Residents of Karaçevo without institutional attention, only the Serbian gendarmerie as "visitors"

20 years after the war, Kosovo continues to have problems with territory. In fact, in the border strip, Serbian gendarmerie are often seen. KFOR has already placed signs marking the temporary border of Kosovo, in the village of Karaçevë in Kamenica. This is being viewed with concern by the residents of this area, who have begun to move from this village day by day.

Since the end of the war, the inhabitants of this area have several times warned about the introduction of the Serbian gendarmerie in the territory of the Municipality of Kamenica.

He has never felt more insecure in his own country. 83-year-old Ismajl Kastriti says that since the post-war life in this country has become difficult.

Kastrati: I never see our police guarding the border

"These people are free as far as our Kosovar side is concerned. They are free to walk, they can come to the village from our police. I never see our police guarding the border, they stay where the signs are, that's where the Kosovo Police are... A retired teacher went out to collect mushrooms and they took him and brought him to Bujanovac. I don't know if they punished him or not. However, the people are interested, they are careful, they don't dare to go near there, when the Qoban people send their animals there, they go a little scared, they look once to see if the Vojna Police is passing by," he says.

According to Kastrati, 20 years after the war, Serbia is trying to intimidate the Albanian population. He even has an order for the institutions of Kosovo in relation to this part.

Kastrati: Our government has not taken any measures regarding this area so far

"I wanted to make an appeal to our governments, so far our Government has not taken measures regarding this area that Serbia has occupied with the Kumanova agreement, no one has raised their voice once, a deputy in the Assembly of Kosovo, for this issue, do we the population know how many times we have gone to protests for these signs, lately KFOR has been there and the mayor of the municipality has been, to change those signs. We have not accepted that those signs where it says 500 meters, 1000 meters, have now been changed and brought to zero. We haven't been asked anything lately", he says.

Similar signs placed at the entrance to Karacheva were removed in the past by the residents and there have been no such signs since 2010. These signs have now been moved inside the village for 200 meters, which is being seen with concern by the most vocal resident of this side, Selver Lenjani.

Lenjani: These signs have no place here

"The installation of these signs for about 200 meters has completely gone down, they have been released, but they do not have a place here where we are being interviewed, 1000 meters from this is the Kosovo-Serbia border, according to the technical-military agreement of Kumanova of June 9. This table has no place either, all the citizens of Karaçeva, the residents who strongly opposed it because it is our land, it is valid land that we have with cadastral parcels with administrative boundaries, it is our territory. However, we are powerless to take these decisions to protect this part of the territory of Kosovo", says Lenjani.

From there you can also see a point of the Police of Serbia, about which the residents of this side expressed their concern.

Despite KFOR's declarations that it has no responsibility in matters related to the borders of Kosovo, it continues to supervise the border line with Serbia in the village of Karačevo.

Until, since 2014, the Police have been prohibited by KFOR from using the "By Pass" road, which enables traffic in the villages of this area.

Selver Lenjani says that he has informed all the institutions about this, however he says that this village is not of interest to them.

Lenjani: There is no institution that has not been notified

"There is no institution that has not been informed, neither the municipality, nor the region, nor the government, there is no institution, but nevertheless they did not dare or were not interested, or did not want to, because we residents of the border zone do not have people in the Government, we don't have people in institutions to raise this issue, we raised it as a local community, as ordinary citizens, but nobody listens", adds Lenjani.

And until Kosovo and Serbia agree on who owns 600 meters of road, 170 owners since the beginning of 2001 when this disagreement started, their properties are at risk.

Lenjani: The properties of 170 residents are at risk in the border zone

"In the border zone, 170 owners of their lands are at risk, they have cadastral parcels, which are the property of the municipality of Kamenica, the property of the territory of Kosovo. 170 owners are by name and surname, with residence, who lose their lands. But, nevertheless, this is a technical-military agreement of Kumanova, of June 9, which was falsified by the Serbian factor, this cadastral documentation, geographical and geodetic maps were served to the international factor, for which the residents of the border zone were greatly damaged, because it is a very big problem because it is our territory", adds Lenjani.

Lenjani says that the negotiating team for talks with Serbia must take into account this border zone, while noting that this area is being torn apart. He emphasizes that as a result of the neglect of this part by the institutions, the residents are moving away from here.

The administrator of the village of Karaçevo, Armend Kastrati, says that the neglect of the institutions is the main concern of the residents.

Kastrati: These are the ones who play these political games

"The biggest concern is the negligence of the institutions that play these political games that are leaving us as hostages for the residents as well as for our visitors," he said.

He says that there have been many protests as residents of this country, but also a meeting with the mayor of Kamenica, while he expresses his belief that the institutions must come up with a solution.

Meanwhile, resident Fadil Lenjani is considering selling his properties and moving away from here.

Fadil Lenjani: There is no position for us here (Video)

"There is no attitude for us here, it is fear, great harm is for us. With this surface of the earth gone... KFOR have placed them here, it is known that there is something, it is giving a sign that it is not ours... Maybe I am not staying, I will probably leave here very soon", he says Lenjani.

Kosovo has not yet demarcated the border with Serbia. And this process has been quite contradictory with two other countries, Macedonia and Montenegro recently.