abroad
>for the occasion. This then forced a postponement of the event.
>
>The issue of Serb return is also a topic also being discussed in
>Kosovo/a.  However, the idea of a large-scale return of Serbs to the
>province is a far more emotional issue than that of Roma return.  A five
>million dollar reconstruction project due to be funded by the government of
>the United States will rebuild the razed Serb village of Osojane in western
>Kosovo/a.  Dennis McNamara, the UNHCR special envoy to Kosovo/a, has warned
>that the time for Serb return to the territory is not yet ripe. He said
>that before any such return project gets underway, outreach to neighbouring
>Albanian villages must be conducted as a preparatory measure.  At this
>time, however, no such plans are under discussion.
>
>Another issue of concern in the territory is that of the anticipated forced
>return of thousands of Kosovo/a Albanians from western European countries
>this summer.  Virtually all European countries, which had granted temporary
>protection to Albanians from the province during last year's conflict, are
>phasing out this special status. They are using both enticements and
>coercion to return these individuals to Kosovo/a.  The number of Albanian
>returnees from western Europe, according to the UNHCR, is expected to reach
>100.000.  In fact, large-scale return has already begun.  From Germany
>alone, for example, there were between three and five flights of Albanian
>returnees per week into Prishtina airport during May.
>
>The UNHCR and UNMIK are calling for western European countries, which are
>hosting large numbers of Kosovo/a Albanians, to co-ordinate their return
>efforts so that the impact upon the social services and administrative
>structures of the province can be minimised.  However, the numbers of
>returnees to some regions are already beginning to cause "secondary
>displacement."  Albanians who have been temporarily residing in the homes
>of their compatriots living abroad are being displaced by these returnees,
>thereby straining both the limited local services and the operations of
>international humanitarian relief operations, which are in the process of
>cutting back
>
>2.  PPDK General Assembly
>
>Kosovo/a's first post-war political party conference was held this month in
>Prishtina. The Democratic Progress Party of Kosovo or PPDK (is the
>political party formed last October by Hashim Thaci and other former
>members of the disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army. Several hundred members
>met for a weekend conference, during which a 61-member steering committee
>was elected.  Also during the general assembly, the name of the PPDK was
>changed officially to the PDK - the Democratic Party of Kosovo.  The
>apparent reason for the change in name was an internal dispute over whether
>the Albanian word being used to signify "progress" in the party's name, was
>actually a word of Albanian origins.
>
>3.  Preshevo Valley
>
>Preshevo Valley lies inside Serbia proper along Kosovo/a's eastern boundary
>and is home to more than 70,000 Albanians.  The Serbian police and the
>Liberation Army of Preshevo, Medvegje and Bujanoc (known by its Albanian
>acronym of UCPMB), are reported to have clashed repeatedly throughout the
>latter half of May.  The UNHCR received reports that some 200 Serbian
>police had taken up positions in an Albanian village in the valley,
>resulting in the exodus of virtually the entire village population.  Many
>of these individuals made their way into Kosovo/a and will be sheltered
>with host families in the Gjilan/Gnilane area.
>
>4.  Civil Registration
>
>The civil registration process that began in April under the auspices of
>UNMIK and the OSCE continues.  This process is being conducted in order to
>identify the resident population of Kosovo/a and to create a list of
>individuals eligible to participate in municipal elections in autumn
>2000.  All registration centres are operational and the OSCE is reported to
>be pleased with the turnout.  Dome 300,000 Kosovars have been registered to
>date. The Serb population in the territory continues to boycott the civil
>registration process; only a few thousand of the 120,000 Serbs in residence
>in the territory have registered.  Most minority communities, however, are
>now participating.  For example, after what appeared to be an slow start,
>most of the residents in the Goran villages of Dragash/s municipality are
>reported to be registering themselves with the OSCE.
>
>5.  Assassination of Ekrem Rexha
>
>On 9 May, Ekrem Rexha, a former commander in the UCK (Kosovo Liberation
>Army), was gunned down in front of his home in Prizren.  Rexha, known as
>Commander Drini during his time with the UCK, was one of the first to shed
>his uniform and enter the Kosovo/a political scene when fighting ended last
>June.  He was widely regarded to hold relatively "moderate" political
>views.  While it is still unclear if his murder was politically motivated,
>power struggles within the Albanian community in Kosovo/a remain rife.
>
>6. Mass trial in Serbia
>
>In a mass trial on 22 May, a Serb court in Nis found 143 ethnic Albanians
>guilty of terrorism against the Serbian state.  The defendants had been
>accused of participating in a Gjakova/Djakovica based unit of the UCK
>during the spring of 1999.  The mass trial and conviction devastated many
>family members and loved ones of the indicted and resulted in large
>demonstrations across Kosovo/a - especially in Gjakova/Djakovica.
>
>The judicial proceedings were monitored by both international and local
>organisations working in Kosovo/a and Belgrade, including the peace and
>human rights group, Grupa 484, in Belgrade.  Amnesty International has
>called the proceedings "bluntly unfair," citing a failure to protect
>individual rights and, instead, applying collective guilt to the group of
>defendants.
>
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