TrainingBIRN Summer School BIRN Network About us
BIRN Newsletters
You can subscribe free of charge to Balkan Insight, BIRN's weekly
online publication analysing and investigating important developments in
the region.
Subscribe
22 09 2011 Life in Kosovo broadcast a debate on the security situation in the restive north of the country.
Among the questions covered during the debate were: Will the situation in the north escalate? How can it be brought under control? Why is KFOR guarding barricades instead of removing them altogether? Is being transported by helicopter ‘freedom of movement’ if it is impossible to travel any other way?
Before the debate, BIRN broadcast a report, showing what happened in the north of Kosovo since July 25 until now.
In order to discuss the recent situation in the north of Kosovo, journalist Muhamet Hajrullahu was joined in the studio by:
Dukagjin Gorani, an adviser to the prime minister;
Behar Selimi, former head of Kosovo Police and a deputy from the PDK in the Kosovo Assembly;
Glauk Konjufca, a deputy from Vetëvendosje in the Kosovo Assembly;
Naim Rashiti, from the International Crisis Group; and
Artan Mustafa, editor of BIRN’s new website, Gazeta Jeta ne Kosove, which launched in late September.
At the beginning of the debate, Mr. Gorani said that “this situation is just the beginning of a process that should have started 11 years ago. The accelerated approach of removing the barricades may result in reactions such as political conflict. It is very clear that crime is leading politics in the north of Kosovo. Unnecessary efforts by Belgrade to politicise the north have extremely affected them for the worse. “
On the other hand, Mr. Selimi said that “the situation is very specific and we cannot find any similar situation in the world history of conflicts. It is very natural that the situation is tense, but it will come under control, because the territorial integrity of Kosovo is guaranteed by international armies.”
Mr. Rashiti said that this process is being controlled by all the factors involved in it. “It was foreseen and assumed that there would be a strong resistance associated with these barricades. Probably there would have even been armed resistance by the people there as a response to the actions of all rgw institutions involved,” he claimed.
Mr. Mustafa said that “for a long time, some people from the opposition and civil society [organisations], due to the real lack of pluralism in Kosovo, have criticised current and past governments for not initiating any action in the north. It has been observed during this time that the government lacks the creativity and ability to pressure EULEX and other international organisations to realise the mission for which they have come in Kosovo.”
On the other hand, Mr. Konjufca said that “developments during these weeks have shown us that the government of Kosovo is only able to take decisions that provoke the situation, and then turn away instead of taking the north of Kosovo under control as they have just promised. Our concern is that some officials are making a compromise on Kosovo in general, which may result in an unsatisfactory compromise for the north of Kosovo.”
After the debate, BIRN broadcast an investigative report by journalist Alban Selimi, who revealed how pharmaceutical companies pay doctors to prescribe their drugs.
At the end of the show, BIRN broadcast the ‘Youth in Kosovo’ section.
At the beginning of 2010 BIRN network published Digging Deeper - A Guide for Investigative Journalists in the Balkans, written in cooperation with Sheila Coronel, Director of the Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism and professor of professional practice at Columbia University, New York.
Komentari:
Nema komentara.