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Southern Serbia: Sowing Seeds of Change

A USAID Case Study in Mitigating Conflict
December 12, 2002

Background

The Presevo Valley is a remote finger of Serbia located between Bulgaria to the east, Macedonia to the south, and Kosovo to the west. Its gently rolling farmland lies nestled between mountains to the north that separate it from the rest of Serbia, even higher ranges on the east and west that demarcate its respective boundaries with Bulgaria and Kosovo, and a broad plain it shares with Macedonia to the south. The area is flecked with a few major towns and numerous small hamlets which are generally either ethnic Albanian or Serb.

(Left to right) Ambassador Montgomery and Riza Halimi, Mayor of Presevo, view USAID project for major upgrade of power transformer, providing improved and steady power supply to Oraovica in former ground safety zone.

The Presevo Valley is more economically depressed and underdeveloped than the rest of Serbia. With a large ethnic Albanian population, it was particularly affected by the Kosovo crisis and the ethnic, political and economic instability of the 1990s, all of which contributed to igniting tensions in the area in 1999 and 2000.

At the end of the Kosovo campaign in 1999 a buffer area called the “Ground Safety Zone” (GSZ) was created within Serbia along the entire administrative boundary with Kosovo. Five miles deep, this demilitarized zone was designed to separate the Yugoslav military and police forces from the NATO forces in Kosovo (KFOR). An ethnic Albanian secessionist group known as the Liberation Army of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja (UCPMB) exploited the eastern section of this safety zone, abutting the Presevo Valley, to use as a base for launching attacks on the police and other targets, thus igniting an armed conflict.

Joint Efforts to Bring Peace to the Presevo Valley

The international community and the government of Serbia came together to develop a common approach for dealing with this outbreak of violence. The U.S. government, represented by U.S. Ambassador to Yugoslavia William Montgomery, worked closely with the Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic to develop a comprehensive plan bringing together the government of Serbia, the Yugoslav military and police forces, local leaders, NATO and international humanitarian and development agencies.

“Ethnic-based violence in the Presevo Valley posed a serious threat to regional stability,” recalls Ambassador Montgomery. “It was clear that the only way to counter it was through a carefully coordinated effort involving key international agencies and the Serbian authorities.”

The success of this effort – commonly referred to as the “Covic Plan” – depended on the positive engagement of all participating agencies and players. The plan was comprised of three elements: negotiating a truce with the UCPMB; addressing the political grievances of the ethnic Albanian population in the three affected municipalities; and providing humanitarian and developmental assistance to build confidence and address the poor living conditions in the area.

It soon became clear that a truce was impossible as long as the UCPMB controlled the GSZ bordering Kosovo; it was also evident that if the Yugoslav army and police were to reoccupy this area they would have to exercise restraint in order to avoid a destabilizing mass exodus of the ethnic Albanian population to Kosovo. In fact, one key element of the plan envisaged the return of ethnic Albanians who had fled the area in 1999.

Ljljance, Bujanovac – Elderly woman enjoys first time water supply to her village.

To support the Covic Plan, the U.S. government pledged up to $15 million in February 2001, which was intended in part to leverage additional donor-funding for the economic and social rehabilitation of southern Serbia. By April 2002, 27 international organizations, including the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP), U.N. High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), the European Agency for Reconstruction (EAR), the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) had committed approximately $30 million in support of the Covic Plan.

The U.S. government led the way with the single largest investment, approximately $7 million for quick-response projects implemented by U. S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Office of Transition Initiatives and its implementing partners, CHF International and Mercy Corps. The goal of these immediate projects was to quickly and visibly improve basic community infrastructure, encourage community participation across ethnic boundaries, provide humanitarian assistance to returnees and internally displaced persons, launch income-generating activities, and, most importantly, to build confidence among the Albanian population that its economic, social and political situation would improve. Within days of approval of this aid package projects were underway. Within the first year, more than 150 such projects had been completed.

Ljljance, Bujanovac – (Left to right) James Stephenson, USAID/FRY Mission Director, Stojanca Arsic, Former Mayor of Bujanovac, and Fred Schieck, Deputy Administrator for USAID, turn on the water.

Throughout the spring of 2001 negotiations with the insurgents made little headway, and most major towns as well as several hamlets remained under the armed control of the UCPMB. Roads were mined, ambushes and firefights were frequent, and the work of aid organizations was dangerous and difficult.

“I remember my first trip to the Presevo Valley in March, 2001,” said USAID’s Yugoslavia Mission Director James Stephenson. “Ambassador Larry Napper was out from Washington and we drove down from Belgrade to Bujanovac in the Valley. Just to the south of Bujanovac, we passed through the VJ [Yugoslavian armed forces] armed checkpoint and passed through a no-man’s-land to the UCPMB checkpoint, past a bend in the road, to the town of Veliki Trnovac.

“The insurgents, dressed in pressed black fatigues, were well-armed and obviously in control. They escorted us to a meeting place with the town leaders, who were clearly under their sway. Much of the meeting was taken up with the presentation of grievances against ‘the Serbs.’ The village leader took pains to show us his photo album of ethnic Albanian victims of murder and torture. It was little different than what I had seen in El Salvador and Southern Lebanon, and I thought, ‘This is going to take years.’”

Progress was slow, with the UCPMB refusing to agree to a truce until May 2002, when agreement was reached between NATO and the government of Serbia on the reintroduction of Serbian forces into the safety zone. This operation was accomplished under international observation and resulted in just a single casualty, since most of the UCPMB fighters opted to surrender under a generous government amnesty program.

It was at this stage that the development program began to accelerate. The high-impact, quick-response programs spearheaded by Deputy Prime Minister Covic and USAID did much more than deliver immediate tangible results to defuse conflict. They bestowed political credibility on the continuing diplomatic negotiations and paved the way for the longer-term dialogue, development and integration necessary for political stability to take root.

According to the recently elected ethnic Albanian Mayor of Presevo, Riza Halimi, “USAID projects created a parallel effort in support of peace, during the initial negotiations….These projects were highly visible, producing quick results, and sent a clear signal to the UCPMB, the Serbs and ethnic Albanians in the region, that the Serbian government and international community were committed to peace in Southern Serbia.”

Zuzeljica, Bujanovac - Deputy Prime Minister Covic addresses community members at the inauguration of a community water supply project co-funded by USAID.

Halimi stressed the value of these efforts. “For the last ten years no one came to Presevo. Suddenly we had Deputy Prime Minister Covic and Ambassador Montgomery….This sent a very clear message in the most difficult times. It was a start, a start we had never had before.”

The U.S. assistance effort reached everywhere, even into the virtually inaccessible highland villages adjacent to Kosovo. Ambassador Montgomery repeatedly met with the residents of these tiny mountain hamlets even before the safety zone was eliminated, in order to promise them that they would be protected and to offer assistance.

Most importantly, these promises were kept. According to Montgomery “USAID…provided immediate, concrete proof that international assistance would be forthcoming – [which was] vital in creating the mindset that allowed peace to take hold.”

Community Revitalization Through Democratic Action (CRDA)

Given the importance and success of these initial projects in the Presevo Valley USAID expanded its community-based activities in the area in conjunction with a similar, longer-term program focusing on local capacity-building and community participation.

The Community Revitalization through Democratic Action (CRDA) program is a five-year, $200 million program working in over 325 communities throughout Serbia, including the Presevo Valley where CHF International is USAID’s CRDA implementing partner. CRDA is a citizen-driven program in which local communities organize themselves to prioritize, plan and implement projects that revitalize essential infrastructure, create jobs, address critical environmental problems, and promote civic participation. To ensure community buy-in and commitment to the projects, participating communities are required to contribute at least 25 percent of the total project cost.

The average community commitment in Medvedja, Presevo, and Bujanovac well exceeds this 25 percent threshold -- and is actually closer to 50 percent -- in large part because communities have leveraged contributions from the coordinating committee established under the Covic Plan and from their municipalities. The interaction between the citizens’ community development committee (CDC), municipal officials and the republic-level coordinating committee has proven invaluable.

This point was emphasized by Shaip Kamberi, Director of Center for Human Rights. “The USAID investments are important because the first step in securing long-lasting peace is building confidence and trust among these [citizen, municipal and republic level government] groups. USAID provided an incentive for the Serbian government to invest in this region.” When asked if this new trust could last, he responded “little by little, the cause of the problems is disappearing, which gives us hope that we are truly building a multiethnic society.”

The CRDA program is engaging the citizens of these communities in a new development and decision-making process that has changed the dynamic of the municipalities it works in. The program is a catalyst for action within and across communities of different ethnicities, and bridges traditional ethnic divisions, as the members of community councils realize that their priorities are often the same. By getting people to work together towards a common goal, of their collective choice, the program is building a sense of trust and cooperation between different ethnic and religious groups.

Future Challenges

Qazim Lutfiu, a member of the CDC in Oslare, Bujanovac

Today, 18 months since the Peace Agreement with the UCPMB was signed, the municipalities of the Presevo Valley have achieved political stability, elected representative and multi-ethnic local governments, and established a police force that better reflects the ethnic diversity of the population. Local leaders are now working with republic-level officials and the international community on revamping their local economies. Three key elements of the Covic Plan are being achieved -- security, infrastructure development and political stability.

Real economic growth and job creation, however, are still elusive and pose a risk to the stability achieved to date. Qazim Lutfiu, a member of the CDC in Oslare, Bujanovac, stresses that “unemployment is the major obstacle to peace. When people have jobs they cooperate together, they work together, they speak together, they walk together, they even take coffee together.”

A good example of this is the OSCE-trained multi-ethnic police force, which employs 406 people: 230 ethnic Albanians, 166 Serbs and 10 Roma. Through this diversified recruitment, the new police force is building inter-ethnic trust, and consequently, changing attitudes and building tolerance.

“Now, I’m looking at Serbs and Albanians with the same eyes,” said Qazim. “We were running from the police [and] now they are our people too, even the (Serb) ones that were there before -- they are our people.”

The same theme was underscored by Ekrem Salihu, CDC member in Trnava, Presevo. “Freedom is good now, but the economic situation has not changed much, we need more time and investments. People now think about their lives and see that change is possible, but without a local economy and new jobs, there is no perspective.”

Unemployment is expected to rise as the municipalities and dilapidated state-owned factories in the region are downsized or privatized. Unemployment could hit ethnic Serbs hardest since traditionally they have been employed in both local government and public enterprises. Lay-offs and general economic discontent could reignite radical views and ethnic divides.

It is therefore imperative that assistance efforts focus on economic growth and job creation. The region, like the rest of Serbia, needs to rebuild local industry, re-establish regional market linkages, and strengthen local institutions to boost competitiveness and create jobs. The challenge for all parties involved is to find a sustainable formula for economic growth, if civil society and democracy are to thrive.

Caslav Andjelkovic, Vice President of the Presevo Assembly, emphasizing the value of recent developments.

Nevertheless, all parties involved – the government of Serbia, NATO, the U.S., OSCE, the international community and local community leaders – deserve credit for the successful effort to peacefully defuse a situation that threatened the new post-Milosevic government and overall stability and security in the region. The success in the Presevo Valley was a clear demonstration of focused and intense political, military and donor cooperation brought to bear to achieve a successful outcome that paved the way for longer-term political, social and economic revitalization.

The restoration of democratic order was cemented in August 2002 when municipal elections were held in Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja. Albanians won the ballot in Presevo and Bujanovac in fair and transparent elections. Caslav Andjelkovic, the Vice President of the Presevo Assembly and himself an ethnic Serb, emphasized the importance of the elections and recent developments. “During the bombing, inter-ethnic relations were nonexistent. Now extreme nationalism has calmed and people are talking again. During the previous 10 years there were no Serbian representatives in office [in Presevo]. The last elections demonstrate that a joint life, a life in common is necessary in this region.”

New municipal government and multi-ethnic civil society structures have been established, and while fragile, they are radically different from their predecessors. “In the year since USAID started work in the Presevo Valley I have often visited the village leader in Veliki Trnovac,” said USAID’s Yugoslavia Mission Director Stephenson. “Now, he points to the school and the clinic that we renovated together, and the ‘torture album’ has been put away. And oh yeah, he was elected to the Municipal Council of Bujanovac.”

The foundation for long-term political, economic and social stability has now been laid. Now, the continued support of the government of Serbia and the diplomatic and financial backing of the international community are vital to ensure the future success of the development and capacity-building efforts that must follow.

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