Todic: Great uncertainty in Leposavic, ordinary people suffer the most

There has been significant uncertainty in our municipality since May 26th of last year until today. Heavily armed special forces of the Kosovo police then brought the newly elected municipal representatives into the building of the Leposavic municipality, creating a lot of tension. During the summer, the municipal building resembled a barracks because a large number of Kosovo special forces personnel were stationed there, and later it was secured by KFOR members, former mayor of Leposavic, Zoran Todic, says for Kosovo Online.

Recalling the events and the protests of citizens that followed after the new mayor of Leposavic, Lulzim Hetemi, elected in elections boycotted by the Serbs, entered the municipal building with police assistance, using stun grenades and tear gas, Todic says that after a year, nothing is the same and the entire situation is difficult for the Serbian people.

"All this is a product of unilateral, unreasonable anti-Serb decisions by the government in Pristina, which the international community has ignored many times. They simply did not understand what we have been pointing out for years, the problems faced by the Serbian population in our municipalities in northern Kosovo and Metohija. There is a lot of pressure, tension, and uncertainty, and ordinary people suffer the most, employees who have spent their working lives in this building and who, since May 26th of last year, have not had access to their workplaces, and their job is to provide services to our population," Todic points out.

He adds that everything remained at the statements of key Western countries, which then recommended that nothing be done by force and that the presidents of municipalities without legitimacy perform their duties in other public buildings.

"However, the government in Pristina ignored these calls from the international community, and did not care about the opinion of the local population, so on May 26th, with the use of brutal force, they occupied and usurped the municipal building, and thank God there were no injuries or fatalities," Todic says.

In the last two years, as he points out, the government led by Albin Kurti has been working to extinguish everything that is Serbian.

"He led an anti-Serb policy, an anti-Serb campaign, made unilateral decisions, and as a consequence of all these unilateral decisions, we have a large number of people leaving the territory of our municipality. They left their homes because they were simply on some lists, having participated in peaceful protests," the former head of Leposavic municipality indicates.
The current local government, as he assesses, serves the government in Pristina as a cover for implementing some decisions.

"First of all, for what they call expanding sovereignty in northern Kosovo and Metohija. No one cares about the endangered human rights, the basic elementary rights of the people living here, all under the guise of implementing sovereignty over the entire territory of Kosovo. Citizens know best what it means to have local government serving all residents, regardless of religious and national affiliation, and what I can say is that this government is dysfunctional. Since we previously governed the municipality of Leposavic, we know how the municipality functions and what the possibilities are. There were no investments, no infrastructure projects, and it shows on the ground," Todic says.

As he concludes, all of this would not have happened if the agreements reached in Brussels had been implemented.

"First of all, I mean the formation of the Community of Serb Municipalities, because many of these bad things and bad moments for the Serbian people would not have happened if the CSM had been established. A significant part of the responsibility lies with the international community. There is room in Kosovo and Metohija for all the people who have lived here for centuries, a compromise, long-term, sustainable solution needs to be found that will satisfy and guarantee the future of those of us who live here," Todic concludes.