well. doubt so you it sounds a bit of the debt as nations get credit rating france losing its state downgrade prompted a drop in the markets and of course generally boston. members. were next an in-depth look at the prospects of settling the long standing ethnic tensions between casillas ethnic albanian and serb populations. this young serbian came here a couple of weeks ago. it's a well known bridging course of. it divides the city into two parts serbian and albanian. he thought he was going to fight to defend

serbia but for now his only weapon is an axe and keeping his tent up near the barricades is his only combat mission. he's only seen his potential adversary kosovar albanians from a distance there on the other bank of the river. both here in the other side of the bridge. all of this work and then the choppers coming here every day make a lot of noise nubile cool they keep children away just now adults can do their

jobs properly this unnerves the people here. every hour helicopters make life uncomfortable for us not to boat georgevitch along with several thousand others living in the village of the pulse of age. however the coast of aussie themselves apology to blame for this situation in the summer of two thousand and eleven they blocked roads in the region's north to hold up traffic carrying international troops and officials from priest and. as a result the only way albanian border guards and customs officials can now reach the base near the border with central serbia is by. this barricade an impossibility to us build four months ago. that's when no menu special forces to try to enter this territory. to set up their policemen

on customers officials on the border with serbia. music that came through the village activists left their homes in a bid to stop them water though i must say in all fairness that the situation in the north of course a lot resembles the battle of stalingrad. you know unarmed serbian people opposing nato forces armed to the teeth. units from the kosovo force known as an international organization established by nato attempted to dismantle the barricades. in the biggest standoff since kosovo's declaration of independence in two thousand and eight. zero. zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero. zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero. zero zero zero zero zero zero l.

a load of. oh that's the way. it was there oh yeah. we. call. her. yvonne as you go on drives through the serb barricades without a hitch ivana who's a popular serbian actress and singer who comes to northern kosovo almost every month. i have a plan to meet people there you need to help people because they fight for the liberty there they build to the barricades it's called knowledge and they're

standing for their city and they're all alone so we people of art have to help as much as we can bring it you know. on her way to the divided city of course of scum attributes are. always visits mount capo nick serbia's highest point. northern kosovo is in full view from an altitude of nearly two kilometers. this was already from here you can see almost all of serbia far in the wind and kosovo is over there. in the words of a point this is more than just mountains plains and the graves of our ancestors who lost their lives fighting to be europe's free don't want to your little push. it wasn't us knows i'm not from costs about but i feel the need to be here together

with the people to demonstrate my support these people have lived in a state of siege for twelve years in the past six months they have been struggling for control of this bridge and i hope they will continue their struggle in achieving their goal their method people like me are few and far between here and our politicians come here for only two or three d.s. and all they do is make promises. boy and has kept a diary since the first day of his vigil and spends his free time collecting his thoughts in it horseman list in december the eight each day's like all the others i'm down in the dumps in this tent but i hope to get used to it with time because i hear it because it will force and remove the barricades sinjar it so several times what are you guys put them up unusable.

was. this this bridge is the main bridge in route three theories connect to two parts of them to return or completely. divided no after the war in ninety nine. when the situation before the war was not like. this man. strolls along an invisible border it unlike boy and he's kept an eye on the standoff between kosovar albanians and serbs for more than a decade his memories of bitter clashes on this bridge a still fresh. oh member. of one many thought i'm here on this bridge the. both of them were still. on but.

green. the former yugoslav leader you'll see bronze tito laid the foundation for the current conflict by granting autonomous status to kosovo in one thousand nine hundred sixty three the population of mostly ethnic albanians demanded independence off to yugoslavia broke up but open clashes between the kosovo liberation army and serbian troops broke out. in one thousand nine hundred ninety nine to intervene on the side of the course of months of bombardment by allied aircraft compelled then serbian leaders slowdown the loss of a chance to pull troops out of kosovo as a result of the nato operation around five hundred civilians died. the region

declared independence in two thousand and eight but has never been recognized by belgrade around one hundred fifty thousand serbs still live in kosovo. you're going to this is the house i used to live in. my father built all the necessary papers were in his name all of which are what i can say that this is my house because all in his. driveway of h. a said visits what's left of his former house in a suburb of southern the tributes are in albanian territory only during the day it's safer that way. each visit saddens him both years of emptiness and the albanians living nearby have contributed to the gradual decay of the house built by his father. and i'm going to see what i would like to return him but we need the basic life conditions if we don't get

them back we won't be able to come back with. me you know that is even more upset by the condition of the local cemetery where serbs are buried. there well we're going to we're going to you can see how many tombstones have been destroyed. water or deported from. these of both being destroyed to and. from.

very cut right at the weekend the marketplace near the bridge in northern mitrovica turns into a public forum the latest talking point is the situation with the barricades but another subject cropped up in december twenty. fifth of. this polo oh are you good and you and thank you i'm fine i'm representing the russo serbian society we're now collecting signatures under applications for russian passports can i ask you to give your signature. of course with all my heart here put down your first name and last name but isn't ok there we go. thank you. began collecting signatures from kosovo serbs requesting russian citizenship in november twentieth. he gathered fifty thousand in just

a few weeks. of each was among them people living north of the river a pinning their hopes on help from moscow. on we've decided to seek a russian citizenship mainly because we want to get protection from the russian state. as you know we in kosovo have been under pressure immense pressure from the west for the past two years and the west wants us to leave this territory it wants to expel serbs from serbian land it's ethnic cleansing if we're now witnessing its final phase. the symbol of the eleventh i have heard reports of people in cos of skinny tributes signing a petition to request russian citizenship to your bases lay board georgie which collected forty seven thousand signatures with all of them were sent to russia with them but that was like a bolt from the blue the lift and i know the crusher received the citizenship

requests but it said no in the end we'll be on it and yet. is not giving up he's confident the russians have not said the final word the sub activist continues collecting the signatures of his compatriots seeking russian citizenship and says he'll wait for as long as it takes fellow campaign a boy and contributes in his own way he's determined to stay in his tent until the threat of an albanian invasion disappears. if they shoot something inappropriate from the public they can easily be shot by a maximum casualties of war ok. i wish he would have never happened but it has happened. in a war a t.v. camera becomes an unnecessary witness their own safety all foreign nationals

including journalists and inspectors should leave around. and it's clear what happens with such witnesses i got on my flight camera one. ready to check some feet. away. shooting versus shooting on our. there are those who desperately need it to survive. misspoken has a ton of money too on the lookout. for gold and the fish. and the suppresses the prize the rights of the food for. new clothes and. those who don't get their share of the trades. just by downloading god's. place and you know don't last but not the one that upset people media by you know about it i mean not

look anything from the company from. those who suck it out to prosper. the seeds of saying. come in the problem is it's a. nice glass isn't. no one can live without it's in one of the largest blood banks in the world. a lot of nigerians. on our team. to lose.

just. to. if only as you go on is two hours late but the people manning the barricades near the main bridge of serbian mithra hold no grudge against her for that the singing star has a large following among admiring locals an impromptu show gets under way as an early december dusk descends on the tributes a fee of one hundred for the poor listen listen. to the was sick to sleep eat

the you leave me. leave. that eat me eat alone. at the. very decent. so do you want to give up the roots and history. the backbone of all land. of course i'm in no position to give them some advise. but you know each day is like all the others we're here the old beans are on the other side of the bridge but today something interesting happened our singer yvonne as she gone came here nobody but politicians had visited does before you go on and give a speech at first we are saying my favorite song about casa.

after yvonne is performance boy and heads back to his tent for a late supper. this time he will eat a serbian pike. as he slices it the young serb discusses the fate of his long suffering homeland. well one of the plan to think of this by the yugoslavia twenty years ago as. this flies here is the republic of slovenia it was the first to fall away you were . so this is slowing both of. them of the republic of croatia followed suit. but i. would worry a slice of macedonia would come back it was the third republic to seat. the fourth

republic. and herzegovina broke away in the wake of a hard fought war we. had a poor record of the same fate. the only remaining state here is serbia together with castle foreigners would dearly like to take it away to where is this slice it's a tiny but inseparable part of serbia. the next morning a convoy of twenty trucks carrying supplies of russian humanitarian aid retraced the journey to northern kosovo the supplies include basic necessities from clothes and medicine to an electric generator. not done in miami and so far the forward trucks have been duly processed they have crossed the administrative line. and are now in the regions territory of the might expect the other trucks to be allowed

through the checkpoint has come through in the glory in that case we will arrive in course of skies. in a few hours. however any hope that the convoy would reach maturity to any time soon was dashed. the convoy of russian humanitarian aid became hostage to a long running territorial dispute the checkpoint that halted the trucks is the only pristina controlled place in the region the serbs don't recognize it they use alternative roads to bypass the checkpoint. like the albanians living in the southern sector of often come to the bridge as they look across the river they hope that sooner or later all of kosovo will be united under pristina. if you would. solve for three. and i mean ten years ago seven years to go when the will say with

same no but after they saw. the opportunity. of being accommodating to the cause of the sidehill then they accept what they know i mean percentage of participation to be cause for elections among. them even both of them but something just the albanians. back it was in charge of a television channel in southern the. he created this small t.v. and radio station immediately after the declaration of course of those independents . this is the first to go into i mean here we are for children program here for news here for debates i think this is the smallest. haven't seen in the world so the studio is rather sterile appearance is broken only by the empty set caricature

that confront guests as soon as they enter. this is a most rich. time doing. just hiding. destroying the bridge on a mystery. disappointed if you will by the spectacle in the palace will be like him. when you go. there is a lot of people. come in on someone who really did notice you will be doing. kosovo's declaration of independence in february two thousand and eight was symbolized by the structure built in pristina bearing the word newborn in giant block letters the problems of the regions north broke the back of course of our minds at the time it didn't occur to them that the local serbs would never agreed to be ruled by kosovo's or forties.

kosovo's deputy premier ira dean coochie is one of the so-called new born politicians in pristina he takes an optimistic view of what's happening in northern kosovo his unshakable belief is that several years from now the serbs will realize that they need to look to pristina in the south rather than belgrade in the north main problem is that people in our part of their incentive to get out of they are forced by building a new took a preview and your understanding of them because they cannot cooperate with us if so be as create an illusion that one day they will come back and this is the part of serbia or something like that they need to be much more realistic not to create illusions anymore they did for one part of crash here they did allude to a search for all part of the post you know they are doing the same and first this is a long story and this story was unsuccessful for sylvia only the event of it is coup g.'s opposite number he's deputy to the serbian minister for kosovo affairs he

comes to this region quite often this time his motorcade has traveled a long distance inside the region he decided to see what life is like in the small serbian enclave of iraq about surrounded by al thani and settlements. so very difficult to expect you know that is security council in the united nations or attend the mine as long as they are daniels and also as a business are not part of the international is that this is like un there are no tells us his in the banners the north. you know and we will not accept the gospel in the palace in a litter that i think that we have to find us a loss and a solution could be you know very very special status that means no albanian flag no i've been in court now i'll be an impala not been in cost them. three days of intensive talks finally resulted in the russian humanitarian aid being allowed into northern conservation thousands of serbs from the northern sector of kosovska

mitrovica welcome the arrival of the trucks loaded with medicines food and equipment. boy and was in the crowd but only for half an hour it was all the time he could afford before resuming his vigil near the barricade. i can see my mission here responding close i've been around here for two weeks now and more useful things here then if i'd stayed at home. each day here i chop firewood and fire it is still there i feel it is my duty to stay here. another day of chilly confrontation in the tribute to has drawn to a close a far away mood seem is calling muslims to evening prayer as french soldiers from k. four relieve their german counterparts on judy. meanwhile boy and makes another entry in his diary after heating up the stove to keep him warm through the night.

you know this course i was in that people here in cos well want exactly what people in the rest of serbia to do with and within us they want casilla to be theirs not all being you people will stay on the stance regardless of where there are barricades who will be torn down there and that can only depend on the levy people will come here in venice and look at the bridge with a rope and god willing i'll come here again and again to stand together with my friends and us ship them.

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