I am pleased, Mr. Chairman, that you have invited me to present testimony to your committee about the problems of the city of Mitrovice, which has been illegally divided. I will focus on the obstacles to resolving the Mitrovice issue and which thereby prevent the establishment of peace and stability in postwar Kosova. The Serbian regime has created executive councils in the Serbian areas of Mitrovice to implement Serbian control, in violation of UN Resolution 1244. Undercover Serbian police masquerade as civilians, while they in fact operate with sophisticated communications equipment and weapons.
Parallel courts operate in a continuation of Serbian prewar trials.
Even local services, such as elementary schools, high schools, the university, and the hospitals are provided by a parallel system of local institutions and communes. In postwar Kosova, the Albanians have always been cooperative, with the aim of creating as soon as possible joint organs of local administration. This behavior belies the reality of what is happening to the Serbian population at the local level. Many Serbs are actually ready and willing to cooperate, but they have been prevented from doing so by extremists who have threatened them and their relatives with death. There are not yet even minimal conditions for the security and free movement of the citizens of Mitrovice.