Reuters writes about Lulzim Hetem: Meet the mayor living and sleeping in office, guarded by NATO, police

The international news agency has written for Leposaviqi Chairman Lulzim Hetem, who has been staying inside this municipality for over half a year.

Meet the mayor of Kosovo's small town, which has been rejected by the majority of residents in its municipality and which has been blocked amid tensions between Albanians and Serbs who have gone into sporadical violence this year. That's how you start it. Reuters The writing for Lulzim Hetem's drawing.

Lulzim Hetemi, ethnic Albanian mayor of the northern Kosovo municipality of Leposaviqi, has lived and slept in his office for a month after being elected in April, guarded by NATO troops and Kosovo special police.

Hetemi, a beekeeper, was elected with only 100 votes in the elections that were boycotted by ethnic Serbs who are minorities throughout Kosovo, but make up more than 97% of Leposaviqi's total population.

While ethnic Albanians make up the overwhelming majority of Kosovo's 1.8 million inhabitants, 50,000 Serbs in its north refuse Kosovo citizenship and see Belgrade as their capital 15 years after Kosovo declared independence after a guerrilla uprising. Serbia does not recognise Kosovo's independence.

The riots in the north intensified after ethnic Albanian leaders took office in the majority Serb area, a move that prompted the US and its allies to reprove Pristina. The Serbian population had boycotted the elections, which took place in four northern municipalities after their mayors resigned in a long dispute over car registration.

The northern region has seen the worst violence this year since independence, peaking in late September, when Serb armed persons attacked police in the village of Banjska. One cop and three armed men are dead.

Shortly after Hetemi took his oath, he said violent Serb protesters surrounded his office, asking him to leave. Hetem has refused and says he has stayed in the building since May 29th without returning to his home for a day.

“Who wants to stay in the office and sleep in the chair?”, Hetemi said, describing the first days of isolation.

“When I ran for mayor I had no idea whether Serbs would withdraw from the election competition and make such a maneuver as they did”.

He later found a bed to replace chairs and sleep in a room next to his office, where he meets with international envoys and NATO officials, who are trying to prevent any violence and find a solution for new elections.

The costumes hang on the wall and there are three bottles of honey on top of a table, one almost empty.

Former municipal staff in Leposavic have refused to serve an Albanian mayor and have been replaced by 75 other workers, who are also Serbs.

Respects Former Administration

Hethem said that he had been careful not to touch anything that belonged to the previous administration, including dozens of bottles of alcoholic beverages.

“We haven't touched anything, nor have their drinks, books, Serbian flags, nor their paintings”, Hetemi said, showing three boxes of Serbian flags and other symbols.

When they come back they'll find everything they've left because we don't want to destroy anything”

Outside, American soldiers who said they were from Texas and are part of the NATO force in Kosovo were eating breakfast while wandering dogs were hoping for the garbage. Hetemi, watching them from the third floor, walks out on a roof every day to get fresh air and see the city.

Hetemi said he is willing to complete his mandate when new elections are announced, but there is still no agreement on the EU-mediated negotiations between Kosovo Serbs and the governments of Serbia and Kosovo.

In a sign of progress, local residents have sought municipal services to register their cars. The government of Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has set a deadline on 15 December for about 10,000 drivers to register their Kosovo license plates or face severe sentences.

For years, many ethnic Serbs have refused to register Kosovo license vehicles, using their system instead, which is viewed as illegal by Pristina.