In northern Kosovo, authorities determined to integrate Serb population • FRANCE 24 English

In northern Kosovo, authorities determined to integrate Serb population • FRANCE 24 English

[Music]
lines form outside banks in Mitra vit
located in Northern Kosovo a Serb
inhabited region in a country whose
population is 93% Albanian cash is now
being rationed Kar prime minister Albin
CTI decided in February to ban
circulation of the Serbian Dino last
time I waited for 3 hours yesterday I
couldn’t even get in my
H and here we are still no money I don’t
know how we’re going to manage Kosovo is
one of the few countries in the world
without its own currency the Albanian
majority uses the Euro while the Serbian
minority uses the Dina piso is
attempting to eliminate it in the name
of national
sovereignty however in Northern Kosovo
some public services are linked to
Serbia this includes the hospital which
the kar authorities consider an legal
parallel
structure today is pediatric visitation
day zatan El a surgeon also serves as
the hospital’s
director it’s never been as difficult as
it is now not just for me for all the
inhabitants of the north for example
today after work I’ll be forced to go to
Central Serbia to withdraw my salary in
cash the behavior of the International
Community in our view is not appropriate
it doesn’t sanction the government of
Pristina
Mr cty the Prime Minister does as he
pleases and we’re forced to accept it
despite the negative
consequences the ban on the Dina is just
one measure among others to try to
integrate the Serbian population
starting summer 2023 all Serbian Imports
were banned for the hospital which
relies on supplies from Belgrade each
delivery involves complex negotiations
director of Mr director look we just
received the blood
literally we had nothing left absolutely
nothing in terms of medical supplies but
we received some
yesterday we are really
happy four to five months ago the
situation was alarming we were on the
brink of a humanitarian
catastrophe but for the past two to 3
months the situation has gradually
stabilized we managed to convince the
so-called government of Pristina thanks
to pressure from the International
Community that the medications were
indispensable before leaving the
hospital the head nurse insists on
showing the new physiotherapy service
but the equipment is blocked on the
other side of the
border the building’s reconstruction was
financed by the Republic of Serbia but
we’ve been waiting for the equipment for
a long
time we have elderly patients children
and
babies they are all victims of this
situation unfortunately
we cannot
work the standoff between Belgrade and
Pristina has never been so visible since
2021 kostov our vehicles registered in
Serbia are prohibited from using the
roads last year Serbian press school
books and sports events involving
Serbian clubs were banned these tensions
regularly lead to outbreaks of unrest
last year clashes erupted during
Municipal elections resulting in 80
injuries including around 30 NATO
soldiers last Autumn a monastery was
stormed by armed men resulting in four
deaths in the 24th September
20123 a well organized group from uh we
suspect is from
Serbia uh attacked a police patrolling
unit where uh Sergeant afen bonyu were
killed in spotting it was almost like a
war that day after that 12 hours the
situation of safety was good there since
then the situation has calmed down and
the kosa police are focused on combating
smuggling meaning the importation of
products from Serbia now we are
patrolling uh close to the border that
connects us with
Serbia it’s a border that is often
oftenly used for uh Smugglers we
regularly Patrol here making sure
everything is okay on another busy road
checks are
constant individuals coming from Serbia
are only allowed to pass with a limited
amount of cash and
medications all other Serbian goods are
seized parallel structures are the
biggest problems problem in here in the
north of Kosovo because we have health
system we have education system uh we
need to get these parallel structures
out or we need to put them into the
system uh when I came here like November
2022 I had the impression that anything
was being smuggled in here so now that
stopped we have interrupted more than 20
illegal
roads since kosova prime minister Alin
cty came to power in 2021 relations
between Kosovo and Serbia have
disintegrated as tensions continue to
escalate the population finds itself
caught in the
middle our shopkeepers have been working
much less our turnover has dropped by 30
to
40% people are buying much
less I know three grocery stores that
have closed due to shortages the
politicians don’t suffer neither Serbian
president vuic nor kosovar prime
minister
CTI But Ordinary People are directly
affected in the Serbian majority north
of Kosovo many talk about permanently
leaving either to Serbia or elsewhere as
living conditions
deteriorate thousands have already left
in just a few months

Northern Kosovo is home to a large part of the country’s Serb minority. For a long time, this region, which is contiguous with Serbia, operated under the Serbian administrative system, despite Kosovo’s independence from Belgrade. This as the local population rejects the authority of Pristina. But since taking power in 2021, Kosovo’s new government has been much tougher on Serbia and the Serb population of Kosovo. Prime Minister Albin Kurti is trying to impose definitive separation from Serbia on the region’s Serb population. Our correspondents Laurent Rouy and Edward Godsell report. 

Read more about this story in our article: https://f24.my/AIOi.y

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