Open Wound

Many bodies were found in mass graves

Kosovo’s missing people are the ghosts that haunt the birth of the state.

When the Kosovo war ended on June 11, 1999, it left Kosovo in chaos and Yugoslavia facing an unknown future.

The number of missing people in the region went up to 8,000.

Now, more than seven years later Marti Atisaari, the UN’s special envoy, has a plan for Kosovo to pave the road to independence, but many families still want to know what happened to the family members and friends who are still missing.

The overwhelming majority of the war’s victims were ethnic Albanian civilians massacred by Serb paramilitaries, and the bodies of thousands were driven across the border, often in refrigerated lorries, as part of a cover-up orchestrated by Belgrade.

In the rush to dispose of the evidence, some of the trucks were driven into the Danube river.

After Slobodan Milosevic was toppled in 2000, the Serbian police found the remains of hundreds of bodies buried near a village called Batajnica, about 15km northwest of Belgrade.

With unique access to their stories secured by Eki Rrahmani – who has been covering Kosovo since 1999 – People & Power capture an intense journey in which we meet the families of the missing people on the both sides of the conflict.

Watch part one of this episode of People & Power on YouTube

Watch part two of this episode of People & Power on YouTube

This episode of People & Power first aired Sunday, February 17, 2008

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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