|
A Dog's Life...
In a search for cleaner sidewalks an expat looks at pampered
Parisian pooches
|
 |
what's
happening
and what
we think
about it |
understanding those
serious issues |
cool stuff to do |
music, art, food, etc. |
Now
you can listen to ParisTempo's new musical selections online
right here...
|
|
Want to know more
about Paris Tempo?
Read this message from the Paris
Tempo Team
|
|
|
|
|
Healing a Divided City
A year after the end of the Kosovo
war, French soldiers are working hard to reunite people across the
divided city of Mitrovica
Text & Photos by JoMarie Fecci
|
|
| French ACM provide humanitarian
assistance to Serb woman in a North Mitrovica neighborhood.
© JoMarie Fecci |
|
|
|
"I stayed alone. I have only God,"
said the old woman, tears welling up in her eyes. The loneliness
made her poverty seem worse, and her joy at seeing the soldiers
of the French Affaires Civiles-Militaires (ACM) arrive was as much
for their simple presence as for the boxes of aid they delivered.
French soldiers are the only outsiders
she's seen in months. No one comes to visit her in this residential
neighborhood in the Serb enclave of North Mitrovica. Her home is
sandwiched between two Albanian communities. And she says she cannot
leave -- even for a little while -- for fear that refugees may move
into the empty house, or that Albanian neighbors might simply blow
it up.
|
|
|
Kosovar Serbs like this woman remain "demonized"
by the international community -- with even aid organizations sometimes
"sanctioning" their part of town. Simple survival has
become a struggle.
The soldiers of the ACM are the sole link
for many here. This woman was just happy to have someone to sit
and talk with. And as she hugged the shy soldier, who was a bit
uncomfortable in his role as "benefactor," all the accumulated
sadness of this war seemed to be forgotten for just a moment. She
smiled through tearfilled eyes and asked the troops to stay for
a beer-- or a coffee.
Of course they couldn't -- it was only
930am and they still had other families to visit. MDL Alex Robein
promised to stay for a coffee next time.
|
| French peacekeepers do
their best to keep Mitrovica calm and secure.
© JoMarie Fecci |
|
|
According to Robein, this poor woman's
situation has become something of the "norm" in this area
where few NGOs operate, and there is no outside investment and little
rebuilding. Serb residents of Mitrovica suffer of the economic embargo
along with Milosevic's Serbia. Even the black market can't fill
the gaps here -- people just do without.
The ACM is distributing packages of essential
food and household items put together by the Yugoslav Red Cross.
Despite KFOR's presence, many local aid workers don't feel safe
crossing through enclaves of different ethnicities so the distribution
is sometimes left to the ACM.
"We are an army, not an NGO,"
said the French Adjutant, explaining. "We have neither the
resources nor the time to take on aid distribution as a fulltime
mission. But when we come across emergency cases, we help until
we can get the people in touch with the appropriate NGO."
|
|
| The ACM is a special unit, established
solely for external missions like this one, that brings together soldiers
from different parts of the regular French Forces. The distribution
of aid is only the smallest part of their mission. Their primary function
is to facilitate economic recovery in the former conflict zone. This
is a difficult job requiring them to identify companies willing to
work here, determine which local enterprises have possibilities for
further development, and select microprojects for limited funding.
Additionally they work to assure that vital infrastructure, such as
heat and electricity in winter, function, and that large-scale humanitarian
disasters are averted. Humanitarian actions, like food distributions
that touch only individual families, are given a lower priority. |
French ACM deliver humanitarian
assistance to recently returned Albanian family.
© JoMarie Fecci |
|
|
"Every day there is an enormous job
to do. I never thought that an army could do such a huge job. But
from the beginning of the year until now we have seen real progress,"
says the Adjutant, adding, "The majority of the population
want to live in peace. Even the agitators are beginning to change
their way of speaking now, because the population has changed its
views and no longer blindly follows the leaders."
Across the River
On the other side of the Ibar river that
separates the two sides of Mitrovica, another ACM team were visiting
Albanian families. Up a mountainside. Across a stream. In the kind
of place you don't even imagine people can live, French soldiers
were distributing emergency aid.
|
|
|
"The population is tired of 'assessments'
-- all the humanitarian groups coming asking questions -- they want
to finally GET some aid," says CNE Philippe Marande, unloading
a box full of food products from the EU. "We come when we have
something to give."
Marande and the troops were giving food,
clothing and tents to a family that had just returned two days before.
Twelve family members rested in the shade of a tree beside the ruins
of their house, as Marande told the patriarch how to get in contact
with an NGO that is helping residents to rebuild.
Reaching out to needy villagers is not
only "humanitarian," it also helps keep the lines of communications
open between the peacekeepers and the locals. French troops in this
area have helped residents get their school operating again, and
French army engineers built the footbridge over the river that has
made daily life here a little safer.
|
| French Forces protect Mitrovica
neighborhood known as "Little Bosnia" (above). French
ACM officer distributes toys and candy to village children (below).
© JoMarie Fecci |
|
|
When Marande visits, a shopkeeper offered
him a juice "on the house," and the men of the village
crowded around. They told Marande about some troubling rumors they
had been hearing. Rumors have become a tool for troublemakers trying
to sow dissension and create unease among a population that is only
just beginning to feel a little bit of stability again.
The director of the local school said that
he heard this year's wheat crop was contaminated because of last
year's NATO bombing campaign. The shopkeeper mentioned hearing that
soon all KFOR except the British would leave. Marande assured them
the rumors were false. Then, after distributing candy and toys to
the kids, his team moved on.
Special
Report: The French in Kosovo
Part II French Forces in Kosovo
French soldiers are responsible for one of the most volatile sectors
in Kosovo. They have successfully carried out a very complex mission
over the past year.
Part III French Policy in Kosovo
An examination of key trends in French policy during the Kosovo
crisis highlights European efforts to resolve the conflict.
|
|
|
