In ‘no man’s land’: the im/mobility of Serb NGO workers in Kosovo

ABSTRACT

While the technical dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade proceeds, inter-ethnic tensions in the city of Mitrovica in north Kosovo continue to instil uncertainty and insecurity among its inhabitants. This article delves into the im/mobilities for NGO work that the ethnic and conflict related division of the town poses for local Serb NGO workers. The division of the city into a Serbian north and a Kosovo Albanian south, with separate political systems and influence from the international peacebuilding mission, poses obstacles for inter-ethnic cooperation between north and south NGOs. The article explores the ways in which Serb NGO workers navigate these obstacles in order to create physical, social and economic mobility for themselves. It identifies two interrelated dynamics essential to understanding the impact on NGO workers of the conflict reality: one is between national identity and ethno-political space in the context of the specific community; the other, between the local moral order of being ‘good Serbs’ and internationally formulated aims to engage the locals in peace and reconciliation work. The paper argues that the focus of international peacebuilding missions on inter-ethnic cooperation and policy influencing activities, at least for Serb NGO workers in Mitrovica, impedes the mobility of local NGOs.

KEYWORDS:

• NGOs
• peacebuilding
• mobility
• ethno-political space
• inter-ethnic cooperation
• identity-politics
• Kosovo

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Politika and Postenje occurs in literature on other nations and ethnic groups than Serbs. Kolind’s study is on Bosniaks (Muslims) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but the terms are used throughout the former Yugoslavia where the Serbo-Croatian language is spoken.

2. 50,000 KFOR troops were deployed to Kosovo in 1999. In 2012 the NATO force in Kosovo consisted of 5600 KFOR troops.

3. There are also members of the ethnic minority groups Gorani, Turks, Bosniacs, RAE (Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian) involved in the organisations, the latter mostly as targets and recipients of project activities.

4. Conversation with OSCE project manager and confirmed by UAM officer March 2012. By 2015 the number of NGOs registered was around 700 in northern Kosovo.

5. There would often be participants from Gorani, Turk, Bosniak and RAE ethnic minorities in the south or in the enclaves in the north, while Serbian activities would attract very few members from other ethnic minorities.

6. Interviews with NGO staff and management during an OSCE meeting in north Mitrovica, 2012.

7. Project goals and activities were often formulated over ambitiously in order to meet donor demands and expectations, as the NGO workers perceived them.

8. The fact that she also did not speak English or Albanian was a further obstacle, but also a personal choice. She did not want to have to speak another language than her mother tongue in her own country, she said during an interview.