In an article in the “Gazeta Tema”, French special forces commander Jacques Hogar admits that it was French troops who divided Mitrovica in 1999.
Critical analysis of Jacques Hogar commentary:
Jacques Hogar gave an interview in the Gazeta Team, saying things which are clearly heavily biased and pro-Serbian and against Albanian interests. The French former special forces commander, in this propaganda-stained interview, lacks basic and historical knowledge about the Albanian people of Dardania (Kosovo). He chooses to portray the KLA (UCK) as antagonists, in a war where the Albanian freedom fighters had fought against a superior enemy who killed 12,000 civilians and expelled 1 million Albanians. Yet Jacques chooses the Serbian side, mentioning that his father had reminded him of the French-Serbian friendship. Jacques also hopes that Kosovo till return to Serbia, and even though its an Albanian majority region, and has been for centuries, Jacques believes that that does not matter.
The testimony of Jacques Hogar is highly doubtful and stained with anti-Albanian elements. The truth is that the French forces gave half of Mitrovica, an Albanian city, to the Serb settlers on the northern side.
Bota Sot writes:
“It was 1999, and immediately after the war, violent protests began in Mitrovica, which resulted in the division of the city into two parts, a division that continues today.
Almost 20 years have passed since the end of the war, the southern part of Mitrovica is inhabited by Albanians, while that of Mitrovica is inhabited by Serbs, and many times Albanians who have their homes and lands in the northern part have been prevented from returning there.
But the Associated Press, in 2015, began publishing videos made during and after the war in Kosovo in its archives.
In a video published by the AP archive, the moment when protests broke out in Mitrovica is seen, and how French KFOR prevented Albanians from returning to the northern part.
“Hundreds of Albanian and Serbian protesters threw rocks and bottles at French and Italian peacekeepers on Friday in the second day of clashes on a bridge dividing the northwestern Kosovo city of Mitrovica. French troops responded with tear gas and grenades and batons to disperse the crowd, which repeatedly threw rocks and bottles for nearly two hours until the Albanian protesters dispersed.
Several people were injured, but there was no official death toll. Hundreds of ethnic Albanians have demonstrated sporadically over the past two months, demanding the right to return to their homes in the Serbian sector. French peacekeepers in the region have mostly prevented them from doing so, fearing bloodshed,” the AP wrote in the video description, according to “Bota sot”.
We recall that protests and tensions in this city continue to this day, where there have been frequent tensions and the Ibar Bridge is still blocked.”
Reference
Balkan Academia 