Polyparty-ism - Search for Common Ground

Nobody should be afraid to go back home
Igor K. Ilievski
Almost six months after the first
armed clashes in the Kumanovo
region began, Opae is now a place of
unusual commotion. People unload
trucks filled with bricks, tiles, and
roof beams in the middle of the village
and returning inhabitants are
repairing the houses that were damaged
during the battles. A month ago,
this village was nothing but a "fighting
position." Macedonian security
forces and members of NLA had
positioned themselves on opposite
sides of the road from Kumanovo and
Slupchane. During the first four
months, street
fighting occurred
often in
battles that took
place in the
Kumanovo region.
Now life is
slowly coming
back to the village.
By now, a
great number of
inhabitants have
returned to the
village. But
Macedonians
are not among
them. While 1,800 of the village's
2,100 residents have come back, only
three Macedonian families have
returned. The rest are Albanians.
"The door is open for Macedonians,
too," said Rexhep Shakiri, the president
of the local council.
Macedonians think that returning
to Opae is not safe for them, especially
since the security forces left the
village a month ago. The refugees
are still in the boarding school in the
village Dolno Konjare and in the
hotels Kristal and Kuba in
Kumanovo. Still, what the politicians
failed to do, the villagers are
trying to settle themselves.
A group of Macedonian refugees
arranged a meeting with the Albanian
block in Opae. "We should discuss
the restoration of mutual confidence.
Some of the refugees demand that the
police and army return to the village,
but if we lack mutual confidence, the
police and army cannot help much,"
says Sladzhan Ilievski, a villager
from Opae.
The neighbouring village of
Lopate is one of a few where
Macedonians and Albanians remained
together during the military
action. The inhabitants agreed
together, met the commanders of the
Army and police, organized village
guards, and stayed together until the
end. But Opae had the misfortune to
be in the centre of the fighting.
"Macedonians did not stay in this
village. We could not build mutual
confidence, which could have held
together. Their houses have been
damaged recently," commented Sali
Neziri from Opae.
The bravest ones, who in spite of
everything returned to the village
after a couple of months, did not
escape unscathed. "When someone
goes to the village, the other villagers
Opae inhabitants are trying to heal the wounds
caused by the long months of armed clashes
insult him, and even sometimes
attack him. My mother went to see
the house after seven months and
somebody threw a stone at her," says
one of the Macedonians who was
forced to leave the village. He also
added that, besides the damage done
during the battles, Macedonian houses
in Opae were demolished after the
security forces left the village.
Opae is one of the five villages
included in the pilot project for bringing
back police presence. From 10
am to 4 pm., an ethnically mixed
group of three Macedonian and three
Albanian police will be on patrol.
But the Macedonian refugees think
that is not enough for safe life in the
village.
"The policemen are there till 4
p.m. and after that the other villagers
demolish our houses. They make
holes in the walls, all the doors and
windows are broken, and all kinds of
things are written on the walls...
Those are threatening messages. I
think that there isn't a single non-
Albanian house where people could
63
Return of peace, December 2001