Mitrovice/Kosovska Mitrovica, Part 1

**Albanian name/Serbian name when talking about most places (if not all) in Kosovo, but I will just 'Mitrovica' for simplicity.

Not the best picture unfortunately, but this is the main bridge crossing, that divides Mitrovica across the Iber (ee-ber) River. Within the city of Mitrovica, the North side (which the side the picture looks to) is Serbian dominated; the South Side (from where the picture is taken) is majority Albanian - both being Kosovars but not following the same government nor same institutions or rule of law. It is a tense place, with the last protest/riot coming on May 30, where Albanians protested against "illegal" (in the eyes of Kosovo and most of the international community) elections that were held in Mitrovica, authorized by the Serbian government, which has de facto rule in the North and influences decent power over the area as well. Although this was a larger protest, there have been other protests, demonstrations, and riots in this area since the end of the Kosovo War in 1999.

The graves are KLA members. The city below is Mitrovica.

Why is this a tense area? Well there are many, many reasons for this. North Mitrovica is one of the last real areas that Belgrade (Serbian government) has a hold on. There are few other Serb enclaves in Kosovo and within these enclaves Belgrade seems to be losing influence. For example, there were successful elections in the municipality of Leposavic (Serb-majority), that even the US Ambassador Christopher Dell heralded. These elections took place with the consent of the Kosovar government and the international community, and it is hoped that the newly elected Serb politicians will work cooperatively with the Kosovar government. From reading and talking to people in Kosovo, it appears that Serbian Kosovars are not really interested in politics and fighting with the Kosovar government over power, rule of land, and independence, rather they are more concerned about safety, jobs, and a better life.

Mentioning independence, Belgrade (and yes, other Serbians as well) do not recognize Kosovo's self-proclaimed independence and holding on to Mitrovica is the main way to hold on to Kosovo as a whole.

Fighting for North Mitrovica may or may not work for Serbia, this remains to be seen. But not recognizing Kosovo's independence and Belgrade leveraging their power in the North are two of the more obvious reasons that tensions persist.

To take a step back, Serbia deems Kosovo as its "Jerusalem," being at the heart of its Orthodox religion and the cradle of Serbian civilization (for a lack of a better phrase), which dates back to the 6th century when Serb tribes migrated to the area around Kosovo under the Byzantine Empire. The Serbs built an empire from the 1100s to the 1400s, and the seat of the Orthodox church was in Peje/Pec but has since been moved to Prizren/Prizren, Kosovo. In fact, the Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch just visited the seat in Prizren on June 18th. History is important in the relationship between Kosovo and Serbia; however it is not all about history when it comes to Mitrovica. There are also resources in the mountains of Mitrovica that both sides would like to own full possession.

(These are some of the mountains in the North. The red and white smoke stack to the right is a mineral factory, that used to refine gold, which is still able to be mined in the mountains. It also was a lead factory. The factory is still in use but not fully capacity and not to mine gold.)

Some other problems is that there really is no rule of law in North Mitrovica. If anything, Serbian law is followed in the North and Kosovar in the South; however nothing is enforced and the International Crisis Group reports in their latest report that safety comes from the goodwill of the population. There is a cooperation set up that is part of the Kosovo Police force where there is a mixed police force in the North, but really this means there are about 10 Albanians that are supposed to patrol mixed areas in North Mitrovica, but there is no evidence if this actually happens. Any Serb police official or local government official do not really communicate with the Kosovo Police force, so there is no cooperation or joint-exercises to ultimately provide safety and security in the North. Another interesting thing regarding police, Belgrade sends its own "plain-clothes" cops down to the North to monitor the situation and watch over the Serb/Albanian police officers in the North, probably reporting back to Belgrade. This causes insecurity with any police officers in North Mitrovica because they must be worried about repercussions from Belgrade for their actions (and thus probably don't act).

I apologize as I have gotten off track a bit, but this is not the half of it and I will write more about this whole situation in later posts. It is a very complicated area, as is the whole of the case for Kosovo, and hopefully I'll be able to make a dent in it while I am here this summer.

The Iber River. The right is North, left is South. This water is polluted with lead, and lead poisoning is a big problem in Mitrovica. This comes from the mining around Mitrovica, especially in Trepce, which was a huge mining factory outside of Mitrovica.

The facotry again. There is a mound of black dirt to the right and of regular dirt in the center-right. This is just to show that the factory is still in use.
The Main street in North Mitrovica. The flags hanging across the street in the background are of Serbian President Boris Tadic.