PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) - Police in Kosovo arrested two members of an elite Serb police unit in the southeast of the province, a Kosovo police spokesman said Friday.
The two Serb officers -- armed and carrying identification issued by Serbia's Interior Ministry -- were arrested near the village of Brod, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of province's capital Pristina and close to a Serb enclave, police spokesman Refki Morina said.
Kosovo police confronted the two men, who were identified as member of an anti-terrorist unit known as the "Gendarmerie," Morina said. He said one of the men tried to draw his gun, but was stopped by Kovovo police.
A police spokeswoman in Serbia confirmed the arrests, but could not provide further details.
Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations and patrolled by NATO-led peacekeepers since 1999 after the alliance pushed the Serb forces out of the province. Under the deal that ended the war, Serbia's police and army are prevented from operating in Kosovo.
The arrest occurred in the area which has seen a spate of attacks in recent weeks, including the shooting and wounding of a Kosovo Serb police chief Wednesday.
Police in Kosovo offered a reward Friday for information on the shooting and wounding of Col. Dejan Jankovic, the highest ranking Serb member of Kosovo's police force.
They offered a euro5,000 (US$6,000) reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the gunmen who wounded Jankovic, the recently appointed police commander for the eastern part of the province.
Jankovic received light injuries in his hand when his car came under fire in the southern part of the province.
A previously unknown group calling itself "Serbian Voluntary Guard" claimed responsibility for the shooting, in a written statement sent to local media. The group said they have shot Jankovic "because he has betrayed his people," and warned other Serbs not to work in Kosovo's predominantly ethnic Albanian institutions.
This disputed U.N.-run province remains divided between its independence-seeking ethnic Albanians and minority Serbs. Talks to resolve the disputed province's status are likely to start by the end of the year.
Friday, September 30, 2005
NET CLOSES ON ALLEGED SUVA REKA KILLERS - IWPR
Ten Serb policemen accused of having carried out one of the worst massacres in the Kosovo war may soon face justice.
By an investigative team in Belgrade and Pristina
In the next few days an investigation will be launched against a group of Serbian policemen suspected of having killed 57 members of an Albanian family in Kosovo in spring 1999, Balkan Insight has learned from sources close to the Serbian prosecutor's war crimes office.
The slaughter took place in the midst of NATO's air war against Serb forces in Kosovo, which forced them to withdraw from the province that summer.
The bodies of the dead men, women and children, including a baby aged seven months, from the Kosovo town of Suva Reka were buried in pits in an army base in Prizren before being secretly transported to a new mass grave in the police compound at Batajnica, near Belgrade.
While the existence of the mass grave at Batajnica was uncovered in spring 2001, after the fall of the Milosevic regime, those responsible for the murders and the transportation have never been brought to justice - owing largely to police obstruction.
But our sources have revealed that ten men will be charged in a matter of days. This follows a decision by the Serbian war crimes office to go over the heads of the police in the past two years and interview Albanian and other witnesses directly.
The witnesses include a mother whose two children were executed in front of her but who, after being taken for dead and loaded onto a lorry, managed to jump off with her son and escape.
The ten suspects are the former commander of the Kosovo police, a former police chief in one Kosovo town, a former commander of a local police station in Kosovo, this officer's assistant, and a six-member squad including two secret policemen.
With the exception of two of them, these officers are still at work in the force, some in high posts.
The launch of a war crimes investigation normally requires the detention of the suspects, so the ten men may soon find themselves behind bars.
The expected probe confirms the suspicions of many Serbs that the police were deeply implicated in terrible crimes in Kosovo, and that for years afterwards, they systematically obstructed attempts by the courts to track down the guilty and shed light on what happened in this and other incidents.
Court experts say the prosecutor's office is now finally in a position to reopen the Suva Reka affair not because the police suddenly cooperated, but because legal changes enabled them to circumvent the force.
Last year, Serbian law was changed to allow the prosecutors to examine witnesses themselves without relying on prior police work, and to use these findings in criminal proceedings.
When this investigation becomes public, it is expected to create considerable nervousness in police ranks, and possible panic when the prosecutor's office releases all the material it has collected on this and other atrocities in Kosovo.
These include the murder of 100 Albanians in the village of Meja, 70 more in Zahac, and other killings in Djakovica, Pec, Prizren and Orahovac.
Vladimir Vukcevic, head of the prosecutor's war crimes office, says the business of getting to the bottom of the crimes in Suva Reka has proceeded painfully slowly.
"Everything done so far is the fruit of the work done by this prosecutor's office," he said. "Yet we still face obstruction in tracking down the people responsible for these war crimes."
BODIES FOUND - BUT NOT THE EXECUTIONERS
The mass graves in Batajnica and two other locations in Serbia were uncovered in spring 2001, and around 1,100 bodies of Albanians were exhumed over the following 30 months.
The largest number of bodies, 980, were found in Batajnica, and this find was followed by another at special police unit headquarters in Petrovo Selo, eastern Serbia, where 77 bodies were dug up. Forty-eight more were recovered from a lake at Perusac, close to Bosnia.
In May 2001, Serbia's interior ministry said the order to remove the bodies of Albanians killed in police actions and to rebury them at secret locations in Serbia came from the office of the then president Slobodan Milosevic in March 1999.
Besides Milosevic, said the ministry, the police minister at the time, Vlajko Stojiljkovic, attended the meeting, along with the chief of public security, General Vlastimir "Rodja" Djordjevic, the then head of the Serbian secret police, Radomir Markovic, and others.
The Hague tribunal has already charged several individuals with war crimes committed in Kosovo: namely Milosevic, Djordjevic, the former head of the general staff of the Yugoslav army, Nebojsa Pavkovic, and army and police generals Vladimir Lazarevic and Sreten Lukic.
MURDER IN THE PIZZERIA
Unlike the Hague tribunal, which seeks to establish the command responsibility of the state, military and police leadership for war crimes, the Serbian courts are looking into the whole command structure, from senior commanders to those who allegedly participated in killings.
Our source in the prosecutor's war crimes office says they now have gathered enough proof against the ten suspects in Suva Reka, in spite of police obstruction and the often unwilling cooperation of Albanian witnesses.
Prosecutor Vukcevic says the examination of Albanian witnesses was the turning point. "We got to those witnesses with the help of the Hague tribunal in Pristina, while UNMIK [United Nations Mission in Kosovo] ensured our security," he said.
They have now heard around 200 witnesses, among them 50 Albanians, while the others were Serbs then serving in Kosovo as members of the regular or special police units.
"It was tough working with Albanian witnesses in Kosovo," said a source. "It took a lot of convincing to get them to speak."
This source expressed suspicion that some of the Serb witnesses went to the police prior to their examination to be briefed on what they should say.
According to statements collected by the prosecutor's war crimes office, the massacre at Suva Reka took place on March 26, 1999 as Serb forces were making a detailed search of the area, apparently looking for weapons.
Among the police were a six-man squad which broke into the homestead of the Berisha family.
These findings coincided with research by our investigative team in 2003, which included an interview with a survivor of the massacre, Vjollca Berisha. She told then journalist that she well remembered the day when the police broke into their home - she recognised three of them.
"They told my brother-in-law Bujar Berisha to go outside. Beside the house they shot Bujar, six other men and a woman," she said.
Vjollca mentioned the killers by name, though it was impossible to publish the names for legal reasons.
After the police unit executed six adult males in the courtyard, the rest of the family fled to a shopping centre in the middle of town.
The police followed them, tracking them down to the Kalabria pizza parlour, and burst in, opening fire.
Vjollca told us, "The pizzeria was very small but we kept quiet. There were so many women, men and children inside. Suddenly someone started shooting from an automatic weapon and it went on for a long time. I screamed and fell down over my son Gramosh. We were covered in blood."
The police killers, she said, then checked the bodies for signs of life, "Someone grabbed my hand, but I pretended I was dead and didn't move. They shook my son, but he also played dead. I kept my eyes shut."
Among those who were not so lucky were her two other children, her seven-month-old baby and two-year-old daughter.
The police threw all the bodies - including the living - into a lorry, which set off towards the town of Prizren, she said.
When the truck slowed down, Syhrete Berisha, one of her relatives, managed to jump out. Half an hour later, Vjollca and her son crawled out from under the pile of bodies and escaped.
Of the rest of the Berisha family, the only traces are one identity card and some bits of clothing, all found at the Yugoslav army base near Prizren.
The war crimes prosecutor's office has now established the same version of events surrounding the case of the Berisha family.
It says the family were murdered and the bodies thrown into two lorries and taken to a barracks in Prizren, where they were left for a few days and then buried in three pits in the army compound.
But two weeks later, fresh orders came from Belgrade and the Serbs were told to dig up the bodies and get them to Batajnica.
Balkan Insight's source in the prosecutor's office says they have strong evidence that Vlastimir Djordjevic, the former head of public security, now thought to be hiding from the Hague tribunal in Russia, played a key role in the transfer of the bodies.
"Djordjevic personally gave the order for the bodies in Suva Reka to be taken from pits in Prizren to Batajnica," said the source.
"He himself found the lorries and other vehicles for the job. He also removed the traces of crimes from the other places in Kosovo," the source added.
Djordjevic is thought to have been in charge of locating the new mass graves in the Serbian interior, as well as directing the police who dug the new pits and threw the bodies in.
A source close to the former DOS (Democratic Opposition of Serbia) government in Belgrade which succeeded the Milosevic regime, says one of Djordjevic's most trusted accomplices leaked the whole story to them.
This man led them to the location of the pits in Batajnica after falling out with his police bosses over a row about accommodation. He showed them the exact spot where he dug the graves with excavators and buried the bodies.
"Djordejevic called me up and told me to go to a building firm and get hold of a digger, and that my officer would then tell me what needed to be done," recalled the man, who will probably appear as a witness in any forthcoming trial.
PERPETRATORS AND WITNESSES
Police resistance to clearing up the case of the mass graves was apparent soon after the spectacular discovery of the first pit in Batajnica.
Journalists soon noted the police's strong reserve towards answering questions, as well as their suggestion that they had now completed their side of the task.
The Belgrade district court, meanwhile, said charges could only be brought against persons cited by the police themselves in a criminal proceeding. But the police never named or charged anyone.
Matters started to change at the end of 2003, when, after the Serbian office for war crimes was set up and took over the Batajnica case, its representatives publicly warned that it might be difficult ever to find out who was behind the slaughter in Suva Reka or the mass graves.
They also made public mention of the police as potential actors, saying that "it is possible that those who perpetuated those criminal acts are to be found in the police ranks".
That the men allegedly responsible for the Suva Reka killings were policemen was evident to journalists who interviewed surviving witnesses in Kosovo.
Gordana Igric, editor of Balkan Insight, investigated the Suva Reka case over several months in 2003 and compiled a list of policemen named by locals as the men behind the crimes.
One of the key perpetrators, a state security policeman in Suva Reka, has since been transferred to the police department in Kragujevac, she was told.
When Igric tried to find out whether this person was still on the police pay roll, she says state security officials contacted her and advised her to "deal with more pleasant things and forget the whole subject". The next day she also received a series of threats.
Natasa Kandic, director of the Humanitarian Law Centre in Belgrade, told Balkan Insight that all state security personnel in Kosovo after the summer of 1999 were moved to Serbia and incorporated into the existing state security system.
"From the start, the main problem lay in the fact that those who had issued and executed the orders were members of the Serbian police - and still are," she said.
Kandic insists that ever since 1999, police have falsified and changed documents and controlled possible witnesses with a view to concealing the crimes that had taken place.
"They are not a crime prevention force but a discovery-prevention force," she said.
One source who wanted to remain anonymous shared the same opinion, "There are people [in the police] who have been strongly interconnected as participants and witnesses. They look after each other and do everything they can to stop information leaking out."
This is the reason, some believe, why the courts never came into possession of a document called "Dossiers K and M", which is thought to be in the hands of the police. This file is believed to contain comprehensive information about the chain of command in Kosovo and a full record of events there at the time the war crimes were committed.
Asked about police obstruction in the case, chief prosecutor Vukcevic said recently, "My feeling is that there are still plenty of people in the police whose conscience is not clear when it comes to events in Kosovo. Until the police cleans up its ranks, we will always have difficulties locating the perpetrators."
The police ministry formed its own war crimes unit in 2003, which does not come under the prosecutor's war crimes office.
With only a small staff, it has achieved few results, leading some to suspect that it was never intended to be more than a decoy.
"There are far too few people employed in it for the task it's been set," commented Vukcevic.
Several independent sources have alleged that some individuals now working in the police's war crimes unit had occupied important positions in Kosovo.
The source close to the former DOS government said, "One of them was chef-de-cabinet for Djordjevic, and a second was a member of police headquarters in Pristina".
Balkan Insight asked to interview the Serbian ministry of interior on this matter, but had received no answer by the time this report went to press.
In a short telephone conversation, Vladimir Bozovic, inspector general at the department for complaints about police behaviour, said he had received no complaints from the prosecutor's war crimes office concerning police obstruction in the Suva Reka case.
Few people in Serbia are optimistic about the wind of reform blowing through the ranks of the police any time soon.
Bearing in mind how much time it has already taken to investigate the Suva Reka case, many warn that the process of identifying war crimes suspects among Serbia's unreformed police may be a prolonged one.
Milos Vasic of the Belgrade weekly Vreme cautions that the climate in Serbia is by no means supportive of the work of the war crimes prosecutor.
"Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic [former Bosnian Serb military and political chiefs] are still treated like heroes in Serbia," he said "And the present government is doing nothing to change that prevailing system of values."
He added, "When the investigation on Batajnica gets under way, it will be another big shock for the Serbian public."
This investigation was produced by the team of Balkan Insight. Balkan Insight is an online publication produced by Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN. The investigation was supported by the Danish association of investigative journalism, FUJ, under its SCOOP programme.
By an investigative team in Belgrade and Pristina
In the next few days an investigation will be launched against a group of Serbian policemen suspected of having killed 57 members of an Albanian family in Kosovo in spring 1999, Balkan Insight has learned from sources close to the Serbian prosecutor's war crimes office.
The slaughter took place in the midst of NATO's air war against Serb forces in Kosovo, which forced them to withdraw from the province that summer.
The bodies of the dead men, women and children, including a baby aged seven months, from the Kosovo town of Suva Reka were buried in pits in an army base in Prizren before being secretly transported to a new mass grave in the police compound at Batajnica, near Belgrade.
While the existence of the mass grave at Batajnica was uncovered in spring 2001, after the fall of the Milosevic regime, those responsible for the murders and the transportation have never been brought to justice - owing largely to police obstruction.
But our sources have revealed that ten men will be charged in a matter of days. This follows a decision by the Serbian war crimes office to go over the heads of the police in the past two years and interview Albanian and other witnesses directly.
The witnesses include a mother whose two children were executed in front of her but who, after being taken for dead and loaded onto a lorry, managed to jump off with her son and escape.
The ten suspects are the former commander of the Kosovo police, a former police chief in one Kosovo town, a former commander of a local police station in Kosovo, this officer's assistant, and a six-member squad including two secret policemen.
With the exception of two of them, these officers are still at work in the force, some in high posts.
The launch of a war crimes investigation normally requires the detention of the suspects, so the ten men may soon find themselves behind bars.
The expected probe confirms the suspicions of many Serbs that the police were deeply implicated in terrible crimes in Kosovo, and that for years afterwards, they systematically obstructed attempts by the courts to track down the guilty and shed light on what happened in this and other incidents.
Court experts say the prosecutor's office is now finally in a position to reopen the Suva Reka affair not because the police suddenly cooperated, but because legal changes enabled them to circumvent the force.
Last year, Serbian law was changed to allow the prosecutors to examine witnesses themselves without relying on prior police work, and to use these findings in criminal proceedings.
When this investigation becomes public, it is expected to create considerable nervousness in police ranks, and possible panic when the prosecutor's office releases all the material it has collected on this and other atrocities in Kosovo.
These include the murder of 100 Albanians in the village of Meja, 70 more in Zahac, and other killings in Djakovica, Pec, Prizren and Orahovac.
Vladimir Vukcevic, head of the prosecutor's war crimes office, says the business of getting to the bottom of the crimes in Suva Reka has proceeded painfully slowly.
"Everything done so far is the fruit of the work done by this prosecutor's office," he said. "Yet we still face obstruction in tracking down the people responsible for these war crimes."
BODIES FOUND - BUT NOT THE EXECUTIONERS
The mass graves in Batajnica and two other locations in Serbia were uncovered in spring 2001, and around 1,100 bodies of Albanians were exhumed over the following 30 months.
The largest number of bodies, 980, were found in Batajnica, and this find was followed by another at special police unit headquarters in Petrovo Selo, eastern Serbia, where 77 bodies were dug up. Forty-eight more were recovered from a lake at Perusac, close to Bosnia.
In May 2001, Serbia's interior ministry said the order to remove the bodies of Albanians killed in police actions and to rebury them at secret locations in Serbia came from the office of the then president Slobodan Milosevic in March 1999.
Besides Milosevic, said the ministry, the police minister at the time, Vlajko Stojiljkovic, attended the meeting, along with the chief of public security, General Vlastimir "Rodja" Djordjevic, the then head of the Serbian secret police, Radomir Markovic, and others.
The Hague tribunal has already charged several individuals with war crimes committed in Kosovo: namely Milosevic, Djordjevic, the former head of the general staff of the Yugoslav army, Nebojsa Pavkovic, and army and police generals Vladimir Lazarevic and Sreten Lukic.
MURDER IN THE PIZZERIA
Unlike the Hague tribunal, which seeks to establish the command responsibility of the state, military and police leadership for war crimes, the Serbian courts are looking into the whole command structure, from senior commanders to those who allegedly participated in killings.
Our source in the prosecutor's war crimes office says they now have gathered enough proof against the ten suspects in Suva Reka, in spite of police obstruction and the often unwilling cooperation of Albanian witnesses.
Prosecutor Vukcevic says the examination of Albanian witnesses was the turning point. "We got to those witnesses with the help of the Hague tribunal in Pristina, while UNMIK [United Nations Mission in Kosovo] ensured our security," he said.
They have now heard around 200 witnesses, among them 50 Albanians, while the others were Serbs then serving in Kosovo as members of the regular or special police units.
"It was tough working with Albanian witnesses in Kosovo," said a source. "It took a lot of convincing to get them to speak."
This source expressed suspicion that some of the Serb witnesses went to the police prior to their examination to be briefed on what they should say.
According to statements collected by the prosecutor's war crimes office, the massacre at Suva Reka took place on March 26, 1999 as Serb forces were making a detailed search of the area, apparently looking for weapons.
Among the police were a six-man squad which broke into the homestead of the Berisha family.
These findings coincided with research by our investigative team in 2003, which included an interview with a survivor of the massacre, Vjollca Berisha. She told then journalist that she well remembered the day when the police broke into their home - she recognised three of them.
"They told my brother-in-law Bujar Berisha to go outside. Beside the house they shot Bujar, six other men and a woman," she said.
Vjollca mentioned the killers by name, though it was impossible to publish the names for legal reasons.
After the police unit executed six adult males in the courtyard, the rest of the family fled to a shopping centre in the middle of town.
The police followed them, tracking them down to the Kalabria pizza parlour, and burst in, opening fire.
Vjollca told us, "The pizzeria was very small but we kept quiet. There were so many women, men and children inside. Suddenly someone started shooting from an automatic weapon and it went on for a long time. I screamed and fell down over my son Gramosh. We were covered in blood."
The police killers, she said, then checked the bodies for signs of life, "Someone grabbed my hand, but I pretended I was dead and didn't move. They shook my son, but he also played dead. I kept my eyes shut."
Among those who were not so lucky were her two other children, her seven-month-old baby and two-year-old daughter.
The police threw all the bodies - including the living - into a lorry, which set off towards the town of Prizren, she said.
When the truck slowed down, Syhrete Berisha, one of her relatives, managed to jump out. Half an hour later, Vjollca and her son crawled out from under the pile of bodies and escaped.
Of the rest of the Berisha family, the only traces are one identity card and some bits of clothing, all found at the Yugoslav army base near Prizren.
The war crimes prosecutor's office has now established the same version of events surrounding the case of the Berisha family.
It says the family were murdered and the bodies thrown into two lorries and taken to a barracks in Prizren, where they were left for a few days and then buried in three pits in the army compound.
But two weeks later, fresh orders came from Belgrade and the Serbs were told to dig up the bodies and get them to Batajnica.
Balkan Insight's source in the prosecutor's office says they have strong evidence that Vlastimir Djordjevic, the former head of public security, now thought to be hiding from the Hague tribunal in Russia, played a key role in the transfer of the bodies.
"Djordjevic personally gave the order for the bodies in Suva Reka to be taken from pits in Prizren to Batajnica," said the source.
"He himself found the lorries and other vehicles for the job. He also removed the traces of crimes from the other places in Kosovo," the source added.
Djordjevic is thought to have been in charge of locating the new mass graves in the Serbian interior, as well as directing the police who dug the new pits and threw the bodies in.
A source close to the former DOS (Democratic Opposition of Serbia) government in Belgrade which succeeded the Milosevic regime, says one of Djordjevic's most trusted accomplices leaked the whole story to them.
This man led them to the location of the pits in Batajnica after falling out with his police bosses over a row about accommodation. He showed them the exact spot where he dug the graves with excavators and buried the bodies.
"Djordejevic called me up and told me to go to a building firm and get hold of a digger, and that my officer would then tell me what needed to be done," recalled the man, who will probably appear as a witness in any forthcoming trial.
PERPETRATORS AND WITNESSES
Police resistance to clearing up the case of the mass graves was apparent soon after the spectacular discovery of the first pit in Batajnica.
Journalists soon noted the police's strong reserve towards answering questions, as well as their suggestion that they had now completed their side of the task.
The Belgrade district court, meanwhile, said charges could only be brought against persons cited by the police themselves in a criminal proceeding. But the police never named or charged anyone.
Matters started to change at the end of 2003, when, after the Serbian office for war crimes was set up and took over the Batajnica case, its representatives publicly warned that it might be difficult ever to find out who was behind the slaughter in Suva Reka or the mass graves.
They also made public mention of the police as potential actors, saying that "it is possible that those who perpetuated those criminal acts are to be found in the police ranks".
That the men allegedly responsible for the Suva Reka killings were policemen was evident to journalists who interviewed surviving witnesses in Kosovo.
Gordana Igric, editor of Balkan Insight, investigated the Suva Reka case over several months in 2003 and compiled a list of policemen named by locals as the men behind the crimes.
One of the key perpetrators, a state security policeman in Suva Reka, has since been transferred to the police department in Kragujevac, she was told.
When Igric tried to find out whether this person was still on the police pay roll, she says state security officials contacted her and advised her to "deal with more pleasant things and forget the whole subject". The next day she also received a series of threats.
Natasa Kandic, director of the Humanitarian Law Centre in Belgrade, told Balkan Insight that all state security personnel in Kosovo after the summer of 1999 were moved to Serbia and incorporated into the existing state security system.
"From the start, the main problem lay in the fact that those who had issued and executed the orders were members of the Serbian police - and still are," she said.
Kandic insists that ever since 1999, police have falsified and changed documents and controlled possible witnesses with a view to concealing the crimes that had taken place.
"They are not a crime prevention force but a discovery-prevention force," she said.
One source who wanted to remain anonymous shared the same opinion, "There are people [in the police] who have been strongly interconnected as participants and witnesses. They look after each other and do everything they can to stop information leaking out."
This is the reason, some believe, why the courts never came into possession of a document called "Dossiers K and M", which is thought to be in the hands of the police. This file is believed to contain comprehensive information about the chain of command in Kosovo and a full record of events there at the time the war crimes were committed.
Asked about police obstruction in the case, chief prosecutor Vukcevic said recently, "My feeling is that there are still plenty of people in the police whose conscience is not clear when it comes to events in Kosovo. Until the police cleans up its ranks, we will always have difficulties locating the perpetrators."
The police ministry formed its own war crimes unit in 2003, which does not come under the prosecutor's war crimes office.
With only a small staff, it has achieved few results, leading some to suspect that it was never intended to be more than a decoy.
"There are far too few people employed in it for the task it's been set," commented Vukcevic.
Several independent sources have alleged that some individuals now working in the police's war crimes unit had occupied important positions in Kosovo.
The source close to the former DOS government said, "One of them was chef-de-cabinet for Djordjevic, and a second was a member of police headquarters in Pristina".
Balkan Insight asked to interview the Serbian ministry of interior on this matter, but had received no answer by the time this report went to press.
In a short telephone conversation, Vladimir Bozovic, inspector general at the department for complaints about police behaviour, said he had received no complaints from the prosecutor's war crimes office concerning police obstruction in the Suva Reka case.
Few people in Serbia are optimistic about the wind of reform blowing through the ranks of the police any time soon.
Bearing in mind how much time it has already taken to investigate the Suva Reka case, many warn that the process of identifying war crimes suspects among Serbia's unreformed police may be a prolonged one.
Milos Vasic of the Belgrade weekly Vreme cautions that the climate in Serbia is by no means supportive of the work of the war crimes prosecutor.
"Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic [former Bosnian Serb military and political chiefs] are still treated like heroes in Serbia," he said "And the present government is doing nothing to change that prevailing system of values."
He added, "When the investigation on Batajnica gets under way, it will be another big shock for the Serbian public."
This investigation was produced by the team of Balkan Insight. Balkan Insight is an online publication produced by Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN. The investigation was supported by the Danish association of investigative journalism, FUJ, under its SCOOP programme.
Thursday, September 29, 2005
UN effort to rebuild Kosovo loses steam - The International Herald Tribune
By Nicholas Wood The New York Times
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2005
PRISTINA, Kosovo For more than six years, this small Balkan province has been home to one of the most ambitious nation-building projects in recent history.
Armed with near absolute authority, and backed up by a NATO-led peace keeping force, a UN mission has tried to forge a modern democratic system from decades of bitter ethnic tension between an ever expanding and more assertive Albanian majority, and a Serbian minority that clings to Kosovo as the heart of Serbia's medieval empire.
At the cost of an estimated $1.3 billion a year, international civil servants and policemen - about 11,000 at their peak - helped to build ministries, a Parliament, local councils, authorities, courts, customs and police services as well as media.
From June 1999, when the United Nations first arrived in the wake of NATO bombs that helped drive Serbian forces from Kosovo, through to 2001 or so, their achievement was held up as an example for building democracy elsewhere.
But then, by common agreement at least among the international officials and observers and Kosovo's Albanians, the process started to stall - hamstrung, in this view, by the inability of foreigners to adopt solutions that addressed the needs of the people who live all their lives in Kosovo.
Enmity between the Serbs and Albanians still runs deep, frequently with lethal results. Underneath everything runs the unanswered question of Kosovo's future: while under UN control, it is still formally part of Serbia, whose leaders cannot be seen to give the province away to the Albanians.
Consequently, the region remains in limbo - the poorest part of the Balkans, and the most unstable.
"The focus has been on buying time, and that's the only focus there has been," said Veton Surroi, a member of Kosovo's regional Parliament and a veteran Albanian journalist and publisher here.
Larry Rossin, a retired American diplomat who is deputy head of what is formally known as the UN Interim Mission in Kosovo, conceded: "I think the development of their institutions is somewhat retarded by our continuing role."
In next few days, a report by a senior UN envoy, the Norwegian diplomat Kai Eide, is expected to pave the way for the mission's withdrawal.
Diplomats who insisted on anonymity said that although there is some evidence to the contrary, Eide will, in effect, say that the Albanians have done enough to meet standards set by the international community to recommend talks on its future status.
The ethnic Albanians, who make up more than 90 percent of Kosovo's two million people, hope this will be the final step toward seceding from Serbia and creating an independent state.
For Serbia, the negotiations threaten the loss of a region that is still home to some of the most ancient and treasured Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries.
The negotiations between the Albanians, Kosovo Serbs and Serbian government will require international oversight, and almost certainly result in some kind of international presence remaining in the province.
The expectation among international officials is that negotiations on Kosovo's sovereignty will solve many of the problems, both political and economic, that the United Nations has been unable to tackle.
Others warn that while the failure to resolve the region's future has fermented unrest, the model of nation building adopted here has been too narrow in scope and too authoritarian in nature to leave institutions and leaders capable of sustaining peace and democracy.
"The focus of the international mission from the start was on security and politics," said Gerald Knaus, director of the European Stability Initiative, a non-governmental political research group with offices in Kosovo.
International bureaucrats, he said, had chosen to ignore economic needs - the World Bank estimates that 37 percent of the population lives on less than $1.75 a day - and were primarily concerned to "build institutions almost as an end in itself."
Even Rossin noted that the talks on status might have been held two years ago, but added that would have presumed similar international support, and a more cooperative approach between the mission with local politicians, "instead of competition and constant criticism of the provisional institutions."
Senior UN officials also said there was doubt as to whether Western governments wanted to invest the political capital associated with any kind of resolution.
Certainly, Kosovo's Albanian politicians accuse the mission of being deliberately slow to transfer power to local authorities, thereby increasing unrest.
At first glance today, Kosovo appears relatively thriving - particularly when compared to the war devastation of 1999. New houses can be seen everywhere, the result of a post war construction boom. In the regional capital, Pristina, the streets are filled with cafés, restaurants and stores.
Only the ubiquitous white four-wheel drive vehicles of the UN mission, and the infrequent military checkpoints hint at another reality.
That ugly division boiled over in March last year, when the UN's claims to have brought stability were shattered as up to 50,000 ethnic Albanians took part in a three-day wave of attacks on Serbs and other minority groups, as well as UN buildings and property. Nineteen people were killed and 4,000 forced from their homes.
Most Kosovo Serbs remain in enclaves, fearful of venturing forth. Albanians, too, steer clear of the north of the province, where Serbs are clustered in and around the town of Mitrovica, for fear of attack. Late on Wednesday, gunmen shot and injured the province's most senior Serbian police officer, Dejan Jankovic, near the town of Gnjilane just two weeks after he was appointed as regional commander.
On Aug. 27, two Serbs were gunned down in the car they were traveling, a reminder of how violence can resurface without provocation.
Severe economic difficulties increase the tension. Estimates of unemployment range between a minimum of 30 percent, and 70 percent. The regional government is also close to bankrupt as the local economy fails to produce enough revenue to support basic needs.
"We are in a situation where we are living off almost entirely customs revenues and donations from donors," Rossin said. "The budget is extremely tight, school construction is nearly nil in the year 2005 because there is just no money in the capital budget to do it in a place that has crying needs in a whole range of social areas."
Economic policy consists of "short term thinking, short term approaches, projects and international consultants," Knaus said. "Kosovo institutions don't have any idea, they don't know what to do."
UN officials here note that Kosovo was the poorest part of the old Yugoslavia before tensions exploded in the late 1980s and Serbia's then leader, Slobodan Milosevic, rode nationalist tensions both to seize and consolidate power and to bring Kosovo under direct rule from Belgrade.
Ethnic Albanians went underground during those years, founding their own schools in garages and private homes and claiming enormous and violent harassment from Serbia's then ubiquitous police.
Eventually, an underground guerrilla movement - the Kosovo Liberation Army - formed and started attacking the Serbian forces in 1998. Serbian retaliation was so fierce that NATO decided in 1999 to bomb Milosevic's men out of Kosovo.
Hundreds of thousands of Albanians who fled returned, while thousands of Serbs abandoned Kosovo - their heartland for centuries.
All this makes for difficult terrain when trying to sow democracy. For the past three years, that has been the UN's main mission.
Billboard campaigns and TV advertising exhort Kosovo's citizens to sup- port the policy, which the commercials imply will eventually enable Kosovo to join the European Union.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2005
PRISTINA, Kosovo For more than six years, this small Balkan province has been home to one of the most ambitious nation-building projects in recent history.
Armed with near absolute authority, and backed up by a NATO-led peace keeping force, a UN mission has tried to forge a modern democratic system from decades of bitter ethnic tension between an ever expanding and more assertive Albanian majority, and a Serbian minority that clings to Kosovo as the heart of Serbia's medieval empire.
At the cost of an estimated $1.3 billion a year, international civil servants and policemen - about 11,000 at their peak - helped to build ministries, a Parliament, local councils, authorities, courts, customs and police services as well as media.
From June 1999, when the United Nations first arrived in the wake of NATO bombs that helped drive Serbian forces from Kosovo, through to 2001 or so, their achievement was held up as an example for building democracy elsewhere.
But then, by common agreement at least among the international officials and observers and Kosovo's Albanians, the process started to stall - hamstrung, in this view, by the inability of foreigners to adopt solutions that addressed the needs of the people who live all their lives in Kosovo.
Enmity between the Serbs and Albanians still runs deep, frequently with lethal results. Underneath everything runs the unanswered question of Kosovo's future: while under UN control, it is still formally part of Serbia, whose leaders cannot be seen to give the province away to the Albanians.
Consequently, the region remains in limbo - the poorest part of the Balkans, and the most unstable.
"The focus has been on buying time, and that's the only focus there has been," said Veton Surroi, a member of Kosovo's regional Parliament and a veteran Albanian journalist and publisher here.
Larry Rossin, a retired American diplomat who is deputy head of what is formally known as the UN Interim Mission in Kosovo, conceded: "I think the development of their institutions is somewhat retarded by our continuing role."
In next few days, a report by a senior UN envoy, the Norwegian diplomat Kai Eide, is expected to pave the way for the mission's withdrawal.
Diplomats who insisted on anonymity said that although there is some evidence to the contrary, Eide will, in effect, say that the Albanians have done enough to meet standards set by the international community to recommend talks on its future status.
The ethnic Albanians, who make up more than 90 percent of Kosovo's two million people, hope this will be the final step toward seceding from Serbia and creating an independent state.
For Serbia, the negotiations threaten the loss of a region that is still home to some of the most ancient and treasured Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries.
The negotiations between the Albanians, Kosovo Serbs and Serbian government will require international oversight, and almost certainly result in some kind of international presence remaining in the province.
The expectation among international officials is that negotiations on Kosovo's sovereignty will solve many of the problems, both political and economic, that the United Nations has been unable to tackle.
Others warn that while the failure to resolve the region's future has fermented unrest, the model of nation building adopted here has been too narrow in scope and too authoritarian in nature to leave institutions and leaders capable of sustaining peace and democracy.
"The focus of the international mission from the start was on security and politics," said Gerald Knaus, director of the European Stability Initiative, a non-governmental political research group with offices in Kosovo.
International bureaucrats, he said, had chosen to ignore economic needs - the World Bank estimates that 37 percent of the population lives on less than $1.75 a day - and were primarily concerned to "build institutions almost as an end in itself."
Even Rossin noted that the talks on status might have been held two years ago, but added that would have presumed similar international support, and a more cooperative approach between the mission with local politicians, "instead of competition and constant criticism of the provisional institutions."
Senior UN officials also said there was doubt as to whether Western governments wanted to invest the political capital associated with any kind of resolution.
Certainly, Kosovo's Albanian politicians accuse the mission of being deliberately slow to transfer power to local authorities, thereby increasing unrest.
At first glance today, Kosovo appears relatively thriving - particularly when compared to the war devastation of 1999. New houses can be seen everywhere, the result of a post war construction boom. In the regional capital, Pristina, the streets are filled with cafés, restaurants and stores.
Only the ubiquitous white four-wheel drive vehicles of the UN mission, and the infrequent military checkpoints hint at another reality.
That ugly division boiled over in March last year, when the UN's claims to have brought stability were shattered as up to 50,000 ethnic Albanians took part in a three-day wave of attacks on Serbs and other minority groups, as well as UN buildings and property. Nineteen people were killed and 4,000 forced from their homes.
Most Kosovo Serbs remain in enclaves, fearful of venturing forth. Albanians, too, steer clear of the north of the province, where Serbs are clustered in and around the town of Mitrovica, for fear of attack. Late on Wednesday, gunmen shot and injured the province's most senior Serbian police officer, Dejan Jankovic, near the town of Gnjilane just two weeks after he was appointed as regional commander.
On Aug. 27, two Serbs were gunned down in the car they were traveling, a reminder of how violence can resurface without provocation.
Severe economic difficulties increase the tension. Estimates of unemployment range between a minimum of 30 percent, and 70 percent. The regional government is also close to bankrupt as the local economy fails to produce enough revenue to support basic needs.
"We are in a situation where we are living off almost entirely customs revenues and donations from donors," Rossin said. "The budget is extremely tight, school construction is nearly nil in the year 2005 because there is just no money in the capital budget to do it in a place that has crying needs in a whole range of social areas."
Economic policy consists of "short term thinking, short term approaches, projects and international consultants," Knaus said. "Kosovo institutions don't have any idea, they don't know what to do."
UN officials here note that Kosovo was the poorest part of the old Yugoslavia before tensions exploded in the late 1980s and Serbia's then leader, Slobodan Milosevic, rode nationalist tensions both to seize and consolidate power and to bring Kosovo under direct rule from Belgrade.
Ethnic Albanians went underground during those years, founding their own schools in garages and private homes and claiming enormous and violent harassment from Serbia's then ubiquitous police.
Eventually, an underground guerrilla movement - the Kosovo Liberation Army - formed and started attacking the Serbian forces in 1998. Serbian retaliation was so fierce that NATO decided in 1999 to bomb Milosevic's men out of Kosovo.
Hundreds of thousands of Albanians who fled returned, while thousands of Serbs abandoned Kosovo - their heartland for centuries.
All this makes for difficult terrain when trying to sow democracy. For the past three years, that has been the UN's main mission.
Billboard campaigns and TV advertising exhort Kosovo's citizens to sup- port the policy, which the commercials imply will eventually enable Kosovo to join the European Union.
UN envoy to back talks on Kosovo status -diplomat
By Irwin Arieff
UNITED NATIONS, Sept 28 (Reuters) - U.N. special envoy Kai Eide will next week recommend the start of U.N.-mediated talks to determine the final status of Serbia's breakaway Kosovo province, a European diplomat said on Wednesday.
Eide, in a report to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan expected next week, will recommend that Annan give a green light to negotiations likely leading to Kosovo's conditional independence, the diplomat said.
"This is a question of managing a process towards conditional independence," said the diplomat, who was briefed on the report's findings but spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss it.
The United Nations, which has administered the province of 2 million people since the Balkan wars of the 1990s, has set out a list of standards on human rights, security, law and democracy that Kosovo must show it is trying to meet before the issue of its eventual status can be taken up.
Eide's report will recommend that the final status talks begin even though Kosovo's interim administration has not done as well on the standards as had been hoped, the diplomat said.
It will ultimately be up to Annan to decide when to publicly release Eide's findings, and then whether Kosovo has made enough progress on the standards for the talks to start.
Kosovo's U.N. governor, Soren Jessen-Petersen, said this week he expected Annan to present his conclusions to the U.N. Security Council in mid-October. "I'm now very convinced that by the end of the year ... status talks will be under way," he told reporters in Pristina, the provincial capital.
But Eide's expected recommendations come as no surprise although they are likely to trigger protests from the Serbian government in Belgrade. While Kosovo's 90-percent ethnic Albanian majority is increasingly impatient for independence, Serbia says this is impossible.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said this week in Paris that he expected the final status talks to begin later this year, based on Eide's review.
"To say this will be a delicate process is an understatement. Not only do Belgrade and Pristina hold diametrically opposing views. Both also lack a stable political leadership, able to make tough decisions," Solana told a conference in Paris on Monday.
The United Nations took over running Kosovo after a 1999 NATO bombing campaign to halt Serb repression of its ethnic Albanians, who make up 90 percent of the population.
Tens of thousands of Serbs then fled the province to escape Albanians bent on revenge for Belgrade's harsh rule, and Belgrade now argues Kosovo's provisional government is doing too little to encourage Serbs to return home and protect those who have already done so.
UNITED NATIONS, Sept 28 (Reuters) - U.N. special envoy Kai Eide will next week recommend the start of U.N.-mediated talks to determine the final status of Serbia's breakaway Kosovo province, a European diplomat said on Wednesday.
Eide, in a report to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan expected next week, will recommend that Annan give a green light to negotiations likely leading to Kosovo's conditional independence, the diplomat said.
"This is a question of managing a process towards conditional independence," said the diplomat, who was briefed on the report's findings but spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss it.
The United Nations, which has administered the province of 2 million people since the Balkan wars of the 1990s, has set out a list of standards on human rights, security, law and democracy that Kosovo must show it is trying to meet before the issue of its eventual status can be taken up.
Eide's report will recommend that the final status talks begin even though Kosovo's interim administration has not done as well on the standards as had been hoped, the diplomat said.
It will ultimately be up to Annan to decide when to publicly release Eide's findings, and then whether Kosovo has made enough progress on the standards for the talks to start.
Kosovo's U.N. governor, Soren Jessen-Petersen, said this week he expected Annan to present his conclusions to the U.N. Security Council in mid-October. "I'm now very convinced that by the end of the year ... status talks will be under way," he told reporters in Pristina, the provincial capital.
But Eide's expected recommendations come as no surprise although they are likely to trigger protests from the Serbian government in Belgrade. While Kosovo's 90-percent ethnic Albanian majority is increasingly impatient for independence, Serbia says this is impossible.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said this week in Paris that he expected the final status talks to begin later this year, based on Eide's review.
"To say this will be a delicate process is an understatement. Not only do Belgrade and Pristina hold diametrically opposing views. Both also lack a stable political leadership, able to make tough decisions," Solana told a conference in Paris on Monday.
The United Nations took over running Kosovo after a 1999 NATO bombing campaign to halt Serb repression of its ethnic Albanians, who make up 90 percent of the population.
Tens of thousands of Serbs then fled the province to escape Albanians bent on revenge for Belgrade's harsh rule, and Belgrade now argues Kosovo's provisional government is doing too little to encourage Serbs to return home and protect those who have already done so.
Kosovo Albanian negotiating team to hold first meeting next week - Rugova
Text of report in English by independent internet news agency KosovaLive
Prishtina [Pristina], 29 September: President Ibrahim Rugova, through a press release, announced that he will convene the first meeting of the negotiation team by the end of next week.
President Ibrahim Rugova made this declaration following the meeting he had with the Coordinator of Working Groups, Blerim Shala.
"President Rugova met Shala after a wide consultations that the coordinator has made about the plans to move forward the work about the preparations for the process of determination of status," he said.
The negotiation team nominated by Rugova got the parliament's endorsement yesterday.
Source: KosovaLive website, Pristina, in English 29 Sep 05
Prishtina [Pristina], 29 September: President Ibrahim Rugova, through a press release, announced that he will convene the first meeting of the negotiation team by the end of next week.
President Ibrahim Rugova made this declaration following the meeting he had with the Coordinator of Working Groups, Blerim Shala.
"President Rugova met Shala after a wide consultations that the coordinator has made about the plans to move forward the work about the preparations for the process of determination of status," he said.
The negotiation team nominated by Rugova got the parliament's endorsement yesterday.
Source: KosovaLive website, Pristina, in English 29 Sep 05
Kfor willing to hand over more power to Kosovo Protection Corps - premier
Text of report in English by independent internet news agency KosovaLive
Prishtina [Pristina], 29 September: The Kosova [Kosovo] Protection Corps [TMK] got good marks in implementation of Standard VIII during today's meeting of the Working Group for Development, as well as Kfor's [Kosovo Force] pledge for its engagement in new tasks.
Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi said after the meeting that the groups have concluded progress at the TMK. He voiced confidence that this progress will have an essential impact on the future status of the TMK, which should be settled along with Kosova's political status.
"During these six years, the TMK has shown continuous results," the prime minister said, adding, "if we do not have the solution for it now, then at least we should have the strategy for its future".
Prime Minister Kosumi also said that Kfor has shown willingness to assign more tasks to the TMK.
TMK Commander Lieutenant General Agim Ceku also voiced enthusiastic over this meeting. "We will continue cooperation with the new Kfor commander and together we will seek new forms for TMK engagement," said Ceku.
It was a joint conclusion of the government, UNMIK [UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo] and of Kfor that the TMK is facing an unfavourable financial situation, whereas no solution has been found to this problem yet.
Source: KosovaLive website, Pristina, in English 29 Sep 05
Prishtina [Pristina], 29 September: The Kosova [Kosovo] Protection Corps [TMK] got good marks in implementation of Standard VIII during today's meeting of the Working Group for Development, as well as Kfor's [Kosovo Force] pledge for its engagement in new tasks.
Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi said after the meeting that the groups have concluded progress at the TMK. He voiced confidence that this progress will have an essential impact on the future status of the TMK, which should be settled along with Kosova's political status.
"During these six years, the TMK has shown continuous results," the prime minister said, adding, "if we do not have the solution for it now, then at least we should have the strategy for its future".
Prime Minister Kosumi also said that Kfor has shown willingness to assign more tasks to the TMK.
TMK Commander Lieutenant General Agim Ceku also voiced enthusiastic over this meeting. "We will continue cooperation with the new Kfor commander and together we will seek new forms for TMK engagement," said Ceku.
It was a joint conclusion of the government, UNMIK [UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo] and of Kfor that the TMK is facing an unfavourable financial situation, whereas no solution has been found to this problem yet.
Source: KosovaLive website, Pristina, in English 29 Sep 05
Over thirty displaced Kosovo Serb families return home
Text of report in English by independent internet news agency KosovaLive
Prishtina [Pristina], 29 September: Today in Kosh [KOS] village of Istog [Istok], 32 Serb families were handed over the keys of their new houses in a ceremony.
Deputy Prime Minister Adem Salihaj said that this is a great day because these families are returning home.
The government will continue to work in building a peaceful, safe and tolerant environment for all citizens, Salihaj added.
Zarko Obradovic, on behalf of the returned families, said this event represents a new life for Serbs. He called on his community to forget the past, live together and look towards future.
Source: KosovaLive website, Pristina, in English 29 Sep 05
Prishtina [Pristina], 29 September: Today in Kosh [KOS] village of Istog [Istok], 32 Serb families were handed over the keys of their new houses in a ceremony.
Deputy Prime Minister Adem Salihaj said that this is a great day because these families are returning home.
The government will continue to work in building a peaceful, safe and tolerant environment for all citizens, Salihaj added.
Zarko Obradovic, on behalf of the returned families, said this event represents a new life for Serbs. He called on his community to forget the past, live together and look towards future.
Source: KosovaLive website, Pristina, in English 29 Sep 05
A chink of light - Serbia's economic upturn
The Serbian economy is turning round
Glimmers of hope in Serbia's rust-belt
IT FEELS like a time-warp. Gleaming cars of a type designed in the early 1970s roll off the line at Kragujevac's giant Zastava plant. As the workers in blue overalls sip their Turkish coffee, they gaze up at portraits of Marshal Tito, the Yugoslav leader who died in 1980. Yet they are now looking forward, not back.
Zastava is often seen as a byword for Serbia's industrial decline. And if the company has suffered, so too has the town: 40,000 of its 200,000 residents used to work for Zastava. Only now, five years after the fall of Slobodan Milosevic, the demagogue who set Serbia on its course of war, suffering and isolation, are the town and the plant showing new signs of life.
In 1989, the last full year of old Yugoslavia's life, Zastava made 180,950 cars here. When the country fell apart, it lost suppliers and markets. The international sanctions imposed by the UN hurt, and during the Kosovo war in 1999, NATO bombed parts of the plant, which also makes arms. That year, just 4,500 cars dribbled off the lines; last year, 13,300. According to the mayor, Veroljub Stevanovic, well over half the working population was unemployed until recently. Even now, all of Zastava's diverse holdings in Kragujevac employ only around 13,000 people.
But then look at the chinks of light. On September 20th, after years of wrangling, Fiat of Italy struck a deal with Zastava to make up to 16,000 cars a year. At the company's arms plant, too, things are looking up: it has a $3.8m contract with Iraq. This year, says the mayor, over 7,000 new jobs have been created in the town.
The upturn matches the trend in Serbia as a whole: GDP grew by 7.5% last year. And Miroljub Labus, the deputy prime minister, says the country has pulled in $1 billion of foreign investment this year. United States Steel and some western tobacco firms have helped to turn round local industries that had virtually collapsed. On September 27th, Microsoft opened a software centre in Belgrade. Some 7,000 new firms have registered in Serbia this year.
Serbia's rate of inflation, 17.2%, is high. But that is a side-effect of recovery, and of a banking system and retail market jerking back to life. After long privation, people are chafing to buy fridges and cars.
Yet, despite all this, most citizens say life has never been as tough as now. “Our real problem”, sighs Mr Labus, “is public perception.” People do not compare their life now to that of five years ago, but rather to that of 20 years ago, the era of communist certainty.
Next week, the European Union's foreign ministers will start a set of negotiations with Serbia that are designed to lead to a “stabilisation and association” pact, and in the end, perhaps, to membership. Given that Serbia may soon face some painful constitutional changes—including the final loss of Kosovo and the break-up of its union with Montenegro—its economic upturn is good news, both for weary Serbs and their European partners.
Glimmers of hope in Serbia's rust-belt
IT FEELS like a time-warp. Gleaming cars of a type designed in the early 1970s roll off the line at Kragujevac's giant Zastava plant. As the workers in blue overalls sip their Turkish coffee, they gaze up at portraits of Marshal Tito, the Yugoslav leader who died in 1980. Yet they are now looking forward, not back.
Zastava is often seen as a byword for Serbia's industrial decline. And if the company has suffered, so too has the town: 40,000 of its 200,000 residents used to work for Zastava. Only now, five years after the fall of Slobodan Milosevic, the demagogue who set Serbia on its course of war, suffering and isolation, are the town and the plant showing new signs of life.
In 1989, the last full year of old Yugoslavia's life, Zastava made 180,950 cars here. When the country fell apart, it lost suppliers and markets. The international sanctions imposed by the UN hurt, and during the Kosovo war in 1999, NATO bombed parts of the plant, which also makes arms. That year, just 4,500 cars dribbled off the lines; last year, 13,300. According to the mayor, Veroljub Stevanovic, well over half the working population was unemployed until recently. Even now, all of Zastava's diverse holdings in Kragujevac employ only around 13,000 people.
But then look at the chinks of light. On September 20th, after years of wrangling, Fiat of Italy struck a deal with Zastava to make up to 16,000 cars a year. At the company's arms plant, too, things are looking up: it has a $3.8m contract with Iraq. This year, says the mayor, over 7,000 new jobs have been created in the town.
The upturn matches the trend in Serbia as a whole: GDP grew by 7.5% last year. And Miroljub Labus, the deputy prime minister, says the country has pulled in $1 billion of foreign investment this year. United States Steel and some western tobacco firms have helped to turn round local industries that had virtually collapsed. On September 27th, Microsoft opened a software centre in Belgrade. Some 7,000 new firms have registered in Serbia this year.
Serbia's rate of inflation, 17.2%, is high. But that is a side-effect of recovery, and of a banking system and retail market jerking back to life. After long privation, people are chafing to buy fridges and cars.
Yet, despite all this, most citizens say life has never been as tough as now. “Our real problem”, sighs Mr Labus, “is public perception.” People do not compare their life now to that of five years ago, but rather to that of 20 years ago, the era of communist certainty.
Next week, the European Union's foreign ministers will start a set of negotiations with Serbia that are designed to lead to a “stabilisation and association” pact, and in the end, perhaps, to membership. Given that Serbia may soon face some painful constitutional changes—including the final loss of Kosovo and the break-up of its union with Montenegro—its economic upturn is good news, both for weary Serbs and their European partners.
Serbia turns a corner as EU, Hague give OK
BELGRADE, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Serbia got a double dose of good news on Thursday as the European Union started its journey to eventual EU membership and the United Nations war crimes court gave it a rare public pat on the back.
U.N. tribunal chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte, flanked by Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, told reporters she was happy Serbia was finally cooperating with The Hague, a key element in its bid for eventual European Union membership.
"We are very pleased with the cooperation we received from Belgrade," del Ponte said. "Finally we can say we have a reciprocal cooperation between The Hague and Belgrade."
An hour earlier in Brussels, EU ambassadors backed opening talks on a so-called Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the fragile union of Serbia and Montenegro that was salvaged from the wreck of former Yugoslavia.
Del Ponte's past, negative assessments of Serbia's record of cooperation with the Hague tribunal had been central to the EU's decisions on its relations with Belgrade.
But Thursday's moves reflect a shift of focus in Western diplomacy in ex-Yugoslavia to what major powers consider the urgent need for a solution in Kosovo, the U.N.-run Serbian province whose Albanian majority demands independence.
Brussels hopes the promise of a common EU roof for all the Balkan states can smooth what are expected to be very difficult talks starting next month and cement stability in a region that saw 250,000 die in three wars in the 1990s.
The EU opened its door despite the fact that former Bosnian Serb Army commander Gen. Ratko Mladic, one of the two most wanted men on del Ponte's list, was still a fugitive. She is convinced he is being sheltered by the army in Serbia.
Mladic is accused along with his former boss Radovan Karadzic of genocide in the Bosnia war from 1992 to 1995.
NEW DEADLINE FOR MLADIC
With the EU decision flagged a day ahead of the ambassadors' meeting, del Ponte chose to accentuate the positive, praising Serbia for the handover of 16 fugitives since October last year plus the delivery of documents and access to witnesses.
"Of course, my big disappointment is that six fugitives are still at large, most probably in Serbia. And of course, Mladic," del Ponte said.
She said she had expected Mladic to be in detention by July 11, in time for the 10th anniversary commemoration of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslims.
"Now we have another deadline," she said. "It will be the Dayton accord in December." The Dayton accords which ended the Bosnia war were concluded in the United States on November 21 and formally signed at a Paris ceremony on December 14.
Kostunica said he was fully aware of what was expected.
"It is certain the course of the (EU) talks will be influenced by whether Serbia and Montenegro fulfills its international obligations concerning cooperation with the tribunal," he said.
"But it's not just about the EU. Fulfilling this cooperation is of vital interest for Serbia and Montenegro," he added.
EU foreign ministers will endorse Thursday's decision on Oct. 3, putting Serbia-Montenegro on the membership track two days before the fifth anniversary of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's fall from power.
EU Enlargement chief Olli Rehn will visit Belgrade on Oct. 10, kicking off talks for a stabilisation and association agreement. This is a first step in the long process towards EU accession, but it does not in itself guarantee membership.
The start of Croatia's accession talks with the EU has been suspended indefinitely over its failure to find and arrest fugitive General Ante Gotovina, wanted for the killing of Serbs by his troops in a victorious offensive in 1995.
Del Ponte visits Croatia on Friday to discuss the issue.
Bosnia is now the only state in the region not to have formally embarked on the road to EU membership. It was told this month it would not be able to start SAA talks this year after the Bosnian Serb parliament rejected an EU-backed plan to create an inter-ethnic and unified police force.
U.N. tribunal chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte, flanked by Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, told reporters she was happy Serbia was finally cooperating with The Hague, a key element in its bid for eventual European Union membership.
"We are very pleased with the cooperation we received from Belgrade," del Ponte said. "Finally we can say we have a reciprocal cooperation between The Hague and Belgrade."
An hour earlier in Brussels, EU ambassadors backed opening talks on a so-called Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the fragile union of Serbia and Montenegro that was salvaged from the wreck of former Yugoslavia.
Del Ponte's past, negative assessments of Serbia's record of cooperation with the Hague tribunal had been central to the EU's decisions on its relations with Belgrade.
But Thursday's moves reflect a shift of focus in Western diplomacy in ex-Yugoslavia to what major powers consider the urgent need for a solution in Kosovo, the U.N.-run Serbian province whose Albanian majority demands independence.
Brussels hopes the promise of a common EU roof for all the Balkan states can smooth what are expected to be very difficult talks starting next month and cement stability in a region that saw 250,000 die in three wars in the 1990s.
The EU opened its door despite the fact that former Bosnian Serb Army commander Gen. Ratko Mladic, one of the two most wanted men on del Ponte's list, was still a fugitive. She is convinced he is being sheltered by the army in Serbia.
Mladic is accused along with his former boss Radovan Karadzic of genocide in the Bosnia war from 1992 to 1995.
NEW DEADLINE FOR MLADIC
With the EU decision flagged a day ahead of the ambassadors' meeting, del Ponte chose to accentuate the positive, praising Serbia for the handover of 16 fugitives since October last year plus the delivery of documents and access to witnesses.
"Of course, my big disappointment is that six fugitives are still at large, most probably in Serbia. And of course, Mladic," del Ponte said.
She said she had expected Mladic to be in detention by July 11, in time for the 10th anniversary commemoration of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslims.
"Now we have another deadline," she said. "It will be the Dayton accord in December." The Dayton accords which ended the Bosnia war were concluded in the United States on November 21 and formally signed at a Paris ceremony on December 14.
Kostunica said he was fully aware of what was expected.
"It is certain the course of the (EU) talks will be influenced by whether Serbia and Montenegro fulfills its international obligations concerning cooperation with the tribunal," he said.
"But it's not just about the EU. Fulfilling this cooperation is of vital interest for Serbia and Montenegro," he added.
EU foreign ministers will endorse Thursday's decision on Oct. 3, putting Serbia-Montenegro on the membership track two days before the fifth anniversary of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's fall from power.
EU Enlargement chief Olli Rehn will visit Belgrade on Oct. 10, kicking off talks for a stabilisation and association agreement. This is a first step in the long process towards EU accession, but it does not in itself guarantee membership.
The start of Croatia's accession talks with the EU has been suspended indefinitely over its failure to find and arrest fugitive General Ante Gotovina, wanted for the killing of Serbs by his troops in a victorious offensive in 1995.
Del Ponte visits Croatia on Friday to discuss the issue.
Bosnia is now the only state in the region not to have formally embarked on the road to EU membership. It was told this month it would not be able to start SAA talks this year after the Bosnian Serb parliament rejected an EU-backed plan to create an inter-ethnic and unified police force.
China and Russia, obstacles to Kosovo’s international telephone code
Koha Ditore reports that the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has turned down UNMIK’s request for an international telephone code for Kosovo with the excuse that the international administration “doesn’t exercise the sovereign right over Kosovo”.
An official of the UNMIK Legal Office, who preferred to remain anonymous, told the newspaper that Belgrade lobbied at the Russian and Chinese embassies in order to prevent Kosovo from getting an international telephone code.
The official also gave Koha Ditore background information on the correspondence between the ITU and UNMIK on the matter. SRSG Søren Jessen-Petersen according to the source has said he will ask UNSG Kofi Annan to resolve the issue. In fact, the SRSG reportedly presented the issue to Annan and the latter promised him a quick resolution. “The Secretary General has taken over this issue. He has taken the initiative and I support him. We are now waiting for a response from the ITU, which we hope will be positive,” the UNMIK chief told Koha Ditore.
An official of the UNMIK Legal Office, who preferred to remain anonymous, told the newspaper that Belgrade lobbied at the Russian and Chinese embassies in order to prevent Kosovo from getting an international telephone code.
The official also gave Koha Ditore background information on the correspondence between the ITU and UNMIK on the matter. SRSG Søren Jessen-Petersen according to the source has said he will ask UNSG Kofi Annan to resolve the issue. In fact, the SRSG reportedly presented the issue to Annan and the latter promised him a quick resolution. “The Secretary General has taken over this issue. He has taken the initiative and I support him. We are now waiting for a response from the ITU, which we hope will be positive,” the UNMIK chief told Koha Ditore.
Judah: Sovereignty from talks, but not due to merit of leaders
In an interview for Koha Ditore, British analyst on the Balkans Tim Judah, said the winning of Kosovo’s sovereignty won’t be a tribute to the skills of Kosovo political leaders in status negotiations, but rather a decision that the international community is believed to have already made. “However, when it comes to the direct contribution for Kosovo by its political leaders, the results of these negotiations are not expected to be very positive bearing in mind the low level of their [the leaders] preparations for this process,” added Judah.
“I think that people are forgetting that apart from sovereignty there are many other issues that need to be discussed,” said Judah and pointed out several issues such as the Constitution, security, minorities, decentralisation, pensions, payment of international loans and other financial matters.
“I think that people are forgetting that apart from sovereignty there are many other issues that need to be discussed,” said Judah and pointed out several issues such as the Constitution, security, minorities, decentralisation, pensions, payment of international loans and other financial matters.
Status negotiations to start in November this year? (Zëri)
Zëri carries an editorial on the front page saying that Kai Eide is going to submit his report to UN Secretary General in the next two or three days. Afterwards the SG Kofi Annan will send a letter to the ambassadors of the Security Council members recommending the launch of status negotiations. The UN Security Council is expected to support the proposal in the middle of October. The paper says that if things go as anticipated then Annan will announce his status envoy around the end of October or beginning of November.
Kosovo Assembly adopts status negotiation group
“Negotiation Group got the majority of votes, but not the consensus”, is Koha Ditore’s front page headline on the regular session of the Kosovo Assembly. According to the paper some participating parties in the Assembly have said that bad managing of the session by Parliamentary Speaker Nexhat Daci has “dimmed the initiative of President Rugova for consensus and unity”.
Dailies report that Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi and SRSG Jessen-Petersen have welcomed the endorsement of the Negotiation team and that they are looking for a way to ensure representation of the minorities in the team.
Express reports that Nexhat Daci has said that the negotiation team announced by President Rugova got the majority of votes, while PDK and ORA consider the session as a failure. The paper writes that SRSG Jessen-Petersen has welcomed the endorsement of President’s proposal and has asked the PDK to clarify its position.
Zëri writes that LDK, AAK and ORA supported the statement of the President while PDK did not declare ‘in favour’ or ‘against’ it. Late in the afternoon, PDK and ORA issued almost identical statements saying that these two entities consider the session as a failure and that the initiative of the President has been jeopardized.
Under the headline Hope dies the last, Koha Ditore reports in a separate article that the SRSG was hoping status preparations could start after the approval of President’s proposal by the Assembly. Now, he has come up with another hope to reach political unity after President Rugova invites in his residence political leaders of PDK, AAK and ORA, and other officials.
Dailies report that Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi and SRSG Jessen-Petersen have welcomed the endorsement of the Negotiation team and that they are looking for a way to ensure representation of the minorities in the team.
Express reports that Nexhat Daci has said that the negotiation team announced by President Rugova got the majority of votes, while PDK and ORA consider the session as a failure. The paper writes that SRSG Jessen-Petersen has welcomed the endorsement of President’s proposal and has asked the PDK to clarify its position.
Zëri writes that LDK, AAK and ORA supported the statement of the President while PDK did not declare ‘in favour’ or ‘against’ it. Late in the afternoon, PDK and ORA issued almost identical statements saying that these two entities consider the session as a failure and that the initiative of the President has been jeopardized.
Under the headline Hope dies the last, Koha Ditore reports in a separate article that the SRSG was hoping status preparations could start after the approval of President’s proposal by the Assembly. Now, he has come up with another hope to reach political unity after President Rugova invites in his residence political leaders of PDK, AAK and ORA, and other officials.
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Wladimir: "Brewster will lose to Krasniqi"
By Ant Evans: Wladimir Klitschko has predicted an upset in Wednesday night's WBO world heavyweight championship showdown between conqueror Lamon Brewster and German challenger Luan Krasniqi.
'Relentless Lamon' travels to Color Line Arena in Hamburg with the unenviable assignment of fighting a German on the 100th anniversary of German icon Max Schmeling's birthday, and Klitschko believes the WBO belt which he owned from 2000-2003 will change hands once again.
"Krasniqi should win this fight," WBO. No.1 contender Klitschko told SecondsOut. "I know him from my time in Germany and I also fought him twice in the amateurs. I fought him in the World Championships in 1995, when I was 19, at heavyweight not super-heavyweight. Krasniqi beat me on points but a year later I fought him in the semi-final of a championship and I beat him."
Last weekend's points win over Sam Peter earned Klitschko the right to fight the winner of not only Wednesday's showdown but also Saturday's IBF title fight between Chris Byrd (beaten to a pulp by Klitschko in 2000) and DaVarryl Williamson.
He said: "I am in the driver's seat in my career again. I will watch the fights this week, see who wins the titles, and then make a decision (about which direction to go in)."
Brewster, of course, was awarded a fifth round KO win over 'Baby Brother' in April of 2004 when Wladimir bizarrely passed out from exhaustion after dominating the opening four rounds. Usually when a fighter predicts a conqueror will lose it is the result of bitter feelings, you know, 'See, he lost. That proves his win over me was just a fluke.'
But while Wladimir v Krasniqi would be a huge fight in Germany, Klitschko, I sense, would be equally as happy for Brewster to win to set up a revenge mission.
"Krasniqi's weaknesses are on the psychological side," Klitschko, who has been accused of that very weakness, added. "If he can handle the pressure of fighting for the world title on Max Schmeling's birthday then he can outbox Brewster. But, if the pressure, gets to him, he could lose in the middle rounds. But I think Krasniqi should win the fight on points.
He said: "It would be very interesting to get another fight with Lamon Brewster. I have unfinished business with Brewster I want to take care of with him.
"With Brewster, he is 32 and probably cannot change anything in his style. He has to use what he already had, his punch and pressure, and I think his advantages could see him win but I still expect Krasniqi to win this fight."
'Relentless Lamon' travels to Color Line Arena in Hamburg with the unenviable assignment of fighting a German on the 100th anniversary of German icon Max Schmeling's birthday, and Klitschko believes the WBO belt which he owned from 2000-2003 will change hands once again.
"Krasniqi should win this fight," WBO. No.1 contender Klitschko told SecondsOut. "I know him from my time in Germany and I also fought him twice in the amateurs. I fought him in the World Championships in 1995, when I was 19, at heavyweight not super-heavyweight. Krasniqi beat me on points but a year later I fought him in the semi-final of a championship and I beat him."
Last weekend's points win over Sam Peter earned Klitschko the right to fight the winner of not only Wednesday's showdown but also Saturday's IBF title fight between Chris Byrd (beaten to a pulp by Klitschko in 2000) and DaVarryl Williamson.
He said: "I am in the driver's seat in my career again. I will watch the fights this week, see who wins the titles, and then make a decision (about which direction to go in)."
Brewster, of course, was awarded a fifth round KO win over 'Baby Brother' in April of 2004 when Wladimir bizarrely passed out from exhaustion after dominating the opening four rounds. Usually when a fighter predicts a conqueror will lose it is the result of bitter feelings, you know, 'See, he lost. That proves his win over me was just a fluke.'
But while Wladimir v Krasniqi would be a huge fight in Germany, Klitschko, I sense, would be equally as happy for Brewster to win to set up a revenge mission.
"Krasniqi's weaknesses are on the psychological side," Klitschko, who has been accused of that very weakness, added. "If he can handle the pressure of fighting for the world title on Max Schmeling's birthday then he can outbox Brewster. But, if the pressure, gets to him, he could lose in the middle rounds. But I think Krasniqi should win the fight on points.
He said: "It would be very interesting to get another fight with Lamon Brewster. I have unfinished business with Brewster I want to take care of with him.
"With Brewster, he is 32 and probably cannot change anything in his style. He has to use what he already had, his punch and pressure, and I think his advantages could see him win but I still expect Krasniqi to win this fight."
Senior Kosovo Serb police officer shot and wounded
By Shaban Buza
PRISTINA, Serbia and Montenegro, Sept 28 (Reuters) - The most senior Serb police officer in Kosovo was shot and wounded on Wednesday in the third such attack in a southern pocket of the majority-Albanian province over the past month.
Dejan Jankovic, 30, the chief of police in Gnjilane, was wounded when his vehicle came under fire near in the southern region of Kacanik at around 6.00 pm (1600 GMT), Kosovo police spokesman Refki Morina told Reuters.
"He was injured in his arm and taken to Pristina hospital," said Morina. His injuries are not life threatening.
Kosovo's Albanian-dominated government condemned Wednesday's shooting. "Such attacks send a bad message, which the government and people of Kosovo find unacceptable," it said in a statement.
There are several hundred Serbs within Kosovo's 7,000-strong multi-ethnic police force. Jankovic was promoted to the rank of regional commander two weeks ago, becoming the highest ranking Serb in the force.
The attack follows the killing of two Serb men and wounding of a Serb policeman in drive-by shootings on Aug. 27 and Sept. 10 in the region of Strpce, a few kilometres west of Kacanik. The area lies at the foot of Kosovo's mountainous border with Macedonia.
The United Nations, which has run the province since NATO bombing drove out Serb forces in 1999, has refused to speculate on possible motives and made no arrests.
But Serb leaders in Belgrade blame what they call ethnic Albanian extremists trying to clinch independence by force as Kosovo nears negotiations on its final status.
Legally part of Serbia, Kosovo became a U.N. protectorate in 1999 after Western powers intervened to halt atrocities by Serb forces trying to crush an ethnic Albanian insurgency.
Kosovo's 90-percent ethnic Albanian majority want formal independence, which Serbia says is impossible.
Thousands of Serbs fled a wave of revenge attacks after the war. Some 100,000 remain, many in isolated enclaves patrolled by members of a 17,000 NATO-led peacekeeping force.
The United Nations expects to open status negotiations this year, possibly in November. U.N. special envoy Kai Eide will next week recommend the start of U.N.-mediated talks to determine the final status of Serbia's breakaway Kosovo province, a European diplomat said on Wednesday.
U.N. and NATO officials have warned of a possible upsurge in violence as Kosovo nears those talks, viewed with bitterness by many Albanians who resent the idea of negotiating with Serbia.
(Additional reporting by Branislav Krstic)
PRISTINA, Serbia and Montenegro, Sept 28 (Reuters) - The most senior Serb police officer in Kosovo was shot and wounded on Wednesday in the third such attack in a southern pocket of the majority-Albanian province over the past month.
Dejan Jankovic, 30, the chief of police in Gnjilane, was wounded when his vehicle came under fire near in the southern region of Kacanik at around 6.00 pm (1600 GMT), Kosovo police spokesman Refki Morina told Reuters.
"He was injured in his arm and taken to Pristina hospital," said Morina. His injuries are not life threatening.
Kosovo's Albanian-dominated government condemned Wednesday's shooting. "Such attacks send a bad message, which the government and people of Kosovo find unacceptable," it said in a statement.
There are several hundred Serbs within Kosovo's 7,000-strong multi-ethnic police force. Jankovic was promoted to the rank of regional commander two weeks ago, becoming the highest ranking Serb in the force.
The attack follows the killing of two Serb men and wounding of a Serb policeman in drive-by shootings on Aug. 27 and Sept. 10 in the region of Strpce, a few kilometres west of Kacanik. The area lies at the foot of Kosovo's mountainous border with Macedonia.
The United Nations, which has run the province since NATO bombing drove out Serb forces in 1999, has refused to speculate on possible motives and made no arrests.
But Serb leaders in Belgrade blame what they call ethnic Albanian extremists trying to clinch independence by force as Kosovo nears negotiations on its final status.
Legally part of Serbia, Kosovo became a U.N. protectorate in 1999 after Western powers intervened to halt atrocities by Serb forces trying to crush an ethnic Albanian insurgency.
Kosovo's 90-percent ethnic Albanian majority want formal independence, which Serbia says is impossible.
Thousands of Serbs fled a wave of revenge attacks after the war. Some 100,000 remain, many in isolated enclaves patrolled by members of a 17,000 NATO-led peacekeeping force.
The United Nations expects to open status negotiations this year, possibly in November. U.N. special envoy Kai Eide will next week recommend the start of U.N.-mediated talks to determine the final status of Serbia's breakaway Kosovo province, a European diplomat said on Wednesday.
U.N. and NATO officials have warned of a possible upsurge in violence as Kosovo nears those talks, viewed with bitterness by many Albanians who resent the idea of negotiating with Serbia.
(Additional reporting by Branislav Krstic)
Kosovo imperative shifts West's Balkan priorities
BELGRADE, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Serbia got a green light from the European Union on Wednesday amid signs a solution for Kosovo is taking precedence in Western diplomacy for now over the immediate handover of war crimes fugitives to The Hague.
The EU said on Wednesday it expected Serbia-Montenegro will be set on the first rung of the ladder to membership of the bloc next week, breaking with its habit of awaiting a progress report from U.N. war crimes chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte before taking such a step.
Del Ponte is due in Belgrade on Thursday. Her assessment earlier this month of Serb efforts to cooperate with the tribunal in The Hague was still "not enough" -- a judgment that had blocked neighbouring Croatia's EU bid in the past.
Hague sources say she fears the chances of netting top Bosnian Serb war crimes fugitives Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic would fade if the West eased up on Serbia, whether to advance higher strategic aims in Kosovo or for other reasons.
But major powers say Kosovo is "unsustainable" as it is and are planning to announce the launch of talks on the "final status" of the Serbian province in two weeks, with the prospect of a future EU place for Serbia a key part of their leverage.
Serbia's infant EU membership bid received a boost from Brussels with the EU prediction that talks on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) would be launched next month.
"We'll be saying that internally, all the work is done. We are very confident," said Cristina Gallach, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
Serbian ministers also sounded confident, despite the fact Mladic, del Ponte's prime target, is still at large and could provoke another "failure to cooperate" report by the prosecutor.
The head of Serbia's Office for European Accession, Tanja Miscevic, said Mladic would not "at this moment" delay the talks. She said EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn would be in Belgrade on Oct. 10 to start work on the SAA.
In the Hague, however, there was no cheering.
"We are disappointed because Mladic was not delivered as expected but I'm confident that we can further rely on EU support for the Serbs to intensify their search for Mladic," del Ponte's political adviser, Jean Daniel Ruch, told Reuters.
CENTRE OF EU STRATEGIC AGENDA
In a speech on Monday that did not mention war crimes fugitives, Solana made clear that solving Kosovo was the EU's top priority in the Balkans and that the prospect of EU membership for Serbia was a vital part of the leverage needed.
Kosovo would put the Balkans "at the centre of our strategic agenda" in 2006, Solana said. "We cannot afford to fail."
Serbia has held title to Kosovo, its Orthodox heartland, for over 1,000 years. But its treatment of the Albanian majority in 1998-99 provoked NATO into a war that drove Serb forces out.
Now Kosovo has its own interim government, police, courts and currency. Only its minority Serbs look to Belgrade.
When mobs of Kosovo Albanians attacked Serb enclaves in March 2004, the United Nations realised Kosovo was still a powder-keg, with the potential to ignite new conflicts in the restive ethnic Albanian lands of southern Serbia and western Macedonia, on Kosovo's borders.
This is the risk that has injected new urgency.
Kosovo's 2 million Albanians demand independence and are 90 percent of the population, a factor analysts say could mean "people's sovereignty" will trump Serbia's legal claim.
The EU hopes the promise of membership for Serbia could mitigate what may be a painful outcome for Belgrade.
Diplomatic sources say the United Nations is expected to announce the launch of Kosovo talks possibly on Oct. 10.
Serbia-Montenegro Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic, who had talks with the Contact Group (the United States, Italy, Germany, France, Britain, Russia) on Kosovo in New York last week, says the negotiations proper will begin in December.
Draskovic said he was also told "20 times" that Mladic had to be in jail by Nov. 20, the 10th anniversary of the Dayton accords to end the 1991-95 Bosnia war in which the Bosnian Serb general is accused of the slaughter of thousands of Muslims.
(Additional reporting by Emma Thomasson)
The EU said on Wednesday it expected Serbia-Montenegro will be set on the first rung of the ladder to membership of the bloc next week, breaking with its habit of awaiting a progress report from U.N. war crimes chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte before taking such a step.
Del Ponte is due in Belgrade on Thursday. Her assessment earlier this month of Serb efforts to cooperate with the tribunal in The Hague was still "not enough" -- a judgment that had blocked neighbouring Croatia's EU bid in the past.
Hague sources say she fears the chances of netting top Bosnian Serb war crimes fugitives Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic would fade if the West eased up on Serbia, whether to advance higher strategic aims in Kosovo or for other reasons.
But major powers say Kosovo is "unsustainable" as it is and are planning to announce the launch of talks on the "final status" of the Serbian province in two weeks, with the prospect of a future EU place for Serbia a key part of their leverage.
Serbia's infant EU membership bid received a boost from Brussels with the EU prediction that talks on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) would be launched next month.
"We'll be saying that internally, all the work is done. We are very confident," said Cristina Gallach, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
Serbian ministers also sounded confident, despite the fact Mladic, del Ponte's prime target, is still at large and could provoke another "failure to cooperate" report by the prosecutor.
The head of Serbia's Office for European Accession, Tanja Miscevic, said Mladic would not "at this moment" delay the talks. She said EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn would be in Belgrade on Oct. 10 to start work on the SAA.
In the Hague, however, there was no cheering.
"We are disappointed because Mladic was not delivered as expected but I'm confident that we can further rely on EU support for the Serbs to intensify their search for Mladic," del Ponte's political adviser, Jean Daniel Ruch, told Reuters.
CENTRE OF EU STRATEGIC AGENDA
In a speech on Monday that did not mention war crimes fugitives, Solana made clear that solving Kosovo was the EU's top priority in the Balkans and that the prospect of EU membership for Serbia was a vital part of the leverage needed.
Kosovo would put the Balkans "at the centre of our strategic agenda" in 2006, Solana said. "We cannot afford to fail."
Serbia has held title to Kosovo, its Orthodox heartland, for over 1,000 years. But its treatment of the Albanian majority in 1998-99 provoked NATO into a war that drove Serb forces out.
Now Kosovo has its own interim government, police, courts and currency. Only its minority Serbs look to Belgrade.
When mobs of Kosovo Albanians attacked Serb enclaves in March 2004, the United Nations realised Kosovo was still a powder-keg, with the potential to ignite new conflicts in the restive ethnic Albanian lands of southern Serbia and western Macedonia, on Kosovo's borders.
This is the risk that has injected new urgency.
Kosovo's 2 million Albanians demand independence and are 90 percent of the population, a factor analysts say could mean "people's sovereignty" will trump Serbia's legal claim.
The EU hopes the promise of membership for Serbia could mitigate what may be a painful outcome for Belgrade.
Diplomatic sources say the United Nations is expected to announce the launch of Kosovo talks possibly on Oct. 10.
Serbia-Montenegro Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic, who had talks with the Contact Group (the United States, Italy, Germany, France, Britain, Russia) on Kosovo in New York last week, says the negotiations proper will begin in December.
Draskovic said he was also told "20 times" that Mladic had to be in jail by Nov. 20, the 10th anniversary of the Dayton accords to end the 1991-95 Bosnia war in which the Bosnian Serb general is accused of the slaughter of thousands of Muslims.
(Additional reporting by Emma Thomasson)
NATO committed to securing Kosovo ahead of status talks: US admiral
PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro, Sept 28 (AFP) -
NATO is committed to upholding security in Kosovo and does not expect any escalation of violence during long-awaited talks on the final status of the Serbian province, US Admiral Harry Ulrich said Wednesday.
"NATO is absolutely committed to providing a safe and secure environment for all citizens here," Ulrich said during a one-day visit to Kosovo.
Admiral Ulrich, who is commander of NATOs joint force command based in Naples, met with officials from the NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo (KFOR), the United Nations Mission (UNMIK) and senior local officials.
"KFOR will carry out its mission," the US Admiral said, stressing that he "absolutely" did not expect any escalation of the situation during the talks, which are expected to start in the coming weeks.
As Commander of the Allied Joint Force Command Naples, Admiral Ulrich currently has operational responsibility for NATO missions in the Balkans, Iraq and the Mediterranean.
Over 17,000 NATO-led peacekeepers from 35 nations are responsible for peace and security in the UN run province.
Albanian-majority Kosovo came under United Nations control in June 1999 after NATO forces bombed Yugoslavia for 78 days in a bid to end a brutal crackdown by Serb forces on separatist Albanians.
The key issue in the status negotiations, finally taking place more than six years after the Kosovo war ended, is whether or not the Serbian province should be allowed to become independent.
Pristina says it is not even willing to discuss the subject with Belgrade, which remains vehemently opposed to any form of independence.
NATO is committed to upholding security in Kosovo and does not expect any escalation of violence during long-awaited talks on the final status of the Serbian province, US Admiral Harry Ulrich said Wednesday.
"NATO is absolutely committed to providing a safe and secure environment for all citizens here," Ulrich said during a one-day visit to Kosovo.
Admiral Ulrich, who is commander of NATOs joint force command based in Naples, met with officials from the NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo (KFOR), the United Nations Mission (UNMIK) and senior local officials.
"KFOR will carry out its mission," the US Admiral said, stressing that he "absolutely" did not expect any escalation of the situation during the talks, which are expected to start in the coming weeks.
As Commander of the Allied Joint Force Command Naples, Admiral Ulrich currently has operational responsibility for NATO missions in the Balkans, Iraq and the Mediterranean.
Over 17,000 NATO-led peacekeepers from 35 nations are responsible for peace and security in the UN run province.
Albanian-majority Kosovo came under United Nations control in June 1999 after NATO forces bombed Yugoslavia for 78 days in a bid to end a brutal crackdown by Serb forces on separatist Albanians.
The key issue in the status negotiations, finally taking place more than six years after the Kosovo war ended, is whether or not the Serbian province should be allowed to become independent.
Pristina says it is not even willing to discuss the subject with Belgrade, which remains vehemently opposed to any form of independence.
Kosovo Assembly approves team to lead negotiations on status
Text of report in English by independent internet news agency KosovaLive
Prishtina [Pristina], 28 September: Without any vote against, the Kosova [Kosovo] Assembly approved today the negotiation team nominated by President Ibrahim Rugova.
The Kosova Assembly members from the Democratic League of Kosova [LDK], Alliance for the Future of Kosova [AAK], The Hour, and those from other minority parties evaluated that the initiative is very useful.
Whereas the Democratic Party of Kosova [PDK] has not supported the initiative, saying that it should be discussed first between political parties; the PDK abstained.
Source: KosovaLive website, Pristina, in English 28 Sep 05
Prishtina [Pristina], 28 September: Without any vote against, the Kosova [Kosovo] Assembly approved today the negotiation team nominated by President Ibrahim Rugova.
The Kosova Assembly members from the Democratic League of Kosova [LDK], Alliance for the Future of Kosova [AAK], The Hour, and those from other minority parties evaluated that the initiative is very useful.
Whereas the Democratic Party of Kosova [PDK] has not supported the initiative, saying that it should be discussed first between political parties; the PDK abstained.
Source: KosovaLive website, Pristina, in English 28 Sep 05
Kosovo Sell-Off Body Picks Provisional Buyer of Steel Producer Fan
Prishtina Serbia and Montenegro), September 28 (SeeNews) - The Kosovo Trust Agency (KTA), charged with the sale of hundreds of state-owned companies in the UN-run Serbian province, said on Wednesday it picked a provisional buyer which has offered to pay 2.3 million euro ($2.7 million) for steel manufacturer Fan.
The bid has been increased by 210,000 euro since the first round of bidding, KTA said in a statement.
The buyer is to invest an additional 2.8 million euro in the next four years and to employ 236 people, according to KTA's requirements.
Under KTA's regulations, the name of the buyer would be disclosed only if a sale contract is signed. The sale should be approved by KTA's board. No deadline for the approval was set.
Fan is the only factory in Kosovo that produces reinforced steel elements for the construction industry, with an average capacity of 20,000 tonnes per year, KTA said.
KTA ( www.kta-kosovo.org ) has so far sold around 50 of the 500 companies it has on its privatisation list.
KTA's efforts to boost the economy in the province of two million people and create new jobs have been hampered by Kosovo's unclear status. The southern Serbian province has been under UN administration since 1999 following the NATO bombing campaign to halt the Serb repression of the ethnic Albanian majority in Kosovo.
The bid has been increased by 210,000 euro since the first round of bidding, KTA said in a statement.
The buyer is to invest an additional 2.8 million euro in the next four years and to employ 236 people, according to KTA's requirements.
Under KTA's regulations, the name of the buyer would be disclosed only if a sale contract is signed. The sale should be approved by KTA's board. No deadline for the approval was set.
Fan is the only factory in Kosovo that produces reinforced steel elements for the construction industry, with an average capacity of 20,000 tonnes per year, KTA said.
KTA ( www.kta-kosovo.org ) has so far sold around 50 of the 500 companies it has on its privatisation list.
KTA's efforts to boost the economy in the province of two million people and create new jobs have been hampered by Kosovo's unclear status. The southern Serbian province has been under UN administration since 1999 following the NATO bombing campaign to halt the Serb repression of the ethnic Albanian majority in Kosovo.
UN envoy to back talks on Kosovo status -diplomat
UNITED NATIONS, Sept 28 (Reuters) - U.N. special envoy Kai Eide will next week recommend the start of U.N.-mediated talks to determine the final status of Serbia's breakaway Kosovo province, a European diplomat said on Wednesday.
Eide, in a report to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan expected next week, will recommend that Annan give a green light to negotiations likely leading to Kosovo's conditional independence, the diplomat said.
"This is a question of managing a process towards conditional independence," said the diplomat, who was briefed on the report's findings but spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss it.
The United Nations, which has administered the province of 2 million people since the Balkan wars of the 1990s, has set out a list of standards on human rights, security, law and democracy that Kosovo must show it is trying to meet before the issue of its eventual status can be taken up.
Eide's report will recommend that the final status talks begin even though Kosovo's interim administration has not done as well on the standards as had been hoped, the diplomat said.
It will ultimately be up to Annan to decide when to publicly release Eide's findings, and then whether Kosovo has made enough progress on the standards for the talks to start.
Kosovo's U.N. governor, Soren Jessen-Petersen, said this week he expected Annan to present his conclusions to the U.N. Security Council in mid-October. "I'm now very convinced that by the end of the year ... status talks will be under way," he told reporters in Pristina, the provincial capital.
But Eide's expected recommendations come as no surprise although they are likely to trigger protests from the Serbian government in Belgrade. While Kosovo's 90-percent ethnic Albanian majority is increasingly impatient for independence, Serbia says this is impossible.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said this week in Paris that he expected the final status talks to begin later this year, based on Eide's review.
"To say this will be a delicate process is an understatement. Not only do Belgrade and Pristina hold diametrically opposing views. Both also lack a stable political leadership, able to make tough decisions," Solana told a conference in Paris on Monday.
The United Nations took over running Kosovo after a 1999 NATO bombing campaign to halt Serb repression of its ethnic Albanians, who make up 90 percent of the population.
Tens of thousands of Serbs then fled the province to escape Albanians bent on revenge for Belgrade's harsh rule, and Belgrade now argues Kosovo's provisional government is doing too little to encourage Serbs to return home and protect those who have already done so.
Eide, in a report to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan expected next week, will recommend that Annan give a green light to negotiations likely leading to Kosovo's conditional independence, the diplomat said.
"This is a question of managing a process towards conditional independence," said the diplomat, who was briefed on the report's findings but spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss it.
The United Nations, which has administered the province of 2 million people since the Balkan wars of the 1990s, has set out a list of standards on human rights, security, law and democracy that Kosovo must show it is trying to meet before the issue of its eventual status can be taken up.
Eide's report will recommend that the final status talks begin even though Kosovo's interim administration has not done as well on the standards as had been hoped, the diplomat said.
It will ultimately be up to Annan to decide when to publicly release Eide's findings, and then whether Kosovo has made enough progress on the standards for the talks to start.
Kosovo's U.N. governor, Soren Jessen-Petersen, said this week he expected Annan to present his conclusions to the U.N. Security Council in mid-October. "I'm now very convinced that by the end of the year ... status talks will be under way," he told reporters in Pristina, the provincial capital.
But Eide's expected recommendations come as no surprise although they are likely to trigger protests from the Serbian government in Belgrade. While Kosovo's 90-percent ethnic Albanian majority is increasingly impatient for independence, Serbia says this is impossible.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said this week in Paris that he expected the final status talks to begin later this year, based on Eide's review.
"To say this will be a delicate process is an understatement. Not only do Belgrade and Pristina hold diametrically opposing views. Both also lack a stable political leadership, able to make tough decisions," Solana told a conference in Paris on Monday.
The United Nations took over running Kosovo after a 1999 NATO bombing campaign to halt Serb repression of its ethnic Albanians, who make up 90 percent of the population.
Tens of thousands of Serbs then fled the province to escape Albanians bent on revenge for Belgrade's harsh rule, and Belgrade now argues Kosovo's provisional government is doing too little to encourage Serbs to return home and protect those who have already done so.
Macedonia will be the second to recognise Kosovo’s independence (Epoka)
Citing sources in the Macedonian Government, a Macedonian private TV station Kanal 5 reported that Macedonia will be the second state after Albania to recognise the independence of Kosovo if Belgrade and Pristina come to an agreement on this matter. The TV station also reported that the Macedonian Government believes that in the next 18 months the international community will try to convince Serbian authorities to give ground and recognise the independent state of Kosovo.
“Senior sources in the Government are certain that on 1 January 2007 Kosovo will be independent,” reported the TV station.
Lajm newspaper also reports on the front page that Macedonia is willing to recognise the will of the people of Kosovo.
“Senior sources in the Government are certain that on 1 January 2007 Kosovo will be independent,” reported the TV station.
Lajm newspaper also reports on the front page that Macedonia is willing to recognise the will of the people of Kosovo.
Kosovo’s independence – priority of Albanian Parliament
Several daily newspapers cover the meeting that a group of Kosovo Assembly members had in Tirana yesterday with the speaker of the Albanian Parliament, Jozefina Topalli. The meeting focused on Tirana’s role during talks on Kosovo’s final status. According to Zëri, Topalli assured Kosovo MPs that the priority of the Albanian Parliament is the issue of Kosovo and its independence
Dugolli: It’s time for Resolution of Independence at the Assembly
Koha Ditore reports that Bujar Dugolli has not forgotten the Resolution that he had initiated at the Kosovo Assembly in 2003 on behalf of his party (AAK) for the independence of Kosovo. Asked to comment on the issue, Dugolli told the newspaper that now is the moment to vote for the resolution.
The newspaper also quotes Dugolli as saying that now it is not up to him to take over the initiative for the resolution because he holds a position as a minister, but he has pledged to support it. “If someone initiates it now, I will support the Resolution with my vote,” he added.
According to the paper, LPK representative at the Assembly Emrush Xhemajli has expressed the readiness to take over the initiative.
The newspaper also quotes Dugolli as saying that now it is not up to him to take over the initiative for the resolution because he holds a position as a minister, but he has pledged to support it. “If someone initiates it now, I will support the Resolution with my vote,” he added.
According to the paper, LPK representative at the Assembly Emrush Xhemajli has expressed the readiness to take over the initiative.
After status resolution, Kosovo to implement standards toward EU (Zëri)
Zëri quotes PM Kosumi as saying that even after the status resolution, Kosovo will continue to work on standards implementation that will emerge in a new project that is being discussed at the Government and which will be called “Kosovo’s path toward the European Union”. Kosumi made the statement after a meeting he and PDSRSG Larry Rossin had yesterday with the heads of the working groups for standards implementation.
On the same issue, Kosova Sot reports that the Government is stepping up preparations for talks. The paper quotes the PM as saying, “Dialogue with Belgrade, but not on status.”
On the same issue, Kosova Sot reports that the Government is stepping up preparations for talks. The paper quotes the PM as saying, “Dialogue with Belgrade, but not on status.”
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Spahiu: Two key challenges of Kosovo’s negotiating team
Koha Ditore carries an opinion piece by Nexhmedin Spahiu, political analyst and director of RTV Mitrovica. In the subheader of his article, Spahiu suggests that President Rugova should appoint Slavisa Petkovic and Oliver Ivanovic alongside Daci, Kosumi, Thaçi and Surroi in the negotiating team.
According to Spahiu, there are two key challenges for Kosovo’s negotiating team: a) the character of talks and b) the ability to discredit Belgrade’s formulas in the eyes of the international community.
The core of the issue, Spahiu says, is whether talks will be characterised as talks between Albanians, internationals and Serbs or talks between Kosovo, the international community and Serbia. “If talks are held according to the first version, the likeliest epilogue is Kosovo’s division along ethnic lines. And if talks start between Kosovo, the international community and Serbia, the likeliest epilogue is the international recognition of the state of Kosovo. But in order to have a desirable instead of an undesirable effect, the approach should be right from the very start. If Rugova found it reasonable for him, Daci, Kosumi, Thaçi and Surroi to be in the team, then given the current circumstances Oliver Ivanovic and Slavisa Petkovic should also have been included,” says Spahiu. He says it is better late than never and adds that Rugova should expand your team from 5 to 7 members.
Spahiu says that Serbian President’s formula “Kosovo – more than autonomy, less than independence” and the explanation that “the Serbian state shall not interfere in the political life of Kosovo Albanians”, seems very attractive for the international community.
Spahiu says that discrediting this formula is easy but it requires concrete steps that start with the appointment of the negotiating team and are then followed by other steps. “Tadic’s formula implies the strangling of Kosovo. This approach keeps tensions alive between Albanians and Serbs. If Kosovo is strangled, the first to suffer will be the minorities, and primarily the minority that hostile relations with the majority,” he adds.
To conclude, Spahiu says that the political duel is similar to a boxing match, “who makes the wrong moves, suffers”. “The political spectrum in Kosovo seems to alternate between the wrong steps and making no step at all. In this case, victory stands only a theoretical chance, if the opponent hits himself as it often happens in the Balkans,” Spahiu concludes.
According to Spahiu, there are two key challenges for Kosovo’s negotiating team: a) the character of talks and b) the ability to discredit Belgrade’s formulas in the eyes of the international community.
The core of the issue, Spahiu says, is whether talks will be characterised as talks between Albanians, internationals and Serbs or talks between Kosovo, the international community and Serbia. “If talks are held according to the first version, the likeliest epilogue is Kosovo’s division along ethnic lines. And if talks start between Kosovo, the international community and Serbia, the likeliest epilogue is the international recognition of the state of Kosovo. But in order to have a desirable instead of an undesirable effect, the approach should be right from the very start. If Rugova found it reasonable for him, Daci, Kosumi, Thaçi and Surroi to be in the team, then given the current circumstances Oliver Ivanovic and Slavisa Petkovic should also have been included,” says Spahiu. He says it is better late than never and adds that Rugova should expand your team from 5 to 7 members.
Spahiu says that Serbian President’s formula “Kosovo – more than autonomy, less than independence” and the explanation that “the Serbian state shall not interfere in the political life of Kosovo Albanians”, seems very attractive for the international community.
Spahiu says that discrediting this formula is easy but it requires concrete steps that start with the appointment of the negotiating team and are then followed by other steps. “Tadic’s formula implies the strangling of Kosovo. This approach keeps tensions alive between Albanians and Serbs. If Kosovo is strangled, the first to suffer will be the minorities, and primarily the minority that hostile relations with the majority,” he adds.
To conclude, Spahiu says that the political duel is similar to a boxing match, “who makes the wrong moves, suffers”. “The political spectrum in Kosovo seems to alternate between the wrong steps and making no step at all. In this case, victory stands only a theoretical chance, if the opponent hits himself as it often happens in the Balkans,” Spahiu concludes.
Poverty and violence are still commonplace in Kosovo
By Timothy Kenny
September 25, 2005
PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro -- The unremarkable province of Kosovo remains solidly on the back burner of international news. Six years after a U.S.-led NATO bombing attack ended its war with Serbia, Kosovo is still poor, far away and largely unimportant in the greater geopolitical scheme of things. All that is likely to change in coming weeks.
U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns upped the ante on Kosovo in May when he declared 2005 would be "a year of decision for Kosovo." The United States--like the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and much of the international community that is keeping Kosovo economically afloat--wants to leave. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has commissioned Norwegian diplomat Kai Eide to write a report that outlines whether Kosovo is ready to begin "final status" talks with Serbia; that is, how and whether it can achieve independence.
Eide's report is expected this fall. What it says--or doesn't say--could serve as a catalyst for much change, including bringing always-simmering violence once again to the fore, as in March 2004, when two days of Albanian-triggered riots left at least 19 dead, 550 homes burned and 4,100 minority Serb citizens displaced, according to Human Rights Watch and the UN.
Violence has not cropped up on a similar scale since, but low-level trouble continues on a regular basis.
Andrew Kirkwood, deputy head of the UN's Department of Crime in Pristina, said in an interview, "We get grenades thrown on a regular basis. Back home somebody might throw a bottle through a window. Here it's a hand grenade. There's a surplus of ordnance here from the war."
Usually, said Kirkwood, a policeman from Glasgow, Scotland, "There's no motive for these attacks. We had one a couple of days ago. It's very, very common."
An early-July explosion struck for the first time in the United Nations compound here, despite its 10-foot-high concrete barriers, gates and guards. The blast stands as a stark reminder that security remains fragile in Kosovo.
During a late-June visit it was clear that in this dusty, hardscrabble province where daily life is still punctuated by random cuts in water and electricity and soaring unemployment, good news remains hard to come by. Violence is common, from a second assassination attempt against President Ibrahim Rugova in March to a political party office bombing in April that injured three schoolchildren nearby.
Economy stumbling
Just as common is poverty. Kosovo's economy stumbles along, supported by donations from relatives abroad and an illegal black market.
"People are starving in Kosovo," said Ali Rexha, an unemployed Kosovar Albanian. "People are tired of the situation here. It's all economics, in my view; 95 percent of this country [Kosovo] is Albanian and expects independence. It comes down to economics and jobs. But for now, it's about hanging in, so to speak."
The streets of Pristina are filled with daily reminders of tough times. Young men walk from one cafe and bar to another, selling cigarettes and cell phone time cards that U.S. Army officials and UN police say are mostly illegal knockoffs, smuggled across the border from Macedonia and Albania. Younger children sell candy and gum the same way.
"There is no economy here if you're not in the bigger cities where there are jobs or unless you work with the government or for one of the many international organizations here," said California National Guard Brig. Gen. William Wade, commander of Kosovo's Multinational Brigade (East) at Camp Bondsteel, a U.S.-built Army base outside Pristina. "Mostly, you're unemployed."
"Look," said Ibrahim Rexhepi, chief economics editor for Koha Ditore, Kosovo's leading newspaper, "we have alcohol smuggling, . . . we have cigarette smuggling, arms smuggling, the transit of drugs through Kosovo, gasoline smuggling and the trafficking of people. This is the underground economy."
The Kosovo Office of Statistics pegs the province's unemployment rate at 50 percent but says it's likely higher--perhaps 20 points higher--among people age 15 to 30 who make up an estimated half of the population. Organized crime is widespread, according to UN police. The picture does not bode well for Kosovo's immediate future.
"Everybody is expecting troubles here," Evliana Berani, a documentary filmmaker, said in an e-mail from Pristina. "Some people believe that social unrest might be caused by the huge poverty and the lack of economic perspective. If I am sure of something, it is that people are more and more unhappy with lack of investments, the huge percentage that live in poverty and high unemployment. This is a climate that can be easily used by somebody who doesn't want a stable Kosovo."
Downsizing has begun
Stability, already hard to come by in Kosovo, could get worse if the UN leaves. The United Nations mission in Kosovo "is not going to stay here very long," UN spokesman Neeraj Singh said. "The downsizing has already begun. We're in the middle of restructuring UNMIK so it more accurately reflects the changed circumstances."
A draft plan to hand over the police and justice systems to complete Kosovar control is under way, he said, even if it's unlikely to happen by June 2006, the proposed deadline.
"The whole downsizing plan is flexible," Singh said.
Politicians, both Serb and Kosovar, are not happy with the push to resolve the province's "final status."
"It's very possible that the internationals see that the status quo cannot hold any more and the process for a final settlement should be there," said Ylber Hysa, deputy leader of the Ora (Hour) political party. "I think there's a risk that things could be pushed toward a faster exit strategy" than Kosovo can handle, he added.
In a telephone interview from the ethnically divided city of Mitrovica in the north, Oliver Ivanovic, leader of the Kosovo Serb political party that won 8 of 10 seats in the last parliamentary elections, echoed Hysa's comments. "This is international people forcing the situation," Ivanovic said. "But neither side is ready for these talks. The Serbian side will never accept independence by any means."
"Mostly," he said, "[status talks are] for the people who are tired of being here and who want to create a way out. It is simply not the right time."
Left unspoken is whether new violence is inevitable. The OSCE ran security exercises recently, including a rehearsal for an evacuation of its staff.
"The March [2004] riots came as a wake-up call to the international community," said Hua Jiang, UN spokesman in Pristina. "The UN would say we can't stay here forever. We also can't leave things as they are. As the date of the completion of Kai Eide's report gets closer, plus the illness of President Rugova [diagnosed recently with cancer], the situation could become more volatile."
There are some 3,500 UNMIK international police in Kosovo, 2,500 of them international civilian officers and 1,000 special support police units. There are also 6,500 UN-trained local Kosovo police and some 7,000 NATO troops. Police were clearly overwhelmed trying to contain the violence of March 2004, police and UN officials say.
Kosovars like Rexha put their worries bluntly: "The next few months are critical. I think it's either going to be good or really, really bad. What we saw on TV in 1999 is nothing."
----------
Timothy Kenny, a former journalist, is an associate professor of journalism at the University of Connecticut.
September 25, 2005
PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro -- The unremarkable province of Kosovo remains solidly on the back burner of international news. Six years after a U.S.-led NATO bombing attack ended its war with Serbia, Kosovo is still poor, far away and largely unimportant in the greater geopolitical scheme of things. All that is likely to change in coming weeks.
U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns upped the ante on Kosovo in May when he declared 2005 would be "a year of decision for Kosovo." The United States--like the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and much of the international community that is keeping Kosovo economically afloat--wants to leave. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has commissioned Norwegian diplomat Kai Eide to write a report that outlines whether Kosovo is ready to begin "final status" talks with Serbia; that is, how and whether it can achieve independence.
Eide's report is expected this fall. What it says--or doesn't say--could serve as a catalyst for much change, including bringing always-simmering violence once again to the fore, as in March 2004, when two days of Albanian-triggered riots left at least 19 dead, 550 homes burned and 4,100 minority Serb citizens displaced, according to Human Rights Watch and the UN.
Violence has not cropped up on a similar scale since, but low-level trouble continues on a regular basis.
Andrew Kirkwood, deputy head of the UN's Department of Crime in Pristina, said in an interview, "We get grenades thrown on a regular basis. Back home somebody might throw a bottle through a window. Here it's a hand grenade. There's a surplus of ordnance here from the war."
Usually, said Kirkwood, a policeman from Glasgow, Scotland, "There's no motive for these attacks. We had one a couple of days ago. It's very, very common."
An early-July explosion struck for the first time in the United Nations compound here, despite its 10-foot-high concrete barriers, gates and guards. The blast stands as a stark reminder that security remains fragile in Kosovo.
During a late-June visit it was clear that in this dusty, hardscrabble province where daily life is still punctuated by random cuts in water and electricity and soaring unemployment, good news remains hard to come by. Violence is common, from a second assassination attempt against President Ibrahim Rugova in March to a political party office bombing in April that injured three schoolchildren nearby.
Economy stumbling
Just as common is poverty. Kosovo's economy stumbles along, supported by donations from relatives abroad and an illegal black market.
"People are starving in Kosovo," said Ali Rexha, an unemployed Kosovar Albanian. "People are tired of the situation here. It's all economics, in my view; 95 percent of this country [Kosovo] is Albanian and expects independence. It comes down to economics and jobs. But for now, it's about hanging in, so to speak."
The streets of Pristina are filled with daily reminders of tough times. Young men walk from one cafe and bar to another, selling cigarettes and cell phone time cards that U.S. Army officials and UN police say are mostly illegal knockoffs, smuggled across the border from Macedonia and Albania. Younger children sell candy and gum the same way.
"There is no economy here if you're not in the bigger cities where there are jobs or unless you work with the government or for one of the many international organizations here," said California National Guard Brig. Gen. William Wade, commander of Kosovo's Multinational Brigade (East) at Camp Bondsteel, a U.S.-built Army base outside Pristina. "Mostly, you're unemployed."
"Look," said Ibrahim Rexhepi, chief economics editor for Koha Ditore, Kosovo's leading newspaper, "we have alcohol smuggling, . . . we have cigarette smuggling, arms smuggling, the transit of drugs through Kosovo, gasoline smuggling and the trafficking of people. This is the underground economy."
The Kosovo Office of Statistics pegs the province's unemployment rate at 50 percent but says it's likely higher--perhaps 20 points higher--among people age 15 to 30 who make up an estimated half of the population. Organized crime is widespread, according to UN police. The picture does not bode well for Kosovo's immediate future.
"Everybody is expecting troubles here," Evliana Berani, a documentary filmmaker, said in an e-mail from Pristina. "Some people believe that social unrest might be caused by the huge poverty and the lack of economic perspective. If I am sure of something, it is that people are more and more unhappy with lack of investments, the huge percentage that live in poverty and high unemployment. This is a climate that can be easily used by somebody who doesn't want a stable Kosovo."
Downsizing has begun
Stability, already hard to come by in Kosovo, could get worse if the UN leaves. The United Nations mission in Kosovo "is not going to stay here very long," UN spokesman Neeraj Singh said. "The downsizing has already begun. We're in the middle of restructuring UNMIK so it more accurately reflects the changed circumstances."
A draft plan to hand over the police and justice systems to complete Kosovar control is under way, he said, even if it's unlikely to happen by June 2006, the proposed deadline.
"The whole downsizing plan is flexible," Singh said.
Politicians, both Serb and Kosovar, are not happy with the push to resolve the province's "final status."
"It's very possible that the internationals see that the status quo cannot hold any more and the process for a final settlement should be there," said Ylber Hysa, deputy leader of the Ora (Hour) political party. "I think there's a risk that things could be pushed toward a faster exit strategy" than Kosovo can handle, he added.
In a telephone interview from the ethnically divided city of Mitrovica in the north, Oliver Ivanovic, leader of the Kosovo Serb political party that won 8 of 10 seats in the last parliamentary elections, echoed Hysa's comments. "This is international people forcing the situation," Ivanovic said. "But neither side is ready for these talks. The Serbian side will never accept independence by any means."
"Mostly," he said, "[status talks are] for the people who are tired of being here and who want to create a way out. It is simply not the right time."
Left unspoken is whether new violence is inevitable. The OSCE ran security exercises recently, including a rehearsal for an evacuation of its staff.
"The March [2004] riots came as a wake-up call to the international community," said Hua Jiang, UN spokesman in Pristina. "The UN would say we can't stay here forever. We also can't leave things as they are. As the date of the completion of Kai Eide's report gets closer, plus the illness of President Rugova [diagnosed recently with cancer], the situation could become more volatile."
There are some 3,500 UNMIK international police in Kosovo, 2,500 of them international civilian officers and 1,000 special support police units. There are also 6,500 UN-trained local Kosovo police and some 7,000 NATO troops. Police were clearly overwhelmed trying to contain the violence of March 2004, police and UN officials say.
Kosovars like Rexha put their worries bluntly: "The next few months are critical. I think it's either going to be good or really, really bad. What we saw on TV in 1999 is nothing."
----------
Timothy Kenny, a former journalist, is an associate professor of journalism at the University of Connecticut.
Macedonia Ready to Recognize Kosovo’s Independence?
According to Skopje’s Television Channel 5, Ali Ahmeti, leader of the Democratic Union for Integration (BDI), pointed out that Kosovo’s independence would bring peace and stability to Macedonia and in the region. Ahmeti made this statement right after his meeting with the People’s Movement for Kosovo in Pristina. Such statement could represent the common opinion of Macedonian society.
Media in Skopje informs that BDI partners in the government – the social democrats of Crvenkovski and Buckovski, have not made a comment regarding former partisan commander’s statement but they do not reject the claim that they are ready to recognize Kosovo’s statute right after Albania does so.
Government circles believe that in the next 18 months, the international community will concentrate on resolving the Kosovo issue and convincing Belgrade to recognize Kosovo’s independence. Therefore, January 1st 2007 could be considered possible independence day for Kosovo.
Media in Skopje informs that BDI partners in the government – the social democrats of Crvenkovski and Buckovski, have not made a comment regarding former partisan commander’s statement but they do not reject the claim that they are ready to recognize Kosovo’s statute right after Albania does so.
Government circles believe that in the next 18 months, the international community will concentrate on resolving the Kosovo issue and convincing Belgrade to recognize Kosovo’s independence. Therefore, January 1st 2007 could be considered possible independence day for Kosovo.
Poverty still widespread in Kosovo: World Bank
PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro, Sept 27 (AFP) -
Poverty remains widespread in Kosovo more than six years after fighting with Serb forces here ended, the World Bank said Tuesday.
Around 15 percent of Kosovo's population lived in "extreme poverty", surviving on less than 93 euro cents (1.12 dollars) a day, while another 37 percent got by with under 1.42 euros (1.70 dollars), the bank said in a report.
"Kosovo faces an important policy challenge in the coming years," said Kanthan Shankar, the World Bank's representative in the province.
"This requires a strong commitment by government policymakers and their international partners to work together and implement policy programs that sustain and accelerate broad-based growth and thereby contribute to poverty reduction," Shankar said.
The World Bank said Kosovo's worst-hit groups were the elderly, disabled, unemployed and households led by women.
The province has been under UN administration since June 1999, when NATO bombing ended a Serbian crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists who fought against the regime of then-Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic.
The initial economic priorities of the UN mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) were to re-establish the provision of basic goods and services, set up a minimal welfare net and rehabilitate utilities.
Since the end of the conflict, a series of small commercial activities flourished in Kosovo, but that level of growth has proved to be difficult to sustain.
While improving, Kosovo's agricultural sector has failed to reach pre-war levels and remains fragile. Things are even worse for the province's industrial sector which needs to be rebuilt and remains at a standstill.
Poverty remains widespread in Kosovo more than six years after fighting with Serb forces here ended, the World Bank said Tuesday.
Around 15 percent of Kosovo's population lived in "extreme poverty", surviving on less than 93 euro cents (1.12 dollars) a day, while another 37 percent got by with under 1.42 euros (1.70 dollars), the bank said in a report.
"Kosovo faces an important policy challenge in the coming years," said Kanthan Shankar, the World Bank's representative in the province.
"This requires a strong commitment by government policymakers and their international partners to work together and implement policy programs that sustain and accelerate broad-based growth and thereby contribute to poverty reduction," Shankar said.
The World Bank said Kosovo's worst-hit groups were the elderly, disabled, unemployed and households led by women.
The province has been under UN administration since June 1999, when NATO bombing ended a Serbian crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists who fought against the regime of then-Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic.
The initial economic priorities of the UN mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) were to re-establish the provision of basic goods and services, set up a minimal welfare net and rehabilitate utilities.
Since the end of the conflict, a series of small commercial activities flourished in Kosovo, but that level of growth has proved to be difficult to sustain.
While improving, Kosovo's agricultural sector has failed to reach pre-war levels and remains fragile. Things are even worse for the province's industrial sector which needs to be rebuilt and remains at a standstill.
Shala: Solana and Kosovo’s status
Zëri carries an editorial by publisher Blerim Shala, who says that Solana has now emphasized some capital moments that will characterize the status process.
Solution of the Kosovo status is based on three main principles; Kosovo borders cannot change, there should not be division of Kosovo, Kosovo should become an independent state and the West should continue with its political and military presence in Kosovo after the solution of the status. This solution is in full accordance with the stance of Javier Solana, concludes Shala.
Solution of the Kosovo status is based on three main principles; Kosovo borders cannot change, there should not be division of Kosovo, Kosovo should become an independent state and the West should continue with its political and military presence in Kosovo after the solution of the status. This solution is in full accordance with the stance of Javier Solana, concludes Shala.
SRSG: Status resolution starts this year and ends in 2006
“Status talks to start this year – solution next year” said the SRSG, Jessen-Petersen at Pristina Airport upon his return from New York, dailies write on the front page.
Koha Ditore says that after a week away from Kosovo, the SRSG brought back two messages; that the status talks will start by the end of the year and will definitely conclude by the end of 2006 and that the Kosovans should not think that with the launch of status talks everything is over. According to the paper the SRSG said that the international community expects Kosovans to keep up the pace of work and have no delays. The SRSG also expect that Wednesday Kosovans will conclude their work in preparing a ‘team of unity’.
with regard to recommendations of the Secretary General Kofi Annan in the middle of October and I am convinced that we will enter status talks”.
Express writes that the SRSG has confirmed that Martti Ahtisaari is on the focus to lead status talks.
Koha Ditore says that after a week away from Kosovo, the SRSG brought back two messages; that the status talks will start by the end of the year and will definitely conclude by the end of 2006 and that the Kosovans should not think that with the launch of status talks everything is over. According to the paper the SRSG said that the international community expects Kosovans to keep up the pace of work and have no delays. The SRSG also expect that Wednesday Kosovans will conclude their work in preparing a ‘team of unity’.
with regard to recommendations of the Secretary General Kofi Annan in the middle of October and I am convinced that we will enter status talks”.
Express writes that the SRSG has confirmed that Martti Ahtisaari is on the focus to lead status talks.
Monday, September 26, 2005
Macedonian Albanian leader Ahmeti visits Kosovo, backs independence
Pristina, 26 September: Ali Ahmeti, leader of the Democratic Union for Integration, last weekend [24-25 September] paid a visit to Pristina and met with Emrush Xhemajli, chairman of the People's Movement of Kosovo, Kosovo and Albanian media told Monday [26 September].
The meeting, as MIA reports, focused on current political situation prior to expected negotiations on Kosovo status.
Ahmeti reiterated the position of his party for support of independence of Kosovo and stated that both Macedonian and Albanian parties are convinced that "Kosovo independence will contribute to stability, security and peace in Macedonia and the region", media told.
Source: MIA news agency, Skopje, in English 0913 gmt 26 Sep 05
The meeting, as MIA reports, focused on current political situation prior to expected negotiations on Kosovo status.
Ahmeti reiterated the position of his party for support of independence of Kosovo and stated that both Macedonian and Albanian parties are convinced that "Kosovo independence will contribute to stability, security and peace in Macedonia and the region", media told.
Source: MIA news agency, Skopje, in English 0913 gmt 26 Sep 05
Kosovo status talks set for go-ahead - EU's Solana
PARIS, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Talks on the final status of Serbia's breakaway Kosovo province are likely to begin later this year, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said on Monday.
The United Nations has run the majority-Albanian province, although it is legally part of Serbia, since NATO bombed Serbia in 1999 to compel the withdrawal of Serb forces accused of using indiscriminate violence to fight an ethnic Albanian insurgency.
The U.N. now has to decide whether Kosovo has made enough progress on standards of democracy, minority rights and security for the start of "final status" talks, which Albanians hope will bring formal independence.
Solana gave no indication what was in a report being drawn up by U.N. special envoy Kai Eide that could give the green light for talks to start, but he was clearly optimistic.
"We can expect, on the basis of Kai Eide's review of standards, that negotiations will begin later this year," Solana told a conference in Paris.
"To say this will be a delicate process is an understatement. Not only do Belgrade and Pristina hold diametrically opposing views. Both also lack a stable political leadership, able to take tough decisions."
Eide is due to make a recommendation to Secretary-General Kofi Annan next month on whether to launch status talks or postpone the process.
Kosovo's U.N. governor Soren Jessen-Petersen was quoted last week as saying the status talks would likely win approval because, while standards had not yet been fully met, the current "holding operation" was not sustainable.
Kosovo's 90 percent Albanian majority wants independence while Serbia wants to maintain sovereignty but give the province wide autonomy.
Solana said the Balkans was a vital area of EU foreign policy and that 2006 will be a crucial year for the region.
"The importance of continued EU engagement cannot be overstated. More than any other region in the world, this is a European responsibility. Simply put, we cannot afford to fail," he said.
The United Nations has run the majority-Albanian province, although it is legally part of Serbia, since NATO bombed Serbia in 1999 to compel the withdrawal of Serb forces accused of using indiscriminate violence to fight an ethnic Albanian insurgency.
The U.N. now has to decide whether Kosovo has made enough progress on standards of democracy, minority rights and security for the start of "final status" talks, which Albanians hope will bring formal independence.
Solana gave no indication what was in a report being drawn up by U.N. special envoy Kai Eide that could give the green light for talks to start, but he was clearly optimistic.
"We can expect, on the basis of Kai Eide's review of standards, that negotiations will begin later this year," Solana told a conference in Paris.
"To say this will be a delicate process is an understatement. Not only do Belgrade and Pristina hold diametrically opposing views. Both also lack a stable political leadership, able to take tough decisions."
Eide is due to make a recommendation to Secretary-General Kofi Annan next month on whether to launch status talks or postpone the process.
Kosovo's U.N. governor Soren Jessen-Petersen was quoted last week as saying the status talks would likely win approval because, while standards had not yet been fully met, the current "holding operation" was not sustainable.
Kosovo's 90 percent Albanian majority wants independence while Serbia wants to maintain sovereignty but give the province wide autonomy.
Solana said the Balkans was a vital area of EU foreign policy and that 2006 will be a crucial year for the region.
"The importance of continued EU engagement cannot be overstated. More than any other region in the world, this is a European responsibility. Simply put, we cannot afford to fail," he said.
1st Information Technology Fair in Kosovo End
The first Information Technology Trade Fair in Kosovo was officially closed yesterday, September 25. Advanced technology by 34 companies from Kosovo and Macedonia were exhibited at the three-day fair. During the three days of the Fair, over 10,000 people have visited the fair.
The organizers, CEO company from Prishtina, estimated the fair as extremely successfull. All participants of the Fair received certificates for their participation.
This was the first fair of its type organized in Kosovo.
The organizers, CEO company from Prishtina, estimated the fair as extremely successfull. All participants of the Fair received certificates for their participation.
This was the first fair of its type organized in Kosovo.
Independence, if not through dialogue, through war (Lajm)
Lajm reports on the front page that the logic of war is still present in Kosovo. The paper notes that the National Movement for the Liberation of Kosovo (LKÇK) is trying to convince the biggest political parties that war is the best way to achieve the aspirations of Kosovo citizens. The biggest political parties however think that these ideas are premature; they support negotiations but not negotiations on independence.
Eide: I am not under pressure (Express)
Diplomatic sources from New York have told Express that Ambassador Kai Eide will submit his report in the first week of October. Eide will submit his report to UN Secretary General Annan and the report will be sent to the UN Security Council for confirming the recommendations.
The Ambassador is also quoted as saying that he is under no pressure whatsoever to polish his report.
The Ambassador is also quoted as saying that he is under no pressure whatsoever to polish his report.
Sunday, September 25, 2005
Kosovo Trust Agency launches privatization of 22 socially owned enterprises
Text of report in English by independent internet news agency KosovaLive
Prishtina [Pristina], 23 September: The Kosova [Kosovo] Trust Agency [KTA] board launched yesterday evening the ninth wave of privatization, which will include 22 Socially Owned Enterprises [SOEs].
SherriCem in Hani i Elezit [Djeneral Jankovic] and Food Oil Factory in Ferizaj [Urosevac] are among the SOEs that will be put for sale.
The KTA also agreed that there would be no second bids. The board deputy Bujar Dugolli said that it was an important decision, because it will eliminate possible secret agreements, which aim at buying the SOEs at cheaper price.
However the KTA board has reached no decision about the ratification of contract with Alferon, who was declared as temporarily winning bidder of Ferronikel.
Dugolli said that they would decide about Ferronikel in two weeks' time after UNMIK [UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo] Pillar I check all Alferon's documents.
The issue of Irish ESBI, whose contract to manage the KEK [Kosovo Energy Corporation] expires in July next year, was also discussed, "The KTA board is about to reach a decision, which will be accepted by everyone," said Dugolli.
Also, the KTA board has discussed about the PTK [Kosovo Post Telecom] plan for strategic alliance with British Telecom [BT].
Source: KosovaLive website, Pristina, in English 23 Sep 05
Prishtina [Pristina], 23 September: The Kosova [Kosovo] Trust Agency [KTA] board launched yesterday evening the ninth wave of privatization, which will include 22 Socially Owned Enterprises [SOEs].
SherriCem in Hani i Elezit [Djeneral Jankovic] and Food Oil Factory in Ferizaj [Urosevac] are among the SOEs that will be put for sale.
The KTA also agreed that there would be no second bids. The board deputy Bujar Dugolli said that it was an important decision, because it will eliminate possible secret agreements, which aim at buying the SOEs at cheaper price.
However the KTA board has reached no decision about the ratification of contract with Alferon, who was declared as temporarily winning bidder of Ferronikel.
Dugolli said that they would decide about Ferronikel in two weeks' time after UNMIK [UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo] Pillar I check all Alferon's documents.
The issue of Irish ESBI, whose contract to manage the KEK [Kosovo Energy Corporation] expires in July next year, was also discussed, "The KTA board is about to reach a decision, which will be accepted by everyone," said Dugolli.
Also, the KTA board has discussed about the PTK [Kosovo Post Telecom] plan for strategic alliance with British Telecom [BT].
Source: KosovaLive website, Pristina, in English 23 Sep 05
Belgrade, Pristina entrenched over Kosovo independence as talks loom
BELGRADE, Sept 25 (AFP) -
As preparations for the long-awaited talks on Kosovo's future status gather momentum, the chances of a breakthrough compromise between Belgrade and Pristina seem as distant as ever.
Kosovo, which is still technically part of Serbia, has been administered by the United Nations since former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic's attempt to crush separatism was ended in June 1999 after a NATO bombing campaign.
The key issue in the negotiations expected to start within weeks, more than six years after the Kosovo war ended, is whether or not the Serbian province should be allowed to become independent.
Pristina says it is not even willing to discuss the subject with Belgrade, which remains vehemently opposed to any form of independence.
"Unfortunately, by still insisting only on independence, the Kosovo Albanians have not moved from the trenches from the period before 1999," Serbia-Montenegro Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic told a session of the UN General Assembly this week.
His comments came after the Serbian government revealed for the first time a detailed explanation of its offer to Pristina of "more than autonomy, less than independence".
The Belgrade policy was to allow the Albanian side in the troubled province to have "executive, legal and legislative power" while remaining within Serbia's boundaries, its new Kosovo envoy Sanda Raskovic-Ivic said.
The recently appointed chair of Serbia's Coordination Centre for Kosovo said Belgrade's "compromise" included making Kosovo a demilitarised zone in order to prevent the formation of paramilitary units and deny Serbian forces any presence.
Kosovo's political leaders responded by flatly rejecting the proposals.
"The establishment of the state of Kosovo is an issue which is non-negotiable with Serbia," said the province's Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi.
"We will negotiate with Serbia agreements on many issues of common interest such as the cultural and religious heritage of Kosovo Serbs, guarantees for the minorities in Kosovo and refugees.
"(However) we can negotiate about the future status of Kosovo only with the international community," Kosumi said.
"The international community should not waste its time and money in finding a solution that does not match with Kosovars," said Nexhat Daci, Kosovo's parliamentary speaker.
The talks on Kosovo's future status cannot start until after UN special envoy Kai Eide presents UN Secretary General Kofi Annan a report on whether the province has met a series of international democratic standards.
They are expected to be held in the form of shuttle diplomacy between Belgrade and Pristina starting in November and are likely to be mediated by delegates headed by former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, according to Serbia-Montenegro's human rights minister, Rasim Ljajic.
A source in Belgrade close to the international community told AFP this week that it seemed clear from the preparations for the talks that the negotiations were likely to lead to "conditional independence".
"That means internal and foreign affairs transferred to Kosovo's government and everything else meaning practical independence, but without any international recognition," said the source, who wished to remain unnamed.
All powers would be transferred to Pristina but Kosovo would remain a "protectorate" of the European Union concerning human and minority rights for several years, after which the province's status would be reviewed again.
The negotiations are expected to last for several months.
As preparations for the long-awaited talks on Kosovo's future status gather momentum, the chances of a breakthrough compromise between Belgrade and Pristina seem as distant as ever.
Kosovo, which is still technically part of Serbia, has been administered by the United Nations since former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic's attempt to crush separatism was ended in June 1999 after a NATO bombing campaign.
The key issue in the negotiations expected to start within weeks, more than six years after the Kosovo war ended, is whether or not the Serbian province should be allowed to become independent.
Pristina says it is not even willing to discuss the subject with Belgrade, which remains vehemently opposed to any form of independence.
"Unfortunately, by still insisting only on independence, the Kosovo Albanians have not moved from the trenches from the period before 1999," Serbia-Montenegro Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic told a session of the UN General Assembly this week.
His comments came after the Serbian government revealed for the first time a detailed explanation of its offer to Pristina of "more than autonomy, less than independence".
The Belgrade policy was to allow the Albanian side in the troubled province to have "executive, legal and legislative power" while remaining within Serbia's boundaries, its new Kosovo envoy Sanda Raskovic-Ivic said.
The recently appointed chair of Serbia's Coordination Centre for Kosovo said Belgrade's "compromise" included making Kosovo a demilitarised zone in order to prevent the formation of paramilitary units and deny Serbian forces any presence.
Kosovo's political leaders responded by flatly rejecting the proposals.
"The establishment of the state of Kosovo is an issue which is non-negotiable with Serbia," said the province's Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi.
"We will negotiate with Serbia agreements on many issues of common interest such as the cultural and religious heritage of Kosovo Serbs, guarantees for the minorities in Kosovo and refugees.
"(However) we can negotiate about the future status of Kosovo only with the international community," Kosumi said.
"The international community should not waste its time and money in finding a solution that does not match with Kosovars," said Nexhat Daci, Kosovo's parliamentary speaker.
The talks on Kosovo's future status cannot start until after UN special envoy Kai Eide presents UN Secretary General Kofi Annan a report on whether the province has met a series of international democratic standards.
They are expected to be held in the form of shuttle diplomacy between Belgrade and Pristina starting in November and are likely to be mediated by delegates headed by former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, according to Serbia-Montenegro's human rights minister, Rasim Ljajic.
A source in Belgrade close to the international community told AFP this week that it seemed clear from the preparations for the talks that the negotiations were likely to lead to "conditional independence".
"That means internal and foreign affairs transferred to Kosovo's government and everything else meaning practical independence, but without any international recognition," said the source, who wished to remain unnamed.
All powers would be transferred to Pristina but Kosovo would remain a "protectorate" of the European Union concerning human and minority rights for several years, after which the province's status would be reviewed again.
The negotiations are expected to last for several months.
Friday, September 23, 2005
Picture of the Day - Serbian and Kosovo Culture Ministers Met For the First Time
Picture of the Day - Serbian, Kosovo Culture Ministers Met For First Time
Originally uploaded by kosovareport.
Belgrade hosts historic visit by Kosovo minister
BELGRADE, Sept 23 (AFP) -
Kosovo's Culture Minister Astrit Haracia paid on Friday an historic visit to Belgrade, holding talks with his Serbian counterpart about cultural matters, the Serbian government said.
Haracia met with Serbia's culture chief Dragan Kojadinovic in the first face-to-face meeting between politicians from Belgrade and Pristina since the 1999 war ended, a Serbian ministry of culture official told AFP.
Haracia informed Kojadinovic that reconstruction of Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries damaged during the March 2004 anti-Serb violence would start on October 10, the government said in a statement.
The Kosovo minister promised that local institutions in the province would provide 1.5 million euros (1.8 million dollars) in addition to 4.2 million euros already allocated for renovation, the statement said.
Nineteen people were killed, more than 900 were injured and some 4,000, mostly Serbs, were left homeless when Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority exploded in a frenzy of anti-Serb destruction in March 2004.
During the three days of violence, several hundred Serb houses were damaged or destroyed and dozens of Serb churches and monasteries, some dating back hundreds of years, were razed in the worst violence in the province since the 1998-1999 war.
The two ministers also agreed to form joint working groups to discuss the return of documents, historic and cultural heritage taken during the withdrawal of Serb forces from the province at the end of the conflict.
Kosovo has been under United Nations administration since June 1999 after NATO bombing ended a Serbian crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists who fought against the regime of then-Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic.
Senior officials from Serbia and Kosovo have since met several times but under international mediation.
Kosovo's Culture Minister Astrit Haracia paid on Friday an historic visit to Belgrade, holding talks with his Serbian counterpart about cultural matters, the Serbian government said.
Haracia met with Serbia's culture chief Dragan Kojadinovic in the first face-to-face meeting between politicians from Belgrade and Pristina since the 1999 war ended, a Serbian ministry of culture official told AFP.
Haracia informed Kojadinovic that reconstruction of Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries damaged during the March 2004 anti-Serb violence would start on October 10, the government said in a statement.
The Kosovo minister promised that local institutions in the province would provide 1.5 million euros (1.8 million dollars) in addition to 4.2 million euros already allocated for renovation, the statement said.
Nineteen people were killed, more than 900 were injured and some 4,000, mostly Serbs, were left homeless when Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority exploded in a frenzy of anti-Serb destruction in March 2004.
During the three days of violence, several hundred Serb houses were damaged or destroyed and dozens of Serb churches and monasteries, some dating back hundreds of years, were razed in the worst violence in the province since the 1998-1999 war.
The two ministers also agreed to form joint working groups to discuss the return of documents, historic and cultural heritage taken during the withdrawal of Serb forces from the province at the end of the conflict.
Kosovo has been under United Nations administration since June 1999 after NATO bombing ended a Serbian crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists who fought against the regime of then-Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic.
Senior officials from Serbia and Kosovo have since met several times but under international mediation.
Kosovo has made enough progress for final status talks to start: UN envoy
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The United Nations and its members recognize Kosovo cannot remain under UN administration forever, so talks on deciding its final status will likely get approval as expected, the top UN official for the region said.
Soren Jessen-Petersen said Thursday that the tiny region has made enough progress toward a series of eight benchmarks - including steps toward democracy and multiethnicity - that were necessary for talks to begin. He stressed that none had been fully met and Kosovo still had a long way to go.
"I am very confident that by the end of the year, status discussions will be underway," Jessen-Peterson said. "I think it is more and more understood that this is a process, there has been a lot of progress, there are still shortcomings."
Kosovo officially remains part of Serbia-Montenegro, the union that replaced Yugoslavia. It has been under UN and NATO administration since a 78-day NATO-led air war that halted a Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists in 1999.
The province's majority ethnic Albanians want full independence, but the Serb minority insists Kosovo remain part of Serbia-Montenegro.
A UN special envoy is expected to make a recommendation to Secretary-General Kofi Annan later this month on whether to recommend a start of status talks.
Jessen-Petersen's comments reflected a growing consensus that the talks will get the green light even though the benchmarks have not been fully met.
He said a growing understanding that Kosovo cannot remain in its current state had essentially led governments to think differently about how they viewed progress.
"Maintaining Kosovo as a holding operation six years after it was launched by the Security Council is not sustainable," Jessen-Petersen said. "So I think there is, let's say, a degree of flexibility in looking at progress."
The eight goals, laid out in 2003, include establishing functioning democratic institutions, protecting minorities, promoting economic development, and ensuring rule of law, freedom of movement and property rights.
Jessen-Petersen said governments generally understood that Kosovo would have had an extremely difficult time meeting the goals even under the best circumstances.
"I don't think that there are many societies in Europe today who would indeed live up to all those goals," he said. "So I think it was not so much a change of approach as it was a changing sense of realism."
Yet Jessen-Petersen was also clear that Kosovo must continue to make progress after the talks begin - and even after they end, something he expects to happen sometime in 2006.
Jessen-Petersen refused to speculate on a possible outcome of the talks.
It appears likely that the only real possibility is to work toward Kosovo independence.
"There really are not a lot of options," he said. "But how do you then get the agreement on those options, what are the incentives that you could provide to those who feel that maybe they didn't get it their way?"
Soren Jessen-Petersen said Thursday that the tiny region has made enough progress toward a series of eight benchmarks - including steps toward democracy and multiethnicity - that were necessary for talks to begin. He stressed that none had been fully met and Kosovo still had a long way to go.
"I am very confident that by the end of the year, status discussions will be underway," Jessen-Peterson said. "I think it is more and more understood that this is a process, there has been a lot of progress, there are still shortcomings."
Kosovo officially remains part of Serbia-Montenegro, the union that replaced Yugoslavia. It has been under UN and NATO administration since a 78-day NATO-led air war that halted a Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists in 1999.
The province's majority ethnic Albanians want full independence, but the Serb minority insists Kosovo remain part of Serbia-Montenegro.
A UN special envoy is expected to make a recommendation to Secretary-General Kofi Annan later this month on whether to recommend a start of status talks.
Jessen-Petersen's comments reflected a growing consensus that the talks will get the green light even though the benchmarks have not been fully met.
He said a growing understanding that Kosovo cannot remain in its current state had essentially led governments to think differently about how they viewed progress.
"Maintaining Kosovo as a holding operation six years after it was launched by the Security Council is not sustainable," Jessen-Petersen said. "So I think there is, let's say, a degree of flexibility in looking at progress."
The eight goals, laid out in 2003, include establishing functioning democratic institutions, protecting minorities, promoting economic development, and ensuring rule of law, freedom of movement and property rights.
Jessen-Petersen said governments generally understood that Kosovo would have had an extremely difficult time meeting the goals even under the best circumstances.
"I don't think that there are many societies in Europe today who would indeed live up to all those goals," he said. "So I think it was not so much a change of approach as it was a changing sense of realism."
Yet Jessen-Petersen was also clear that Kosovo must continue to make progress after the talks begin - and even after they end, something he expects to happen sometime in 2006.
Jessen-Petersen refused to speculate on a possible outcome of the talks.
It appears likely that the only real possibility is to work toward Kosovo independence.
"There really are not a lot of options," he said. "But how do you then get the agreement on those options, what are the incentives that you could provide to those who feel that maybe they didn't get it their way?"
Securing Kosovo's Future by Boris Tadic - The Wall Street Journal Europe
Since my election more than 15 months ago, I have devoted considerable resources reforging a strategic partnership based on common democratic and market principles and interests among Serbia, the United States and Europe.
Yet the months ahead will test the strength of our combined efforts, as we enter talks on the future status of Serbia's southern province of Kosovo and Metohija, under U.N. administration since June 1999. Success will cement the region's democratic revolutions; failure could plunge southeastern Europe back into the violence and instability of the recent past.
As president, it is my duty to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia, which the international community unambiguously recognizes as encompassing Kosovo and Metohija. What is equally certain is that the process can move forward successfully only when states begin to coordinate among themselves to find ways of accommodating one another's interests.
The challenge of finding a negotiated, mutually acceptable solution must be seen in its proper context. Indeed, during the lost decade of the 1990s, the violent ultranationalism of opportunistic postcommunist strongmen brought great misery to millions of people.
Southeastern Europe today presents a different picture. There is widespread recognition that our joint future lies in full European and trans-Atlantic integration -- a guarantor of democratic prosperity to all who have reaped the benefits of membership. For the first time since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the region looks to a hopeful, reconciled, secure and prosperous future. Certainly, obstacles remain, but the road ahead lies clearly before us.
But all this tangible progress could be derailed if we do not properly handle the talks on the future status of Kosovo, slated to begin in the months ahead. It is imperative that stakeholders in its future come together to build a principled peace with justice by doing the things that a lasting settlement requires.
Regrettably, for some the temptation is either to resolve things by foreign fiat or to succumb to the blackmail of those who argue that violence will follow if their demands are not met.
Yet the unmistakable key to securing the region's liberty is to rid it of the nightmare nationalist ideologies of the past where ethnic cleansing, organized church burnings and drive-by shootings are accepted tools of politics. Instead we must embark on a journey that leads to a strategic solution, not an expedient one that takes up the cause of special interests. Thus it would be unreasonable to allow the process to gallop toward a premature solution based on abstract promises, ignoring concrete results already achieved on the ground.
In this light, I see Serbia's proactive role in Kosovo's future status talks as an opportunity, not a liability, precisely because the stakes are so high: the future of our democracy, and the future of the region as a whole.
We must all act responsibly in this time of opportunity, and this means that all of us must together formulate the rules that define the approach to a solution. And should Serbia's strategic partners fail to take seriously my country's legitimate interests, such a path would in the end secure no one's liberty.
For our part, we have already acknowledged that the future status of Kosovo will not resemble that of the 1990s. And in the near future, we intend to put forward concrete proposals on such issues as moving the process of decentralization forward and demilitarizing Kosovo; fighting ethnic- and religious-based terrorism; the sustainable return of the more than 200,000 cleansed Serbs, Roma, Turks and others to Kosovo; genuine promotion of democracy; protection of human rights; and safeguarding of religious freedom.
The demands of diplomacy in regions with consolidating democracies such as my own require moving forward honestly. First and foremost, Serbs and Albanians must speak honestly among themselves and directly with each other.
Perhaps more importantly, the dictates of honesty make demands of Serbia's strategic partners as well. Double standards may work in dictatorships, but they are fundamentally inappropriate in democracies. Diplomacy must adapt to the democratic requirements and not the expedients to which one had become accustomed when tyrants prevailed in southeastern Europe.
The United States and Europe must come to terms with the fact the situation in Kosovo is much worse than any of us would like it to be. The worst sort of tyranny of the majority reigns over this land. Kosovo's Serbs, Roma, Turks and other non-Albanians live in conditions worse than those in which Kosovo's Albanians lived during the era of Slobodan Milosevic. In fact, they live in the most abysmal conditions of anyone in Europe.
To gloss over this tragic reality as we approach Kosovo's future status talks is to enter into the process recklessly. This would be of great detriment to the success of our common endeavor, and would blind us to the historic opportunity before us to bring prosperous, democratic stability to the entire region for good.
So let us take up the challenge and do what needs to be done to conquer the past and build a better future for southeastern Europe: a future with no winners or losers, a future of cooperation and integration, a future free of fear, suspicion and mistrust.
---
Mr. Tadic is the president of Serbia.
Yet the months ahead will test the strength of our combined efforts, as we enter talks on the future status of Serbia's southern province of Kosovo and Metohija, under U.N. administration since June 1999. Success will cement the region's democratic revolutions; failure could plunge southeastern Europe back into the violence and instability of the recent past.
As president, it is my duty to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia, which the international community unambiguously recognizes as encompassing Kosovo and Metohija. What is equally certain is that the process can move forward successfully only when states begin to coordinate among themselves to find ways of accommodating one another's interests.
The challenge of finding a negotiated, mutually acceptable solution must be seen in its proper context. Indeed, during the lost decade of the 1990s, the violent ultranationalism of opportunistic postcommunist strongmen brought great misery to millions of people.
Southeastern Europe today presents a different picture. There is widespread recognition that our joint future lies in full European and trans-Atlantic integration -- a guarantor of democratic prosperity to all who have reaped the benefits of membership. For the first time since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the region looks to a hopeful, reconciled, secure and prosperous future. Certainly, obstacles remain, but the road ahead lies clearly before us.
But all this tangible progress could be derailed if we do not properly handle the talks on the future status of Kosovo, slated to begin in the months ahead. It is imperative that stakeholders in its future come together to build a principled peace with justice by doing the things that a lasting settlement requires.
Regrettably, for some the temptation is either to resolve things by foreign fiat or to succumb to the blackmail of those who argue that violence will follow if their demands are not met.
Yet the unmistakable key to securing the region's liberty is to rid it of the nightmare nationalist ideologies of the past where ethnic cleansing, organized church burnings and drive-by shootings are accepted tools of politics. Instead we must embark on a journey that leads to a strategic solution, not an expedient one that takes up the cause of special interests. Thus it would be unreasonable to allow the process to gallop toward a premature solution based on abstract promises, ignoring concrete results already achieved on the ground.
In this light, I see Serbia's proactive role in Kosovo's future status talks as an opportunity, not a liability, precisely because the stakes are so high: the future of our democracy, and the future of the region as a whole.
We must all act responsibly in this time of opportunity, and this means that all of us must together formulate the rules that define the approach to a solution. And should Serbia's strategic partners fail to take seriously my country's legitimate interests, such a path would in the end secure no one's liberty.
For our part, we have already acknowledged that the future status of Kosovo will not resemble that of the 1990s. And in the near future, we intend to put forward concrete proposals on such issues as moving the process of decentralization forward and demilitarizing Kosovo; fighting ethnic- and religious-based terrorism; the sustainable return of the more than 200,000 cleansed Serbs, Roma, Turks and others to Kosovo; genuine promotion of democracy; protection of human rights; and safeguarding of religious freedom.
The demands of diplomacy in regions with consolidating democracies such as my own require moving forward honestly. First and foremost, Serbs and Albanians must speak honestly among themselves and directly with each other.
Perhaps more importantly, the dictates of honesty make demands of Serbia's strategic partners as well. Double standards may work in dictatorships, but they are fundamentally inappropriate in democracies. Diplomacy must adapt to the democratic requirements and not the expedients to which one had become accustomed when tyrants prevailed in southeastern Europe.
The United States and Europe must come to terms with the fact the situation in Kosovo is much worse than any of us would like it to be. The worst sort of tyranny of the majority reigns over this land. Kosovo's Serbs, Roma, Turks and other non-Albanians live in conditions worse than those in which Kosovo's Albanians lived during the era of Slobodan Milosevic. In fact, they live in the most abysmal conditions of anyone in Europe.
To gloss over this tragic reality as we approach Kosovo's future status talks is to enter into the process recklessly. This would be of great detriment to the success of our common endeavor, and would blind us to the historic opportunity before us to bring prosperous, democratic stability to the entire region for good.
So let us take up the challenge and do what needs to be done to conquer the past and build a better future for southeastern Europe: a future with no winners or losers, a future of cooperation and integration, a future free of fear, suspicion and mistrust.
---
Mr. Tadic is the president of Serbia.
U.N. envoy: Kosovo has made enough progress for final status talks to start
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The United Nations and its members recognize Kosovo cannot remain under U.N. administration forever, so talks on deciding its final status will likely get approval as expected, the top U.N. official for the region said.
Soren Jessen-Petersen said Thursday that the tiny region has made enough progress toward a series of eight benchmarks -- including steps toward democracy and multiethnicity -- that were necessary for talks to begin. He stressed that none had been fully met and Kosovo still had a long way to go.
"I am very confident that by the end of the year, status discussions will be underway," Jessen-Peterson said. "I think it is more and more understood that this is a process, there has been a lot of progress, there are still shortcomings."
Kosovo officially remains part of Serbia-Montenegro, the union that replaced Yugoslavia. It has been under U.N. and NATO administration since a 78-day NATO-led air war that halted a Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists in 1999.
The province's majority ethnic Albanians want full independence, but the Serb minority insists Kosovo remain part of Serbia-Montenegro.
A U.N special envoy is expected to make a recommendation to Secretary-General Kofi Annan later this month on whether to recommend a start of status talks. Jessen-Petersen's comments reflected a growing consensus that the talks will get the green light even though the benchmarks have not been fully met.
He said a growing understanding that Kosovo cannot remain in its current state had essentially led governments to think differently about how they viewed progress.
"Maintaining Kosovo as a holding operation six years after it was launched by the Security Council is not sustainable," Jessen-Petersen said. "So I think there is, let's say, a degree of felxibility in looking at progress."
The eight goals, laid out in 2003, include establishing functioning democratic institutions, protecting minorities, promoting economic development, and ensuring rule of law, freedom of movement and property rights.
Jessen-Petersen said governments generally understood that Kosovo would have had an extremely difficult time meeting the goals even under the best circumstances.
"I don't think that there are many societies in Europe today who would indeed live up to all those goals," he said. "So I think it was not so much a change of approach as it was a changing sense of realism."
Yet Jessen-Petersen was also clear that Kosovo must continue to make progress after the talks begin -- and even after they end, something he expects to happen sometime in 2006.
Jessen-Petersen refused to speculate on a possible outcome of the talks.
It appears likely that the only real possibility is to work toward Kosovo independence.
"There really are not a lot of options," he said. "But how do you then get the agreement on those options, what are the incentives that you could provide to those who feel that maybe they didn't get it their way?"
Soren Jessen-Petersen said Thursday that the tiny region has made enough progress toward a series of eight benchmarks -- including steps toward democracy and multiethnicity -- that were necessary for talks to begin. He stressed that none had been fully met and Kosovo still had a long way to go.
"I am very confident that by the end of the year, status discussions will be underway," Jessen-Peterson said. "I think it is more and more understood that this is a process, there has been a lot of progress, there are still shortcomings."
Kosovo officially remains part of Serbia-Montenegro, the union that replaced Yugoslavia. It has been under U.N. and NATO administration since a 78-day NATO-led air war that halted a Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists in 1999.
The province's majority ethnic Albanians want full independence, but the Serb minority insists Kosovo remain part of Serbia-Montenegro.
A U.N special envoy is expected to make a recommendation to Secretary-General Kofi Annan later this month on whether to recommend a start of status talks. Jessen-Petersen's comments reflected a growing consensus that the talks will get the green light even though the benchmarks have not been fully met.
He said a growing understanding that Kosovo cannot remain in its current state had essentially led governments to think differently about how they viewed progress.
"Maintaining Kosovo as a holding operation six years after it was launched by the Security Council is not sustainable," Jessen-Petersen said. "So I think there is, let's say, a degree of felxibility in looking at progress."
The eight goals, laid out in 2003, include establishing functioning democratic institutions, protecting minorities, promoting economic development, and ensuring rule of law, freedom of movement and property rights.
Jessen-Petersen said governments generally understood that Kosovo would have had an extremely difficult time meeting the goals even under the best circumstances.
"I don't think that there are many societies in Europe today who would indeed live up to all those goals," he said. "So I think it was not so much a change of approach as it was a changing sense of realism."
Yet Jessen-Petersen was also clear that Kosovo must continue to make progress after the talks begin -- and even after they end, something he expects to happen sometime in 2006.
Jessen-Petersen refused to speculate on a possible outcome of the talks.
It appears likely that the only real possibility is to work toward Kosovo independence.
"There really are not a lot of options," he said. "But how do you then get the agreement on those options, what are the incentives that you could provide to those who feel that maybe they didn't get it their way?"
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