By Madeline Schiesser
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe
PRESEVO, Serbia – By order of the Serbian government, 200 heavily armed special police officers, their faces covered, removed a memorial from the ethnically mixed Presevo Valley that bore the names of 27 ethnic Albanian guerrillas killed during a 2000 insurgency in the region.
During and after the Kosovo war (1998-1999, with insurgency in the southern Serbian regions of Presevo, Medvedja, and Bujanovac continuing though 2001), Albanian rebels fought against Serbia. The Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac (LAPMB) hoped to free these regions from Serbian control and unite with Kosovo. To Serbian authority, these rebels were seen as terrorists. However, to ethnic Albanians, they were heroes. However, the LAPMB laid down their arms under a NATO-brokered peace deal in 2001 in which Serbia agreed to greater rights and economic opportunity for the impoverished South. Such progress has been slow. Furthermore, Serbia has never recognized Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence in 2008, and still considers it to be a southern province.
The Presevo Valley memorial held particular significance to the Albanian community. Although there are other memorials in the area, the two-meter (six-foot) rectangular stone monument stood with pride in Presevo’s central square, in front of the local council building. The slab bore the LAMPB insignia and the inscribed names of the 27 guerillas who died in the insurgency. It had been erected in December by the primarily ethnic Albanian local council, and local officials refused an order from the Serbian government to remove it by Thursday at 11pm.
In January, several attempts were made to reach a resolution between the government and Presevo authorities, but all were rejected by the Presevo city Hall
Then on Sunday January 20, beginning overnight and backed by armored personnel carriers, 200 heavily armed, masked police officers moved in on Presevo and removed their war memorial.
Declaring that the monument had been erected illegally, Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said, “We showed enough patience. Our clear and strong message is that the law should be respected and that no one is stronger than the state.” He further stated that “no one has the right to humiliate Serbia.”
The removal came only days after the European Union had praised Serbia for making progress in normalizing relations with Kosovo. Kosovo warned that the removal could hurt EU-mediated talks aimed at such normalizing.
The head of the Albanian National Council in Presevo, Galip Beqiri, called the removal “an unacceptable act of vandalism” and said that plans to launch protests were being discussed.
Accordingly, at least 2,000 ethnic Albanians in Presevo took to the streets on Monday in protest. They waved Albanian flags and banners that read “Stop discrimination” and “Europe, open your eyes”.
Although both the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the United Nations have appealed for calm, several acts of vandalism were reported in Serb cemeteries in Kosovo. Furthermore, police reported shots fired near a Serbian memorial for the Kosovo war in the western town of Gorazdevac, as well damage to a World War II monument in the eastern town of Vitina.
Albania and Kosovo, both having majority ethnic-Albanian populations, condemned the memorial removal. The government of Kosovo, in addition to saying the decision would undermine normalization talks, further said in a statement, “This action by the government of Serbia is another proof that the hate against Albanians that live in the Presevo Valley is still alive.”
For further information, please see:
Al Jazeera – Protests After Serbia Removes Memorial – 21 January 2013
RFE/RL – Albanians Protest Removal Of Presevo Monument – 21 January 2013
France24 – Police Remove Monument to Albanian Rebels in Serbia – 20 January 2013
RFE/RL – Serbia Removes Ethnic Albanian Memorial – 20 January 2013
Returns – Police remove Albanian Rebel Memorial in South Serbia – 20 January 2013
