Mitrovica: 'Kosovo in microcosm'

In this story: The effects of war High levels of tension Signs of hope RELATED STORIES, SITES

By Paul Sussman, CNN.com writer

LONDON (CNN) -- At a recent demonstration in Kosovska Mitrovica, a protester displayed a placard reading: "Mitrovica is Kosovo."

It was a pertinent slogan. For many, the industrial town on the banks of the river Iber -- described in February as "the most dangerous place in Europe" by United Nations Ambassador Richard Holbrooke -- has become a potent symbol of the problems facing Kosovo as a whole.

MESSAGE BOARD Peace in the Balkans     ALSO NATO raids toxic Serb plant Decision time for Kosovo refugees

Three years ago Mitrovica had an ethnically diverse population of Albanians (78.9 percent), Slavs (10.2 percent), and Turks, Muslim Slavs and Roma gypsies (10.9 percent), all living together in a single mixed community.

With the upheavals of 1998-99, however, its complexion changed dramatically.

The ethnic diversity remained. What disappeared, as it did throughout Kosovo, was any pretence at ethnic harmony. The town became divided along strictly racial lines, with the Iber acting as a buffer between the Serbs and Roma in the northern half of the town and the Albanians in the south.

"Mitrovica is the point where the two sides meet," says Alistair McArthur, an Oxfam programme manager who has worked in the town for the last three months. "It's the epicentre of Kosovo's problems. What happens here tends to be a yardstick for what's happening elsewhere in the region."

Alix de Mornay of American charity CARE, said: "It's come to symbolise the worst of what's going on in Kosovo. You have problems elsewhere, but in Mitrovica it is particularly visible."

Situated in the north of Kosovo, 75 kilometres from the Serb border, Mitrovica has for long been the region's main industrial and mining centre, home to the powerful Trepca Mining, Metallurgical and Chemical Combine.

Accurate statistics are hard to come by -- the last reliable census was in 1981 -- but figures from 1998 based on electrical records appear to show a well-mixed community, with 53 percent of the households in the northern half of the town registered as Albanian, and 47 percent as Serb.

The conflicts of 1998-99, however, saw ethnic displacement on a massive scale. 12,000 Albanians were driven out of northern Mitrovica, while 65 percent of the predominantly Albanian-owned south of the town was destroyed and its population scattered.

With the restoration of peace the roles were reversed. Displaced Albanians poured back into the town and its Serb and Roma inhabitants were in turn forced to seek refuge north of the Iber (an estimated 450 Serb families lost their homes in the southern part of town).

Since June 1999, Mitrovica has come under the remit of the Northern Command of KFOR, the NATO-led multinational peacekeeping force. Four thousand troops under French control -- 2,500 from France, the rest from Spain, Poland, Russia, Belgium and the United Arab Emirates -- are responsible for maintaining a fragile peace.

Some 12,000 Serbs now live in the town's northern sector, with 2,000 to 2,500 Albanians scattered among them, most of whom, according to a UN report: "continue to live essentially in hiding with severe restrictions on freedom of movement (particularly males)."

There are no accurate statistics for how many Albanians live in the southern sector of the town, although it is thought to be approximately 90,000.

Relations between the two communities remain strained, with periodic eruptions of violence on both sides.

In February, for instance, a rocket-propelled grenade killed three Serbs travelling in a United Nations bus, in retaliation for which eight Albanians and Turks were killed by Serb mobs in the northern part of the town.

"It's a very clear-cut divide," says Carolyn McCool of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). "Both sides are still very suspicious and afraid of each other after all that has happened."

"The violence tends to be cyclical," adds de Mornay. "You get moments when everything's very calm, but then suddenly everything flares up again. The bridge across the river tends to be the focal point. Whenever there's any trouble people from each side congregate at either end of it and face each other off."

Despite such underlying tension, however, there are indications that things are improving, albeit slowly.

A series of economic reconstruction projects are under way, and the city is no longer under curfew as it was earlier in the year.

"You could describe the situation as tense but calm," says UN spokesperson Frank Benjamin. "We haven't had any major conflicts for a while now, and the levels of violence have dropped significantly of late."

All involved acknowledge there is much still much to do, and that the situation has the potential to flare at any moment.

Particular concerns have been voiced about the destabilising effects of President Slobodan Milosevic's regime in Belgrade.

Hope is nonetheless growing that some sort of ethnic harmony can be restored to Mitrovica.

"I firmly believe the city will recover its multi-ethnic status," says McCool. "I can't tell you precisely what form it will take, nor what the timeline will be, but I am absolutely confident we'll get there."

Frank Benjamin shares her optimism.

"Mitrovica will become a multi-ethnic community again, although it's going to take a long time. As the saying goes: The tree doesn't grow straight to heaven."

Curfew imposed in Kosovo town after 6 are slain
February 4, 2000
Anger on a bridge in Kosovo
February 4, 2000
2 killed in attack on U.N. bus in Kosovo
February 2, 2000

CNN In-Depth Specials - Mitrovica: Symbol of divided Kosovo

KFOR
Organisation for Co-Operation and Security in Europe
Oxfam
CARE
United Nations

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.