Kosovo Albanians give chase to would-be Serb returnee - Kosovo Serb radio
BBC Monitoring Europe (Political) - July 14, 2006, Friday

Text of report by Serbia-Montenegrin radio Kontakt Plus on 14 July

[Announcer] A group of Albanians from Srbobran village near Istok yesterday attacked Dragi Malikovic, dean at the [Kosovska Mitrovica-based] Pristina University Philosophy Department, who was visiting his family property with his friends. Jelena Markovic has a detailed report.

[Reporter] I heard that an Albanian had built a four-storey house on my family's property. I went there with some of my friends to see for myself, and I saw that it was true. I entered the other part of my courtyard which this Albanian had also usurped and prepared for the construction of another house. While I was visiting the property, the owner of the aforementioned house spotted me and immediately went somewhere with his tractor. Just ten minutes later, two vans carrying around 15 Albanians arrived. We got into our vehicle and departed for [Kosovska] Mitrovica but they followed us for more than 10 kilometres with various shouts and threats, Dragi Malikovic told the International Press Centre in Kosovska Mitrovica.

Until 1999, Srbobran was a purely Serb village with 59 households whose owners have been keenly waiting to return to their hearth and home for over seven years. Currently, work to restore five houses in the village is nearing its end. Recent attacks against Serb returnees demonstrate that Albanians from neighbouring villages, helped by the Pristina authorities, want an ethnically pure Kosovo-Metohija without a Serb presence. This is also confirmed by the fact that six multiple store houses owned by Albanians from neighbouring villages had been built on village land which belongs solely to the Serbs exiled from Srbobran.

Despite the attacks and large sums of money which Albanians offer for our property, we are determined and will persist in our wish to return and begin our lives anew on this Kosovo-Metohija land, Dragi Malikovic said.

Source: Kontakt Plus, Kosovska Mitrovica, in Serbian 1400 gmt 14 Jul 06

Copyright 2006 British Broadcasting Corporation
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