Trading Old Borders for New Ones

Recently, I was having lunch with a group of friends in the centre of Pristina, capital city of Kosovo. Most are also journalists, or in similar professions, across the Balkan region. We had lots of news to exchange.

Not all those present were Kosovans, one was Bosnian and he works at a foreign mission in Kosovo. My ears pricked up and I was curious and anxious to continue conversation with him because, as a Kosovan citizen, I cannot visit Bosnia.

The former Yugoslav republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), like Kosovo, has tense relations with Serbia following the violent collapse of Yugoslavia.  

The recent arrest and extradition of the wartime Bosnian-Serb general Ratko Mladic is expected to lead the way both to a détente in relations and membership of the European Union.

While Serbia and Bosnia struggle to mend relations following inter-ethnic carnage, Kosovo’s relations with Serbia are also strained after ethnic violence and Pristina’s declaration of independence from Belgrade in February 2008.

The US and many EU countries backed Kosovo’s declaration but Serbia, and its ally Russia, have so far blocked Kosovo from getting a seat at the United Nations.

While some progress has been made on a workable agreement between Kosovo’s majority ethnic Albanians and minority ethnic Serbs, which saw 20 per cent of ethnic Serbs participate in recent elections up from 2-3 per cent in previous years, a lasting accord is yet to be fully realised.

Which makes it all the stranger, at first sight anyhow, that I can easily visit Serbia but cannot get into Bosnia.

Following objections from Bosnian Serbs to the recognition of Kosovo as an independent state, the Bosnian federal authorities are unable to grant visa visas. As a result, citizens bearing Kosovan passports, such as myself, are denied entry.

All of which is something of a challenge for my project, as I want to include research about Bosnia.

Both Kosovo and Bosnia are reliant on support from, and the highly visible presence of, international authorities.  For my fellowship topic, I’m examining the work of the European Union’s rule of law mission to Kosovo – EULEX.

As part of the programme, I must travel to another Balkan country and an EU member state. My Bosnian friend agrees that only Bosnia comes close to providing a regional example that could compare to the Kosovan experience.

But how to get to Bosnia? Last year, my fellow Kosovan journalist Majlinda Aliu took part in the programme. In order to interview Bosnian war widows, she had to ask her interviews to cross over to Croatia so she could interview them there.

To get around this visa obstacle, I’m also asking my colleagues at the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network – who support the fellowship with ERSTE Foundation and the Robert Bosch Stiftung – for help identifying interviewees who I can speak to in neighbouring countries or interview over the telephone.

My Bosnian friend is amazed when I tell him I’ve been to Belgrade – the capital city my state has been at war with – no less than five times with my Kosovan passport.  There was much bureaucracy, I had to leave my passport with the Serbian border police and retrieve it upon my return, but I got permission to go.

Kosovo has never been at war with Bosnia, but Bosnia still does not recognise Kosovan passports or Kosovo’s declaration of independence. It seems bizarre that as Balkan states gear up for the free movement of people that membership of the EU brings, we are simultaneously constructing new borders with our neighbours.

At the end of our conversation, my new friend gave me some good news. Bosnia, according to him, has begun to reconsider the possibility of visas for Kosovan citizens.

I hope that my colleagues in future months and years will not face the same difficulties as I, and that there are fewer political obstacles in their way.

Selvije Bajrami is a Pristina-based journalist who is participating in the 2011 Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence.  She will be writing regular updates on her investigation into EULEX and international rule of law missions in the region.