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Thousands flee economic despair in Kosovo for EU countries
Kosovars in Pristina, the capital, board a bus heading to Serbia, hoping to reach a European Union nation and seek asylum
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At least 26,000 Kosovars fled to EU countries last year, and more than 18,000 so far this year
Many who flee Kosovo for EU countries are unaware that asylum is not granted for economic hardship
More than 35% of Kosovo's adults are unemployed, and nearly 30% of all Kosovars live in poverty
Sixteen years after the war in Kosovo sent hundreds of thousands of refugees streaming across the border, another exodus is underway here.
Instead of fleeing conflict, Kosovars are now seeking to escape unemployment, and despair. They are leaving by the tens of thousands, making their way illegally into European Union countries to look for a better future.
That residents of Europe's youngest nation are joining Syrian and Afghan refugees on smuggling paths to EU countries is a telling indictment of the international state-building effort in Kosovo. For many, the hope that blossomed when independence from Serbia was declared in 2008 has turned to bitterness as poverty and corruption stall the country's progress.
The main bus station in the capital, Pristina, is routinely packed with hundreds of people pushing their way onto buses leaving Kosovo.
"For 15 years I've been working and paying taxes to support the state. In return, all we ask for is a better future for our kids. But we get nothing," said a man at the terminal who would give only his nickname, Tony. "This country was broken before we began. A lot of corruption, a lot of warlords."
"It's a terrible fate," he said of the decision to depart. "It's not a choice we make willingly. We have to do it for our children."
Despite the warnings, some Kosovars say they have little to lose. At Pristina's bus station, a man who gave his name as Avni said he had tried to make a life for his family in Kosovo. "I work in construction. I've worked on more than 100 houses, and I still wasn't able to build a house for myself," he said.
Despite the risks, he and his wife, Myrveta, decided to take their 3-year-old son and head for Austria. Myrveta, seven months pregnant and wearing a thin coat, said she was worried about making the journey with a small child. But it was for the boy's sake they were leaving, Avni said — to offer him a better future.
They planned to apply for asylum in Austria. "If we get sent back, we'll return," he said, shrugging. "But we have to try."
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http://www.latimes.com/world/europe/...ry.html#page=1
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