Impressions of Serbs from France who visited
Kosovo last weekend
Glas Javnosti daily (Belgrade) - May 12, 2004
Survival on tranquilizers - Under the influence of strong medication the
people in the refugee camps wept and trembled
By Ivana Ikras
(photo: A Serb woman beaten by Albanian mob during March 17 riots)
The very approach to Holy Archangels Monastery, located in the Bistrica River
gorge some three kilometers from Prizren, is dreadful. We were met at the bridge
leading to the church by German soldiers and we stood in line in front of them
for a long time. We inched forward toward the control checkpoint.
They strip searched us and everything gave the impression that we were entering
a prison camp, not an 14th century Orthodox Christian holy shrine. As we drew
nearer to the monastery we were met by the horrible sight of the completely
destroyed monastery. Ovens and refrigerators were scattered in the field; not
far from the ruins a tent was pitched where the monks have lived, prayed and
served liturgy since the most recent violence when the monastery was torched.
The priest welcomed us with words of what seemed like apology. He repeated that
everything happened at lightning speed, that everything exploded all around and
the monastery burned down in the blink of an eye. A black cat was persistently
and neurotically meowing on the ruins. At one point, the priest excused himself
from us and went to remove the animal. He told us: "Forgive her, she's been
through a terrible shock." All of us newly arrived guests instantly burst into
tears. I wonder what shape the people must be in, I thought to myself.
Mila Aleckovic-Nikolic, clinical psychologist and vice-president of the Congress
of European Serbs, thus relates her impressions from a recent two day visit to
Kosovo and Metohija with a group of Serbs from France visiting the southern
Serbian province for the first time since the violence of March 17.
Aleckovic says that the initial idea of the Congress of European Serbs, an
organization gathering Serbs from 13 countries, was for groups from all five
continents with foreign flags to hold a big meeting at the beginning of April.
Permission was refused.
We had 200 women who registered just from Germany. Several tens of thousands of
Serbs from the whole world were ready to symbolically enter Gracanica on the
Christian holiday of Palm Sunday when, according to the Scriptures, Christ
entered Jerusalem. We announced the meeting to the international forces;
however, they turned us down without explanation. The day that the international
military entered Kosovo, those of us who live abroad started paying taxes for
that military. Since we are financing them, we have the right to ask those who
are keeping the peace in the cradle of Serbia to take us anywhere, says
Aleckovic.
Finally a delegation of 20 Serbs from France, among them Mila Aleckovic,
delivered humanitarian aid and visited the German camp near Kosovska Mitrovica
where 60 Serb refugees are lodged.
They didn't know who we were or where we were from but the moment we appeared at
the door they ran to us, touched us, literally clung to every stranger who
entered inside. And suddenly everyone was crying. There are no children in the
camp, only old people: one of them missing an arm, one with an injured leg, one
who lost an eye... They showed us their scars and their wounds...
If the goal of the Albanians was to sow fear, they have succeeded. These people
were too frightened to speak. There is a collective psychosis and no one
believes the peace will last because for the past ten years they have lived in
constant fear of Albanian attacks and ceasefires. The staff says that without
exception they are receiving neuroleptics, * medication that blocks the
affective zone of the brain; since they are given in cases of serious psychoses,
there is simply no demonstration of emotion. If these people under the influence
of these medications wept and trembled, their psychological state is apparent.
They all sleep together in the same large room on military cots separated by
only 30 centimeters. It's like entering a can of sardines. It's suffocating. The
woman who caught me as I walked in removed her shirt to show me her wounds. A
old man with one eye sat motionlessly for an entire hour staring at a single
point. Every single one of them said they were beaten with sticks and metal
rods, that the international police arrived at the last moment and saved them.
When they recovered somewhat, they begged us to ask Europe to help them and
asked for compensation.
None of them so much as mentioned the Serbian authorities. They gave us a list
of their houses and, on that list, only two houses were partially damaged. All
the others are either burned down or leveled with the ground. We offered to
transfer them to asylum in France. But they refused. They want to go back to
their homes which no longer exist. The German soldiers watched all this
happening and when I asked one of the officers what would become of the
refugees, he just shrugged his shoulders and said that they "really don't know
what to do with them".
The chief organizer of our visit, an Austrian, at one point said that the
international community is constantly saying they are contributing great sums of
money for Kosovo but that he could not see any results on the ground. When we
headed from the camp under strong military and police escort, they pulled us by
the sleeves and refused to let us leave. It's the classic syndrome of children
in orphanages but today in Kosovo you can see middle-aged and elderly people
behaving in the same way.
They accompanied us as far as the barbed wire. They could go no further, says
our collocutor. In mid-May the same delegation will be received, with
photographs and direct evidence of Serb suffering, by French president Jacques
Chirac. The Congress of European Serbs will again try to organize a large
gathering of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija on Vidovdan. **
* neuroleptics - tranquilizers used to treat psychotic conditions when a calming
effect is desired, antipsychotic agents
** Vidovdan - the Feast of St. Vitus, June 28, also the anniversary of the
Battle of Kosovo (1389)
Copyright 2004 Glas Javnosti
Posted for Fair Use only.