Serbs have usurped property, Albanians nowhere to return

More than 400 properties and residences are estimated to be usurped in northern Mitrovica. Their owners are mostly Albanian residents, who have been forced to live for nearly 20 years in rent south of this city or other cities. Meanwhile, the properties and dwellings of Serbs in southern Mitrovica, according to local authorities there, have been sold by their own owners.

Mitrovica, is a city with two municipalities -- the Serb-run northern one populated with majority -- and the predominantly southern municipality dominated by the Albanian population.

The deputy head of the Municipal Assembly in northern Mitrovica for communities, the Cimili Union, told Radio Free Europe that usurping Albanian property in northern Kosovo by Serbs continues to be one of the main problems.

Cimili emphasises that for the return of Albanians to their properties, it has never been discussed in the northern Mitrovica municipal bodies so far.

“We have no returnees and is one of the main problems -- returning Albanians to their properties. We can say that the usurped are more than 400 residences located in collective objects and there are about 250 burned houses which have not yet been rebuilt”, Cimili said.

On the other hand, Adrijana Hodzic, chief of the North Mitrovica municipal administration, told Radio Free Europe that returning residents to their properties in northern Mitrovica is a challenge to the municipality and other institutions at the central level. She says there have been no adequate initiatives in this direction because of political sensitivity.

And even in parts where people have tried to get back, for example in the district of Vitaktí, I know people have tried to get back, but this process has been politicised”. I know that somewhere near 20 families have returned to their downtown Mitrovica” dwellings, she said.

Hodzic says authorities at the central level have had to deal more and earlier with problems.

The municipality is not likely to help this process. When it comes to the usurped property, both police and the entire judicial system should be invested, so really a strategy must be developed in which the central level of” should be opened, Hodzic said.

It stated that it is meaningless that today, after so long since the war ended, it remains impossible for people, both north and south, to return to their property.

I don't see that political will exists, that's the first, and secondly, I know that institutions have other priorities, but no one is dealing with the vital quality of citizens”, Hodzic said.

Deputy Minister for Community and Return to the Government of Kosovo Milazim Gashi told Radio Free Europe that in northern Kosovo, there are concrete cases of the return of residents where their properties have been usurped for many years.

“Situata and Serbian politics have changed in Kosovo, the Serbian List has its own domain and actually has a leader who according to him are for solutions. We need some more time. As far as our southern and complete part of Kosovo is concerned, there is no longer any subject that Serbs are at risk of returning to their properties”.

The “means free and can be returned, Gashi said.

He said that in the northern part, the mentality of residents must also change so that Serbs can understand reality.

At the Kosovo Property Agency, officials have said they have many requests for the removal of families and persons who have usurped the apartments and properties of Albanians in northern Mitrovica.