Investigation:Kosovo's Wild West

Institute for War and Peace Reporting ^ | Feb 18, 2005 | Jeta Xharra, Muhamet Hajrullahu, Arben Salihu, Ibrahim Kelmendi

[Nennsy]

Investigation: Kosovo’s Wild West

Vigilante law reigns in a part of Kosovo where justice doesn’t quite reach.

Ramiz Muriqi, a tall man in his fifties, looks scared and isolated in his flat in Peja, about 80 kilometres west of Kosovo’s capital Pristina.

“I’m tired of watching my back all the time, worrying that I’m next in line to be shot,” said Muriqi, with two cell phones, an automatic pistol and two spare magazines hanging from his belt.

Peja - known to Serbs as Pec - is a large town in the Dukagjini plain of western Kosovo. In this region, law and order has broken down and shootings have become part of the fabric of life.

Acts of violence are prompted by a variety of motives, ranging from rivalries left over from the politics of the Kosovo conflict, through organised crime and business disputes, to tit-for-tat blood feuds.

It is sometimes hard to tell where one type ends and the other starts, but the overall picture is of a gangland culture holding the rest of society hostage.

Not that Kosovo is short on law-enforcement, with both internationals and the Kosovo Police Service, KPS, on the ground. But neither force has been equal to the task of stamping out the violence. Their apparent inability to resolve a number of recent murder cases has left a sense that the gunmen can operate with impunity.

That sends out a worrying message: as the families of murder victims grow increasingly resentful of the inaction, many come to believe that justice will only be done if they take matters into their own hands.

LEGACY OF WAR

The background to Ramiz Muriqi’s embattled position is indicative of the scale of the problem ...

[Nennsy]

Kosovo Ping!

[bozot]

Well well well...

We may find it out that Milosevich did have the right approach in that region.

The war started because everyone was crying that he was a bit heavy handed.

50.000 NATO troops are unable to operate even the traffic lights and getting registration numbers on the cars for 6 years.

Letting alone the road traffic, the albanians become the main Heroin trafficers to Europe and run the largest stolen car ring.

Before the war the heroin was about £18.00 a shot in London, GB - after the "Kosovo refugees" arrived and got almost free roam all over Europe, it went down to £5.00...
Now the record harvest in Afghanistan making sure that our children can get the drugs easily for their pocket-money.

Sure these guys need indepence !!!

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Thank you Bill Clinton. /sarcasm

[sgtbono2002]

Milosovic has been on trial for about 6 yars and they havent convicted him yet. I would almost bet he will die and THEN they will convict him in absentia.

Yes Bubba did a great job here helping Al Quaeda and his exit strategy was excellent.

[DTA]

>>>>Sandro Ottaviani, an officer involved in the search operations, said the Italians expected to find even more weapons in coming months, The number is likely to grow fast when the snow melts. While some of the arms in circulation may have been left over from the war, Iacoviello notes, ?There is no doubt that a considerable amount of the weapons we have recently found are newly purchased."<<<<

We were told by NATO that KLA was disarmed after the war and all weapons were collected.Seriously. That rationale was used to explain why NATO diligently collected ALL handguns, hunting rifles, hunting knives from Serb villagers, claiming they needed no weapons for personal protection.

At the same time, NG trains terrorists for "disaster relief". Last time I checked it was FEMA's duty.

Sooner or later, the terrorists will attempt to use recently purcased weapons and apply the knowledge NG provided.