A man feeding pigeons at the Ibar river bridge in the almost-emptied city of Mitrovica, Kosovo. — AFP
A QUIET but steady exodus is gradually emptying Serb-majority areas in Kosovo, amid a growing crackdown on Belgrade-backed institutions that has left some neighbourhoods deserted.
Although reliable data from areas in cities like Mitrovica is lacking, residents and observers say more and more ethnic Serbs are fleeing Kosovo and resettling in Serbia, as authorities close banks, post offices and municipal buildings that have long supported their community.
“The Serbian people are disappearing from Kosovo. Unfortunately, no one keeps records,” said Momcilo Trajkovic, the president of the Serbian National Forum, an advocacy group from Gracanica in central Kosovo.
“Twenty per cent of students who finish middle school have gone to high school in Serbia. And their parents have gone with them,” Trajkovic added, pointing to one example of the flight.
Emigration is most widespread in the four Serb-majority municipalities near the Serbian border, whose inhabitants have largely remained reliant on and loyal to Belgrade after Kosovo’s independence in 2008.
Nenad Rasic, the lone Serb member of the Kosovo government, said there is no data.
“Unfortunately, schools hide their number of students, on orders from Belgrade, and lie saying that the numbers are increasing – while we know that they drop drastically.”
The growing trend follows a crackdown on an uneasy status quo that saw a Serbian shadow state hold major sway in northern Kosovo.
For months, Kosovar authorities have overseen operations and legal manoeuvres to dismantle the parallel system of social services and political offices backed by Serbia to serve Kosovo’s ethnic-Serb minority.
Kosovo so far this year has effectively outlawed the Serbian dinar, closed the banks that relied on the currency and shuttered post offices where pension payments could be cashed.
Kosovo Serbs can no longer drive cars with Serbia plates and must have local drivers licences.
These moves have angered Serbia, but Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti wants to consolidate the writ of the Pristina government following the collapse of EU-backed talks between the two sides last year.
A Kosovo Serb street vendor waiting for customers in Mitrovica. — AFP
The pressure exerted by Pristina has further strained fragile Serb communities, who rely on jobs and handouts provided by the Serbian state.
Animosity between Kosovo and Serbia has persisted since the war between Serbian forces and ethnic Albanian insurgents in the late 1990s.
Under Kurti, Pristina has adopted its most muscular posture toward Belgrade since 2008.
For Mileva Zivkovic, a 68-year-old retiree in Mitrovica, Serbs who could afford it left long ago, including her son who settled in Serbia.
“Those who don’t have the money like me, have to stay here,” she added.
“My family hasn’t left yet, and I regret that they haven’t,” said her neighbour Rajka, who only gave her first name.
Because Serbs have boycotted every census since 2008, it is unclear how many are left in Kosovo.
The Serbian government, which likely has the most accurate demographics, has kept silent on the issue.
But an International Crisis Group report published in January said: “Over 10% of Kosovo’s Serbs have emigrated over the past year.” Their total population has “dipped below 100,000”, it added.
The European Stability Initiative think tank however expressed scepticism over those findings, describing them “a dramatic recent development” that “offered no footnotes and sources”.
“It was based on conventional wisdom,” said the group.
The Serbian government did not respond to requests for comment.
Milorad Petkovic, a retired metal worker, said his family offered a telling case in point.
“Out of nine grandchildren, only one is employed here. Two have already moved to Belgrade. Others are also looking for jobs in Serbia,” said the 75-year-old from Gornja Gusterica village in central Kosovo.
“If we are to be left alone, it will be a difficult life.”
Many Serbs blame the current Kosovar administration for their change in fortunes.
“The responsibility for the situation in which the Serbs find themselves today lies with Kurti,” said Trajkovic.
But he and many other influential local Serbs have also directed their ire at Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.
“Vucic cannot be absolved of responsibility,” said Trajkovic. “He deceived these people, he did not help them to hold steady in Kosovo, he abused them to conquer and stay in power.”
Such criticism is rarely voiced openly in Serb-majority areas of Kosovo, where the long arm of Belgrade remains vigilant against dissent.
“They have been taught during these 12 years of Vucic’s rule to be afraid to even think, and not to say out loud that Vucic is guilty,” said Nenad Radosavljevic, an activist and publisher from Leposavic in northern Kosovo.
“People have to manage. They really live in fear.” — AFP
