Radio kontakt plus reports on topic of the unification of South and Mitrovica North, an initiative launched by Agim Bahtiri, Mayor of South Mitrovica.
“Deciding on the unification of Mitrovica would undoubtedly have major consequences, since, after many years of completely independent functioning of the northern administration, a merger and unification into a single administration is being requested, which under current political circumstances is also counterproductive,” director of non-governmental organization “Aktiv” Miodrag Milicevic said.
Milicevic also told Radio kontakt plus such decision would have some detrimental effects on long term stability of Mitrovica and would directly affect the functioning of the Brussels Agreement, especially in the context of Association/Community of Serb-majority Municipalities (A/CSM) and the municipalities that would be under its competences.
Milicevic added that the functional part of such an initiative was not thought of, or rather the position of employees in the local administration would be unclear. “The question arises as to what will happen with all these jobs, if the administration of the municipality of Mitrovica North is disbanded and in some way reunited with the municipality of Mitrovica South, which, as we all know, is even physically located in the south part of the city,” Milicevic underlined.
Meanwhile, Vice President of Serbian List Igor Simic said this was an exclusively illegal act, aimed to intimidate Serbs living in the northern part of Mitrovica, stating that this is a “dangerous idea that can greatly destabilize the situation on the ground”.
“If you consider that since 1999, to this day, more than 1000 attacks have been carried out, always under the slogan of the “northern and southern parts of the city”, and if you know that in southern part there is only one Serb living among the tens of thousands of citizens, it sufficiently speaks about the extent of sincerity of Bahtiri’s desire and of all other political representatives of Albanians in the southern part of the city to provide some kind of coexistence to Serbs and Albanians in this city”.
Simic recalled that only one Serbian family lives in Mitrovica South, and in order to potentially achieve such an idea, more than 3,000 Serbs who were expelled from there should be allowed to return and “if nothing else to repair the tombstones that are absolutely destroyed and desecrated”.
In a street poll, citizens of Mitrovica North told Radio kontakt plus they do not believe in the scenario of “unification of Mitrovica.” “Unification of Mitrovica? I do not know whether this is possible at all, perhaps in some 100 years’ time,” unnamed citizen said.
