Difficult Reconciliation

March 2001 –8‘49

0.04

A village in Kosovo, where a year and a half since the end of the war peace is still elusive. The village of Hallac, south of Pristina, has 400 inhabitants and is one of the biggest flash-points for the Finnish KFOR troops in command here. The KFOR check-point in Hallac is the daily collection point for Ashkali school children. Their fathers are accused by the Albanians of co-operation with the Serbs during the war.

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In recent months there have been frequent bomb attacks against the Ashkali. Last summer three men were killed. Parents only send their children to school with military protection.

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But there are those who are working towards reconciliation. Austrians Father Karl Helmreich and Mark Mastenbroek are from a church welfare group. Since July they have been helping the Albanians in Hallac to re-build their houses. They have also been helping the Ashkali, the Albanian speaking Roma – who make up more than a third of the inhabitants of Hallac. Each family in the area at least now has a roof over their head this winter.

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Karl Helmreich knows it‘s not enough to just preach reconciliation. Without material support one is not taken seriously at all. But some radical elements in the village put up a violent resistance, not just having a go at the Ashkali, but also moderate Albanians. The Ashkali hardly dare set foot outside.

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This is the Ashkali family Haliti. Jakup Haliti was seriously hurt, when someone attached an explosive device to the door in the summer. His leg healed, his distrust remained.

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SYNC Jakup Haliti / Ashkali

I have contact with Albanians. If you meet one on his own, you greet eachother. If you meet several together, no-one says hello.

2.02 SYNC Sarife Haliti

We hardly have food, clothes, shoes. And we‘re too afraid to even leave the house. But we hope that it will get better.

2.15

The roots of the hatred are here. In April last year the Serbs massacred 20 Albanians. The Ashkali had to get rid of the corpses. Since the Albanian refugees returned mistrust has ruled.

2.27 The patrols of the Finnish troops through Hallac can‘t change any of this. Neither they, nor the international police can resolve any of those attacks. Their modestly stated goal is to deter even worse attacks.

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SYNC second lieutenant Mikko Niiles / KFOR Finland

The attitude of some of the local people here is that they still want to do some kind of ethnic cleansing. That’s the number one problem and then we just don’t have enough resources, because of course the police and peacekeepers can’t be everywhere all the time.

03.09

When the KFOR troops came in June 1999, they were greeted as liberators. But people‘s expectations were too high. The Albanians neither found wealth nor the longed-for independence. The radicals set the tone in many places.

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This is where Mark Mastenbroek and Karl Helmreich eat and sleep. Their work also makes them the potential target of terror attacks. Every day the leader of the Ashkali community joins them in the camper van for breakfast, in order to discuss pending work. At the beginning of December a hand grenade was thrown at the caravan.

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SYNC Karl Helmreich / Benedictiner Father

A grenade splinter pierced the wall here. It is is very thin and fragile. Such a thing could have turned out badly - naturally.

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Here in Magure, a few kilometers away from Hallac, Helmreich already tried to promote reconciliation and failed for the time being. The former Ashkali and Serb suburbs were burned down after the war and are still completely destroyed. Next year Helmreich wants to try again. Most of the new houses were renovated with his help. But for now Magure, the former Kosovo Liberation Army HQ, is far from reconciliation.

4.41

The magnesite mine, around which everything used to revolve, lies still. The miners still come, in order to save the tunnels. Nobody has work. It’s even harder for the minorites to return than the Albanian refugees .

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SYNC Karl Helmreich / Benedictiner Father

It‘s not the same whether a Kosovo Albanian returns to his homeland or one of the minorities, who still live far away in a very difficult and endangered situation.

Q: Would similar projects like the one here in Hallac between Albanians and Ashkali – an attempt at reconciliation - also be possible with Albanians and Serbs?

A: I don‘t think it‘s that simple yet. That‘s still a too emotionally loaded issue.

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This is the KFOR checkpoint before the Serb villages in the region. Only those who live here may pass. It‘s for the protection of the Serbs, the soldiers emphasise. Because times have changed. KFOR came here to protect the Albanians from Serbian soldiers. If they now have to disengage, it‘s largely on account of attacks by Albanians.

5,58: Here in Serbian Skulanevo a man in a car roared down the street last August and indiscriminately ran down four school children. One child was killed, the three others were badly injured, explains Lasse Lipponen.

The Serbs complain about their ghettoisation. They can only leave the village with a military guard. Once a week KFOR organizes a convoy to the Serbian boundary, on another day the women can visit their men in the prison in Pristina under escort.

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Farmer Milorad Bojkovic says he cannot even cross his fields without fear. A relative was shot there. He says he doesn’t know why the Albanians want revenge on them.

6.48 SYNC Milorad Bojkovic

We know, who is guilty. The man who started the war. But if the Albanians seek revenge on us, it‘s false revenge. We do not have freedom here, because the Albanians believe that KFOR are here to protect them and they can take every liberty.

7.12

Back in Hallac, the KFOR soldiers are on routine patrol to the mayor‘s house. They want to be sure that everything is OK. Two attacks have already been carried out on the mayor. His wife says she only expects him back late today. As a faithful follower of the moderate Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova, Ahmet Zeqiri has stood out since he won with the local election in October by a wide margin. He is conscious of the danger. But he thinks things are on the up.

7.44 SYNC Ahmet Zeqiri / mayor of Hallac

Of course I am afraid. My family doesn‘t matter to them, neither do I. But if people are better-off, if they have work and money, there will be no more problems here than anywhere else.

7.58 SYNC Karl Helmreich / Benedictine Father

Q: Have you ever had the feeling during your time here: I‘ll give up, because there‘s no point?

A: My God no. Of course it‘s not entirely pleasant spending long months in a small village. And there are setbacks. But there are so many beautiful experiences and so much encouragement from the people living here, so much warmth from them. Yes, things are always moving forward.

ends 8.49

reporter: Ernst Kernmayer

camera: Robert Holzinger

editor: Daniela Schwatzeck