Opinion: Benefits from Prudence in Times of Uncertainty

March 2 - 15. 2012 Issue No. 83 www.prishtinainsight.com Price € 1 NEWS Kosovo’s Flying Lobbyist Buried Plans Final Flights Treasures Stay After Release Underground > page 3 NEWS As a major Illyrian settle- Court to Decide on ment, is of great cultural importance for Kosovo Mayor Jail's Albanians, as many his- Term torians believe Albanians > page 6 descend from this NEWS ancient tribe. But it was not until the Indictment against Romans arrived in the 1st Airport Director century that the town developed into a city.

See Page 5

> page 7 Kosovo Mayor Earns FEATURE Serb Gangsters Hole up in South Fortune From Free Gift Africa A senior Kosovo politician has generated more than 3 million euro from an apartment block built on public land given to > page 11 him for free in unclear circumstances. 2 million euro he has since bor- euro against the value of the site sion made in 1997, when the local INSIDE PRISHTINA By Tinka Kurti rowed against the site. and has not declared the loans to assembly of Suhareka signed an Reports by the Office of the Kosovo’s Anti-Corruption Agency. agreement with a socially owned Cabbies lerim Kuci, mayor of Auditor General in 2007 and 2008 An official from Kosovo’s enterprise Banesa/Stan, from Prefer Suhareka and a former min- said the municipality appeared to Central Bank has pointed out to , to construct the founda- ister, has made more than a B have given away the land “perma- Prishtina Insight that mortgages tion and first floor of a residential Prison over Fines million euro from sales of apart- nently” and without seeking oblig- cannot be taken out against prop- building. ments in the town centre of atory consent from central govern- The company duly laid the foun- > page 19 erties that have already been sold, Suhareka and has borrowed a fur- ment to do so. dations. In 2001, after the Kosovo which was the case with all but ther 2 million euro against the It also said that the decision to conflict had ended, it submitted one of Kuci’s flats in the block value of the properties built on award Hidroterm the right to an expression of interest in con- public land. build on the land was not made when he borrowed the money. tinuing the work but the munici- Questions have been raised transparently; the tender lasted pality refused this request after Transfer of public land: Kosovo’s only English-language about the transfer of the land to just one week. which the dispute was settled in newspaper is available: Kuci’s firm, Hidroterm, his con- An investigation by Prishtina court tract with the municipality to con- Insight has also uncovered that The controversy over the town- Delivered to struct the apartment block and the Kuci has since borrowed 2 million centre site has its roots in a deci- continues page 2 Your Door

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A few years ago, Macedonia forced the Kosovo Energy Corporation, KEK, has Sent To software giant Microsoft to provide announced that from April 1 electricity Your Inbox licences for its products for free. It had prices will rise by 23 per cent. threatened to use the Linux, open source, Customers and economic experts told platform in school facilities Prishtina Insight that the price increase From Other countries, states and organisa- will hit struggling families hard and ques- our partners tions have also been embracing the open tioned the rationale for the rise. news source movement for... page 6 business KEK argues that it has... page 7 see page 16 for more info

is supported by: 2 March 2 - 15, 2012 news Kosovo Mayor Earns Fortune From Free Gift from page 1 municipality had also ignored pro- curement tendering procedures in Yll Kaloshi, spokesperson of the awarding the contract only six Privatization Agency of Kosovo, days after the publication of the PAK, said the municipal court tender. ruled that Banesa was owed 54,245 The reports urged the mayor in euro in compensation, a decision office at the time, Sali Asllani, to that the District Court in Prizren implement the law and seek retro- upheld. spective central level approval. An agreement was then signed But the municipality did not between the municipal assembly address this issue and has not and Banesa on compensation for since sought any opinion about the performed work. contract from the government. On December 10 that year, the Birsen Shufta, spokesperson of then mayor, Uke Bytyqi, who has the Ministry of Public since died, issued a decision that Administration, which should the land should be given over “for have approved the permit, said permanent use” for “the construc- that the “senior management of tion of a residential and commer- the Municipal Assembly of cial building”. Suhareka was responsible for the According to Local Self- implementation of the recommen- Government Regulation 2000/45, dations of the Auditor General of Article 44.2, the municipality had Kosovo”. no right to grant the land for use Kuci, now both the mayor and for longer than ten years without the owner of the site, defends the first seeking the consent of central construction contract and does not government. accept that the deal violated the Just one week later, on law. December 17, 2001, Bytyqi, on The decision to hand over the The blue house in central Sukareka, built by Blerim Kuci's firm. behalf of the municipality, and site “was taken in line with the for the construction works and we Corruption Agency in 2011 as they “The amounts and durations of Blerim Kuci, on behalf of NPN laws applicable at the time, and couldn’t demolish an investment should have been. loans offered by the bank to Hidroterm, signed a construction this was the process applied worth millions of euros,” Asllanaj Besnik Kada, spokesperson of clients vary, based on the capacity contract after the tender was throughout Kosovo,” he said. added. the , said of the client to repay the loan,” awarded to his enterprise. “There are many such cases in that loans cannot be secured spokesperson Iliriana Tahiraj The land was handed over for Prizren, and around 200 in all of Undeclared loans: against properties that have noted. free on the basis that Hidroterm Kosovo,” Kuci added. already been sold to another party “But because of confidentiality would provide the municipality Asked about a similar transac- Kuci, meanwhile, has used the or parties. agreements with clients, we can- with the income from 20 per cent tion, the mayor mentioned Global, property, listed as owned by In Kuci’s case, all but one of the not disclose any information on of the new building, while a company in Prizren. Hidroterm in the official cadastral apartments in the building had the clients”. Hidroterm was to keep the other The manager of Global, Sefer Another query concerns the 80 per cent. Rexhaj, admitted that the compa- ownership of Hidroterm. In his According to an assessment by ny received 23 acres of land from declaration to the Anti- the municipal assembly in 2002, the municipality of Prizren in Corruption Agency, Kuci lists the “blue building”, as it became 2004. himself as owner of the company, known, had by then generated just But Prishtina Insight can con- which the Business Registration under 1.5 million euro in sales, of firm that this received consent which 20 per cent, 295,271 euro, from Harri Holkeri, then head of belonged to the municipality. the UN authority in Kosovo, The reports of the Office of the UNMIK, at the time the para- Auditor General, OAG, in 2007 and mount authority in Kosovo. 2008, meanwhile, noted that the Former mayor Sali Asllanaj said municipality had violated it had been too late to act on the Regulation No. 2000/45, and specif- advice of the Auditor General in ically the article which says the seeking central government municipality should not grant the approval for the transaction. use of any property for over ten “As the investments had already years “without seeking prior been carried out, there was noth- approval from central level”. ing we could do,” he said. The OAG pointed out that the “Solid materials had been used record, as collateral to obtain three loans in 2010 and 2011 from Chequered Political Past Raiffeisen Bank totalling 2 million euro lerim Kuci was a former mander, ordered Kuci to be According to a document issued commander of the Kosovo killed. by the Regional Cadastral Agency BLiberation Army, KLA, in Kuci was Minister of Interior in Suhareka, a loan of 500,000 euro Suhareka. in 2007, from the ranks of the was issued on March 25, 2010 for 36 been sold by the time the money Agency confirms. His involvement in the KLA Democratic League of Kosovo, months, and second loan of 800,000 was borrowed. But according to Article 17 of has been brought into focus by LDK, when Agim Ceku was euro was issued on May 21, 2010 for “No asset can be mortgaged Kosovo’s Law on the Prevention of the current war-crimes trial over prime minister. an undefined period – both under without ownership rights or an Conflicts of Interests, if officials the alleged abuse and murder of He was a senior LDK official the name Hidroterm. authorisation from the contract- own more than 20 per cent of cap- prisoners held at a KLA prison at until he resigned as the party’s A further 642,000 euros was bor- ing party,” Kada said. ital in a firm, the shares must be Klecka, near Suhareka. chief executive in 2009 over a rowed on June 29, 2011 for 36 Mayor Kuci has not responded controlled by a trustee. It is alleged that Fatmir Limaj, leadership dispute. months, this time under Kuci’s to Prishtina Insight’s questions on This trustee may not be a blood a powerful figure in the govern- He then joined the Alliance for name. why he had not done so. relative. But, according to the ing Democratic Party of Kosovo, the Future of Kosovo, AAK, in None of these loans were Raiffeisen Bank said it could Business Registration Agency, the PDK, a former transport minis- 2010 to stand for mayor of declared in the financial disclo- not comment on this particular current manager of the firm is ter and a one-time KLA com- Suhareka, a post he secured. sure registry of Kosovo’s Anti- case. Kuci’s brother, Blerim.

Y M C +381 38 602042, +377 44 243367, +386 49 243367 K news March 2 - 15, 2012 3 Flying Lobbyist Plans Final Editor’s Word Flights After Release Kosovo’s Cat Kosovo’s flying lobbyist James Berisha, who was released from an Eritrean prison last month, has told Prishtina By Lawrence Marzouk Insight that he plans two final lobbying visits once he has retrieved his plane in Sudan.

Albanian, said he wanted to help osovo has always been a him by pulling to the plane out of Schrödinger's Cat kind of place. It the wilderness in a safe place. Kboth is, and isn’t. Its leaders are, By Petrit Collaku Baillargeon was helped once and aren’t, while they should and should- by an Albanian was a critical n’t. The international community needs moment in his life, in , as to, and needn’t. And the EU? They defi- he was travelling from nitely do and they don’t, don’t they? ressed as an ordinary Macedonia to Bulgaria. Confused? The famed Danish quantum American, and surround- Berisha flew more than 300 physicist Bohr once said: “If you think Ded by many foreign hours lobbying in 95 countries you can talk about quantum theory with- guests, the cosmopolitan James worldwide under the “Recognise out feeling dizzy, you haven't understood Berisha was in Kosovo last week Kosovo’s Independence” slogan. the first thing about it.” to celebrate the country’s inde- Kosovo’s cat is a little like that, just not pendence. at the sub-atomic level. But the 40-year-old is already “Terrible Conditions” Never has this been more obvious in the planning his next move and told After leaving the broken air- last weeks than with the heated debate Prishtina Insight he will return plane in Sudan, James took a over punctuation. to Sudan to retrieve his airplane commercial flight and continued I had intended to write my piece along “Cessna 172” which has been to the neighbouring country, the lines of why the footnote, to borrow a stricken since May 2011. James Berisha spent months in an Eritrean jail Eritrea. phrase, would be at best a footnote in his- “I have finished with this air- He arrived there in the early him and asked him follow them. were not stamped. tory. In the end, it has been the polarisa- plane,” says Berisha. “Now it morning of August 10, where he He entered an office and was Food was regular but unhy- tion of views about the issue which has belongs to Kosovo.” presented his US passport and interrogated for some time with gienic, he said. The water was, he struck me the most. Berisha has a new airplane pilot’s licence that enables him to different questions about how he said, very dirty and he was twice According to my scientific study engine for it, which is already in travel without visas. entered Eritrea without a visa, forced to go to hospital because of Kosovo inhabits a number of parallel Kosovo. He will ship it to Sudan, He had heard about this coun- what he told the French ambassa- diarrhoea. space-time continuums as a result of the then conclude his mission in try of six million inhabitants but dor and other matters. But, after a month he started to latest deal between and Kosovo. Africa, ending with trips to he only understood the true Prior to this investigation, build some relationships. “They If you woke up this morning in Egypt and Libya, two countries nature of it on his arrival. Berisha , sensing danger, had took care of me a lot. I have left Prishtina, for example, you were both in where authoritarian regimes Berisha then started his usual sent an email to his colleagues in many friends behind. I feel sorry an independent Kosovo and in part of collapsed last year, before hand- lobbying duties as usual and Prishtina warning them to act if for all of them remaining in the Serbia. ing over his plane to a museum went to Foreign Ministry of they didn’t hear anything from prison,” said Berisha, adding For many armchair experts in interna- in Kosovo. Eritrea, where he delivered a let- him in the following 24 hours. that fellow prisoners shared food tional law, the UNSC Resolution 1244 is “But, lobbying will not stop. ter from Kosovo’s European “You should know that I have with him when receiving it from definitely dead; for others, it has returned We will return to those states Integration minister, Vlora been arrested,” said Berisha in their families. from the grave to haunt the living. that haven’t recognised us,” said Citaku, including the request for the email. His intuition turned After some months, Berisha We are both in 1999 and in 2012 – per- Berisha, although this time he recognition. out to be accurate. started to lose hope. haps even in the future. plans to do it by more conven- Berisha also met the French Berisha was arrested by And then, one evening, the Look at him in one light, and Hashim tional means. ambassador to Eritrea. But Eritrean National Security and director of the prison told him Thaci is the worst, most corrupt leader His private airplane remains attempts to give interviews to he was sent to one of 15 prisons that he would be released and ever to have stood for election. Change the at the airport of a private gold local media were unsuccessful. in the capital, Asmara. that he would be able to leave filter (to one blue with yellow stars), and mine in Hassai, Sudan, some In 2010, Eritrea was ranked in the He stayed there for 156 days in Eritrea the next day. he is a great European statesman capable kilometres from where it was last place by Reporters Without horrific conditions. He said that Security released him the fol- of doing the right thing in difficult cir- forced to land. Borders because of the regime’s while incarcerated there he lowing day but kept Berisha’s cumstances. When Berisha lost control of belligerent and ultra-nationalist imagined the times when personal property, such as his Thaci informed us with his customary the flight flew for 15 uncomfort- discourse. was under Enver Hoxha. memory card, with hundreds of tact in defusing explosive situations that able minutes in the sky until the Six days later, Berisha decided “It was terrible. I was not phys- pictures of meetings with you are either with him or you are Anti- coordinates for a dirt road were to continue his journey to the ically tortured but mentally,” African officials, and a big pile of American/European; his opponents told given by a commercial airplane next country but soon realised explained Berisha. documents from the meetings he us that they loved America and pilot. that this would not be easy. No one told him why he was had there. and that you are either with Thaci or you Berisha manageds to land in “It has never happened this arrested. Later on, he heard from Berisha was told that a delega- are right. this road in the middle of the way in my life,” he said. “In every others that he was suspected of tion from Kosovo was waiting for Much of Kosovo’s media spun the story desert. He was then found by country, arrival is difficult, not being a US spy. him at the airport, and there he as a defeat; a few hundred kilometres some miners. the exit”. In meantime, Berisha was met Kosovo’s Deputy Prime away, the Serbian press spun the story as The workers were joined by After the usual checks at the interrogated several times about Minister Behgjet Pacolli. the Canadian Denis Baillargeon, a...defeat. airport, Berisha waited to take all the meetings he had in town “When we climbed into the manager of mine, who after find- The negotiators from both sides tried to the plane. and regarding the papers from sky, I was the happiest man in the ing out that Berisha was an sell to their countrymen a tale of how Then, a few people approached minister Citaku, some of which world,” said Berisha. they had secured a great victory for their own side and had definitely not, in any circumstances, done anything which could give the other side an advantage. INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT “ADEM JASHARI” But the only people listening were the other side, using that very proclamation of victory to berate their own govern- ment. The EU congratulated both sides, spin- ning the story as a score draw. It was and it wasn’t, they said, and as a result they do and they don’t. Bohr viewed quantum mechanics from a dualist perspective, understanding that Schroedinger’s Cat could be both dead and alive. When he was asked to design a coat of arms, he did so with the eastern sym- bol of the Yin and Yang, a symbol of quan- tum mechanics’ dualism but also nature’s balance. If only Kosovo’s government had not slashed the country’s scientific research budget to zero, perhaps the study of Kosovo’s Cat could have spurred a similar WE ARE OPEN FOR ALL DEPARTING FLIGHTS • CALL US ON 038 594422 approach to life.. 4 March 2 - 15, 2012 news Protests Planned Against Serbian Deal EU Deploys At an opposition protest on Monday Vevendosje leader pledged to organise rolling demonstrations, New demanding the government’s resignation over the deal with Serbia. Footnote he EU has already begun using the footnote agreed BY Fatmir Aliu Tbetween Kosovo and Serbia last week. The deal was aimed at finding a compromise for Kosovo’s repre- everal hundred opposition sentation in regional meetings, activists demonstrated in but also a formula which could be SKosovo’s capital, Prishtina, used for the EU. on Monday, standing for four The move opens up the way for hours in front of the government contractual agreements between building to protest over the terms Kosovo and Serbia. of a recent deal signed with The footnote’s first appearance Serbia. in an official EU documents was in Between 800 and a thousand the press release issued by the people answered the call of Albin council of ministers on Tuesday Kurti's Self-determination night regarding Serbia’s candidate (Vetevendosja) Movement to take status and Kosovo’s feasibility to the streets. These included VV study on the Stabilisation and members but all representatives Association Agreement. from civil society groups. Kurti told them that a series of protests around the country would be held in the forthcoming months, demanding Prime ICJ, on Kosovo's declaration of try's representation. They wanted ment to gather at least 40 signa- Minister Hashim Thaci's resigna- independence. the country to stick to the formula tures of MPs. “As of now tion. More precisely, the footnote will "Republic of Kosovo". Prishtina and Belgrade have “Spring will see the start of new read: “This designation is without Self-determination on Monday agreed only on conclusions," he protests not only in the capital but prejudice to positions on status, sent parliament a petition with noted, explaining why he would in other towns and even on the and is in line with UNSC 1244 and 15,000 signatures demanding an not be calling an emergency borders [with Serbia] at Dheu i the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo extraordinary session to debate debate. Bardhe and Merdare,” Kurti said. Declaration of Independence.” the agreement with Serbia. said Monday’s Kosovo declared independence Nationalist opinion in Kosovo But speaker Jakup Krasniqi demonstration was illegal, as the from Serbia in 2008. But Serbia was against any compromise with refused to consider the petition. organisers had not sought an offi- does not recognise the new coun- Serbia over the issue of the coun- He instead advised Kurti's move- cial permit. try and Belgrade has been refus- ing to participate in events where Kosovo is represented as an inde- pendent country with its own Candidacy Will Boost Serbia's state symbols. According to the recent EU- mediated deal with Serbia, Kosovo Democrats, Expert Says will be represented at regional forums simply under the name of Brussels' decision to approve Serbia's candidacy has given the Democrats a boost before "Kosovo" but also with a footnote PM Hashim Thaci referring both to UN Resolution election day but won't damage the standing of the biggest opposition party, the 1244 and the opinion of the Progressives. International Court of Justice, Democrats ahead of spring elec- approval before EU leaders at the Thaci Hails tions, Nikola Jovanovic, political beginning of March. analyst and editor of the publica- The EU meeting came just after tion “Challenges of European By Bojana Barlovac Belgrade and Prishtina finally Serbia Deal Integration”, said. agreed a compromise on the vexed www.prishtinainsight.com After hours of debate in question of Kosovo's representa- Brussels, EU foreign ministers at tion at regional meetings. Publisher: as Triumph urope's decision to give the General Affairs Council rec- Serbia's Democrats believe they BIRN Serbia EU candidate status ommended on Tuesday that Serbia have firmed up the party's slogan, Balkan Investigative Reporting Network Ehas given an additional should be granted EU candidate "Both the EU and Kosovo", in that for Kosovo boost to the ruling centrist status. Their decision must go for they have secured EU candidate Mensa e Studenteve, first floor status without abandoning their osovo’s Prime Minister 10000, Prishtina fundamental position on Kosovo, Hashim Thaci put his own which is that the former province, Kspin on a EU-brokered deal Kosovo which declared independence in with Serbia, saying Belgrade had Phone: +381 (0) 38 24 33 58 2008, remains part of Serbia. now effectively recognized Fax: +381 (0) 38 22 44 98 On March 13, Serbia's parlia- Kosovo's statehood. [email protected] ment is expected to call new gener- In a press conference in al and local elections for April 29 Prishtina on Friday, Thaci said the Editor-in-Chief: or May 6. agreement was not ideal but was in the broad interest of Kosovo. Lawrence Marzouk According to the latest research, carried out by Ipsos Strategic The principal part of the deal [email protected] Marketing in February, around 32 concerns Kosovo's representation Editorial Team: per cent intend to vote for in regional meetings. Under the Ana Petruseva, Gordana Igric, the biggest nationalist opposition agreement, Kosovo will be repre- sented at regional forums simply Jeta Xharra, Marcus Tanner, party, the Progressives, while only under the name of "Kosovo" but Petrit Collaku, Shengjyl Osmani, about 25 per cent will support the Democrats. also with a footnote referring both Artan Mustafa and Donjeta Demolli. Jovanovic said obtaining EU to UN Resolution 1244 and the candidate status will not affect the opinion of the International Court Marketing, Sales & Distribution: popular standing of the of Justice, ICJ, on Kosovo's decla- [email protected] Progressives, as they have also ration of independence. backed Serbia's EU membership. “I’m aware that this footnote or Design & Layout: “Rrjeti” Candidacy will only reduce the formula in the footnote is not the Arben Grajqevci political room for manoeuvre of ideal one, but it is the most accept- Y "extreme parties", such as the able one at the moment. But I assure you that this formula is M Printing: Lindi Printing Center hardline nationalist Radicals, C Jovanovic predicted. temporary,” the Prime Minister Copyright © BIRN K Serbia's President Tadic looks set to benefit from the EU deal said. news March 2 - 15, 2012 5 Kosovo’s Buried Treasures Stay Underground As ministry completes new guide to Kosovo’s archaeological sites, experts point out that most of the sites are totally inaccessible and lack funds for exploration. The ministry has not said how volume two though I can not give much it is spending on the new you an exact date when it will be guides. Shasivar Haxhiaj, advi- published.” By Besiana Xharra sor to the minister, said only that it was nearly finished, and all the Developers threaten main archaeological locations ancient history: will be in it. he lost Illyriana and Roman Archaelogist Arben Hajdari While government investment city of Ulpiana is Kosovo’s says if the sites were made acces- in archaeology remains minimal, Trichest ancient site, an sible to visitors, they could pro- some archaeological experts say archeological wonderland full of vide much-needed revenue. buried treasure and myserious that operating on limited “Encouraging through graves. resources they have made some archeology is of great impor- For all that, the site on the out- progress. tance and Kosovo has sufficient skirts of Prishtina is almost “With the support of the archeological sites to attract visi- impossible for casual visitors to Ministry of Culture we have tors,” he said. find. implemented 20 excavation proj- “But while all developed coun- No sign marks the way, and it is ects during 2011 at various loca- tries invest in attracting tourism, virtually invisible from the main tions, attended by archaeologists in Kosovo unfortunately they road, which passes only a few from the country and abroad,” don’t,” he added. hundred metres from the fields Rexhaj, director of the More than six years ago, the that farmers still use. Archaeological Institute of Kosovo Archaeological Institute An excavation at castle of Harilaq The situation is ofen worse in Kosovo, said. began work on producing three dozens of other sites of interest But archeologist Hajdari says archaeological maps of Kosovo, Other import areas that with grassland or fields, sown in Kosovo, which remain largely that many promising sites covering different areas of the require further excavation are with wheat and corn. unexplored by experts and off- remain virtually unexplored and country. the castle at Harilaq, located Between 1950 and 1999, when the limits to tourists. some are at risk from develop- One has been published. about 3km from Pristina airport, Kosovo conflict ended, almost no This has not dampened the ment. Printed in 2006, it looked at the and another fort in the munici- work was carried out on the site. enthusiasm of the Ministry of Little work, he says, has been Drini i Bardhe river basin. pality of Sukareka. Since 2000 digs have revealed Culture, however, which is work- carried out at Cifllaku in the The Ministry of Culture, gold, graves, human skeletons, ing on a visitors’ guide to archae- Rahovec municipality of south- which is funding the project, last Ulpiana’s secrets remain pots and many other Roman ological sites in Kosovo. west Kosovo, for example, an year set aside 10,000 euros for the objects. “The guide would be good if important Roman site. hidden: others to be completed. In 2010, the Ministry of Culture the locations in it could be visit- “Cifllaku is one of the most began funding major excavation “Initially, the second volume The long-buried lllyrian and ed,” Shefqet Balla, author of sev- important sites from the Antique work at the site. was delayed by lack of funds,” Roman city of Ulpiana has been eral tourist guides to Kosovo, period in Kosovo,” he said. The Museum of Kosovo in col- Enver Rexhaj, director of the slowly revealing its secrets in said. “Excavations carried out here laboration with the Archaeological Institute of recent years, but most of the area “Otherwise, creating a guide in 2011 and 2004 provided excep- Archaeological Institute of Kosovo, said. remains unexplored. without being able to visit these tional results, but unfortunately Frankfurt continues to work on “But we have almost completed Although the location, nine kilo- places is meaningless,” he added. they haven’t continued in the the site but most of the area metres south of the capital, absence of financial support,” he remains unexplored. Pristina, near Gracanica, has long added. One problem is that much of the been known as a promising Digs at Cifllak during 2002 to local land remains in the hands of archaeological site, it is only being 2004 unearthed various construc- private owners, though Enver properly investigated now. tions from the 1st 2nd, 3rd and 4th Rexha said he was confident a deal Most of the site remains covered Centuries AD, indictating that would soon be made to solve this. this once was a Roman settle- ment. Another key site is Bardhoshi, home to Neolithic remains, Lost city wrecked by Slavs: which, according to Hajdari, “is s a major Illyrian settlement, Ulpiana is of great cultural among the most important [sites] importance for Albanians, as many historians believe of this period, not only in Kosovo AAlbanians descend from this ancient tribe. but further afield”. But it was not until the Romans arrived in the 1st century that the Excavations here could throw town developed into a city. In the 4th Century, Ulpiana was given the light on key aspects of life in the title of municipium, the second-highest class of Roman cities. Balkans in that period, he says. One of the key findings of researchers so far has been some 1st- But Hajdari fears that poten- Century Illyrian graves. Two skeletons found at the site have been tially important discoveries sent to for analysis. could be lost forever if construc- Ulpiana decayed as a result of barbarian attacks during the fall of tion continues nearby. the . In 500 AD, for example, Goths destroyed much of “I have information that con- the city. In 518 it was hit by an earthquake. struction of buildings has been Ulpiana was rebuilt in the 6th century under Emperor Justinian. allowed and that we are conse- But the 7th century spelt the end of Ulpiana as a great city when it quently in danger of losing a very was destroyed by the conquering Slavs. Archaelogists fear that sites may be lost because of a lack of investment. important location,” he added. Bosnian Serb Ministers Oppose Visas for Kosovars Independent Social Democrats, the Kosovo issue, Ahmetovic told are in Belgrade,” he said. cal careers on issues like SNSD, and the Serbian Balkan Insight, adding that The only information made Kosovo,” he said. "The only thing Democratic Party, SDS, argued Serbia seems more progressive public on the Kosovo discussion we should do is enable all citi- By Elvira Jukic against giving Kosovo citizens than Bosnia when it comes to on Thursday was that the zens of Kosovo who want to to, to visas to visit Bosnia, Security dealing with the Kosovo issue. Foreign Ministry is obliged to come to Bosnia according to our Minister Sadik Ahmetovic told “While Serbia has opened mull possible solutions to the Law on Movement and Stay of reporters in Sarajevo after a gov- talks on some elementary issues dilemma by the next government Foreigners and Asylum.” erbian ministers in new gov- ernment session where the sub- such as the movement of people, session, but says Ahmetovic no Bosnia and is the ernment quash talk of giving ject came up. crossing borders and other issues solution is likely to be brought only former Yugoslav republic SKosovars right to visit Y The discussion revealed the important for daily life, some- soon. apart from Serbia that has not Bosnia. M opposing standpoints of minis- times we are making a bigger “The problem is that certain recognized Kosovo as an inde- Ministers of Bosnia's two main C ters in the new government on problem out of it here than they people are building their politi- pendent country. Serbian parties, the Alliance of K 6 March 2 - 15, 2012 news Microsoft Swallows Up Millions of Kosovo Government Funds Kosovo Government has spent more than 8 million euro buying licences for Microsoft products since 2008, despite the existence of alternative, free software platforms. form isn’t totally free in the sense Kosovo are those which are used that a user still requires paid-for by all of the institutions in technical support but that there is Kosovo: from basic products such By Parim Olluri no need to pay millions of euro for as MS Word, MS Outlook, to serv- the software program licences. er products such as Exchange etc,” He says that open software plat- added Shufta. forms have been looked at in In terms of open software plat- few years ago, Macedonia and Macedonia, which forms which do not require pay- forced the software giant have created guidelines for public ment for a licence, MPA spoke- AMicrosoft to provide institutions to consider these woman said that the Government licences for its products for free. It alternatives. is considering them but that it is a had threatened to use the Linux, Many other countries in the process which takes time. open source, platform in school world, according to him, already The answer whether alterna- facilities use this software. tives had been considered prior to Other countries, states and “Brazil, the public institutions the first licences in 2008. organisations have also been of the Spanish region of embracing the open source move- Extremaduras, the Ministry of ment for financial and ethical rea- Former Senior Government Defence of France, the administra- son. Official – A Representative tion and schools of the Indian But in Kosovo, it appears that state of Chenai, schools of of Microsoft this option was not even on the Geneva, the administration of He did not want to talk about the because that agreement with table when the government signed Munich – these are a few good Former government advisor number of companies which are Microsoft is an EAS’s (Enterprise up to Microsoft in 2008.. examples of who has made the Agim Beka, the Microsoft repre- Microsoft partners. “You have to Agreement Subscription) and And Prishtina Insight has dis- transition to free software,” sentative for Kosovo, did not want ask them if they have documents according to the Microsoft regula- covered that during the purchase Dobroshi pointed out. to talk about Government con- that confirm them to be partners tion it was for the duration of of licences in 2010, the govern- “Open code and free software is tracts with this global company of Microsoft,” he said, referring to three years,” said the Ministry. ment negotiated directly with one able to fulfil all the standard neither the contract awarded with- other firms. “In a nutshell, the contract with supplier, despite the presence of requirements of an administra- out tender, which the Ministry of the company which was the con- competitors, a deal worth two mil- tion,” he said. Public Administration signed in MPA Signed 2 million euro tractor signed in 2008 by the MPA lion euro. Dobroshi also claims that Linux 2010 with the “Asseco See” compa- was continued.” Arian Dobroshi, head of the deal without tender is more advanced than Microsoft ny based in Warsaw. “The amount of 2.3 million euro FLOSSK, an association which Windows 7 in many aspects. The “I cannot comment on the value is as part of the new one-year con- lobbies for the use of open source The Ministry of Public free equivalent to Microsoft Office of the contracts and tenders,” said tract signed in late 2010 given software, said he sees no justifica- Administration, in 2008, declared 2010 is not quite up to the same Beka, when asked whether other MPA’s requirements and needs,” tion for Kosovo’s approach. the firm Pronet the winner of an standard, but, according to him, it Microsoft partners were being dis- said Ilir Shehu, a sales manager at “The acquisition of licences for open tender for the supply of covers all the requirements of an criminated against given that no the “Asseco See” group. software that already exist in open Microsoft licences. above-average user. tender had been held. The initial was signed in late and free sources cannot be justi- Back then; this company was But Beka has insisted that 2008 according to him and was a fied neither financially, for eco- given 1.9 million euro for this con- choosing Microsoft is the only. “framework” type of contract with nomic development, nor in related Tied to Microsoft tact. The same amount was paid in “The mere fact that Microsoft is the duration of two years, not the technical aspect,” aaid 2009. The used by 95 percent of the world three. Dobroshi. In 2010, MPA signed a public says, on the other hand, that it is makes it needless to comment on Safet Hoxha, head of the Public Especially, he adds, when you contract with the company obliged to pay millions of euro to this,” said Beka. Procurement Regulatory are talking about poor country “Asseco See” based in Warsaw, Microsoft. He is a former senior official of Commission, says the law allows such as Kosovo. Poland, which in 2009 acquired a “The Government of Kosovo is the government. Until 2005, Beka for procurement without open ten- The Ministry of Public 100 percent of stake in Pronet. obliged to pay the licence to use worked as head of Information der if the contract is based on the Administration, since 2008, has The contract with Asseco See Microsoft products otherwise the Technology in the Office of the duration of 2+1 years. spent more than 8.5 million euro came in at 2.3 million euro and Government would be using pirat- Prime Minister. Currently, the Government’s on purchasing Microsoft licences. MPA used a single source tender, ed products,” said Birsen Shufta, “My commitment to work as a contractor for Microsoft licences In 2008 alone the ministry spent 1.9 despite the fact that many compa- spokeswoman for the Ministry of representative of Microsoft is not is the private company “Cactus” million euro for such licences. nies in Kosovo sell Microsoft prod- Public Administration. related to my work in the Office of which won an open tender in late It spent the same amount in ucts. Currently, according to her, all the Prime Minister. The Ministry 2011. This company's offer was just 2009. In 2010 the Ministry spent a According to MPA, an open ten- Microsoft product licences are in of Public Administration is the over 2.4 million euro. little more by signing a contract der procedure was not applied use. one which decided on the tenders. Asseco See in the same tender worth 2.3 million euro. And because it was a continuation of “The types of Microsoft’s In the Prime Minister’s Office we was declared winner for the sec- towards the end of 2011, it signed a the earlier contract. licences which are bought by the did not have any influence regard- ond lot, which was linked to the contract valued at 2.5 million euro. “In 2010 we extended the con- Government of the Republic of ing the tenders,” said Beka. provision of consultancy services. Dobroshi said the Linux plat- tract which was signed in 2008 Court to Decide on Kosovo Mayor Jail's Term The mayor of Ferizaj, Bajrush Xhemajli, will find out on March 8 whether he will be sent to jail to serve his two-and-a-half-year sentence for dangerous driving, which resulted in the death of another driver in 2009.

ed by the defence lawyers after should be dismissed from his Pristhina District Court on post and sent to jail for the acci- By Fatmir Aliu November 2010 found the mayor dent that involved three vehicles guilty of causing a car accident on May 2009 on the Prishtina- that resulted in the death of one Skopje highway. person. The earlier verdict said that osovo’s Supreme Court is The state of Kosovo's judici- Xhemajli, by not respecting traf- set to decide on March 8 on ary remains a source of concern fic rules and exceeding the Kwhether the Mayor of to the European Union. Its speed limit, lost control of his Ferizaj, Bajrush Xhemajli, will be impartiality in trials is open to vehicle, hit the highway barri- sent to serve his two-and-a-half- question, and organized crime, ers and had a frontal collision year jail term for causing the corruption, drug trafficking and with a car whose driver died on death of a passenger in a car acci- money laundering are still seen the spot. dent. Y as rife in the country. Other vehicles collided in the It took more than a year for the If the decision of the District pile-up, causing injuries to sev- M Supreme Court to set a date for Court is confirmed by the eral other victims, four of C the hearing, which was request- K Supreme Court, Xhemajli which were serious. Ferizaj mayor Xhemajli faces a long jail term following the fatal crash. business March 2 - 15, 2012 7 Kosovars Fear Energy Price Rises Cash-strapped Kosovars say a 23 per cent increase in the cost of electricity will put fur- ther pressure on the family purse. and heating. “Such tariff increases should “So you can imagine what life be made after taking into account we have. My son is abroad and the standard of living, and not By Besiana Xharra helps me, because otherwise I without analysis of the impact could not pay these bills.” [as has been done now,” said Economics graduate Said Limani. osovo Energy Nimani receives a salary of 200 Agron Demi, from the Institute Corporation, KEK, has euro a month – just 50 euro below for Advanced Studies, GAP, says Kannounced that from the national average – for his that KEK needs to increase tariffs April 1 electricity prices will rise supermarket job. because of its bad management by 23 per cent. “Electricity tariffs can be paid of the corporation. Customers and economic afforded by only a very small According to Demi, KEK is experts told Prishtina Insight that minority of the citizens of increasing prics because it has the price increase will hit strug- Kosovo – businessmen, those failed to combat power theft. gling families hard and ques- high officials of the government, “If KEK was well managed, tioned the rational for the rise. or the ones who don’t have to and had fought electricity theft, KEK argues that it has little Bills will rise by 23 per cent in April worry about money. there would be no need to choice given that the government “The majority of the citizens of increase tariffs,” said Demi. subsidised electricity consumers, is reducing its subsidies to the Kosovo have my salary, while Viktor Buzhala, KEK " he said explain further. Regional Electricity Prices publicly owned firm, which it many others don’t work at all, so spokesperson, said tariff Buzhala added that Kosovo hopes soon to offload to private how can we pay for electricity in increase were unavoidable as the retained the lowest electricity According to the Association of investors. these conditions?” government had cut its subsidy to prices in the region. Energy Regulators of Energy, ERRA, Pensioner Rasim Hoxha, 68, The standard of living in the state-owned firm. The government is in the the only entity which measures prices said he would not be able to sur- Kosovo is getting worse for many He said that KEK needed to process of privatisation both the from across the region, Kosovo the vive if he was not receiving people and this price hike is like- raise 239 million euro from cus- production and distribution of cheapest rates in the region. remittances from his son. ly to make things worse, said tomers – an increase of 45 million electricity. “I receive a pension of 80 euro [ Musa Limani, an expert on eco- euro on last year– which repre- If plans to build a new coal- Serbia - 6.90 euro cents/ kilowatt, a month], while tariffs for elec- nomic issues. sented a 23 per cent increase in fired power plant get the go- - 7.37 euro cent / kilowatt tricity in the winter are around "With the current prices of prices. ahead, prices are expected to rise Macedonia - 6.78 euro cent / kilowatt 60 euros, so almost all my pen- other financial obligations, the “The government cannot con- even further so the private Albania - 7.21 euro cent/ kilowatt sion, and on top of that there are standard of living for citizens tinue to subsidise the electricity investors can recoup their capi- Kosovo - 4.95 euro cent / kilowatt other fees, such as water, rubbish will sink even more,” he said. sector, which, for many years, has tal. (before the increase) Indictment New PTK Chief Against Airport is Former PDK Director Councillor IR BP is suing Limak, the new tender for the refuelling serv- Ejup Qerimi, who was appointed head of Kosovo’s most firm which runs Kosovo’s ice and notified AIR BP LTD that Ainternational airport, and it was no longer required to sup- lucrative publicly owned firm, PTK, last week, was a its director Omar Sozener over ply clients at Prishtina councillor for the governing Democratic Party of Kosovo, claims it has not been allowed to International Airport with withdraw its airplane petrol refu- kerosene and petrol, which it has PDK, until 2007. eller. done since 2001. obstacle to lead a public company The lawsuit against the compa- AIR BP filed a private lawsuit on but said he had not been hired for ny has recently been expanded to February 24, 2012, in the Municipal his political affiliations. include Limak’s general director, Court of Lipjan. By Parim Olluri “I still have not officially taken Ejup Qerimi, former PDK councillor. Omer Sozener. Plaintiff, AIR BP LTD claims up office,” he said. He said he Three sessions have already that Prishtina airport has not would leave it to the legal office of now Minister of Economic been held in the Municipal Court allowed it removed its equipment. the PTK to “clarify the situation.” Development, who is responsible erimi, who represented the of Lipjan. In the last judicial review, held PTK said in a statement that it for leading the privatisation of PDK between 2002 and 2007 The case comes after the consor- on February 24, the hearing was had made a shortlist of six candi- PTK. Qerimi later filed a lawsuit Qin Gjilan, was voted unani- dates before choosing Qerimi. against his dismissal. tium Limak-Aeroport de Lyon, postponed indefinitely because the mously to the post of PTK’s board He had earlier worked as secre- He was also project manager for which recently took over the run- plaintiffs had not filed the lawsuit last week. tary to the Kosovo Chamber of IPKO, PTK’s main competitor in ning of the airport, announced a in Turkish. The move followed the resigna- Commerce, where he was dis- the telecom industry and had been tion of Shyqyri Haxha in missed at the request of Besim a member of the board of the November last year. Haxha faces a Beqaj, then chairman of KCC and Kosovo Pension Savings Trust. trial as part of a probe into the signing of a contract for a third mobile phone operator in Kosovo, but stepped down because of "obstacles in realising his vision for the development of the corpo- ration”. Rexhe Gjonbalaj, chairman of the board, told Prishtina Insight that he did not want to comment on the new chief executive’s polit- ical history. “I do not know if there are con- flicts with the law with this or not,” he said. “I do not want to comment on this issue, “ said Gjonbalaj, also a former council- Y lor for the PDK. M Qerimi said he did not know C The managers of Prishtina Airport face a long court battle. whether his PDK “roots” were an PTK is in the process of being privatised. K 8 March 2 - 15, 2012 neighbourhood business Regulation Row Freezes Investment in Albania Power An executive from CEZ Shperndarje, Albania’s largest power utility, says disputes over a regulatory framework are blocking release of a key investment loan in the dilapidated power grid. To ease privatization of the power sec- tor, the government unbundled it into three companies. These were the Albania Power By Besar Likmeta Corporation, KESH, the electricity pro- ducer, OSSH, operating as the distributor, and Operatori is Sistemit te Transmetimit ith 1.2 million customers connected OST, as the transmission operator. to a power grid that has been In September 2008 a majority stake in Wunderperforming for decades, it is OSSH was bought by CEZ, which promised no surprise that CEZ Shperndarje, local to invest 200 million euro over four years, subsidiary of the Czech power giant, CEZ once the level of losses had been audited. group, is not very popular with Albanian In the sale contract, the government and consumers. CEZ agreed on the need for a regulatory Since it gained 76 per cent of the shares declaration by the ERE that would deter- in Operatori i Sistemit te Shperndarjes, mine both the state’s and the company’s OSSH, its state-owned predecessor in 2009, obligations from the transfer of the com- CEZ Shperndarje has been dogged by com- pany to CEZ in 2009 until 2014. plaints of poor performance and a recent This regulatory declaration stipulated investigation into its billing practices. that CEZ had to reduce losses by 15 per However, Erideta Bashi, the General cent by 2014 through investments. Director of Administration, says the con- Meanwhile, the government was to ditions that CEZ inherited from the OSSH reflect the value of those investments in in 2009 were far worse than they had antic- the electricity price tariff, in order for the ipated, and that the company’s transition company to be able to afford them. to a new management has not been easy. According to the declaration, CEZ had CEZ says the network it inherited is in worst shape than it had anticipated. She underlines that the grid needs a to reduce losses by 9 per cent in the last reflect the real situation. EBRD and the International Finance good deal of investment if the company is three years. The year’s delay in approving the audit Corporation, IFC, the money has been to tackle the current, unacceptably high This has not happened. The company meanwhile meant that investments in the only partially disbursed. levels of loss and theft. says losses remain high is because they grid were frozen during that time. A condition of the loan was that the new But she also say this is being blocked by were higher than the government declared “If the ERE accepts a higher level of regulatory declaration in 2014 would have Albania’s Energy Regulatory Agency, ERE them to be in the beginning, when CEZ losses it automatically comes under pres- the same terms as the current regulatory and its lack of commitment to a realistic bought the OSSH. sure to raise the electricity price tariff to environment. regulatory framework. “The level of losses we found was higher reflect the real costs to the company,” Part of the condition was also that ERE “Every bank funding an investment than the declared level of losses, which is Bashi explained. recognizes the bad debts the company has evaluates its return, and in this case it has why we asked for the level of reduction of “But without a clear idea of the losses in accumulated over the years from non-pay- to have an idea of how the electricity tar- losses to be rescheduled,” Bashi said. the grid, we could not draft a plan for ing consumers and state-owned enterpris- iffs will be regulated,” Bashi said. “The plan [to reduce losses by 15 per investments,” she added. es. “Every investment has to be paid for cent by 2014] was too ambitious and the According to Bashi Albanian electricity The ERE has so far refused to recognize through [electricity] the prices that we col- company could not attract the money nec- prices need to rise by 2-5 per cent every this bad debt, estimated at 150 million lect and both the company and the regula- essary to complete it,” she added. year if the utility company is to meet the euro, arguing that the debt owed by state- tory agency have to strike a balance,” she When the OSSH was sold in 2008, CEZ targets concerning reducing losses in the owned enterprises is potentially recover- added. and the ERE agreed to hire a consultant to grid. able. Albania’s power sector has not seen evaluate the de facto level of electricity But consumers loathe price hikes and As a result, in the third quarter of 2011, major investment since the early Eighties, losses in the grid. the regulatory agency has rejected CEZ the CEZ received only a disbursement of a when the cash-strapped Communist But when the consultant’s report in 2009 Shperndarje’s proposals for a hike in 2011 third of the EBRD and IFC loan. regime stopped putting money into new showed that the level of losses was higher and 2012. “We have asked for letters of commit- power plants. that the government had declared during “We are aware that not all our cus- ment [on the regulatory framework] from After the collapse of Communism, the the sale of the company, the ERE refused tomers can afford the price hikes but it’s the ERE to execute the loan, but the growth of a consumer society meant that to sign it off. up to the government to protect the most agency has yet to respond,” Bashi demand for electricity grew rapidly, while The consultant declared that the level of vulnerable through subsidies,” Bashi said. explained. its underinvested power grid came under losses was 40 per cent, whereas the gov- In 2010, CEZ Shperndarje stuck to the “If the guarantees required by the increasing strain. ernment had maintained it was only 32 per investment targets detailed in the sale banks are not fulfilled the disbursement of The poor management record of the cent. contract. But in 2011 the company was not the loan remains frozen,” she added. publicly run power sector convinced the According to Bashi a heated debate took able to secure funding from banks to meet Without the extra cash, meanwhile, the government to privatize electricity distri- place between the CEZ and ERE over the its target. CEZ is unable to invest in the power grid, bution in 2008. report. Although CEZ Shperndarje on July 1, which, according to the company, would Over 30 per cent of all the electricity cir- The regulatory agency finally accepted 2011 secured a loan over 12 years for €100 enable it to significantly reduce the power culating in the grid at the time was being a level of loss level of 33 per cent in 2010, million, co-financed by the European cuts that consumers face today. lost to thieves or technical glitches. but the company says this still does not Bank of Reconstruction and Development, New Low Cost Flights from Belgrade to European Cities

rom this year, budget go twice a week, on Mondays and From September 18, Air One flights from Belgrade’s Fridays. Arrivals from the will fly three times a week to FNikola Tesla Airport to Danish capital are scheduled at Milan, on Tuesdays, Thursdays Copenhagen and Milan. 12.10pm, with flights from and Saturdays. The Norwegian low-cost air- Belgrade departing at 12.40pm. According to airport manage- line, Norwegian Air Shuttle, will The launch of the Belgrade – ment, the flights from Milan will start operating between Belgrade Copenhagen route is scheduled land in the Serbian capital at and Copenhagen in May, while for May 4 and tickets cost from 55 around 9.20am and fly back to Y Italian company Air One will euro to 70 euro. Norwegian Air at 10am. M offer budget flights to Milan from Shuttle will use Boeing 737-800 Return tickets will cost about C September. planes, which have a capacity of 80 euro. Air One uses Airbus K The flights to Copenhagen will 186 seats. A320 planes. neighbourhood news March 2 - 15, 2012 9 Macedonia 'Losing Corruption Fight', NGO Says Macedonians are paying up to a billion euros in bribes each year as their country loses the fight against corruption, an anti-corruption watchdog organization claims. half the revenue of the national Prosecutor failed to instigate a sin- budget for 2011, which was worth gle case related to corruption since 2.3 billion euro. the beginning of this year”, By Sinisa Jakov In its 2011 report on corruption Deleva complained. Marusic published last week, In another survey undertaken Transparency Macedonia says last year, the UN Office on Drugs that institutions such the Public and Crime put Macedonia on top he Skopje-based NGO Prosecution, the State Audit Office in the Balkans in terms of the Transparency Macedonia and the State Anti-Corruption amount of bribes that people pay Tsays that official bodies Commission are not doing enough on average per year for access to tasked with fighting corruption to combat such practices. public services: 470 euro. are not doing nearly enough to The NGO cites the last annual Macedonia says it is clamping combat a widespread culture of report by the State Audit Office for down hard on graft. The last few bribery. 2010. Of 1.5 billion euro worth of years have seen spectacular mass “The findings of the State public procurement projects arrests of doctors, pay toll officers Statistical Office show that Serbia has yet to declare whether it will hold parliamentary . inspected that year, some €500 mil- and police believed to be involved Macedonians each year pay about lion worth were deemed potential- in corrupt acts. a billion euro in bribes sought ly corrupt by the office in spite of But critics dismiss these as from them,” the NGO’s executive which no investigations were stunts, saying that the state has director, Ana Janevska-Deleva, launched or charges pressed. not tackled the high-level corrup- Serbia Hints at noted, pointing to the scale of the Despite many indications of tion that eats away most of the problem. possible corruption, “the Public money. By comparison, this is almost Excluding Kosovo Montenegro MPs Launch From Polls Belgrade is yet to decide on whether to extend elections to Telekom Bribe Probe Serb-run northern parts of Kosovo, but more and more With the help of a minor partner in the coalition government, parliament approved an officials appear cool about the idea lest it wrecks the opposition call to investigate corruption in the sale of the state-owned telecom company. country's EU candidacy bid. Kosovo in 1999. The SDP appeared to have ities were pushed to react after The resolution does not preju- changed its mind after the DPS Deutsche Telekom and Magyar dice Serbia's claim to the territory. refused to consider its planned Telekom reached a settlement By Bojana Barlovac Nor does it shed much light on By Milena Milosevic amendments to a law on interior with the US Securities and BIRN Belgrade whether Serbia has any right to affairs, which was also on Exchange Commission in hold local elections there. Tuesday’s parliamentary agenda. December 2011 and agreed to pay Holding local elections in the he opposition initiative to Details about alleged corruption $95 million to settle allegations erbian officials have started north, where Serbs run four launch a probe into alleged in the privatisation of that they had violated anti-corrup- moving away from the idea of municipalities, is especially prob- Tcorruption in the privatisa- including Serb-run parts of Montenegro's state-owned tion regulations in their dealings S lematic, as they will be seen to tion of Montenegrin Telekom in Kosovo from the country's next telecommunications company in Montenegro and Macedonia. reinforce Serbian-run, so-called 2005 passed on Tuesday with the round of national and local elec- were made public in a complaint The SDP’s backing of the oppo- "parallel institutions" already votes of nine MPs of the Social tions due in spring. filed by the US Securities and sition initiative has further com- operating there. Democratic Party, SDP, a coalition Oliver Ivanovic, State Secretary Exchange Commission. plicated relations within the These post offices, schools and partner of the ruling Democratic in the Serbian Ministry for In the complaint, the US author- Montenegrin ruling coalition, municipal administrations ignore Party of Socialists, DPS. Kosovo, says holding elections in ities claimed that the executives of which is already troubled by dis- the Kosovo government and The SDP vote came as a sur- Kosovo would be tricky as it Magyar Telekom bribed agreements over government poli- depend for support and money on prise. Hours before the vote, required the full consent of inter- Montenegrin government officials cy towards the heavily indebted Belgrade. Ranko Krivokapic, the SDP chair- national factors. The election question comes at a man, told Montenegro's public with more than 7 million euro to Podgorica Aluminium Plant, KAP. “I don’t think it is technically delicate time, when EU foreign broadcaster that a parliamentary facilitate the purchase of Due to an overloaded parliamen- possible to organise elections ministers are about to decide on probe was not a good idea, adding Montenegro Telekom on tary agenda, a parliamentary vote [there] without the consent of the whether to grant Serbia candidate that the state prosecutor should favourable terms. on the KAP’s rescue plan was post- international community because status on February 28. first handle the issue. Montenegrin public and author- poned for Wednesday. [the UN authority in Kosovo] Candidacy is the key card that UNMIK and other international the current Democrat-led coalition organisations have control of the in Belgrade intends to play in the territory,” Ivanovic said. spring elections. The Serbian parliament's speak- Abandoning parallel insititu- er, Slavica Djukic Dejanovic, also tions was a condition that cited the international community Germany set for Serbia during as an obstacle against including German Chancellor Angela Kosovo in the elections. Merkel's visit to Belgrade last “Serbia is obliged by its consti- August, if Serbia wants to pursue tution to include Kosovo in elec- EU integration. tions but the realisation of the Serbia has already taken steps elections is delicate due to certain to quieten agitation among Serbs segments of [1999] UN Security in northern Kosovo. Last week Council Resolution 1244 that Belgrade flatly dismissed as irrele- require cooperation with the inter- vant an unofficial referendum in national community,” Djukic northern Kosovo, where locals Dejanovic said. were asked whether they accepted Kosovo unilaterally declared or rejected the institutions of the independence from Serbia in government of Kosovo. February 2008 but Serbia's 2006 Belgrade said the vote had constitution states that Kosovo authority, nor did it serve any pur- remains part of its territory. pose, as the opposition of local UN Resolution 1244 authorised Serbs to the ethnic Albanian-run an international civil and military institutions of Kosovo was already Magyar Telekom, part of Deutsche Telekom, is alleged to have bribed Montenegrin officials. presence to assume control of known. 10 March 2 - 15, 2012 feature

Job-Hungry Macedonians Set Sights on Gulf Move over Iraq. Qatar and the oil-rich Gulf states are now the destinations of choice for Macedonia’s mobile army of skilled but unemployed workers.

ernment signed an agreement to many as 500,000 Macedonians “Demand is changing. Two Aleksandra Licoska from the send workers to Qatar. Once the may have taken temporary jobs years ago everybody wanted to go Ministry of Labour and Social two parliaments have approved it, abroad over the past 20 years. to Iraq or Afghanistan. We used Policy says. By Sinisa Jakov Marusic the government in Skopje hopes it Boris’s hometown of to have more than 2,000 The conditions for the Qatar will create jobs for thousands of Kumanovo, home to some 100,000 Macedonians at any given time deal look favourable but it is still Macedonians. people, as well as some other working in Iraq,” an Ecolog man- not clear exactly how many work- “If an opportunity come up to impoverished areas, has seen a ager explained to Prishtina ers will be engaged, she adds. There is no work here, no leave for Qatar, I will not hesitate considerable exodus of workers Insight. “They will first have to send us prospects for the future. What to go!” Boris says. in recent years. Work in war-torn countries like the quotas, and the profiles they “is there to stay for?” asks 38 Workers have their eyes trained Sunaj Mustafa, spokesperson Iraq or Afghanistan was always year-old electrician Boris are looking for, then we will get on Qatar and the oil-rich coun- for the municipality, says they risky. Berezanovski. local companies to start apply- tries of the Persian Gulf | photo have no exact data on how many In October 2006, four He is one of many people in the ing,” Licoska continues. by: Amjara people are working abroad today. Macedonians recruited by Ecolog poor, north-eastern Macedonian The ministry says the deal is Like many of his compatriots, “But they must be in the thou- were kidnapped and executed by town of Kumanovo who have gone not confined to younger workers. he gave up hope of finding a sands,” he says. “Almost every Taliban forces in Afghanistan. abroad for work in the past and To apply, you only need a knowl- decent job in Macedonia long ago. house in town and in the sur- The whole country was shocked. who are looking to do the same in edge of English and a keen desire Before leaving for Iraq, he says rounding villages has some fami- Nowadays, however, the source future. to work. he took various temporary jobs, ly member working in Western added, “we are more focused on Boris spent two years in Iraq, On top of that, Qatar is appar- from electrician to printing press Europe, Afghanistan or in other emerging markets [than war working in the desert for a subcon- ently offering one-way tickets, operator, never earning more countries.” zones]; on rich countries in the tractor to the US Army. places to stay and tickets back than 150 euro a month. Many people lost their last Persian Gulf and on Asian coun- Many people might shudder at home for a 15-day holiday within He earned many times that steady jobs in the 1990s when the tries like Indonesia and Taiwan”. the prospect of going to a war the first three months. amount - around 3,000 dollars a big state-run factories started Demand is high for all sorts of zone for a job – but Boris says he “The agreement is already month - while in Iraq. Much of it closing. professions and crafts, the manag- would gladly return there had the before the Macedonian parlia- he saved and he is now in a posi- At that time the economy was er continued, from engineers and US military not pulled out of the ment and we expect its approval tion to consider buying a new flat hit hard by the turbulent breakup IT experts to medical staff, electri- country. by the end of March,” Licoska for himself and his partner. of the old Yugoslav federation – cians, plumbers, heavy duty explained. Thousands of Macedonians are “The work was hard, often ten Macedonia had been one of six machinery operators, cooks and Igor Levkovski, a 40-year-old just like Boris - feeling hung out or more hours a day, but I received constituent republics. construction workers. to dry by the stagnant local econo- fair treatment and a salary I State companies that had sup- Scouting companies usually geologist from Tetovo now work- my, and leaving the country each couldn’t dream of getting in plied goods to other Yugoslav provide one-year work contracts ing as a taxi driver in Skopje, sees year in search of a better life. Macedonia,” he recalled. republics lost their markets and and if the worker matches the the deal with Qatar as a good The retreat of the Western mil- Macedonia has struggled for were unable to find alternatives. company’s criteria they get a per- opportunity. itary from Iraq and Afghanistan decades with an unemployment The growing pool of unused centage for finding him. The only In the 1990s he got a job in the has closed off work opportunities rate of over 30 per cent, which is labour, meanwhile, drew interest prerequisite for applying is a then state-run Jugohrom metal in that sector while the global eco- high even by the standards of the from foreign recruiters. decent working knowledge of and building materials factory nomic crisis has reduced options rest of the Balkans, with the For almost ten years the inter- English. near his town. in the US, Canada and Western exception of Kosovo. national logistics company “You won’t get rich overnight”, But after three years in the job Europe. In a country of about 2.1 mil- Ecolog has been one of the says Boris, “but it’s an opportuni- the factory closed and when it But closures in one part of the lion, that means some 390,000 biggest such recruiters in ty for qualified and diligent work- reopened several years ago he was world usually mean openings unemployed people. Macedonia. ers to make a good salary.” no longer needed. elsewhere; Macedonia’s ambi- Those in permanent work earn Working as a subcontractor for Now the government is trying “Since I graduated I have only tious expatriate workers current- can expect to take home an aver- the US, British and German to take a more active role in plac- worked as a geologist for three Y ly have their eyes trained on age of 300 euro a month. armed forces, the company’s ing would-be workers abroad, years,” Levkovski lamented. M Qatar and the oil-rich countries of In the absence of official data, office in Tetovo, western hence the labour deal with Qatar. “My mistake is that I hesitated C the Persian Gulf. some estimates conducted last Macedonia, has sent thousands of “We are doing everything in for too long and did not apply for a K Last summer Macedonia’s gov- year by local media suggest as workers abroad. our power to get fresh jobs,” job abroad earlier,” he added. feature March 2 - 15, 2012 11 Serb Gangsters Hole up in South Africa As Latin America becomes increasingly ‘hot’ for Serbian crime gangs, South Africa is becoming the sanctuary of choice.

identification, seeking confirmation of whether he was there. But they have not received a response. By Gordana Andric Lt Colonel Mike Barkhuizen, of the South African Police, told the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, OCCPR, a net- alkan criminals are increasingly work of investigative journalists, on seeking refuge in South Africa, after February 17, that they have no evidence police bust two major Serb-run crime B whether Šarić is or was in the country. gangs smuggling drugs from South “He may be but we have no evidence or any- America, and after Serbia signed a key thing factual at all that would indicate he is memorandum of understanding with Brazil. here,” he’s quoted. “A few years ago you could go to Argentina McIntosh Polela, a spokesperson for the or Brazil and just disappear. No one would elite South African police unit for organised look for you and you could keep doing busi- crime said police were still verifying whether ness,” a source with links to the Serbian Saric was in the country. crime world told BIRN. However, a year ago, in March 2011, the “But things have changed and many people South African Mail & Guardian reported that South Africa is becoming a popular sanctuary for the Serbian underworld. who were there are now moving on,” he an investigation was underway into suspected local authorities, the police official confirmed Bosnian passport. added. links between Saric and a Czech fugitive in that Balkan criminals enjoy the protection of He was arrested and identified after “South Africa is the place they go to, at least South Africa, Radovan Krejcir. local South African criminal groups. Beeka’s own murder in February 2011. for a time.” South African police did not respond to Serbian fugitive Dobrosav Gavric, sen- In an article entitled “Krejcir, Gavric… how A senior Serbian police officer confirmed Prishtina Insight’s inquiry regarding any tenced in Serbia in 2006 to 35 years’ jail for the the McMafia came to South Africa” published that South Africa is becoming the new base of alleged links between Krejcir and Saric by the 2000 murder of gangster Zeljko Raznatovic on January 6th, Mail & Guardian journalist choice for Serbia’s fugitive gangsters. time of publication. “” was arrested in Cape Town in mid- Sam Sole wrote that transnational crime “They can feel quite safe there. We do not The Czech fugitive was detained in South December 2011. groups, for which he uses crime author Misha have particularly firm relations with South Africa on February 12th in connection with In his written statement submitted to the Glenny’s term “McMafia”, are starting to Africa, or contacts,” he said. an armed robbery along with another Serb, South African court, Gavric said he had felt home in on South Africa. Balkan fugitives can also expect to get pro- Veselin Laganin. safe there because of his friendship with Cyril “The detritus of Central Europe is starting tection there from local crime bosses. Krejcir, convicted of fraud, kidnapping and Beeka, manager of several security compa- to wash up on our shores, attracted by our Lat Am no longer safe bet Serbian crimi- corruption in the Czech Republic, came to nies providing protection to Cape Town clubs, weak criminal justice system, our vulnerable nals began realising that Latin America was South Africa on a false passport in 2007 and pubs and escort agencies. political and bureaucratic classes and a con- no longer a safe haven a few years ago. became an influential figure in South Africa’s “I regarded Cyril as a friend. I heard he was stitutional framework that offers ludicrously A major jolt came in October 2009, when organised crime world. connected to the police and felt that if there easy entry and asylum for those able to retain Serbian Security Services and the US Drug Since then South African prosecutors have was ever a threat to me and my family I would the best lawyers,” he said. Enforcement Agency seized 2.1 tons of high- launched two separate cases against him, one be warned,” he said in the statement. “They are also driven by tightening regula- quality cocaine bound for the Balkans off the in March 2011 for insurance fraud and anoth- Gavric fled Serbia in 2006, just before the tion and enforcement back home - as the coast of Uruguay. er for armed robbery. court delivered its verdict on Arkan’s murder, European party comes to an end with a giant This seizure led to an investigation into an He was released on bail on February 17, five and had been living in South Africa since 2008 fiscal hangover,” wrote Sole. alleged criminal group led by businessman days after the arrest. under the name of Sasa Kovacevic with a Darko Saric, who is of Montenegrin origin But during Krejcir’s appearance in court but holds Serbian citizenship. last March, prosecutor Riegel du Toit said marketing The contraband appeared destined for Krejcir should not be released on bail as he Western Europe via Montenegro and Serbia. posed a treat to witnesses. Since 2009, Serbian police have arrested Du Toit said prosecutors had information dozens of suspected members of Saric’s gang that two Serbian hitmen had arrived in South though Saric himself is still at large. A war- Africa on Krejcir’s request, apparently on a rant has been issued for his arrest. mission to eliminate people willing to testify Another blow to the Serbian crime fraterni- about Krejcir’s involvement in other criminal ty in Latin America was the arrest in Brazil activities. last May of Goran Nesic, allegedly smuggling According to BIRN’s sources in the South drugs from South America, along with 17 oth- African prosecution service, Krejcir counts ers. numerous Serbs among his associates. At the time, Jovan Stojic from the Serbian Security Information Agency, told Belgrade’s Trend began years ago B92 TV and radio that South America was one of the main sanctuaries for Serbian organised BIRN source with links to the Serbian crime groups. crime world says Serbian criminals started But in June 2010 the Serbian Interior seeing South Africa as a good hiding place Ministry and the Justice Ministry of Brazil some time ago. signed a memorandum of understanding on The source recalled that Goran Bojovic, strengthening police cooperation. wanted for several murders in Serbia, is Since the arrests of the Saric gang mem- believed to have been hiding in South Africa bers, of Nesic, and the signing of the agree- for a decade. ment, the good times for Serbian criminals in “Since South America is not a safe option South America seem to have come to an end. any more, there are fewer and fewer alterna- The Serbian police source explained that tives,” the same source explained. the memorandum has enabled Serbia’s police He said Balkan criminals found it easy to to communicate directly with Brazilian coun- obtain false documents to enter South Africa. terparts and react faster to information on Once there, they find the connections that will Serbian fugitives. keep police at a distance. “We’re letting them know that we are in “For the right amount of money, you can control, that we are present in South buy your peace. On the other hand, the South America,” the source said. African authorities are not under pressure Soon after the arrests in Brazil and the sign- from the Serbian police,” the source contin- ing of the memorandum, Balkan criminal ued. began switching continents. Prishtina Insight’s police source noted that as the two countries do not have any agree- Hunt for Saric ments like the one Serbia has with Brazil, any communication goes via Interpol. The latest reports on Saric’s whereabouts “I don’t know what’s going on down there came from the South African Daily Voice. [in South Africa], but it’s like the Wild West,” On January 16 the newspaper claimed he the police source added. was hiding out in Gauteng, the province sur- “We wait forever for any information. It’s rounding Johannesburg, with the help of hard to track criminals when you have to look South African crime bosses. for them in a country operating in that way,” Via Interpol, Serbian police sent the South the police source added. Africans all the necessary data for Šarić’s Along with weak controls on the part of the 12 March 2 - 15, 2012 feature Still Imprisoned by Two decades after a Serbian siege almost reduced the town to rubble, Vukovar is an unsettled place, home to two communities that face separate ways. child to grow up in a divided environment. When his wife was about to give birth in a local hospital, he and his wife were offended and concerned that By Barbara Matejcic Vukovar the nurse asked “what nationality” their child would have. Located right on the border with Serbia, Does this train strike you as taking you before the war and the break-up of to a nice place?” asks my only fellow Yugoslavia Vukovar was an important “passenger in the only carriage of an old industrial and cultural centre in Slavonia. “Swede” travelling from to Thanks to the big plants erected in the Vukovar. strategic town, workers moved here from all The train is called a “Swede” because it over Yugoslavia. With 23 different nationali- was built in Sweden in the early Eighties ties, it became an ethnic melting pot in and, once it completed its service there, which there few people went without work. came to Croatia in the Nineties. This line in But everything changed in 1991, after the far east of Croatia is probably its last Croatia declared independence. The town stop before retirement. was promptly encircled by the Yugoslav The seats are loose and worn out and it People’s Army, the JNA, and their Serbian isn’t exactly comfortable. The windows look paramilitary allies. Some 7,000 missiles fell like as if they haven’t been opened since daily on the town throughout the subsequent they overlooked a Swedish landscape. There three-month siege, destroying about 85 per Scars of war are still visible in Vukovar, Croatia. cent of the buildings. is no need for that this December morning. ruins but they certainly feel the divisions. doesn’t agree with is the idea that improved Over 3,000 people were killed and, after the It is cold outside and the fog has fallen down “If looks could kill, there would be many economic conditions alone offer the key to a town fell on November 18, 1991, thousands of low on the Slavonian plain. dead people every day in Vukovar. This is lasting solution. non-Serbs were expelled. Vukovar was the “In Vukovar you have to wander the still a divided place,” says Ljiljana Gehrecke. “It wouldn’t benefit Vukovar to be treated first town in Europe to be destroyed by fight- streets with a lantern searching for a gentle We are talking in the modest office of the as an unfortunate poor place that needs con- ing since the end of World War II. soul - for people not hardened by hatred and Europe House civil association that she has stant assistance, as if the whole world owes Today Vukovar is embedded in Croatia’s grief,” my companion adds. headed in Vukovar since 2000. Gehrecke says it something because of its sacrifice,” she collective memory as a symbol of suffering “People still look at one another like she feels particularly sorry for the young says. and pain. Everyone in Croatia has a mental they’re taking aim. Once you arrive you just people who are burdened by the past for “What we need more than anything is a vision of the town, even those who weren’t want to get on the train and leave!” which they bear no responsibility. signal that life will go on. I believe we all even born at the time of the war: lines of Twenty years after the town fell to These young people, she notes, attend sep- have a smouldering desire for mental relief, refugees; children crying; a bombed hospi- Serbian forces and 14 years after its peaceful arate schools and have little contact with one but we don’t know how to overcome our neg- tal; razed buildings. reintegration into Croatia - an event that another. All that unites them is a desire to ative emotions. Following conclusion of the Erdut peace finally marked the end of the war in Croatia leave. Recalling her experience of a work- “Almost nothing is being done about this. agreement between Croatia and Serbia, and enabled the town’s exiled Croats to shop with high-school graduates, she notes Even if all the Serbs or Croats left the town, which some have described as the most suc- return home – Vukovar’s return to normali- that when she asked them what they wanted the hatred would stay behind,” she con- cessful UN peace mission in the world, ty is a questionable matter. to achieve in life they couldn’t come up with cludes. Croats began returning to the town, which An hour after I arrived a local politician anything. The first to speak up said he I had last met Gehrecke in November 2011 from November 1991 to 1998 had almost interrupted my first scheduled interview to wished to leave Vukovar and go as far away at an event marking the 20th anniversary of exclusively been populated by Serbs. spend an hour explaining the situation, as possible, as soon as he finished school. the fall of Vukovar. At the time 50,000 people According to the 2001 population census, multiethnic relations especially. The others immediately agreed. from all over Croatia assembled on Vukovar has a population of 31,670, of whom After this I started thinking that my fel- “They want an environment that offers a November 18 for a Walk of Memory through 57.46 per cent are Croats and 32.88 per cent low-passenger had been right. I too felt like normal life rather than a sad past. Here they the town. Serbs. Before the 1991 war, it had a popula- taking the first Swede back out of Vukovar. have a feeling that they need to weep all the A day later a smaller commemoration tion of 44,639 of whom 47.2 per cent were If there’s a voice that’s heard loud and clear time over something,” Gehrecke says. service was held in the courtyard of the then Croatian and 32.3 per cent Serbian. in the town, it’s the voice of politicians. Two “Vukovar has moderately severe depres- Velepromet Serb camp. Mayor Zeljko Sabo describes Vukovar days later, after meeting dozen other people, sion, but it could be cured if the existential The Croatian Association of Camp today as a town of peace and tolerance. But it turned out that his soul had been the perspectives [for the town] existed,” Dr Inmates of Serbian Concentration Camps, many will say it’s peaceful only according to “least gentle” of all. Nikola Drobnjak, former chief of Vukovar HDLSKL, says some 10,000 fighters and civil- police statistics, and tolerant in the sense General Hospital psychiatric ward, told me. ians who defended the town passed through that Croats and Serbs put up with each other Reconciliation – A Dirty Word Drobnjak comes from nearby town this camp after the town fell. because they have no choice. Vinkovci and before the war often went out One of the speeches delivered that cold “Reconciliation doesn’t suit the national- in Vukovar in the evenings. He has worked November day was by Brother Vjenceslav ists in the local government. They live on War Scars Remain Visible there for many years since the war. Janjic. He spoke in a conciliatory manner, ethnic divisions and dictate what is socially “Vukovar before and after the war cannot stressing that without a dialogue there can acceptable,” Srdjan Antic, of the Nansen Although Vukovar has been rebuilt to a be compared, it’s a completely different be no reconciliation or truth, and that with- Dialogue Centre, told me. great extent, at first glance any passer-by town. Everyone is traumatized here, even out truth, myths are propagated from which “Everything would be better if people did- can see that something terrible took place in the children,” he says. new conflicts proceed. n’t behave like Serbs and Croats but as peo- these streets. Buildings hit by shelling, some “Every time the anniversary of the fall of I ask Gehrecke how it was that the rheto- ple and just listened to one another,” he adds. with bullet holes pock-marking the brick- Vukovar comes round, pressure on psychi- ric had changed for the better, on this impor- Antic was born in Vukovar but lives in the work, remain unrepaired in the town centre. atric institutions grows as people again feel tant 20th anniversary of the town’s fall, nearby city of Osijek. He didn’t want his Most residents say they no longer notice the reminded of the war and of everything they when a great deal of national pathos might went through,” he adds. have been expected in public speeches. “They then spend the next 11 months try- “Time has done its work. Nothing else,” she ing to break free from the past and resume responded. normal lives - until the next anniversary,” he Srdjan Antic says no well-thought-out pro- continues. “They are in a circle that they gramme for dealing with the trauma of the can’t break. People here are still waging war has been out into action in Vukovar, and f their internal wars”. such good work as there is boils down most- Dr Drobnjak believes that more employ- ly to ad hoc activities by non-governmental ment would be one way to kick-start the associations. town’s delayed recovery. “The positive changes in Vukovar are not “Enough monuments have been put up in a result of institutions and of the political Vukovar. Let the next monument to the town leadership’s long-term programmes; it’s just be a new factory,” he maintains. the passage of time and the fact that people But factories are closing in Vukovar are forced to live together,” Antic says. rather than opening. Unemployment is above the Croatian average of 17.9 per cent Education Divides Y and many locals agree that a lack of jobs, not M multiethnic relations, is the main problem. One concrete cause of continuing deep C Like many others, Gehrecke agrees that divisions in the town is the school system. K Maja Tanasic and Jelena Stajin Vukovar is trapped in the past. What she Ever since the reintegration programme feature March 2 - 15, 2012 13 its Bloody Past

was drawn up in the late Nineties, Croat and when enrolling in Serbian faculties. Antic Serb children in Vukovar have attended sep- describes this as a “democratic” form of arate schools from kindergarten upwards. . Whoever you ask agrees this is wrong. But It is hard to establish how many young the Serbs have a legal right to schooling in people leave Vukovar each year never to their language and Cyrillic script. return. Official institutions have no infor- “This institutionalised segregation prede- mation. termines both the life and the attitude of Many Croats in Vukovar say that Serbs children in Vukovar,” Antic maintains. who don’t want their children to leave “Starting at kindergarten, children enter a Croatia can send their children to Croatian ghetto and have no contact with those in the schools. other ghetto; there is no interaction outside One such person is Mile Ivkovic. His view the institutions in spite of everything that of Vukovar is a more optimistic, perhaps the politicians say,” he says. because he only moved here after the con- “The result is that young people are con- flict in 1999. His wife is from the town. vinced that joint life is impossible,” he adds. However, the war did not bypass him. When Vukovar memorial cemetery In 2000 the Nansen Dialogue Centre, an the war broke out in his hometown of Sisak, NGO Antic works for, launched a project he took up arms, was wounded and so has believes people in Vukovar will turn to the all.” entitled New School, which would be open to official status as a Croatian veteran. future only once they feel the past has Before we part, out of curiosity, I ask why all those who don’t want to separate their None of this is unusual - except that Mile received its proper epilogue. we have met in a café mainly used by Serbs. children. is an ethnic Serb. His is not a unique exam- “Everyone needs to know what happened It was the same café in which Maja and They have verified the programme and ple. About 6 per cent of the men who defend- to all the missing people that we’ve been Jelena met me earlier that morning and have more than enough interested parents ed Vukovar from Serbian forces were Serbs searching for for 20 years,” he says. “The they had told me that it was a “Serbian” and teachers, but no one knows when the themselves. He socialises with all sides, cel- whole truth must come out. There are still place. school will actually start because they have ebrating both the Catholic and Orthodox two different versions here of everything Zoran shrugs. He thought it was a “Croat” received no support from local politicians. Christmas. that happened, Croatian and Serbian.” place. We ask the waiter who owns the place “We want this to be a state school, not a “There’s no need to slur an entire people Over the years, about 1,280 victims of the - not an unusual question in Vukovar. “The private one, because this would prove that with everything that happened. We fought conflict in Vukovar have been identified in owners are a Croat and a Serb,” the waiter Vukovar is ready for change. But obviously against Serbian politics, not against exhumations of mass and individual graves. replies. Zoran and I laugh. this still isn’t the case because the compe- Serbian citizens,” a Croatian veteran Another 345 people from Vukovar remain It's a sunny day. I'm leaving Vukovar on tent institutions don’t want to begin setting Stanko Zadro says. missing and their relatives are still search- the Swede. up this school,” he says. We met at the launch of a book dedicated ing for them. Barbara Matejcic is a Croatian journalist Research conducted in Vukovar by psy- to his brother, Blago Zadro, who has become “The truth that suits the Croats wouldn’t and 2009 fellow in the Balkan Fellowship for chologists Dinka Corkalo Biruski and Dean a symbol of the defence of Vukovar. Streets maybe be the only thing to surface,” I Journalistic Excellence, This article was Ajdukovic demonstrate the impact of sepa- and schools in Croatia have been named respond, recalling that Serbs often say that produced as part of the Alumni Initiative of rate schools on children. after him. before conflict started, Serbs went missing the Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Children are less prepared to establish Blago Zadro and his son Robert were and their houses and shops were bombed Excellence. Both are initiated and funded by contacts with members of the other ethnic killed in the war. After Vukovar fell, Stanko and attacked. the Robert Bosch Stiftung and the ERSTE group than their parents, their study con- and his father were captured and taken to “So let it,” Zoran replies. “Let us learn Foundation. cluded. camps in Serbia. But Stanko feels no hatred everything, so we can finally put an end to it Even though they never personally expe- for the former enemy. rienced the war, unlike their parents, the “Those who want to live here have to marketing town’s children have never experienced life accept the reality that Vukovar is a multi- in an undivided society. As far as they are ethnic environment,” he says. concerned, division is a natural state of He returned to Vukovar in 2001. What he affairs. found, he says, was a gloomy, half-demol- Other research has also shown that most ished town. He says it is now improving, not Croats and Serbs accept that dividing chil- just on the outside, because tension has dren in school hinders the establishment of eased. better relations in Vukovar. Nevertheless, Judging by Interior Ministry statistics, every school year they enrol their children this is indeed so. Vukovar is not a crime-rid- in separate classes. “Those who break the den environment. Last year, 3.5 times more unwritten rules of the group come under crimes were reported in prosperous coastal great pressure from society,” Antic says. Zadar than in Vukovar. Only seven hate Maja Tanasic and Jelena Stajin are both crimes have been registered in Vukovar in 16 and attend high school in Serbian. the past five years. Police say these mainly Classes in Croatian are held in the same involve graffiti, and the offending messages building. All the students spend their every are quickly removed. recess outside the school, but the two groups How is it that so few inter-ethnic inci- avoid each other, standing in “their” parts of dents occur in a town where almost every- the courtyard. Maja and Jelena don’t have one lost a loved one and where you often any Croat friends. hear that war criminals are walking the On a Saturday morning we meet in a streets unpunished? downtown café, patronised by Serbs, they Answers are diverse. At a hair salon in told me. That evening they will go out to the town centre, whose customers, I’m told, places where only fellow-Serbs hang out. include both sides - because in an economic They don’t meet their Croat peers. the crisis the only important thing is the For Maja and Jelena “bygones are price - one customer says that incidents hap- bygones”, the war is a thing of the past and pen every week but the police hush things they’re not interested in the topic. up. Another customer says that there are so On the anniversaries of the fall of many police officers in the streets that noth- Vukovar they stay at home, like most of ing can happen. their fellow Serbs. They have no special opinion on what happened in Vukovar. They Search for Missing Continues do think about the future, however, away from Vukovar. “At 3am I feel safer in the streets of “Things can’t improve in Vukovar as long Vukovar than on the streets of Zagreb,” as children are separated from the youngest journalist Zoran Pehar maintains. age onwards, and for as long as hatred is As a child, in the summer of 1991 he trav- passed down from generation to genera- elled with his parents to the coast. The sum- tion,” Maja says. mer holiday ended but as war had broken When they finish high school they will out so they could not go home. Four months both continue higher education, most prob- ago he moved back to Vukovar when Nova ably in Serbia, as many young Serbs from TV sent him there as a correspondent. Vukovar have done. This will present them Zoran is happy to be back. He has a job Y with no problems. They speak Serbian, their and friends. None are Serbian, but this is M documents are in Cyrillic, and, as members not because he wouldn’t want some, he says, C of the Serbian diaspora, they have priority but because he hasn’t met any. Zoran K 14 March 2 - 15, 2012 culture Privatising Albanian Castles Worries Heritage Experts

Historians and archaeolo- gists oppose plans to let entrepreneurs turn ancient monuments into bars, cafés and motels.

By Fatmira Nikolli

llyrian and medieval castles in Albania could be soon turned Iinto bars and restaurants according to a government plant to lease cultural monuments to local businessmen. According to the plan unveiled in late January by the head of Albania’s Institute of Monuments, Apollon Bace, some 40 monuments would be leased for a period of up to 100 years, mainly because the government is unable to preserve them. Bace says detailed plans for the Castles in Albania are to be leased out to businesses to raise funds. use of these monuments will deter- “The Ministry of Culture’s pro- Lezha were leased ten years ago to and a restaurant. be a mistake as Albanians are noto- mine which parts of them are suit- posal to grant concessions for cul- a local businessman, Gjovalin Cultural heritage specialist rious for carrying out building able for commercial activities and tural heritage monuments is an Kadeli, now a Socialist MP in par- have complained repeatedly about work for which they have no plan- which parts should not be touched. awful idea,” historian Auron Tare liament. the restoration of the monument, ning permission. Rich with monuments dating said. For the past decade the ruins now owed by Vangjel Tavo, an MP “Albania is a country of [hun- back to Roman times, Albania has “That the state is rejecting its have housed a number of mobile for the Socialist Movement for dreds of thousand] of buildings struggled for years to preserve responsibilities for cultural her- phone antennae built on a con- Integration. built without permits, where nei- them properly, as government after itage and transferring this respon- crete platform, which preserva- Lulzim Iljazi, manager of the ther the state nor the law punishes government failed to invest sibility to private hands is testimo- tion specialists say has damaged Lekurs castle and its bar and people who build illegally,” enough in restoration. ny to the collapse of state institu- the site. restaurant, dismisses complaints Frasheri noted. However, the proposal, which tions,” he added. However, Kadeli defends his that the monument has not been “Damage to monuments dam- could be acted on as soon as next Bace, from the Institute of investment, arguing that what he properly preserved. The accusers ages our historical record, and it is month, has drawn a fierce Monuments, declined to be inter- bought was only a ruin, so talking just want the castle for themselves, irreparable and unrecoverable,” response from historians, archae- viewed for this story, but Enton of a “castle” makes no sense. he says. he added. ologist and architects, some of Derraj, an adviser to the Minister “I bought it lawfully and there “We have worked a lot on this Auron Tare, historian and for- whom accuse the authorities of of Culture said the accusations was no castle there, just a two- castle and everything has been mer director of the Butrint failing to safeguard the nation’s heritage. made against the project were metre-high wall, which they call a done to preserve its historical Archaeological Park, agrees. They point to the fact that two politically motivated. castle,” he said. The antennae value,” Iljazi said. “If the authorities cannot even castles privatized under the previ- “Any interventions in these have been put up on a hill and not Gjergj Frasheri, a well known control two single projects, the ous Socialist government have not monuments will be carried out in on “the castle,” Kadelli added. Albania archaeologist, says that question is how will they be able to been preserved properly, and they accordance with the international The medieval castle of Lekurs, what has happened with leased out control more monuments?” he argue that other monuments could treaty on restoration of cultural close to Saranda, has also been the cultural monuments in the past asked. have the same fate if the latest gov- monuments,” Derraj said. object of controversy after it was should serve as a lesson. This article is funded under the ernment proposal is finalized. The ruins of the Illyrian castle leased 12 years ago. The new own- He believes transferring more BICCED project, supported by the of Akrolisit, close to the town of ers restored it but also added a bar monuments to private hands will Swiss Cultural Programme. National Geographic Maps of the local people, who know best why this region differs from others and is so unique By Bujar Aruqaj and beautiful.” Similar initiatives have been run in many other parts of the world including the United States and Canada. entred in the Western Balkans, “The aim is to promote the touristic side of Kosovo is a land steeped in traditions, Chandicrafts and architecture, and in this region and also to make this a desirable the warm friendliness of its people – this is destination for people who like travelling,” how Kosovo is described by National Dion added. “At the same time it offers a very Geographic on their new interactive map good opportunity for local people to show promoting the region. what their place has to offer. National Geographic has launched the “Of course this will benefit these small online portal, see.consensusdev.com, to for- businesses that are not very well known, and eign visitors to Kosovo and provide local in this way contribute to the economic devel- businesses a forum to show what they have opment of these places,” he said. to offer. “It is a very good guide for people who Jim Dion, an official with the National know little of this region and would like to Geographic Society’s maps division, told a explore more, like travellers coming from the conference in Prishtina that the project was An interactive map of Kosovo western countries.” initially an idea of USAID. Y “It was created through a collaborative “Through this cooperation, Kosovo and the The portal is still under construction and “Western Balkans – Lands of Discovery, is M process of National Geographic and local region will take advantage of our experience will be updated regularly, but lots of informa- a website and tour guide at the same time,” C people, it reflects the culture, history, and the in this field. But this project would have been tion on Kosovo is already available.. said Dion. K natural beauties unique to this region. impossible without the updates from the side Visit it at see.consensusdev.com. opinion March 2 - 15, 2012 15 Brezovica: Keep the Wild Places Wild The site for a planned, new ski resort near Brezovica is one of the last remaining wildernesses in the Sharr Mountains and must be pro- tected, writes mountaineer Tim Westmoreland.

By Tim Westmoreland

he rather uncritical tone of the report, “New Brezovica TSki Resort to be Unveiled” published in Prishtina Insight on January 20, 2012 must not go unchallenged if an environmental travesty is to be avoided. The whole Sharr Mountain area is part of the Sharr Mountain National Park and as such an area of outstanding natural beauty and a valuable part of Kosovo’s moun- tain wilderness – a home to the endangered European brown bear, chamois, mountain goats, wild boar, eagles and not to mention indigenous and rare pine forests. The stated policy of the Views from the proposed site of a new ski centre near Brezovica Ministry of Environment and “…unlikely either to find different This area is simply a beautiful deforestation – this fact is even National Park and at the same Spatial Planning regarding the investors for two neighbouring ski unspoilt mountain wilderness; noted in the Ecosign planning doc- time repair and improve the facili- national park (in their Report on areas or an investor who would these areas are increasingly under uments when comparing the pro- ties for skiing at the existing ski the State of Nature 2008 – 2009) is invest in the two areas at a time”. threat in an ever developing posed resort with the existing. area to make it the best ski resort to “leave a legacy of rich and Therefore, we would be left with Kosovo – development that is often Sewers will need to be built and south of . diverse nature…for future genera- a decaying and degraded environ- not under control and usually the sewage treated if damage to The people who live in Kosovo tions”. ment at the site of the old resort without any environmental safe- the aquatic environment is to be deserve such a legacy, but the pro- Indeed the stated aims of the and a new resort that would occu- guards. avoided – since there is virtually national park declaration are the py most of the unspoilt mountain It is a perfect area for the devel- no sewage treatment in the whole One can easily see chamois “protection of ecological integri- environment that remains opment of backcountry hiking, of Kosovo I doubt it will be put in ty…for present and future genera- between the existing resort and climbing, camping, off-piste skiing place in Brezovica. and, less often, bears. It has tions” and “exclusion of the uncontrolled and disastrous and other more eco-friendly forms So the question again arises; some of the best preserved use…with the purpose of chang- development now taking place at of mountain tourism, which why invest in this new resort when ing or damaging the nature”. Prevallë (on the pass between require less investment but which there is an existing resort that forests I have hiked through It is, therefore, sad that institu- Shterpcë and Prizren). result in greater returns on capital needs saving? in Kosovo, it contains many tions in Kosovo, local and interna- Furthermore, the new resort, if whilst at the same time maintain- Talk to anyone who skied tional, are completely unquestion- developed, would be a double ing the harmony between people around the former Yugoslav ski mature Molika pines, oak ing about the plans for the new ski catastrophe since the best, most and the natural environment. resorts and they will tell you that and yew trees. resort that will take an area of exciting and challenging high Now there are those that will say Brezovica, in its heyday, was the nearly 500 hectares of the protect- mountain skiing is to be found at the new resort will be built with best. posed new ski resort will offer nei- ed Sharr Mountain National Park. the existing resort. environmental mitigation meas- It has superb open mountain ther and in fact detracts energy The previous Prishtina Insight It is unlikely that many of those ures but this is simply nonsense. slopes high up above the tree-line – and resources away from tackling involved in promoting this new Wild places like this exist only the type most serious skiers prefer. the not-unsolvable problems of the we would be left with a resort will ever have hiked in this because they are untouched by When all lifts are working there existing ski resort. area, especially from amongst development, any development. are nine chair lifts extending up to In all likelihood it will be diffi- decaying and degraded envi- Kosovo’s politicians and the inter- Furthermore, it is extremely the mountain summits at 2600m cult to find an investor for the pro- ronment at the site of the national bureaucrats who are pro- doubtful that in Kosovo any sup- and crossing over into Macedonia. posed new resort; any sensible old resort and a new resort moting this project. posed environmental mitigation The full extent of the area is a investor would look at the existing Here I admit an interest; I have measures will or could be forgotten memory to most in resort and chose to put their that would occupy most of been climbing and walking in enforced, which will lead to uncon- Kosovo now, especially the money there. However, that is not the unspoilt mountain envi- Kosovo’s mountains, particularly trolled and unplanned construc- younger generation. And its com- really the point; approval of the the Sharr Mountains, for over a tion sprawl like that currently plete potential has never been proposal by the Government of ronment that remains decade now. seen in Prevallë and the Brezovica fully developed. It has north facing Kosovo and the local municipality between the existing resort In the last year alone, in both valley. slopes that hold the snow better will erode the protection of the winter and summer, I have made No one is asking what such a than any other resort in the Sharr Mountain National Park and the uncontrolled and four excursions up into the area of new resort would really entail. region. and render its creation pointless. disastrous development now the proposed new ski resort – see Figures for investment costs for Therefore, the focus of Kosovo’s The consequence will be uncon- the photos below: lifts alone are quoted as 25 million efforts must be on solving the trolled, unplanned developmental taking place at Prevallë The area is indeed stunning – euro. But, in addition, a resort political problems of the existing sprawl from which a lot of but only because it is wild and not planned, as it is, for over 11,000 resort and attracting investment landowners and businessmen will article stated that the consultants, a ski resort. skiers and their cars will require in a contained area – not develop- no doubt get rich at the cost of Ecosign, were “stunned” by the One can easily see chamois and, major construction of roads, car ing ski resort sprawl. irredeemable damage to the envi- beauty of the new location – this less often, bears. It has some of the parks, water supply facilities, It is obvious that if just the 25 ronment. begs the question why ruin it? best preserved forests I have hiked wastewater collection and treat- million euro proposed for lifts in Of course, anyone who lives and through in Kosovo, it contains ment and power lines. the new resort site were to be Tim Westmoreland has lived skis in Kosovo knows the existing many mature Molika pines, oak Add to this the ski infrastruc- spent on the existing resort it most of the time since August 1998 resort has serious problems. But it and yew trees. ture – lifts, access roads, snow- would be drastically improved and in Kosovo, he is an experienced would be a double travesty to leave The forests extend up to about making plant, buildings etc. – fully functional. It is simply not mountaineer, an enthusiastic skier the old resort to rot and dramati- the 1900m level and are untouched hotels, private houses and shops needed to trash a large part of the and a civil engineer involved in cally degrade an adjacent area of by legal or, as is more often the and it is easy to see that it is an national park to give Kosovo a infrastructure planning. He cares outstanding natural beauty. And case, illegal logging. illusion to think this can be done decent and much needed ski about Kosovo, his adopted home, the existing ski resort will decay if This means indigenous forests without irredeemable harm to the resort. and particularly for its wonderful Y this new project is allowed to pro- with sometimes large and rare natural environment. We need to work to preserve wild places, which are constantly M ceed; even the Ecosign planning pine species can easily be found On a practical level this will what we have – to keep the wild under threat. C documents state that it is here. require extensive earthworks and places wild in the Sharr Mountain [email protected] K 16 March 2 - 15, 2012 Prishtina Insight

Where to pick up Prishtina Insight?

A taste of Napoli in Prishtina. Hotel Prishtina Prishtina Insight has After ten Hotel Prishtina’s teamed up with these years of mak- 43 charming guest excellent venues to ing pizza in rooms and suites Napoli, and are reminiscent of offer a limited num- only with love a small hotel in the to blame, European tradi- ber of complimentary Fatmir the tion. You'll immedi- copies of Kosovo’s chef returned ately feel at home to Prishtina. in our living room, only English-lan- His pizzas, sipping a glass of guage newspaper. made in a wine in our fine woodburn restaurant sur- Grab a copy of the stove, are defi- rounded by a publication and settle nitely genuine gallery of paint- napolitanas. ings by local down with a drink or For those who consider pizza to be boring, Fatmir has several artists. a meal to read it. pastas on offer, also a true joy for the taste buds. Napoli has an The hotel offers excellent selection of red and white wines or, for the more ambi- free, fast wifi inter- tious, one of the region's best Quint's raki. Napoli makes for deli- net, complimentary cious lunch, dinner or even after-theatre time out in the centre of breakfast, confer- Prishtina. ence room, swim- ming pool, sauna Pizzeria Napoli and laundry serv- off Luan Haradinaj, opposite Newborn ice. 044/409-402402

Hotel AFA Te Komiteti Located in a quiet neighbour- hood just outside the city centre, Te Komiteti’s large trees and a Hotel Afa can guarantee guests a beautifully garden, which sur- peaceful night while being within round the small outdoor terrace, walking distance of all the action. give you an impression of an The venue has won a host of awards exclusive place for ordinary peo- for its excellent service to cus- ple. And this is exactly what it is. tomers and offers a good range of From brunch to lunch-time snacks facilities, from an exclusive restau- and special evening meals, this rant and VIP bar to pretty, tranquil restaurant offers dishes compris- garden. Rooms start at 45 euro for a ing quality, varied ingredients, single, and luxury rooms and apart- combined to perfection. Alongside ments are available. The hotel’s one of Prishtina’s best ‘modern rooms are well appointed and com- European’ style menus, you’ll also fortable. find a good selection of wine, and great sangria and cocktails . 15, Rr Ali Kelmendi, Te Komiteti Sunny Hill, Prishtina Qamil Hoxha Street +381 38/225 226 Prishtina www. hotelafa. com +381 38 24 96 63

Restorant Brasserie Lura Paddy O’Brien’s

At 450-square-metres The staff at Paddy O’Brien’s have a saying: “It’s easy to walk in, but very hard Restaurant Lura is as spa- to leave.” cious as you get in Prishtina. And with its warm atmosphere, fantastic range of drinks and excellent food, it It’s also surrounded by the is easy to see why. towering trees of Germia There have been many attempts to establish a proper Irish pub in Prishtina, and offers a pleasant garden but this is the only one to hit the spot. where, in the summer, this From classic coffees to cocktails, via, of course, Guinness, you really wont eatery prepares food al fres- find it difficult to select the perfect co. It’s large meeting room is drink. also ideal for that private A mouth-watering menu of Irish lunch or dinner. specialties is also on offer, spanning The combined style classi- from all-day breakfasts to Irish cal and modern interior stews at night. leaves you with an impression Options include shepherd’s pie, of refined taste. bangers and mash, fish ‘n chips, The newly opened restaurant is already famous for its Mediterranean special- and whopping great burgers. ties, exquisite seafood and fine selections of Italian, French and Local wines. Thursday is pub quiz night, but But that’s not all, for music lovers, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday night din- there is always something going on at ners are accompanied by jazz, whereas on Saturdays local patriots can enjoy live the pub, whether it is sport screen- traditional Albanian music. ings or just a good shindig. Lura Restaurant Paddy O’Brien’s Str. Nazmi Gaffuri • 10 000 Prishtina • +381 (0)38 763 763 ; +386 (0)49 763 763 • Tringe Smajli Street, by the Y www.lurarestaurant.com Illyria Hotel M [email protected] Prishtina: 045-420900 C K By Donjeta Demolli March 2 - 15, 2012 17 in Prishtina Timeout Contact Prishtina Insight if you would like your event to feature or to advertise your venue. Email [email protected]

Oda Theatre Dodona Theatre

Alvin and the Chipmunks Every Tuesday at 8 pm Every Thursday 7.30pm Every day at 1 pm and 3 pm Tre Gjermanët e Trashë Çifti i Hapur is being staged Kino ABC screens the movie “Alvin and the II with the text of Italian Chipmunks” by the director Tim Hill. (Three Fat Germans II) authors Dario Fo and Franca In a tree farm, three musically inclined chip- Rame, directed by Kushtrim munks, Alvin, Simon and Theodore, find their Thanks to this play you will Koliqi tree cut down and sent to understand “What did Brigel A man proposes to his wife Los Angeles. say when he asked for a to eliminate the concept of Once there, they meet drink?”; “Why Hans didn’t let marital loyalty and create an the frustrated songwriter him drink Mojito?”; “How did “open relationship” in their David Seville, and despite Gani experience his 21st lives. The woman rejects this a poor, house- wrecking snow?”; “Is Vukashin really and after several attempts at first impression, they Ukshin?”; “Does KFOR-ja still suicide, she decides to accept impress him with their work for KFOR or she just her husband’s offer because singing talent. loves him?”; “How did it’s the only way to remain Seeing the opportunity Hekuran boil eggs in the mid- married. The man is happy. for success, both human dle of the North Pole?”; These He, no longer needs to hide and chipmunks make a and other events you can see his girlfriends and is released pact for them to sing his in the play “Tre Gjermanët e from feelings of guilt. Now songs. While that ambition Trashë II”. everything is democratic and proves a frustrating strug- open. Everything goes well gle with the difficult trio, Author: Lirak Celaj; until the day when the woman the dream does come true after all. Producer: Florent Mehmeti; finds the love of her life, However, that success presents its own trials as Roles: Naser Rafuna, Adrian which is what her “modern” their unscrupulous record executive, Ian Hawke, Morina, Kushtrim Sheremeti, husband cannot accept. plans to break up this family to exploit the boys. Lirak Celaj, Fisnik Ademi, Can Dave and the Chipmunks discover what Ard Islami, Arta Selimi, Cast: Edona Reshitaj and they really value amid the superficial glamor Florent Mehmeti. Besart Sllamniku; Costumes around them? and the setting: Njomza Luci. Composer: Trimor Dhomi; For more information call +381 (0)38 246 555 or write [email protected]. This Means War Choreographer: Bruno Saqipi; Every day at 6 pm, 8 pm and 10 pm. Light; Designer: Skender Latifi; Stage manager: Bedri From the Maloku, Albert Bekteshi and February 16, ABC Fadil Gashi, Photographer: Cinema will start Arton Humolli. screening the This Means War. This Means War is a 2012 romantic com- edy action movie directed by McG. The movie stars Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine and Tom Hardy as victims of a love triangle in which two CIA agents and best friends (Pine and Hardy) discover that they are dating the same woman (Whitherspoon).

For any further questions or reservations call at 038 243 238 or visit them at www.kinoabc.com

PRISHTINA DIARY

Friday, March 02, 2012 Hamam Jazz Bar, 10 pm Trio mrio (Sarp Maden, Volkan Ötem, Çalayan Yildiz) For reservation call +377 (0) 44 222 289 or +381 (0) 38 222 289 For more details email [email protected]; Te Veni, 9 pm [email protected] Live weekend with Yllka Kuqi For reservation call +377 (0) 45 361 210 Saturday, March 03, 2012 Hamam Jazz Bar, 10 pm Gallery of Arts Ilhan Erahin’s Istanbul Sessions(Ilhan Erahin, Alp Ersönmes, Turgut Alp Bekolu, Izzet Kyzyl) For reservation call +377 (0) 44 222 289 or +381 (0) “From line to 38 222 289 Te Veni, 9 pm structure” Live weekend with Pentagrami & Anita Ahmeti For reservation call +377 (0) 45 361 210 exhibition by artist Sunday, March 04, 2012 Ismet Jonuzi, Kosovo Philharmony, 8 pm Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky, Niccoló Paganini & Korab curated by Eqrem Shaqiri; Özcan Ulucan – violin (); Le Fi Fi Basha is still open – Conductor (Vietnam)

HardRockers Club, 8.30 pm at the Gallery of Y Karaoke Night Arts. M Adress: Johan V. Hahn, Prishtina. C K 18 March 2 - 15, 2012 Inside Prishtina Closing Time for Prishtina’s Watchmaker One of the capital’s oldest watchmakers is set to close when the shop is bulldozed as part of a municipal project to craft a new central square for Prishtina, but the craft will live on. He had begun to learn the craft from his father, Bedri, as an eight year old. “I cleaned the shop, I was very By Muhamet Hajrullahu disciplined and I never called him father but “Master”, I was never late to work.” ime is running out for the While he was undergoing his shop of Faruk Pandulku, the apprenticeship, many other crafts- Toldest watchmaker in men were driven out of the coun- Prishtina. try to Turkey. The municipality recently Pandulku travelled to announced it was to redesign the for some years to mas- Mother Teresa Square, which is ter the profession better. He currently graced by a statue of learned German, went through KLA hero Zahir Pajaziti. training, visited many factories The Zenith shop is expected to and took back to Kosovo a few of be demolished as part of this. the best clocks he found. They are The watchmaker says he would hung on the walls of his shop. like a location elsewhere but that “People now are impatient,” he he feels that it may be time for the said, “back then it was more family trade to be passed on to his serene, we were poor but we lived a young daughter. happier life.” Just like he learnt trade from He has fixed and repaired thou- his father, she has picked up from sands of watches and clocks for Pandulku. his customers, including athletes, He is, he admits, very proud of artists and even ambassadors. this, and emphasizes that the one “I repaired quite a few watches clock that he cannot manipulate is of Christopher Dell [US that of life. Ambassador], because he is a Each day, apart from Sundays, watch collector,” Pandulku said. for the most of the last 62 years he “And all athletes come to me.” rettes or drank alcohol. This gave Alpinists of Kosovo. “Vitality is “I have climbed to the top of has woken early to open the shop. The shop is named Zenith, a him his vitality – his body still together with nature. Even now I Luboteni fifty times, Gjeravica six “I am not the best watchmaker, brand which he is specialises in. works like clockwork. continue to go to the mountains, in times and the top of Popova but I am the eldest when it comes Pandulku also has made sure Panduklu is a member of the Brezovica, Gjeravica in Shapka thirty times – which is to age and artisans,” he explained. that he has never smoked ciga- Federation of Mountaineers and and in many other places,” he said. 2,747 meters high.” Kosovo Celebrates Four Years On

Y M Thousands of people thronged central Prishtina to mark the fourth anniversary of Kosovo’s declaration of independ- C K ence. Our photographer Korab Basha was on hand to capture the moment. 19 Inside Prishtina March 2 - 15, 2012 Cabbies Prefer Prison over Femke Dekker, Fines intern at EU Commission. Taxi drivers in Kosovo are choosing to take a day in prison instead of pay a fine for a traffic offence.

By Donjeta Demolli

osovo’s budget continues to suffer of: the Eyes through Prishtina as taxi drivers use a loophole in the Klaw on minor offences, which allows those required to pay a small fine to spend the day in prison instead. When a taxi driver with a 15 euro fine decides to go to prison, the state loses the passengers from Mitrovica. “We were imprisoned with people sen- revenue from the penalty and chalks up “Based on traffic rules, we are not tenced to 20 years,” he said. the cost of 29 euro for the stay in jail. allowed to stop by the bazaar,” he added. Ekrem Fazliu, another taxi driver, says Esat Jonuzi, 40, from the municipality “There is a small parking lot where the the night he spent in Dubrava for non-pay- of Vushtrri, is among those who has cho- taxi drivers from Vushtrri can drop off ment of a fine was terrifying. sen jail over paying a fine. He transports the passengers and need to return back. “They put us in a room with drug- passengers from Vushtrri to Mitrovica Before the war we were able to pick up the addicts,” he added, explaining that seven and vice versa and says that until now he passengers and to continue on, but now guards beat a prisoner in front of him. has had picked up more than ten traffic we aren’t.” His friend, Isuf Xhemajli, who was also fines. Esat Zymberi, another taxi driver from in Dubrava, says that conditions were “I have paid many of them, but for few Vushtrri, says that he has received so bad. He was sent there for not paying a of them I have gone to Lipjan prison for many fines that he cannot even count fine of only 35 euro. “The conditions in it,” he said. “I went there alone, and when them. Dubrava are terrible. We were allowed to I arrived there I met my colleagues.” He complains that when he was sent to shower once a week.” He and his colleagues often receive Dubrava prison – the country’s main jail – Ekrem added: “They put me together fines from Kosovo Police as taxi drivers he was badly treated. with a mujahedeen who had killed his from Vushtrri are not allowed to collect wife and with some others who look dangerous. marketing “I was sad that I had left my chil- dren alone, and always looked What surprised you most down. I didn’t talk at all, but sud- about Prishtina? denly someone would say: “Oh, The many nice coffee places, bars Taxi! Pull, a face!”, and I was forced to hang out, restaurants with nice to pull a face.” decoration. Bascially everything is Some of the drivers see prison as nice deocrated and been taken care a break from the daily grind. Izet of in a creative way. Bejtullahu explained how together with his friends he goes to prison to What's your favorite hangout? relax. “There you can play Chinese Ander is a nice place, it has a nice chequers with beans and corns, but interior and good setting to drink cards are also played a lot,” he said. and dance. Resmi Hoxha, the head of Kosovo Correction Service, accepts that Do you do anything cultural? there are cases when those who Except for drinking rakija and repeatedly refuse to pay fines get eating in a qebaptore, I have visited sent to Dubrava prison. several photograph exhibitions, “They are repeat offenders, sen- explored the city by night and visit- tenced two or three times. These ed monasteries. persons who have been sent to prison two or three times to cover What is the most annoying their fines cannot be sent to Lipjan thing about Prishtina? and Smrekovcina.” People throwing garbage every- Biljana Rexhiq, head of the where except in the designated bin. Minor Offences Supreme Court, If you were mayor of Prishtina said that the law should change. for the day what would you change? “The aim of the punishment is I don't think one day would be not just to fill Kosovo’s budget, but enough to realise the changes I to have a positive impact on the sen- have in mind but I would improve tenced person who in the feature the road conditions since a lot of shouldn’t repeat such actions,” she local people are complaining about said. it. “It is true that this costs [Kosovo’s budget] but it is more important How many macchiatos do you that we as a court have a positive drink a day? impact on their future,” she adds. Two or three since I combine For Rexhiq a more effective way them with strong homemade coffee to cover the fine would be commu- nity work, as foreseen in Kosovo’s What's the tastiest Kosovar Penal Code. food? “A sentence of up to 3 months Pleskavica in Te Shoki imprisonment, with the approval of the party, can be replaced with com- What landmark do you use to Y munity work. Until now it has been tell taxi drivers where you live? M impossible to do that, I hope that Germia Park C this will happen in the near future.” K If you would like your NGO to appear in 20 March 2 - 15, 2012 our Making a Difference feature, please Opinion email [email protected] Bujanovac Remains Town Where Streets Have no Name A plan to rename streets after Albanian heroes instead of Serbian ones seems futile in a town where no one knew the old street names to begin with. in Serbia’s national consciousness peoples work in the same compa- is deeply embedded. nies, go out to the same restau- All this is more than enough for rants and cafés, get medical care at By Nikola Lazic me to begin doubting my national the same health centre and queue Bujanovac identity, a product highly valued at the same counters. in these parts. Luckily my father, Bujanovac was always on an who was also born here and is now important business and military ’d never win one of those “How in his seventies, also doesn’t know crossroad. A major north-south well do you know your city?” where these streets are, and I don’t traffic corridor passes through the Iquiz shows, though I have lived think his father, my grandfather, if town and four international air- here in Bujanovac, in Southern he were still alive, would be able to ports lie within a hundred kilome- Serbia, since I was born. To avoid point them out. Not to mention my tres. It is three hours by car to any confusion, I would make the Arguments rage in Bujanovac over street names. son, who has just taken his first Thessaloniki, in Greece, a little point that I know most of my fel- steps into life. less to Sofia, in Bulgaria, and you fine if some Albanian hadn’t remind the Albanians who was low townspeople by name, or at While I manage to live with this, can practically walk to the capitals added a certain Fatmir Ibisi to the boss. Streets were awarded to peo- least by nickname. some of my fellow Serbs in town of Macedonia and Kosovo, Skopje list, with the idea of naming the ple of immense importance in I also know their mentality, got pretty upset early in February and Pristina. The Serbian capital, road to the border with Kosovo, Serbian history, science and litera- their characters and their habits. I when the town’s ethnic Albanian Belgrade, is the furthest, involving some ten kilometres away, after ture, but who had no link with remember the faces of those who town councillors decided to a four-hour drive – fact that many him. Bujanovac. left a long time ago or who passed change the names of these and people in town, Serbs and Ibisi was an OVPMB fighter The scientist Nikola Tesla, who away. I can clearly distinguish some other streets and rename Albanians, see as symbolic. who, together with some fellow- was born in Croatia, has nothing to between restaurants that serve them after figures from Albanian But, to get back to the streets fighters, in February 2000 carried do with the town. Nor does good barbecues and those whose history. whose renaming has been such a out an armed attack on a police Desanka Maksimovic, who came owners just want to recover their To recap, Bujanovac is an ethni- hot topic lately, a new Albanian patrol in which one police officer from the Valjevo region of western investments as fast as possible. I cally mixed town in which two party, the Democratic Party, last was killed and three wounded. Serbia. Nor does her compatriot can tell the honest from the dis- communities have long striven to summer launched an initiative to Ibisi was killed himself. Zivojin Misic, a Serbian duke from honest, fakes from true friends, gain the upper hand. According to rename streets in which When the renaming of streets the First World War. It is the same liars from upright people. the 2002 population census, 24,000 Albanians live after prominent fig- was put on the local council agen- with his fellow-fighter Stepa I have a few others skills as well, of the 43,000 residents in the ures in Albanian history and do da on February 6, all 17 Serb coun- Stepanovic who was born in but I must admit that even if faced municipality are Albanian, 15,000 the same for the parts of town cillors out of 41 (23 are Albanians Belgrade, and Nikola Pasic, a with torture I wouldn’t know to are Serbs and the rest are Roma where most residents are Serbs and one is Roma) walked out in Serbian Prime Minister from the take anyone to Carica Milica and others. The latest trends are and Roma. protest against the idea that “a ter- beginning of the 20th century who (Empress Militsa) street or to the unknown, as Albanians boycotted A list was thus put together, rorist” should get his own street. was born in the eastern town of street named after her husband, the October 2011 population cen- including Iljaz Selimi, an Local Albanians take a different Zajecar. Knez Lazar (Prince Lazar), who sus in Serbia, which reported Albanian humanist born in 1928 in view of Ibisi’s role in the clashes Nor is the town connected in any perished heroically in the Battle of 18,000 Serbs and 4,000 Roma in the Novo Selo, near Bujanovac, Ljam in Southern Serbia, of course. way to Karadjordje Petrovic, the Kosovo in 1389. town. Breznica, a World War II partisan, Adnan Salihu, a councillor from leader of the First Serbian I would need navigation to find From November 2000 to June the the writer Sami Fraseri, Idriz the Movement for Democratic Uprising against the Turks in 1804, the street named after Dositej following year armed clashes Seferi, an insurgent against the Progress, which mainly assembles whose name in the Nineties Obradovic, a Serb educator from, I between Serbian security forces Turks before the 1912 Balkan Wars former OVPMB members, replace that of Marshal Josip Broz think the 19th century, or find the and Albanian insurgents in the who was born in Southern Serbia, described him as a fighter against Tito, Yugoslavia’s longtime presi- street that bears the name of poet- Liberation Army of Presevo, but also Saban Bajramovic, a the regime of Serbia’s former dent. Tito once had a monument in ess Desanka Maksimovic. Medvedja and Bujanovac, OVPMB, Roma musician from the neigh- semi-dictator, Slobodan Milosevic the town square as well - but the Not to mention the Vranjska, held Bujanovac in their grip. bouring city of Nis. who died in 2005 in the Hague same people who erected this mon- Svetozar Markovic, Dimitrije Since 2002, ethnic Albanians Till now, only one of the 65 Tribunal detention unit while on ument a decade earlier demolished Tucovic, Zivojin Misic or Nikola have more or less run the local streets in town has not born a trial for war crimes. “Like many this three-metre-high obelisk at the Pasic streets, in spite of the fact government, though Serbs are rep- name drawn from Serbian history. Serbs, Ibisi fought against beginning of the Nineties. that these historical figures are resented on it. Members of both Everything would have been Milosevic,” Salihu said. They all have as much to do with well known and their importance The Serbs first announced that Bujanovac as does Skenderbeg, an they would withdraw from the Albanian warrior who fought local government in the town against the Ottomans and died in entirely, but changed their minds a 1468 and whose name, if the few days later, alerted to the fact Ministry agrees, will be borne by that the decision must first be veri- the main square in Bujanovac. fied in Belgrade by the Ministry for In reality, in the minds of most State Administration and Local people, the town remains divided Self-Government into old mahalas, (quarters) just The minister, Milan Markovic, as it was at the beginning of the knows the area well as he also last century and every native will heads the Coordinating body for tell you right away where each one Southern Serbia, a government is: Bozanska lies at the town institution set up in 2000 to over- entrance, then Kec and Ciganska, come the armed conflict in the area Dzavelska, Bekrijska and and act as a link between the local Dubacka. These mahalas owe and central authorities. He has their names to the names or nick- already said that the Ministry will names of prominent families who not back renaming the streets in once lived there, or their traits. If quite the way that the Albanians you know them, finding one’s way have planned. around Bujanovac is easy – you Bujanovac’s streets have been can get around blindfolded. renamed before. The Serbs who And, isn’t the fact that the ran the local government until streets are well paved more impor- 2002, led by the spirit of national tant than the names they bear? euphoria that the Milosevic regime This way, the wheels of the expen- propagated, renamed many streets sive cars that Serbs and Albanians in the Nineties. equally like to drive don’t get Y They also gave new streets on wrecked - and the pretty girls M the expanding outskirts of don’t break their heels in potholes C Bujanovac names designed to when, all dressed up, they hit the K awaken Serbian patriotism and town at the weekend. March 2 - 15, 2012 21 Opinion If you would like your NGO to appear in our Making a Difference feature, please email [email protected] Kosovo Benefits from Prudence Outside In in Times of Uncertainty This Kosovo’s economy has so far weathered and financial and economic storm affecting the world, but its Footnote* and institutions must remain vigilant, writes Jan-Peter Olters, Country Manager for World Bank Country Office in Kosovo. Independence vicinity of Europe’s star performers financing). Estonia, Finland, and Luxembourg. Kosovo’s economy “paid” for the The banking sector, as well, has proven banking sector’s health and robustness By Jan-Peter Olters astonishingly resilient to the deterio- through (i) relatively high interest ration of the external environment— rates charged on credits; and (ii) the By Kreshnik Hoxha largely as a result of its conservative general difficulty in accessing bank outlook and risk-averse lending deci- financing. he title page of the World Bank’s sions before, during, and after the last These two features reflect the rela- recently published Global bserving the disappointment in the capital of crisis. tively high degree of concentration in Economic Prospects shows a sail- Kosovo following the footnote decision, I start- T The largely foreign-owned banking a financial sector that is dominated by ing ship adrift in impenetrable fog, Oed to wonder when I will be forced to replace system has remained well-capitalised, bereft of a clear view on the dangers three banks, the limited supply of my Republic of Kosovo passport for the old UNMIK liquid, and profitable throughout this ahead. financial products, and the banks’ one and become a citizen of Unmikistan. Observing period. More than storms and heavy seas, internal risk assessment of proposed the disappointment in the capital of Serbia, I began In 2011, Kosovars entrusted the sailors fear the disorienting mist, projects. dreaming of the date when Kosovo will become a full banks with about 2.1 billion euro in depriving them of certainty, of their A combination of insufficient finan- member of the UN. deposits – 45 percent of GDP –while ability to assess – and react to – haz- cial literacy, limited consumer protec- These are the pictures that emerge from the public borrowing about 1.7 billion – 36 per- ards ahead. tion, inaccurate financial information, opinion in both capitals in the aftermath of the cent of GDP – from them. In these situations, they must rely imprecise business plans, unenforce- agreement reached between Kosovo and Serbia con- on their senses, focus on the immedi- The growth rates for both deposits, able or unavailable collaterals, and cerning Kosovo’s regional representation. ate risks ahead, and take speed out of 8.5 per cent, and credits, 16.4 per cent, post-crisis headquarter requests for It transpires that the properties of this snowflake their journey while retaining the abili- were steady and generally healthy. balance sheet consolidations have con- footnote are such that it pleases no party apart from ty of rapid maneuvers. In essence, the Contrary to the situation in neighbor- tributed to the banks’ conservative the governments in both countries. Has Kosovo real- ing countries, the credit-to-deposit same challenge applies to policymak- lending conduct and, in so doing, ly degraded its statehood? Has Serbia confirmed its ratio—a key risk factor in an environ- ers, central bankers, firms, and house- helped to avoid a boom-bust cycle of sovereignty over Kosovo? How do the dynamics ment of tightening liquidity—has holds caught in the Great Fog of the type seen in Montenegro and, to a change with this new state of affairs? remained constant at close to 80 per- Uncertainty that is 2012. The ability to lesser extent, in other countries of the Those who claim that UNSC resolution 1244 has cent, signifying robust bank balance forecast economic developments is Western Balkans. once again been reinstalled in Kosovo would be right sheets. hampered by the high degree of inse- However, in the absence of corporate - only if we exclude the fact that this resolution was Similarly, a relatively low percent- curity of whether (i) the sovereign bond markets, commercial banks are never abolished in the first place. The presence of a age of non-performing loans, repre- debt and competitiveness crisis in the the key channel through which the pri- resolution, which complies with the territorial senting 5.7 per cent of total loans in Southern euro area; (ii) the deteriorat- vate sector finances its investments. integrity of former Yugoslavia, does not under any December 2011, down from 5.9 per cent ing fiscal position in the US; and/or If banks cannot or are increasingly circumstances undo Kosovo’s statehood, because it a year earlier, has been provisioned at (iii) heightened vulnerabilities to unwilling to do this, effects are imme- was brought into force precisely to act as a buffer for a rate of 117 per cent and, as such, is China’s turbo economy can be man- diate and detrimental to the economy envisaging a settlement plan to the final status of fully absorbed by the banking system aged politically or will result in disas- as a whole. The most extreme example Kosovo. As such, this resolution is the skeleton upon itself. ter and calamity. of the consequence of a credit crunch which the Ahtisaari Plan was drafted for Kosovo’s As a result, banks have been able As a result, banks and investors on economic activities was observed in supervised independence. increase their profits, as per informa- worldwide—faced with immense diffi- Montenegro, now having suffered In addition, the International Court of Justice tion provided by the Central Bank of culty in charting their course—have through 13 consecutive quarters of advised that not only Kosovo’s declaration of inde- the Republic of Kosovo, CBK, by 12.8 become considerably more cautious, negative private-sector credit growth. pendence was in compliance with international law, per cent to a total of 37 million euro in and anxious, in their decision-making. In the wake of the pronounced boom- but it was also in compliance with UNSC resolution 2011. While the European Central Bank’s bust cycle, non-performing loans and Already in 2009, the banking sector 1244. This once again confirmed that UNSC resolu- 500-euro-billion lending facility to unpaid bills increased dramatically in tion 1244 had put Kosovo en route to its declaration of eurozone-based banks and the recent had been required to prove its Montenegro’s private sector, affecting independence. political agreement on the second res- strength. While the other countries in also the balance sheets of otherwise As a result, Kosovo has never been detached from cue package for Greece appear to her- the region saw deposits fall in healthy companies. this resolution purely because every subsequent ald a gradual recovery from the endur- response to the global financial and The risks in Kosovo are an entirely process it entered (read: status negotiations, ing eurozone woes, the geographical economic crisis set off by the collapse different nature, but they are much Ahtisaari Plan, independence) were based on this proximity to the crisis epicenter has of Lehman Brothers in late 2008, most more difficult to predict in terms of resolution and therefore Kosovo has not degraded its exposed countries in Southeastern dramatically in Montenegro, banks in likelihood and effects. In principle, statehood. Europe—more than other regions of Kosovo saw only a mild deceleration in financing conditions in Kosovo would For Serbia, on the other hand, this footnote intro- the world—to the risks emanating deposit growth. worsen if (i) parent banks (the largest duces a new reality. Serbia indeed has not recognised from the potential deepening of the Similarly, the post-crisis credit banks are headquartered in the euro- Kosovo, but it has acknowledged that there is a new financial and economic crisis. crunch seen in neighboring countries, zone) face problems with their capital reality on the ground which is different to that of The 17-country eurozone (the again, most severely in Montenegro, bases and funding conditions; and (ii) Balkans’ single most important trad- did not materialise in Kosovo, with the 1999 when it spoke for Kosovo. Serbia has agreed to domestic banks are exposed to second- ing partner, provider of diaspora impact minor and temporary. While cooperate with Kosovo in regional meetings where ary effects from potentially lower employment, and region of origin for longer-term crisis effects, such as Kosovo represents itself in full accords. productivity-enhancing capital those caused by high and rising rates inflows of remittances, export Political quarters in Belgrade may continue to inflows) is forecast to slide into a mild of non-performing loans, have been receipts, and foreign direct invest- insist that Serbia’s sovereignty over Kosovo was recession in 2012, with negative effects constraining the economic recovery in ments, which would result in a deterio- retained, but the fact of the matter is that Serbia on foreign direct investment and Montenegro, Serbia, and Albania, the ration of banks’ credit quality. today has acknowledged and accepted the ICJ advi- aggregate remittance income. percentage of credit defaults in Kosovo In the end, there is only one type of sory opinion that Kosovo’s Declaration of In the current economic context, two has remained manageable and broadly fresh wind that can cut through the fog Independence is in line with the international law. factors have contributed most directly stable over the course of the business and improve overall visibility. The The regional dynamics are bound to change now to the perception of economic vulnera- cycle. CBK will have to build on its achieve- that both Serbia and Kosovo have cleared each bilities, namely unsustainable fiscal Other banking-sector indicators, ments, further increase its capacities other’s path to the EU. The format of the footnote positions and banking sector fragili- including those on liquidity, capital to carefully monitor developments in allows room for different interpretations of the ties. And it is exactly with respect to adequacy, and profitability, have also the banking sector, including those agreement among parties involved, but the EU has these two risk factors that the relative- reacted less to the previous crisis than areas where commercial banks feel definitely hit the nail on the head this time. ly buoyant economy in Kosovo—with in other countries of Southeastern least comfortable in sharing accurate Borko Stefanovic addresses his nation informing an estimated growth rate of 5 per cent Europe, thereby (i) providing the mar- information—namely, proper loan clas- them that this agreement is not recognition of in 2011—has stood out as an example of ket with an assurance of the banking sification. Kosovo. Edita Tahiri calls the footnote a snowflake prudent economic management. sector’s ability to absorb further Banks themselves, the supervisory indicating that it is a temporary agreement that will With a fiscal deficit of less than 2 per shocks (if need be); and (ii) minimiz- agency, and all other market partici- vanish in the symmer. cent of GDP last year and a stock of ing the risk that foreign parent banks pants rely on this information and ulti- *While politicians in Prishtina and Belgrade get public debt of around 6 per cent of require dramatic balance-sheet consol- mately benefit from it. When nothing caught up in terminology and polemics, the EU GDP, Kosovo finds itself well inside the idations in Kosovo (which would fur- can be seen, it is most likely that colli- reaps the benefits of pulling both countries towards fiscal Maastricht criteria and in direct ther limit the private sector’s access to sions happen. Brussels. 22 March 2 - 15, 2012 Community Focus Ecosovo Hoping for a Better Future A better working Shpresa e Jetës – Hope of Life – is providing free after-school classes to children in four munici- environment? palities in Kosovo.

Offices thinking By Shengjyl Osmani green hrough carefully crafted games, Shpresa e Jetës is encouraging Tpupils to enjoy learning and thrive at school. Established as an not-for-profit By Elizabeth Gowing organisation back in 2004, Shpresa e Jetës is run by six administrators, five lecturers and nineteen teachers. o you have a green mug? Where did your office furni- The NGO works with families in ture come from? Are you ready for community print- Prishtina, , , and Viti, pro- Ding? viding educational activities and out- These are just some of the ways that offices in Prishtina of-school learning, through different Students combine the great outdoors and learning. are attempting to work more sustainably. In OSCE, the ‘green games. mug’ initiative ensured that every employee had a mug which Arsim Rama, father of 12-year-old could be reused for drinks while at work, and then banned Anda, told Prishtina Insight that the plastic cups from the building. organisation provides invaluable sup- Smaller organisations, too, are looking at ways to reduce port. “We cannot provide different their carbon footprint. Gwyneth Letherbarrow from LIK, the educational activities and we cannot Learning Institute in Kosovo, gives as an example of her com- afford to pay for any private courses pany’s commitment to the environment in Kosovo that they for my daughter,” said Rama. “Anda use local suppliers for furniture and equipment. Did you enjoyed the educational activities pro- think of that when it came to kitting out your workplace? vided by this organisation and attend- Some of the good habits that OSCE and LIK describe as ed all the lectures, games and out-door examples of working more sustainably are extensions of the activities,” he added. more virtuous ways we behave out of working hours – recy- Anda is one of the hundreds of chil- cling where possible, refilling toner cartridges, pledging to be dren each year who have benefited plastic bag-free (good work, LIK). Other things are only possi- from the work of the organisation. ble in the working environment. Take the ‘community print- Founder Valbona Berisha said it is ing’ concept, which works on the same principle that village focused on promoting education and ovens did – and indeed still do in some parts of Kosovo. I strengthening its importance. remember spending the night with friends in Gjakova and on “According to official statistics in Sunday morning walking down to the nearest bakery with a 2006, around 4,000 children dropped little bundle of ingredients ready to be combined and baked out of school, and in the next two at the ‘furra’ into the typical sausage-and-cheese-bread. It years, this number has doubled,” doesn’t make sense for every home in Gjakova to switch on explained Berisha. and heat up an oven on a Sunday morning; instead everyone “Our target are four municipalities One of the fun activities provided by the NGO. from Kosovo, seven primary schools, steps a few doors down the street where they can get to use a is financially supporting medical The NGO has also developed a spe- two kindergartens, one public and one really fine wood-fired oven (and have a chat to their neigh- treatment for children with eye prob- cial activity to give dairy products to private,” added Berisha. bour while they wait for their bread to be ready). In the same lems. those who need it. Besides formal educational assis- way, it makes sense for an office to invest in a fancy (wood- Blendrit Sopi’s son, Mersim Sopi, is “This project is helping local agri- tance, the organisation is also provid- fired?!) printer to be used by more than one computer, and for visually impaired. Blendrit said he cultural agencies grow and enable ing recreational activities, like sum- employees to get up from their desk and walk to the shared did not have words to thank the organ- them to contribute more to the gener- mer camps, excursions and cultural community resource (possibly having a chat with a neigh- is ation. al society,” added Berisha. visits. bour as they pass) to collect their print out - which, by the “We do have regular checks every The NGO is also running a special way, we assume would be on two sides to save paper? six months, in private eye clinic here For more contact them at programme with the RAE community, LIK and OSCE and the other offices like them who have in Prishtina, and all the treatments +381 (0)38 542 241, +377 (0)45 424 930, funded by the US Embassy in undertaken environmental reviews of their work to identify are paid by Shpresa e Jetes, as we have or email them at Prishtina. how they can work greener and cleaner, have also seen the no means to cover these medical [email protected], In cooperation with the Swiss connection between saving the planet, and saving money. checks,” said Sopi. [email protected] Many of the examples that they give for approaches that work Herrord Foundation, Shpresa e Jetes for both small and large enterprises in Kosovo also offer cost- savings, particularly if you look at them over the medium or long term. This is true of the commitment to working online and through file-sharing etc to avoid printing, and using tech- Ferizaj most polluted city, nology such as Skype for meetings to avoid the need for trav- el. Technology will be part of the solution to our carbon cri- sis: at OSCE their phones turn off the displays at designated times (after working hours and on weekend), monitors are configured to turn off after twenty minutes of stand-by, and NGO Claims they work at water saving through motion sensor taps. Smart. he NGO "Initiative for the promise: Ferizaj, the So what does your workplace do? Something we can Progress" carried out a most (un) clean city.” include in a future Ecosovo column? And what more might Tstunt in Ferizaj last Rina Demiri, Public you be interested in doing? As described in an earlier week to remind the Mayor that Information Officer at Ecosovo column, we are able to connect up organisations who he had pledged to tackle rub- INPO, said that this stunt have separated plastic bottles and cans, with recyclers who bish collection in the city dur- was aimed at reminding can collect from your office on a weekly basis. We are current- ing the most recent election the mayor of his duty. ly looking to incorporate more workplaces in this scheme. campaign. According to Demiri, Could your office be part of it? The billboard with pic- melting snow has revealed Beyond this, The Ideas Partnership NGO is hoping to put ture of Bajrush Xhemajli Ferizaj as the filthiness city together a guide to practical implementation of these and with a tongue-in-cheek slo- in Kosovo. “Waste was cov- other ideas for greening your workplace in Prishtina this gan was removed within an ered by snow in recent spring. Get in touch if you’d be interested in finding out hour. weeks, but now it has more. Melting snow has emerged, showing the inef- revealed the rubbish ficiency of the municipali- Elizabeth Gowing is a founder of The Ideas Partnership, a strewn across in the city of ty and the regional compa- Kosovan NGO working on educational, cultural and environ- Ferizaj. ny in maintaining the Y mental projects. She is also the author of the recently-pub- For this reason, INPO cleanliness of the city". M lished, Travels in Blood and Honey; becoming a beekeeper in unveiled their billboard last INPO also urged citizens C Kosovo. She can be reached at theideaspartner- week in the town square, not to throw rubbish onto K [email protected] with the slogan: “I've kept the streets. March 2 - 15, 2012 23 Classified Contact Prishtina Insight if you would like to advertise Email [email protected]

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