25 years of waiting and anxiety, Ali Havolli confesses in tears about his missing brother
“He was late all day and didn’t come”, Ali Havolli confesses about his brother, whom he has been waiting for since March 28, 1999. The sufferings he has experienced these 25 years, he says he does not wish even on the enemy. With tears in his eyes, he tells about his 29-year-old brother, Skender Havolli, whom he last saw on Eid Day. Ali confesses that there have been no more celebrations or joys for him, however he emphasizes that he has not lost hope. In his story for KosovaPress, the man in his seventies speaks of his disappointment with the work done by the local authorities in the process of clarifying the fate of the missing persons. The Governmental Commission for Missing Persons says that they are insisting that Serbia provide information, however the chairman Andin Hoti says that he doubts that the European Union takes the issue of missing persons seriously.
Ali Havolli from Fushe Kosovo every day waits for some information about his brother, who was taken by three masked Serbs.
“It was March 28, I don’t remember if it was the day of Eid or the night of Eid, there were no houses here, it was empty. The residents of Fushe Kosovo started to flee and withdraw completely, on the third day of NATO bombings, my brother said, I’m going out to see what the situation is. He went to the railway, when he went to the railway three masked Serbs took him there. A neighbor whose house is below saw that three people took him, but he was afraid and he just tried to save himself and ran away. After the war, we found out that three masked people took him from the railway. After the war, we returned immediately, we were refugees in Macedonia”, Havolli tells KosovaPress through tears.
For 25 years he never stopped looking for his brother, whom he called “Kendi”. After the war, he informed the International Red Cross and gave the samples, but he is still waiting.
“He was late all day and didn’t come, we knew that something happened to him, I said maybe he will come, because we ran away, we went to Dardhishte, all the residents left… I don’t want this suffering in this world anymore. I don’t even care when there are holidays, the holidays happen but I don’t celebrate. I cry somewhere, my family sees my eyes. In my situation, ours in general, what we have missing relatives, God willing, I never even see the enemy. I don’t know… We are waiting, waiting, we don’t lose hope”, says Havolli between tears.
He also speaks with disappointment about the work of local institutions, while holding Skender’s photograph in his hands, as the only sign of him.
“We don’t have a commemorative plaque in Fushe Kosovo, we don’t have a plaque with a name, we don’t have a name of them (the missing persons). I can do it myself, there is the land in the beginning, it is his (brother’s), I can make a memorial like Albin Kurti who did it in Podujeva, but it is not worth it, the state should do it. I only have this picture of my brother. I only have this picture; sometimes I hid it so that others would not see it. Tell me something that the government has done for the missing persons?”, he said among other things.
For over 1,600 missing persons, Ahmet Grajqevci from the Coordinating Council of Family Members of Missing Persons says that Serbia knows their locations.
“Previous governments, but also this one, have done a little bit of work, but they haven’t done the right thing, it hasn’t been done as much as it should have been done. The awareness of the issue of missing persons has been overshadowed precisely by our government, by our governments in general. It did not raise awareness, it did not hold exhibitions, it did not hold international conferences that should be raised. Because we have an enemy that has gone from genocide to cannibalism. Everything in Serbia is recorded in a good and orderly manner and for that reason the archives are requested to be opened. The moment the archives are opened, then everything becomes clear”, said Grajqevci.
For all these years of waiting, Grajqevci adds that the family members are experiencing anxiety and trauma.
More than a year has passed since the approval of the declaration on missing persons, but the chairman of the Governmental Commission for Missing Persons, Andin Hoti, declares that not a single step has been taken.
Over 1,600 people are still considered missing from the last war in Kosovo.