The beauty of the place contrasts all too sharply with the ugliness and chaos that exists all around them. None now remain. The town was always a rather confused muddle of small shops, narrow streets and rickety vehicles, but it was lively and bustling. There is only a sporadic supply of power in Kosovo and by 6 o'clock in the evening with no lighting and heating the town empties. An eery silence falls which even Kfor soldiers fear to penetrate alone.
Crime is rampant.
Southwestern Kosovo along the border with Albania suffered the greatest damage during the NATO campaign. KLA fighters reinforced by equipment and weapons from across the border were at their strongest here. In anticipation of a NATO invasion the Yugoslav army cleared settlements to avoid retaliation from snipers and other hostile elements that might be lurking in the area. A house that is a burnt-out shell stands next to one totally unscathed. It is said that the destruction somehow bypassed the property of big, local mafia types, both Serb and Albanian.