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Kosovo Serbs Fear Democrat ‘Traitors’ Will Sell Them Out

By Nikola Krstic in Strpce

03 10 2008 Serbia’s diplomatic offensive over Kosovo cuts no ice with Kosovo Serbs, most of whom regard new centrist government with horror.

Nenad Rakic, an art teacher in the northern, Serb-run, half of Mitrovica, in Kosovo, is too angry to follow the news. Now he avoids reading newspapers and watching television, so as not to upset himself.

“From now on I’m only following sports and reading cartoons,” he says. “I am too young to go insane.”

The object of Rakic’s anger is Serbia’s new centrist government, loyal to President Boris Tadic. Although it has scored diplomatic successes over Kosovo in the world, mostly recently at the UN, the Serb minority in Kosovo follows Belgrade’s actions with suspicion, fear and anger.

Mostly die-hard supporters of the nationalist right, they see the ruling pro-European coalition as little better than a band of traitors.

Whatever Belgrade does on their behalf – such as seeking the World Court’s opinion on Kosovo’s independence – they feel convinced the government will sell them out in the end, trading membership of the European Union for Serbia’s claim to its southern province.

What has angered them lately is the government’s decision to reinstate Serbian ambassadors to EU countries that have recognized Kosovo’s independence.

A decision to remove discussion on government policy towards Kosovo from the agenda of the first session of parliament has also sparked protest. “I see that as a direct attack against us,” a Kosovo Serb taxi driver from Strpce, southern Kosovo, said.

Kosovo Serbs also view the staff appointed by the government to head the ministry for Kosovo with deep misgivings. Few have confidence in appointees of the fervently pro-EU Democratic Party, which in the past has taken a more conciliatory approach to Kosovo’s Albanian-run institutions.

Since the withdrawal of the Serbian army in 1999, Kosovo has been administered by the UN. But on February 17, the government in Pristina proclaimed its independence, a decision since recognized by most EU countries and – even more crucially – by the US.

Kosovo Serbs remain wholly unreconciled. In Serbian parliamentary and local elections on May 11, they voted overwhelmingly for the nationalist Serbian Radical Party and the Democratic Party of Serbia.

But in Serbia proper, the nationalists went down to a narrow defeat at the elections, and a new government was formed around the Democratic Party and the Socialists.

The new government has tried to keep Kosovo Serbs on side. Reiterating that Belgrade is not giving up its claim to Kosovo, it has launched an intensive diplomatic offensive aimed at halting recognition of Kosovo as an independent state.

On September 17, Belgrade’s efforts bore fruit when the UN General Committee backed Serbia’s request for the General Assembly to vote on a resolution seeking an opinion from the International Court of Justice, ICJ, on Kosovo’s independence.

At the same time, Belgrade has assured Kosovo Serbs that closer integration with the European Union will not come at the price of conceding recognition of Kosovo’s independence.

But the majority of Kosovo Serbs do not take these assurances seriously and remain embittered over the return of Serbian diplomats to EU capitals.

Bojan Nakalamic, deputy mayor of Orahovac, told Balkan Insight he had no faith in the ICJ action. “This initiative is only an advertisement and a marketing ploy of the new government,” he said. “If the government really wanted to do something, it would sue the countries that have recognized Kosovo.

“It’s as if they have given up on us,” he added. “It’s as if we are a burden to the newly-formed pro-European Serbian government.”

Zvonko Mihajlovic, Radical Party mayor of Strpce, home to 10,000 Serbs, agreed. “Reinstating the ambassadors and removing the resolution on Kosovo from the parliamentary agenda sends a bad signal to Kosovo Serbs,” he said.

“It shows the government has no strategy for resolving the Kosovo issue. Such moves only deepen suspicions over its good intentions.”

While officials say the discussion on Kosovo was removed from the agenda with a view to reaching a broader consensus in parliament on the matter, Radical supporters are unconvinced.

To counter their suspicions, the government has undertaken other moves. The Coordination Centre for Kosovo, formerly located in Belgrade, has now moved to Gracanica, in Kosovo, for example.

The body is now to be assigned control over the spending of government funds for Kosovo, which the new government says was misspent in the past.

But Kosovo Serbs don’t like the look of the new officials in overall charge of Serbian policy towards Kosovo.

Goran Bogdanovic, former agriculture minister in the Kosovo government, now the Serbian minister for Kosovo, and Oliver Ivanovic, former MP in Kosovo`s parliament and currently the ministry’s state secretary, are regarded with deep suspicion in Kosovo’s isolated Serbian enclaves.

Both men have cooperated with Kosovo’s elected institutions in the past, triggering local denunciations of treason as Kosovo.

Kosovo Serbs have been boycotting country’s Albanian-led institutions. Although they took part in first municipal elections in Kosovo organised by UNMIK, they have been boycotting all Kosovo-run elections since then, and have been organising parallel institutions under the government in Belgrade.

Ivanovic says he sees the new ministry’s job as solving practical problems on the ground, while leaving “high politics” to others.

“The new ministry for Kosovo has changed the concept of its work,” he told the Belgrade daily newspaper Danas recently. “We will be more present on the ground. We are working on equipping offices in towns with a Serbian population, and that is where our main activities will take place.”

But that cuts no ice with Bojan Gvozdic, from Zvecan, in northern Kosovo. “Goran Bogdanovic and Oliver Ivanovic should not have been appointed to those positions because they have proven themselves traitors to the Serbian people,” he said.

Dejan Mirkovic, from Crkolez, also mistrusts Ivanovic. “I don’t know enough about Bogdanovic but I know Oliver Ivanovic cooperated with our enemy,” he said, referring to Kosovo’s Albanian majority and their institutions.

Even more moderate Kosovo Serbs – who support the government – have little faith in its diplomatic initiatives. Bogoljub Redzic, an engineer from Strpce, says the initiative in the UN might be a good idea - but he doubts it will have any effect.

The most influential countries in the world have now recognised Kosovo, he said, and will not go back on their word. “It would be absurd if they annulled and belittled their own decisions,” he noted.

Nikola Krstic is a journalist from Strpce and Balkan Insight correspondent. Balkan Insight is BIRN's online publication.

This article was published with the support of the National Endowment for Democracy - NED, as part of BIRN's Minority Media Training and Reporting Project.