KOSOVO SERBS: A SUCCESS STORY AND TWO PLEAS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PRISTINA 000547 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR PRM/ECA, BELGRADE FOR REFCOORD E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREF SR SUBJECT: KOSOVO SERBS: A SUCCESS STORY AND TWO PLEAS REF: A) PRISTINA 275 B) PRISTINA 425 C) BELGRADE 962 Sensitive, But Unclassified; Please Protect Accordingly 1.(SBU) Summary: A successful ethnic Serb businessman in Kamenica says he wants to stay in Kosovo, whatever its final status, but would go if all the other Serbs leave. Another Serb businessman near Gjilan/Gnjilane, declared the CCK (Coordination Center for Kosovo) to be the enemy of the interests of Serbs who wish to remain in Kosovo. The municipal returns officer for Gjilan/Gnjilane, an ethnic Serb, says a strategy for keeping Serbs in Kosovo by preventing an outflow is more important than bringing them back again after each exodus. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) Regional Refcoord, based in Belgrade, visited beneficiaries assisted by Mercy Corps as part of its PRM- funded Sustainable Return and Reintegration Program (SRRP) in early June 2006. This cable is part of a series (refs. A, B) on the attitudes of Serbs and other minorities who have stayed in Kosovo or who have recently returned there and the challenges they face. -------------- A SUCCESS STORY IN KAMENICA -------------- ¶3. (U) A Mercy Corps community grant had enabled an agronomist to become a dealer in agricultural supplies in the eastern Kosovo town of Kamenica, where two-thirds of the municipality's pre-conflict Serb population, some 10,000 of 15,000 people, has remained. (The total population of the municipality is estimated to be about 55,000.) The program was successful, in part because he could impart expert advice along with his products. He speaks Albanian and has many Albanian customers. He already employs a local Serb as a clerk and a Roma as a delivery man. He hoped to open a second store in a neighboring village, which would employ yet another person. ¶4. (U) The agri-businessman had never left Kosovo, except for a month following the March 2004 disturbances. He pointed to the damaged roof of his house, on to which someone had thrown a grenade the March disturbances. "It wasn't thrown at me," he said with a laugh and a shrug of his shoulders. "It was thrown by someone from another village who only knew that a Serb lived here." He told RefCoord that he wanted to stay in Kosovo -- after all, his family had lived in Kosovo for ten generations -- but that �00A;if everybody else (i.e., other Serbs) left, he would have to leave, too. -------------- "THE CCK IS OUR ENEMY" -------------- ¶5. (U) In a Serbian village on the outskirts of Gjilan/Gnjilane, Refcoord visited a Mercy Corps beneficiary, Vesimir Savic, whom he had visited several months ago (ref. B). Hearing that Refcoord was in the vicinity, Savic asked Mercy Corps if he could meet with Refcoord again. ¶6. (U) Savic, who only left Kosovo briefly in 2004, was one of the first local Serbs to try to reach out to the Albanian community after 1999. Although he now sometimes built greenhouses all over Kosovo, his own greenhouse had not been successful because of the frequent power outages that plagued the Gjilan/Gnjilane area this winter. ¶7. (SBU) Savic told Refcoord that at least 30,000-40,000 Serbs like himself were determined to stay in Kosovo, no matter whose flag flew over it. The trouble was that the CCK did not represent their interests. The CCK had its own political agenda, which had more to with Serbian gamesmanship and the furthering the political careers of its leaders by threatening a mass exodus, than it did in preserving the Serbian presence in Kosovo. (NOTE: In a meeting June 14 with Refcoord in Belgrade, CCK Deputy Milorad Todorovic affirmed his belief that Kosovo Serbs could not live in an independent Kosovo and that all would leave the region (Ref. C). END NOTE.). ¶8. (SBU) By building up parallel structures in the fields of PRISTINA 00000547 002 OF 002 health, education and welfare, the CCK controlled a large number of Kosovo Serbs who were beholden to them and who would follow its directives, Savic continued. It was important to counteract the CCK's influence by reassuring Serbs that it would be possible to stay in Kosovo whatever the outcome of the talks on the final status of Kosovo. (NOTE: Upon CCK instructions a few months ago, many Kosovo Serbs gave up the salaries they were receiving from Kosovo authorities in order to stay on the good side of the Serbian government in case they were forced to leave Kosovo again. END NOTE.). ¶9. (SBU) Savic said he had founded an NGO with about 40 members to fight for Serb interests in Kosovo and now wanted to form a political party for the same purpose, for which he asked RefCoord for assistance. Refcoord passed his name to UNHCR, UNMIK/ORCM, and USOP for possible follow-up. ¶10. (U) Refcoord and Mercy Corps staff ate lunch that day with the municipal returns officer for Gjilan/Gnjilane, a young Serb from a village outside the town. "Find a way to convince people to stay," he argued. "Otherwise, you'll just have to bring them back again." ¶11. (SBU) COMMENT: Unlike other places where the 1999 conflict was more intense, Serbs in the southeastern part of Kosovo are more likely to cite lack of economic prospects, rather than security concerns, as the main reason to leave or not return. END COMMENT. GOLDBERG