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?"
Serbian, Kosovo Culture Ministers To Meet For First Time
BELGRADE (AP)--The culture minister of Serbia and his counterpart from Kosovo were to hold talks Friday on the troubled province's cultural heritage.
The meeting in Belgrade comes amid stepped-up contacts between the two ethnically divided sides, ahead of U.N.-mediated negotiations on Kosovo's final status expected later this year.
Dragan Kojadinovic, the Serb minister, said he would focus on the issue of Serbian cultural heritage, Orthodox churches and monasteries destroyed in rioting by ethnic Albanian mobs in March 2004.
Despite promises of speedy repair by Kosovo's interim, ethnic-Albanian government, most of the Serbs' religious sites in Kosovo remain gutted.
The March 2004 violence was the worst since the 1999 NATO air war ended Serbia's crackdown on ethnic Albanians seeking independence and a U.N. mission took over control of Kosovo.
The new outbreak left 19 people dead and about 900 injured, with 800 Serbian homes and 29 Serbian Orthodox churches destroyed. Some 4,000 Serbs fled the U.N.-run province at the time.
Kosovo's culture minister, Astrit Haracia, said his visit to Belgrade - the third attempt to bring the two sides to a table to discuss culture - was " significant" for regional stability.
"I will not discuss political issues," Haracia told The Associated Press ahead of the talks.
"I will go there to demand the return of Kosovo's cultural treasures," Haracia said, referring to 676 archaeological and 571 ethnological artifacts the ethnic Albanian side says were taken to Serbia before NATO's bombing campaign.
"These artifacts are still there and their return to Kosovo remains in limbo," said Kosovo's museum director, Arber Hadri, adding the items were " archaeological treasures and part of Kosovo's cultural identity."
Kosovo officially remains part of Serbia-Montenegro, the union that replaced Yugoslavia. The province's majority ethnic Albanians want full independence, but the Serb minority insists Kosovo remain part of Serbia-Montenegro.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
The meeting in Belgrade comes amid stepped-up contacts between the two ethnically divided sides, ahead of U.N.-mediated negotiations on Kosovo's final status expected later this year.
Dragan Kojadinovic, the Serb minister, said he would focus on the issue of Serbian cultural heritage, Orthodox churches and monasteries destroyed in rioting by ethnic Albanian mobs in March 2004.
Despite promises of speedy repair by Kosovo's interim, ethnic-Albanian government, most of the Serbs' religious sites in Kosovo remain gutted.
The March 2004 violence was the worst since the 1999 NATO air war ended Serbia's crackdown on ethnic Albanians seeking independence and a U.N. mission took over control of Kosovo.
The new outbreak left 19 people dead and about 900 injured, with 800 Serbian homes and 29 Serbian Orthodox churches destroyed. Some 4,000 Serbs fled the U.N.-run province at the time.
Kosovo's culture minister, Astrit Haracia, said his visit to Belgrade - the third attempt to bring the two sides to a table to discuss culture - was " significant" for regional stability.
"I will not discuss political issues," Haracia told The Associated Press ahead of the talks.
"I will go there to demand the return of Kosovo's cultural treasures," Haracia said, referring to 676 archaeological and 571 ethnological artifacts the ethnic Albanian side says were taken to Serbia before NATO's bombing campaign.
"These artifacts are still there and their return to Kosovo remains in limbo," said Kosovo's museum director, Arber Hadri, adding the items were " archaeological treasures and part of Kosovo's cultural identity."
Kosovo officially remains part of Serbia-Montenegro, the union that replaced Yugoslavia. The province's majority ethnic Albanians want full independence, but the Serb minority insists Kosovo remain part of Serbia-Montenegro.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
ITU responds to UNMIK: Code for Kosovo refused
Express reports in its leading front-page story that the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has turned down UNMIK’s request for a telephone code for Kosovo. The paper says that according to the ITU, the only possibility to get a code for Kosovo is to reach an agreement with Serbia on this issue.
Reliable sources in UNMIK told the newspaper that a senior ITU official had informed the SRSG on 9 September that despite all the efforts he couldn’t get the consensus of all ITU countries to designate a special code for Kosovo.
Reliable sources in UNMIK told the newspaper that a senior ITU official had informed the SRSG on 9 September that despite all the efforts he couldn’t get the consensus of all ITU countries to designate a special code for Kosovo.
Hani i Elezit – first to undergo decentralisation
All daily newspapers report that Hani i Elezit will be the first pilot municipal unit in the process of decentralisation. The press notes that PM Kosumi, Local Government Minister Lutfi Haziri and PDSRSG Larry Rossin attended the inauguration ceremony.
Koha Ditore quotes PM Kosumi as saying that the government plan doesn’t create extensive autonomy for ethnic groups but offers autonomy to Kosovo citizens in their respective municipalities. “This is the only plan that we have and it cannot be changed according to someone’s wish or the needs of daily politics,” Kosumi added.
PDSRSG Larry Rossin is quoted as saying that the inaugural session of the municipal assembly in Hani i Elezit proves the commitment of the gGovernment and local authorities to implement the process of decentralisation. Koha says that Rossin also called on Kosovo Serbs to follow the example of Hani i Elezit.
Koha Ditore quotes PM Kosumi as saying that the government plan doesn’t create extensive autonomy for ethnic groups but offers autonomy to Kosovo citizens in their respective municipalities. “This is the only plan that we have and it cannot be changed according to someone’s wish or the needs of daily politics,” Kosumi added.
PDSRSG Larry Rossin is quoted as saying that the inaugural session of the municipal assembly in Hani i Elezit proves the commitment of the gGovernment and local authorities to implement the process of decentralisation. Koha says that Rossin also called on Kosovo Serbs to follow the example of Hani i Elezit.
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Serbian war crimes suspect Demirovic loses bid to remain in Canada
TORONTO (AP) - A Serbian war crimes suspect accused in a Kosovo massacre of children and their mothers has lost his final bid to remain in Canada and will be deported back to Serbia-Montenegro to stand trial, according to court documents obtained Thursday.
Dejan Demirovic, 30, was a member of the nefarious Scorpions paramilitary unit and is accused of killing at least 14 ethnic Albanian civilians when his unit stormed the northern Kosovo town of Podujevo in March 1999. Survivors said the men lined up children and their mothers, shoved them against a wall and sprayed them with machine-gun fire.
Another member of the Scorpions, Sasa Cvjetan, was convicted by a Belgrade court in June in the same massacre and given a 20-year prison sentence. The Scorpions have since become notorious for their alleged war crimes not only in Bosnia during the 1992-1995 war there but also in Kosovo during the province's 1998-1999 war.
Demirovic fled to Canada in August 2001 and applied for refugee status and was living quietly with his immigrant parents in the sleepy town of Windsor in southern Ontario. He was arrested in January 2003 on a Serbian arrest warrant and fought his legal battle to remain in Canada while behind bars at the Metro West Detention Center in Toronto.
"He stated that he fears persecution if returned to Bosnia and Herzegovina because he is a child of a mixed marriage in that his father is Muslim and his mother is Serbian," wrote Federal Court of Canada Justice Eleanor Dawson in her ruling Tuesday.
But she upheld the deportation order, which found that Demirovic was unlikely to face risk to life, or cruel and unusual punishment.
Anna Pape, a spokesperson for the Canada Border Services Agency, said Thursday that Demirovic had no further legal means to remain in Canada and would now be deported.
"He is a serious criminal and in removing him, the CBSA is meeting its international obligations," Pape said, adding she could not say when, for security reasons.
Canada has for years shouldered a reputation of harboring suspected terrorists or criminals, many of whom take advantage of the country's liberal immigration laws and a justice system that allows for numerous appeals.
In March, Canada finally booted white supremacist Ernst Zundel back to Germany to face hate-crimes charges after years of legal wrangling. Ottawa also is preparing to deport China's most-wanted man, Lai Changxing, the alleged mastermind of a smuggling ring.
Demirovic was living in relative obscurity until a survivor of the Kosovo massacre traveled to Canada to testify before authorities about her ordeal.
Saranda Bogujevci, who was 13 years old at the time, survived the attack despite being shot 16 times, but lives with the memory of watching her mother, brothers, grandmother, aunt and friends killed before her eyes.
"I saw my brother at my feet, shot in the head," she told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in an interview last year. "I saw my cousins, my grandmother, my auntie. I was hoping so much about my mom. And my older brother. I was always hoping they were alive."
They didn't survive. She and four cousins -- as well as her father and uncle, who had fled into the forest, thinking only the men were in danger -- now live in England.
Thousands of ethnic Albanian civilians were killed during the conflict in Kosovo. NATO bombing forced Serbia to relinquish control of the southern province to the United Nations and NATO in mid-1999.
Dejan Demirovic, 30, was a member of the nefarious Scorpions paramilitary unit and is accused of killing at least 14 ethnic Albanian civilians when his unit stormed the northern Kosovo town of Podujevo in March 1999. Survivors said the men lined up children and their mothers, shoved them against a wall and sprayed them with machine-gun fire.
Another member of the Scorpions, Sasa Cvjetan, was convicted by a Belgrade court in June in the same massacre and given a 20-year prison sentence. The Scorpions have since become notorious for their alleged war crimes not only in Bosnia during the 1992-1995 war there but also in Kosovo during the province's 1998-1999 war.
Demirovic fled to Canada in August 2001 and applied for refugee status and was living quietly with his immigrant parents in the sleepy town of Windsor in southern Ontario. He was arrested in January 2003 on a Serbian arrest warrant and fought his legal battle to remain in Canada while behind bars at the Metro West Detention Center in Toronto.
"He stated that he fears persecution if returned to Bosnia and Herzegovina because he is a child of a mixed marriage in that his father is Muslim and his mother is Serbian," wrote Federal Court of Canada Justice Eleanor Dawson in her ruling Tuesday.
But she upheld the deportation order, which found that Demirovic was unlikely to face risk to life, or cruel and unusual punishment.
Anna Pape, a spokesperson for the Canada Border Services Agency, said Thursday that Demirovic had no further legal means to remain in Canada and would now be deported.
"He is a serious criminal and in removing him, the CBSA is meeting its international obligations," Pape said, adding she could not say when, for security reasons.
Canada has for years shouldered a reputation of harboring suspected terrorists or criminals, many of whom take advantage of the country's liberal immigration laws and a justice system that allows for numerous appeals.
In March, Canada finally booted white supremacist Ernst Zundel back to Germany to face hate-crimes charges after years of legal wrangling. Ottawa also is preparing to deport China's most-wanted man, Lai Changxing, the alleged mastermind of a smuggling ring.
Demirovic was living in relative obscurity until a survivor of the Kosovo massacre traveled to Canada to testify before authorities about her ordeal.
Saranda Bogujevci, who was 13 years old at the time, survived the attack despite being shot 16 times, but lives with the memory of watching her mother, brothers, grandmother, aunt and friends killed before her eyes.
"I saw my brother at my feet, shot in the head," she told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in an interview last year. "I saw my cousins, my grandmother, my auntie. I was hoping so much about my mom. And my older brother. I was always hoping they were alive."
They didn't survive. She and four cousins -- as well as her father and uncle, who had fled into the forest, thinking only the men were in danger -- now live in England.
Thousands of ethnic Albanian civilians were killed during the conflict in Kosovo. NATO bombing forced Serbia to relinquish control of the southern province to the United Nations and NATO in mid-1999.
Belgrade to host Kosovo minister for first time
PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro, Sept 22 (AFP) -
Belgrade will host a Kosovo minister for talks on cultural matters in the first such visit since the 1999 war, the minister said Thursday.
"I am not going to Belgrade for political talks. I am going to ask for the return of historic and cultural heritage which belongs to Kosovo," Kosovo's Culture Minister Astrit Haracia told reporters.
Haracia said the issue of rebuilding Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries destroyed in the province would also be discussed in Friday's meeting with his Serbian counterpart, Dragan Kojadinovic.
The talks, the first face-to-face meeting between politicians from Belgrade and Pristina since the war, had been postponed twice before, said Haracia.
"Why should I hesitate? I am going to Belgrade as a minister. No one can stop me requesting the return of valuables that were made in Kosovo and belong to Kosovo. I feel this responsibility and I want to do it," Haracia said.
Kosovo has been under UN 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.
Since then, senior officials from Serbia and Kosovo have met several times but under international mediation.
The United Nations has started to look at implementing democratic standards in Kosovo, one of the conditions for starting talks on the status of the province which is still technically part of Serbia.
Belgrade will host a Kosovo minister for talks on cultural matters in the first such visit since the 1999 war, the minister said Thursday.
"I am not going to Belgrade for political talks. I am going to ask for the return of historic and cultural heritage which belongs to Kosovo," Kosovo's Culture Minister Astrit Haracia told reporters.
Haracia said the issue of rebuilding Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries destroyed in the province would also be discussed in Friday's meeting with his Serbian counterpart, Dragan Kojadinovic.
The talks, the first face-to-face meeting between politicians from Belgrade and Pristina since the war, had been postponed twice before, said Haracia.
"Why should I hesitate? I am going to Belgrade as a minister. No one can stop me requesting the return of valuables that were made in Kosovo and belong to Kosovo. I feel this responsibility and I want to do it," Haracia said.
Kosovo has been under UN 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.
Since then, senior officials from Serbia and Kosovo have met several times but under international mediation.
The United Nations has started to look at implementing democratic standards in Kosovo, one of the conditions for starting talks on the status of the province which is still technically part of Serbia.
Serbian official explains "less than autonomy more than independence" formula
Text of report by Serbian radio on 22 September
[Announcer] Explaining the more than autonomy less than independence formula, Sanda Raskovic-Ivic, chairwoman of the Coordination Centre for Kosovo and Metohija, specified that, in her opinion, Serbia should have the sovereignty [over Kosovo] and Kosovo should have its own executive, legislative, and judicial authorities. Furthermore, Serbian police should protect the border, the fiscal and customs policies would be within the state domain and controlled from a central place.
There should be a single defence minister, a single foreign minister, one single seat in the United Nations, but we would advocate for Kosovo to become a demilitarized zone to prevent the formation of paramilitary groups in that area, Sanda Raskovic-Ivic explained.
Source: Radio Belgrade in Serbian 1300 gmt 22 Sep 05
[Announcer] Explaining the more than autonomy less than independence formula, Sanda Raskovic-Ivic, chairwoman of the Coordination Centre for Kosovo and Metohija, specified that, in her opinion, Serbia should have the sovereignty [over Kosovo] and Kosovo should have its own executive, legislative, and judicial authorities. Furthermore, Serbian police should protect the border, the fiscal and customs policies would be within the state domain and controlled from a central place.
There should be a single defence minister, a single foreign minister, one single seat in the United Nations, but we would advocate for Kosovo to become a demilitarized zone to prevent the formation of paramilitary groups in that area, Sanda Raskovic-Ivic explained.
Source: Radio Belgrade in Serbian 1300 gmt 22 Sep 05
Serbia fears Kosovo pogrom, rejects independence
UNITED NATIONS, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Serbia said on Thursday that minority Serbs in the breakaway province of Kosovo faced a threat of "pogroms" and warned the United Nations against granting the Albanian majority's demand for independence.
Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic told the U.N. General Assembly some 200,000 Serbs and other minorities had been expelled from Kosovo since NATO waged an air war in 1999 to end Serbian repression in the territory.
The Albanians who make up 90 percent of Kosovo's population are demanding total independence from Belgrade.
"For months now, Albanian extremists are issuing open threats of pogrom against the remaining Serbs, Montenegrins and non-Albanians, unless their ultimatum on the proclamation of Kosovo as an independent state is met," he declared. "No one in present-day Europe is so tragically unprotected.
"The standards set for Kosovo are not even close to being fulfilled," Draskovic said. "Are we therefore going to abandon the 'standards before status' policy?"
He was referring to a U.N. review of democracy and human rights standards in the province, which is nearing completion. A satisfactory report is a precondition for opening talks on Kosovo's final status later this year.
Draskovic said Serbia was willing to compromise on a status for Kosovo that was more than limited autonomy and less than full independence, but the Kosovo Albanians had not budged an inch from their insistence on independence.
"An independent state of Kosovo is not a guaranteed right but an extreme demand," he said.
Albania called on Wednesday for "conditional independence" for its ethnic kin in the neighboring territory under European Union supervision, saying that would allow time to satisfy the international community that the Serb minority was properly protected.
Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic told the U.N. General Assembly some 200,000 Serbs and other minorities had been expelled from Kosovo since NATO waged an air war in 1999 to end Serbian repression in the territory.
The Albanians who make up 90 percent of Kosovo's population are demanding total independence from Belgrade.
"For months now, Albanian extremists are issuing open threats of pogrom against the remaining Serbs, Montenegrins and non-Albanians, unless their ultimatum on the proclamation of Kosovo as an independent state is met," he declared. "No one in present-day Europe is so tragically unprotected.
"The standards set for Kosovo are not even close to being fulfilled," Draskovic said. "Are we therefore going to abandon the 'standards before status' policy?"
He was referring to a U.N. review of democracy and human rights standards in the province, which is nearing completion. A satisfactory report is a precondition for opening talks on Kosovo's final status later this year.
Draskovic said Serbia was willing to compromise on a status for Kosovo that was more than limited autonomy and less than full independence, but the Kosovo Albanians had not budged an inch from their insistence on independence.
"An independent state of Kosovo is not a guaranteed right but an extreme demand," he said.
Albania called on Wednesday for "conditional independence" for its ethnic kin in the neighboring territory under European Union supervision, saying that would allow time to satisfy the international community that the Serb minority was properly protected.
Contact Group supports opening of status talks (Dailies)
Dailies report that Ambassador Kai Eide has briefed the Contact Group in New York on developments in Kosovo.
Based on its sources Koha Ditore writes on the front page that the Contact Group is satisfied in principle that Kosovo enters the final stage before the solution of the status. The paper says that the meeting of the CG political directors held in New York has concluded that “there is visible progress in many fields”, which are assessed as concrete achievements for the opening of the status talks.
If Eide gives the green light, the process for solving Kosovo’s status could start this year, says the lead front-page story in Zëri. “If progress in Kosovo is considered sufficient, we expect the Secretary General Kofi Annan to make necessary preparations for the status process to start before the end of this year, in order for the Security Council to support the process”, the paper quotes a statement issued after the meeting.
Based on its sources Koha Ditore writes on the front page that the Contact Group is satisfied in principle that Kosovo enters the final stage before the solution of the status. The paper says that the meeting of the CG political directors held in New York has concluded that “there is visible progress in many fields”, which are assessed as concrete achievements for the opening of the status talks.
If Eide gives the green light, the process for solving Kosovo’s status could start this year, says the lead front-page story in Zëri. “If progress in Kosovo is considered sufficient, we expect the Secretary General Kofi Annan to make necessary preparations for the status process to start before the end of this year, in order for the Security Council to support the process”, the paper quotes a statement issued after the meeting.
Serbia President: Need To Take Care Of Serbs In Kosovo
NEW YORK (AP)--Serbia has no ambition to rule again over ethnic Albanians in its southern Kosovo province, but cannot just give up its historic territory that is still home to some 100,000 Serbs, Serbian President Boris Tadic said while on a diplomatic offensive ahead of looming talks on Kosovo's future.
Shuttling between a series of meetings in New York with U.S., European Union and Russian diplomats who will have a key role in the likely negotiations, Tadic says he is well aware of the mess left in the province by Serbia's former strongman, Slobodan Milosevic.
Milosevic's military crackdown on the ethnic Albanian separatists in 1999 led to NATO airstrikes to break the Serb assault. After thousands lost their lives - most of them Kosovar Albanians - the province became a U.N.-run protectorate whose final status may be resolved if a U.N. report, due in a few weeks, recommends that talks begin.
"Serbia does not want at all to arrange political relations among ethnic Albanians in Kosovo," Tadic said. "But we need to take care of Serbs in Kosovo," the dwindling community living in enclaves amid the occasionally hostile ethnic Albanian majority of 1.7 million.
Floating an idea of "decentralization" of Kosovo that would give the Serb enclaves some autonomy and the right to closer links with the government in Belgrade, Tadic declined to elaborate, saying only "a unique, flexible solution is needed, with considerable political creativity."
He also claimed that "Serbia has the international law on its side ... due to investments, remaining private property and Serb heritage in Kosovo, including ancient churches and monasteries."
"Serbia is a democratic country today," said Tadic, who was elected in 2004 amid Serbia's efforts to recover from the dark days under Milosevic.
Milosevic was ousted in 2000 and later extradited to the U.N. war crimes court in The Hague to answer for his role in several Balkan wars.
Milosevic's legacy, however, still haunts Serbia on many issues, including its unresolved relationship with tiny Montenegro.
The two republics used to be part of the former Yugoslavia and opted to stay together when four other republics broke away in the early 1990's. But the heavy-handed Milosevic alienated many in Montenegro, where an independence drive now persists even after Milosevic is gone.
An EU-brokered arrangement in 2003 established Serbia-Montenegro as a loose partnership of virtually sovereign republics that share only a small central administration to jointly run defense and foreign affairs.
But that deal may fall apart as early as next year as Montenegro's pro- independence leadership plans an independence referendum. This, in turn, complicates the Kosovo issue.
"There's this legal technicality," Tadic said with a sigh, explaining that a U.N. resolution, which introduced the international protectorate in Kosovo in 1999, refers to the province as geographically part of Serbia-Montenegro, not just Serbia. If Serbia and Montenegro split up, it would bolster the Kosovo Albanians' cause for their independence.
"A disintegration of Serbia-Montenegro could cause a chain reaction and destabilize a wider region," Tadic warned.
The real issue everyone should be focusing on instead, is economic development, the president said.
"Independence per se does not bring food on the table," he said, citing statistics that say that 63% of ethnic Albanians and 95% of Serbs in Kosovo are jobless.
It is particularly tough for Serbs and other non-Albanians, he added. "They lack freedom of movement, they can't even go look for jobs."
One thing the rival sides agree upon is their common desire to one day join the European Union. This would render the border issues irrelevant, but the feeble economies do not exactly propel either to membership in the bloc, Tadic acknowledged.
Serbia's particular problem is the outstanding Western demand for extradition of top war crimes suspect, Bosnian Serb wartime commander, Gen. Ratko Mladic.
"We are working very hard on that issue," Tadic said, only reiterating that Serbian authorities are trying but cannot find the fugitive.
Extradition of Mladic has emerged as the key obstacle for Serbia's membership in NATO's Partnership for Peace program as well as for closer ties with the EU.
-Edited by Paul Baylis
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
Shuttling between a series of meetings in New York with U.S., European Union and Russian diplomats who will have a key role in the likely negotiations, Tadic says he is well aware of the mess left in the province by Serbia's former strongman, Slobodan Milosevic.
Milosevic's military crackdown on the ethnic Albanian separatists in 1999 led to NATO airstrikes to break the Serb assault. After thousands lost their lives - most of them Kosovar Albanians - the province became a U.N.-run protectorate whose final status may be resolved if a U.N. report, due in a few weeks, recommends that talks begin.
"Serbia does not want at all to arrange political relations among ethnic Albanians in Kosovo," Tadic said. "But we need to take care of Serbs in Kosovo," the dwindling community living in enclaves amid the occasionally hostile ethnic Albanian majority of 1.7 million.
Floating an idea of "decentralization" of Kosovo that would give the Serb enclaves some autonomy and the right to closer links with the government in Belgrade, Tadic declined to elaborate, saying only "a unique, flexible solution is needed, with considerable political creativity."
He also claimed that "Serbia has the international law on its side ... due to investments, remaining private property and Serb heritage in Kosovo, including ancient churches and monasteries."
"Serbia is a democratic country today," said Tadic, who was elected in 2004 amid Serbia's efforts to recover from the dark days under Milosevic.
Milosevic was ousted in 2000 and later extradited to the U.N. war crimes court in The Hague to answer for his role in several Balkan wars.
Milosevic's legacy, however, still haunts Serbia on many issues, including its unresolved relationship with tiny Montenegro.
The two republics used to be part of the former Yugoslavia and opted to stay together when four other republics broke away in the early 1990's. But the heavy-handed Milosevic alienated many in Montenegro, where an independence drive now persists even after Milosevic is gone.
An EU-brokered arrangement in 2003 established Serbia-Montenegro as a loose partnership of virtually sovereign republics that share only a small central administration to jointly run defense and foreign affairs.
But that deal may fall apart as early as next year as Montenegro's pro- independence leadership plans an independence referendum. This, in turn, complicates the Kosovo issue.
"There's this legal technicality," Tadic said with a sigh, explaining that a U.N. resolution, which introduced the international protectorate in Kosovo in 1999, refers to the province as geographically part of Serbia-Montenegro, not just Serbia. If Serbia and Montenegro split up, it would bolster the Kosovo Albanians' cause for their independence.
"A disintegration of Serbia-Montenegro could cause a chain reaction and destabilize a wider region," Tadic warned.
The real issue everyone should be focusing on instead, is economic development, the president said.
"Independence per se does not bring food on the table," he said, citing statistics that say that 63% of ethnic Albanians and 95% of Serbs in Kosovo are jobless.
It is particularly tough for Serbs and other non-Albanians, he added. "They lack freedom of movement, they can't even go look for jobs."
One thing the rival sides agree upon is their common desire to one day join the European Union. This would render the border issues irrelevant, but the feeble economies do not exactly propel either to membership in the bloc, Tadic acknowledged.
Serbia's particular problem is the outstanding Western demand for extradition of top war crimes suspect, Bosnian Serb wartime commander, Gen. Ratko Mladic.
"We are working very hard on that issue," Tadic said, only reiterating that Serbian authorities are trying but cannot find the fugitive.
Extradition of Mladic has emerged as the key obstacle for Serbia's membership in NATO's Partnership for Peace program as well as for closer ties with the EU.
-Edited by Paul Baylis
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
U.N. Kosovo report delayed for pressure
UNITED NATIONS, Sept 21 (Reuters) - A key U.N. report that could launch negotiations on the future of Kosovo has been delayed to press for improved treatment of the breakaway Serbian province's Serb minority, diplomats said on Wednesday.
They said U.N. special envoy Kai Eide told a meeting of major powers overseeing Balkans diplomacy at U.N. headquarters on Tuesday that he would take several more weeks to produce the study on democracy and civil rights standards in Kosovo, which he had been expected to present this week.
The province has been a U.N. protectorate since NATO ended the 1998-99 guerrilla war by bombing Yugoslavia to compel Serbia to withdraw its forces.
Kosovo's 90-percent Albanian majority increasingly wants independence, but Serbia is opposed.
Eide declined to set any date for completing his report. He told the Contact Group of the United States, Russia, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the European Union and the United Nations he wanted to use the drafting process to exert leverage on the Albanian government in Pristina and on Belgrade to be more cooperative, the diplomats said.
"It won't be ready for a few weeks and he won't say when to keep up pressure on the parties," a Western diplomat said.
Several members of the Contact Group told Eide they would like to see the report as soon as possible, participants said.
A delay of several weeks would come as an unwelcome surprise in Kosovo, where Albanian officials and media expected his recommendation to be made any day now and certainly before the end of September.
Kosovo's Albanian newspaper Zeri reported on Wednesday that the United Nations, United States and European Union had agreed to appoint former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari as special envoy for talks on the territory's "final status".
But U.N. officials said no decision had been taken, although they acknowledged that the veteran Finnish mediator, who recently brokered a peace deal for the Indonesian province of Aceh, was the most-mentioned name.
A statement issued by the Contact Group said that "should progress be deemed sufficient", the final status talks could begin by the end of this year.
"The Contact Group urges the leaders of Kosovo to increase their efforts to ensure the implementation of standards at all levels to ensure that commitments undertaken are translated into concrete action," the statement said.
"It also urges the Belgrade authorities to do their utmost to facilitate this process."
Officially, the United Nations says it will wait for Eide's report and only appoint a status envoy to mediate between Belgrade and Pristina if his review is positive.
Ahtisaari's office denied any official appointments had been made.
"Our view is really that the U.N. will decide on this, not the diplomatic circles," said spokeswoman Kristiina Ahovuori.
The respected Pristina daily said Ahtisaari would have three deputies from the United States, the EU and Russia.
Ahtisaari, 68, started his career in the Finnish diplomatic service then worked for the United Nations. He became president of Finland in 1994 and in early 1999 was one of the chief negotiators trying to end the Kosovo war.
Ahtisaari's most recent success was negotiating a peace accord between the Indonesian government and separatist rebels in Aceh province, ending a 30-year conflict that killed more than 12,000 people.
They said U.N. special envoy Kai Eide told a meeting of major powers overseeing Balkans diplomacy at U.N. headquarters on Tuesday that he would take several more weeks to produce the study on democracy and civil rights standards in Kosovo, which he had been expected to present this week.
The province has been a U.N. protectorate since NATO ended the 1998-99 guerrilla war by bombing Yugoslavia to compel Serbia to withdraw its forces.
Kosovo's 90-percent Albanian majority increasingly wants independence, but Serbia is opposed.
Eide declined to set any date for completing his report. He told the Contact Group of the United States, Russia, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the European Union and the United Nations he wanted to use the drafting process to exert leverage on the Albanian government in Pristina and on Belgrade to be more cooperative, the diplomats said.
"It won't be ready for a few weeks and he won't say when to keep up pressure on the parties," a Western diplomat said.
Several members of the Contact Group told Eide they would like to see the report as soon as possible, participants said.
A delay of several weeks would come as an unwelcome surprise in Kosovo, where Albanian officials and media expected his recommendation to be made any day now and certainly before the end of September.
Kosovo's Albanian newspaper Zeri reported on Wednesday that the United Nations, United States and European Union had agreed to appoint former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari as special envoy for talks on the territory's "final status".
But U.N. officials said no decision had been taken, although they acknowledged that the veteran Finnish mediator, who recently brokered a peace deal for the Indonesian province of Aceh, was the most-mentioned name.
A statement issued by the Contact Group said that "should progress be deemed sufficient", the final status talks could begin by the end of this year.
"The Contact Group urges the leaders of Kosovo to increase their efforts to ensure the implementation of standards at all levels to ensure that commitments undertaken are translated into concrete action," the statement said.
"It also urges the Belgrade authorities to do their utmost to facilitate this process."
Officially, the United Nations says it will wait for Eide's report and only appoint a status envoy to mediate between Belgrade and Pristina if his review is positive.
Ahtisaari's office denied any official appointments had been made.
"Our view is really that the U.N. will decide on this, not the diplomatic circles," said spokeswoman Kristiina Ahovuori.
The respected Pristina daily said Ahtisaari would have three deputies from the United States, the EU and Russia.
Ahtisaari, 68, started his career in the Finnish diplomatic service then worked for the United Nations. He became president of Finland in 1994 and in early 1999 was one of the chief negotiators trying to end the Kosovo war.
Ahtisaari's most recent success was negotiating a peace accord between the Indonesian government and separatist rebels in Aceh province, ending a 30-year conflict that killed more than 12,000 people.
Speaker tells EU envoys not to "waste time", Kosovo independence non-negotiable
Text of report in English by independent internet news agency KosovaLive
Prishtina [Pristina], 21 September: Albanian leaders told the European Union ambassadors accredited in Belgrade today that Kosova [Kosovo] is ready to accept the international obligations as an independent state.
Whereas the representatives of the Kosovar Serbs said that they expect a pack of obligations for Kosovar institutions before the initiation of status talks.
Kosova Assembly Speaker Nexhat Daci expressed the joint stance of Kosovars that "no-one has a mandate to negotiate on the independence of Kosova".
"Kosovar institutions and political parties do not have a mandate for any other solution," said Daci, adding that finalization of this independence should be discussed with the international community and with Serbia as neighbour.
This is information they already had, but they needed to hear it from us at this moment, Daci said.
"International community should not waste time and energy in finding a solution that is not a will of Kosovars," said Daci, adding that "Kosova has capacity to become a normal and capable Balkans state, which sees its future in Euro-Atlantic integrations".
Daci said that no-one can clone Kosova and it would be wrong investment if we spend money, time and energy seeking new models.
According to Daci, minorities in Kosova are facing a very positive discrimination, whereas he evaluated as urgent the handover of powers in justice and security.
"There will be no asymmetric decentralization, because creation of new enclaves organically related between themselves and administratively connected with Belgrade is unacceptable," the parliament Speaker said.
On the other hand, the chairman of the Democratic Party of Kosova [PDK], Hashim Thaci, said that the report of ambassador Kai Eide will reflect the commitment of citizens and political landscape and this way it will open path to the definition of the political status.
"Kosova is prepared to initiate the process of political status settlement, that means fulfilment of the citizens' wish for independence," said Thaci, adding that at the same time he is convinced that Kosova is preparing a full unity to face the process of status definition and a way of building the statehood.
According to him, everyone should be pragmatic and flexible, but international community as well should clarify that the political status, international recognition of the state of Kosova should be defined as fast as possible.
Kosovar Serbs have completely different views. They say that Kosovar institutions should accomplish a pack of obligations before the initiation of the political status settlement.
Oliver Ivanovic, head of the Serb List for Kosova [SLKM] said following the meeting with European diplomats that he hopes that something like that will happen because it is very necessary.
According to him, the Kosova government institutions must improve a lot of things, starting from their democratization. Ivanovic says that Kosovar Serbs can contribute to this as well, only by an active participation in institutions, and not by being simply a decor.
In order for this to happen, Ivanovic said that the Serbs should get a realistic decentralization offer.
"Partesh [Partes] and Gracanice [Gracanica] do not represent an offer," said Ivanovic, adding that they will not accept any project in which Serbs do not represent a considerable majority.
Prishtina [Pristina], 21 September: Albanian leaders told the European Union ambassadors accredited in Belgrade today that Kosova [Kosovo] is ready to accept the international obligations as an independent state.
Whereas the representatives of the Kosovar Serbs said that they expect a pack of obligations for Kosovar institutions before the initiation of status talks.
Kosova Assembly Speaker Nexhat Daci expressed the joint stance of Kosovars that "no-one has a mandate to negotiate on the independence of Kosova".
"Kosovar institutions and political parties do not have a mandate for any other solution," said Daci, adding that finalization of this independence should be discussed with the international community and with Serbia as neighbour.
This is information they already had, but they needed to hear it from us at this moment, Daci said.
"International community should not waste time and energy in finding a solution that is not a will of Kosovars," said Daci, adding that "Kosova has capacity to become a normal and capable Balkans state, which sees its future in Euro-Atlantic integrations".
Daci said that no-one can clone Kosova and it would be wrong investment if we spend money, time and energy seeking new models.
According to Daci, minorities in Kosova are facing a very positive discrimination, whereas he evaluated as urgent the handover of powers in justice and security.
"There will be no asymmetric decentralization, because creation of new enclaves organically related between themselves and administratively connected with Belgrade is unacceptable," the parliament Speaker said.
On the other hand, the chairman of the Democratic Party of Kosova [PDK], Hashim Thaci, said that the report of ambassador Kai Eide will reflect the commitment of citizens and political landscape and this way it will open path to the definition of the political status.
"Kosova is prepared to initiate the process of political status settlement, that means fulfilment of the citizens' wish for independence," said Thaci, adding that at the same time he is convinced that Kosova is preparing a full unity to face the process of status definition and a way of building the statehood.
According to him, everyone should be pragmatic and flexible, but international community as well should clarify that the political status, international recognition of the state of Kosova should be defined as fast as possible.
Kosovar Serbs have completely different views. They say that Kosovar institutions should accomplish a pack of obligations before the initiation of the political status settlement.
Oliver Ivanovic, head of the Serb List for Kosova [SLKM] said following the meeting with European diplomats that he hopes that something like that will happen because it is very necessary.
According to him, the Kosova government institutions must improve a lot of things, starting from their democratization. Ivanovic says that Kosovar Serbs can contribute to this as well, only by an active participation in institutions, and not by being simply a decor.
In order for this to happen, Ivanovic said that the Serbs should get a realistic decentralization offer.
"Partesh [Partes] and Gracanice [Gracanica] do not represent an offer," said Ivanovic, adding that they will not accept any project in which Serbs do not represent a considerable majority.
Officials: Former Finnish President Ahtisaari is leading candidate to lead Kosovo talks
PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) - Former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari is the most likely candidate to lead the crucial talks on Kosovo's future later this year, officials said Wednesday.
"He is the strongest candidate," a U.N. official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Ahtisaari's possible appointment to lead the talks can come only after U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan concludes that the disputed province is ready to enter talks on its future, a decision expected in few weeks, sources said.
"There is growing consensus" among European and U.S. official for Ahtisaari to lead those talks, another Western diplomat in Kosovo told the AP.
Ahtisaari was at the U.N. in New York for meetings with Annan and other officials, including a Wednesday meeting with Kosovo's U.N. administrator Soren Jessen-Petersen, the U.N. official said. The nature of those discussions was not disclosed.
Ahtisaari's assistant, Kristiina Ahovuori, said it was up to the U.N.
"He may well be the best candidate, but the United Nations will decide about opening negotiations on the status of Kosovo probably at the end of September and before that, nothing will be decided," she told the AP in the Finnish capital, Helsinki.
Ahtisaari, among the world's most famed mediators, has dealt with Kosovo in the past.
In 1999, Ahtisaari negotiated a deal with then-Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic that put an end to the NATO bombing of Serb forces -- a campaign aimed at stopping the crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians.
That deal put Kosovo under U.N. administration but left its status unresolved, with ethnic Albanians wanting independence and Serbs insisting the province remain part of Serbia-Montenegro.
He also has been involved in arms decommissioning in Northern Ireland, and recently hammered out a deal in Indonesia's Aceh province that ended fighting between government troops and the rebels.
Meanwhile, the United States, the European Union and Russia urged Kosovo's leaders to step up efforts to establish a stable multiethnic democracy, saying it was essential to any talks on the province's future status.
International officials have conditioned talks on progress on eight standards, including establishing functioning democratic institutions, protecting minorities, promoting economic development and ensuring rule of law, freedom of movement and property rights.
A statement issued by the Contact Group -- which includes the United States, the European Union, Britain, France, Russia, Italy and Germany -- said implementing the standards "is not just about getting to a status process; it must be at the heart of Kosovo's future."
The Contact Group, whose political directors met on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly's ministerial meeting in New York, acknowledged "the overall forward momentum" in implementing the standards. But it agreed with U.N. envoy Kai Eide's assessment "that more progress is needed to establish in Kosovo a multiethnic, stable and democratic society founded on the rule of law."
Eide was appointed earlier this year by Annan to report on readiness of Kosovo to enter talks.
"Further progress on standard must therefore be made now and during the future status process once it is lost," the statement said.
The Contact Group said members discussed Eide's preliminary findings -- which it did not disclose -- on Tuesday and looked forward to his comprehensive review.
"Should progress be deemed sufficient, we expect the secretary-general to make appropriate preparations so that the status process could be launched before the end of 2005, and that the Security Council can endorse this launch," the statement said.
"He is the strongest candidate," a U.N. official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Ahtisaari's possible appointment to lead the talks can come only after U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan concludes that the disputed province is ready to enter talks on its future, a decision expected in few weeks, sources said.
"There is growing consensus" among European and U.S. official for Ahtisaari to lead those talks, another Western diplomat in Kosovo told the AP.
Ahtisaari was at the U.N. in New York for meetings with Annan and other officials, including a Wednesday meeting with Kosovo's U.N. administrator Soren Jessen-Petersen, the U.N. official said. The nature of those discussions was not disclosed.
Ahtisaari's assistant, Kristiina Ahovuori, said it was up to the U.N.
"He may well be the best candidate, but the United Nations will decide about opening negotiations on the status of Kosovo probably at the end of September and before that, nothing will be decided," she told the AP in the Finnish capital, Helsinki.
Ahtisaari, among the world's most famed mediators, has dealt with Kosovo in the past.
In 1999, Ahtisaari negotiated a deal with then-Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic that put an end to the NATO bombing of Serb forces -- a campaign aimed at stopping the crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians.
That deal put Kosovo under U.N. administration but left its status unresolved, with ethnic Albanians wanting independence and Serbs insisting the province remain part of Serbia-Montenegro.
He also has been involved in arms decommissioning in Northern Ireland, and recently hammered out a deal in Indonesia's Aceh province that ended fighting between government troops and the rebels.
Meanwhile, the United States, the European Union and Russia urged Kosovo's leaders to step up efforts to establish a stable multiethnic democracy, saying it was essential to any talks on the province's future status.
International officials have conditioned talks on progress on eight standards, including establishing functioning democratic institutions, protecting minorities, promoting economic development and ensuring rule of law, freedom of movement and property rights.
A statement issued by the Contact Group -- which includes the United States, the European Union, Britain, France, Russia, Italy and Germany -- said implementing the standards "is not just about getting to a status process; it must be at the heart of Kosovo's future."
The Contact Group, whose political directors met on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly's ministerial meeting in New York, acknowledged "the overall forward momentum" in implementing the standards. But it agreed with U.N. envoy Kai Eide's assessment "that more progress is needed to establish in Kosovo a multiethnic, stable and democratic society founded on the rule of law."
Eide was appointed earlier this year by Annan to report on readiness of Kosovo to enter talks.
"Further progress on standard must therefore be made now and during the future status process once it is lost," the statement said.
The Contact Group said members discussed Eide's preliminary findings -- which it did not disclose -- on Tuesday and looked forward to his comprehensive review.
"Should progress be deemed sufficient, we expect the secretary-general to make appropriate preparations so that the status process could be launched before the end of 2005, and that the Security Council can endorse this launch," the statement said.
Serbia's Envoy For Kosovo Visits Prishtina
STINA (AP)--Serbia's government representative for Kosovo visited the disputed province Wednesday in her first trip here since her appointment last month.
Sanda Raskovic-Ivic met with U.N. officials, but the venue of the meeting between the two delegations had to be changed due to a protest by an ethnic Albanian youth group.
Raskovic-Ivic said she was pleased with the constructive meeting she had with U.N. officials and urged them to pass on to ethnic Albanian leadership that reform of local government in the province is crucial for the Serbs.
Ethnic Albanian youths assembled at the main U.N. building in Pristina protesting her visit. The U.N. moved the venue to their administration building on the city's outskirts. After a several hours-long wait, members of Kosovo Action Network hurled eggs at the U.N. building.
Serbia's government has recently appointed Raskovic-Ivic to be their envoy to this disputed province, which has been administered by the U.N. since mid-1999 when a NATO air war halted Serb forces' crackdown on ethnic Albanians seeking independence.
An estimated 10,000 ethnic Albanians were killed during the conflict. After the end of the war, tens of thousands of Serbs fled the province in the face of attacks and threats from ethnic Albanian extremists.
Those Serbs remaining live mainly in isolated enclaves scattered around the province, and the two communities remain divided.
Talks to resolve Kosovo's status are expected later this year if Kosovo - legally a province of the Serbia-Montenegro union that replaced Yugoslavia - meets U.N.-set standards on democracy, human rights and rights of minorities.
Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority demands independence, while Serbs want the province to remain within their borders.
Sanda Raskovic-Ivic met with U.N. officials, but the venue of the meeting between the two delegations had to be changed due to a protest by an ethnic Albanian youth group.
Raskovic-Ivic said she was pleased with the constructive meeting she had with U.N. officials and urged them to pass on to ethnic Albanian leadership that reform of local government in the province is crucial for the Serbs.
Ethnic Albanian youths assembled at the main U.N. building in Pristina protesting her visit. The U.N. moved the venue to their administration building on the city's outskirts. After a several hours-long wait, members of Kosovo Action Network hurled eggs at the U.N. building.
Serbia's government has recently appointed Raskovic-Ivic to be their envoy to this disputed province, which has been administered by the U.N. since mid-1999 when a NATO air war halted Serb forces' crackdown on ethnic Albanians seeking independence.
An estimated 10,000 ethnic Albanians were killed during the conflict. After the end of the war, tens of thousands of Serbs fled the province in the face of attacks and threats from ethnic Albanian extremists.
Those Serbs remaining live mainly in isolated enclaves scattered around the province, and the two communities remain divided.
Talks to resolve Kosovo's status are expected later this year if Kosovo - legally a province of the Serbia-Montenegro union that replaced Yugoslavia - meets U.N.-set standards on democracy, human rights and rights of minorities.
Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority demands independence, while Serbs want the province to remain within their borders.
RPT-Finland's Ahtisaari to be Kosovo envoy -newspaper
PRISTINA, Serbia and Montenegro, Sept 21 (Reuters) - The United Nations, United States and European Union have agreed to appoint former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari as special envoy for the status of Kosovo, a newspaper said on Wednesday.
"There is agreement in the New York-Washington-Brussels axis that Ahtisaari be special envoy for status," Kosovo's respected Albanian daily newspaper Zeri said, quoting diplomatic sources.
The province has been a United Nations protectorate since NATO ended the 1998-99 guerrilla war by bombing Yugoslavia to compel Serbia to withdraw its forces.
Kosovo's 90-percent Albanian majority increasingly wants independence, but Serbia is opposed.
U.N. envoy Kai Eide is within days of submitting a report on whether Kosovo has made enough progress on democracy for talks to begin on its "final status". The United Nations will then appoint an 'envoy for status' to mediate between Belgrade and Pristina.
Agreement on that appointment would mean that "final status" talks are already slated to go ahead this year. Officially, the U.N. says it will wait for Eide's report and only appoint an "status envoy" for the negotiations if his review is positive.
"The general impression is that Ahtisaari has experience, knowledge and readiness to tackle this very important job. Two months ago he also expressed himself in favour of this job," Zeri said.
The paper said Ahtisaari would have three deputies, from the United States, the EU and Russia.
Ahtisaari, 68, started his career in the Finish diplomatic service then worked for the United Nations. He became president of Finland in 1993 and in early 1999 was one of the chief negotiators trying to end the Kosovo war.
In Helsinki, a spokeswoman for Ahtisaari said he was currently travelling. "So far I haven't heard anything. We know that the discussions have been going on."
Ahtisaari's most recent success was negotiating a peace accord between the Indonesian government and separatist rebels in Aceh province, ending a 30-year conflict which killed more than 12,000 people.
Finland has nominated him for the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for the Aceh talks. He was previously nominated in 2000 and 2001.
"There is agreement in the New York-Washington-Brussels axis that Ahtisaari be special envoy for status," Kosovo's respected Albanian daily newspaper Zeri said, quoting diplomatic sources.
The province has been a United Nations protectorate since NATO ended the 1998-99 guerrilla war by bombing Yugoslavia to compel Serbia to withdraw its forces.
Kosovo's 90-percent Albanian majority increasingly wants independence, but Serbia is opposed.
U.N. envoy Kai Eide is within days of submitting a report on whether Kosovo has made enough progress on democracy for talks to begin on its "final status". The United Nations will then appoint an 'envoy for status' to mediate between Belgrade and Pristina.
Agreement on that appointment would mean that "final status" talks are already slated to go ahead this year. Officially, the U.N. says it will wait for Eide's report and only appoint an "status envoy" for the negotiations if his review is positive.
"The general impression is that Ahtisaari has experience, knowledge and readiness to tackle this very important job. Two months ago he also expressed himself in favour of this job," Zeri said.
The paper said Ahtisaari would have three deputies, from the United States, the EU and Russia.
Ahtisaari, 68, started his career in the Finish diplomatic service then worked for the United Nations. He became president of Finland in 1993 and in early 1999 was one of the chief negotiators trying to end the Kosovo war.
In Helsinki, a spokeswoman for Ahtisaari said he was currently travelling. "So far I haven't heard anything. We know that the discussions have been going on."
Ahtisaari's most recent success was negotiating a peace accord between the Indonesian government and separatist rebels in Aceh province, ending a 30-year conflict which killed more than 12,000 people.
Finland has nominated him for the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for the Aceh talks. He was previously nominated in 2000 and 2001.
US,Europe Urge Stepped Up Efforts Toward Kosovo Democracy
UNITED NATIONS (AP)--The United States, the European Union and Russia urged Kosovo's leaders Tuesday to step up efforts to establish a stable multi-ethnic democracy, saying this is essential in any talks on the province's future status.
The so-called Contact Group met with the U.N. administrator in Kosovo, Soren Jessen-Petersen, and U.N special envoy Kai Eide, who is reviewing how far the province has come in achieving standards for democracy and multiethnicity, a key first step to a possible discussion of the future status of the U.N.- administered province.
Eide is expected to make a recommendation to Secretary-General Kofi Annan later this month on whether to recommend a start of status talks.
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.
International officials have conditioned talks on the province's future status with progress on eight standards, including establishing functioning democratic institutions, protecting minorities, promoting economic development, and ensuring rule of law, freedom of movement and property rights.
A statement issued by the Contact Group - which includes the United States, the European Union, Britain, France, Russia, Italy and Germany - said implementing the standards "is not just about getting to a status process; it must be at the heart of Kosovo's future."
The Contact Group, whose political directors met on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly's ministerial meeting, acknowledged "the overall forward momentum" in implementing the standards. But it agreed with Eide's assessment " that more progress is needed to establish in Kosovo a multi-ethnic, stable and democratic society founded on the rule of law."
"Further progress on standard must therefore be made now and during the future status process once it is lost," the statement said.
The Contact Group said during Tuesday's meeting its members discussed Eide's preliminary findings - which it did not disclose - and looked forward to his comprehensive review.
"Should progress be deemed sufficient, we expect the secretary-general to make appropriate preparations so that the status process could be launched before the end of 2005, and that the Security Council can endorse this launch," the statement said.
Eide and the political directors have held discussions in Belgrade and Pristina on the principles and goals that will help determine Kosovo's future status, and on the region's progress towards Europe-Atlantic integration.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
The so-called Contact Group met with the U.N. administrator in Kosovo, Soren Jessen-Petersen, and U.N special envoy Kai Eide, who is reviewing how far the province has come in achieving standards for democracy and multiethnicity, a key first step to a possible discussion of the future status of the U.N.- administered province.
Eide is expected to make a recommendation to Secretary-General Kofi Annan later this month on whether to recommend a start of status talks.
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.
International officials have conditioned talks on the province's future status with progress on eight standards, including establishing functioning democratic institutions, protecting minorities, promoting economic development, and ensuring rule of law, freedom of movement and property rights.
A statement issued by the Contact Group - which includes the United States, the European Union, Britain, France, Russia, Italy and Germany - said implementing the standards "is not just about getting to a status process; it must be at the heart of Kosovo's future."
The Contact Group, whose political directors met on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly's ministerial meeting, acknowledged "the overall forward momentum" in implementing the standards. But it agreed with Eide's assessment " that more progress is needed to establish in Kosovo a multi-ethnic, stable and democratic society founded on the rule of law."
"Further progress on standard must therefore be made now and during the future status process once it is lost," the statement said.
The Contact Group said during Tuesday's meeting its members discussed Eide's preliminary findings - which it did not disclose - and looked forward to his comprehensive review.
"Should progress be deemed sufficient, we expect the secretary-general to make appropriate preparations so that the status process could be launched before the end of 2005, and that the Security Council can endorse this launch," the statement said.
Eide and the political directors have held discussions in Belgrade and Pristina on the principles and goals that will help determine Kosovo's future status, and on the region's progress towards Europe-Atlantic integration.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
Washington and Brussels agree on Ahtisaari as chief negotiator (Zëri)
Citing international sources, Zëri reports on the front page that Ambassador Eide will submit his report to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan after 21 September. The newspaper says that certain Western capitals have growing frustrations with the fact that Eide is keeping his distance from Western diplomacy and still hasn’t disclosed the content of his report.
The same sources said that agreement has been reached between Washington, New York and Brussels on the candidate for the special envoy for Kosovo’s status. Zëri says former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari has the full support of Annan, the US and the EU on the post of chief negotiator on Kosovo’s status.
The same sources said that agreement has been reached between Washington, New York and Brussels on the candidate for the special envoy for Kosovo’s status. Zëri says former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari has the full support of Annan, the US and the EU on the post of chief negotiator on Kosovo’s status.
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Europe ships war refugees back home
Germany gets tougher on Afghans, Iraqis, and Kosovars.
By Isabelle de Pommereau | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
FRANKFURT - Aferdite Hasanaj looks like any of her high school friends. But there's a difference: Every three months for the past 13 years, since her family fled Kosovo on the eve of the Yugoslavia war, she's had to ask permission to remain in Germany.
As a refugee whose asylum claim was rejected, she was subject to expulsion any time. In April, the government told her to go back "home" to Kosovo, squashing her dreams of going to college in Frankfurt.
"I've never been to Kosovo, I can't speak the language, don't know the culture," the 17- year-old said at a recent rally held to protest her expulsion. "The feeling of not having the right to belong fills me with despair."
Across Germany, 220,000 war refugees denied asylum have shared Aferdite's plight. But in a backdrop of public wariness about their perceived drain on the social system and an improved political situation in their countries, the government is speeding their return.
"How can a country expel a child who's been here for 13 years, who is good in school?" says Volker Ludwig of the GRISP Theater in Berlin, which staged a play about the deportation of a family. "Such a practice is unique in Europe, and it's outrageous."
This summer, Germany's 16 state interior ministers voted to hasten the return of hundreds of thousands of refugees to Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan. And in May, the state of Hamburg began repatriating Afghans, saying that stability there had returned.
The trend is spreading across Europe, especially in countries with former liberal asylum policies such as Holland, Norway, Denmark, and England. Governments are implementing plans for faster and more efficient returns of refugees.
"There is a new intensity in the harshness of the repatriation," says Karl Kopp, European representative of Pro Asyl, a Frankfurt-based advocacy group for refugees.
There's a boom, says Mr. Kopp, in so-called "departure institutions," where refugees with failed asylum claims receive counseling meant to prepare them to leave voluntarily in exchange for receiving a stipend and food.
"The thinking in these institutions is: 'what can I do when I can't expel somebody?' " says Kopp. "The only way is to make life more difficult - to limit the people's freedom of movement, to go as far as possible so that the people have no choice but want to leave."
Government officials stress that those denied asylum know from the beginning that they will not receive legal status. Doing so "would send a signal to those who want to come to Germany: to stay here permanently, all you have to do is postpone getting your permit," says Wilfried Schmaeing of the Interior Ministry.
Germany's asylum regulations are considered among Europe's toughest. Until recently, only victims of state persecutions could receive asylum. Those fleeing civil wars like in Kosovo received a "tolerated status" because the persecution they had suffered did not come directly from the state. The new immigration act that went into effect this year loosened the regulations, recognizing persecutions by nonstate agents such as those suffered in Kosovo. At the same time, Germany has become more efficient and less human in sending home those denied asylum, critics say.
"The issue is becoming very politicized," says Patricia Coelho of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles in London. "Politicians are concerned about sharing with their public that they are being tough on asylum."
In England, "uncooperative" asylum seekers with rejected claims, with the exception of those with families, now see their welfare benefits withdrawn. In Holland, refugees denied asylum can now be denied social support after 28 days. Last year, Norway started charging hundreds of special officers with returning asylum seekers. Refugees denied asylum can also be denied access to the labor market or social protection.
"There is a tendency for industrialized nations to develop a policy to help induce or force people who've not been granted any kind of status to repatriate," says Ms. Coelho. Those asylum seekers, she says "form a growing segment of vulnerable, poor and marginalized people in European societies."
Although there are fewer and fewer asylum seekers in Europe, those asking for asylum are seeing their claims denied in greater number, says Ms. Coelho.
In Frankfurt, Europe's most multiethnic city, Aferdite's classmates rallied to her side. And Aferdite will most likely be able to stay at least until she finishes high school because a German family has committed to support her financially here. But her mother and two siblings are most likely going to be expelled next year.
By Isabelle de Pommereau | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
FRANKFURT - Aferdite Hasanaj looks like any of her high school friends. But there's a difference: Every three months for the past 13 years, since her family fled Kosovo on the eve of the Yugoslavia war, she's had to ask permission to remain in Germany.
As a refugee whose asylum claim was rejected, she was subject to expulsion any time. In April, the government told her to go back "home" to Kosovo, squashing her dreams of going to college in Frankfurt.
"I've never been to Kosovo, I can't speak the language, don't know the culture," the 17- year-old said at a recent rally held to protest her expulsion. "The feeling of not having the right to belong fills me with despair."
Across Germany, 220,000 war refugees denied asylum have shared Aferdite's plight. But in a backdrop of public wariness about their perceived drain on the social system and an improved political situation in their countries, the government is speeding their return.
"How can a country expel a child who's been here for 13 years, who is good in school?" says Volker Ludwig of the GRISP Theater in Berlin, which staged a play about the deportation of a family. "Such a practice is unique in Europe, and it's outrageous."
This summer, Germany's 16 state interior ministers voted to hasten the return of hundreds of thousands of refugees to Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan. And in May, the state of Hamburg began repatriating Afghans, saying that stability there had returned.
The trend is spreading across Europe, especially in countries with former liberal asylum policies such as Holland, Norway, Denmark, and England. Governments are implementing plans for faster and more efficient returns of refugees.
"There is a new intensity in the harshness of the repatriation," says Karl Kopp, European representative of Pro Asyl, a Frankfurt-based advocacy group for refugees.
There's a boom, says Mr. Kopp, in so-called "departure institutions," where refugees with failed asylum claims receive counseling meant to prepare them to leave voluntarily in exchange for receiving a stipend and food.
"The thinking in these institutions is: 'what can I do when I can't expel somebody?' " says Kopp. "The only way is to make life more difficult - to limit the people's freedom of movement, to go as far as possible so that the people have no choice but want to leave."
Government officials stress that those denied asylum know from the beginning that they will not receive legal status. Doing so "would send a signal to those who want to come to Germany: to stay here permanently, all you have to do is postpone getting your permit," says Wilfried Schmaeing of the Interior Ministry.
Germany's asylum regulations are considered among Europe's toughest. Until recently, only victims of state persecutions could receive asylum. Those fleeing civil wars like in Kosovo received a "tolerated status" because the persecution they had suffered did not come directly from the state. The new immigration act that went into effect this year loosened the regulations, recognizing persecutions by nonstate agents such as those suffered in Kosovo. At the same time, Germany has become more efficient and less human in sending home those denied asylum, critics say.
"The issue is becoming very politicized," says Patricia Coelho of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles in London. "Politicians are concerned about sharing with their public that they are being tough on asylum."
In England, "uncooperative" asylum seekers with rejected claims, with the exception of those with families, now see their welfare benefits withdrawn. In Holland, refugees denied asylum can now be denied social support after 28 days. Last year, Norway started charging hundreds of special officers with returning asylum seekers. Refugees denied asylum can also be denied access to the labor market or social protection.
"There is a tendency for industrialized nations to develop a policy to help induce or force people who've not been granted any kind of status to repatriate," says Ms. Coelho. Those asylum seekers, she says "form a growing segment of vulnerable, poor and marginalized people in European societies."
Although there are fewer and fewer asylum seekers in Europe, those asking for asylum are seeing their claims denied in greater number, says Ms. Coelho.
In Frankfurt, Europe's most multiethnic city, Aferdite's classmates rallied to her side. And Aferdite will most likely be able to stay at least until she finishes high school because a German family has committed to support her financially here. But her mother and two siblings are most likely going to be expelled next year.
Serbian official, Kosovo Serb leader disagree over status talks delegation
Belgrade, 20 September: The chairwoman of the Coordination Centre for Kosovo-Metohija, Sanda Raskovic-Ivic, today said that Kosovo Serbs should be part of the Serbian state delegation in the forthcoming negotiations about Kosovo's status. On the other hand, a member of the Kosovo Assembly's Presidency [currently boycotting the parliament], Oliver Ivanovic [head of Serb List for Kosovo-Metohija], believes that they should make up a separate delegation.
"It would be wrong to split, because this would mean that Kosovo is not an integral part of Serbia, but rather an independent state," Raskovic-Ivic told journalists during a street campaign by the Democratic Party of Serbia [DSS, headed by Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica] in central Belgrade.
Ivanovic told the Social Democratic Party [SDP, headed by former Coordination Centre chief Nebojsa Covic] that the Serbs from Kosovo should set up "an authentic and autochthonous delegation which would synchronize its activities with Belgrade officials".
"There is some sympathy for this, as well as concrete proposals from international community representatives," Ivanovic said.
Asked to comment on Sanda Raskovic-Ivic's statement about the necessity of having a single delegation, Ivanovic said that he had enough of symbols.
"Mrs Raskovic is speaking about symbols and I am speaking about practical matters. We have paid a handsome price for symbols so far. This would not be the first time, as we are already taking part in the work of Pristina's working groups, and this was defined in 1999 [as received]," Ivanovic explained.
Source: FoNet news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 1256 gmt 20 Sep 05
"It would be wrong to split, because this would mean that Kosovo is not an integral part of Serbia, but rather an independent state," Raskovic-Ivic told journalists during a street campaign by the Democratic Party of Serbia [DSS, headed by Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica] in central Belgrade.
Ivanovic told the Social Democratic Party [SDP, headed by former Coordination Centre chief Nebojsa Covic] that the Serbs from Kosovo should set up "an authentic and autochthonous delegation which would synchronize its activities with Belgrade officials".
"There is some sympathy for this, as well as concrete proposals from international community representatives," Ivanovic said.
Asked to comment on Sanda Raskovic-Ivic's statement about the necessity of having a single delegation, Ivanovic said that he had enough of symbols.
"Mrs Raskovic is speaking about symbols and I am speaking about practical matters. We have paid a handsome price for symbols so far. This would not be the first time, as we are already taking part in the work of Pristina's working groups, and this was defined in 1999 [as received]," Ivanovic explained.
Source: FoNet news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 1256 gmt 20 Sep 05
Hague tribunal judge stops Seselj's testimony, calls it pointless
ZAGREB, Sept 20 (Hina) - The two-week testimony of Serbian Radical Party leader Vojislav Seselj in the trial of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic at the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague ended on Tuesday after the presiding judge decided to stop the hearing.
At the end of the first part of today's session, Judge Patrick Robinson stopped the hearing, saying that there would be no additional examination of the witness because it had become pointless and because Milosevic had no more relevant questions to ask.
Seselj, who himself is also indicted by the tribunal, continued denying the existence of a joint criminal enterprise by the political and military leadership of Serbia, Montenegro and the self-styled Serb statelets in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina in the first half of the 1990s.
Seselj kept saying that volunteers from his party had not committed crimes in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Prosecutor Geoffrey Nice refuted Seselj's allegations, citing extracts from a book written by Seselj, which show that Milosevic asked Seselj in 1992 to send more volunteers to war zones in Croatia.
Nice also cited a statement by a prosecution witness identified as C-057, who had fought as a member of the Yugoslav People's Army alongside Seselj's men in Croatia. The witness described Seselj's volunteers as a gang of bandits who cut off fingers and pulled out teeth from dead bodies in Vukovar for jewellery and gold.
Seselj's marathon testimony, which started on 17 August, has been much more useful to Milosevic's prosecutors than it has been to the defence. Apart from evidence against the accused, the witness has also presented a lot of self-incriminating evidence, despite warnings from judges that he was not required to do that.
Seselj's testimony was followed by that of retired Serbian General Bozidar Delic, who started his testimony before the tribunal's summer break. Delic spoke of the system of command in the Yugoslav Army's Pristina Corps during its military intervention in Kosovo in the spring of 1999.
At the end of the first part of today's session, Judge Patrick Robinson stopped the hearing, saying that there would be no additional examination of the witness because it had become pointless and because Milosevic had no more relevant questions to ask.
Seselj, who himself is also indicted by the tribunal, continued denying the existence of a joint criminal enterprise by the political and military leadership of Serbia, Montenegro and the self-styled Serb statelets in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina in the first half of the 1990s.
Seselj kept saying that volunteers from his party had not committed crimes in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Prosecutor Geoffrey Nice refuted Seselj's allegations, citing extracts from a book written by Seselj, which show that Milosevic asked Seselj in 1992 to send more volunteers to war zones in Croatia.
Nice also cited a statement by a prosecution witness identified as C-057, who had fought as a member of the Yugoslav People's Army alongside Seselj's men in Croatia. The witness described Seselj's volunteers as a gang of bandits who cut off fingers and pulled out teeth from dead bodies in Vukovar for jewellery and gold.
Seselj's marathon testimony, which started on 17 August, has been much more useful to Milosevic's prosecutors than it has been to the defence. Apart from evidence against the accused, the witness has also presented a lot of self-incriminating evidence, despite warnings from judges that he was not required to do that.
Seselj's testimony was followed by that of retired Serbian General Bozidar Delic, who started his testimony before the tribunal's summer break. Delic spoke of the system of command in the Yugoslav Army's Pristina Corps during its military intervention in Kosovo in the spring of 1999.
Potential Kosovo partition destabilizing
TIRANA, Albania, Sept. 20 (UPI) -- Xhaferi said the eventual partition of Kosovo would subsequently destabilize Macedonia, Albania and Serbia. Xhaferi maintained that the rights that would be granted to Serbs in Kosovo would destabilize Macedonia because Albanians would compare their rights gained through their moderation in Macedonia with the rights accorded to the Serbs via their extremist policy in Kosovo.
Xhaferi said, "Once such analyses are made, Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia and particularly Albania will face destabilization."
Kosovo contains 1.5 million Albanians along with 80,000 Serbs, who live in separate areas guarded by NATO peacekeepers. Kosovo's international status is anomalous in that while it is a Serbian province containing Albanian, Serbian, Roma and Bosniac ethnic communities, it is dominated by Kosovo Liberation Army veterans. And Kosovo remains the subject of ongoing territorial dispute between the Serbian government and the province's majority ethnic Albanian population. It is a part of Serbia, but since the 1999 conflict has been under U.N. control as a protectorate.
The province's final status has yet to be determined, with talks scheduled for later this year.
Xhaferi said, "Once such analyses are made, Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia and particularly Albania will face destabilization."
Kosovo contains 1.5 million Albanians along with 80,000 Serbs, who live in separate areas guarded by NATO peacekeepers. Kosovo's international status is anomalous in that while it is a Serbian province containing Albanian, Serbian, Roma and Bosniac ethnic communities, it is dominated by Kosovo Liberation Army veterans. And Kosovo remains the subject of ongoing territorial dispute between the Serbian government and the province's majority ethnic Albanian population. It is a part of Serbia, but since the 1999 conflict has been under U.N. control as a protectorate.
The province's final status has yet to be determined, with talks scheduled for later this year.
Kosovo Aug CPI Up 0.2% M/M - Table
PRISTINA (Serbia and Montenegro), September 20 (SeeNews) - The August consumer price index (CPI) of the U.N.-run province of Kosovo increased by 0.2% compared to the previous month, after falling by 1.3% in July, statistics showed on Tuesday.
Kosovo Consumer Prices Index (pct change):
..............................................................Y/Y.....................M/M
TOTAL..................................................-0.5.....................+0.2
Food+Drink...........................................-2.6.....................-0.4
Spirits+Tobacco....................................+14.6...................0.0
Clothing+Shoes....................................-4.7......................0.0
Rents+Energy+Water..........................-5.0.....................+0.2
Furnishings+Household Equipment.......-1.9.....................-0.1
Health Care...........................................+0.8.....................0.0
Transport..............................................+9.3...................+4.4
Communications....................................-0.4......................0.0
Culture+Entertainment..........................-1.8......................0.0
Education..............................................-3.5......................0.0
Hotels+Cafes+Restaurants.....................0.0......................0.0
Other.....................................................-0.4....................+0.9
NOTE: Kosovo, a province of two million people, is legally part of the loose union of Serbia and Montenegro that succeeded rump Yugoslavia in 2003. The province was put under United Nations administration after NATO bombed Serbia in 1999 to halt the Serb repression of the ethnic Albanian majority in Kosovo.
Kosovo Consumer Prices Index (pct change):
..............................................................Y/Y.....................M/M
TOTAL..................................................-0.5.....................+0.2
Food+Drink...........................................-2.6.....................-0.4
Spirits+Tobacco....................................+14.6...................0.0
Clothing+Shoes....................................-4.7......................0.0
Rents+Energy+Water..........................-5.0.....................+0.2
Furnishings+Household Equipment.......-1.9.....................-0.1
Health Care...........................................+0.8.....................0.0
Transport..............................................+9.3...................+4.4
Communications....................................-0.4......................0.0
Culture+Entertainment..........................-1.8......................0.0
Education..............................................-3.5......................0.0
Hotels+Cafes+Restaurants.....................0.0......................0.0
Other.....................................................-0.4....................+0.9
NOTE: Kosovo, a province of two million people, is legally part of the loose union of Serbia and Montenegro that succeeded rump Yugoslavia in 2003. The province was put under United Nations administration after NATO bombed Serbia in 1999 to halt the Serb repression of the ethnic Albanian majority in Kosovo.
Bugajski: New horizons for Kosovo and Albania
Koha Ditore carries an opinion piece by the head of the US Centre for South-Eastern Strategic Studies, Janusz Bugajski.
“We have entered a crucial period for Albanians in Albania and in Kosovo, therefore Pristina and Tirana should make sure that big expectations will come true,” Bugajski said.
Albania has a new government in place and Kosovo is preparing for the status and is waiting for the international community to decide about the agenda and timeframes of its status and statehood.
“We have entered a crucial period for Albanians in Albania and in Kosovo, therefore Pristina and Tirana should make sure that big expectations will come true,” Bugajski said.
Albania has a new government in place and Kosovo is preparing for the status and is waiting for the international community to decide about the agenda and timeframes of its status and statehood.
Tërmkolli to UNMIK: Dismantle the parallel structures in Kosovo
Koha Ditore covers the meeting of the working group of the second Standard – rule of law in Kosovo, and reports that the head of the group, Public Services Minister Melihate Tërmkolli, considers that parallel structures are the main obstacle to the rule of law in Kosovo.
Tërmkolli has called on the UNMIK-led Department of Justice to take urgent measures in dissolving the parallel structures in Kosovo. “Functioning of parallel courts is seriously hindering the implementation of the second Standard – rule of law in Kosovo,” she said according to the paper.
Tërmkolli has called on the UNMIK-led Department of Justice to take urgent measures in dissolving the parallel structures in Kosovo. “Functioning of parallel courts is seriously hindering the implementation of the second Standard – rule of law in Kosovo,” she said according to the paper.
The Contact Group decides on talks
Express reports on the front page that Contact Group representatives are expected to support today the start of talks on Kosovo’s status in autumn. The paper notes that Ambassador Kai Eide will present the framework of his report before the Political Directors of the Foreign Ministries of the Contact Group. The CG diplomats will also listen to a briefing by UNMIK chief Søren Jessen-Petersen.
Citing unnamed sources, Express says that both Eide and Jessen-Petersen are expected to recommend to CG representatives the start of talks on Kosovo’s status and argue that any delay could pose danger to peace.
‘No one expects representatives of the Contact Group to say that everything went as planned, but they will support the start of talks this autumn,’ an unnamed Western diplomat in Pristina told the newspaper.
Zëri reports that the meeting of the Contact Group will be chaired by Michael Scheffer, political director in the German Foreign Ministry. Sources close to the meeting told Zëri that Under-Secretary of State Nicholas Burns is expected to represent the US in the meeting.
Citing unnamed sources, Express says that both Eide and Jessen-Petersen are expected to recommend to CG representatives the start of talks on Kosovo’s status and argue that any delay could pose danger to peace.
‘No one expects representatives of the Contact Group to say that everything went as planned, but they will support the start of talks this autumn,’ an unnamed Western diplomat in Pristina told the newspaper.
Zëri reports that the meeting of the Contact Group will be chaired by Michael Scheffer, political director in the German Foreign Ministry. Sources close to the meeting told Zëri that Under-Secretary of State Nicholas Burns is expected to represent the US in the meeting.
Monday, September 19, 2005
UN defends role of international police
c) 2005 The Financial Times Limited. All rights reserved
Soren Jessen-Petersen, the UN's most senior official in Kosovo, has mounted a robust defence of international policing in the Serbian breakaway province, after Kosovo's prime minister described the work of the UN police there as a "failure".
Mr Petersen called the prime minister's comments "a sweeping statement that cannot stand". He said UN police deserved enormous credit for helping to prepare Kosovo's local forces eventually to assume control of their own affairs.
Bajram Kosumi, the prime minister, issued a broad criticism of UN police's performance in Kosovo since 1999, when Nato bombing pushed Yugoslav forces out of the province to halt ethnic fighting, ushering in a period of international rule.
The UN mission run by Mr Petersen has since functioned as Kosovo's executive, overseeing the work of an elected provincial government. Mr Kosumi described UN policing as a "constant failure" that had jeopardised citizens' trust in international institutions, including the UN.
Mr Petersen also strongly countered public speculation by Avni Arifi, senior aide to Mr Kosumi, that more cases of UN police officers involved in people trafficking might yet be uncovered. Mr Arifi on Thursday told the Financial Times that the arrest of three Pakistani officers working for UN police could point toward a broader scandal.
The officers arrested three weeks ago, whose names are being protected by UN police, were later released by a local, UN-administered court after facing accusations that they had run a ring that illegally smuggled people across international borders.
Mr Petersen said a formal investigation was continuing. UN police had an "image problem" but he cautioned against undermining the reputation of the entire force in Kosovo, comprised of more than 3,700 officers.
"You will always have rotten apples, and it takes only one or two. We are trying very hard to clamp down on any misbehaviour."
He said UN police officers had arrested their colleagues in the case, calling this proof of the force's professionalism and effectiveness.
While running a major policing campaign to fight the illegal traffic in humans, especially for forced prost-itution, the UN in Kosovo has faced a slow trickle of accusations of this kind.
The UN mission has uncovered at least two cases in which UN personnel were accused of related crimes. A scathing report last year by Amnesty International said having thousands of international civilian, police and military personnel in the province was exacerbating, rather than stopping, sex slavery there.
Soren Jessen-Petersen, the UN's most senior official in Kosovo, has mounted a robust defence of international policing in the Serbian breakaway province, after Kosovo's prime minister described the work of the UN police there as a "failure".
Mr Petersen called the prime minister's comments "a sweeping statement that cannot stand". He said UN police deserved enormous credit for helping to prepare Kosovo's local forces eventually to assume control of their own affairs.
Bajram Kosumi, the prime minister, issued a broad criticism of UN police's performance in Kosovo since 1999, when Nato bombing pushed Yugoslav forces out of the province to halt ethnic fighting, ushering in a period of international rule.
The UN mission run by Mr Petersen has since functioned as Kosovo's executive, overseeing the work of an elected provincial government. Mr Kosumi described UN policing as a "constant failure" that had jeopardised citizens' trust in international institutions, including the UN.
Mr Petersen also strongly countered public speculation by Avni Arifi, senior aide to Mr Kosumi, that more cases of UN police officers involved in people trafficking might yet be uncovered. Mr Arifi on Thursday told the Financial Times that the arrest of three Pakistani officers working for UN police could point toward a broader scandal.
The officers arrested three weeks ago, whose names are being protected by UN police, were later released by a local, UN-administered court after facing accusations that they had run a ring that illegally smuggled people across international borders.
Mr Petersen said a formal investigation was continuing. UN police had an "image problem" but he cautioned against undermining the reputation of the entire force in Kosovo, comprised of more than 3,700 officers.
"You will always have rotten apples, and it takes only one or two. We are trying very hard to clamp down on any misbehaviour."
He said UN police officers had arrested their colleagues in the case, calling this proof of the force's professionalism and effectiveness.
While running a major policing campaign to fight the illegal traffic in humans, especially for forced prost-itution, the UN in Kosovo has faced a slow trickle of accusations of this kind.
The UN mission has uncovered at least two cases in which UN personnel were accused of related crimes. A scathing report last year by Amnesty International said having thousands of international civilian, police and military personnel in the province was exacerbating, rather than stopping, sex slavery there.
Serbia's Foreign Debt at $14.217 Bln in July - Table
BELGRADE (Serbia and Montenegro), September 19 (SeeNews) - Serbia's foreign debt rose to $14.217 billion (11.618 billion euro) at the end of July, from $13.730 billion a month earlier, preliminary central bank figures showed on Monday.
SERBIA FOREIGN DEBT (in billions of U.S. dollars):
.............................................................JULY..............JUNE..............END'04
TOTAL DEBT........................................14.217............13.730...........14.099
International financial institutions.........4.741..............4.540..............5.089
--IMF....................................................0.958................0.793.............0.962
--IBRD..................................................2.186................2.180.............2.472
--IDA....................................................0.416.................0.420.............0.432
--EUROFIMA.......................................0.149.................0.142.............0.160
--IFC.....................................................0.103.................0.103.............0.119
--EIB.....................................................0.278.................0.265.............0.282
--European Community.........................0.330................0.330.............0.354
--EUROFOND.........................................0.024.................0.024.............0.029
--EBRD.................................................0.297.................0.285.............0.280
Governments........................................3.576..................3.549.............3.690
--Paris Club..........................................2.855..................2.842..............3.016
---consolidated debt..............................2.621.................2.621.............2.806
---debt after 20.12.2000........................0.234..................0.221............0.210
--other governments..............................0.721..................0.707............0.674
London Club-restructured debt.............1.077...................1.077............1.08
London Club-non-restructured debt......0.086..................0.086............0.084
Other creditors......................................3.520...................3.210............2.976
Short-term debt.....................................1.111...................1.167............0.999
Clearing debt.........................................0.106...................0.106.............0.182
NOTE: Serbia's end-July foreign debt figure included the $1.165 billion in debt owed by the country's southern province of Kosovo, now a U.N. protectorate.
SERBIA FOREIGN DEBT (in billions of U.S. dollars):
.............................................................JULY..............JUNE..............END'04
TOTAL DEBT........................................14.217............13.730...........14.099
International financial institutions.........4.741..............4.540..............5.089
--IMF....................................................0.958................0.793.............0.962
--IBRD..................................................2.186................2.180.............2.472
--IDA....................................................0.416.................0.420.............0.432
--EUROFIMA.......................................0.149.................0.142.............0.160
--IFC.....................................................0.103.................0.103.............0.119
--EIB.....................................................0.278.................0.265.............0.282
--European Community.........................0.330................0.330.............0.354
--EUROFOND.........................................0.024.................0.024.............0.029
--EBRD.................................................0.297.................0.285.............0.280
Governments........................................3.576..................3.549.............3.690
--Paris Club..........................................2.855..................2.842..............3.016
---consolidated debt..............................2.621.................2.621.............2.806
---debt after 20.12.2000........................0.234..................0.221............0.210
--other governments..............................0.721..................0.707............0.674
London Club-restructured debt.............1.077...................1.077............1.08
London Club-non-restructured debt......0.086..................0.086............0.084
Other creditors......................................3.520...................3.210............2.976
Short-term debt.....................................1.111...................1.167............0.999
Clearing debt.........................................0.106...................0.106.............0.182
NOTE: Serbia's end-July foreign debt figure included the $1.165 billion in debt owed by the country's southern province of Kosovo, now a U.N. protectorate.
Kosovo Among Most Business Friendly Counties in Eastern Europe - Study
PRISTINA (Serbia and Montenegro), September 19 (SeeNews) - The business environment of the U.N.-run southern Serbian province of Kosovo is ranking among the most friendly in Eastern Europe in a study based on the World Bank's Doing Business Index, the U.S. office in Pristina said on Monday.
The study was prepared by the Kosovo-based economic research company Integra under the direction of the Kosovo Cluster and Business Support (KSCB) project, which is financed by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. office said in a statement.
"This report will encourage much needed foreign investment by educating the global markets as to the true nature of Kosovo's business environment. It also gives policymakers and business interest groups better intelligence as to where they should focus their efforts for future improvements," the USAID's Kosovo mission director, Ken Yamashita, said in the statement.
The World Bank's doing business index ranks 155 economies worldwide. The report tracks a set of regulatory indicators related to business startup, operation, trade, payment of taxes, and closure by measuring the time and cost associated with various government requirements.
Kosovo, legally part of Serbia and Montenegro, was put under U.N. administration in 1999 following NATO bombings on Serbia to halt Serb repression of the ethnic Albanian majority in the province.
The study was prepared by the Kosovo-based economic research company Integra under the direction of the Kosovo Cluster and Business Support (KSCB) project, which is financed by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. office said in a statement.
"This report will encourage much needed foreign investment by educating the global markets as to the true nature of Kosovo's business environment. It also gives policymakers and business interest groups better intelligence as to where they should focus their efforts for future improvements," the USAID's Kosovo mission director, Ken Yamashita, said in the statement.
The World Bank's doing business index ranks 155 economies worldwide. The report tracks a set of regulatory indicators related to business startup, operation, trade, payment of taxes, and closure by measuring the time and cost associated with various government requirements.
Kosovo, legally part of Serbia and Montenegro, was put under U.N. administration in 1999 following NATO bombings on Serbia to halt Serb repression of the ethnic Albanian majority in the province.
Six Foreign Firms Interested in Upgrading Kosovo Power Plant
PRISTINA (Serbia and Montenegro), September 19 (SeeNews) - Six foreign companies have shown interest so far in investing in the planned upgrade of a 800-MW coal-fired power plant in the U.N.-run southern Serbian province of Kosovo, a government official said on Monday.
"A U.S.-based company, a Bulgarian one, one from Russia, an American-Italian consortium, the Czech electricity producer CEZ and [UK-based] Alferon have shown interest in Kosovo A," the Kosovo Deputy Minister of Energy and Mining, Agron Dida, told SeeNews.
He added the ministry planned to open negotiations with potential investors by the end of the month.
Kosovo has yet to decide whether it will offer a concession on the power plant or sell it, the spokesman of the Kosovo's power utility KEK, Paloke Berisha, said.
Earlier this year, Alferon was selected a provisional winner in a tender for the sale of the ferro-nickel plant Ferronikeli by the Kosovo Trust Agency (KTA), the body charged with the restructuring of state-owned companies in the province. KTA is making now the background checks of Alferon's 33 million euro ($40.03 million) offer.
"Alferon is ready to make the investment, because Kosovo A supplies the energy needed for Ferronikeli's operations," Dida said.
Rusal, a Russian aluminium group, is also interested in investing in the power plant, Berisha said. Rusal bought Montenegro's sole aluminium smelter, Kombinat Aluminijuma Podgorica (KAP), for 145.5 million euro in cash and investments in July.
Kosovo's 10-year energy strategy, approved in August, callls for the province to upgrade three of the five power-generating units at Kosovo A. The investments needed for the revamping each of the three 200-MW units are estimated at 56 million euro, Dida said.
Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations since 1999 when a NATO bombing campaign forced Serbia to withdraw its forces from Kosovo and halt repression of the ethnic Albanian majority seeking independence for the province. The unresolved political status of Kosovo is considered a major obstacle to the province's plans to attract foreign investors.
"A U.S.-based company, a Bulgarian one, one from Russia, an American-Italian consortium, the Czech electricity producer CEZ and [UK-based] Alferon have shown interest in Kosovo A," the Kosovo Deputy Minister of Energy and Mining, Agron Dida, told SeeNews.
He added the ministry planned to open negotiations with potential investors by the end of the month.
Kosovo has yet to decide whether it will offer a concession on the power plant or sell it, the spokesman of the Kosovo's power utility KEK, Paloke Berisha, said.
Earlier this year, Alferon was selected a provisional winner in a tender for the sale of the ferro-nickel plant Ferronikeli by the Kosovo Trust Agency (KTA), the body charged with the restructuring of state-owned companies in the province. KTA is making now the background checks of Alferon's 33 million euro ($40.03 million) offer.
"Alferon is ready to make the investment, because Kosovo A supplies the energy needed for Ferronikeli's operations," Dida said.
Rusal, a Russian aluminium group, is also interested in investing in the power plant, Berisha said. Rusal bought Montenegro's sole aluminium smelter, Kombinat Aluminijuma Podgorica (KAP), for 145.5 million euro in cash and investments in July.
Kosovo's 10-year energy strategy, approved in August, callls for the province to upgrade three of the five power-generating units at Kosovo A. The investments needed for the revamping each of the three 200-MW units are estimated at 56 million euro, Dida said.
Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations since 1999 when a NATO bombing campaign forced Serbia to withdraw its forces from Kosovo and halt repression of the ethnic Albanian majority seeking independence for the province. The unresolved political status of Kosovo is considered a major obstacle to the province's plans to attract foreign investors.
Thaçi: Only one solution – statehood (Express)
When we talk about the status of the country, Prishtina has only one solution – statehood, as this option is in accordance with the will of the people, said PDK leader, Hashim Thaçi to Belgrade-based News Agency, B92, according to Express.
The issue of Kosovo needs to be discussed between Prishtina and the international community, which will later exert pressure on Belgrade to accept the reality created in the independent Kosovo, Thaçi told B92.
On the dialogue with Belgrade, Thaçi said that ‘dialogue between Prishtina and Belgrade could continue, or drag for 100 years without ever reaching the compromise for Belgrade to accept the independent state of Kosovo”.
The issue of Kosovo needs to be discussed between Prishtina and the international community, which will later exert pressure on Belgrade to accept the reality created in the independent Kosovo, Thaçi told B92.
On the dialogue with Belgrade, Thaçi said that ‘dialogue between Prishtina and Belgrade could continue, or drag for 100 years without ever reaching the compromise for Belgrade to accept the independent state of Kosovo”.
Raskovic Ivic: Kosovo Serbs to be part of Serbian delegation in status talks (Koha Ditore)
Koha Ditore quotes Sanda Raskovic-Ivic, head of the Coordination Centre for Kosovo (CCK), as saying that in talks on Kosovo’s future status the Serbian delegation must be united, comprised of representatives of Kosovo Serbs and authorities from Belgrade.
‘We must be united when it comes to the participation of Serbs in the provisional institutions of Kosovo. The line along which we must gather is Kosovo, and not political parties,’ said Raskovic-Ivic. She also added that the efforts of Albanians and individuals in the international community to divide Serbs that cooperate and those that don’t cooperate, were dangerous.
According to Belgrade-based Beta news agency, Raskovic-Ivic will visit Kosovo next week where she will meet representatives of Kosovo Serbs, ‘in efforts to reconcile different positions.’
‘We must be united when it comes to the participation of Serbs in the provisional institutions of Kosovo. The line along which we must gather is Kosovo, and not political parties,’ said Raskovic-Ivic. She also added that the efforts of Albanians and individuals in the international community to divide Serbs that cooperate and those that don’t cooperate, were dangerous.
According to Belgrade-based Beta news agency, Raskovic-Ivic will visit Kosovo next week where she will meet representatives of Kosovo Serbs, ‘in efforts to reconcile different positions.’
Police arrest four Serbian war crime suspects in Gracanica
Daily newspapers report on the pages that four Kosovo Serbs have been arrested Sunday morning near Gra_anica/Graçanicë on charges of committing war crimes against Kosovo Albanians in April 1999 in the village of Slovinje/Sllovi near Lipjan/Lipljan. Koha Ditore says that Serbian media have even published their names, three are reportedly brothers and the fourth is their uncle.
The four Kosovo Serbs were arrested by units of UNMIK Special Police after the arrest warrant was issued by an international prosecutor. The four K-Serbs are now in the Detention Centre in Pristina.
The four Kosovo Serbs were arrested by units of UNMIK Special Police after the arrest warrant was issued by an international prosecutor. The four K-Serbs are now in the Detention Centre in Pristina.
Government asks for substantial changes in Kosovo Police Law
Zëri reports on the front page that at a time when UNMIK chief is expected to sign the ‘Police Law’, some remarks from the Government of Kosovo could turn the process back to the beginning.
A working group assigned by PM Kosumi has found many flaws in the final draft of the law and have drafted their own version, which has already been sent to the UNMIK Pillar I and to the SRSG, said the paper.
A working group assigned by PM Kosumi has found many flaws in the final draft of the law and have drafted their own version, which has already been sent to the UNMIK Pillar I and to the SRSG, said the paper.
Kosumi: I do not intend to resign
Epoka e Re carries an interview Kosovo Prime Minister gave to Kosovalive News Agency. According to the paper Kosumi said that all delays in Kosovo are linked to the work of UNMIK.
The paper highlights from the interview Kosumi statements according to which the opposition is wrong in its assessments of decentralisation projects and there are no facts that show evidence of corruption and organized crime in his cabinet.
Kosumi further said that he did not intend to resign, and assessed the call the opposition for him to resign as a political campaign.
The paper highlights from the interview Kosumi statements according to which the opposition is wrong in its assessments of decentralisation projects and there are no facts that show evidence of corruption and organized crime in his cabinet.
Kosumi further said that he did not intend to resign, and assessed the call the opposition for him to resign as a political campaign.
Three US senators offer draft resolution on Kosovo (Dailies)
Dailies report that three US senators, Joseph Biden, Richard Lugar and George Voinovich have presented a draft-resolution on Kosovo to US Senate Foreign Committee.
Under the headline Status of Kosovo – agreement between Kosovo, Serbia & Montenegro and the UN, Koha Ditore reports on its lead story on the front page that three US senators are proposing giving to Kosovo authorities ‘more competencies and more independence in accomplishing the Standards’, which also implies taking on the responsibility for failures and progress. The three senators say according to the paper that the unresolved status of Kosovo is not sustainable and does not contribute to progress, stability and peace in the South-Eastern Europe.
According to Koha Ditore the Foreign Minister of Serbia and Montenegro, Vuk Draskovic, has said that the three senators have taken a ‘balanced approach’ and has expressed his hope that their proposal will be accepted.
Under the headline Status of Kosovo – agreement between Kosovo, Serbia & Montenegro and the UN, Koha Ditore reports on its lead story on the front page that three US senators are proposing giving to Kosovo authorities ‘more competencies and more independence in accomplishing the Standards’, which also implies taking on the responsibility for failures and progress. The three senators say according to the paper that the unresolved status of Kosovo is not sustainable and does not contribute to progress, stability and peace in the South-Eastern Europe.
According to Koha Ditore the Foreign Minister of Serbia and Montenegro, Vuk Draskovic, has said that the three senators have taken a ‘balanced approach’ and has expressed his hope that their proposal will be accepted.
Sunday, September 18, 2005
Serbian president visits US to lobby on Kosovo
BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro, Sept. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- Serbian President Boris Tadic left on Sunday for the United States on a three-day visit to lobby on Kosovo as the Serbian province anxiously waits for talks on its final status.
President Tadic will visit Boston on Sept. 19, where he is planned to deliver a speech at Harvard University, Tadic's press service said in a statement, adding that this would be the first time that a Serbian president is addressing the American university elite.
On Sept. 20-21, Tadic will visit New York, where he is scheduled to meet with US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and head of Contact Group head German diplomat Michael Scheffer.
The Contact Group, whose task is to resolve the Kosovo issue, consists of Britain, French, Germany, Italy, Russia and the UnitedStates.
Tadic will also hold several meetings with representatives of the Contact Group member states before their meeting on Kosovo.
Kosovo has been run by the United Nations since June 1999, whenNATO bombing expelled Serbian forces engaged in a war against ethnic Albanian guerillas.
The United Nations is due to decide later this year whether thede facto protectorate can begin final status talks. Enditem
President Tadic will visit Boston on Sept. 19, where he is planned to deliver a speech at Harvard University, Tadic's press service said in a statement, adding that this would be the first time that a Serbian president is addressing the American university elite.
On Sept. 20-21, Tadic will visit New York, where he is scheduled to meet with US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and head of Contact Group head German diplomat Michael Scheffer.
The Contact Group, whose task is to resolve the Kosovo issue, consists of Britain, French, Germany, Italy, Russia and the UnitedStates.
Tadic will also hold several meetings with representatives of the Contact Group member states before their meeting on Kosovo.
Kosovo has been run by the United Nations since June 1999, whenNATO bombing expelled Serbian forces engaged in a war against ethnic Albanian guerillas.
The United Nations is due to decide later this year whether thede facto protectorate can begin final status talks. Enditem
Saturday, September 17, 2005
Serbia-Montenegro slides closer to divorce
BELGRADE, Sept 16 (Reuters) - The tottering union of Serbia and Montenegro, salvaged from the ruins of Yugoslavia in 2003, was closer to collapse on Friday after its president hinted he may quit and withdraw Montenegrin officials.
The union has long been under attack by critics in both republics as a marriage of convenience doomed to divorce. Now, an escalating political row has cast doubts on its chances of lasting even a few more months.
President Svetozar Marovic -- a Montenegrin -- said he was demoralised by his job and hinted at resignation.
"I have not felt comfortable in this post for a long time and it has been getting more difficult by the day," he said. "If you need a victim for the sake of good relations between Serbia and Montenegro, I agree to it."
Marovic complained that allegations of corruption levelled against him by Serbian Finance Minister Mladjan Dinkic were malicious fabrications that had caused him "agonies".
His chef de cabinet Vule Tomasevic later told Serbia's Beta news agency that Marovic was considering whether "to withdraw from Belgrade the Montenegrin part of the union's administrative personnel until the issue is clarified ..."
Dinkic was setting himself up as "prosecutor, judge and executioner", Tomasevic said. "That's not a state union ... it's a state in which Montenegro could not be more than a region."
The statements were the latest salvoes in a row between Marovic and Dinkic, who forced the resignation of union Defence Minister Prvslav Davinic last week in a scandal over an allegedly unauthorised and corrupt deal for army equipment.
In their brawl over the past two weeks, the spirit of the union has taken such a beating that some commentators consider it already dead, posing a question: if Marovic resigned now, would anyone replace him?
LOPSIDED AND UNLOVED
Serbia has eight million people, Montenegro 650,000. They run separate currencies and operate separate customs laws, sharing a weak joint council that critics say is dysfunctional, and a union that is torn by multiplying calls for separation.
Montenegro's ruling party, of which Marovic is a member, aims to end the union and is intent on holding an independence referendum as soon as February -- the earliest date permitted under the charter brokered by the European Union.
In a poll this week, 41.6 percent of Montenegrins backed independence and 34.5 opposed it. Polls show no clear trend among Serbs, who have no referendum plan.
Some politicians on both sides are decidedly against prolonging the union. Analyst Djordje Vukadinovic said it was interesting that the feuding ministers both come from parties which want to separate Serbia and Montenegro.
Brussels, however, wants to discourage further fragmentation in the Balkans, fearing the emergence of an independent Montenegro and a possibly independent Kosovo in 2006 may inspire independence demands in ethnically divided Bosnia and Macedonia.
With talks due to start next month on a pact which would set the union on the first rung of the ladder to EU membership, Brussels is warning Montenegro that separation would radically slow its prospects. But the warning is being ignored.
Belgrade's liberal daily Danas said it was high time Serbia consider "if there is any sense on insisting on the state union if it has no serious partner on the other side to support it".
The dispute erupted when Dinkic accused Davinic of signing an army deal behind the back of the Serbian government. The union was dragged in via allegations from Dinkic and others that some Montenegrins were robbing the Serb taxpayer.
After several days of name-calling, Davinic last week agreed to resign, but said he was the innocent victim of a set-up.
The union has long been under attack by critics in both republics as a marriage of convenience doomed to divorce. Now, an escalating political row has cast doubts on its chances of lasting even a few more months.
President Svetozar Marovic -- a Montenegrin -- said he was demoralised by his job and hinted at resignation.
"I have not felt comfortable in this post for a long time and it has been getting more difficult by the day," he said. "If you need a victim for the sake of good relations between Serbia and Montenegro, I agree to it."
Marovic complained that allegations of corruption levelled against him by Serbian Finance Minister Mladjan Dinkic were malicious fabrications that had caused him "agonies".
His chef de cabinet Vule Tomasevic later told Serbia's Beta news agency that Marovic was considering whether "to withdraw from Belgrade the Montenegrin part of the union's administrative personnel until the issue is clarified ..."
Dinkic was setting himself up as "prosecutor, judge and executioner", Tomasevic said. "That's not a state union ... it's a state in which Montenegro could not be more than a region."
The statements were the latest salvoes in a row between Marovic and Dinkic, who forced the resignation of union Defence Minister Prvslav Davinic last week in a scandal over an allegedly unauthorised and corrupt deal for army equipment.
In their brawl over the past two weeks, the spirit of the union has taken such a beating that some commentators consider it already dead, posing a question: if Marovic resigned now, would anyone replace him?
LOPSIDED AND UNLOVED
Serbia has eight million people, Montenegro 650,000. They run separate currencies and operate separate customs laws, sharing a weak joint council that critics say is dysfunctional, and a union that is torn by multiplying calls for separation.
Montenegro's ruling party, of which Marovic is a member, aims to end the union and is intent on holding an independence referendum as soon as February -- the earliest date permitted under the charter brokered by the European Union.
In a poll this week, 41.6 percent of Montenegrins backed independence and 34.5 opposed it. Polls show no clear trend among Serbs, who have no referendum plan.
Some politicians on both sides are decidedly against prolonging the union. Analyst Djordje Vukadinovic said it was interesting that the feuding ministers both come from parties which want to separate Serbia and Montenegro.
Brussels, however, wants to discourage further fragmentation in the Balkans, fearing the emergence of an independent Montenegro and a possibly independent Kosovo in 2006 may inspire independence demands in ethnically divided Bosnia and Macedonia.
With talks due to start next month on a pact which would set the union on the first rung of the ladder to EU membership, Brussels is warning Montenegro that separation would radically slow its prospects. But the warning is being ignored.
Belgrade's liberal daily Danas said it was high time Serbia consider "if there is any sense on insisting on the state union if it has no serious partner on the other side to support it".
The dispute erupted when Dinkic accused Davinic of signing an army deal behind the back of the Serbian government. The union was dragged in via allegations from Dinkic and others that some Montenegrins were robbing the Serb taxpayer.
After several days of name-calling, Davinic last week agreed to resign, but said he was the innocent victim of a set-up.
Kosovo poll shows 86 per cent favour independence
Prishtina [Pristina], 16 September: Around 86 per cent of Kosovars interviewed by INDEX Kosova and Gallup International declared in favour of independence, whereas only 6 per cent of them say that Kosova [Kosovo] should join Albania.
The data of this survey indicate that the independence is the only option for majority of Kosova inhabitants and, whatever other solution, is not a solution for them.
On the question 'what would you do if Kosova will not be independent under the current borders', 35 per cent of interviewees say that they will support political parties to solve this problem, 22 per cent say that they will take part in demonstration, 13 per cent say that they will discus it with family and friends, 6 per cent say that will join those who oppose it through violence, while 5 per cent say that they will leave Kosova.
Source: KosovaLive website, Pristina, in English 16 Sep 05
The data of this survey indicate that the independence is the only option for majority of Kosova inhabitants and, whatever other solution, is not a solution for them.
On the question 'what would you do if Kosova will not be independent under the current borders', 35 per cent of interviewees say that they will support political parties to solve this problem, 22 per cent say that they will take part in demonstration, 13 per cent say that they will discus it with family and friends, 6 per cent say that will join those who oppose it through violence, while 5 per cent say that they will leave Kosova.
Source: KosovaLive website, Pristina, in English 16 Sep 05
Haradinaj trial in November of next year
The papers report that the ICTY has rendered a decision to start the trial against former Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj and, Idriz Balaj and Lahi Brahimaj in November of the coming year. Papers say that, according to the Judge, the entire trial should not last more than 12 to 18 months.
Dailies also report that Haradinaj’s defence counsel has asked the court to allow his client political engagement stressing that Haradinaj does not intend on entering Kosovo Government or participate in Kosovo status talks, but that he wants to “continue his public efforts for solving [Kosovo’s] problem in accordance with international standards, where minorities would also be included”. The trial body is expected to decide on the request at a later stage.
Dailies also report that Haradinaj’s defence counsel has asked the court to allow his client political engagement stressing that Haradinaj does not intend on entering Kosovo Government or participate in Kosovo status talks, but that he wants to “continue his public efforts for solving [Kosovo’s] problem in accordance with international standards, where minorities would also be included”. The trial body is expected to decide on the request at a later stage.
Minister Haraçia to meet Serbian counterpart on 23 Sep in Belgrade (Zëri)
Zëri writes, quoting sources in the Kosovan Ministry of Culture, that Serbian Culture Minister Dragan Kojadinovic asked for a meeting with Minister Astrit Haraçia and received a positive reply. The meeting is now scheduled to take place in Belgrade on 23 September and will focus on religious sites in Kosovo, cultural heritage and return of various Kosovo museum exhibits that Belgrade had taken during the 1990s. The two Ministers were also supposed to meet in August of this year but the meeting was cancelled by Belgrade.
International team
The paper quotes diplomatic sources who say the composition of the international team to negotiate on Kosovo status has already been decided.
According to the paper, the team will be led by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari and will include former US Under Secretary for Political Affairs Marc Grossman, Advisor to EU Representative for Foreign Policy Stephan Lehne, a Russian diplomat and possibly another member.
UN spokesman Brenden Varma told Express that no team has yet been decided. He said the UN is first awaiting the report from Ambassador Eide and will then decide what future steps to undertake.
According to the paper, the team will be led by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari and will include former US Under Secretary for Political Affairs Marc Grossman, Advisor to EU Representative for Foreign Policy Stephan Lehne, a Russian diplomat and possibly another member.
UN spokesman Brenden Varma told Express that no team has yet been decided. He said the UN is first awaiting the report from Ambassador Eide and will then decide what future steps to undertake.
No handshake and no results of Haziri – Loncar meeting
Daily papers report on a meeting between Kosovo and Serbian delegations in Vienna initiated by UN SG envoy on standards Ambassador Kai Eide. Apart from process of decentralisation, improvement of security situation for Kosovo Serb community was also discussed in the meeting, Koha reports.
Eide, after the meeting, said he was encouraged by the fact that Vienna talks were held in a “constructive and very detailed spirit”, and that concrete issues were tackled.
Kosovo Minister for Local Government Lutfi Haziri told Zëri that decentralisation and cadastral records were among the topics discussed in the meeting and he added that neither can Belgrade nor anyone else for that matter, demand changes to be made to the Kosovan plan for decentralisation. “This is the first meeting and as such cannot be expected to solve anything but it is a positive engagement aimed at solving problems,” Haziri said.
All daily papers report on an “unfortunate gaffe’ that occurred when one of the journalists called for a handshake between the Ministers at which point Minister Haziri stood up and offered the hand to the Serbian minister but Loncar did not take up the offer saying, “We are not here to take pictures”. Koha Ditore says the meeting has been put under shadow because of the handshake incident. Zëri’s publisher Blerim Shala writes that the meeting of 16 September will be remembered by the refusal of Serbian Minister to shake hands with his Kosovan counterpart.
Epoka e Re carries reactions of political parties to the meeting in Vienna where Jakup Krasniqi from PDK is quoted as saying that the decision to go to the meeting without first consulting the Kosovo Assembly is a “wrong move”, while ORA Spokesman Ylli Hoxha said his party has always stressed the “need for consultations before the start of talks”.
Eide, after the meeting, said he was encouraged by the fact that Vienna talks were held in a “constructive and very detailed spirit”, and that concrete issues were tackled.
Kosovo Minister for Local Government Lutfi Haziri told Zëri that decentralisation and cadastral records were among the topics discussed in the meeting and he added that neither can Belgrade nor anyone else for that matter, demand changes to be made to the Kosovan plan for decentralisation. “This is the first meeting and as such cannot be expected to solve anything but it is a positive engagement aimed at solving problems,” Haziri said.
All daily papers report on an “unfortunate gaffe’ that occurred when one of the journalists called for a handshake between the Ministers at which point Minister Haziri stood up and offered the hand to the Serbian minister but Loncar did not take up the offer saying, “We are not here to take pictures”. Koha Ditore says the meeting has been put under shadow because of the handshake incident. Zëri’s publisher Blerim Shala writes that the meeting of 16 September will be remembered by the refusal of Serbian Minister to shake hands with his Kosovan counterpart.
Epoka e Re carries reactions of political parties to the meeting in Vienna where Jakup Krasniqi from PDK is quoted as saying that the decision to go to the meeting without first consulting the Kosovo Assembly is a “wrong move”, while ORA Spokesman Ylli Hoxha said his party has always stressed the “need for consultations before the start of talks”.
Friday, September 16, 2005
Photo of the day: Kosovo and Serbia in key meeting
Senior officials from Kosovo, right, and Serbia, left, meet at the Austrian foreign ministry in Vienna, on Friday, Sept. 16, 2005, to discuss unresolved issues from the 1998-1999 war in an U.N.-backed session, billed as a prelude to talks on the disputed province's political future. At the top of the table is U.N. special envoy Kai Eide, who helped organize the Vienna talks. (AP Photo/Hans Punz)
Kosovo and Serbia in key meeting
(BBC) Top officials from Serbia and Kosovo have held a six-hour meeting in Vienna for the first time in two years.
Kosovo is waiting for a UN report by special envoy Kai Eide expected to give the green light to crucial talks on its final status.
Kosovo wants to become independent of Serbia, while Serbia insists it should remain a Serbian province.
Kosovo has been under UN administration since 1999, when a Nato campaign ended a Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanians.
The BBC's Gabriel Partos says Kosovo has agreed to take part in the meeting because a display of willingness to co-operate will suggest it is ready for the UN-backed status talks.
The session - the first ever to deal with political rather than technical matters - reportedly focussed on local government reform and the return of tens of thousands of Serbian refugees who fled after the war.
Kosovo is waiting for a UN report by special envoy Kai Eide expected to give the green light to crucial talks on its final status.
Kosovo wants to become independent of Serbia, while Serbia insists it should remain a Serbian province.
Kosovo has been under UN administration since 1999, when a Nato campaign ended a Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanians.
The BBC's Gabriel Partos says Kosovo has agreed to take part in the meeting because a display of willingness to co-operate will suggest it is ready for the UN-backed status talks.
The session - the first ever to deal with political rather than technical matters - reportedly focussed on local government reform and the return of tens of thousands of Serbian refugees who fled after the war.
Thursday, September 15, 2005
SENATE RESOLUTION 237--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE ON REACHING AN AGREEMENT ON THE FUTURE STATUS OF KOSOVO
Mr. VOINOVICH (for himself, Mr. Lugar, and Mr. Biden) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:
S. Res. 237
Whereas, on June 10, 1999, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1244 which authorized the Secretary-General of the United Nations to establish an interim administration for Kosovo to assume the supreme legal authority in Kosovo with the task of promoting ``substantial autonomy and self-governance'' in Kosovo and facilitating a political process to determine the future status of Kosovo;
Whereas, on December 10, 2003, the United Nations interim administration, known as the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo, presented the Standards for Kosovo document which set out the requirements to be met to advance stability in Kosovo;
Whereas the Standards for Kosovo require the establishment of functioning democratic institutions in Kosovo, including providing for the holding of elections, establishing the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government, and establishing media and civil society, the establishment of rule of law to ensure equal access to justice and to implement mechanisms to suppress economic and financial crime, and the establishment of freedom of movement in Kosovo, including the free use of language;
Whereas the Standards for Kosovo further require sustainable returns and the rights of communities and their members, improvements in economic and financial institutions, including the prevention of money laundering and the establishment of an attractive environment for investors, the establishment of property rights, including the preservation of cultural heritage, and the development of a sustained dialogue, including a Pristina-Belgrade dialogue and a regional dialogue;
Whereas the ethnic violence that occurred in Kosovo from March 17, 2004 through March 19, 2004, represented a severe setback to the progress the people of Kosovo achieved in implementing the Standards for Kosovo and resulted in 20 deaths and damage to or destruction of approximately 900 homes and 30 Serbian Orthodox churches and other religious sites;
Whereas the bomb attacks against the people and international institutions in Kosovo that occurred from July 2, 2005 through July 4, 2005, were unacceptable events that work counter to the interests and efforts of the majority of the people of Kosovo and signal that more work must be done to promote the implementation of the Standards for Kosovo;
Whereas the status of Kosovo, which is neither stable nor sustainable, is a critical issue affecting the aspirations of Southeast Europe for stability, peace, and eventual membership in the European Union;
Whereas the authorities and institutions of Kosovo must be empowered to act independently to achieve the Standards for Kosovo so that such authorities and institutions may assume responsibility for any progress or setbacks;
Whereas 2005 must be a year of decision for representatives of Kosovo, Serbia and Montenegro, and the United Nations to move forward on the status of Kosovo;
Whereas the basic values of multi-ethnicity, democracy, and market-orientation must remain at the heart of any effort to resolve the question of the future status of Kosovo; and
Whereas the support of all of the people of Kosovo is required to achieve a successful outcome that addresses those basic values: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
(1) the unresolved status of Kosovo is neither sustainable nor beneficial to the progress toward stability and peace in Southeast Europe and its integration with Europe;
(2) the leaders of Kosovo and Serbia and Montenegro and the representatives of the United Nations should work toward an agreement on the future status of Kosovo and a plan for transformation in Kosovo;
(3) such agreement and plan should--
(A) address the claims and satisfy the key concerns of the people of Kosovo and the people of Serbia and Montenegro;
(B) seek compromises from both Kosovo and Serbia and Montenegro to reach an agreement;
(C) promote the integration of Southeast Europe with the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization;
(D) reinforce efforts to encourage full cooperation by the governments of Kosovo and of Serbia and Montenegro with the International Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia;
(E) promote stability in the region and take into consideration the stability of democracy in Kosovo and in Serbia and Montenegro;
(F) promote the active participation of Serbians in Kosovo in elections and in the government of Kosovo; and
(G) require the fulfillment of the Standards for Kosovo, the requirements that the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo established to advance stability in Kosovo, in accordance with prior commitments and in support of the initiation of discussions on status with particular emphasis on the problem of human rights in minority communities;
(4) the anticipated discussions of the long-term status of Kosovo should result in a plan for implementing the Standards for Kosovo, particularly with regard to minority protections, return of property, and the development of rule of law as it relates to the improvement of protection of minorities, the return of internally displaced persons, the return of property, and the prosecution of human rights violations; and
(5) Kosovo, Serbia and Montenegro, and the United Nations, during the negotiations related to the long-term status of Kosovo, should require--
(A) increased monitoring and reporting of the progress on the implementation of the Standards for Kosovo and any incidents of human rights violations, and should broaden the involvement of minorities and community-level representatives in monitoring, reporting, and publicizing that progress;
(B) that the authorities and institutions of Kosovo be given greater authority and independence in fulfilling the Standards for Kosovo, including assuming the responsibility for any setbacks and progress and acquiring experience in assuming greater autonomy; and
(C) a broad public awareness campaign to raise awareness of both the plan to resolve the question of the status of Kosovo and the requirements for the transition of Kosovo to a permanent status, including the importance of the progress in implementing the Standards for Kosovo and the necessity of ensuring peace and suppressing all forms of discrimination and violence so that the region may move forward toward a future of greater prosperity, stability, and lasting peace.
S. Res. 237
Whereas, on June 10, 1999, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1244 which authorized the Secretary-General of the United Nations to establish an interim administration for Kosovo to assume the supreme legal authority in Kosovo with the task of promoting ``substantial autonomy and self-governance'' in Kosovo and facilitating a political process to determine the future status of Kosovo;
Whereas, on December 10, 2003, the United Nations interim administration, known as the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo, presented the Standards for Kosovo document which set out the requirements to be met to advance stability in Kosovo;
Whereas the Standards for Kosovo require the establishment of functioning democratic institutions in Kosovo, including providing for the holding of elections, establishing the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government, and establishing media and civil society, the establishment of rule of law to ensure equal access to justice and to implement mechanisms to suppress economic and financial crime, and the establishment of freedom of movement in Kosovo, including the free use of language;
Whereas the Standards for Kosovo further require sustainable returns and the rights of communities and their members, improvements in economic and financial institutions, including the prevention of money laundering and the establishment of an attractive environment for investors, the establishment of property rights, including the preservation of cultural heritage, and the development of a sustained dialogue, including a Pristina-Belgrade dialogue and a regional dialogue;
Whereas the ethnic violence that occurred in Kosovo from March 17, 2004 through March 19, 2004, represented a severe setback to the progress the people of Kosovo achieved in implementing the Standards for Kosovo and resulted in 20 deaths and damage to or destruction of approximately 900 homes and 30 Serbian Orthodox churches and other religious sites;
Whereas the bomb attacks against the people and international institutions in Kosovo that occurred from July 2, 2005 through July 4, 2005, were unacceptable events that work counter to the interests and efforts of the majority of the people of Kosovo and signal that more work must be done to promote the implementation of the Standards for Kosovo;
Whereas the status of Kosovo, which is neither stable nor sustainable, is a critical issue affecting the aspirations of Southeast Europe for stability, peace, and eventual membership in the European Union;
Whereas the authorities and institutions of Kosovo must be empowered to act independently to achieve the Standards for Kosovo so that such authorities and institutions may assume responsibility for any progress or setbacks;
Whereas 2005 must be a year of decision for representatives of Kosovo, Serbia and Montenegro, and the United Nations to move forward on the status of Kosovo;
Whereas the basic values of multi-ethnicity, democracy, and market-orientation must remain at the heart of any effort to resolve the question of the future status of Kosovo; and
Whereas the support of all of the people of Kosovo is required to achieve a successful outcome that addresses those basic values: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
(1) the unresolved status of Kosovo is neither sustainable nor beneficial to the progress toward stability and peace in Southeast Europe and its integration with Europe;
(2) the leaders of Kosovo and Serbia and Montenegro and the representatives of the United Nations should work toward an agreement on the future status of Kosovo and a plan for transformation in Kosovo;
(3) such agreement and plan should--
(A) address the claims and satisfy the key concerns of the people of Kosovo and the people of Serbia and Montenegro;
(B) seek compromises from both Kosovo and Serbia and Montenegro to reach an agreement;
(C) promote the integration of Southeast Europe with the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization;
(D) reinforce efforts to encourage full cooperation by the governments of Kosovo and of Serbia and Montenegro with the International Crimes Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia;
(E) promote stability in the region and take into consideration the stability of democracy in Kosovo and in Serbia and Montenegro;
(F) promote the active participation of Serbians in Kosovo in elections and in the government of Kosovo; and
(G) require the fulfillment of the Standards for Kosovo, the requirements that the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo established to advance stability in Kosovo, in accordance with prior commitments and in support of the initiation of discussions on status with particular emphasis on the problem of human rights in minority communities;
(4) the anticipated discussions of the long-term status of Kosovo should result in a plan for implementing the Standards for Kosovo, particularly with regard to minority protections, return of property, and the development of rule of law as it relates to the improvement of protection of minorities, the return of internally displaced persons, the return of property, and the prosecution of human rights violations; and
(5) Kosovo, Serbia and Montenegro, and the United Nations, during the negotiations related to the long-term status of Kosovo, should require--
(A) increased monitoring and reporting of the progress on the implementation of the Standards for Kosovo and any incidents of human rights violations, and should broaden the involvement of minorities and community-level representatives in monitoring, reporting, and publicizing that progress;
(B) that the authorities and institutions of Kosovo be given greater authority and independence in fulfilling the Standards for Kosovo, including assuming the responsibility for any setbacks and progress and acquiring experience in assuming greater autonomy; and
(C) a broad public awareness campaign to raise awareness of both the plan to resolve the question of the status of Kosovo and the requirements for the transition of Kosovo to a permanent status, including the importance of the progress in implementing the Standards for Kosovo and the necessity of ensuring peace and suppressing all forms of discrimination and violence so that the region may move forward toward a future of greater prosperity, stability, and lasting peace.
Whyte: Serbia is financing parallel authorities in northern Mitrovica with money of the international community
Zëri writes that the director of the International Crises Group, Nicholas Whyte, has said that the international community should address the situation in Mitrovica more seriously.
Whyte also considers that the international community is not incapable of applying provisions of the UN SC Resolution 1244 when dealing with Mitrovica. According to him there are two ways to oblige Belgrade; use carrot of EU membership and the stick of stopping international support, which money Serbia is using to finance the parallel structures in Kosovo.
ICG director also reiterated the group’s recommendations that the international community should appoint a special advisor to deal with the integration of the reintegration of the town.
Whyte also considers that the international community is not incapable of applying provisions of the UN SC Resolution 1244 when dealing with Mitrovica. According to him there are two ways to oblige Belgrade; use carrot of EU membership and the stick of stopping international support, which money Serbia is using to finance the parallel structures in Kosovo.
ICG director also reiterated the group’s recommendations that the international community should appoint a special advisor to deal with the integration of the reintegration of the town.
British minister says independence of Kosovo is one of options
PRISTINA, Sept 15 (Hina) - British Minister for Europe, Douglas Alexander, has said that independence of Kosovo is one of options in the process of defining a final status of Kosovo, and added that the future of the province depends on results of negotiations.
During his two-day visit to Pristina, Alexander held talks with Kosovo officials, leaders of political parties and representatives of the international organisations in the province.
Alexander assessed that the situation in Kosovo had been improved over past six years and promised that the British government would assist in activities preceding negotiations on Kosovo's final status.
The British minister will depart for Belgrade on Thursday afternoon for talks with Serbian officials.
During his two-day visit to Pristina, Alexander held talks with Kosovo officials, leaders of political parties and representatives of the international organisations in the province.
Alexander assessed that the situation in Kosovo had been improved over past six years and promised that the British government would assist in activities preceding negotiations on Kosovo's final status.
The British minister will depart for Belgrade on Thursday afternoon for talks with Serbian officials.
Serbian premier against Everts as new OSCE mission chief
Text of report by "N.M.J." entitled "Stop for Everts" published by the Serbian newspaper Blic on 13 September
The term of office of Maurizio Massari, the head of the OSCE mission in Serbia-Montenegro, runs out this year and Dan Everts, the candidate for the new OSCE ambassador, has not yet received the approval of the authorities in Belgrade to take Massari's place, Blic has learned. The reason is that Everts is allegedly close to Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova.
A source close to the Serbian government has told Blic that Everts "got a 'no'" from the Office of Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica as it has been assessed that he would be "biased on the eve of the upcoming talks on the final status of Kosmet [Kosovo-Metohija]". The source said that the approval for Everts was waiting in a drawer at the Foreign Ministry.
Blic received a confirmation at the Foreign Ministry that Everts is the candidate for the position of head of the OSCE mission but was told that the "procedure is still underway". Blic has learned that Massari's term of office, which was due to end in August, has been extended until January 2006 because of the delay. The OSCE mission declined to make any comment, describing the allegations as speculation.
When he headed the OSCE mission in Kosovo-Metohija, Everts upset the Serb public with his statement that the November 2001 elections [in Kosovo-Metohija] would be the "best this century" and incurred the wrath of Kosovo politicians when he showed up at the election-campaign meeting of Rugova's Democratic League of Kosovo [LDK] on 27 October 2001.
He said there and then that the LDK had "historical significance" and that "Kosovo needs a politician like Rugova". The media in Kosmet reacted strongly and accused Everts of "open political bias". Everts claimed in his defence that he would have said the same thing at a meeting of any other party. Neither did the media fail to note that Everts took the stand at the controversial meeting wearing a scarf identical to the one worn by Rugova. Everts was withdrawn as head of the OSCE mission in Kosovo-Metohija after that.
Source: Blic, Belgrade, in Serbian 13 Sep 05 p 3
The term of office of Maurizio Massari, the head of the OSCE mission in Serbia-Montenegro, runs out this year and Dan Everts, the candidate for the new OSCE ambassador, has not yet received the approval of the authorities in Belgrade to take Massari's place, Blic has learned. The reason is that Everts is allegedly close to Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova.
A source close to the Serbian government has told Blic that Everts "got a 'no'" from the Office of Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica as it has been assessed that he would be "biased on the eve of the upcoming talks on the final status of Kosmet [Kosovo-Metohija]". The source said that the approval for Everts was waiting in a drawer at the Foreign Ministry.
Blic received a confirmation at the Foreign Ministry that Everts is the candidate for the position of head of the OSCE mission but was told that the "procedure is still underway". Blic has learned that Massari's term of office, which was due to end in August, has been extended until January 2006 because of the delay. The OSCE mission declined to make any comment, describing the allegations as speculation.
When he headed the OSCE mission in Kosovo-Metohija, Everts upset the Serb public with his statement that the November 2001 elections [in Kosovo-Metohija] would be the "best this century" and incurred the wrath of Kosovo politicians when he showed up at the election-campaign meeting of Rugova's Democratic League of Kosovo [LDK] on 27 October 2001.
He said there and then that the LDK had "historical significance" and that "Kosovo needs a politician like Rugova". The media in Kosmet reacted strongly and accused Everts of "open political bias". Everts claimed in his defence that he would have said the same thing at a meeting of any other party. Neither did the media fail to note that Everts took the stand at the controversial meeting wearing a scarf identical to the one worn by Rugova. Everts was withdrawn as head of the OSCE mission in Kosovo-Metohija after that.
Source: Blic, Belgrade, in Serbian 13 Sep 05 p 3
Rzeczpospolita: EU already agrees with Kosovo’s independence
“EU has many problems of its own and wants to bring an end to troubles in Kosovo as soon as possible, through giving it independence”, the Polish daily Rzeczpospolita quotes unnamed EU sources, writes Koha Ditore.
Demaçi: Independence or bloodshed
Citing information the human rights activist Adem Demaçi gave to Gradjanski List newspaper, Epoka e Re quotes him as saying that Kosovo Albanians made a huge compromise when they decided to give up on the unification with Albania. “We will not give up on independence”, said Demaçi.
“What Albanians want is independence, and that cannot be reached through negotiations with the Serbian Government”, Demaçi said, according to the paper.
“What Albanians want is independence, and that cannot be reached through negotiations with the Serbian Government”, Demaçi said, according to the paper.
Express claims to have document on Technical Government of Kosovo
In its leading front-page story, Express reports that a Provisional Technical Government led by experts of political parties could replace the Kosumi Government in mid-October or early November. According to the newspaper, KTA deputy Director Ahmet Shala is expected to be appointed Prime Minister of the Technical Government. The paper says that although formally independent, Shala is considered to be close to the Kosovo Democratic Party (PDK). According to Express, yesterday evening Ahmet Shala didn’t deny that his name was being mentioned for the prime minister’s post. ‘We will talk tomorrow about this. I don’t know what to say,’ Shala was quoted as saying.
Express claims to have seen a list with the names of Ministers of the Technical Government, which is oriented toward having experts from the four major political parties: LDK, PDK, AAK and ORA. The paper says that in an agreement with the key political leaders, Western diplomats have already prepared the list for the new government. Diplomats, according the paper, have called this a government of national unity. The initiative for the formation of this government was reportedly made in summer this year. ‘After strong accusations by the opposition for corruption in the Government, Western diplomats started working on this idea in order to rescue the country from an eventual chaos due to the escalation of accusations,’ added the newspaper. It also says that SRSG Søren Jessen-Petersen doesn’t support the initiative.
Express says that according to the list it has seen, Bajram Kosumi, Adem Salihaj, Melihate Tërmkolli, Astrit Haraqija and Bujar Dugolli would be removed from the Government.
Following is the list of the Ministers of the Technical Government as it appeared on the paper’s front page.
1. Ahmet Shala - Prime Minister
2. Lutfi Haziri Deputy PM and Local Government Minister (LDK)
3. Ilhami Gashi - Trade and Industry Minister (PDK)
4. Ethem Çeku – Energy Minister (AAK)
5. Qemajl Ahmeti – Transport and Communications Minister (LDK)
6. Agim Veliu – Education Minister (LDK)
7. Haki Shatri – Economy and Finances Minister (LDK)
8. Enver Hoxhaj – Youth, Culture and Sports Minister (PDK)
9. Ylber Hysa/Genc Gorani – Interior Minister (ORA)
10. Fatmire Mulhaxha – Public Services Minister (ORA)
11. Nerxhivane Dauti – Justice Minister (PDK)
12. Ardian Gjini – Spatial Planning Minister (AAK)
13. Ahmet Isufi – Work and Social Welfare Minister (AAK)
14. Slavisa Petkovic – Minister for Returns and Communities
Express claims to have seen a list with the names of Ministers of the Technical Government, which is oriented toward having experts from the four major political parties: LDK, PDK, AAK and ORA. The paper says that in an agreement with the key political leaders, Western diplomats have already prepared the list for the new government. Diplomats, according the paper, have called this a government of national unity. The initiative for the formation of this government was reportedly made in summer this year. ‘After strong accusations by the opposition for corruption in the Government, Western diplomats started working on this idea in order to rescue the country from an eventual chaos due to the escalation of accusations,’ added the newspaper. It also says that SRSG Søren Jessen-Petersen doesn’t support the initiative.
Express says that according to the list it has seen, Bajram Kosumi, Adem Salihaj, Melihate Tërmkolli, Astrit Haraqija and Bujar Dugolli would be removed from the Government.
Following is the list of the Ministers of the Technical Government as it appeared on the paper’s front page.
1. Ahmet Shala - Prime Minister
2. Lutfi Haziri Deputy PM and Local Government Minister (LDK)
3. Ilhami Gashi - Trade and Industry Minister (PDK)
4. Ethem Çeku – Energy Minister (AAK)
5. Qemajl Ahmeti – Transport and Communications Minister (LDK)
6. Agim Veliu – Education Minister (LDK)
7. Haki Shatri – Economy and Finances Minister (LDK)
8. Enver Hoxhaj – Youth, Culture and Sports Minister (PDK)
9. Ylber Hysa/Genc Gorani – Interior Minister (ORA)
10. Fatmire Mulhaxha – Public Services Minister (ORA)
11. Nerxhivane Dauti – Justice Minister (PDK)
12. Ardian Gjini – Spatial Planning Minister (AAK)
13. Ahmet Isufi – Work and Social Welfare Minister (AAK)
14. Slavisa Petkovic – Minister for Returns and Communities
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Kosovo minister rejects Serb decentralization proposal, Serbs turn to UNMIK
Excerpt from report by Bukurie Baraliu entitled "Haziri rejects Plan C, Serbs expect agreement with UNMIK" published by the Kosovo Albanian newspaper Koha Ditore on 13 September
Prishtina [Pristina], 12 September: After more than two weeks of reviewing the Serbian side's comments on Plan B for decentralization, Local Government Minister Lutfi Haziri has sent a letter to Serb List for Kosova [Kosovo] leader Oliver Ivanovic in which he "officially explained" to the Serbs that the modification of the government's plan on decentralization, which the Serbs call "Plan C on decentralization", is unacceptable to the Kosova government.
Koha Ditore sources said that in his letter Minister Haziri named a number of cadastral units that cannot be subject to modification. A source who spoke on condition of not being named said that Haziri has rejected the Serbs' proposal to see what the reaction of the Serb community on the matter would be after some weeks of keeping silent.
However, based on the statements of the Serb representatives, Haziri's response has further increased the Serbs' resolve to insist on modifications to the Kosova government's plan on decentralization. About a month ago, UNMIK [UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo] endorsed the government plan and gave the green light to proceed with its implementation.
"Minister Haziri's response is unacceptable, and we continue to insist on our demands," Serb List for Kosova leader Ivanovic said, adding that the Serbs will not accept anything short of their demands.
Senior officials in the Local Government Ministry did not answer phone calls yesterday to comment on Haziri's letter, while UNMIK officials said they were "not informed" about it. [Passage omitted]
Meanwhile, Ivanovic continues to believe that a meeting with UNMIK chief Soeren Jessen-Petersen will bring positive results for the Serb community. "We will discuss our proposals with Jessen-Petersen once again, and we believe we will reach an agreement," Ivanovic said. [Passage omitted]
Source: Koha Ditore, Pristina, in Albanian 13 Sep 05 p 4
Prishtina [Pristina], 12 September: After more than two weeks of reviewing the Serbian side's comments on Plan B for decentralization, Local Government Minister Lutfi Haziri has sent a letter to Serb List for Kosova [Kosovo] leader Oliver Ivanovic in which he "officially explained" to the Serbs that the modification of the government's plan on decentralization, which the Serbs call "Plan C on decentralization", is unacceptable to the Kosova government.
Koha Ditore sources said that in his letter Minister Haziri named a number of cadastral units that cannot be subject to modification. A source who spoke on condition of not being named said that Haziri has rejected the Serbs' proposal to see what the reaction of the Serb community on the matter would be after some weeks of keeping silent.
However, based on the statements of the Serb representatives, Haziri's response has further increased the Serbs' resolve to insist on modifications to the Kosova government's plan on decentralization. About a month ago, UNMIK [UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo] endorsed the government plan and gave the green light to proceed with its implementation.
"Minister Haziri's response is unacceptable, and we continue to insist on our demands," Serb List for Kosova leader Ivanovic said, adding that the Serbs will not accept anything short of their demands.
Senior officials in the Local Government Ministry did not answer phone calls yesterday to comment on Haziri's letter, while UNMIK officials said they were "not informed" about it. [Passage omitted]
Meanwhile, Ivanovic continues to believe that a meeting with UNMIK chief Soeren Jessen-Petersen will bring positive results for the Serb community. "We will discuss our proposals with Jessen-Petersen once again, and we believe we will reach an agreement," Ivanovic said. [Passage omitted]
Source: Koha Ditore, Pristina, in Albanian 13 Sep 05 p 4
Kosovo Serbs ask to join status talks team
[Announcer] Minority representatives in Kosova [Kosovo] have expressed their dissatisfaction with the composition of the negotiating team appointed by President Ibrahim Rugova. They underline the fact that this is an exclusively Albanian team. The head of the Serb list for Kosova, Oliver Ivanovic, has announced that he will ask the Contact Group to enable Kosovo Serbs to be a third party in the status talks.
[Reporter Xhemajl Rexha] Representatives of the minorities in Kosova feel they were outwitted following the appointment of the negotiating team for the status talks by President Ibrahim Rugova. The representative of the Serb list for Kosova, Oliver Ivanovic, told KohaVision that they have been neglected.
[Oliver Ivanovic on the phone in Serbian with Albanian voice-over] We are faced with a situation where we need to act quickly. It is clear that President Rugova and the Albanian leadership do not want the Serbs to be part of the Prishtina [Pristina] delegation. Therefore the Serbs should maintain their position and present themselves as a third party in the talks. This should include representatives of the Serb list for Kosova as well as other Kosova Serb representatives.
[Reporter] Ivanovic said that he would submit this request to the Contact Group in the hope that they would take it into consideration. Member of the Assembly presidency and the parliamentary group 6+, Xhezair Murati, supports the initiative in principal but is unhappy with the exclusion of minorities from the delegation.
[Xhezair Murati in Serbian with Albanian voice-over] We disagree with the negotiating team on status because there are no representatives of other ethnic groups who consider Kosova to be their home.
[Reporter] Their request will be submitted during the first meeting of the assembly presidency. President Rugova made public the composition of the negotiating team which he will head himself. The members of the team are Kosova Speaker Nexhat Daci, Premier Bajram Kosumi, opposition leaders Hashim Thaci from the PDK and Veton Surroi from Ora. Blerim Shala, a publicist, will be the coordinator of the working groups for status talks.
Source: KohaVision TV, Pristina, in Albanian 1700 gmt 14 Sep 05
[Reporter Xhemajl Rexha] Representatives of the minorities in Kosova feel they were outwitted following the appointment of the negotiating team for the status talks by President Ibrahim Rugova. The representative of the Serb list for Kosova, Oliver Ivanovic, told KohaVision that they have been neglected.
[Oliver Ivanovic on the phone in Serbian with Albanian voice-over] We are faced with a situation where we need to act quickly. It is clear that President Rugova and the Albanian leadership do not want the Serbs to be part of the Prishtina [Pristina] delegation. Therefore the Serbs should maintain their position and present themselves as a third party in the talks. This should include representatives of the Serb list for Kosova as well as other Kosova Serb representatives.
[Reporter] Ivanovic said that he would submit this request to the Contact Group in the hope that they would take it into consideration. Member of the Assembly presidency and the parliamentary group 6+, Xhezair Murati, supports the initiative in principal but is unhappy with the exclusion of minorities from the delegation.
[Xhezair Murati in Serbian with Albanian voice-over] We disagree with the negotiating team on status because there are no representatives of other ethnic groups who consider Kosova to be their home.
[Reporter] Their request will be submitted during the first meeting of the assembly presidency. President Rugova made public the composition of the negotiating team which he will head himself. The members of the team are Kosova Speaker Nexhat Daci, Premier Bajram Kosumi, opposition leaders Hashim Thaci from the PDK and Veton Surroi from Ora. Blerim Shala, a publicist, will be the coordinator of the working groups for status talks.
Source: KohaVision TV, Pristina, in Albanian 1700 gmt 14 Sep 05
Shala: An opportunity that should be taken (Zëri)
Zëri carries an editorial by publisher Blerim Shala, who says the former US President, Bill Clinton, during his first visit to Kosovo in 1999, called on the Kosovo politicians to embrace democratic and liberal values and to build an ethnically tolerant society, where everybody would feel at home.
In another visit in September 2003, when he was awarded Honoris Causa of the University of Pristina, he said reaching those objectives would allow Kosovars to decide about their future.
It seems, Shala further says, that Kosovo politicians did not quite get the message Clinton brought in 1999 that Kosovars should not forget that Kosovo was for the first time on top of the international agenda. Clinton’s clear suggestion was to use the opportunity.
Now, six years later, there is little time left until the launch of the process of the status solution, Clinton’s message is even more important than it was in 1999. This opportunity should not be missed, concludes Shala.
In another visit in September 2003, when he was awarded Honoris Causa of the University of Pristina, he said reaching those objectives would allow Kosovars to decide about their future.
It seems, Shala further says, that Kosovo politicians did not quite get the message Clinton brought in 1999 that Kosovars should not forget that Kosovo was for the first time on top of the international agenda. Clinton’s clear suggestion was to use the opportunity.
Now, six years later, there is little time left until the launch of the process of the status solution, Clinton’s message is even more important than it was in 1999. This opportunity should not be missed, concludes Shala.
Douglas Alexander: A brighter future for Kosovo?
Ahead of a visit to Kosovo, British Minister for Europe Douglas Alexander has an opinion piece in the daily Koha Ditore saying that 2005 is a decisive year for Kosovo and that even though “real progress” has been made, a lot more still remains to be done.
Alexander writes that more progress is needed on employment of minorities in Kosovo Government institutions. He also says leaders should extend hands to the minorities, while media should be more responsible and avoid incitement of tensions. Ethnically motivated violence should end and freedom of movement should be at the disposal of all citizens, the British minister says. “Violence undermines Kosovo’s aim to become a multiethnic society,” he writes.
He argues that every political leader in Kosovo has a special responsibility over this coming period. “The future of Kosovo is yours to be won or lost,” says Alexander.
Further, he writes that the final status of Kosovo is not what the United Kingdom says, but rather is an issue to be decided between Pristina and Belgrade. “Belgrade will have a role to play,” claims the British diplomat.
He however notes that the independence of Kosovo option is something that should be looked into, but he called on those who believe in the independence of Kosovo to “convince all communities and the world that independence can function” and that the rights of minorities are fully respected.
Daily papers also announce that the British Minister for Europe will be traveling on a two-day visit to Kosovo where he will meet the SRSG and Kosovo political leaders. He is also scheduled to meet COMKFOR Guiseppe Valotto.
Alexander writes that more progress is needed on employment of minorities in Kosovo Government institutions. He also says leaders should extend hands to the minorities, while media should be more responsible and avoid incitement of tensions. Ethnically motivated violence should end and freedom of movement should be at the disposal of all citizens, the British minister says. “Violence undermines Kosovo’s aim to become a multiethnic society,” he writes.
He argues that every political leader in Kosovo has a special responsibility over this coming period. “The future of Kosovo is yours to be won or lost,” says Alexander.
Further, he writes that the final status of Kosovo is not what the United Kingdom says, but rather is an issue to be decided between Pristina and Belgrade. “Belgrade will have a role to play,” claims the British diplomat.
He however notes that the independence of Kosovo option is something that should be looked into, but he called on those who believe in the independence of Kosovo to “convince all communities and the world that independence can function” and that the rights of minorities are fully respected.
Daily papers also announce that the British Minister for Europe will be traveling on a two-day visit to Kosovo where he will meet the SRSG and Kosovo political leaders. He is also scheduled to meet COMKFOR Guiseppe Valotto.
Institutional and political leaders comment on ICG report
Zëri writes that both the Government and Opposition of Kosovo are against divisions and autonomous territories in Kosovo, as recommended by the latest report of the ICG.
“We will not allow any form of division, or creation of different autonomies in Kosovo,” the paper quotes Deputy PM, Adem Salihaj, as saying. “Such projects are not acceptable for the Kosovo institutions,” added Salihaj.
PDK official, Enver Hoxhaj, says no to territorial autonomies and that the key to success is the integration of the Serbian citizens into our political life. “The Mitrovica problem, in principle, shows that the international community has failed in implementing Resolution 1244.” He warned that if the latest engagement of the Contact Group not to have territorial division of Kosovo is not followed up by concrete initiatives, than this view could have little effect.
Naim Maloku, from the AAK, says the ICG proposals resemble the model implemented in Mostar and Brcko in Bosnia. He said the models in Bosnia were not shown to be successful and added that the solution proposed by the ICG for Mitrovica would lead to delay of resolution of the problem.
“We will not allow any form of division, or creation of different autonomies in Kosovo,” the paper quotes Deputy PM, Adem Salihaj, as saying. “Such projects are not acceptable for the Kosovo institutions,” added Salihaj.
PDK official, Enver Hoxhaj, says no to territorial autonomies and that the key to success is the integration of the Serbian citizens into our political life. “The Mitrovica problem, in principle, shows that the international community has failed in implementing Resolution 1244.” He warned that if the latest engagement of the Contact Group not to have territorial division of Kosovo is not followed up by concrete initiatives, than this view could have little effect.
Naim Maloku, from the AAK, says the ICG proposals resemble the model implemented in Mostar and Brcko in Bosnia. He said the models in Bosnia were not shown to be successful and added that the solution proposed by the ICG for Mitrovica would lead to delay of resolution of the problem.
Serbian, Kosovo Mins To Meet For First Time In Two Years
PRISTINA (AP)--Ministers from Serbia and Kosovo will meet in Austria Friday, the first high-level meeting between the former foes for two years, officials said.
The one-day meeting between local government ministers is to take place in Vienna, said Lutfi Haziri, Kosovo's government minister for local government.
The ministers will discuss reforming local government and the return of tens of thousands of Serbs and other minorities who fled the province following the 1999 war.
They will also discuss the return of property records taken by Serb authorities when they relinquished control of the province to North Atlantic Treaty Organization-led peacekeepers and U.N. administration, Haziri said.
Austria was the venue of the first official meeting between senior officials from Serbia and Kosovo two years ago.
Kosovo, formally a province of the Serbia-Montenegro union that replaced Yugoslavia, is being run by a U.N. mission following a NATO air war in 1999 aimed at stopping a crackdown by Serb on separatist ethnic Albanians.
Ethnic Albanians are demanding an independent state, and the Serbs insist Kosovo should remain within their borders.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
The one-day meeting between local government ministers is to take place in Vienna, said Lutfi Haziri, Kosovo's government minister for local government.
The ministers will discuss reforming local government and the return of tens of thousands of Serbs and other minorities who fled the province following the 1999 war.
They will also discuss the return of property records taken by Serb authorities when they relinquished control of the province to North Atlantic Treaty Organization-led peacekeepers and U.N. administration, Haziri said.
Austria was the venue of the first official meeting between senior officials from Serbia and Kosovo two years ago.
Kosovo, formally a province of the Serbia-Montenegro union that replaced Yugoslavia, is being run by a U.N. mission following a NATO air war in 1999 aimed at stopping a crackdown by Serb on separatist ethnic Albanians.
Ethnic Albanians are demanding an independent state, and the Serbs insist Kosovo should remain within their borders.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
FACTBOX-Ex-Yugoslav war crimes suspects still on the run
Sept 14 (Reuters) - Bosnian Serb war crimes fugitive Sredoje Lukic was in custody on Wednesday awaiting transfer to the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
His surrender leaves seven suspects still on the run, six ethnic Serbs and one Croat:
RADOVAN KARADZIC, 60 - Political leader of the Bosnian Serbs during the 1992-95 war, twice indicted on genocide charges, for the 43-month siege of Sarajevo in which around 12,000 people were killed, and for the Srebrenica massacre in which some 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed.
RATKO MLADIC, 63 - The wartime commander of the Bosnian Serb Army, indicted on the same charges as Karadzic for Sarajevo and Srebrenica.
ANTE GOTOVINA, 49 - Croatian general, indicted in 2001 for crimes against humanity during the "Storm" offensive against rebel Serb enclaves in the last throes of Croatia's 1991-95 independence war.
ZDRAVKO TOLIMIR, 56 - Bosnian Serb aide to Mladic, indicted for crimes against humanity over the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.
STOJAN ZUPLJANIN, 53 - Bosnian Serb aide to Karadzic, indicted for genocide in a western area of Bosnia known as Bosanska Krajina.
GORAN HADZIC, 47 - Croatian Serb local official, indicted for planning the murder and deportations of hundreds of non-Serbs in the self-declared Republic of Serbian Krajina in Croatia.
VLASTIMIR DJORDJEVIC, 59 - Serb police general, indicted for crimes against humanity for ordering the killings of Kosovo Albanian civilians in 1998-99. Known to have fled to Russia in 2001.
The United Nations court indicted 162 people for war crimes in the territory of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
Apart from the seven fugitives, 82 people are at various stages of trial, 32 are serving or have served their sentences, 36 cases were dropped and five found not guilty.
His surrender leaves seven suspects still on the run, six ethnic Serbs and one Croat:
RADOVAN KARADZIC, 60 - Political leader of the Bosnian Serbs during the 1992-95 war, twice indicted on genocide charges, for the 43-month siege of Sarajevo in which around 12,000 people were killed, and for the Srebrenica massacre in which some 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed.
RATKO MLADIC, 63 - The wartime commander of the Bosnian Serb Army, indicted on the same charges as Karadzic for Sarajevo and Srebrenica.
ANTE GOTOVINA, 49 - Croatian general, indicted in 2001 for crimes against humanity during the "Storm" offensive against rebel Serb enclaves in the last throes of Croatia's 1991-95 independence war.
ZDRAVKO TOLIMIR, 56 - Bosnian Serb aide to Mladic, indicted for crimes against humanity over the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.
STOJAN ZUPLJANIN, 53 - Bosnian Serb aide to Karadzic, indicted for genocide in a western area of Bosnia known as Bosanska Krajina.
GORAN HADZIC, 47 - Croatian Serb local official, indicted for planning the murder and deportations of hundreds of non-Serbs in the self-declared Republic of Serbian Krajina in Croatia.
VLASTIMIR DJORDJEVIC, 59 - Serb police general, indicted for crimes against humanity for ordering the killings of Kosovo Albanian civilians in 1998-99. Known to have fled to Russia in 2001.
The United Nations court indicted 162 people for war crimes in the territory of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
Apart from the seven fugitives, 82 people are at various stages of trial, 32 are serving or have served their sentences, 36 cases were dropped and five found not guilty.
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Picture of the Day - Blerim Shala to Head Preparations for Kosovo Status Talks
Picture of the Day - Blerim Shala to Head Preparations for Kosovo Status Talks
Originally uploaded by kosovareport.
Kosovo government rules out autonomy for Serbs in north
Text of report in English by independent internet news agency KosovaLive
Prishtina [Pristina], 13 September: The government reacted today to the International Crisis Group [ICG] report about the situation in Mitrovice [Kosovska Mitrovica], reconfirming its stance that no division on ethnic lines will be allowed.
Deputy Prime Minister Adem Salihaj said: "We will allow no form of partition of Kosova [Kosovo], and this is the stance of the international community in Kosova, as well."
"The ideas that generate interethnic problems and that encourage ambitions for division are unacceptable," Salihaj said.
He admitted that "the situation in Mitrovice is not as we wish." However he said that "there is a progress in direction of putting Mitrovice into the frames that we wish."
"We all are working not to call Mitrovice North the northern part of the city," he added.
The ICG in its latest report warned that the international community is not doing enough to keep the promise that the resolution of Kosova status will not include partition of its territory.
The ICG report emphasized that UNMIK [UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo] and Kfor [NATO-led Kosovo Force] have failed in fulfilment of their mandate in the divided city of Mitrovice.
Meanwhile the Belgrade daily Kurir has published yesterday a story, citing Serb Intelligence Service sources as saying that "Albanian extremists are preparing an armed attack in north Mitrovice."
According to this daily, after 15 September some Albanians will cross into Mitrovice North to organize an uprising.
Oliver Ivanovic, one of the Kosova Serbs leaders, said that this could not happen. There is no Kosova Albanian leader who would do such a thing, he added.
Meanwhile reliable sources confirmed to KosovaLive that a telecommunication company has installed some cameras over the main Bridge and on some other areas across Iber River, which are being used by Kfor for controlling of situation.
Source: KosovaLive website, Pristina, in English 13 Sep 05
Prishtina [Pristina], 13 September: The government reacted today to the International Crisis Group [ICG] report about the situation in Mitrovice [Kosovska Mitrovica], reconfirming its stance that no division on ethnic lines will be allowed.
Deputy Prime Minister Adem Salihaj said: "We will allow no form of partition of Kosova [Kosovo], and this is the stance of the international community in Kosova, as well."
"The ideas that generate interethnic problems and that encourage ambitions for division are unacceptable," Salihaj said.
He admitted that "the situation in Mitrovice is not as we wish." However he said that "there is a progress in direction of putting Mitrovice into the frames that we wish."
"We all are working not to call Mitrovice North the northern part of the city," he added.
The ICG in its latest report warned that the international community is not doing enough to keep the promise that the resolution of Kosova status will not include partition of its territory.
The ICG report emphasized that UNMIK [UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo] and Kfor [NATO-led Kosovo Force] have failed in fulfilment of their mandate in the divided city of Mitrovice.
Meanwhile the Belgrade daily Kurir has published yesterday a story, citing Serb Intelligence Service sources as saying that "Albanian extremists are preparing an armed attack in north Mitrovice."
According to this daily, after 15 September some Albanians will cross into Mitrovice North to organize an uprising.
Oliver Ivanovic, one of the Kosova Serbs leaders, said that this could not happen. There is no Kosova Albanian leader who would do such a thing, he added.
Meanwhile reliable sources confirmed to KosovaLive that a telecommunication company has installed some cameras over the main Bridge and on some other areas across Iber River, which are being used by Kfor for controlling of situation.
Source: KosovaLive website, Pristina, in English 13 Sep 05
ICG report says Kosovo partition may trigger instability in Macedonia
Text of report in English by Macedonian news agency Makfax
The division of Kosovo might force scores of people to leave their houses and cause instability in other parts of the Balkans, particularly in Macedonia, says the report of the International Crisis Group [ICG], published on Tuesday [13 September].
Western forces and United Nations should offer autonomy to the Serbs in northern Kosovo, in order to avoid the division of the province on ethnic lines, says the Brussels- based organization.
Instead of international control, the Serbs living in the north of the province should be granted broader competencies, which would turn that region into "pivotal point of the efforts to provide services for the Kosovo Serbs," says ICG.
"The Serbs in the north should be offered a substantial autonomy, including transfer of power to the municipalities, granting the right of municipalities merging, and ensuring coordination with the ministers of the Kosovo government through the Serbian representatives," says the report, which focused mainly on Kosovska Mitrovica, where one third of the remaining Serbs in Kosovo live.
Source: Makfax news agency, Skopje, in English 1344 gmt 13 Sep 05
The division of Kosovo might force scores of people to leave their houses and cause instability in other parts of the Balkans, particularly in Macedonia, says the report of the International Crisis Group [ICG], published on Tuesday [13 September].
Western forces and United Nations should offer autonomy to the Serbs in northern Kosovo, in order to avoid the division of the province on ethnic lines, says the Brussels- based organization.
Instead of international control, the Serbs living in the north of the province should be granted broader competencies, which would turn that region into "pivotal point of the efforts to provide services for the Kosovo Serbs," says ICG.
"The Serbs in the north should be offered a substantial autonomy, including transfer of power to the municipalities, granting the right of municipalities merging, and ensuring coordination with the ministers of the Kosovo government through the Serbian representatives," says the report, which focused mainly on Kosovska Mitrovica, where one third of the remaining Serbs in Kosovo live.
Source: Makfax news agency, Skopje, in English 1344 gmt 13 Sep 05
Glance at international aid offers for hurricane aftermath
Dozens of nations have pledged assistance for victims of Hurricane Katrina. In addition, European governments agreed to release the equivalent of 2 million barrels of oil per day from strategic reserves.
Other forms of aid include:
--AFGHANISTAN: Offered $100,000 (euro81,460).
--ALBANIA: $300,000 (euro244,380) pledged.
--ARMENIA: $200,000 (euro162,900) pledged.
--AUSTRALIA: Donating $8 million (euro6.52 million) to American Red Cross.
--AUSTRIA: Offered tarps and camp beds.
--AZERBAIJAN: tarps, camp beds
--BAHAMAS: Pledged $50,000 (euro40,730).
--BANGLADESH: Offered $1 million (euro810,000) and said it would send 160 disaster management experts, including doctors, nurses, engineers and others.
--BELGIUM: Offered medical teams, generators, water pumps.
--BRITAIN: Sending 500,000 ration packs.
--CAMBODIA: The king donated $20,000 (euro16,290) to match the $20,000 (euro16,290) government donation.
--CANADA: $5 million (euro4.07 million) pledged to relief fund; sending planes, three warships and coast guard vessel with supplies, helicopters, search and rescue and security teams.
--CHINA: Offered $5 million (euro4.07 million) to aid survivors, 1,000 tents, 600 generators, bed sheets. Said it would help with medical care and epidemic prevention if needed.
--CUBA: Offered 1,100 doctors.
--CYPRUS: Offered $50,000 (euro40,730).
--CZECH REPUBLIC: Ready to send rescue teams, field hospital and pumps and water processing equipment.
--DOMINICA: Offered police to monitor hard-hit areas.
--DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Offered rescue workers, doctors and nurses.
--DJIBOUTI: Offered $50,000 (euro40,730).
--EQUATORIAL GUINEA: Pledged $500,000 (euro407,300).
--EL SALVADOR: Offered soldiers to monitor disaster areas.
--FINLAND: Sent a 30-member rescue team and three Red Cross logistics experts. Offered 300 tents, a water purification unit, sterile gloves, bed sheets, pillow covers, tarps and first aid kits.
--FRANCE: Flying in tents, blankets, cots, medical kits, generators and other supplies. Offered aircraft, ships and helicopters.
--GABON: Offered $500,000 (euro407,300).
--GERMANY: Sending emergency food rations and water pumps. Offered medical supplies, vaccination teams, water purification equipment, medical evacuation aircraft and crisis management experts.
--GREECE: Offered two cruise ships to help house homeless, relief supplies and rescue crews.
--GUYANA: Organizing a telethon to raise money for victims.
--HONDURAS: Offered 135 flooding and sanitation experts.
--HUNGARY: Pledged $5,000 (euro4,070) and offered to send in five doctors.
--ICELAND: Offered $500,000 (euro407,300).
--INDIA: Donated $5 million (euro4.07 million) to American Red Cross. Sent tarps, blankets and hygiene kits.
--INDONESIA: Offered 45 doctors and 155 other medical staffers and 10,000 blankets.
--IRAQ: $1 million (euro810,000) pledged to Red Cross via the Red Crescent.
--IRELAND: $1.2 million (euro980,000) pledged.
--ISRAEL: Sending medical team. Offered hundreds of doctors, trauma experts and other medical staff as well as field hospitals and other relief.
--ITALY: Sent military transport plane with blankets, cots and bed supplies for 15,000 people, plus inflatable dinghies, water purifiers and first-aid kits.
--JAPAN: Contributing $200,000 (euro162,900) to American Red Cross. Prepared to provide up to $300,000 (euro244,400) worth of tents, blankets, generators, portable water tanks and other equipment.
--KENYA: Offered $100 million (euro81.46 million) plus an additional $400 million (euro325.8 million) in petroleum products.
--KOSOVO: $490,000 (euro399,100) pledged.
--KUWAIT: Providing $500 million (euro407.3 million) worth of oil and other aid.
--LATVIA: Offered a disaster relief team.
--LUXEMBOURG: Sending five aid experts, two jeeps and 1,000 camp beds and 2,000 blankets.
--MALAYSIA: Pledged $1 million (euro810,000) to Red Cross.
--MALDIVES: Sending $25,000 (euro20,360) to Red Cross.
--MAURITANIA: Promised $200,000 (euro162,900) to Red Cross.
--MEXICO: $1 million (euro810,000). Offered two navy ships, 15 amphibious vehicles, two helicopters, 15 heavy trucks, health brigades and rescue teams. Sent 45 truckloads of supplies and two field kitchens.
--MONGOLIA: $50,000 (euro40,730) pledged.
--NATO: Ferrying supplies.
--NETHERLANDS: Sent navy frigate with helicopters, medical supplies, boats and marines. Sent levee inspection team, water pumps.
--NEW ZEALAND: Pledged $1.4 million (euro1.14 million) to Red Cross. Offered search specialists and victim identification team.
--NIGERIA: Pledged $1 million (euro810,000).
--NORWAY: Promised $1.54 million (euro1.25 million) in cash and supplies.
--OMAN: Pledged $15 million (euro12.2 million).
--ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES: Donated $25,000 (euro20,360) to American Red Cross.
--PAKISTAN: $1 million (euro810,000) pledged to Red Cross, offered to send doctors and paramedics.
--PALAU: $50,000 (euro40,730) pledged.
--PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Promised $10,000 (euro8,140) to Red Cross.
--PERU: Offered medical team of 80 to 100 people.
--PHILIPPINES: Philippines Red Cross donating $25,000 (euro20,360). Government offered to send 25-man relief team.
--PORTUGAL: Offering tents, mattresses, blankets, hygiene kits. Lending 2 percent of its strategic oil reserve, equivalent to 500,000 barrels of oil.
--QATAR: Offered $100 million (euro81.46 million).
--ROMANIA: Sending two teams of medical experts.
--RUSSIA: Sending three transport planes with generators, food, tents, blankets, drinking water and medical supplies.
--SAUDI ARABIA: Promised $5 million (euro4.07 million) from Aramco, $250,000 (euro203,650) from AGFUND.
--SINGAPORE: Sent three transport helicopters and 38 soldiers.
--SLOVAKIA: Promised blankets, beds, first aid kits.
--SOUTH KOREA: Donating $30 million (euro24.44 million) in government and civilian assistance and sending search team and relief supplies.
--SPAIN: Sent 16 tons of supplies, including food rations, tents and blankets. Also contributing a naval ship to a NATO-led operation.
--SRI LANKA: Pledged $25,000 (euro20,360) to American Red Cross.
--SWEDEN: Sending plane stocked with water-treatment equipment, plastic jugs, water-purification experts. Offered aircraft to help distribute supplies.
--SWITZERLAND: Offering 40-50 tons worth of supplies, including large tents, wool blankets, hygiene kits. Offered to send four doctors, two water experts, one environmental expert.
--TAIWAN: Pledged $2 million (euro1.63 million), supplies.
--THAILAND: Dispatching at least 60 doctors and nurses along with rice.
--TURKEY: Promised $2.5 million (euro2.04 million) in cash and aid.
--UGANDA: $200,000 (euro162,900) pledged.
--UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: $100 million (euro81.46 million) pledged.
--VENEZUELA: Offered 1 million barrels of gasoline, $5 million (euro4.07 million) in cash, water purification plants, rescue volunteers and more than 50 tons of canned food and water. Venezuela's Citgo Petroleum Corp. pledged $1 million (euro810,000).
--VIETNAM: Pledged $100,000 (euro81,460).
--YEMEN: $100,000 (euro81,460) promised to Red Cross.
------
Sources: Governments, U.S. State Department.
Other forms of aid include:
--AFGHANISTAN: Offered $100,000 (euro81,460).
--ALBANIA: $300,000 (euro244,380) pledged.
--ARMENIA: $200,000 (euro162,900) pledged.
--AUSTRALIA: Donating $8 million (euro6.52 million) to American Red Cross.
--AUSTRIA: Offered tarps and camp beds.
--AZERBAIJAN: tarps, camp beds
--BAHAMAS: Pledged $50,000 (euro40,730).
--BANGLADESH: Offered $1 million (euro810,000) and said it would send 160 disaster management experts, including doctors, nurses, engineers and others.
--BELGIUM: Offered medical teams, generators, water pumps.
--BRITAIN: Sending 500,000 ration packs.
--CAMBODIA: The king donated $20,000 (euro16,290) to match the $20,000 (euro16,290) government donation.
--CANADA: $5 million (euro4.07 million) pledged to relief fund; sending planes, three warships and coast guard vessel with supplies, helicopters, search and rescue and security teams.
--CHINA: Offered $5 million (euro4.07 million) to aid survivors, 1,000 tents, 600 generators, bed sheets. Said it would help with medical care and epidemic prevention if needed.
--CUBA: Offered 1,100 doctors.
--CYPRUS: Offered $50,000 (euro40,730).
--CZECH REPUBLIC: Ready to send rescue teams, field hospital and pumps and water processing equipment.
--DOMINICA: Offered police to monitor hard-hit areas.
--DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Offered rescue workers, doctors and nurses.
--DJIBOUTI: Offered $50,000 (euro40,730).
--EQUATORIAL GUINEA: Pledged $500,000 (euro407,300).
--EL SALVADOR: Offered soldiers to monitor disaster areas.
--FINLAND: Sent a 30-member rescue team and three Red Cross logistics experts. Offered 300 tents, a water purification unit, sterile gloves, bed sheets, pillow covers, tarps and first aid kits.
--FRANCE: Flying in tents, blankets, cots, medical kits, generators and other supplies. Offered aircraft, ships and helicopters.
--GABON: Offered $500,000 (euro407,300).
--GERMANY: Sending emergency food rations and water pumps. Offered medical supplies, vaccination teams, water purification equipment, medical evacuation aircraft and crisis management experts.
--GREECE: Offered two cruise ships to help house homeless, relief supplies and rescue crews.
--GUYANA: Organizing a telethon to raise money for victims.
--HONDURAS: Offered 135 flooding and sanitation experts.
--HUNGARY: Pledged $5,000 (euro4,070) and offered to send in five doctors.
--ICELAND: Offered $500,000 (euro407,300).
--INDIA: Donated $5 million (euro4.07 million) to American Red Cross. Sent tarps, blankets and hygiene kits.
--INDONESIA: Offered 45 doctors and 155 other medical staffers and 10,000 blankets.
--IRAQ: $1 million (euro810,000) pledged to Red Cross via the Red Crescent.
--IRELAND: $1.2 million (euro980,000) pledged.
--ISRAEL: Sending medical team. Offered hundreds of doctors, trauma experts and other medical staff as well as field hospitals and other relief.
--ITALY: Sent military transport plane with blankets, cots and bed supplies for 15,000 people, plus inflatable dinghies, water purifiers and first-aid kits.
--JAPAN: Contributing $200,000 (euro162,900) to American Red Cross. Prepared to provide up to $300,000 (euro244,400) worth of tents, blankets, generators, portable water tanks and other equipment.
--KENYA: Offered $100 million (euro81.46 million) plus an additional $400 million (euro325.8 million) in petroleum products.
--KOSOVO: $490,000 (euro399,100) pledged.
--KUWAIT: Providing $500 million (euro407.3 million) worth of oil and other aid.
--LATVIA: Offered a disaster relief team.
--LUXEMBOURG: Sending five aid experts, two jeeps and 1,000 camp beds and 2,000 blankets.
--MALAYSIA: Pledged $1 million (euro810,000) to Red Cross.
--MALDIVES: Sending $25,000 (euro20,360) to Red Cross.
--MAURITANIA: Promised $200,000 (euro162,900) to Red Cross.
--MEXICO: $1 million (euro810,000). Offered two navy ships, 15 amphibious vehicles, two helicopters, 15 heavy trucks, health brigades and rescue teams. Sent 45 truckloads of supplies and two field kitchens.
--MONGOLIA: $50,000 (euro40,730) pledged.
--NATO: Ferrying supplies.
--NETHERLANDS: Sent navy frigate with helicopters, medical supplies, boats and marines. Sent levee inspection team, water pumps.
--NEW ZEALAND: Pledged $1.4 million (euro1.14 million) to Red Cross. Offered search specialists and victim identification team.
--NIGERIA: Pledged $1 million (euro810,000).
--NORWAY: Promised $1.54 million (euro1.25 million) in cash and supplies.
--OMAN: Pledged $15 million (euro12.2 million).
--ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES: Donated $25,000 (euro20,360) to American Red Cross.
--PAKISTAN: $1 million (euro810,000) pledged to Red Cross, offered to send doctors and paramedics.
--PALAU: $50,000 (euro40,730) pledged.
--PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Promised $10,000 (euro8,140) to Red Cross.
--PERU: Offered medical team of 80 to 100 people.
--PHILIPPINES: Philippines Red Cross donating $25,000 (euro20,360). Government offered to send 25-man relief team.
--PORTUGAL: Offering tents, mattresses, blankets, hygiene kits. Lending 2 percent of its strategic oil reserve, equivalent to 500,000 barrels of oil.
--QATAR: Offered $100 million (euro81.46 million).
--ROMANIA: Sending two teams of medical experts.
--RUSSIA: Sending three transport planes with generators, food, tents, blankets, drinking water and medical supplies.
--SAUDI ARABIA: Promised $5 million (euro4.07 million) from Aramco, $250,000 (euro203,650) from AGFUND.
--SINGAPORE: Sent three transport helicopters and 38 soldiers.
--SLOVAKIA: Promised blankets, beds, first aid kits.
--SOUTH KOREA: Donating $30 million (euro24.44 million) in government and civilian assistance and sending search team and relief supplies.
--SPAIN: Sent 16 tons of supplies, including food rations, tents and blankets. Also contributing a naval ship to a NATO-led operation.
--SRI LANKA: Pledged $25,000 (euro20,360) to American Red Cross.
--SWEDEN: Sending plane stocked with water-treatment equipment, plastic jugs, water-purification experts. Offered aircraft to help distribute supplies.
--SWITZERLAND: Offering 40-50 tons worth of supplies, including large tents, wool blankets, hygiene kits. Offered to send four doctors, two water experts, one environmental expert.
--TAIWAN: Pledged $2 million (euro1.63 million), supplies.
--THAILAND: Dispatching at least 60 doctors and nurses along with rice.
--TURKEY: Promised $2.5 million (euro2.04 million) in cash and aid.
--UGANDA: $200,000 (euro162,900) pledged.
--UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: $100 million (euro81.46 million) pledged.
--VENEZUELA: Offered 1 million barrels of gasoline, $5 million (euro4.07 million) in cash, water purification plants, rescue volunteers and more than 50 tons of canned food and water. Venezuela's Citgo Petroleum Corp. pledged $1 million (euro810,000).
--VIETNAM: Pledged $100,000 (euro81,460).
--YEMEN: $100,000 (euro81,460) promised to Red Cross.
------
Sources: Governments, U.S. State Department.
SRSG statement following President Rugova’s announcement on status talks preparations
PRISTINA – SRSG Søren Jessen-Petersen this afternoon made the following statement after having read the announcement made by President Ibrahim Rugova earlier today:
"I welcome the leadership shown by the President at this crucial time for Kosovo and in particular his focus on inclusiveness. By building on progress made by the Forum and naming a 'team of unity' for the final status process, he has underlined the importance of all leaders moving forward together.
It is equally important that the society as a whole be involved in the process. Minority representatives and representatives of civil society must have their voices heard in the move towards future status.
In accordance with UNSCR 1244, UNMIK has been facilitating a political process designed to determine Kosovo's future status. As such, UNMIK has provided the Forum as a place for dialogue on the way ahead. The very good work by the Forum and its Secretariat in laying the ground for status preparations will certainly be useful to the 'team of unity', supported by the proposed co-ordinator, as they organise and mobilise experts from all political parties, civil society, and the international sphere.
It is now up to Kosovo and its citizens to seize the moment, by continuing to implement Standards designed to build a democratic, multi-ethnic, and tolerant society, and at the same time preparing themselves for status talks."
"I welcome the leadership shown by the President at this crucial time for Kosovo and in particular his focus on inclusiveness. By building on progress made by the Forum and naming a 'team of unity' for the final status process, he has underlined the importance of all leaders moving forward together.
It is equally important that the society as a whole be involved in the process. Minority representatives and representatives of civil society must have their voices heard in the move towards future status.
In accordance with UNSCR 1244, UNMIK has been facilitating a political process designed to determine Kosovo's future status. As such, UNMIK has provided the Forum as a place for dialogue on the way ahead. The very good work by the Forum and its Secretariat in laying the ground for status preparations will certainly be useful to the 'team of unity', supported by the proposed co-ordinator, as they organise and mobilise experts from all political parties, civil society, and the international sphere.
It is now up to Kosovo and its citizens to seize the moment, by continuing to implement Standards designed to build a democratic, multi-ethnic, and tolerant society, and at the same time preparing themselves for status talks."
Kosovo's President Names Team For Talks With Serbia
PRISTINA (AP)--Kosovo's president Tuesday named a team to lead possible talks with Serbia to resolve the disputed province's status.
President Ibrahim Rugova said he would lead the delegation, and the prime minister, the two opposition leaders and the head of Kosovo's parliament would also participate.
"The process leading to our political status belongs to everyone," Rugova said in a statement. "We all need to be present in Kosovo's delegation if final status talks take place."
Opposition parties did not immediately comment on the proposal by Rugova, who was diagnosed with lung cancer earlier this month.
The top U.S. diplomat in Kosovo, Philip Goldberg, welcomed Rugova's move of " reaching out to all of Kosovo's political leaders to unify and accelerate preparations for talks on Kosovo's final status should they begin this fall."
Talks on the future of the U.N.-run province are expected to start by the end of the year if a special U.N. envoy recommends such a move. The envoy, Kai Eide, is expected to present a report to U.N. Secretary-general Kofi Annan with his recommendations later this month.
Eide has urged Kosovo's leaders to better reform local government, allow for the return of some 200,000 Serbs and other minorities who fled Kosovo after revenge attacks by ethnic Albanian extremists and protection of cultural heritage, including Serb Orthodox churches that have been targeted in past violence.
Kosovo has been under U.N. administration and patrolled by NATO since the alliance's 1999 air war that stopped a Serb crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians. The province's ethnic Albanian majority wants independence, while its Serb minority wants it to remain part of Serbia-Montenegro.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
President Ibrahim Rugova said he would lead the delegation, and the prime minister, the two opposition leaders and the head of Kosovo's parliament would also participate.
"The process leading to our political status belongs to everyone," Rugova said in a statement. "We all need to be present in Kosovo's delegation if final status talks take place."
Opposition parties did not immediately comment on the proposal by Rugova, who was diagnosed with lung cancer earlier this month.
The top U.S. diplomat in Kosovo, Philip Goldberg, welcomed Rugova's move of " reaching out to all of Kosovo's political leaders to unify and accelerate preparations for talks on Kosovo's final status should they begin this fall."
Talks on the future of the U.N.-run province are expected to start by the end of the year if a special U.N. envoy recommends such a move. The envoy, Kai Eide, is expected to present a report to U.N. Secretary-general Kofi Annan with his recommendations later this month.
Eide has urged Kosovo's leaders to better reform local government, allow for the return of some 200,000 Serbs and other minorities who fled Kosovo after revenge attacks by ethnic Albanian extremists and protection of cultural heritage, including Serb Orthodox churches that have been targeted in past violence.
Kosovo has been under U.N. administration and patrolled by NATO since the alliance's 1999 air war that stopped a Serb crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians. The province's ethnic Albanian majority wants independence, while its Serb minority wants it to remain part of Serbia-Montenegro.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
BRIDGING KOSOVO'S MITROVICA DIVIDE - ICG Report
BRIDGING KOSOVO'S MITROVICA DIVIDE
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The international community has properly decreed
that Kosovo's final status must not involve division of
its territory. But this declaration has not been followed by
sufficient action. Belgrade's policy of pursuing some form
of partition is far advanced in the restive northern
city of Mitrovica and its hinterland, and a major security,
political and financial effort is required to save the
situation. Capacity should be built immediately, and its
implementation should begin once the Contact Group has
declared its support for Kosovo's future as a functional,
conditionally independent state within its present borders.
Territorial integrity is the correct policy because
partition could provoke further population exchanges
inside Kosovo and instability elsewhere in the Balkans,
especially in neighbouring Macedonia. But division
remains a live issue, not least because in Mitrovica,
where Kosovo is increasingly divided at the Ibar River,
the UN mission (UNMIK) and NATO-led security
forces (KFOR) have failed to carry out their mandates.
In north Mitrovica and the neighbouring communities
up to the border, an area that contains perhaps a third
of all Kosovo's remaining Serbs, Belgrade exerts its
influence through parallel government structures,
including a police presence that contravenes UN
Security Council Resolution 1244.
Settling Mitrovica early in the final status process presupposes
foreknowledge of Kosovo's overall destination.
But it is time for Contact Group member states to stop
talking of final status as a process open to a wide range
of results. In fact, behind closed doors international
consensus is taking shape. Making that manifest near the
outset, and cementing it in Mitrovica, would contribute
to a virtuous circle of stability and predictability. Letting
Mitrovica drift would risk making realisation of that
consensus unlikely.
Despite the six-year standoff, Mitrovica is not impenetrable
to transformation that would increase the chances for a
unified Kosovo. The international community should
put more resources and energy behind a clear, articulated
program of compromise between each side's maximum
demands. A first step should be the appointment of a
Special Commissioner for Mitrovica for the status
determination period, with the rank of Deputy Special
Representative of the Secretary-General and power to
coordinate the effort.
UNMIK and KFOR must quickly regain the security
initiative north of the Ibar by increasing force levels
and assertiveness, under the Special Commissioner's
direction. KFOR should explicitly make Mitrovica and
the north its primary operational focus and restructure
accordingly. Belgrade's illegal police stations should
be removed from north Kosovo, and the Special
Commissioner should negotiate the replacement of the
obstructive hardliners who head the regional hospital
and university there. Plans for devolving the brittle,
ethnically divided Mitrovica regional police command
to local control should be delayed until the Special
Commissioner can secure a viable Albanian-Serb security
consensus for the north that squares territorial integrity
with Serb fears of being overwhelmed.
With the security situation under better control, the
framework of a solution that needs to be pursued with
greater commitment and sense of urgency could include
creation of a new municipal authority for north Mitrovica,
which should furnish both the security and accountability
for addressing Albanian returns, and creation of a central
administrative district shared between the current
Mitrovica municipality and the new north Mitrovica unit
that could house a common city board to receive donor
funding for the city's development.
The strategic need is to encourage the Serbs of north
Kosovo -- and Belgrade -- to think increasingly of north
Mitrovica becoming the hub of an effort to provide
services for all Kosovo's Serbs. The central district's
broader uniting purpose could be reflected by hosting
two or three ministries relocated from the capital; the
similarly relocated Supreme Court; possibly a Kosovowide
Serbian-language television station; and some
elements of Kosovo central government that would
accommodate an autonomous, Kosovo-wide system of
education, healthcare, and other social services for
Serbs. Both the international community and Kosovo's
government should aim to incorporate Belgrade's
parallel structures into this system within a specified
Bridging Kosovo's Mitrovica Divide
Crisis Group Europe Report N°165, 13 September 2005 Page ii
time frame by offering matching funds and a guaranteed
cooperative role for the Serbian government.
Without conceding it formal entity status on the Bosnia-
Herzegovina model, the Serb north should be offered the
substance of autonomy, including devolved powers for
municipalities, freedom for municipalities to associate on
a voluntary basis, and the coordination and resource
role made possible through the proposed Serb units of
Kosovo's government ministries. Albanians should be
persuaded that support for participation in these initiatives
by viable new Serb-majority municipalities elsewhere
in Kosovo would dampen pressure for division on the
Ibar line.
In short, if facts on the ground in Mitrovica and even new
violence are not to destroy the prospect of a stable final
status settlement for Kosovo, the international community
needs to work harder and creatively to change Serb
strategic thinking and get Albanians to recognise the need
to participate in a constructive offer. The no-partition
dictum is, unfortunately, not self-executing.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Preliminary steps, by end October 2005
To the Contact Group and its Member States and
the UN Secretary-General:
1. Appoint a Special Commissioner for Mitrovica,
with the rank of Deputy Special Representative of
the UN Secretary-General, preferably someone
with a military background and experience of
civilian implementation, to hold office until at
least the end of 2006.
2. Reinforce and reconfigure international security
forces in Mitrovica and north Kosovo by replacing
KFOR's French-commanded Multinational
Brigade North-East with a force designed to
closely support the Special Commissioner, and by
introducing a special international paramilitary
police unit such as the new European Gendarmerie
Force, under the Special Commissioner's direct
control.
3. Set the stage for a Mitrovica settlement by stating
clearly and publicly that the Contact Group's
preferred outcome for Kosovo is as a functional,
conditionally independent state.
4. Invite Belgrade to participate in Kosovo Albanian-
Kosovo Serb negotiations on decentralisation
under the aegis of the Special Representative of the
Secretary-General, conditional on its acceptance of
the foregoing Contact Group statement.
5. Allocate, together with the EU, funds for a
multifaceted Mitrovica investment program.
To UNMIK:
6. Take a more cautious approach to devolving police
commands to the Kosovo Police Service in the
Mitrovica region pending the final status settlement,
deploy international police and customs officers
to the Leposavic and Zubin Potok boundary
crossings, and develop a modified chain of
command, giving the Special Commissioner
control over new international paramilitary police
forces to be deployed into the Mitrovica region.
7. Energise the Kosovo Albanian cross-party final
status working groups to begin developing a
framework for resolving the problem of Mitrovica
and the north within parameters that rule out
partition, stipulate substantial decentralisation and
encourage secure returns of former residents to
their homes on both sides of the Ibar, and do the
same in parallel with the Serbs through the mayors
of the three northern municipalities, the leadership
of the Serb List for Kosovo and Metohija, and
(perhaps indirectly) the Serbian National Council.
8. Make a more determined effort to educate Serbs
and Albanians in Mitrovica about developments
and conditions on the other side of the Ibar divide
by supporting new public information programs
and encouraging relevant news about the other in
their respective media.
To the Provisional Institutions of Government
(PISG) in Pristina:
9. Using the final status working groups, explore
and prepare public opinion in Mitrovica and
throughout Kosovo for various options of reorganising
Mitrovica and giving it a constructive
mission.
10. Enable creation of more Serb-majority municipal
units south of the Ibar, in particular a greater
Gracanica municipality, to act as counterweights
to Serbian pressures for partition.
To Belgrade:
11. Cooperate with the Special Commissioner in
identifying credible candidates to lead Mitrovica's
university and regional hospital.
12. Prepare to close down parallel police stations and
courts in north Kosovo, including by negotiating
with the Special Commissioner for credible security
provision to fill gaps their removal may leave.
Bridging Kosovo's Mitrovica Divide
Crisis Group Europe Report N°165, 13 September 2005 Page iii
13. Begin designing an outreach structure to assume
joint responsibility with the PISG for supporting a
non-territorial scheme of autonomous healthcare,
education, and social services for all Kosovo Serbs.
Negotiation steps, from November 2005
To the PISG/Kosovo Final Status Working
Groups:
14. Make a generous offer to Serbs, including:
(a) willingness to negotiate mechanisms for
demilitarisation and joint security oversight
with the Serbs of the Mitrovica region and
acceptance that Serb municipalities will
have the final say in appointment of their
police chiefs;
(b) willingness to accept a Serb municipality
in Mitrovica that subscribes to a common
city coordinating board and a unifying
role for the city in Kosovo, and works
to accommodate the rights of Albanian
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs);
(c) willingness to give Serbs space in central
government and institutions, such as by
relocating some of them to Mitrovica
(and Gracanica), and offering Serbs a
deputy prime minister post; and
(d) guarantees such as dual citizenship, an
open border with Serbia, and national-rate
telephone connections to Serbia.
To the Special Commissioner:
15. Consult widely in Mitrovica on models for the
city's future administration and role and decide
by the end of 2005:
(a) whether north Mitrovica should be a standalone
municipality or combined with
Zvecan;
(b) the territory of any central inter-municipal
district; and
(c) the electoral rights of its inhabitants, and the
shape of any common city board.
16. Found a joint Serb-Albanian-international security
coordination body, seated in central Mitrovica,
to seek consensus on a security concept for the
Mitrovica region and eventually oversee its
demilitarisation.
17. Oversee and, if necessary, determine and (with
KFOR assistance) enforce the selection by
November 2005 of new heads for the regional
hospital and university.
Implementation steps, from early to late 2006
To the Special Commissioner:
18. Design the new Serb-majority municipality in
north Mitrovica, the central inter-municipal
district and the city coordinating board; establish
automatic funding for administration and projects
of the common board in the budgets of the north
and south Mitrovica municipalities; and decide
whether initially to appoint councillors or go
straight to a municipal election in the north.
19. Oversee Albanian returns to north Mitrovica.
20. Oversee establishment of revolving funds for
Mitrovica-based service institutions, including
the regional hospital, university, a new Serbianlanguage
public television channel (RTK-2), and
a new shared Coordination Centre/Kosovo Ministry
of Economy and Finance unit for regularising
Serb parallel structures throughout Kosovo as a
non-territorial autonomous system to provide
education, healthcare, and social services for
Serbs.
21. Lay the groundwork for a Kosovo Albanian-
Kosovo Serb agreement on security management
of the north by overseeing the obligatory
disbandment of Belgrade's police (MUP) stations
in north Kosovo and implementation of any
decision reached by the joint security coordination
body on the regional Kosovo Protection Corps
command in south Mitrovica.
22. Oversee introduction and enforcement of Kosovo
car licence plates north of the Ibar.
To the PISG/Kosovo Final Status Working
Groups:
23. Seek Serb partners in Mitrovica and north Kosovo
with whom to agree on security management of
the north, and consider such mechanisms and
techniques as joint oversight bodies, regular rotation
schedules, and sub-contracting some responsibilities
to international personnel so that Kosovo's
sovereignty can be exercised consistent with
its Serbs' concerns about Albanian domination.
24. Establish new, largely Serb-staffed units of
ministries -- in Mitrovica, Gracanica and Pristina
-- to administer the new autonomous system of
education, healthcare and social services for
Serbs throughout Kosovo and offer the Serbian
government opportunities to cooperate in this
service system.
25. Transfer some Kosovo central institutions to
Mitrovica's central district, such as two or three
Bridging Kosovo's Mitrovica Divide
Crisis Group Europe Report N°165, 13 September 2005 Page iv
ministries and the Supreme Court, and support
establishment of a Serbian-language television
channel (RTK-2) there and facilitate its Kosovowide
transmission.
26. Offer constitutional provisions that, without
conceding formal entity status, would allow Serb
areas to construct de facto autonomy, including
significant devolution of powers to municipalities;
freedom for municipalities to associate on a
voluntary basis; and the coordination and resource
role offered by the new Serb units of government
ministries established to administer education,
healthcare and social services.
Pristina/Belgrade/Brussels, 13 September 2005
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The international community has properly decreed
that Kosovo's final status must not involve division of
its territory. But this declaration has not been followed by
sufficient action. Belgrade's policy of pursuing some form
of partition is far advanced in the restive northern
city of Mitrovica and its hinterland, and a major security,
political and financial effort is required to save the
situation. Capacity should be built immediately, and its
implementation should begin once the Contact Group has
declared its support for Kosovo's future as a functional,
conditionally independent state within its present borders.
Territorial integrity is the correct policy because
partition could provoke further population exchanges
inside Kosovo and instability elsewhere in the Balkans,
especially in neighbouring Macedonia. But division
remains a live issue, not least because in Mitrovica,
where Kosovo is increasingly divided at the Ibar River,
the UN mission (UNMIK) and NATO-led security
forces (KFOR) have failed to carry out their mandates.
In north Mitrovica and the neighbouring communities
up to the border, an area that contains perhaps a third
of all Kosovo's remaining Serbs, Belgrade exerts its
influence through parallel government structures,
including a police presence that contravenes UN
Security Council Resolution 1244.
Settling Mitrovica early in the final status process presupposes
foreknowledge of Kosovo's overall destination.
But it is time for Contact Group member states to stop
talking of final status as a process open to a wide range
of results. In fact, behind closed doors international
consensus is taking shape. Making that manifest near the
outset, and cementing it in Mitrovica, would contribute
to a virtuous circle of stability and predictability. Letting
Mitrovica drift would risk making realisation of that
consensus unlikely.
Despite the six-year standoff, Mitrovica is not impenetrable
to transformation that would increase the chances for a
unified Kosovo. The international community should
put more resources and energy behind a clear, articulated
program of compromise between each side's maximum
demands. A first step should be the appointment of a
Special Commissioner for Mitrovica for the status
determination period, with the rank of Deputy Special
Representative of the Secretary-General and power to
coordinate the effort.
UNMIK and KFOR must quickly regain the security
initiative north of the Ibar by increasing force levels
and assertiveness, under the Special Commissioner's
direction. KFOR should explicitly make Mitrovica and
the north its primary operational focus and restructure
accordingly. Belgrade's illegal police stations should
be removed from north Kosovo, and the Special
Commissioner should negotiate the replacement of the
obstructive hardliners who head the regional hospital
and university there. Plans for devolving the brittle,
ethnically divided Mitrovica regional police command
to local control should be delayed until the Special
Commissioner can secure a viable Albanian-Serb security
consensus for the north that squares territorial integrity
with Serb fears of being overwhelmed.
With the security situation under better control, the
framework of a solution that needs to be pursued with
greater commitment and sense of urgency could include
creation of a new municipal authority for north Mitrovica,
which should furnish both the security and accountability
for addressing Albanian returns, and creation of a central
administrative district shared between the current
Mitrovica municipality and the new north Mitrovica unit
that could house a common city board to receive donor
funding for the city's development.
The strategic need is to encourage the Serbs of north
Kosovo -- and Belgrade -- to think increasingly of north
Mitrovica becoming the hub of an effort to provide
services for all Kosovo's Serbs. The central district's
broader uniting purpose could be reflected by hosting
two or three ministries relocated from the capital; the
similarly relocated Supreme Court; possibly a Kosovowide
Serbian-language television station; and some
elements of Kosovo central government that would
accommodate an autonomous, Kosovo-wide system of
education, healthcare, and other social services for
Serbs. Both the international community and Kosovo's
government should aim to incorporate Belgrade's
parallel structures into this system within a specified
Bridging Kosovo's Mitrovica Divide
Crisis Group Europe Report N°165, 13 September 2005 Page ii
time frame by offering matching funds and a guaranteed
cooperative role for the Serbian government.
Without conceding it formal entity status on the Bosnia-
Herzegovina model, the Serb north should be offered the
substance of autonomy, including devolved powers for
municipalities, freedom for municipalities to associate on
a voluntary basis, and the coordination and resource
role made possible through the proposed Serb units of
Kosovo's government ministries. Albanians should be
persuaded that support for participation in these initiatives
by viable new Serb-majority municipalities elsewhere
in Kosovo would dampen pressure for division on the
Ibar line.
In short, if facts on the ground in Mitrovica and even new
violence are not to destroy the prospect of a stable final
status settlement for Kosovo, the international community
needs to work harder and creatively to change Serb
strategic thinking and get Albanians to recognise the need
to participate in a constructive offer. The no-partition
dictum is, unfortunately, not self-executing.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Preliminary steps, by end October 2005
To the Contact Group and its Member States and
the UN Secretary-General:
1. Appoint a Special Commissioner for Mitrovica,
with the rank of Deputy Special Representative of
the UN Secretary-General, preferably someone
with a military background and experience of
civilian implementation, to hold office until at
least the end of 2006.
2. Reinforce and reconfigure international security
forces in Mitrovica and north Kosovo by replacing
KFOR's French-commanded Multinational
Brigade North-East with a force designed to
closely support the Special Commissioner, and by
introducing a special international paramilitary
police unit such as the new European Gendarmerie
Force, under the Special Commissioner's direct
control.
3. Set the stage for a Mitrovica settlement by stating
clearly and publicly that the Contact Group's
preferred outcome for Kosovo is as a functional,
conditionally independent state.
4. Invite Belgrade to participate in Kosovo Albanian-
Kosovo Serb negotiations on decentralisation
under the aegis of the Special Representative of the
Secretary-General, conditional on its acceptance of
the foregoing Contact Group statement.
5. Allocate, together with the EU, funds for a
multifaceted Mitrovica investment program.
To UNMIK:
6. Take a more cautious approach to devolving police
commands to the Kosovo Police Service in the
Mitrovica region pending the final status settlement,
deploy international police and customs officers
to the Leposavic and Zubin Potok boundary
crossings, and develop a modified chain of
command, giving the Special Commissioner
control over new international paramilitary police
forces to be deployed into the Mitrovica region.
7. Energise the Kosovo Albanian cross-party final
status working groups to begin developing a
framework for resolving the problem of Mitrovica
and the north within parameters that rule out
partition, stipulate substantial decentralisation and
encourage secure returns of former residents to
their homes on both sides of the Ibar, and do the
same in parallel with the Serbs through the mayors
of the three northern municipalities, the leadership
of the Serb List for Kosovo and Metohija, and
(perhaps indirectly) the Serbian National Council.
8. Make a more determined effort to educate Serbs
and Albanians in Mitrovica about developments
and conditions on the other side of the Ibar divide
by supporting new public information programs
and encouraging relevant news about the other in
their respective media.
To the Provisional Institutions of Government
(PISG) in Pristina:
9. Using the final status working groups, explore
and prepare public opinion in Mitrovica and
throughout Kosovo for various options of reorganising
Mitrovica and giving it a constructive
mission.
10. Enable creation of more Serb-majority municipal
units south of the Ibar, in particular a greater
Gracanica municipality, to act as counterweights
to Serbian pressures for partition.
To Belgrade:
11. Cooperate with the Special Commissioner in
identifying credible candidates to lead Mitrovica's
university and regional hospital.
12. Prepare to close down parallel police stations and
courts in north Kosovo, including by negotiating
with the Special Commissioner for credible security
provision to fill gaps their removal may leave.
Bridging Kosovo's Mitrovica Divide
Crisis Group Europe Report N°165, 13 September 2005 Page iii
13. Begin designing an outreach structure to assume
joint responsibility with the PISG for supporting a
non-territorial scheme of autonomous healthcare,
education, and social services for all Kosovo Serbs.
Negotiation steps, from November 2005
To the PISG/Kosovo Final Status Working
Groups:
14. Make a generous offer to Serbs, including:
(a) willingness to negotiate mechanisms for
demilitarisation and joint security oversight
with the Serbs of the Mitrovica region and
acceptance that Serb municipalities will
have the final say in appointment of their
police chiefs;
(b) willingness to accept a Serb municipality
in Mitrovica that subscribes to a common
city coordinating board and a unifying
role for the city in Kosovo, and works
to accommodate the rights of Albanian
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs);
(c) willingness to give Serbs space in central
government and institutions, such as by
relocating some of them to Mitrovica
(and Gracanica), and offering Serbs a
deputy prime minister post; and
(d) guarantees such as dual citizenship, an
open border with Serbia, and national-rate
telephone connections to Serbia.
To the Special Commissioner:
15. Consult widely in Mitrovica on models for the
city's future administration and role and decide
by the end of 2005:
(a) whether north Mitrovica should be a standalone
municipality or combined with
Zvecan;
(b) the territory of any central inter-municipal
district; and
(c) the electoral rights of its inhabitants, and the
shape of any common city board.
16. Found a joint Serb-Albanian-international security
coordination body, seated in central Mitrovica,
to seek consensus on a security concept for the
Mitrovica region and eventually oversee its
demilitarisation.
17. Oversee and, if necessary, determine and (with
KFOR assistance) enforce the selection by
November 2005 of new heads for the regional
hospital and university.
Implementation steps, from early to late 2006
To the Special Commissioner:
18. Design the new Serb-majority municipality in
north Mitrovica, the central inter-municipal
district and the city coordinating board; establish
automatic funding for administration and projects
of the common board in the budgets of the north
and south Mitrovica municipalities; and decide
whether initially to appoint councillors or go
straight to a municipal election in the north.
19. Oversee Albanian returns to north Mitrovica.
20. Oversee establishment of revolving funds for
Mitrovica-based service institutions, including
the regional hospital, university, a new Serbianlanguage
public television channel (RTK-2), and
a new shared Coordination Centre/Kosovo Ministry
of Economy and Finance unit for regularising
Serb parallel structures throughout Kosovo as a
non-territorial autonomous system to provide
education, healthcare, and social services for
Serbs.
21. Lay the groundwork for a Kosovo Albanian-
Kosovo Serb agreement on security management
of the north by overseeing the obligatory
disbandment of Belgrade's police (MUP) stations
in north Kosovo and implementation of any
decision reached by the joint security coordination
body on the regional Kosovo Protection Corps
command in south Mitrovica.
22. Oversee introduction and enforcement of Kosovo
car licence plates north of the Ibar.
To the PISG/Kosovo Final Status Working
Groups:
23. Seek Serb partners in Mitrovica and north Kosovo
with whom to agree on security management of
the north, and consider such mechanisms and
techniques as joint oversight bodies, regular rotation
schedules, and sub-contracting some responsibilities
to international personnel so that Kosovo's
sovereignty can be exercised consistent with
its Serbs' concerns about Albanian domination.
24. Establish new, largely Serb-staffed units of
ministries -- in Mitrovica, Gracanica and Pristina
-- to administer the new autonomous system of
education, healthcare and social services for
Serbs throughout Kosovo and offer the Serbian
government opportunities to cooperate in this
service system.
25. Transfer some Kosovo central institutions to
Mitrovica's central district, such as two or three
Bridging Kosovo's Mitrovica Divide
Crisis Group Europe Report N°165, 13 September 2005 Page iv
ministries and the Supreme Court, and support
establishment of a Serbian-language television
channel (RTK-2) there and facilitate its Kosovowide
transmission.
26. Offer constitutional provisions that, without
conceding formal entity status, would allow Serb
areas to construct de facto autonomy, including
significant devolution of powers to municipalities;
freedom for municipalities to associate on a
voluntary basis; and the coordination and resource
role offered by the new Serb units of government
ministries established to administer education,
healthcare and social services.
Pristina/Belgrade/Brussels, 13 September 2005
Albanian foreign minister says Kosovo's independence only option
Foreign Minister Besnik Mustafaj declared yesterday that the future of Kosovo lies with the settlement of its status. Responding to a question on this issue, Mustafaj said that there can be no other future for Kosovo but its independence. "The format of this independence remains to be negotiated by the legitimate authorities and the international community," he said.
Asked by Socialist Deputy Arta Dade about his views on the solution of the problem regarding the economic rights of the Tchams [ethnic Albanians once living in northern Greece], Foreign Minister Mustafaj said that he had already made his views public. "During the last four years when Arta Dade was foreign minister and a member of the [Assembly] foreign commission, she had the chance to become familiar with my views regarding how to resolve the problem of the Tchams' economic rights," he said.
Mustafaj was also asked yesterday about the possibility of increasing the budget for Albanian diplomats working abroad. The foreign minister explained that Albania has currently 43 missions, including 31 embassies, abroad and that it spends 12m dollars for its diplomatic corps. He said that the current budget was a good basis for restructuring the allocations of this fund. Mustafaj also said that Albania would open embassies in Japan and other countries. "On this basis, we will persist in two directions, improving the treatment of the diplomats and making a redistribution of our diplomatic missions," Mustafaj said.
The Democrat diplomat also responded to a question about Albania's position on two projects proposed for reforms in the [UN] Security Council. "We think that Germany and Italy are two countries of strategic importance. Our position will be in accordance with our interests. We also think that there should be no divisions in the UN and, therefore, we will support a consensus version. We are convinced however that the Security Council should undergo reforms," he said.
Source: Shekulli, Tirana, in Albanian 10 Sep 05 p 5
Asked by Socialist Deputy Arta Dade about his views on the solution of the problem regarding the economic rights of the Tchams [ethnic Albanians once living in northern Greece], Foreign Minister Mustafaj said that he had already made his views public. "During the last four years when Arta Dade was foreign minister and a member of the [Assembly] foreign commission, she had the chance to become familiar with my views regarding how to resolve the problem of the Tchams' economic rights," he said.
Mustafaj was also asked yesterday about the possibility of increasing the budget for Albanian diplomats working abroad. The foreign minister explained that Albania has currently 43 missions, including 31 embassies, abroad and that it spends 12m dollars for its diplomatic corps. He said that the current budget was a good basis for restructuring the allocations of this fund. Mustafaj also said that Albania would open embassies in Japan and other countries. "On this basis, we will persist in two directions, improving the treatment of the diplomats and making a redistribution of our diplomatic missions," Mustafaj said.
The Democrat diplomat also responded to a question about Albania's position on two projects proposed for reforms in the [UN] Security Council. "We think that Germany and Italy are two countries of strategic importance. Our position will be in accordance with our interests. We also think that there should be no divisions in the UN and, therefore, we will support a consensus version. We are convinced however that the Security Council should undergo reforms," he said.
Source: Shekulli, Tirana, in Albanian 10 Sep 05 p 5
Serbs In N Kosovo Should Be Offered Autonomy -International Crisis Group
PRISTINA (AP)--Western powers and the U.N. should offer autonomy to Serbs living in northern Kosovo to avoid the partition of this disputed province along ethnic lines, a report said Tuesday.
The International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank, cautioned that partition of Kosovo could force more people in Kosovo to leave their homes and provoke instability elsewhere in the Balkans, especially in neighboring Macedonia.
Instead the international overseers of this disputed province should delegate more powers to the dwindling minority in the North, turning it into "the hub of an effort to provide services for all Kosovo's Serbs," the ICG said.
"The Serb north should be offered the substance of autonomy, including devolved powers for municipalities, freedom for municipalities to associate on a voluntary basis, and the coordination and resource role made possible through the proposed Serb units of Kosovo's government ministries," said the report.
The report focuses primarily on the northern town of Kosovska Mitrovica that is divided between a Serb-dominated north and an ethnic Albanian south and where one-third of the province's remaining Serbs are believed to live.
The town, 45 kilometers north of Pristina and bisected by the river Ibar, has been the scene of violent clashes in the past and has come to epitomize the prevailing ethnic divide between its communities.
Earlier this year a group of senior international envoys laid out three guidelines that should be adhered to when the province enters talks on its future later this year. They ruled out a return to the situation before 1999, when it was under direct Serb rule.
They also ruled out the province being partitioned along ethnic Albanian and Serbian lines and the creation of any new union between predominantly ethnic Albanian Kosovo and other countries in the region, such as Albania.
But ICG said that the "no-partition dictum is, unfortunately, not self- executing."
"(This) declaration has not been followed by sufficient action," the group warned.
Kosovo has been under U.N. administration and patrolled by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization since the alliance's 1999 air war that stopped a Serb crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians. The province's ethnic Albanian majority wants independence, while its Serb minority wants it to remain part of Serbia-Montenegro, the union that replaced Yugoslavia.
Tens of thousands of Serbs and other minorities fled Kosovo following revenge attacks by ethnic Albanian extremists after the 1999 conflict and others remain living in NATO-patrolled enclaves scattered around the province.
Talks to determine the province's status are likely to start by the end the year.
The International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank, cautioned that partition of Kosovo could force more people in Kosovo to leave their homes and provoke instability elsewhere in the Balkans, especially in neighboring Macedonia.
Instead the international overseers of this disputed province should delegate more powers to the dwindling minority in the North, turning it into "the hub of an effort to provide services for all Kosovo's Serbs," the ICG said.
"The Serb north should be offered the substance of autonomy, including devolved powers for municipalities, freedom for municipalities to associate on a voluntary basis, and the coordination and resource role made possible through the proposed Serb units of Kosovo's government ministries," said the report.
The report focuses primarily on the northern town of Kosovska Mitrovica that is divided between a Serb-dominated north and an ethnic Albanian south and where one-third of the province's remaining Serbs are believed to live.
The town, 45 kilometers north of Pristina and bisected by the river Ibar, has been the scene of violent clashes in the past and has come to epitomize the prevailing ethnic divide between its communities.
Earlier this year a group of senior international envoys laid out three guidelines that should be adhered to when the province enters talks on its future later this year. They ruled out a return to the situation before 1999, when it was under direct Serb rule.
They also ruled out the province being partitioned along ethnic Albanian and Serbian lines and the creation of any new union between predominantly ethnic Albanian Kosovo and other countries in the region, such as Albania.
But ICG said that the "no-partition dictum is, unfortunately, not self- executing."
"(This) declaration has not been followed by sufficient action," the group warned.
Kosovo has been under U.N. administration and patrolled by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization since the alliance's 1999 air war that stopped a Serb crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians. The province's ethnic Albanian majority wants independence, while its Serb minority wants it to remain part of Serbia-Montenegro, the union that replaced Yugoslavia.
Tens of thousands of Serbs and other minorities fled Kosovo following revenge attacks by ethnic Albanian extremists after the 1999 conflict and others remain living in NATO-patrolled enclaves scattered around the province.
Talks to determine the province's status are likely to start by the end the year.
West closer to decision that Kosovo needs defence force after status
In its leading front-page article, Zëri reports that based on the ‘current tendencies which have been confirmed by Western diplomatic sources’, Contact Group countries seem to be supporting the idea for Kosovo to have its defence force which would be a result of the evolution and transformation of KPC.
According to the paper, there is a proposal according to which UNMIK’s Office for the KPC Coordinator, which is responsible for the development of KPC, will take on competencies to prepare the political and legal ground for creating this defence force and the Ministry of Defence in the Kosovo Government.
According to the paper, there is a proposal according to which UNMIK’s Office for the KPC Coordinator, which is responsible for the development of KPC, will take on competencies to prepare the political and legal ground for creating this defence force and the Ministry of Defence in the Kosovo Government.
ICG report on Mitrovica
Several dailies carry the report of the International Crisis Group about the situation in Mitrovica. Koha Ditore notes that according to the ICG, the international community has failed in Mitrovica. The paper also says that the position of the ICG is that the northern part of Kosovo should be given autonomy in order to avoid partition.
Express reports that the International Crisis Group in its latest report on Kosovo ‘Bridging Kosovo’s Mitrovica Divide’ recommends active work in Mitrovica in order not to continue with the current situation which de facto constitutes a divided Kosovo.
‘Despite the six-year stand-off, Mitrovica is not impervious to transformation that would increase the chances for a unified Kosovo. The international community should put more resources and energy behind a clear, articulated program of compromise between each side’s maximum demands. A first step should be appointment of a Special Commissioner for Mitrovica for the status determination period, with the rank of Deputy SRSG and the power to coordinate the effort,’ the ICG report says according to the paper.
According to Express, the ICG suggests the creation of a Serb municipality in the northern part of the town.
Kosova Sot also carries an article on the ICG report under the headline Reunification of the divided Mitrovica.
Express reports that the International Crisis Group in its latest report on Kosovo ‘Bridging Kosovo’s Mitrovica Divide’ recommends active work in Mitrovica in order not to continue with the current situation which de facto constitutes a divided Kosovo.
‘Despite the six-year stand-off, Mitrovica is not impervious to transformation that would increase the chances for a unified Kosovo. The international community should put more resources and energy behind a clear, articulated program of compromise between each side’s maximum demands. A first step should be appointment of a Special Commissioner for Mitrovica for the status determination period, with the rank of Deputy SRSG and the power to coordinate the effort,’ the ICG report says according to the paper.
According to Express, the ICG suggests the creation of a Serb municipality in the northern part of the town.
Kosova Sot also carries an article on the ICG report under the headline Reunification of the divided Mitrovica.
Solana: Kai Eide to report in New York on 19 September
Koha Ditore reports that EU High Representative Javier Solana and NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said yesterday in Brussels that a positive report by Ambassador Kai Eide would pave the way to the continuation of the process for resolving Kosovo’s status. Solana is quoted as saying that Eide will report in New York on 19 September. He also said that ‘although it is not known if Ambassador Eide’s final report will be ready by that time, he is expected to brief Contact Group representatives in New York on 19 September.’
Monday, September 12, 2005
Montenegro not keen to be hostage to Serbia's unresolved issues - minister
[Announcer] Montenegrin Minister of Foreign Affairs Miodrag Vlahovic has announced that he will tell his collocutors in New York, where he is to take part in the session of the UN General Assembly, that the Montenegrin government's position is that Montenegro is not ready to postpone the resolution of its legal status as a state because of other open issues in the region. If Kosovo is a priority for [State Union Foreign Minister Vuk] Draskovic, which is a legitimate matter, our priority is Montenegro, Minister Vlahovic said in an interview with the BBC in London, in which he explained the reasons why two separate delegations are travelling to the UN General Assembly session.
[Vlahovic] Montenegro has no intention, it is not ready and will not be ready to be a hostage or victim of some other unresolved and open issues in the western Balkans. We are not ready, and will not be ready, to be held hostage by a union which is waiting for somebody else to resolve issues in the region and only after that should we qualify to resolve our own issues in a free, normal and democratic way.
Because of other open issues, because of more serious and greater risks in the region we have postponed it twice, we have displayed maximum persistence, the Montenegrin government and the ruling political structures have an absolute duty towards their citizens to finalize this process.
Source: Radio Montenegro, Podgorica, in Serbian 1330 gmt 12 Sep 05
[Vlahovic] Montenegro has no intention, it is not ready and will not be ready to be a hostage or victim of some other unresolved and open issues in the western Balkans. We are not ready, and will not be ready, to be held hostage by a union which is waiting for somebody else to resolve issues in the region and only after that should we qualify to resolve our own issues in a free, normal and democratic way.
Because of other open issues, because of more serious and greater risks in the region we have postponed it twice, we have displayed maximum persistence, the Montenegrin government and the ruling political structures have an absolute duty towards their citizens to finalize this process.
Source: Radio Montenegro, Podgorica, in Serbian 1330 gmt 12 Sep 05
Serbian President: Kosovo’s Independence Absolutely Unacceptable for Serbia
Belgrade. The independence of Kosovo is absolutely unacceptable for Serbia, Serbian President Boris Tadic said and called Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova for a direct dialogue, Serbian TV RTS reported. In an interview for Serbian agency FoNet, Tadic said the issue about Kosovo and Metohija is going to be solved very soon. That is why Serbia needs to carry out an active and clear policy defending its legitimate national interests by means of using the existing models in the international politics, Tadic emphasized. Serbia has to find allies, who will back it up, Tadis said. He added that in spite of the former differences between him and the government, there is a political consensus now in Serbia on Kosovo issue.
Maliqi: Overcoming the vacuum
Express carries an op-ed by analyst Shkëlzen Maliqi, who says UNMIK was not at all bothered by Kosumi’s confusing explanations about his return trip from Turkey.
I would say, says Maliqi, that the main reason for not bothering is the crises the UNMIK administration has found itself in.
The international administrators have simply fallen into depression before the end of their mission, because UNMIK is soon expected to be replaced by another international mission. This, according to Maliqi, could happen around the end of 2005. Jessen-Petersen, too, whose one-year contract has expired, seems to have agreed to extend his contract until the end of the year until the defining of the new mission and the leaders of the negotiation leaders takes place.
The editorial states that Jessen-Petersen has recently shown a lack of initiatives and engagement. Perhaps he is waiting for consultation he will get on 20 September in New York on how and how fast to proceed with the agenda of the final status solution. Until then, Maliqi says, Kosumi’s Government will benefit from this situation of waiting, and relative indecisiveness, ignoring criticism from the Opposition and the media.
But, this small vacuum in the politics of the decision-making centers towards Kosovo, does not represent a sufficient protection for the current Government.
The formula would be found in the support of the PDK for the current LDK-AAK coalition provided LDK agreed that PDK chairs the negotiations. This is the formula for real compromise and it would ease tensions and create more room for commitment by the political entities and experts to contribute in projects of general interest and not to act under the umbrella of political parties, concludes Maliqi.
I would say, says Maliqi, that the main reason for not bothering is the crises the UNMIK administration has found itself in.
The international administrators have simply fallen into depression before the end of their mission, because UNMIK is soon expected to be replaced by another international mission. This, according to Maliqi, could happen around the end of 2005. Jessen-Petersen, too, whose one-year contract has expired, seems to have agreed to extend his contract until the end of the year until the defining of the new mission and the leaders of the negotiation leaders takes place.
The editorial states that Jessen-Petersen has recently shown a lack of initiatives and engagement. Perhaps he is waiting for consultation he will get on 20 September in New York on how and how fast to proceed with the agenda of the final status solution. Until then, Maliqi says, Kosumi’s Government will benefit from this situation of waiting, and relative indecisiveness, ignoring criticism from the Opposition and the media.
But, this small vacuum in the politics of the decision-making centers towards Kosovo, does not represent a sufficient protection for the current Government.
The formula would be found in the support of the PDK for the current LDK-AAK coalition provided LDK agreed that PDK chairs the negotiations. This is the formula for real compromise and it would ease tensions and create more room for commitment by the political entities and experts to contribute in projects of general interest and not to act under the umbrella of political parties, concludes Maliqi.
Call for resignation is within rules of democracy and I see it as such
Zëri publishes an interview that Kosovo Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi gave to the BBC. In it, among other things, he talks about corruption allegations made against him, Kai Eide’s report, Kosovo Forum.
On the claims that the commission of a private plane to return from holidays in Turkey was an act of corruption, PM Kosumi said it was not his friends who paid for the trip, as was originally stated, but the family business of Minister Ethem Çeku who provided for the plane. “I cut short my holidays in Turkey when I found out that Ambassador Kai Eide was coming to Kosovo and I was supposed to meet him a day before as previously announced,” said Kosumi who also added that since there were no regular flights available for travelling back to Kosovo, he decided to ask the assistance of his friend Minister Çeku to look into the options for as quick a return as possible.
Kosumi said in the interview that he spent more than 20 hours with Ambassador Eide while the second was on his last visit to Kosovo. “I was, on those days, fully available to offer all answers to the concerns of Ambassador Eide,” said Kosumi. He said he did this to enable Eide to write as best and as realistic a report as possible on the implementation of standards in Kosovo. “I did not ask for an idealistic picture but rather a realistic one,” stressed Kosovo Prime Minister.
With regards to preparations for status talks, he said the coordinator in charge of setting up working groups on the issue will be appointed in the coming week by President Rugova.
Kosumi also said he believes he will be the first Prime Minister of an independent Kosovo state, but when asked whether he would resign if Kosovo did not become independent, he replied, “I do not want to pre-empt matters and even less, negative ones. But in such a case, the whole issue would perhaps go back to zero where it was 6-7 years ago.”
On the claims that the commission of a private plane to return from holidays in Turkey was an act of corruption, PM Kosumi said it was not his friends who paid for the trip, as was originally stated, but the family business of Minister Ethem Çeku who provided for the plane. “I cut short my holidays in Turkey when I found out that Ambassador Kai Eide was coming to Kosovo and I was supposed to meet him a day before as previously announced,” said Kosumi who also added that since there were no regular flights available for travelling back to Kosovo, he decided to ask the assistance of his friend Minister Çeku to look into the options for as quick a return as possible.
Kosumi said in the interview that he spent more than 20 hours with Ambassador Eide while the second was on his last visit to Kosovo. “I was, on those days, fully available to offer all answers to the concerns of Ambassador Eide,” said Kosumi. He said he did this to enable Eide to write as best and as realistic a report as possible on the implementation of standards in Kosovo. “I did not ask for an idealistic picture but rather a realistic one,” stressed Kosovo Prime Minister.
With regards to preparations for status talks, he said the coordinator in charge of setting up working groups on the issue will be appointed in the coming week by President Rugova.
Kosumi also said he believes he will be the first Prime Minister of an independent Kosovo state, but when asked whether he would resign if Kosovo did not become independent, he replied, “I do not want to pre-empt matters and even less, negative ones. But in such a case, the whole issue would perhaps go back to zero where it was 6-7 years ago.”
Jessen-Petersen defends Kosumi
Express writes on the front page that SRSG, Søren Jessen-Petersen does not intend to punish Kosovo Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi for the plane scandal. It says at least not before Kai Eide completes his report.
The paper writes that UNMIK has decided to ignore the accusations and calls for Kosumi’s resignation made by the Opposition since the scandal broke.
According to Express this scandal has caused Opposition members to call for Kosumi’s resignation. The PDK, the largest opposition party, has called for an inquiry session in the parliament on Kosumi’s issue, and in the meantime has made UNMIK responsible for defending Kosumi, the paper reported.
The paper writes that UNMIK has decided to ignore the accusations and calls for Kosumi’s resignation made by the Opposition since the scandal broke.
According to Express this scandal has caused Opposition members to call for Kosumi’s resignation. The PDK, the largest opposition party, has called for an inquiry session in the parliament on Kosumi’s issue, and in the meantime has made UNMIK responsible for defending Kosumi, the paper reported.
President Rugova reveals his position on status preparations
Zëri quotes the President’s spokesperson, Muhamet Hamiti, as saying that ‘at the beginning of this week, President Rugova is going to unfold his position on the issues dealing with the preparations of the Kosovar political factor for the period when the status of Kosovo will be addressed’.
According to Zëri sources, depending on the condition of his health, Rugova will announce his position through a new meeting of the Political Forum, through a press conference or a statement for the public.
If Rugova decides to go through the Political Forum, the paper says that it is possible the meeting will take place at his Residence.
Zëri writes that according to their sources, Rugova will announce his position on issues directly linked to the preparations of the Kosovar political faction for the issues of the status, including the appointment of the coordinator of the working groups.
Addressing of these issues by President Rugova confirms what the SRSG Jessen-Petersen said last week that Rugova was to lead the status talks. And, with this Rugova is going to confirm his active participation in the political process, despite his serious health problems.
According to Zëri sources, depending on the condition of his health, Rugova will announce his position through a new meeting of the Political Forum, through a press conference or a statement for the public.
If Rugova decides to go through the Political Forum, the paper says that it is possible the meeting will take place at his Residence.
Zëri writes that according to their sources, Rugova will announce his position on issues directly linked to the preparations of the Kosovar political faction for the issues of the status, including the appointment of the coordinator of the working groups.
Addressing of these issues by President Rugova confirms what the SRSG Jessen-Petersen said last week that Rugova was to lead the status talks. And, with this Rugova is going to confirm his active participation in the political process, despite his serious health problems.
Saturday, September 10, 2005
Kosovo Serb Policeman Wounded in Ambush in Village, U.N. Reports
By REUTERS
Published: September 11, 2005
PRISTINA, Kosovo, Sept. 10 (Reuters) - A Kosovo Serb policeman was wounded when his car was ambushed and fired on late Friday, the United Nations police force said.
The attack happened in a region where two Serb men were shot and killed two weeks ago.
The latest attack took place shortly before midnight on the main road near the Serb region of Strpce in southern Kosovo, the mainly ethnic Albanian province that is administered by the United Nations.
A statement by the United Nations police force said the officer's car "was ambushed and fired upon by unknown armed suspects."
The brother of the wounded officer said the man had been hit in the back and leg and had been taken to a nearby United States military base, Camp Bondsteel. His injuries were not considered life-threatening.
One police official said two other Serb policemen had been in the car but escaped unhurt.
The car was attacked near a memorial to ethnic Albanian guerrillas killed in the 1998-99 war with Serb forces. The memorial was damaged Thursday in an explosion, but the United Nations police commissioner, Kai Vittrup, said that it was not clear if the incidents were related and that the police were "reinforcing security measures" in the area.
Kosovo, which is legally part of Serbia, has been run by the United Nations since 1999 when NATO bombing drove out Serb forces accused of atrocities in a war on separatist rebels.
Thousands of Serbs fled after the conflict, and those who stayed became frequent targets of violence here.
The attack on Friday night took place several miles from the site of a drive-by shooting on Aug. 28 in which two Serb men were killed, shattering a yearlong lull in attacks involving Serbs.
United Nations police officials have declined to speculate on possible motives for the attacks. But Serb leaders in Belgrade blame ethnic Albanian extremists pushing for independence from Serbia in negotiations expected to begin this year.
A United Nations envoy is within weeks of submitting a report to Secretary General Kofi Annan on whether Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership has made enough progress on democracy and minority rights for those talks to begin, possibly next month.
The Serbian government in Belgrade says the 100,000 Serbs living in Kosovo, where ethnic Albanians make up 90 percent of the population, are under threat, and it has called for the talks to be delayed.
Published: September 11, 2005
PRISTINA, Kosovo, Sept. 10 (Reuters) - A Kosovo Serb policeman was wounded when his car was ambushed and fired on late Friday, the United Nations police force said.
The attack happened in a region where two Serb men were shot and killed two weeks ago.
The latest attack took place shortly before midnight on the main road near the Serb region of Strpce in southern Kosovo, the mainly ethnic Albanian province that is administered by the United Nations.
A statement by the United Nations police force said the officer's car "was ambushed and fired upon by unknown armed suspects."
The brother of the wounded officer said the man had been hit in the back and leg and had been taken to a nearby United States military base, Camp Bondsteel. His injuries were not considered life-threatening.
One police official said two other Serb policemen had been in the car but escaped unhurt.
The car was attacked near a memorial to ethnic Albanian guerrillas killed in the 1998-99 war with Serb forces. The memorial was damaged Thursday in an explosion, but the United Nations police commissioner, Kai Vittrup, said that it was not clear if the incidents were related and that the police were "reinforcing security measures" in the area.
Kosovo, which is legally part of Serbia, has been run by the United Nations since 1999 when NATO bombing drove out Serb forces accused of atrocities in a war on separatist rebels.
Thousands of Serbs fled after the conflict, and those who stayed became frequent targets of violence here.
The attack on Friday night took place several miles from the site of a drive-by shooting on Aug. 28 in which two Serb men were killed, shattering a yearlong lull in attacks involving Serbs.
United Nations police officials have declined to speculate on possible motives for the attacks. But Serb leaders in Belgrade blame ethnic Albanian extremists pushing for independence from Serbia in negotiations expected to begin this year.
A United Nations envoy is within weeks of submitting a report to Secretary General Kofi Annan on whether Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership has made enough progress on democracy and minority rights for those talks to begin, possibly next month.
The Serbian government in Belgrade says the 100,000 Serbs living in Kosovo, where ethnic Albanians make up 90 percent of the population, are under threat, and it has called for the talks to be delayed.
Friday, September 09, 2005
When will it be known if Kosovo is to have a defence force after status resolution?
September has been mentioned as the month when the Steering Committee of the ISSR (Internal Sector Security Review) should decide on how security structures in Kosovo should be organized once status is resolved, Zëri writes in its lead story.
Quoting it sources, the paper says that the Secretariat of the ISSR which was supposed to come out with recommendations did not manage to complete its work due to the lack of funds.
Even though, according to Zëri, these financial issues are expected to be solved very soon, there is another issue that needs to be addressed, namely the “defence forces of Kosovo after its status is resolved.” It is by now known that Kosovo will have its Ministries of Order and Justice [as well as] intelligence service but “it is not yet known if Kosovo is to have its own army, which along with a new NATO mission would protect Kosovo.” The role of KPC in the period following status definition is not clear either, says the paper.
The paper goes on to quote Western diplomatic sources as saying that most of Contact Group governments are in favour of Kosovo having a defence force that would [support] NATO troops. Supporters of this idea prefer KPC to take on this role, Zëri writes.
In another article, the paper talks about the terms of reference for ISSR Steering Committee, setting out the duties and responsibilities of this body. They primarily have to do with creating an effective and responsible security sector in Kosovo.
Quoting it sources, the paper says that the Secretariat of the ISSR which was supposed to come out with recommendations did not manage to complete its work due to the lack of funds.
Even though, according to Zëri, these financial issues are expected to be solved very soon, there is another issue that needs to be addressed, namely the “defence forces of Kosovo after its status is resolved.” It is by now known that Kosovo will have its Ministries of Order and Justice [as well as] intelligence service but “it is not yet known if Kosovo is to have its own army, which along with a new NATO mission would protect Kosovo.” The role of KPC in the period following status definition is not clear either, says the paper.
The paper goes on to quote Western diplomatic sources as saying that most of Contact Group governments are in favour of Kosovo having a defence force that would [support] NATO troops. Supporters of this idea prefer KPC to take on this role, Zëri writes.
In another article, the paper talks about the terms of reference for ISSR Steering Committee, setting out the duties and responsibilities of this body. They primarily have to do with creating an effective and responsible security sector in Kosovo.
Ylber Hysa: Rugova and Kosovan challenge
Koha Ditore carries an op-ed by ORA deputy chief, Ylber Hysa. (Excerpts)
It is not difficult to prove that after the public announcement of Rugova’s illness, Kosovo definitely has entered a new stage where not everything will remain the same. Combined with other aspects, like the report on Standards, the eventual start of the final status process, possible fight for power, it adds many unknowns to the Kosovan equation.
Rugova has always been the glue that has kept the cohesion of the LDK. Rugova now is facing a few decisions: what will happen with the Forum, the government, the LDK and the Presidency itself. Whatever these decisions will be, they will have long-term repercussions for Kosovo and they could determine many processes. Even if he does not make decisions, there will still be repercussions, says Hysa.
Whether Rugova will live to see independence remains a crucial question in all this process. The addressing of the final status and of the independence [issue] should happen while Rugova is alive. If the process of status definition drags on for too long, then Rugova could turn into a myth and [others] could then say ‘if it were [up to] him, he would never accept anything less than independence’.
Hysa says that Rugova’s illness should not be a reason for postponing the process of the final status of Kosovo, but on the contrary it should be a reason for accelerating the process.
It is not difficult to prove that after the public announcement of Rugova’s illness, Kosovo definitely has entered a new stage where not everything will remain the same. Combined with other aspects, like the report on Standards, the eventual start of the final status process, possible fight for power, it adds many unknowns to the Kosovan equation.
Rugova has always been the glue that has kept the cohesion of the LDK. Rugova now is facing a few decisions: what will happen with the Forum, the government, the LDK and the Presidency itself. Whatever these decisions will be, they will have long-term repercussions for Kosovo and they could determine many processes. Even if he does not make decisions, there will still be repercussions, says Hysa.
Whether Rugova will live to see independence remains a crucial question in all this process. The addressing of the final status and of the independence [issue] should happen while Rugova is alive. If the process of status definition drags on for too long, then Rugova could turn into a myth and [others] could then say ‘if it were [up to] him, he would never accept anything less than independence’.
Hysa says that Rugova’s illness should not be a reason for postponing the process of the final status of Kosovo, but on the contrary it should be a reason for accelerating the process.
Rendering unto Caesar
UNLIKE many of Europe's cultural treasures, the monastery of Decani—a lovely mix of Romanesque architecture and Byzantine art—faces little risk from changes in the physical environment. In this wooded valley at the foot of a forbidding mountain, there is no ecological challenge comparable to the acid rain that erodes cathedrals in Cologne and Cracow.
Yet the 30 Serbian monks who man this 700-year-old redoubt face far more lethal dangers than that. Having suffered several mortar attacks since Kosovo became an international protectorate in 1999, the community's survival hangs by a thread; its sole guarantors are the Italian troops who patrol the unruly region in armoured cars. Take that guard away, and this medieval fortress would almost certainly suffer the fate of the 35 religious buildings that were damaged or wrecked by mobs during the two days of rioting, against Serbs and other non-Albanians, which shook the province last year.
So Decani's Father Sava Janjic, an internet-dextrous cleric known as the cyber-monk, is one of the many people who are watching nervously as the western powers that oversee Kosovo prepare for talks on the future of the province. The emotional stakes in Kosovo's bid for independence—massively backed by the ethnic Albanian majority—rose this week after the Kosovars' veteran leader, Ibrahim Rugova, said he had lung cancer.
“Whatever is decided about Kosovo's status, there will be a need for an international security force to guard places like this,” says Father Sava. He suggests that the care of Decani and other historic sites in Kosovo might be entrusted to an international body like the Council of Europe. “Above all, we don't want to be used by any side to stake out territory,” he insists.
Avoiding that danger—the use of holy sites and symbols to justify territorial claims—will be easier said than done. In several parts of the southern Balkans, religion, politics and diplomacy have recently become entangled in a messy way.
In Macedonia, a notionally religious dispute (pitting one Slavic Orthodox church against another) has led to a straining of ties with Serbia, with bizarre results. For example, a Serbian minister says he has held back two passenger aircraft which Serbia rents out to the Macedonian national airline—in part, at least, because of the general downturn in relations. The dispute has come to a head following the jailing in Skopje of a bishop, Jovan Vraniskovski—who is either (depending on your viewpoint) a pro-Serbian troublemaker who has sold out the Macedonian cause, or the only Orthodox prelate in the land whose office is valid in the eyes of the rest of the eastern Christian world.
How can a country that aspires to join the European Union go locking up clerics? In church matters, as in regional politics, Macedonia's Slavic majority feels it has struggled hard (and so far, unsuccessfully) to gain due recognition from its Balkan neighbours—each of which rests its position on passionately held views of history. And to cut a long, Byzantine story short, Macedonia's Orthodox church has been out of step with the rest of eastern Christendom since 1967, when (as part of communist Yugoslavia's political intrigues) it broke free from its Serb overlords.
Under Orthodox procedures, a national church usually gains independence by negotiation with its erstwhile masters. Bishop Jovan's camp says it is not against Macedonian self-government—but it must be negotiated, not asserted unilaterally. The first step should be reconciliation with Serbia. But to many people in Skopje (including those with zero interest in religion) this stance means betrayal of a country that is fighting an unequal battle to win the world's respect. “People feel their national identity is under attack,” says Ana Petruseva of the Balkans Investigative Reporting Network, a news service.
That is the background to the authorities' egregious treatment of Bishop Jovan. On July 27th, he was sentenced to at least 18 months in jail for “instigating national and religious hatred”. His dastardly crimes include printing calendars that reflect his view of church affairs, under which his authority is legitimate and that of his critics is not. The Supreme Court in Skopje may yet release him; but Bishop Jovan also faces separate charges of embezzling funds.
Meanwhile his opponents feel they are the victims. “It is not Jovan we are up against, but greater Serbian chauvinism,” laments Bishop Naum, a leading figure in the Macedonian church, reflecting the common view that the whole affair is a product of tricks hatched in Belgrade. His suspicions do not end there. He reckons that by meddling in Macedonian church politics, Serbia's authorities—both political and religious—are gearing up for a bigger contest in Montenegro, where a vote on independence may be held next year.
Bishop Naum may be exaggerating the tension in Montenegro, but his suspicions are not wholly absurd. As the “state union” between Serbia and Montenegro gets looser, the Serbian Orthodox church, and the federal army, are among the few agencies that straddle the two entities; and they co-operate. In July, the army sent helicopters to erect a small Orthodox church on Montenegro's Mount Rumija. To backers of independence, this act seemed like a provocation, organised from Belgrade.
Father Velibor Dzomic, a Serbian Orthodox priest in Podgorica, the Montenegrin capital, disagrees: he says all his church wants is equality under the law—and protection from a new Montenegrin Orthodox church that challenges its status.
Even as they proclaim their love of Serbia, some priests in Montenegro give the impression that they are hedging their political bets and preparing for the day when Montenegro's ties with Belgrade are broken. Could this be so? “Our first concern”, insists Father Velibor, “is the kingdom of heaven.” If only that were always true.
Yet the 30 Serbian monks who man this 700-year-old redoubt face far more lethal dangers than that. Having suffered several mortar attacks since Kosovo became an international protectorate in 1999, the community's survival hangs by a thread; its sole guarantors are the Italian troops who patrol the unruly region in armoured cars. Take that guard away, and this medieval fortress would almost certainly suffer the fate of the 35 religious buildings that were damaged or wrecked by mobs during the two days of rioting, against Serbs and other non-Albanians, which shook the province last year.
So Decani's Father Sava Janjic, an internet-dextrous cleric known as the cyber-monk, is one of the many people who are watching nervously as the western powers that oversee Kosovo prepare for talks on the future of the province. The emotional stakes in Kosovo's bid for independence—massively backed by the ethnic Albanian majority—rose this week after the Kosovars' veteran leader, Ibrahim Rugova, said he had lung cancer.
“Whatever is decided about Kosovo's status, there will be a need for an international security force to guard places like this,” says Father Sava. He suggests that the care of Decani and other historic sites in Kosovo might be entrusted to an international body like the Council of Europe. “Above all, we don't want to be used by any side to stake out territory,” he insists.
Avoiding that danger—the use of holy sites and symbols to justify territorial claims—will be easier said than done. In several parts of the southern Balkans, religion, politics and diplomacy have recently become entangled in a messy way.
In Macedonia, a notionally religious dispute (pitting one Slavic Orthodox church against another) has led to a straining of ties with Serbia, with bizarre results. For example, a Serbian minister says he has held back two passenger aircraft which Serbia rents out to the Macedonian national airline—in part, at least, because of the general downturn in relations. The dispute has come to a head following the jailing in Skopje of a bishop, Jovan Vraniskovski—who is either (depending on your viewpoint) a pro-Serbian troublemaker who has sold out the Macedonian cause, or the only Orthodox prelate in the land whose office is valid in the eyes of the rest of the eastern Christian world.
How can a country that aspires to join the European Union go locking up clerics? In church matters, as in regional politics, Macedonia's Slavic majority feels it has struggled hard (and so far, unsuccessfully) to gain due recognition from its Balkan neighbours—each of which rests its position on passionately held views of history. And to cut a long, Byzantine story short, Macedonia's Orthodox church has been out of step with the rest of eastern Christendom since 1967, when (as part of communist Yugoslavia's political intrigues) it broke free from its Serb overlords.
Under Orthodox procedures, a national church usually gains independence by negotiation with its erstwhile masters. Bishop Jovan's camp says it is not against Macedonian self-government—but it must be negotiated, not asserted unilaterally. The first step should be reconciliation with Serbia. But to many people in Skopje (including those with zero interest in religion) this stance means betrayal of a country that is fighting an unequal battle to win the world's respect. “People feel their national identity is under attack,” says Ana Petruseva of the Balkans Investigative Reporting Network, a news service.
That is the background to the authorities' egregious treatment of Bishop Jovan. On July 27th, he was sentenced to at least 18 months in jail for “instigating national and religious hatred”. His dastardly crimes include printing calendars that reflect his view of church affairs, under which his authority is legitimate and that of his critics is not. The Supreme Court in Skopje may yet release him; but Bishop Jovan also faces separate charges of embezzling funds.
Meanwhile his opponents feel they are the victims. “It is not Jovan we are up against, but greater Serbian chauvinism,” laments Bishop Naum, a leading figure in the Macedonian church, reflecting the common view that the whole affair is a product of tricks hatched in Belgrade. His suspicions do not end there. He reckons that by meddling in Macedonian church politics, Serbia's authorities—both political and religious—are gearing up for a bigger contest in Montenegro, where a vote on independence may be held next year.
Bishop Naum may be exaggerating the tension in Montenegro, but his suspicions are not wholly absurd. As the “state union” between Serbia and Montenegro gets looser, the Serbian Orthodox church, and the federal army, are among the few agencies that straddle the two entities; and they co-operate. In July, the army sent helicopters to erect a small Orthodox church on Montenegro's Mount Rumija. To backers of independence, this act seemed like a provocation, organised from Belgrade.
Father Velibor Dzomic, a Serbian Orthodox priest in Podgorica, the Montenegrin capital, disagrees: he says all his church wants is equality under the law—and protection from a new Montenegrin Orthodox church that challenges its status.
Even as they proclaim their love of Serbia, some priests in Montenegro give the impression that they are hedging their political bets and preparing for the day when Montenegro's ties with Belgrade are broken. Could this be so? “Our first concern”, insists Father Velibor, “is the kingdom of heaven.” If only that were always true.
Five Serbs In Srebrenica Video Face War Crimes Charges
BELGRADE (AP)--A Belgrade court said Friday that five Serbs who appear in a video showing the execution of six Srebrenica Muslims are to be charged with war crimes against civilians.
The Belgrade district court said the five imprisoned suspects, former members of the notorious Serb paramilitary unit known as the Scorpions, are expected to be formally charged by Serbia's special war crimes prosecutor, with a trial expected to start later this year.
The gruesome amateur footage, shot by the Serb troops and first shown in June at former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic's trial at the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, showed six Bosnian Muslim prisoners in civilian clothing taken from a truck, hands tied and then lined up on a hillside.
Four are shot one by one in the back. Two others are ordered to carry the bodies into a nearby barn before they, too, are killed. Four of the victims were minors.
The six Muslims were captured by Serb troops who overran the eastern Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica in July 1995, killing nearly 8,000 Muslim men and boys - the worst carnage in Europe since World War II.
The video footage sent shock waves through Serbia and forced politicians to acknowledge that Serb troops committed war crimes against civilians during the Balkan wars of the 1990s.
After the video was broadcast by Serbian television channels, police here arrested the five former Scorpion members. One more was arrested in neighboring Croatia, while a seventh, also seen in the video, remains at large.
U.N. war crimes prosecutors consider the video footage key evidence that Milosevic has allowed Serb troops from Serbia to fight Bosnian Muslims and Croats in Bosnia during the 1992-1995 war. During his trial, Milosevic defended himself by saying no Serb troops under his command fought in the Bosnian war.
If tried and convicted for murder and war crimes, the five Serbs could face up to 40 years in prison each. Serbia's law doesn't allow the death penalty.
Such war crimes trials in Serbia became possible only after pro-democracy leaders toppled Milosevic in 2000 and sent him to The Hague a year later, where he is on trial for his role in the Croatian, Bosnian and Kosovo wars.
The Belgrade district court said the five imprisoned suspects, former members of the notorious Serb paramilitary unit known as the Scorpions, are expected to be formally charged by Serbia's special war crimes prosecutor, with a trial expected to start later this year.
The gruesome amateur footage, shot by the Serb troops and first shown in June at former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic's trial at the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, showed six Bosnian Muslim prisoners in civilian clothing taken from a truck, hands tied and then lined up on a hillside.
Four are shot one by one in the back. Two others are ordered to carry the bodies into a nearby barn before they, too, are killed. Four of the victims were minors.
The six Muslims were captured by Serb troops who overran the eastern Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica in July 1995, killing nearly 8,000 Muslim men and boys - the worst carnage in Europe since World War II.
The video footage sent shock waves through Serbia and forced politicians to acknowledge that Serb troops committed war crimes against civilians during the Balkan wars of the 1990s.
After the video was broadcast by Serbian television channels, police here arrested the five former Scorpion members. One more was arrested in neighboring Croatia, while a seventh, also seen in the video, remains at large.
U.N. war crimes prosecutors consider the video footage key evidence that Milosevic has allowed Serb troops from Serbia to fight Bosnian Muslims and Croats in Bosnia during the 1992-1995 war. During his trial, Milosevic defended himself by saying no Serb troops under his command fought in the Bosnian war.
If tried and convicted for murder and war crimes, the five Serbs could face up to 40 years in prison each. Serbia's law doesn't allow the death penalty.
Such war crimes trials in Serbia became possible only after pro-democracy leaders toppled Milosevic in 2000 and sent him to The Hague a year later, where he is on trial for his role in the Croatian, Bosnian and Kosovo wars.
Kosovo's Government Spokesman,Accused Of Leaking Stories, Quits
PRISTINA (AP)--Kosovo's government spokesman resigned from his post after being accused of leaking stories criticizing the province's prime minister to the media.
In a resignation letter sent late Thursday, Daut Dauti, the spokesman for Kosovo's prime minister Bajram Kosumi, said he was "happy to depart from this group of people who act like aliens."
Dauti's resignation followed days of media reports accusing Kosumi of corruption.
"I have been accused of being guilty for some stories that appeared in the press. I sincerely believe I am not guilty (and) that the media carry stories which bare the stench of irresponsibility and corruption," Dauti said.
Throughout the week, media reports focused on Kosumi after he was pressured to disclose how he paid for a private jet to return to Kosovo from his holiday in Turkey. The province's media estimated that the cost of the jet might have reached EUR20,000.
Kosumi responded that "his friends" paid for the trip. Opposition parties called for him to resign, saying he breached Kosovo
In a resignation letter sent late Thursday, Daut Dauti, the spokesman for Kosovo's prime minister Bajram Kosumi, said he was "happy to depart from this group of people who act like aliens."
Dauti's resignation followed days of media reports accusing Kosumi of corruption.
"I have been accused of being guilty for some stories that appeared in the press. I sincerely believe I am not guilty (and) that the media carry stories which bare the stench of irresponsibility and corruption," Dauti said.
Throughout the week, media reports focused on Kosumi after he was pressured to disclose how he paid for a private jet to return to Kosovo from his holiday in Turkey. The province's media estimated that the cost of the jet might have reached EUR20,000.
Kosumi responded that "his friends" paid for the trip. Opposition parties called for him to resign, saying he breached Kosovo