May, May 23rd, 1999

Taking all identity documents

    Q: For what reason were Serbian Soldiers seen to be taking all identity documents from escaping refugees, if not to ensure their inability to return and claim their property?

    As much as the "property" may be under doubt (given the history of taking the land and property of expelled Serbs in the previous years), as well as the genuineness of these documents (some of them were forged - read about the four refugees who were arrested as soon as they set foot on American soil) - you may be right about the intents of the police. On the other hand, when we heard they're taking their IDs, there was lots of dispute here on whether such a strategy may work at all. On the contrary, it may be well expected that, once the refugees start going home, there will be many citizens of Albania who will want to go with them, pretending to be refugees and claiming their papers were taken at the border. All the same, this won't make things clearer. The Albanians on Kosovo have sabotaged the census each time, so there are no decisive papers on who they are and who are possible outsiders, which may be used this way or other - which will create even more confusion once it comes to resettling.

Geoff from globalnet.co.uk