KK-Forum,
IWPR'S BALKAN CRISIS REPORT, NO. 201, December 6, 2000
inneholder dette:
KOSTUNICA RESCUES BOSNIAN SERB NATIONALISTS Bosnian Serb nationalists
believe they owe their survival to Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica.
Zeljko Cvijanovic reports from Banja Luka
MILOSEVIC COMPANY DIRECTORS PURGED Politicians who overthrew Slobodan
Milosevic are now purging state companies of his followers. Sinisa
Stanimirovic reports from Belgrade
KOSOVO'S FORGOTTEN REFUGEES Macedonia struggles to cope with thousands of
Kosovo Roma refugees driven from their homes by Albanian extremists. Rose
George reports from Skopje
BOSNIAN BROTHELS FLOURISH The authorities in Bosnia are struggling to stem
the flow of eastern European prostitutes into the country. Emir Imamovic
reports from Sarajevo
************ VISIT IWPR ON-LINE: <http://www.iwpr.net>******************
Her klipper jeg om artikkelen om Roma-flyktningene i Macedonia.
Knut Rognes
*******************
KOSOVO'S FORGOTTEN REFUGEES
Macedonia struggles to cope with thousands of Kosovo Roma refugees driven
from their homes by Albanian extremists
By Rose George in Skopje
Through the barbed wire fence, a commotion was going on in Camp Shuto
Orizari.
The camp, funded by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, UNHCR,
and run by the Macedonian Red Cross, is home to 1,500 Roma - or Gypsy -
refugees from nearby Kosovo, driven from their homes by ethnic Albanians
over the last 10 months.
The commotion was a protest strike, sparked by the refugees' bitterness at
what they see as the international community' disinterest in their plight.
On November 15, four Ashkalis - Albanian-speaking, highly integrated Roma -
were shot dead when they returned to their village in Kosovo to rebuild
their burned houses. In another incident, a 13 year-old boy was burned alive
when he went back to Orahovac in southern Kosovo to check out his house.
Since the repatriation of Kosovo Albanian refugees, the vast majority of the
province's 150,000 Roma have been chased or burned out of their homes. Only
10,000 to 30,000 remain, living in ethnic enclaves under constant fear of
attack. In Pristina, one American journalist found more than 30 families who
hadn't ventured outside their homes in seven months.
Macedonia, the poorest of the former Yugoslav republics, has reluctantly
agreed to shelter the uprooted Roma.
Shutka, on the outskirts of the Macedonian capital Skopje, is the world's
only self-governing Roma municipality. Families in the area are looking
after some 4,000 Kosovo Roma refugees. About 1,500 others live in the Shuto
Orizari camp.
Its hardly an ideal situation. Shutka, a suburb which grew out of the city's
rubbish tip, is racked by 80 per cent unemployment. It has inadequate
amenities for its own residents, nevermind refugees. The camp is only 100
meters from the tip, which covers several nearby hillsides.
Families who have offered shelter to refugees are supposed to receive a 200
German mark payment each month from the European Union. The last payment was
made in December 1999.
UNHCR sources say Shutka's Roma mayor offered to accommodate the camp in the
hope of attracting international organisations to his municipality.
But since NATO troops took control of Kosovo last year, the number of
international organisations in Skopje has dropped dramatically from 600 to
6. "They've all gone to Pristina or Belgrade," said Susanna Tuneva-Paunovska
of the Macedonian Red Cross. "We're doing the best we can on our budget, but
it's not enough. Still, compared to some camps in Africa, Shutka is the
Holiday Inn."
Holiday Inn or not, Shutka's refugees are nervous. The camp is too close to
the Kosovo border for comfort, and the recent violence in southern Serbia
between Albanian separatists and Serbian police, which left four Serbian
officers dead, has done nothing to calm nerves.
The village of Dosevac, where the four Ashkali men were killed, is in the
heart of former Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA, territory. Though the KLA has
splintered since the NATO-led Kosovo Force, K-For, arrived in the province,
its leader Hashim Thaci has managed to transform himself into a high-profile
politician, and the KLA's legacy still makes any thought of returning home
impossible for the Roma.
Albanians loudly accuse the Roma of having collaborated with Serbian forces
in atrocities. Some Serb-speaking Roma did join the Yugoslav army, and some
were undoubtedly involved in crimes against the Albanian community, but this
only partly explains the current level of hostility.
Before the war, most of Kosovo's Roma co-existed peacefully with Albanians.
They lived in mixed residential areas and sent their children to Albanian
schools. In Camp Shuto Orizari, 80 per cent of the refugees don't speak
Romany. "Until I came here," said one man, "I didn't even know I was Roma."
In one of the camp barracks, a group of men sit down in front of a
television and video cassette player. The video shows burning houses and
leaky boats crammed with refugees trying to cross to Italy. "My sister and
four chilren drowned in one of those boats," said one man.
Another moves salt and pepper pots around on the floor to illustrate
geopoliticial strategy. "K-For came for the territory," he said, "not for
the people of Kosovo. The Albanians want to create a greater Albania,
without us. But we were born in Kosovo. We're not interested in politics, we
just want to go home."
The international community's lack of interest in the refugees' plight has
intensified their bitterness. "Last year," said Hisen Gashnrani, "United
Nations High Commissioner Sadako Ogata came here and said returning us to
Kosovo was problem number one. Since then? Nothing!"
Criticism of K-For is particularly vitriolic. "Albanians are exploiting
K-For," said one man. "There was one incident when an Albanian went to a
Roma house with a K-For sergeant. The soldier pointed his rifle at the
house, and the Albanian pointed at stuff saying 'this is mine, and this, and
this,' piled it into suitcases and took it away. But it wasn't true - the
house belonged to a Roma family. The next day, it was burned to the ground."
With no work permits, and little opportunity to leave the camp, there's
plenty of time for Roma to reflect on the contrasts between their situation
and the generosity handed out to Kosovo Albanian refugees last year.
UNHCR sources admit the chance of third countries admitting Roma refugees is
zero. And though Macedonia has recently renewed the refugees' temporary
residence permits until March 2001, there is no suggestion of permanent
status. Macedonian law doesn't have any provisions for official asylum
status, leaving Shutka's new residents in a precarious legal position.
At the same time, the few NGOs left on the ground hold out little hope the
situation in Kosovo will improve enough to allow the refugees to return
home. UNHCR, which provides 'go-and-see' visits under NATO escort for
refugees wishing to see what has happened to their possessions, doesn't
expect people to go back in the foreseeable future. So far only 80 refugees
have returned.
Tuneva-Paunovska is blunt, "They won't go home. They're here for good."
She has little time for their complaints about inadequate food rations and
the lack of Macedonian language classes for Albanian and Serb-speaking
children. "Refugees are always dissatisfied," she said.
But, for the most forgotten victims of the Kosovo conflict there is plenty
to feel dissatisfied about.
"I asked one NATO major last year why they weren't helping the Roma," said
one of the refugees in his camp barracks. "He said, 'I'm sorry, but you Roma
aren't in our programme.'"
Rose George is a regular IWPR contributor
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