Kosovo Celebrates

Yesterday, Kosovo Albanians celebrated the one year anniversary of the declaration of independence from Serbia.  Many people stretched the celebration out to start on the 16th by closing shops early with essentially everything closed on the 17th.  The street party was massive and Smokey was emotionally traumatized by the huge fireworks displays, automatic gunfire, and smaller private celebrations that lasted for hours.  The celebration this year seemed to top that of the actually party that was held as people were able to plan much more in advance unlike last year when the date for declaring independence was not well-known.

MTCowgirl’s Independence Articles

• Kosovo’s long road to stability
• Kosovo economy bleak, year after independence move
• Crowds celebrate 1st birthday
• US hails progress, acknowledges problems in independent Kosovo
• Kosovo independence

Other Kosovo News

• EU plans put NATO in jeopardy
• Uganda requests Haradinaj for peace talks
• Domain name Kosovo.com to be auctinoed
• Blasts rock Preshevo and Mitrovica

KEK in the Butt

Ha, I couldn’t help it. There were power problems (fuse kept blowing out) last night in a restaurant we were visiting and a friend piped up with “Someone needs a KEK in the butt” Classic!!! Actually, the power hasn’t been this bad this winter (reportedly production is up 30% compared to other years) so there have not been long power outages in Pristina.  Some of the smaller villages have been worse off but the power situation does appear to be improving slowly.

Kosovo has some wonderful nature such as Rugova Valley and Brezovica.  I have been trekking up to Mount Sara (Brezovica is actually the name of the village, not the mountain) on the weekends and taking snowboarding lessons.  Compared to back home in the US, learning and renting equipment here is next to nothing.  A ski rental will cost you 10€ a day and lessons are somewhere in the range of 10-15€ per hour.  A day pass on the ski-lift (you do have to pay again if you switch lifts) is 10€ or a single trip is only 3€ which is nice if you just want to ride up to the top to take some pictures and come back down again.  There aren’t really beginner slopes at Brezovica, the main slope is actually a black run, but it’s all good.  During your breaks from skiing/snowboarding, I can recommend stopping at Cakson for some hot spiced wine or Pizzaria Tina which has fantastic pizzas albeit in an extremely smoky environment.

On the downside of Brezovica, it is just absolutely jam-packed on Sundays and there is little to no crowd control at the ski-lifts.  The line is basically a push-and-shove fest to see who can come in from the side or push their way to the front.  I actually got my arm stuck between two people trying to hold onto the jacket of my instructor as they pushed in from the side and trapped me.  Another time I saw an interesting argument between a Albanian youth and a Polish KFOR soldier.  The youth attempted to cut in line in front of everyone and the soldier told him to get to the back of the line.  The youth then proceeded to start threatening the soldier who was backed up by three other Polish soldiers (all in uniform).  The next thing you know everyone in line is yelling at the youth about cutting in line but he didn’t care and just kept pushing forward.

The last thing that I saw really made me wonder about people in Kosovo and what people can get away with…a black Jeep Grand Cherokee with tinted windows was trying to push its way through a crowd of people waiting for the ski-lift.  People were moving out of the way the best they could with skis strapped to their feet and its possible that one person accidentally or intentionally hit the back of the vehicle with his ski pole.  The next thing you know two guys got out of the Jeep and attacked the skier, throwing him to the ground punching and kicking him in front of all the people at the ski lift.  The worst thing about it was that people were just “Hey, Hey” and didn’t move to help the guy that was being beaten-up and then the two guys just got back into the vehicle and drove off.  Ummm, hello!!!

MTCowgirl’s Kosovo News

• Kosovo to establish Security Council
• Kosovo expels Roma children
• Germany assists KSF with vehicles
• EU stresses Kosovo reforms
• Austrian KFOR soldier shoots soldier
• Obama writes to Kosovo president
• Kosovo designates new embassies and consular offices
• ICJ ruling to be ambiguous
• EU Parliament urges recognition of Kosovo

Kosovo Serbs Protest KSF

Kosovo Serbs organized demonstrations today in the north of Kosovo, blocking roads and traffic. The Serbs participating say that the security force threatens their safety. They also demonstrated against EULEX customs which began registering goods coming into Kosovo last week.  The demonstrators don’t want EULEX to set-up the customs point until an agreement is reached with Belgrade.

On Wednesday, the president of Kosovo named the head of the Kosovo Intelligence Service as Bashkim Smakaj, a former KPS officer. While relatively young, 32, Smakaj served as a colonel in the Kosovo Police Service.

MTCowgirl’s Kosovo News

• Kosovo wages war against drug use
• EU to deliver statement on Kosovo
• Serbia to talk with UNMIK soon
• EULEX takes control of north customs

Kosovo Security Forces Off to Rocky Start

Last Thursday, the new Kosovo Army called the Kosovo Security Force (KSF) launched but things did not get off without a hitch. A grenade was reportedly thrown on the roof of the KSF barracks in Peja/Pec and so far no one has claimed responsibility for the attack in which no injuries occurred. Then former members of the KPC/TMK, predecessor of KSF that incorporated a large number of former KLA fighters, protested the fact that they were not offered positions in the new army but other civilians were being given jobs. With the economy suffering, many former fighters fear they will not find work. A small side-note can be added that when the process for selecting people for KSF began, it was found that little to no background check was done previously and many were disqualified for ties to criminal groups or criminal records.

The smack-down between Ramush Haradinaj and Hashim Thaci is continuing.  The two former KLA-commanders and political rivals have been pitted against each other since Haradinaj’s acquittal by the Hague last year.  The latest in the news is Haradinaj accusing the government of Thaci of losing Kosovo day-by-day.  Haradinaj is also strongly opposing the decision not to hold general elections in Kosovo this year.  It will be interesting to see just how this fight will get or how ugly it might become.  Of course, Haradinaj might just be a little peeved that he lost out on being Kosovo’s Man of the Year to both Thaci and Albin Kurti (see below).

MTCowgirl’s Interesting Articles/Commentary

• KSF introducing new instability in Balkans
• Redland orchid enthusiasts organize festival
• Man of the Year in Kosovo: Hashim Thaci
• Kosovo hires UK PR firm to spice up image
• Kosovo’s quiet victory over violent ethnic nationalism
• Greater Albania dreams on TV
• Killers settle down in Britain by claiming asylum

Kosovo Army Begins Operations

The Kosovo Security Force became operational today bringing an end to the Kosovo Protection Corps (TMK/KPC). The KSF will be lightly armed and will be comprised of 2500 members of the various ethnic groups of Kosovo. It is expected that the new army will be under the supervision of NATO. Serbia has vowed to fight against the formation of KSF diplomatically and is expected to take the verbal battle to the United Nations.  NATO is additionally ready to consider suspending the security zone between Serbia and Kosovo should it be requested.

Two damning reports on Kosovo have emerged this week.  The Council of Europe’s anti-torture committee has condemned the Kosovo Police Service for police brutality and Human Rights Watch stated that there have been no improvements in human rights since independence.

Meanwhile, it has been decided that only local elections will be held this year in Kosovo but general elections will not take place for two years.  The Ahtisaari plan for Kosovo’s independence called for elections within nine months but the constitution which came into effect in July 2008 states that elections cannot be held for two years.  Disagreements between the Kosovo political parties forced the decision into the hands of the European Union’s International Civilian Office which supports holding local elections and the decision that parliamentary elections could be held off until 2011.  However the two largest opposition parties in Kosovo have joined forces in rejecting the postponement of elections calling the decision totalitarian.

MTCowgirl’s Interesting Articles/Commentary

• Obama posters flood Kosovo as optimism is high
• Will Ahtisaari’s plan boost separatism?
• Kosovo wine heads to UK
• Kosovo residents enjoy diverse foods
• Kosovo’s poisoned generation

It’s Freaking Cold!!!

There’s nothing better than beyond freezing temperatures to make you wish that you were back home in a nice warm toasty house or perhaps even better would be to be sitting on a warm sunny tropical beach somewhere.  But alas I am back in Kosovo and therefore freezing my nether-regions with sub-zero temperatures and several inches of snow on the ground.  In fact the weather was so-o-o-o crappy on the return trip to Kosovo that I ended up loitering in the Vienna airport for a total of 10 hours as the afternoon flight was cancelled and I was rebooked on the later evening flight.  But I made it and boy am I happy (please note the sarcasm attached to that statement!) )

MTCowgirl’s Kosovo News

• Macedonia, Kosovo & Albanian to develop mini-Schengen zone
• Kosovo opposition accuses government of broad-scale failures
• Corruption in Kosovo blatant and elusive
• Kosovo government to compensate shopkeepers in Mitrovica
• UNMIK to begin new round of talks

Trouble Brews in North Kosovo

It’s unfortunate that instead of writing about the coming of a new year for Kosovo, I find myself writing instead that ethnic tensions in North Mitrovica are high after the stabbing of a Serbian teenager by two Albanians and then the subsequent property destruction of Albanian owned shops. And it doesn’t end there either. Two explosions rocked the north with both vehicles being damaged and six people injured. It seems that Kosovo is getting off to a rocky start in 2009.

At the beginning of the week, ten former members of the KLA were arrested by Serbian police in Presevo Valley in southeastern Serbia. The Albanians from Kosovo are accused of war crimes of murder, rape, and torture of Serb civilians in the Gnjilane region following the end of the fighting. The ten were transferred to Belgrade and have been given 30-day detention due to the seriousness of the accusations and flight risk. Kosovo parliamentary speaker Jakup Isufi has lashed out at Serbia and demanded that the international community act and the suspects be released.

So will the cowgirl be packing up her bags and leaving Kosovo in 2009? Only time will tell! There still is no real good indication of how long UNMIK will remain in Kosovo and how things will work out with EULEX being deployed under the umbrella of the UN Resolution 1244. There has been rumor and speculation that slowly over time all the UN people will disappear and no one will notice but on the flipside a lot of people have told me that I might as well apply for my Kosovo citizenship (eight years is a good residency period don’t you think?!) and the UN won’t be leaving anytime in the near future. So basically the best thing to say is “Who Knows?!” and until the day comes when I’m told to pack up, you can bet that I’ll continue bringing you stories of living in Kosovo and sharing the news articles I come across

MTCowgirl’s Interesting Articles/Commentary

• Street to be named after George Bush
• Conversion rate: Tale of Christian converts in Kosovo
• Balkans 2008: The unfinished independence