Island Between Istok and Pec

The village of Ljubozda, not far from Istok in Pec, is difficult to find on the maps.  The way to Ljubozda from Istok leads through several “only Albanian villages” of which one is called Crnce.  On the political map of Kosovo we learn that the leader of Kosovo’s Albanians, Ibrahim Rugova, was born in Crnce.  Both Serbs and Albanians from neighboring Ljubozda emphasize this fact, admittedly with different facial expressions and comments, when they point their fingers in the direction of Rugova’s home.

Ljubozda is otherwise a village with around 170 households of which 37 are Serb.  All other houses and families are, as local Serbs put it, “Albanian”.  Serbs live in the center of the village pressed close to each other, like some kind of state within a state.  One of them describes this thus: “We’s like an embassy in another state”.  Albanians are on every side.  Serbs say that from Ljubozde to Pec it is about twenty kilometers, but that from their village and on there is not a single Serb home.  In the past, they say, there used to be many.

Ever since shooting broke out in Drenica and across Kosovo, both Serbs and Albanians from Ljubozda are mainly staying in their homes, not working in the fields which, otherwise, is their source of income.  They sit, they worry somewhat and, of course, discuss state politics.  Among them there has not been any contact or discussion for sometime now.  Separate stories of Serbs and Albanians in this village could serve as brilliant illustration of how today, on the rural level, that which politicians call “Serb-Albanian dialogue” actually looks.

WHAT ALBANIANS SAY: Isa Ridjaj, a 60-year-old who once worked in a hospital in Istok, speaks in their name.  While he speaks, all others are silent, or they nod their heads in approval.  Toward the end of the discussion with journalists, Alija Rugova, the uncle of Ibrahim Rugova, showed up and mostly confirmed what Isa had to say.
“Things as they are now are no good.  We are all disturbed because the Serb police committed that massacre in Drenica.  They killed civilians and innocent people.  Here nothing happened yet, but we are all worried.  Our neighbors are constantly provoking us, trying to start a conflict.  Recently they set fire to hay around their houses in order to accuse us.  The same night one of them fired a gun.  No one got hurt, but apparently a bullet went through the hat of a Serb.  They staged the whole thing and accused us.  The police came here to investigate.  We do not have any weapons.  We are peaceful people and we used to live well alongside Serbs.  We protected each other in the Second World War, we hid them from Germans in our houses.  But lately they keep provoking us.  They got bossy after Drenica.  What’s the solution for Kosovo.  This cannot be solved until we get an independent state.  Our state in Kosovo.  In that state no one would molest Serbs.  We could live like good neighbors.  We cannot go on like this.  For instance, I worked in a hospital for nearly thirty years, and they fired me because I am Albanian.  Now I do not have a pension or anything.  In my old days I have to work as a hired hand just to survive.  Kids cannot go to school, we have no jobs, it cannot go on like this for long.”

WHAT SERBS SAY: Among Serbs gathered in the village store, everyone speaks mostly at the same time.  After several minutes it is still the oldest and the most important who get the word.  In the village there are those who support Slobo and Seselj.  In the past everyone was only for Slobo.  In discussions they frequently remember times ten years ago when they went to Novi Sad and Podgorica in order to tear down governments of that time.  Now they are pretty confused by what is happening in Kosovo.  Vuksan Popovic, also a 60-year-old, is talking in their name.

“Relations with Shiptars have been bad as far back as 1982.  It was bad during the Second World War.  At that time the Rugova’s were Ballists.  Since 1982, it has been getting worse and worse.  Between us there is no communication.  When we meet each other while waiting for the bus to go to the city, we no longer tell each other ‘good day’.  Nothing.  But it was never as bad as this today.  We have not been going into the fields for days now and have not done anything.  As far as I can see, neither have they.  People are worried and are waiting to see what will happen.  On the evening of the fifth of March, they lit hay in our part of the village.  The same evening, a little later, they fired a gun and nearly missed one of our own.  Later, they fired a warning shot from their mahala.  All men from Serb homes got together and we agreed to organize watches.  We assigned three places for watches with four men to a place.  There is no other way, we do not want to be caught napping.  We do not have any weapons, we keep watch with hunting rifles.  Watches are a temporary solution, but without help from the state we cannot do anything.  Here we are alone, surrounded by Shiptars.  Just like a drop in a bucket.  What is the solution?  Only that Shiptars acknowledge the state in which they live.  Just like we acknowledge it.  It will be better both for them and for us if they respect our state, instead of shooting at our police.  Kosovo was never theirs.  Even Rugova was born in a village called Crnce, which has a Serb name.  It was always thus.  And if they don’t want to acknowledge the Serbian state, let them go from here to there where they will acknowledge the state.  Or if the state is not willing to do anything, let it tell us so.  And we will leave here in time.”