Polyparty-ism - Search for Common Ground

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the people from the village. The village
water aqueduct, on the other hand, is in a
good condition, but water can be provided
only for 20 minutes during the day.
People explain that the reason for this is
the insufficient quantity of water in the
main piping. The phone lines are also not
in use, except for the cell phone lines,
which function perfectly. The state ambulance
is in a stage of reconstruction and
for now only the private medical units can
offer their services.
70% from the total of 650 houses in
the village are ruined - says Dzhevdet
Ramani, manager of the Crisis headquarters
in Matejche.
"The village until the beginning of the
crisis was inhabited by 3600 people, form
which 3200 were Albanians and the rest
of them were Macedonians and Serbs.
At this moment, with the exception of
the dislocated Macedonians and Serbs,
only around 20 Albanian families haven't
returned to their homes. With the help of
the humanitarian organizations 320 houses
with smaller damages are now in a
process of repairment, and the reconstruction
of the completely damaged ones is
expected to start in the spring.
The central elementary school, built
in 1923, is a story of itself. Half of the
building is repaired with the MCMS
funding and the other half is absolutely
dreadful: drooped ceiling; rotten floors in
the classrooms, broken windows and roof
tiles, and because of the lack of electricity
the class breaks are being announced by
an old bell. Otherwise, schoolbooks for
896 pupils for this school year were provided
by UNICEF at the beginning of the
second semester. The first grade pupils
haven't received books yet. Although the
school is bilingual, this year the classes
are attended only by Albanian children,
because the children of Serbian nationality
are dislocated - explained the director
of the school, Semi Shakiri, who also said
that so far the school hasn't received any
financial help from the Ministry of education.
The Serbian children attend classes
in two different schools in Kumanovo.
- We are in a stage of negotiation
with OSCE and TFF for the returning
of the dislocated Macedonians and Serbs
to their houses. We have made several
agreements for 5+5 meeting in the municipality
building in Lipkovo, but it was not
realized because the 5 Serbs and
Macedonians, for unknown reasons didn't
appear on the meeting - says Dzhevdet
Ramani. This teacher from the elementary
school, claims that the road to
Matejche is now free and that everyone
can come to the village to his house, but
he also admits that even though there are
requests from the Serbs and
Macedonians, their complete returning is
not safe enough and is also impossible
before the passing of the amnesty law.
- The dislocated Serbs and
Macedonians from Matejche are located
in three refugee shelters: the hotels
"Kuba" and "Kristal", as well as the student
dorm in Konjare. On the second
floor of the hotel "Kristal" in the center of
Kumanovo, we met a larger group of dislocated
people. The hotel rooms with
dimensions of few square meters and with
two or three beds and a sink (which
means that there is only one bathroom on
each floor), for these people, used to the
wide-open places in their villages, are
nothing more than a prison. These emotionally
tensed people now live following
the rules of the hotel, made by its manager.
That is the reason why one can hear
people saying that they cannot live like
this anymore. They have a feeling like
they are forgotten by the rest of the world.
So far nobody, not even politicians or the
representatives of the international organization,
has visited these poor people or
has suggested a returning to their homes,
on top of that they refute that anyone has
organized a meeting with the Albanian
neighbors. Despite all tormenting, we
were surprised that most of them, the
returning to their village, don't even consider
as an option. The reason for that is
the fear or the feeling of insecurity, despite
the fact that the police has started its
patrolling in the village. They say that one
should stay overnight to see how it really
is.
One of the few, if not the only one that
has succeeded at least for a while, to see
his house and the rest of his property, is
the 71-year-old Aksentie Kostik - a retired
electrician, who, as he says, was known
by all the people from the village of
Lojane to the village of Nikushtak.
- On October 12th, I went to the village
incognito and I was surprised by
what I saw. The house and the barn were
completely ruined, and all of the furniture
was either stolen or destroyed. How can I
come back there when I have nothing to
come back to? From a rich village family
now I've come down to a two-bed room
in a hotel.
The women that joined the conversation
said that they meet their old neighbors
on the streets of Kumanovo almost
every day. Some of them greet them; others
just turn their heads away. Some have
even sent messages in which they say that
they feel like they don't belong to
Matejche anymore. They are afraid.
- I was thrown out of my house and
my property by 10 terrorists and now not
even a 100 of them can bring me back -
says Radovan Petrovik. "The war traumas
has provoked my kidney disease and now
I have to go to kidney dialyze every day.
The doctors say that they can't go all the
way to Matejche, so how can I go back to
the village. I will stay here, I am not going
back." - says this disappointed man.
One of the old ladies, who is also
afraid to go back to the village because of
the safety, requested of the state to make a
separate location in Kumanovo for the
dislocated people; another old lady asked
for social care; another one for health
insurance….
The younger ones are even more daring
in making their requests. One of them,
a reservist in the police forces, is strict and
decisive in his request: "Coexistence with
Albanians is possible only through a
shooting mark." According to him, every
agreement with Albanians is possible
only through politicians and through a
direct communication with the neighbors.
"If they really wanted us to come back to
the village, they would have invited us to
go back with them three months ago,
when they were returning to the village."
Undoubtedly, Matejche is the most
important test for testing the functioning
of the newly established multicultural and
multiethnic concept in the Kumanovo
area. If this test really succeeds in the
mixed ethnic community of Matejche,
there will be no obstacles for its success in
other villages in the conflict region, as
well.
That is the reason why our feeling is
that, only with an extremely serious
approach to this issue, the resistance of the
local people can be eliminated.
(The authors are journalists in the
newspapers "Fakti" and
"Utrinski vesnik")
Will there be peace?, February 2002