Serbia: Villagers
in Kursumlija area complain of shooting, forays from Kosovo
BBC Monitoring Europe (Political) - August 26, 2006, Saturday
Text of unattributed report: "On alert day and night"; published by Serbian
newspaper Borba on 25 August
Kursumlija: The Kursumlija municipality borders on the municipality of Podujevo
along 105 km of the administrative boundary line with Kosmet [Kosovo-Metohija].
In this so-called border belt there are 19 villages on the Serbian side, five of
which have not a single inhabitant, while the others are populated mostly by
householders of advanced years, who would not leave their properties if their
lives depended on it.
There is constant migration of population in the Kursumlija municipality.
According to the municipal records, the area was the most populous in 1981, when
it had 27,629 inhabitants. According to the latest population census, carried
out in 2002, the municipality had 21,608 inhabitants, together with about 10,000
settlers from Kosmet.
According to this census, there were 852 inhabitants living in the villages in
the border belt in 2002, while their number today has been halved. On the
adjacent, Podujevo side, there are more than 20,000 Albanians living in only a
few villages.
Young people have long moved out of the Kursumlija villages both because of
difficult living conditions and because of insecurity and constant fear from
Albanian terrorists.
"We hear shooting from the Kosmet side of the administrative boundary line
practically every day, but we may be said to have become used to it. However,
fear is ever present; every time we hear shooting, we are afraid that the shots
may be meant for us," older inhabitants of Kursumlija villages say.
They have been additionally disturbed by the latest incident, when Albanians
from the Podujevo side recently opened fire on the village of Tacevac, where
Milorad Tomcic was picking plums with his family. Fortunately, nobody was hurt.
Tomcic, once mayor of Podujevo, who was driven out of Kosmet seven years ago and
settled in Kursumlija, says that there are no permanent residents in Tacevac. He
goes to visit his house and estate there from time to time.
In the villages along the administrative boundary line they say that the worst
thing is that the entire area is surrounded by dense forests, which makes forays
by Albanians easy.
"We are particularly afraid when we are out working in the fields or tending
livestock," villagers in Dabinovac say. With its population of 40, Dabinovac is
the most populous village in these mountains. Fear from Albanian incursions is
present also in neighbouring Susnjak, which has only a handful of households.
In the period from the deployment of Kfor [Kosovo Force] and UNMIK [UN Interim
Administration Mission in Kosovo] in Kosmet [in July 1999] to the deployment of
the army and police in the so-called Ground Safety Zone in late 2002, six people
from the Kursumlija municipality were killed and several others were injured on
the administrative boundary line.
Lately, there have been no serious incidents other than timber poaching. Police
have prevented numerous border crossing attempts and arrested many timber
poachers.
Mursel Tahiri from Donja Dubica on the Podujevo side of the dividing line was
arrested recently after he entered about 150 metres deep into the territory of
the Kursumlija municipality and cut down timber with a buzz saw.
Timber poaching in the border belt has acquired such proportions that Srbijasume
Company, which administers the forests in the area, is suffering losses
calculated in millions.
Dragos Pavicevic from the Toplica forestry estate, which operates as part of
Srbijsume, says that Albanians have illegally cut down 12,000 cubic metres of
forests in this area, valued at 3m euros. Damage to private estates is also
huge.
According to Pavicevic, the plunder has caused huge environmental damage as
well, because timber was felled without any plan and reforestation is impossible
for security reasons.
"It means a lot to us that our army and police are here on the ground. Still,
neither the army not the police can be with us on every step or be present on
every inch of the administrative boundary line at all times," the small
community of worried villagers of Susnjak says.
Municipal officials in Kursumlija say that the Serbian government should pay
greater attention to this area in order to revitalize it and motivate people to
stay. This, they say, can be achieved primarily by creating new jobs and
building and putting in order the infrastructure.
Source: Borba, Belgrade,
in Serbian 25 Aug 06 p4
Copyright 2006 British Broadcasting Corporation
Posted for Fair Use only.