KOSOVO: VIOLENCE OVER PROPERTY SALES LEAVE NORTH

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 PRISTINA 000711

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SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR, EUR/SCE, DRL, INL, AND S/WCI, NSC FOR BRAUN,
USUN FOR DREW SCHUFLETOWSKI, USOSCE FOR STEVE STEGER, OPDAT
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E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/11/2017
TAGS: PGOV KJUS KCRM EAID KDEM UNMIK YI
SUBJECT: KOSOVO: VIOLENCE OVER PROPERTY SALES LEAVE NORTH
MITROVICA'S LITTLE BOSNIA NEIGHBORHOOD ON EDGE

Classified By: COM TINA KAIDANOW FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D)


1. (C) SUMMARY: The multiethnic north Mitrovica neighborhood
of Little Bosnia, or Bosniak Mahalla, is on edge as a result
of a series of recent criminal incidents, including
explosions, an arson attack and newly-planted unexploded
ordnance (UXO). The incidents date back to January 2007 and
appear to be related to property sales in the area. Despite
a Kosovo Police Service (KPS) special task force
investigating the incidents, police are unable -- or, more
likely, unwilling -- to solve the crimes or determine exactly
who is behind them. Clues point to both Kosovo Albanians who
want to discourage their brethren from selling properties to
Serbs, and to Kosovo Serbs who want to create a climate of
fear that will make Kosovo Albanians more willing to sell and
leave north Mitrovica. USOP sources believe the Belgrade's
Coordination Center for Kosovo and Metohija (CCK) is behind
the property sales and may be playing a role in the criminal
incidents. One source also believes the Serbian Ministry of
Interior Police (MUP) may be involved. To date, there have
been no fatalities or injuries related to the incidents in
Little Bosnia, but the situation merits close attention. END
SUMMARY.

Little Bosnia -- one of the last multiethnic areas in
northern Kosovo


2. (C) Little Bosnia, or Bosniak Mahalla, is one of the last
multiethnic communities in predominantly Serbian northern
Kosovo and is no stranger to inter-ethnic violence. A small
north Mitrovica neighborhood straddling the Ibar River,
Little Bosnia is home to Kosovo Serbs, Kosovo Albanians and
Bosniaks. The International Crisis Group (ICG) reports that
the neighborhood's Kosovo Albanians, estimated to number
around 1,000, are segregated from Kosovo Serbs on a street by
street basis and connected to their Kosovo Albanian brethren
in the south by a small footbridge and one traffic bridge.
UNMIK police and Kosovo Police Service (KPS) officers tell us
that the so-called Serb "bridgewatchers" and plain-clothed
Serbian Ministry of Interior Police (MUP) carefully monitor
the Kosovo Albanians' north-south movements from observation
posts near the bridges.

Recent incidents leave Little Bosnia residents on edge


3. (C) A recent series of incidents, including grenade
attacks, unexploded hand grenades, and arson, have
contributed to inter-ethnic tension in Little Bosnia. The
first incident occurred on January 19 when an unexploded hand
grenade was found at mid-day on Nemanjina Street. Two months
later, on March 23, a hand grenade exploded in a home
belonging to a Kosovo Serb on Oslobodjenje Street, causing
material damages; a second unexploded grenade was found at
the scene of the crime. Four days later, an explosion
damaged three civilian vehicles on the same street. After a
brief lull, Kosovo Albanian children found explosive devices
in a yard on June 24. KFOR dismantled and removed them
before they could cause any damage. Less than a month later,
shortly after midnight on July 13, an unknown suspect threw a
hand grenade into the yard of a Bosniak KPS officer's home on
Nemanjina Street. Minor material damage occurred to the
windows, entrance door and facade of the home. Finally, on
July 17, a Kosovo Serb reported a fire set by unknown
suspects on Nemanjina Street. Police reported finding an
Albanian language newspaper, plastic bottles and a metal
stick at the scene. There were no injuries or fatalities in
any of the incidents, leading police and international
officials in Mitrovica to conclude that they likely meant to
frighten residents.

Property sales appear to be the motive


4. (C) The fact that the attacks have targeted all three
ethnic groups' property makes identification of any single
motive difficult. The emerging consensus among international
community representatives, police and residents in north

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Mitrovica is that the attacks may be linked to property
sales. In the last year, Albanians increasingly have been
selling properties in Little Bosnia to Serbs. The last few
months have seen a marked increase in both sales and prices
(see below),and significant progress in the construction of
new apartment buildings north of the Ibar, built on
properties recently sold to Serbs by Albanian owners. On
August 2, PM Ceku called on Albanians living in the area not
to sell their properties until final status resolution,
appealing to them to have a larger "national consciousness."
Ceku's words came two days after the Kosovo Assembly debated
"illegal construction" in Bosniak Mahala.

Albanians fear loss of the north


5. (C) The interest that Ceku and the Assembly are showing in
the Little Bosnia incidents reflects the intense fear many
Kosovo Albanians have of losing the north and their desire to
protect this small Albanian Mitrovica foothold north of the
Ibar. USOP's UNMIK Police and KPS contacts in the north
believe Kosovo Albanians, angry with their brethren for
selling to Serbs, may be behind at least some of the attacks.
Democratic League of Dardania (LDD) caucus leader Ramadan
Kelmendi has been especially vocal about Kosovo Serbs buying
up Kosovo Albanian property in Little Bosnia, rarely missing
an opportunity to raise the issue on the Assembly floor. On
July 17, a group calling itself the "Council of (the) Bosnian
Neighborhood" drew up a list of 18 Kosovo Albanians who "sold
property to the Serbian Government" and posted it in Little
Bosnia. It included an appeal "to all the citizens of
Mitrovica and Kosovo to keep away from (those) individuals"
and for "the institutions of Kosovo (to) desist from offering
them any assistance." The group apparently approached UNMIK
before distributing the list, and was warned not to do so by
the UNMIK Deputy Regional Representative in Mitrovica; UNMIK
quickly removed the list. UNMIK and OSCE representatives
told USOP they believe Kelmendi was behind this.

CCK likely bankrolling the purchases


6. (C) Many of USOP's contacts in the north suspect the
Serbian Government may be behind the buying of Kosovo
Albanian properties and of orchestrating at least some of the
attacks. KPS Lt. Col. Ergin Medic, a Bosniak who lives in
north Mitrovica, alleges that the Coordination Center for
Kosovo (CCK) is behind the housing purchases and that
"cleansing Little Bosnia is a priority for them." He said
the CCK believes it has cleansed the Three Towers and Coca
Cola Hill areas, two other multiethnic neighborhoods in north
Mitrovica, to an "acceptable level" of about 20 percent
Kosovo Albanians.


7. (C) Medic outlined a very elaborate CCK operation to buy
up Kosovo Albanian properties in Little Bosnia and construct
in their place new buildings containing Serbian state
institutions and apartments for "loyal Serbs." He said
Telekom Serbia (PTT) and the CCK's Economic Team for Kosovo
will soon place their Kosovo headquarters in Little Bosnia as
a result of this effort. According to Medic, CCK has
established a unit, headed by Slavisa Stanic, to handle the
property purchases, with five to seven staff members, mostly
doing legal and administrative work and researching Kosovo
Albanian properties. ICOPT representative in North Mitrovica
James Nunan also related a conversation illustrating the
organized, systematic nature of the operation. While talking
with an unnamed (but influential) CCK figure, Nunan asked him
"How can you buy out all the Albanians? There must be 3,000
of them living there," to which his interlocutor responded,
"No, there are 995, and we know their names, addresses, and
phone numbers."


8. (C) Medic claimed that a special CCK unit takes
applications for housing in newly-built apartments,
evaluating and ranking them based on need (number of
children, other property owned, etc.). However, in reality,
the bridgewatchers, MUP members and other "loyal Serbs"

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receive preferential treatment. Medic says this unit may
also include several Kosovo Albanians, who make initial
contact with Kosovo Albanian property owners and offer them
at least fair market value for the property. Reports on
prices are often anecdotal, but telling: Major Guy Snauwaert
of Belgian KFOR recently told poloff that one Albanian-owned
apartment sold for 350,000 euros, a fantastic sum in a
neighborhood where most sales average 50,000 euros. (NOTE:
Medic believes the CCK is offering about 500 euros per square
meter. END NOTE.) Medic added that the money to purchase
the properties comes from the Belgrade-based Komercialna
Banka's Kosovo branch, then goes to Stanic. Stanic pays the
Kosovo Albanians in cash and the transactions are registered
through the UNMIK court in Zubin Potok. They avoid the
Mitrovica Court because it is largely Kosovo Albanian and is
outside the influence of hard-line Association of Serb
Municipalities and Settlements (ASMS) co-founder and northern
strongman Marko Jaksic.

MUP may be behind the attacks


9. (C) Medic also said many believe the MUP are behind the
attacks, and that the police are unlikely to conduct a very
thorough investigation into the attacks because KPS Mitrovica
North Station Commander Milija Milosevic, whose special task
force is in charge of the investigation, is a suspected MUP
officer. Medic also told USOP that the KPS questioned Milan
Ivanovic's son a few months ago in relation to the grenade
attacks, which was confirmed by UNMIK civpol and Amcit
Randall Darty, currently acting Mitrovica regional commander.
(NOTE: Ivanovic is the E.O.-listed director of the large
Serbian state-run parallel hospital in north Mitrovica,
deputy mayor of Zvecan, co-founder of the ASMS, and chairman
of the Mitrovica branch of the Serbian National Council
(SNC). END NOTE.)


10. (C) COMMENT: The recent incidents and efforts to buy out
Kosovo Albanian property holders in Little Bosnia appear to
confirm suspicions that the CCK is expanding and reinforcing
the soft partition that already exists in the north. While
the attacks appear to be designed more to intimidate than to
harm, it could be just a matter of time before someone is
seriously wounded or killed. This situation has already
caused Kosovo Albanian leaders to react with emotion and may
well have influenced some to respond with retaliatory
violence. USOP will closely monitor developments in Little
Bosnia and continue to urge the two sides to refrain from any
actions which might escalate tensions in north Mitrovica.
End comment.
KAIDANOW