KiM Info Newsletter 28-10-05

Hopes, fears hang in the balance with approach of talks on Kosovo's future

"Whatever happens, the church will stay here ... this is my home," said Father Sava. "Any (future) solution should guarantee security and quality of life for all the people," he said, calling on NATO troops who have kept the peace since the end of Kosovo's 1998-99 war to stay on and protect Serbs and their religious sites after the province's status is resolved.

Decani Monastery (XIV century)  in its autumn attire - Italian KFOR guards the shrine ( click to enlarge)

Associated Press
Released : Oct 28, 2005 6:46 AM

DECANI, Serbia-Montenegro-A bell tolls from a 14th century Serbian Orthodox monastery, inviting the faithful to prayer. Only a handful enter, crossing themselves as they step inside halls adorned with ancient frescoes.

Outside, lurking in the shadows, dozens of Italian NATO peacekeepers stand guard behind barbed wire and concrete barricades, controlling access to the monastery, a reminder of the ethnic divisions that have long plagued this U.N.-run province.

After years of uncertainty over its future, Kosovo and its bitterly polarized ethnic Albanians and minority Serbs have reached a critical crossroads. Next month, talks aimed at resolving the turbulent Balkans' most intractable territorial problem finally get under way.

The stakes couldn't be higher. Ethnic Albanians desperately want independence, while Serbs both in Kosovo and elsewhere in Serbia want to retain a measure of sovereignty over a region they consider the birthplace of their nation.

The need for compromise has raised fears that those unhappy with the outcome may turn anew to violence.

"Whatever happens, the church will stay here ... this is my home," said Father Sava, the monastery's soft-spoken deputy abbot, reflecting the growing fear among Serbs that an independent Kosovo will mean the loss of their homeland.

"Any solution should guarantee security and quality of life for all the people," he said, calling on NATO troops who have kept the peace since the end of Kosovo's 1998-99 war to stay on and protect Serbs and their religious sites after the province's status is resolved.

Father Sava pleaded with the ethnic Albanian majority to ensure security for the dwindling Serb minority.

The Decani monastery, tucked inside a tree-covered gorge and surrounded by sometimes hostile ethnic Albanians, houses 30 Serb monks and a few workers.

It is the province's only UNESCO world heritage site, and the monastery, one of the most impressive and best-preserved Christian shrines in the Balkans, tells the story of Kosovo's hopes and fears.

The white marbled Romanesque building adorned with Byzantine frescoes used to be a place of worship not only for Orthodox Serbs but also for Albanian Muslims and Catholics who believed the tomb of its founder, Saint Stefan Decanski, held healing powers.

During the war, it housed several ethnic Albanian families fleeing a brutal crackdown by Serb forces under the command of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

Today, a NATO guard controls access to the site around the clock.

"For centuries, armies have passed through here, but the monastery was never damaged," said Father Sava, sometimes the lone voice for moderation in a sea of interethnic hostility.

"This church symbolizes Kosovo," he said. "This is what makes Kosovo part of Europe."

Milosevic's troops swept into Kosovo after its predominantly Muslim ethnic Albanians rose up in rebellion in 1998 after years of the former strongman's repressive rule. His bloody crackdown prompted NATO to bomb Serbia for 78 days in 1999, forcing it to relinquish Kosovo.

Some 10,000 ethnic Albanians were killed. Not long after the war ended, some retaliated against Serbs and their property. Tens of thousands of Serbs fled the province, and hundreds were killed.

In the eyes of the ethnic Albanian majority, the Serbian Orthodox Church sided with Milosevic during the crackdown. Holy sites became a target, with more than 30 churches and monasteries damaged or destroyed during anti-Serb riots in March 2004.

How to protect them and the 100,000 Serbs who still live in Kosovo, far fewer than the prewar population of 250,000, undoubtedly will pose the biggest challenge to any deal giving ethnic Albanians independence or significantly greater autonomy.

Veton Surroi, a member of the ethnic Albanian negotiating team, said he hopes any deal will include "a balance between the majority's wishes and the needs of the international community for regional stability and development, including the oversight of the minority rights."

As a Mass ended at the Decani monastery, the strains of hymns gave way to the sound of footsteps leaving the candlelit hall and its 500-year-old frescoes that have survived centuries of war and tribulation.

"God will reward those who are good to the church, and punish those who hurt it," Father Sava said with a heavy sigh.

"We used to have lot of the faithful coming here before," he said. "Now it is the monks, soldiers and the odd reporter."