Isolated but defiant, the Serbs trapped by blood and history
GORAZDEVAC, Kosovo/Serbia -- To the outside world, they are the bullyboys of Europe. The Serbs have a rather more romantic image of themselves; not so much Roman-style imperialists as the plucky Gauls of Asterix fame.
Like the cartoon character’s besieged village, Serbia is surrounded by enemy garrisons, according to a postcard on sale in Mitrovica. “One small country of indomitable Serbs still holds out against the invaders.”
But it is in this western corner of Kosovo, beneath the jagged peaks of the Mountains of the Damned, that the real siege is taking place.
The Serb enclave of Gorazdevac is surrounded not by hostile Roman garrisons but Albanian villages peopled by bitter survivors of Belgrade’s war against them. Instead of wooden stockades, they are protected by the tanks and soldiers of an Italian peacekeeping force.
When Serb and Kosovan leaders sit down next week to discuss UN plans for the province’s future, it is the fate of enclaves like Gorazdevac and its Kosovan Serbs that present the greatest threat to stability.
Read entire article at Times (of London)
Like the cartoon character’s besieged village, Serbia is surrounded by enemy garrisons, according to a postcard on sale in Mitrovica. “One small country of indomitable Serbs still holds out against the invaders.”
But it is in this western corner of Kosovo, beneath the jagged peaks of the Mountains of the Damned, that the real siege is taking place.
The Serb enclave of Gorazdevac is surrounded not by hostile Roman garrisons but Albanian villages peopled by bitter survivors of Belgrade’s war against them. Instead of wooden stockades, they are protected by the tanks and soldiers of an Italian peacekeeping force.
When Serb and Kosovan leaders sit down next week to discuss UN plans for the province’s future, it is the fate of enclaves like Gorazdevac and its Kosovan Serbs that present the greatest threat to stability.