Historical or hysterical
by Lesley Abdela
Published in Executive Woman Magazine www.execwoman.com
Oct/Nov issue 1999
Kosovo first impressions
Saturday 29th August - Pristina.
Yesterday was my first day in Kosovo.
NATO bombing ceased 14 weeks ago on 10th June. On Friday afternoon 35 of us from the international community
flew from Vienna into Pristina airport on a Moldavian Airlines Ilyushin plane specially chartered by OSCE
(Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe). The UN Interim Administration in Kosovo has apportioned
responsibility for rebuilding the region to 4 organisations: The UN, UNHCR, EU and OSCE. I have come here
for a 6-month assignment as Deputy Director - Democratisation, OSCE Mission - Kosova, seconded by the UK
Foreign Office as part of their contribution to the rebuilding efforts.
The OSCE has 55 participating member states including neutral countries and almost all the states of Central
and Eastern Europe. It is now responsible for Human Resources Capacity Building, Democratisation and Governance,
Human Rights and Police Training in Kosova on behalf of the international community. Many member States are
contributing staff and I am one of the 10 female and 25 male specialists in democracy building, human rights,
media and law and order to arrive on this plane. Our role in the OSCE Mission is to build a democratic
society in this Balkan enclave. On this plane we come from the UK, France, Bulgaria, Russia, Italy, Germany,
Canada, Finland and Switzerland.
The world of international organisations is full of acronyms. OSCE are part of UNMIK - United Nations Mission
in Kosovo. To the embarrassment of the British police contingent their leader Rin Stainforth is known as
Co-Fart – (Chief of Field and Regional Training). Over half our group are police trainers from UK, France,
Bulgaria and Scandinavian countries. A prime priority is to train a brand new police service untainted by
the ghastly deeds done by the Serb police. 20% of applicants for the new squeaky clean police service are
women and a female Swedish police officer will train the mounted police.
The four British police on our plane come from Nottingham, Warwick and Thames Valley Forces. Our burly British
Bobbies came in handy for carrying my 7 cases. I convinced them this is part of their gender training.
Packing for 6 months at 6 days notice has been one of the toughest challenges of the past 5 days. Despite
working in over 26 countries in the last few years I have never learned to travel light. At the best of times I
am luggagedly challenged. Preparing for this trip was the mother of all baggage battles. I packed everything
from a ski suit to a bikini. Now in August the temperature in Kosova is 28 degrees. By the end of October it
will be bitterly cold inside and outside. In the foreseeable future the 2 Power stations that supply Pristina
will run far below capacity due to a combination of war and years of neglect.
Our two day OSCE induction course in Vienna covered the history of the Balkans, stress management and an
introduction to the OSCE. The session about handling culture shock covered ethnic differences, the culture and
tensions of being part of an international Mission team in a still traumatized post-conflict zone where mass
graves are discovered daily. Within 2 hours of stepping off the plane I realised our course had omitted the
culture shock experienced by a women’s rights feminist campaigner who finds herself transported into a
culture of KFOR (Kosovo Force) military from 16 NATO countries.
Russian and British military are running the airport. Uniformed British military personnel escorted us and our
luggage off the plane. The rogue Russian contingent who seized Pristina airport ahead of NATO are living in
an encampment of army sludge coloured tents on the edge of the tarmac. Military Helicopters are parked on the
perimeter.
Peter, an ex Royal marine character straight out of ‘Boys Own Annual’, dressed in shorts and thick socks rolled
down to the ankles over hiking boots greeted us with the words “Welcome to Pristina – Mad Max City”. He issued
our security passes and organised us and our luggage into a coach and lorry.
A plane bringing Kosovan refugees home landed just ahead of us. As I watched the returning Kosovans walk
silently across the tarmac to the rundown airport building I wondered what emotions and memories they
were experiencing on returning to their homeland.
The communication system is dire. I am worried about how to get this copy back to Executive Woman. If you
read this – it means I have overcome the fact that the OSCE office will serve 700 staff by end of October
and has just 3 connections to e-mail and the internet. If you stay on-line more than 2 minutes the line
drops off. 95% of telephones are not working. Telephone lines were routed through Belgrade and Serbs cut the
lines during the conflict. Mobile networks are overloaded and no doubt this situation will get worse as more
international workers arrive.
In some villages and towns along the drive to Pristina every house has had its roof and window smashed.
Nobody has yet worked out the current legal status of Kosova. Until the NATO bombing it was part of the Federation
of Yugoslavia – FRY. Albanian Kosovans call it Kosova – Serbs and the international community call it Kosovo.
Most norms do not apply here.
There are no police, no traffic lights, no driving tests, Anyone can (and does) drive a car. The majority of
cars in Pristina have no number plates.
A car with no number plate is viewed by Albanian Kosovans as a ‘badge of honour’ to prove you were one of the
refugees. Serb militia tore the plates off the cars and destroyed passports and identity papers of
refugees fleeing across the border. Destroying people’s identity was a weapon used along with rape,
torture and murder in the armoury of ethnic cleansing.
The conflict has created a vacuum with no banks and no local currency. It is a cash-only, Deutschmarks-only
society. OSCE and the other international agencies have to bring in large dollops of cash from banks in
neighbouring Macedonia.
On arrival in Pristina our luggage is unloaded by local staff in the OSCE courtyard. We are given a brief
welcome introduction and issued with radio phones. From our lecture room on the 4th floor of OSCE HQ we can
see the main police station which was shattered by a NATO precision bomb. Kosovo’s capital Pristina was not
damaged as much as other places. Restaurants are open and people sit at pavement tables in cafes in the
warm evening.
OSCE has arranged for us to live for the first few days in transit houses dotted around Pristina. I have a
large room in a comfortable middle-class house with a garden of roses and a high wall and solid metal gate.
An OSCE Panchero transported 3 of us to transit house 8. After that we have to find flats or houses to rent
for ourselves. When we wanted to go into town for dinner I was shown how to say: ”Duty car required at
Transit House 8. Over.”
In the early hours of this morning, an explosion at 3.30am woke me. It was followed 30 minutes later by the
whirr of patrolling helicopters. At the morning briefing we were told a suitcase full of explosives had been
placed to blow up a nearby statue.
A KFOR tank is parked at the end of the street with white tape stretched from the front of the tank
across a front door. I am told it is probably protecting a Serb household. The few Serbs hide away.
In public they speak English for fear of being attacked if anyone hears them speak Serbo-Croat.
We were warned not to walk or run anywhere but the tarmac and not to enter empty houses. I remembered the
words from our security lecture: “If you run to stay fit – run only on the roads. Cross-Country running in
Kosovo will be hazardous to your health. As well as 615 Defensive Minefield locations there are masses of
UXOs – unexploded ordnances – bits of unexploded cluster bombs.” The casualty rate is 5 or 6 people a
day – mostly children and youngsters. 200 people have been killed since the conflict by mines, unexploded
bits of NATO cluster bombs and booby traps. When Mine Awareness expert Leonie Barnes said “If after
all this information you still find yourself in a mine-field what’s the first thing you do?” My
sympathies were entirely with the woman who replied “Scream”!
Who knows what lies ahead – the words of one of our instructors probably sums it up
“We don’t quite know if our mission is historical or hysterical – a bit of both.”
lesley.abdela@shevolution.com
© Lesley Abdela 1999
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