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Monday, October 31, 2005
Former Finnish president nominated as UN envoy for Kosovo talks
BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro, Oct. 31 (Xinhuanet) -- The United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has nominated former Finnish President Marti Ahtisaari as special UN envoy for Kosovo future status talks, the official Tanjug news agency reported on Monday.
Annan made the nomination in a letter to the UN Security Council, said the reports, quoting Annan's spokesman Brenden Varma.
Varma said over the phone that Ahtisaari's appointment would become official after the UN Security Council decides about this over the next few days.
Ahtisaari, 68, stole the international limelight this year when he organized and hosted talks between Indonesia's government and the Free Aceh Movement, who signed a peace deal in August to end 30 years of armed struggle.
The reports said that decision on the appointment would be madein consultation with the Contact Group, which would meet in Washington on Nov. 2 to discuss the fate of Kosovo, a Serbian province under UN administration since 1999.
The Contact Group, designated to resolve the Kosovo issue, consists of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia and the United States. Enditem
Annan made the nomination in a letter to the UN Security Council, said the reports, quoting Annan's spokesman Brenden Varma.
Varma said over the phone that Ahtisaari's appointment would become official after the UN Security Council decides about this over the next few days.
Ahtisaari, 68, stole the international limelight this year when he organized and hosted talks between Indonesia's government and the Free Aceh Movement, who signed a peace deal in August to end 30 years of armed struggle.
The reports said that decision on the appointment would be madein consultation with the Contact Group, which would meet in Washington on Nov. 2 to discuss the fate of Kosovo, a Serbian province under UN administration since 1999.
The Contact Group, designated to resolve the Kosovo issue, consists of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia and the United States. Enditem
Kosovo: Include women and minority communities in final status talks - Amnesty International
On the fifth anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325/2000 (Resolution 1325) on Women Peace and Security, Amnesty International calls on the respective parties to the proposed talks on the final status of Kosovo to ensure that women are included in the forthcoming talks on the final status of Kosovo.
In particular, Amnesty International calls for the inclusion of women in the expert working groups which will form an integral part of the process The organization also urges the involvement of representatives of minority communities, including the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptiani, in addition to the minority Serb community.
Following the delivery of a report on 4 October to the UN Secretary General by his Special Envoy for the Comprehensive Review of Kosovo, the UN Security Council on 24 October gave the go-ahead to the talks, which will be led by the UN SG’s Special Envoy, likely to be named as former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, and will involve delegations from both Serbia and Kosovo. Reportedly talks will begin in November.
The organization reminds all parties, including Kosovo, Serbia, the UN and the European Union that Resolution 1325, “Urges Member States to ensure increased representation of women at all decision-making levels in national, regional and international institutions and mechanisms for the prevention, management, and resolution of conflict.”
Amnesty International therefore calls on all UN member states involved in the talks to actively ensure the implementation of Resolution 1325 and guarantee the representation of women in the talks. The organization also urges the adoption of a gendered perspective, as set out in article 8 of the Resolution, which should, for example, “involve women in all of the implementation mechanisms of the peace agreements” and provide, “measures that ensure the protection of and respect for human rights of women and girls, particularly as they relate to the constitution, the electoral system, the police and the judiciary”. In particular, such measures should address the ongoing impunity for gender-based violence, including war crimes, committed against women during and after the conflict in Kososvo.
Amnesty International supports the call from the Kosova Women’s Network that that in order to reach sustainable solutions for the future of Kosovo, women should be included in the final status process. Many women’s organizations are already involved in political processes and decision making at different levels in Kosovo, and across ethnic boundaries. The organization notes that women across Kosovo, and of all ethnic groups, face massive discrimination in gaining access to rights guaranteed under international standards incorporated into domestic law in Kosovo.
Amnesty International is also calling for the inclusion of representatives of minority communities in the process, including Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian organizations which have called for safeguards to protect the right of minority communities, including the right to security and freedom of movement in Kosovo; to fair and impartial investigations into acts of racist violence and discrimination; for equal representation and access to public institutions, and for access to social and economic rights including to housing, education, health care and employment, as well as for appropriate assistance to internally displaced persons and returnees.
Background
Resolution 1325
On October 31, 2000 the UNSC unanimously adopted Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. Resolution 1325 is regarded by many as having been a historic landmark, marking the first time in its history that the UNSC seriously dealt with the role and experience of women in the context of armed conflict.
The Resolution calls for action by the UN Secretary General, Member States, and all actors involved in the development and implementation of peace agreements.
Amnesty International has reported on discrimination against women and girls in Kosovo, including in the trafficking of women and girls within Kosovo, and the conditions – including discrimination, violence against women and lack of opportunities for education and employment – which render women and girls vulnerable to trafficking.
The organization has also reported extensively on human rights violations and discrimination against members of minority communities, and called repeatedly for the protection of their civil, political, social, and economic rights.
Final Status Talks
The end of the military conflict in Kosovo was agreed between the parties in the Kumanovo Military-Technical Agreement of 9 June 1999. Under UN SC Resolution 1244/99 agreed on 10 June 1999, Kosovo continued to remain an integral part of the then Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (now Serbia and Montenegro). UN SC 1244/99 provided for an interim civilian administration run by the UN (UNMIK) and the presence of NATO-led peace-keeping forces.
Although the term “final status” is used to describe the subject of the forthcoming talks, UN SC Resolution 1244 refer to the need for a “final settlement” to resolve Kosovo's “future status”; thus the forthcoming talks may been seen as part of a process towards that end.
In particular, Amnesty International calls for the inclusion of women in the expert working groups which will form an integral part of the process The organization also urges the involvement of representatives of minority communities, including the Roma, Ashkali and Egyptiani, in addition to the minority Serb community.
Following the delivery of a report on 4 October to the UN Secretary General by his Special Envoy for the Comprehensive Review of Kosovo, the UN Security Council on 24 October gave the go-ahead to the talks, which will be led by the UN SG’s Special Envoy, likely to be named as former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, and will involve delegations from both Serbia and Kosovo. Reportedly talks will begin in November.
The organization reminds all parties, including Kosovo, Serbia, the UN and the European Union that Resolution 1325, “Urges Member States to ensure increased representation of women at all decision-making levels in national, regional and international institutions and mechanisms for the prevention, management, and resolution of conflict.”
Amnesty International therefore calls on all UN member states involved in the talks to actively ensure the implementation of Resolution 1325 and guarantee the representation of women in the talks. The organization also urges the adoption of a gendered perspective, as set out in article 8 of the Resolution, which should, for example, “involve women in all of the implementation mechanisms of the peace agreements” and provide, “measures that ensure the protection of and respect for human rights of women and girls, particularly as they relate to the constitution, the electoral system, the police and the judiciary”. In particular, such measures should address the ongoing impunity for gender-based violence, including war crimes, committed against women during and after the conflict in Kososvo.
Amnesty International supports the call from the Kosova Women’s Network that that in order to reach sustainable solutions for the future of Kosovo, women should be included in the final status process. Many women’s organizations are already involved in political processes and decision making at different levels in Kosovo, and across ethnic boundaries. The organization notes that women across Kosovo, and of all ethnic groups, face massive discrimination in gaining access to rights guaranteed under international standards incorporated into domestic law in Kosovo.
Amnesty International is also calling for the inclusion of representatives of minority communities in the process, including Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian organizations which have called for safeguards to protect the right of minority communities, including the right to security and freedom of movement in Kosovo; to fair and impartial investigations into acts of racist violence and discrimination; for equal representation and access to public institutions, and for access to social and economic rights including to housing, education, health care and employment, as well as for appropriate assistance to internally displaced persons and returnees.
Background
Resolution 1325
On October 31, 2000 the UNSC unanimously adopted Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. Resolution 1325 is regarded by many as having been a historic landmark, marking the first time in its history that the UNSC seriously dealt with the role and experience of women in the context of armed conflict.
The Resolution calls for action by the UN Secretary General, Member States, and all actors involved in the development and implementation of peace agreements.
Amnesty International has reported on discrimination against women and girls in Kosovo, including in the trafficking of women and girls within Kosovo, and the conditions – including discrimination, violence against women and lack of opportunities for education and employment – which render women and girls vulnerable to trafficking.
The organization has also reported extensively on human rights violations and discrimination against members of minority communities, and called repeatedly for the protection of their civil, political, social, and economic rights.
Final Status Talks
The end of the military conflict in Kosovo was agreed between the parties in the Kumanovo Military-Technical Agreement of 9 June 1999. Under UN SC Resolution 1244/99 agreed on 10 June 1999, Kosovo continued to remain an integral part of the then Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (now Serbia and Montenegro). UN SC 1244/99 provided for an interim civilian administration run by the UN (UNMIK) and the presence of NATO-led peace-keeping forces.
Although the term “final status” is used to describe the subject of the forthcoming talks, UN SC Resolution 1244 refer to the need for a “final settlement” to resolve Kosovo's “future status”; thus the forthcoming talks may been seen as part of a process towards that end.
Kosovo's Negotiating Team In Disarray
PRISTINA (AP)--Kosovo's ethnic Albanian negotiating team was in disarray Monday after one of its members accused two others of plotting against him, signalling an uneasy start for U.N.-sponsored talks to resolve the disputed province's future status.
Blerim Shala, a newspaper editor and coordinator of Kosovo's negotiating team, accused the head of Kosovo's parliament Nexhat Daci of using the media to discredit him.
Shala also accused Daci and the leader of the opposition Hashim Thaci of breaking a confidentiality agreement following a meeting last week, when the group failed to agree on how to approach the upcoming talks on Kosovo's future.
The Kosovo media reported extensively over the weekend on the discord among ethnic Albanian negotiators.
Shala's powers are at the center of the controversy along with who should lead the working groups that will prepare position papers for the talks. Shala's proposals were apparently shot down during the last weeks meeting.
The launch of negotiations on Kosovo's future was approved last week by the U.N. Security Council. They are expected to get underway in November, as soon as an envoy, believed to most likely be former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, is appointed to lead the process.
In addition to Shala, the Kosovo team led by the province's ailing president, Ibrahim Rugova, also includes the prime minister, two opposition leaders and the head of the legislative assembly.
The five leaders hold widely differing views on some issues and have clashed in the past over the direction the negotiating team should take.
Western diplomats and U.N. officials have expressed frustration that the bickering ethnic Albanian leaders have slowed preparations for the talks.
Ethnic Albanians, who make up 90% of Kosovo's 2 million people, want nothing short of full independence. They argue that Serbia has lost the right to govern the province following the war that left an estimated 10,000 ethnic Albanians dead.
Serb leaders, however, insist on keeping at least some formal control over the troubled province - a place many Serbs consider the heart of their nation.
The U.N. has administered Kosovo since NATO's 1999 air war against Yugoslavia. The NATO bombardment forced former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to end a crackdown on rebel ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and relinquish Serbia's control over the province.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
Blerim Shala, a newspaper editor and coordinator of Kosovo's negotiating team, accused the head of Kosovo's parliament Nexhat Daci of using the media to discredit him.
Shala also accused Daci and the leader of the opposition Hashim Thaci of breaking a confidentiality agreement following a meeting last week, when the group failed to agree on how to approach the upcoming talks on Kosovo's future.
The Kosovo media reported extensively over the weekend on the discord among ethnic Albanian negotiators.
Shala's powers are at the center of the controversy along with who should lead the working groups that will prepare position papers for the talks. Shala's proposals were apparently shot down during the last weeks meeting.
The launch of negotiations on Kosovo's future was approved last week by the U.N. Security Council. They are expected to get underway in November, as soon as an envoy, believed to most likely be former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, is appointed to lead the process.
In addition to Shala, the Kosovo team led by the province's ailing president, Ibrahim Rugova, also includes the prime minister, two opposition leaders and the head of the legislative assembly.
The five leaders hold widely differing views on some issues and have clashed in the past over the direction the negotiating team should take.
Western diplomats and U.N. officials have expressed frustration that the bickering ethnic Albanian leaders have slowed preparations for the talks.
Ethnic Albanians, who make up 90% of Kosovo's 2 million people, want nothing short of full independence. They argue that Serbia has lost the right to govern the province following the war that left an estimated 10,000 ethnic Albanians dead.
Serb leaders, however, insist on keeping at least some formal control over the troubled province - a place many Serbs consider the heart of their nation.
The U.N. has administered Kosovo since NATO's 1999 air war against Yugoslavia. The NATO bombardment forced former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to end a crackdown on rebel ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and relinquish Serbia's control over the province.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
KPC and KPS: We are ready (Lajm)
Lajm reports that the Kosovo Protection Corps and the Kosovo Police Service say they are ready to provide security for Kosovo. KPC chief General Agim Çeku and KPS chief colonel Sheremet Ahmeti say their institutions are ready to take on the responsibility to provide security for the country as they have full trust in the institutions they are leading.
Saturday, October 29, 2005
'War crimes' storm over former PM by Tim Judah - The Guardian
Tim Judah
Sunday October 30, 2005
The Observer
The United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague has created a storm of controversy by letting Kosovo's former Prime Minister - charged with torture, murder and ethnic cleansing - resume political life in Kosovo.
Ramush Haradinaj, who had already been allowed to return to the province pending trial, was told two weeks ago that he could take up politics again. Days later, that move was halted temporarily by chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte but, according to diplomatic sources, the court is now expected to rule on the issue 'within days'.
In a strongly worded submission, the prosecution told the judges, who are bitterly divided on the issue, that 'constantly seeing the accused in the media' would 'have a chilling effect on victims and witnesses' and have 'the very real likelihood' of producing a 'very intimidating effect' on them. They would 'gain the impression that power still resides in the hands of the accused'.
The indictment of Haradinaj, 37, a former commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army, along with that of two subordinates, was made public last March. It accused them of 37 counts of abduction, murder, torture and ethnic cleansing of Serbs, Roma and fellow Albanians in 1998. His supporters say he has done nothing wrong and, with the presumption of innocence, should be free to go about his business until trial.
The row follows the decision last Monday by the UN Security Council to approve the start of talks on the future of the disputed province. Kosovo's Albanians want independence, in the face of Serbian opposition. Since the end of the fighting in 1999, Kosovo has been under the jurisdiction of the UN.
The move to lift the ban on politics for Haradinaj has been spearheaded by the UN mission in Kosovo and supported by diplomats there. They believe that, as tensions rise in the run-up to talks, Haradinaj could play a crucial role. One diplomat told The Observer that Haradinaj could 'play a useful role in terms of telling hardliners he knows to stay calm'. Most indictments for Kosovo have been aimed at Serbs, including former President Slobodan Milosevic, but prosecutors say all sides committed crimes during the war.
The temporarily frozen ruling has already harmed the tribunal's attempts to establish a reputation for impartiality. Serb leaders have said it has just confirmed their long-held belief that the court is biased against them. Dusan Batakovic, a senior adviser on Kosovo to Serbia's President Boris Tadic, said: 'We see this as appalling. This unbalanced approach to indictees of different sides is sending a very wrong message to both Serbs and Albanians.'
Del Ponte has argued that the lifting of restrictions on Haradinaj would create 'a terrible perception' of unfairness, since similar privileges have not been granted to any other indictees. The prosecution asked the court what it would say if a similar request was made on behalf of Vojislav Seselj, the Serbian politician who has been indicted for crimes against humanity and murder.
Earlier this year Rasim Delic, the former head of the Bosnian Army, was refused permission by the court to go on a tour of Bosnia promoting a book while awaiting trial.
At the time his indictment was made public last March, Haradinaj was Prime Minister of Kosovo and he was widely acclaimed as having achieved a huge amount in the 100 days he was in office.
On 6 June, Haradinaj was released pending trial. The terms of his conditional release sanctioned only limited work within his own party. Haradinaj's defence team then asked for these terms to be relaxed, and in this they were supported by the UN mission in Kosovo. On 14 October, the tribunal agreed to this request. On 19 October, Del Ponte succeeded in getting this move temporarily halted.
Agron Bajram, editor of the daily paper Koha Ditore, said that he, like most Kosovo Albanians, would be 'delighted' if Haradinaj could return to politics, because he had been a 'much needed' figure while in power and could play a major role in unifying the Albanian side during the talks on Kosovo's future.
What is clear is that since his release the UN and diplomats in Kosovo have courted Haradinaj in a way unprecedented for a man indicted for murder and ethnic cleansing in former Yugoslavia. On 26 September, for example, a huge party was held at Pristina's Hotel Grand to celebrate the wedding of Haradinaj's brother. Among the guests were Larry Rossin, the deputy head of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), plus other senior officials and diplomats.
Sunday October 30, 2005
The Observer
The United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague has created a storm of controversy by letting Kosovo's former Prime Minister - charged with torture, murder and ethnic cleansing - resume political life in Kosovo.
Ramush Haradinaj, who had already been allowed to return to the province pending trial, was told two weeks ago that he could take up politics again. Days later, that move was halted temporarily by chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte but, according to diplomatic sources, the court is now expected to rule on the issue 'within days'.
In a strongly worded submission, the prosecution told the judges, who are bitterly divided on the issue, that 'constantly seeing the accused in the media' would 'have a chilling effect on victims and witnesses' and have 'the very real likelihood' of producing a 'very intimidating effect' on them. They would 'gain the impression that power still resides in the hands of the accused'.
The indictment of Haradinaj, 37, a former commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army, along with that of two subordinates, was made public last March. It accused them of 37 counts of abduction, murder, torture and ethnic cleansing of Serbs, Roma and fellow Albanians in 1998. His supporters say he has done nothing wrong and, with the presumption of innocence, should be free to go about his business until trial.
The row follows the decision last Monday by the UN Security Council to approve the start of talks on the future of the disputed province. Kosovo's Albanians want independence, in the face of Serbian opposition. Since the end of the fighting in 1999, Kosovo has been under the jurisdiction of the UN.
The move to lift the ban on politics for Haradinaj has been spearheaded by the UN mission in Kosovo and supported by diplomats there. They believe that, as tensions rise in the run-up to talks, Haradinaj could play a crucial role. One diplomat told The Observer that Haradinaj could 'play a useful role in terms of telling hardliners he knows to stay calm'. Most indictments for Kosovo have been aimed at Serbs, including former President Slobodan Milosevic, but prosecutors say all sides committed crimes during the war.
The temporarily frozen ruling has already harmed the tribunal's attempts to establish a reputation for impartiality. Serb leaders have said it has just confirmed their long-held belief that the court is biased against them. Dusan Batakovic, a senior adviser on Kosovo to Serbia's President Boris Tadic, said: 'We see this as appalling. This unbalanced approach to indictees of different sides is sending a very wrong message to both Serbs and Albanians.'
Del Ponte has argued that the lifting of restrictions on Haradinaj would create 'a terrible perception' of unfairness, since similar privileges have not been granted to any other indictees. The prosecution asked the court what it would say if a similar request was made on behalf of Vojislav Seselj, the Serbian politician who has been indicted for crimes against humanity and murder.
Earlier this year Rasim Delic, the former head of the Bosnian Army, was refused permission by the court to go on a tour of Bosnia promoting a book while awaiting trial.
At the time his indictment was made public last March, Haradinaj was Prime Minister of Kosovo and he was widely acclaimed as having achieved a huge amount in the 100 days he was in office.
On 6 June, Haradinaj was released pending trial. The terms of his conditional release sanctioned only limited work within his own party. Haradinaj's defence team then asked for these terms to be relaxed, and in this they were supported by the UN mission in Kosovo. On 14 October, the tribunal agreed to this request. On 19 October, Del Ponte succeeded in getting this move temporarily halted.
Agron Bajram, editor of the daily paper Koha Ditore, said that he, like most Kosovo Albanians, would be 'delighted' if Haradinaj could return to politics, because he had been a 'much needed' figure while in power and could play a major role in unifying the Albanian side during the talks on Kosovo's future.
What is clear is that since his release the UN and diplomats in Kosovo have courted Haradinaj in a way unprecedented for a man indicted for murder and ethnic cleansing in former Yugoslavia. On 26 September, for example, a huge party was held at Pristina's Hotel Grand to celebrate the wedding of Haradinaj's brother. Among the guests were Larry Rossin, the deputy head of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), plus other senior officials and diplomats.
Ex-President Ahtisaari Expects to be Named Kosovo Envoy
Former President Martti Ahtisaari expects the United Nations Security Council to appoint him as the head of negotiations on the final status of Kosovo late next week. He attributes the delay in the appointment to the Security Council's tight schedule.
The former President was speaking on a Saturday morning interview programme on YLE TV-1. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said earlier this week that Ahtisaari would be the mediator.
Previous reports by the Austrian news agency APA suggest that the delay may have been caused by a Russian diplomat, who has said that Russia wants a precise definition of Ahtisaari's authority. According to APA's sources, Russia is not opposed to Ahtisaari?s appointment as such.
As the UN mediator, Ahtisaari is to be part of a process to define the position of the multi-ethnic province, which is still formally a part of Serbia, but has been under UN control for the past six years.
The ethnic Albanian majority in Kosovo has called for full independence, which is opposed by the Serb minority, and by Serbia itself.
Ahtisaari is to visit UN Headquarters in New York early next week.
The former President was speaking on a Saturday morning interview programme on YLE TV-1. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said earlier this week that Ahtisaari would be the mediator.
Previous reports by the Austrian news agency APA suggest that the delay may have been caused by a Russian diplomat, who has said that Russia wants a precise definition of Ahtisaari's authority. According to APA's sources, Russia is not opposed to Ahtisaari?s appointment as such.
As the UN mediator, Ahtisaari is to be part of a process to define the position of the multi-ethnic province, which is still formally a part of Serbia, but has been under UN control for the past six years.
The ethnic Albanian majority in Kosovo has called for full independence, which is opposed by the Serb minority, and by Serbia itself.
Ahtisaari is to visit UN Headquarters in New York early next week.
Ahtisaari says NATO should retain Kosovo role
HELSINKI, Oct 29 (Reuters) - NATO should retain its security role in Kosovo regardless of the disputed province's future status, the man expected to lead talks on whether Kosovo remains part of Serbia or becomes independent said on Saturday.
Former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, slated to become United Nations special envoy to lead talks on Kosovo's status, said he favoured no particular model for solving its problems.
In an interview with Finnish national broadcaster YLE, Ahtisaari, 68, declined to speculate on what the eventual solution would be, or how long it would take to achieve it.
"Time will tell whether it will be a compromise, and what kind of a compromise it could be," Ahtisaari said.
"It is a difficult situation, as there are still some armed groups that are not under control and it is important that NATO retains its security role, no matter what the solution."
Military alliance NATO, which has a 17,100-strong peacekeeping force in Kosovo, acknowledged earlier this month that an armed group in western Kosovo was stopping and searching cars at night, but dismissed them as bandits.
Local newspapers said a group calling itself "The Army for the Independence of Kosovo" had threatened U.N. officials and was demanding immediate recognition of independence for the province, whose population is 90 percent ethnic Albanian.
Kosovo has been a U.N. protectorate since NATO ended the 1998-99 guerrilla war by bombing Yugoslavia to compel Serbia to withdraw its forces, which had been accused of ethnic cleansing.
Kosovo's Albanian majority increasingly wants independence, but Serbia -- which says the province, home to scores of Orthodox religious sites, is sacred land -- is opposed.
The U.N. Security Council earlier this month embraced its Secretary-General Kofi Annan's recommendation that international talks be launched to decide whether Kosovo gains independence or remains a Serbian province.
"(Finding a solution) has to start from first listening to the different parties, even if their views are fairly well known. Then we need to discuss with them how these problems could be addressed," Ahtisaari said.
"There is still a lot of basic work to be done before any kind of specific discussions can begin," he said, adding it was important to first create a working group for the task.
Ahtisaari, 68, made his mark in international diplomacy as point-man for the European Union when he persuaded then-Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic to accept NATO's terms for ending the Kosovo air campaign.
Most recently he grabbed the international limelight when he organised and hosted talks this year between Indonesia's government and the Free Aceh Movement, who signed a peace deal in August to end 30 years of armed struggle.
Ahtisaari's appointment as special envoy to Kosovo had been expected this week, but he said in the interview it now looked as though it would come towards the end of next week.
Former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, slated to become United Nations special envoy to lead talks on Kosovo's status, said he favoured no particular model for solving its problems.
In an interview with Finnish national broadcaster YLE, Ahtisaari, 68, declined to speculate on what the eventual solution would be, or how long it would take to achieve it.
"Time will tell whether it will be a compromise, and what kind of a compromise it could be," Ahtisaari said.
"It is a difficult situation, as there are still some armed groups that are not under control and it is important that NATO retains its security role, no matter what the solution."
Military alliance NATO, which has a 17,100-strong peacekeeping force in Kosovo, acknowledged earlier this month that an armed group in western Kosovo was stopping and searching cars at night, but dismissed them as bandits.
Local newspapers said a group calling itself "The Army for the Independence of Kosovo" had threatened U.N. officials and was demanding immediate recognition of independence for the province, whose population is 90 percent ethnic Albanian.
Kosovo has been a U.N. protectorate since NATO ended the 1998-99 guerrilla war by bombing Yugoslavia to compel Serbia to withdraw its forces, which had been accused of ethnic cleansing.
Kosovo's Albanian majority increasingly wants independence, but Serbia -- which says the province, home to scores of Orthodox religious sites, is sacred land -- is opposed.
The U.N. Security Council earlier this month embraced its Secretary-General Kofi Annan's recommendation that international talks be launched to decide whether Kosovo gains independence or remains a Serbian province.
"(Finding a solution) has to start from first listening to the different parties, even if their views are fairly well known. Then we need to discuss with them how these problems could be addressed," Ahtisaari said.
"There is still a lot of basic work to be done before any kind of specific discussions can begin," he said, adding it was important to first create a working group for the task.
Ahtisaari, 68, made his mark in international diplomacy as point-man for the European Union when he persuaded then-Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic to accept NATO's terms for ending the Kosovo air campaign.
Most recently he grabbed the international limelight when he organised and hosted talks this year between Indonesia's government and the Free Aceh Movement, who signed a peace deal in August to end 30 years of armed struggle.
Ahtisaari's appointment as special envoy to Kosovo had been expected this week, but he said in the interview it now looked as though it would come towards the end of next week.
Leaders in Kosovo plan strategy ahead of talks on province's final status
PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) - Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders met Friday to begin work on a negotiating strategy for the start of talks next month that they hope will lead the disputed province to independence from Serbia.
The meeting ended, however, with no apparent agreement on how they would approach the talks.
The team led by Kosovo's ailing president, Ibrahim Rugova, includes the province's prime minister, two opposition leaders and the head of the legislative assembly.
The five leaders hold widely differing views on many issues and have clashed in the past over the direction the negotiating team should take.
Friday's meeting ended with no announcement of a joint position to take into the talks.
One of the participants, opposition politician Veton Surroi, said more work was needed and offered a hint that the meeting included some heated exchanges.
"I hope that in our next meeting we will have more creativity and understanding for each other's ideas and more tolerance," Surroi said.
Western diplomats and U.N. officials have expressed frustration that the bickering ethnic Albanian leaders have lagged behind in preparations for the talks.
The negotiating team met for the first time three weeks ago and said it will push for independence in the long-awaited talks to settle the province's final status.
The launch of negotiations on Kosovo's future was approved this week by the U.N. Security Council. They are expected to get underway in November, as soon as an envoy is appointed to lead the process.
The negotiations are sure to be tough. Kosovo, which has been under U.N. administration for the past six years, has formally remained part of Serbia-Montenegro, the union that replaced Yugoslavia.
Ethnic Albanians, who make up 90 percent of Kosovo's 2 million people, want nothing short of full independence. They argue that Serbia has lost the right to govern the province following the war that left an estimated 10,000 ethnic Albanians dead.
Serb leaders, however, insist on keeping at least some formal control over the troubled province -- a place many Serbs consider the heart of their nation.
The United Nations has administered Kosovo since NATO's 1999 air war against Yugoslavia. The NATO bombardment forced former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to end a crackdown on rebel ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and relinquish Serbia's control over the province.
The meeting ended, however, with no apparent agreement on how they would approach the talks.
The team led by Kosovo's ailing president, Ibrahim Rugova, includes the province's prime minister, two opposition leaders and the head of the legislative assembly.
The five leaders hold widely differing views on many issues and have clashed in the past over the direction the negotiating team should take.
Friday's meeting ended with no announcement of a joint position to take into the talks.
One of the participants, opposition politician Veton Surroi, said more work was needed and offered a hint that the meeting included some heated exchanges.
"I hope that in our next meeting we will have more creativity and understanding for each other's ideas and more tolerance," Surroi said.
Western diplomats and U.N. officials have expressed frustration that the bickering ethnic Albanian leaders have lagged behind in preparations for the talks.
The negotiating team met for the first time three weeks ago and said it will push for independence in the long-awaited talks to settle the province's final status.
The launch of negotiations on Kosovo's future was approved this week by the U.N. Security Council. They are expected to get underway in November, as soon as an envoy is appointed to lead the process.
The negotiations are sure to be tough. Kosovo, which has been under U.N. administration for the past six years, has formally remained part of Serbia-Montenegro, the union that replaced Yugoslavia.
Ethnic Albanians, who make up 90 percent of Kosovo's 2 million people, want nothing short of full independence. They argue that Serbia has lost the right to govern the province following the war that left an estimated 10,000 ethnic Albanians dead.
Serb leaders, however, insist on keeping at least some formal control over the troubled province -- a place many Serbs consider the heart of their nation.
The United Nations has administered Kosovo since NATO's 1999 air war against Yugoslavia. The NATO bombardment forced former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to end a crackdown on rebel ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and relinquish Serbia's control over the province.
Kosovo's Nickel Plant Sold For EUR33 Million -Authorities
PRISTINA (AP)--A nickel plant in Kosovo was sold Friday for EUR33 million, authorities said.
Officials from the Kosovo Trust Agency, dealing with privatization in Kosovo, signed a contract with Alferon/IMR, part of Eurasian Natural Resources group, which is among the world's largest private mining and metals groups, a U.N. statement said.
The company has offered a business plan including at least 1,000 jobs and an additional investment of EUR20 million within the first three years, it said.
Feronikeli plant in central Kosovo and was badly damaged during NATO bombing of Serb forces in the disputed province in 1999. It is one of the major plants in the economically depressed province.
Kosovo is the poorest region in the Western Balkans with an annual gross domestic product per capita of around EUR1,000 and a jobless rate of at least 50%, according to European Union data.
The privatization of Feronikeli is the most important sell-off of socially owned enterprises, a term used for enterprises owned by the workers and managers under a system set up under communist-era Yugoslavia.
The process of privatization is complex, in part because it is unclear whether Kosovo will become independent or remain part of Serbia-Montenegro, the successor state of Yugoslavia.
Serbia's authorities have fiercely opposed the process of privatization.
Many of the companies in the province are overwhelmingly inefficient and often dilapidated after years of neglect and ethnic conflict in the province.
Officials from the Kosovo Trust Agency, dealing with privatization in Kosovo, signed a contract with Alferon/IMR, part of Eurasian Natural Resources group, which is among the world's largest private mining and metals groups, a U.N. statement said.
The company has offered a business plan including at least 1,000 jobs and an additional investment of EUR20 million within the first three years, it said.
Feronikeli plant in central Kosovo and was badly damaged during NATO bombing of Serb forces in the disputed province in 1999. It is one of the major plants in the economically depressed province.
Kosovo is the poorest region in the Western Balkans with an annual gross domestic product per capita of around EUR1,000 and a jobless rate of at least 50%, according to European Union data.
The privatization of Feronikeli is the most important sell-off of socially owned enterprises, a term used for enterprises owned by the workers and managers under a system set up under communist-era Yugoslavia.
The process of privatization is complex, in part because it is unclear whether Kosovo will become independent or remain part of Serbia-Montenegro, the successor state of Yugoslavia.
Serbia's authorities have fiercely opposed the process of privatization.
Many of the companies in the province are overwhelmingly inefficient and often dilapidated after years of neglect and ethnic conflict in the province.
Kosovo's Future Discussed At NATO Talks
ROME (AP)--Officials discussed the future of ethnically divided Kosovo at a NATO-sponsored seminar Friday attended by representatives from Serbia-Montenegro and Kosovo, with both sides favoring a plan to decentralize Kosovo's government.
The Rome conference, organized by the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, was focusing on the possibility of giving the province's isolated Serb enclaves local self-rule in areas such as education, health care and economy.
The issue of decentralization was also to be discussed during upcoming U.N.-backed talks on the final status of Kosovo, which has been administered by the U.N. since NATO's 1999 air war against Yugoslavia.
The province's 90% ethnic Albanian majority wants independence, while the Belgrade-backed Serbian minority wants to remain part of Serbia.
The assembly's vice president, Giovanni Lorenzo Forcieri, urged seminar participants to use "fantasy and creative generosity" to go beyond their government's official stances.
Officials from both sides agreed that decentralization was a good idea.
"In an independent Kosovo, Serbs need to feel confident living as Kosovars," said Kosovo's minister for local government, Lutfi Haziri, during a break in the talks. "Decentralization is one of the tools by which they can benefit the most."
Kosovo's government plans to create new municipalities, and once the province's status was resolved residents could "design (the borders) of their municipalities through referendums," he said.
Serbia's government representative for Kosovo, Sanda Raskovic-Ivic, said she supported local autonomy for Serbian enclaves, which would enable "the Serbian community to survive in Kosovo."
She maintained Belgrade's position, however, that Kosovo should officially remain part of Serbian territory.
An estimated 10,000 ethnic Albanians were killed before the 1999 NATO air bombings forced then President Slobodan Milosevic to end a violent crackdown on rebel ethnic Albanians.
After the war, tens of thousands of Serbs fled the province in the face of attacks and threats from ethnic Albanian extremists. An estimated 100,000 Serbs remain out of an initial Serb population of about 250,000.
NATO's commander in Kosovo, Lt. Gen. Giuseppe Valotto, said security conditions in the province are improving.
"I consider the situation very quiet for the moment," Valotto told the conference. But he cautioned that the start of final status negotiations could heighten ethnic tensions. NATO would respond "with determination" to any violence, Valotto said.
There are about 17,500 NATO-led peacekeepers in Kosovo.
The U.N. Security Council this week approved plans for status talks to begin later this year. [ 28-10-05 1654GMT ]
The Rome conference, organized by the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, was focusing on the possibility of giving the province's isolated Serb enclaves local self-rule in areas such as education, health care and economy.
The issue of decentralization was also to be discussed during upcoming U.N.-backed talks on the final status of Kosovo, which has been administered by the U.N. since NATO's 1999 air war against Yugoslavia.
The province's 90% ethnic Albanian majority wants independence, while the Belgrade-backed Serbian minority wants to remain part of Serbia.
The assembly's vice president, Giovanni Lorenzo Forcieri, urged seminar participants to use "fantasy and creative generosity" to go beyond their government's official stances.
Officials from both sides agreed that decentralization was a good idea.
"In an independent Kosovo, Serbs need to feel confident living as Kosovars," said Kosovo's minister for local government, Lutfi Haziri, during a break in the talks. "Decentralization is one of the tools by which they can benefit the most."
Kosovo's government plans to create new municipalities, and once the province's status was resolved residents could "design (the borders) of their municipalities through referendums," he said.
Serbia's government representative for Kosovo, Sanda Raskovic-Ivic, said she supported local autonomy for Serbian enclaves, which would enable "the Serbian community to survive in Kosovo."
She maintained Belgrade's position, however, that Kosovo should officially remain part of Serbian territory.
An estimated 10,000 ethnic Albanians were killed before the 1999 NATO air bombings forced then President Slobodan Milosevic to end a violent crackdown on rebel ethnic Albanians.
After the war, tens of thousands of Serbs fled the province in the face of attacks and threats from ethnic Albanian extremists. An estimated 100,000 Serbs remain out of an initial Serb population of about 250,000.
NATO's commander in Kosovo, Lt. Gen. Giuseppe Valotto, said security conditions in the province are improving.
"I consider the situation very quiet for the moment," Valotto told the conference. But he cautioned that the start of final status negotiations could heighten ethnic tensions. NATO would respond "with determination" to any violence, Valotto said.
There are about 17,500 NATO-led peacekeepers in Kosovo.
The U.N. Security Council this week approved plans for status talks to begin later this year. [ 28-10-05 1654GMT ]
Commentary warns Kosovo partition would lead to disintegration of Macedonia
A Macedonian Albanian commentary says that if Kosovo Serbs attain autonomy in Kosovo, Albanians in Macedonia could also request autonomy, given that their share of the Macedonian population is "three times higher" than the percentage of Serbs in Kosovo. The only option that would prevent Macedonia's disintegration is thus "official recognition of the process of independence of Kosovo", the paper argues. The following is an excerpt from the commentary by Bashkim Muca entitled "Macedonia, balance for unified Kosova" published by the Macedonian Albanian-language newspaper Fakti on 26 October; subheadings as published:
According to a well-established view that has been around for some time, the first thing that would happen in case of the partition of Kosova [Kosovo] would be the disintegration of Macedonia. If we are to believe this implication, then it also follows that the international community, rather than being concerned about a unified Kosova, is trying to preserve the stability and integrity of Macedonia, which could escalate to a major problem (it could become a second Bosnia-Hercegovina) if the whole game were to begin all over again. Ranked by their importance for the developments in Kosova, Macedonia is not far behind Albania and Serbia. But the key issue that puts Macedonia in the first place is that it is the crucial balancing factor for the preservation of a unified Kosova. Even if Albanians were to agree with Serbs on the partition of Kosova, I have the impression that the international community would not allow it, because it believes that there could never be a unified Macedonia without a unified Kosova. The problem of preserving the unity of Kosova is linked to a much more important problem: that of preserving the unity of Macedonia, in which a great deal has been invested.
All "fences"
The option of Kosova's partition, apart from its immediate implications for Macedonia, would create conditions for a new reconfiguration of the Balkans. The fact that this is something that the Serbs want, has made it something that Albanians will always oppose, even though the outcome might not have been so disadvantageous to them even if they had to give up Trepca [mine in northern Kosovo], which is considered a very important resource. Based on the concept of the nation-state, which is still a prevalent concept in the Balkans (it is thought more stable than multiethnic states), Albanian political quarters have often wondered why they have to strive to be governed or share government with others in areas where they make up the majority population. [Passage omitted]
One of the key arguments that the Serbs have been using against the independence of Kosova is that they cannot agree to the formation of two Albanian states in the region. Here, the Albanians would have a ready fallback option which would lead to the disintegration of Macedonia.
Albanians should have worked openly in their decisionmaking offices on the option of partition of Kosova, which would have had Serbian support (Albanians and Serbs cannot be enemies for ever). This option would never enjoy the support of the international community, but it could serve as a form of pressure against it [the international community], given that such plans would enjoy the support of Albanians as well as Serbs. This would persuade the international community of two things: that the partition of Kosova was out of the question and that the Kosova Serbs should not enjoy any autonomy in Kosova (let us remember that this, too, is a Serbian project). I believe that the least that Serbia expects to get is a special status for the northern part of Kosova, thus creating initially a ditch and, later, an imaginary border with the hope of seceding that part in the future, when a favourable moment may arise as a result of internal problems in Kosova. However, the issue of Macedonia would again emerge on the scene.
Most functional option
Given that the Albanians in Macedonia account for a percentage of the overall population that is three times bigger than the percentage that the Serbs account for in Kosova, in accordance with the traditional Balkan mentality autonomy for the Kosova Serbs would lead to a similar demand by the Albanians in Macedonia, thus invalidating the Oher [Ohrid] Agreement. The reasoning is simple: if the Serbs refuse to live as a minority in a common state with Albanians, then Albanians, too, do not have to accept such a thing in Macedonia.
If we are to apply the rule of elimination to find a balanced solution for Kosova, then the conclusion is clear: the option of partition of Kosova is automatically ruled out if we want to preserve the integrity of Macedonia. Second, the option of autonomy for the Kosova Serbs should be counterbalanced with the demand for a different status for the Albanians in Macedonia, which should be much stronger than that of the Kosova Serbs (some kind of republic). In that case, the demands of the Montenegro Albanians for a more favourable status in that country and for a special status for the Presheve [Presevo] Valley Albanians should also be taken into consideration. So this option would have to be ruled out, too. So, it is clear that the only option is a united Kosova. In that case, there are two options: Kosova's return under Serbia, or independence for Kosova. Given that any intermediate solution is hard to imagine - not just for the Kosova citizens but also for the whole of Europe - the last option that has to be ruled out is the return of Kosova under the Serbian protectorate. This means that the only remaining option is the one that takes Europe into Kosova and Kosova into Europe. This is official recognition of the process of independence of Kosova with the support and supervision of the Euro-American factor.
Source: Fakti, Skopje, in Albanian 26 Oct 05 p 4
According to a well-established view that has been around for some time, the first thing that would happen in case of the partition of Kosova [Kosovo] would be the disintegration of Macedonia. If we are to believe this implication, then it also follows that the international community, rather than being concerned about a unified Kosova, is trying to preserve the stability and integrity of Macedonia, which could escalate to a major problem (it could become a second Bosnia-Hercegovina) if the whole game were to begin all over again. Ranked by their importance for the developments in Kosova, Macedonia is not far behind Albania and Serbia. But the key issue that puts Macedonia in the first place is that it is the crucial balancing factor for the preservation of a unified Kosova. Even if Albanians were to agree with Serbs on the partition of Kosova, I have the impression that the international community would not allow it, because it believes that there could never be a unified Macedonia without a unified Kosova. The problem of preserving the unity of Kosova is linked to a much more important problem: that of preserving the unity of Macedonia, in which a great deal has been invested.
All "fences"
The option of Kosova's partition, apart from its immediate implications for Macedonia, would create conditions for a new reconfiguration of the Balkans. The fact that this is something that the Serbs want, has made it something that Albanians will always oppose, even though the outcome might not have been so disadvantageous to them even if they had to give up Trepca [mine in northern Kosovo], which is considered a very important resource. Based on the concept of the nation-state, which is still a prevalent concept in the Balkans (it is thought more stable than multiethnic states), Albanian political quarters have often wondered why they have to strive to be governed or share government with others in areas where they make up the majority population. [Passage omitted]
One of the key arguments that the Serbs have been using against the independence of Kosova is that they cannot agree to the formation of two Albanian states in the region. Here, the Albanians would have a ready fallback option which would lead to the disintegration of Macedonia.
Albanians should have worked openly in their decisionmaking offices on the option of partition of Kosova, which would have had Serbian support (Albanians and Serbs cannot be enemies for ever). This option would never enjoy the support of the international community, but it could serve as a form of pressure against it [the international community], given that such plans would enjoy the support of Albanians as well as Serbs. This would persuade the international community of two things: that the partition of Kosova was out of the question and that the Kosova Serbs should not enjoy any autonomy in Kosova (let us remember that this, too, is a Serbian project). I believe that the least that Serbia expects to get is a special status for the northern part of Kosova, thus creating initially a ditch and, later, an imaginary border with the hope of seceding that part in the future, when a favourable moment may arise as a result of internal problems in Kosova. However, the issue of Macedonia would again emerge on the scene.
Most functional option
Given that the Albanians in Macedonia account for a percentage of the overall population that is three times bigger than the percentage that the Serbs account for in Kosova, in accordance with the traditional Balkan mentality autonomy for the Kosova Serbs would lead to a similar demand by the Albanians in Macedonia, thus invalidating the Oher [Ohrid] Agreement. The reasoning is simple: if the Serbs refuse to live as a minority in a common state with Albanians, then Albanians, too, do not have to accept such a thing in Macedonia.
If we are to apply the rule of elimination to find a balanced solution for Kosova, then the conclusion is clear: the option of partition of Kosova is automatically ruled out if we want to preserve the integrity of Macedonia. Second, the option of autonomy for the Kosova Serbs should be counterbalanced with the demand for a different status for the Albanians in Macedonia, which should be much stronger than that of the Kosova Serbs (some kind of republic). In that case, the demands of the Montenegro Albanians for a more favourable status in that country and for a special status for the Presheve [Presevo] Valley Albanians should also be taken into consideration. So this option would have to be ruled out, too. So, it is clear that the only option is a united Kosova. In that case, there are two options: Kosova's return under Serbia, or independence for Kosova. Given that any intermediate solution is hard to imagine - not just for the Kosova citizens but also for the whole of Europe - the last option that has to be ruled out is the return of Kosova under the Serbian protectorate. This means that the only remaining option is the one that takes Europe into Kosova and Kosova into Europe. This is official recognition of the process of independence of Kosova with the support and supervision of the Euro-American factor.
Source: Fakti, Skopje, in Albanian 26 Oct 05 p 4
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Macedonian Leader Optimistic Serbia, Kosovo Will Agree on Kosovo Independence - VOA
Macedonian Prime Minister Vlado Buckovski, in Washington for talks with President Bush and U.S. officials, says he believes Kosovo and Serbia will reach agreement on conditional independence for the southern Serbian province. Mr. Buckovski spoke during a news conference at VOA's Washington studio.
With the negotiations on Kosovo's future status about to begin, Mr. Buckovski expressed confidence that the leaders of Serbia and its predominantly Albanian province of Kosovo will reach agreement during the course of 2006.
"I'm expecting hard negotiations," he noted. "But from the other side I'm optimistic about the prospects of a compromise between Belgrade and Pristina. I'm expecting that in 2006 Belgrade and Pristina will find a solution on the final status of Kosovo."
Mr. Buckovski has reason to be interested in developments in Kosovo. Macedonia lies on the southern border of the province and his coalition includes an ethnic- Albanian party with close links to ethnic-Albanian leaders in Pristina, capital of Kosovo.
The Macedonian prime minister believes the basis of a compromise lies in Pristina's understanding that the rights of the minority Serbs in the province, as well as their religious shrines, must be protected.
Serbian leaders, he adds, must also understand that failure to negotiate seriously over Kosovo will jeopardize Serbia's goal to eventually join the European Union.
Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica has proposed that Kosovo should have a status somewhere between autonomy and independence. Mr. Buckovski expressed support for that position.
"By my opinion, Kostunica's statement about Kosovo: More than autonomy, less than independence, is a step forward concerning a possible compromise between Belgrade and Pristina," he noted. "And definitely, [in] my opinion, some kind of conditional independence, probably, will be a first step in a possible compromise between Belgrade and Pristina together with the international community."
The Kosovo negotiations are due to start in early November. They will be led by a European diplomat assisted by U.S. and Russian deputies. In 1999, a NATO bombing campaign in support of ethnic Albanians forced a Serbian military withdrawal from the province. Since then, Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations with a NATO-led force providing security.
With the negotiations on Kosovo's future status about to begin, Mr. Buckovski expressed confidence that the leaders of Serbia and its predominantly Albanian province of Kosovo will reach agreement during the course of 2006.
"I'm expecting hard negotiations," he noted. "But from the other side I'm optimistic about the prospects of a compromise between Belgrade and Pristina. I'm expecting that in 2006 Belgrade and Pristina will find a solution on the final status of Kosovo."
Mr. Buckovski has reason to be interested in developments in Kosovo. Macedonia lies on the southern border of the province and his coalition includes an ethnic- Albanian party with close links to ethnic-Albanian leaders in Pristina, capital of Kosovo.
The Macedonian prime minister believes the basis of a compromise lies in Pristina's understanding that the rights of the minority Serbs in the province, as well as their religious shrines, must be protected.
Serbian leaders, he adds, must also understand that failure to negotiate seriously over Kosovo will jeopardize Serbia's goal to eventually join the European Union.
Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica has proposed that Kosovo should have a status somewhere between autonomy and independence. Mr. Buckovski expressed support for that position.
"By my opinion, Kostunica's statement about Kosovo: More than autonomy, less than independence, is a step forward concerning a possible compromise between Belgrade and Pristina," he noted. "And definitely, [in] my opinion, some kind of conditional independence, probably, will be a first step in a possible compromise between Belgrade and Pristina together with the international community."
The Kosovo negotiations are due to start in early November. They will be led by a European diplomat assisted by U.S. and Russian deputies. In 1999, a NATO bombing campaign in support of ethnic Albanians forced a Serbian military withdrawal from the province. Since then, Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations with a NATO-led force providing security.
DJ Serbia Counting On China Veto To Stop Kosovo Independence
BELGRADE, Oct 27, 2005 (DJCS via Comtex) --
Serbia is counting on China's veto in the U.N. Security Council to prevent Kosovo's independence, Serbia-Montenegro's foreign minister said Thursday.
Vuk Draskovic said that after talks with senior Chinese officials in Beijing earlier this week, "I got assurances that Serbia's territorial integrity" will be respected in any negotiated solution for independence-seeking Kosovo.
Monday, the U.N. Security Council decided to launch talks between Serbian and ethnic Albanian officials on Kosovo's future, clearing the way for tough negotiations on the status of the ethnically divided province.
Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders are demanding full independence, while its Serb minority and Belgrade officials want it to remain within Serbia-Montenegro.
Draskovic said that he told senior Chinese officials that Kosovo is Serbia's Taiwan. Although Taiwan is self-governing, Beijing insists the island that broke away amid civil war in 1949 still is part of China.
"I expressed hope that the U.N. Security Council, and China as its permanent member, won't allow that force defeats law," Draskovic said.
"The senior Chinese officials stressed their firm and principal stand that international borders cannot change and that any other solution would violate the U.N. Charter and international law," Draskovic said.
A negotiated solution on Kosovo's final status is expected to go through a vote in the U.N. Security Council. China is one of the Council's five permanent members with veto power over all resolutions considered by the body.
Meanwhile, Sandra Raskovic-Ivic, a Serbian government official charged with Kosovo, said no Serbian official would agree to "any form" of independence for Kosovo during the U.N.-mediated negotiations.
Although Kosovo formally remains part of Serbia, the U.N. has administered the tense province since NATO's 1999 air war against the former Yugoslavia that forced ex-President Slobodan Milosevic to end a violent crackdown on rebel Kosovo Albanians.
Serbia is counting on China's veto in the U.N. Security Council to prevent Kosovo's independence, Serbia-Montenegro's foreign minister said Thursday.
Vuk Draskovic said that after talks with senior Chinese officials in Beijing earlier this week, "I got assurances that Serbia's territorial integrity" will be respected in any negotiated solution for independence-seeking Kosovo.
Monday, the U.N. Security Council decided to launch talks between Serbian and ethnic Albanian officials on Kosovo's future, clearing the way for tough negotiations on the status of the ethnically divided province.
Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders are demanding full independence, while its Serb minority and Belgrade officials want it to remain within Serbia-Montenegro.
Draskovic said that he told senior Chinese officials that Kosovo is Serbia's Taiwan. Although Taiwan is self-governing, Beijing insists the island that broke away amid civil war in 1949 still is part of China.
"I expressed hope that the U.N. Security Council, and China as its permanent member, won't allow that force defeats law," Draskovic said.
"The senior Chinese officials stressed their firm and principal stand that international borders cannot change and that any other solution would violate the U.N. Charter and international law," Draskovic said.
A negotiated solution on Kosovo's final status is expected to go through a vote in the U.N. Security Council. China is one of the Council's five permanent members with veto power over all resolutions considered by the body.
Meanwhile, Sandra Raskovic-Ivic, a Serbian government official charged with Kosovo, said no Serbian official would agree to "any form" of independence for Kosovo during the U.N.-mediated negotiations.
Although Kosovo formally remains part of Serbia, the U.N. has administered the tense province since NATO's 1999 air war against the former Yugoslavia that forced ex-President Slobodan Milosevic to end a violent crackdown on rebel Kosovo Albanians.
International community knows "Kosovo will become independent" - Slovene leader
Text of report in English by Slovene news agency STA
Belgrade, 27 October: My initiative on the future status of Kosovo was not meant as a negotiating platform for Serbia-Montenegro, but as the final solution of the problem, Slovene President Janez Drnovsek commented on his recent proposal on Kosovo for a Belgrade weekly [Vreme].
When Thursday's [27 October] Vreme implied that the talks are out of the question if it is said at the beginning that "Kosovo is a state", the president replied that his proposal, which he presented last week, is not a proposal for negotiations, but a final solution.
Drnovsek feels that he should be the first to back Kosovo as a state, because he believes the truth without pretending ignorance is crucial. "Everyone in the international community knows that Kosovo will become independent," he said.
The president also added that he has not met anyone who would think otherwise. "The politicians in Serbia know that as well, I just do not know whether they have told that to their people," he stressed.
"After a certain period of time ... [ellipsis as published] when the international community establishes that the Albanians and Serbs can live together peacefully in the region, Kosovo will have the conditions to become an independent state," Drnovsek also said in the interview.
The only real dilemma now is the timing, the question how much time should pass until Kosovo becomes a fully independent state, the president feels. Another question is whether this will happen in only a few steps or take several years, he also said.
Vreme published the interview with Drnovsek on six pages in which the Slovene president explained in detail his plan for a Kosovo solution. Drnovsek's views prompted Belgrade into cancelling his official visit to Serbia-Montenegro planned for 2 Nov.
Source: STA news agency, Ljubljana, in English 1105 gmt 27 Oct 05
Belgrade, 27 October: My initiative on the future status of Kosovo was not meant as a negotiating platform for Serbia-Montenegro, but as the final solution of the problem, Slovene President Janez Drnovsek commented on his recent proposal on Kosovo for a Belgrade weekly [Vreme].
When Thursday's [27 October] Vreme implied that the talks are out of the question if it is said at the beginning that "Kosovo is a state", the president replied that his proposal, which he presented last week, is not a proposal for negotiations, but a final solution.
Drnovsek feels that he should be the first to back Kosovo as a state, because he believes the truth without pretending ignorance is crucial. "Everyone in the international community knows that Kosovo will become independent," he said.
The president also added that he has not met anyone who would think otherwise. "The politicians in Serbia know that as well, I just do not know whether they have told that to their people," he stressed.
"After a certain period of time ... [ellipsis as published] when the international community establishes that the Albanians and Serbs can live together peacefully in the region, Kosovo will have the conditions to become an independent state," Drnovsek also said in the interview.
The only real dilemma now is the timing, the question how much time should pass until Kosovo becomes a fully independent state, the president feels. Another question is whether this will happen in only a few steps or take several years, he also said.
Vreme published the interview with Drnovsek on six pages in which the Slovene president explained in detail his plan for a Kosovo solution. Drnovsek's views prompted Belgrade into cancelling his official visit to Serbia-Montenegro planned for 2 Nov.
Source: STA news agency, Ljubljana, in English 1105 gmt 27 Oct 05
Kosovo Puts 15 Companies Up For Privatization
PRISTINA (AP)--Kosovo's largest cigarette producer, a construction company, restaurants and a hotel were among 15 firms put up for sale Thursday in hopes of boosting the economy in the disputed province.
The Kosovo Trust Agency launched the 10th round of privatization in an effort to sell the companies, which were once owned by their workers and managers under a system set up during communist-era Yugoslavia. The privatization agency is hoping 22 new companies will be created when the sales are complete.
The agency advertised the companies put up for sale on its Web site.
Privatization is among the most sensitive issues in Kosovo, which was placed under U.N. administration in 1999 following NATO air strikes that ended a Serb crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians.
The process of privatization in Kosovo is complex in part because it is unclear whether Kosovo will become independent or remain part of Serbia- Montenegro, the successor state of Yugoslavia. Serbia's authorities have fiercely opposed the privatizations.
The Kosovo Trust Agency, the U.N. entity responsible for privatizing the enterprises and putting them on solid legal footing, wants private entrepreneurs to assume the risk of modernizing the industries.
The companies are considered inefficient and dilapidated after years of neglect.
The Kosovo Trust Agency launched the 10th round of privatization in an effort to sell the companies, which were once owned by their workers and managers under a system set up during communist-era Yugoslavia. The privatization agency is hoping 22 new companies will be created when the sales are complete.
The agency advertised the companies put up for sale on its Web site.
Privatization is among the most sensitive issues in Kosovo, which was placed under U.N. administration in 1999 following NATO air strikes that ended a Serb crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians.
The process of privatization in Kosovo is complex in part because it is unclear whether Kosovo will become independent or remain part of Serbia- Montenegro, the successor state of Yugoslavia. Serbia's authorities have fiercely opposed the privatizations.
The Kosovo Trust Agency, the U.N. entity responsible for privatizing the enterprises and putting them on solid legal footing, wants private entrepreneurs to assume the risk of modernizing the industries.
The companies are considered inefficient and dilapidated after years of neglect.
Bush gets it right about independence for Kosovo - The Toronto Star
HAROON SIDDIQUI
The world is still cleaning up the stains of Slobodan Milosevic's bloody ethnic cleansing. On Monday, the Security Council gave the green light to Kosovo, a United Nations protectorate since 1999, to begin negotiating an end to the legal fiction that it is still a province of Serbia and Montenegro, the successor state of the former Yugoslavia.
Separately, the United States said that it is ready to tackle the lingering problems of Bosnia as well.
It will discover along the way that Montenegro, too, wants to secede from Serbia — just as Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia had earlier.
America is well suited to attend to all this unfinished business of the 1990s.
Unlike elsewhere in the world, its credibility is high in the Balkans. After being late in reacting to Serbian atrocities, it brokered the 1995 Dayton Accord on Bosnia, and then led the NATO bombing campaign that drove the Serbs out of Kosovo. Americans now constitute a tenth of the peacekeeping force of 17,000 there.
George W. Bush is keen to help the Kosovars. They were among the first Muslims to support his war on Iraq, thinking of Saddam Hussein as an Arab version of Milosevic. And Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova is among the few genuine Muslim democrats in Bush's diplomatic arsenal.
I once asked Rugova what his vision for Kosovo was. "Not Islamic nor even Muslim," he said. "Our criterion is simply secular democracy and moderate politics."
This is music to American ears.
Nicholas Burns, U.S. undersecretary of state, recently met Rugova in Pristina and said the Kosovars "are not going to tolerate another five years of not knowing who they are, what country they live in and what their future is."
Translation: It's time to end the Serb veto over Kosovo.
A surprised Serb Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica told the Security Council he finds it "inconceivable" that Serbia would be forced to shrink its borders yet again.
But Serb nationalists — and their backers in the Orthodox Church as well as in Russia — have little choice. If Serbia is to atone for its murderous past and fulfill its hope of joining the European Union and normalizing its relations with the United States, Belgrade needs to act on two fronts: help capture Bosnian-Serb war criminals Radovan Karadzic and his military commander Gen. Ratko Mladic, who have been allowed to elude arrest in an area about the size of Greater Toronto; negotiate the independence of Kosovo, after getting guarantees for the 100,000 Serb minority living among the 2 million ethnic Albanian Kosovars.
Rugova is right to reject the option of handing over Kosovo's Serb enclaves to Serbia. Or having the Kosovars join their ethnic cousins in neighbouring Albania.
"I oppose any change in the borders," he had told me. "We've had enough conflict over territory."
This is sensible. Ethnic minorities are so interspersed across the region that no tinkering with the borders can create ethnically pure states, not that we would want them anyway.
In neighbouring Macedonia, for example, it is the ethnic Albanians who are a minority and need state protection there.
In Bosnia, moves are afoot to end the ethnic silos of Croats, Muslims and Serbs. Under pressure from the European Union, an inter-ethnic police force is being created.
And Washington is working to replace the tripartite presidency (each group has its own president) with one head of state.
Kosovo also has a chance to lead the way in protecting its smaller minority of Roma, whose mistreatment across Eastern Europe remains a scandal.
Kosovo's biggest challenge is economic, dating back to the discrimination that had made it Yugoslavia's poorest part.
For the last six years, it has been sustained by the $1.3 billion a year international aid, plus the nearly $400 million a year sent by the 200,000 Kosovar diaspora (mostly in Germany and Switzerland, and about 30,000 in the United States).
The World Bank estimates that about 37 per cent of Kosovars live on $1.75 a day. More than 40 per cent are unemployed. This has proven a boon to organized crime.
"You cannot have a stable economy with an unstable political situation," Skender Hyseni, chief political adviser to Rugova, told me over the phone from Pristina. "The only viable and sustainable solution is independence."
Anything less would neither work nor be just.
Haroon Siddiqui is the Star's editorial page editor emeritus. His column appears Thursday and Sunday.
The world is still cleaning up the stains of Slobodan Milosevic's bloody ethnic cleansing. On Monday, the Security Council gave the green light to Kosovo, a United Nations protectorate since 1999, to begin negotiating an end to the legal fiction that it is still a province of Serbia and Montenegro, the successor state of the former Yugoslavia.
Separately, the United States said that it is ready to tackle the lingering problems of Bosnia as well.
It will discover along the way that Montenegro, too, wants to secede from Serbia — just as Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia had earlier.
America is well suited to attend to all this unfinished business of the 1990s.
Unlike elsewhere in the world, its credibility is high in the Balkans. After being late in reacting to Serbian atrocities, it brokered the 1995 Dayton Accord on Bosnia, and then led the NATO bombing campaign that drove the Serbs out of Kosovo. Americans now constitute a tenth of the peacekeeping force of 17,000 there.
George W. Bush is keen to help the Kosovars. They were among the first Muslims to support his war on Iraq, thinking of Saddam Hussein as an Arab version of Milosevic. And Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova is among the few genuine Muslim democrats in Bush's diplomatic arsenal.
I once asked Rugova what his vision for Kosovo was. "Not Islamic nor even Muslim," he said. "Our criterion is simply secular democracy and moderate politics."
This is music to American ears.
Nicholas Burns, U.S. undersecretary of state, recently met Rugova in Pristina and said the Kosovars "are not going to tolerate another five years of not knowing who they are, what country they live in and what their future is."
Translation: It's time to end the Serb veto over Kosovo.
A surprised Serb Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica told the Security Council he finds it "inconceivable" that Serbia would be forced to shrink its borders yet again.
But Serb nationalists — and their backers in the Orthodox Church as well as in Russia — have little choice. If Serbia is to atone for its murderous past and fulfill its hope of joining the European Union and normalizing its relations with the United States, Belgrade needs to act on two fronts: help capture Bosnian-Serb war criminals Radovan Karadzic and his military commander Gen. Ratko Mladic, who have been allowed to elude arrest in an area about the size of Greater Toronto; negotiate the independence of Kosovo, after getting guarantees for the 100,000 Serb minority living among the 2 million ethnic Albanian Kosovars.
Rugova is right to reject the option of handing over Kosovo's Serb enclaves to Serbia. Or having the Kosovars join their ethnic cousins in neighbouring Albania.
"I oppose any change in the borders," he had told me. "We've had enough conflict over territory."
This is sensible. Ethnic minorities are so interspersed across the region that no tinkering with the borders can create ethnically pure states, not that we would want them anyway.
In neighbouring Macedonia, for example, it is the ethnic Albanians who are a minority and need state protection there.
In Bosnia, moves are afoot to end the ethnic silos of Croats, Muslims and Serbs. Under pressure from the European Union, an inter-ethnic police force is being created.
And Washington is working to replace the tripartite presidency (each group has its own president) with one head of state.
Kosovo also has a chance to lead the way in protecting its smaller minority of Roma, whose mistreatment across Eastern Europe remains a scandal.
Kosovo's biggest challenge is economic, dating back to the discrimination that had made it Yugoslavia's poorest part.
For the last six years, it has been sustained by the $1.3 billion a year international aid, plus the nearly $400 million a year sent by the 200,000 Kosovar diaspora (mostly in Germany and Switzerland, and about 30,000 in the United States).
The World Bank estimates that about 37 per cent of Kosovars live on $1.75 a day. More than 40 per cent are unemployed. This has proven a boon to organized crime.
"You cannot have a stable economy with an unstable political situation," Skender Hyseni, chief political adviser to Rugova, told me over the phone from Pristina. "The only viable and sustainable solution is independence."
Anything less would neither work nor be just.
Haroon Siddiqui is the Star's editorial page editor emeritus. His column appears Thursday and Sunday.
Kosovo, Still Messy After All These Years - The New York Times
Six years and four months after it made Kosovo a ward, the United Nations Security Council has ordered that talks begin on the future status of that blood-soaked Balkan province. This is to give the impression that the outcome is not decided. It is, and it's independence. The six nations that oversee Kosovo - the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia - have ruled out returning it to Serbia, linking it to Albania or partitioning it. So the task of Martti Ahtisaari, the former Finnish president who will lead the talks, is to carve yet another independent state out of the former Yugoslavia.
We have argued that Kosovo is neither prepared for nor deserving of independence. Its Albanian majority has shown no tolerance toward the Serbian minority and little capacity for self-government. Kosovo has no army, only a fledgling police force and powerful mafias. The only Albanian leader with any semblance of authority, Ibrahim Rugova, has lung cancer. His most likely successor, Ramush Haradinaj, was indicted by the international tribunal in The Hague and surrendered.
The Serbs will not voluntarily cede this territory, and Albanian rioting in March 2004, which destroyed 30 of the many ancient Serb churches in Kosovo, does not give the Serbs great confidence in an independent Kosovo. The Albanians have no faith that the Serbs would not revert to ethnic cleansing if they had the chance. These two groups are never going to agree.
So why is the United Nations moving ahead? The current arrangement requires Kosovo to demonstrate responsible self-rule before talks even begin on its ultimate status. That has proved an artificial and unworkable goal. The U.N. viceroy in Kosovo, Soren Jessen-Petersen, says it has created uncertainty on all sides and kept foreign investors out.
So the time has come to recognize the inevitable outcome, independence for Kosovo. But the Security Council can still insist on the attainment of democratic standards before granting it. That could force the Serbs to come to grips with having lost Kosovo in 1999. The Albanian Kosovars are more likely to demonstrate leadership if they are told that they are working toward independence, not merely toward talking about working toward independence.
The Security Council would be foolish to use the Ahtisaari mission to extract itself from a bad situation as soon as possible. Even with the best of intentions, an independent Kosovo will require international forces and strong oversight for a long time. In the Balkans, the default mode is violence.
Next Article in Opinion (6 of 7) >
We have argued that Kosovo is neither prepared for nor deserving of independence. Its Albanian majority has shown no tolerance toward the Serbian minority and little capacity for self-government. Kosovo has no army, only a fledgling police force and powerful mafias. The only Albanian leader with any semblance of authority, Ibrahim Rugova, has lung cancer. His most likely successor, Ramush Haradinaj, was indicted by the international tribunal in The Hague and surrendered.
The Serbs will not voluntarily cede this territory, and Albanian rioting in March 2004, which destroyed 30 of the many ancient Serb churches in Kosovo, does not give the Serbs great confidence in an independent Kosovo. The Albanians have no faith that the Serbs would not revert to ethnic cleansing if they had the chance. These two groups are never going to agree.
So why is the United Nations moving ahead? The current arrangement requires Kosovo to demonstrate responsible self-rule before talks even begin on its ultimate status. That has proved an artificial and unworkable goal. The U.N. viceroy in Kosovo, Soren Jessen-Petersen, says it has created uncertainty on all sides and kept foreign investors out.
So the time has come to recognize the inevitable outcome, independence for Kosovo. But the Security Council can still insist on the attainment of democratic standards before granting it. That could force the Serbs to come to grips with having lost Kosovo in 1999. The Albanian Kosovars are more likely to demonstrate leadership if they are told that they are working toward independence, not merely toward talking about working toward independence.
The Security Council would be foolish to use the Ahtisaari mission to extract itself from a bad situation as soon as possible. Even with the best of intentions, an independent Kosovo will require international forces and strong oversight for a long time. In the Balkans, the default mode is violence.
Next Article in Opinion (6 of 7) >
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Gunmen fire on Kosovo Serb police car, no injuries
PRISTINA, Serbia and Montenegro, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Gunmen opened fire on a vehicle carrying four Kosovo Serb police officers on Wednesday in the latest such attack in a southern pocket of the United Nations-run province, police sources said.
No one was injured in the night-time shooting near the town of Kacanik, just north of the border with Macedonia.
It was the third attack in the area targeting Serb members of the police force in the past two months, raising fears of an organised campaign of violence as the majority Albanian province enters negotiations on its future.
"The car was hit but no one was injured," a police source told Reuters. "There were three male Serb officers and one female in the car," he said.
There are several hundred Serbs within Kosovo's 7,000-strong police service, which is supervised by a U.N. police force.
Legally part of Serbia, Kosovo has been run by the United Nations since 1999, when NATO bombing drove out Serbian forces accused of killing 10,000 Albanian civilians and expelling 800,000 more in a war against separatist guerrillas.
The U.N. Security Council launched negotiations on Monday on its "final status". Kosovo's 2 million ethnic Albanians, 90 percent of the population, demand independence, something Serbia and the 100,000 Serbs in the province reject.
U.N. officials and members of the NATO-led peace force in Kosovo have warned of an upsurge in violence as the province enters talks, viewed with bitterness by many Albanians who resent the prospect of negotiating with Belgrade.
No one was injured in the night-time shooting near the town of Kacanik, just north of the border with Macedonia.
It was the third attack in the area targeting Serb members of the police force in the past two months, raising fears of an organised campaign of violence as the majority Albanian province enters negotiations on its future.
"The car was hit but no one was injured," a police source told Reuters. "There were three male Serb officers and one female in the car," he said.
There are several hundred Serbs within Kosovo's 7,000-strong police service, which is supervised by a U.N. police force.
Legally part of Serbia, Kosovo has been run by the United Nations since 1999, when NATO bombing drove out Serbian forces accused of killing 10,000 Albanian civilians and expelling 800,000 more in a war against separatist guerrillas.
The U.N. Security Council launched negotiations on Monday on its "final status". Kosovo's 2 million ethnic Albanians, 90 percent of the population, demand independence, something Serbia and the 100,000 Serbs in the province reject.
U.N. officials and members of the NATO-led peace force in Kosovo have warned of an upsurge in violence as the province enters talks, viewed with bitterness by many Albanians who resent the prospect of negotiating with Belgrade.
Serb police held for killing 48 members of one family in Kosovo
By Vesna Peric Zimonjic in Belgrade
Published: 27 October 2005
Nine Serbian policemen have been arrested for killing 48 ethnic Albanian civilians in 1999 in the town of Suva Reka in Kosovo.
The bodies of the victims, all members of one family, were found in a mass grave at the police compound of Batajnica near the Serbian capital, Belgrade, in 2001. The grave contained the remains of more than 1,000 bodies of ethnic Albanians.
"As far as we know, 48 people were killed in Suva Reka," a spokesman for the war crimes prosecution office, Bruno Vekaric, said. "Fourteen were below the age of 15, one was a pregnant woman aged 24 and one was a very old woman," he added.
The killings of members of the Berisha family happened on 26 March 1999, in a pizzeria in Suva Reka, two days after Nato air raids against Serbia began.
According to the testimony of a survivor, Vjollca Berisha, Serb policemen rounded up people there, allegedly searching for weapons. Then they fired into the crowd with automatic rifles.
Mrs Berisha's two children, aged seven months and two years, died in the massacre. She and her remaining son survived, pretending to be dead.
The arrests of the nine policemen yesterday are the first since the gruesome discovery of the remains more than 180 miles (300km) from Kosovo.
The executions of possibly around 10,000 ethnic Albanian civilians, the transporting of bodies and clandestine burials in Serbia in 1999 was one of the best-kept secrets of the regime of the former leader Slobodan Milosevic. Freezer trucks were used in the operations, aimed at covering up the atrocities against non-Serbs in the rebellious southern province.
Milosevic loyalists have hampered judicial efforts to deal with war crimes. This was confirmed by the fact that six of those detained were on active duty until their arrest.
Published: 27 October 2005
Nine Serbian policemen have been arrested for killing 48 ethnic Albanian civilians in 1999 in the town of Suva Reka in Kosovo.
The bodies of the victims, all members of one family, were found in a mass grave at the police compound of Batajnica near the Serbian capital, Belgrade, in 2001. The grave contained the remains of more than 1,000 bodies of ethnic Albanians.
"As far as we know, 48 people were killed in Suva Reka," a spokesman for the war crimes prosecution office, Bruno Vekaric, said. "Fourteen were below the age of 15, one was a pregnant woman aged 24 and one was a very old woman," he added.
The killings of members of the Berisha family happened on 26 March 1999, in a pizzeria in Suva Reka, two days after Nato air raids against Serbia began.
According to the testimony of a survivor, Vjollca Berisha, Serb policemen rounded up people there, allegedly searching for weapons. Then they fired into the crowd with automatic rifles.
Mrs Berisha's two children, aged seven months and two years, died in the massacre. She and her remaining son survived, pretending to be dead.
The arrests of the nine policemen yesterday are the first since the gruesome discovery of the remains more than 180 miles (300km) from Kosovo.
The executions of possibly around 10,000 ethnic Albanian civilians, the transporting of bodies and clandestine burials in Serbia in 1999 was one of the best-kept secrets of the regime of the former leader Slobodan Milosevic. Freezer trucks were used in the operations, aimed at covering up the atrocities against non-Serbs in the rebellious southern province.
Milosevic loyalists have hampered judicial efforts to deal with war crimes. This was confirmed by the fact that six of those detained were on active duty until their arrest.
Bush Praises Macedonia's Implementation of Peace Agreement
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT BUSH
AND MACEDONIAN PRIME MINISTER BUCKOVSKI
IN PHOTO OPPORTUNITY
The Oval Office
2:46 P.M. EDT
PRESIDENT BUSH: It's been my honor to welcome the Prime Minister of Macedonia to the Oval Office. Prime Minister, I am grateful for your friendship. I am grateful for the strong support that you have given in our efforts to win the war on terror. You've been a steadfast ally, and the American people are grateful. I also appreciate the fact that you have committed troops alongside our troops, in some of the world's newest democracies, in Afghanistan and Iraq. I want to thank you for that, as well.
I also appreciate the progress you've made in implementing the Ohrid Agreement. You've showed the world that it's possible for people of different backgrounds to live together in peace. I want to thank you for your leadership. I also compliment you on the progress you've made toward implementing the reforms necessary for consideration in NATO and the EU. I know this is a big concern to you. I want to thank you for sharing your thoughts with me about your country's desire to join NATO and your aspirations for the EU. I appreciate that very much. Thank you for your confidence.
All in all, I'm impressed by your leadership, and welcome you to the Oval Office.
PRIME MINISTER BUCKOVSKI: Thank you, Mr. President. I feel be here in the White House with President Bush and the historic 10th anniversary of the U.S.-Macedonian bilateral relations, which I must say, have never been closer. We have agreed that today Macedonia is a success story in building a stable, multiethnic democracy in the Balkans.
I thanked President Bush for the continued U.S. support of our democracy -- specifically for the U.S. role in the implementation of the Ohrid framework agreement, and to also express the gratitude of the people of Macedonian for U.S. recognition of our constitutional name, Republic of Macedonia.
And I told the President that we are proud to have our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that we intend to stay there as long as it is needed. We highly appreciate the leadership of President Bush and advancing freedom and democracy throughout the world. We have both emphasized the importance of Macedonia's NATO integration and EU candidacy in cementing our progress and helping the region make the final step on the path of the Europe.
And finally, I told President Bush that Macedonia will continue to play a positive and constructive role in the Balkans, especially now, when Belgrade and Pristina, together, lead the international community, will start negotiation about eventual permanent status of Kosovo.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you. Appreciate you.
AND MACEDONIAN PRIME MINISTER BUCKOVSKI
IN PHOTO OPPORTUNITY
The Oval Office
2:46 P.M. EDT
PRESIDENT BUSH: It's been my honor to welcome the Prime Minister of Macedonia to the Oval Office. Prime Minister, I am grateful for your friendship. I am grateful for the strong support that you have given in our efforts to win the war on terror. You've been a steadfast ally, and the American people are grateful. I also appreciate the fact that you have committed troops alongside our troops, in some of the world's newest democracies, in Afghanistan and Iraq. I want to thank you for that, as well.
I also appreciate the progress you've made in implementing the Ohrid Agreement. You've showed the world that it's possible for people of different backgrounds to live together in peace. I want to thank you for your leadership. I also compliment you on the progress you've made toward implementing the reforms necessary for consideration in NATO and the EU. I know this is a big concern to you. I want to thank you for sharing your thoughts with me about your country's desire to join NATO and your aspirations for the EU. I appreciate that very much. Thank you for your confidence.
All in all, I'm impressed by your leadership, and welcome you to the Oval Office.
PRIME MINISTER BUCKOVSKI: Thank you, Mr. President. I feel be here in the White House with President Bush and the historic 10th anniversary of the U.S.-Macedonian bilateral relations, which I must say, have never been closer. We have agreed that today Macedonia is a success story in building a stable, multiethnic democracy in the Balkans.
I thanked President Bush for the continued U.S. support of our democracy -- specifically for the U.S. role in the implementation of the Ohrid framework agreement, and to also express the gratitude of the people of Macedonian for U.S. recognition of our constitutional name, Republic of Macedonia.
And I told the President that we are proud to have our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that we intend to stay there as long as it is needed. We highly appreciate the leadership of President Bush and advancing freedom and democracy throughout the world. We have both emphasized the importance of Macedonia's NATO integration and EU candidacy in cementing our progress and helping the region make the final step on the path of the Europe.
And finally, I told President Bush that Macedonia will continue to play a positive and constructive role in the Balkans, especially now, when Belgrade and Pristina, together, lead the international community, will start negotiation about eventual permanent status of Kosovo.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you. Appreciate you.
10 Bangladeshis seek asylum in Kosovo
Thirteen people from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan are seeking asylum in the UN protectorate of Kosovo, the UN refugee agency said yesterday.
"Ten people from Bangladesh, two from India and one from Pakistan arrived on a flight from Istanbul on Monday. They have sought asylum in Kosovo," said Shpend Halili, a spokesman for the UNHCR in Kosovo.
"It is an unusual case and a new experience for Kosovo," which has no system for dealing with such cases, Halili told AFP.
The United Nations and NATO have run Kosovo since a conflict between Serbian forces and ethnic Albanian separatists was brought to an end by NATO in June 1999. Legally, the province remains a part of Serbia.
"If we define them as refugees according to our mandate, the UN mission (UNMIK) and the government would have to take the case over because it is their responsibility to look after people who come to Kosovo seeking sanctuary," said Halili.
On Monday the UN Security Council approved talks on resolving Kosovo's future status.
Ethnic Albanians, who outnumber Serbs and other minorities in the province by more than nine to one, are seeking nothing short of independence from Serbia, which Belgrade firmly opposes.
"Ten people from Bangladesh, two from India and one from Pakistan arrived on a flight from Istanbul on Monday. They have sought asylum in Kosovo," said Shpend Halili, a spokesman for the UNHCR in Kosovo.
"It is an unusual case and a new experience for Kosovo," which has no system for dealing with such cases, Halili told AFP.
The United Nations and NATO have run Kosovo since a conflict between Serbian forces and ethnic Albanian separatists was brought to an end by NATO in June 1999. Legally, the province remains a part of Serbia.
"If we define them as refugees according to our mandate, the UN mission (UNMIK) and the government would have to take the case over because it is their responsibility to look after people who come to Kosovo seeking sanctuary," said Halili.
On Monday the UN Security Council approved talks on resolving Kosovo's future status.
Ethnic Albanians, who outnumber Serbs and other minorities in the province by more than nine to one, are seeking nothing short of independence from Serbia, which Belgrade firmly opposes.
Status for Kosovo - The International Herald Tribune
International Herald Tribune
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2005
Soren Jessen-Petersen's comments on Kosovo ("For Kosovo, only one way forward," Views, Oct. 24) are both coherent and kind. The legal limbo, of course, was never sustainable, but its long life has become institutionalized in the public life of Kosovo.
Success on final status talks now depends on whether the peoples of Kosovo, through their leaders, create the final architecture. The international community has not, in that society at least, favored local ownership and empowerment, but must now accept these principles and allow them to be implemented if final status talks are to have any hope of success.
This will depend primarily, although not exclusively, on the dialogue between the Albanians and Serbs of Kosovo. There is no doubt that they can do it - critical elements of their leadership want to make it work - if we support them rather than lead them. Those of us who have lived and worked in Kosovo know the strength, courage and deep intelligence that is everywhere in that land. Our thoughts and hopes will be there as the process unfolds.
Carolyn McCool, Vancouver Former director of the OSCE mission in Kosovo, 1999-2002
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2005
Soren Jessen-Petersen's comments on Kosovo ("For Kosovo, only one way forward," Views, Oct. 24) are both coherent and kind. The legal limbo, of course, was never sustainable, but its long life has become institutionalized in the public life of Kosovo.
Success on final status talks now depends on whether the peoples of Kosovo, through their leaders, create the final architecture. The international community has not, in that society at least, favored local ownership and empowerment, but must now accept these principles and allow them to be implemented if final status talks are to have any hope of success.
This will depend primarily, although not exclusively, on the dialogue between the Albanians and Serbs of Kosovo. There is no doubt that they can do it - critical elements of their leadership want to make it work - if we support them rather than lead them. Those of us who have lived and worked in Kosovo know the strength, courage and deep intelligence that is everywhere in that land. Our thoughts and hopes will be there as the process unfolds.
Carolyn McCool, Vancouver Former director of the OSCE mission in Kosovo, 1999-2002
Nine suspects detained in Serbia in connection with Kosovo massacre
BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) - Serbian police detained nine people Wednesday on suspicion of taking part in a 1999 massacre of four dozen ethnic Albanians in southwestern Kosovo, prosecutors said.
The suspects, including six Serbian policemen, appeared before an investigative judge and prosecutors asked for a month's detention pending formal charges, said Snezana Malovic of Serbia's war crimes prosecutors office. Malovic did not identify the suspects.
The detentions marked a watershed since Serbs who fought ethnic Albanians in Kosovo are still revered by many as war heroes.
But pressure from human rights groups prompted Belgrade to launch an investigation, both in Serbia and Kosovo, to determine who is to blame. Over 60 witnesses, including ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, have been questioned in the investigation.
The 48 victims of the Suva Reka massacre -- among them 14 children, two babies, a pregnant woman and a 100-year-old woman -- were among hundreds of ethnic Albanians killed during the war in Kosovo whose bodies were later transported to Serbia.
They were dumped in mass graves near a high security police facility at Batajnica outside Belgrade, the Serbian capital. Autopsies showed the victims were executed.
The massacre is the first war crimes case in Serbia related to the mass graves discovered after Slobodan Milosevic's ouster. The victims' identities were established through DNA analysis and their remains have since been returned to families in Kosovo.
The United Nations has administered Kosovo since NATO's 1999 air war against Yugoslavia that forced Milosevic to end a crackdown on rebel ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.
An estimated 835 ethnic Albanians, many of them women and children, were buried in three mass graves in central Serbia during the war.
Pro-Western Serbian authorities revealed the locations of mass graves, including Batajnica, in 2001 -- the year Milosevic was handed over to the U.N. war crimes court at The Hague, Netherlands.
Hundreds of bodies have since been unearthed and returned to families in Kosovo.
The suspects, including six Serbian policemen, appeared before an investigative judge and prosecutors asked for a month's detention pending formal charges, said Snezana Malovic of Serbia's war crimes prosecutors office. Malovic did not identify the suspects.
The detentions marked a watershed since Serbs who fought ethnic Albanians in Kosovo are still revered by many as war heroes.
But pressure from human rights groups prompted Belgrade to launch an investigation, both in Serbia and Kosovo, to determine who is to blame. Over 60 witnesses, including ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, have been questioned in the investigation.
The 48 victims of the Suva Reka massacre -- among them 14 children, two babies, a pregnant woman and a 100-year-old woman -- were among hundreds of ethnic Albanians killed during the war in Kosovo whose bodies were later transported to Serbia.
They were dumped in mass graves near a high security police facility at Batajnica outside Belgrade, the Serbian capital. Autopsies showed the victims were executed.
The massacre is the first war crimes case in Serbia related to the mass graves discovered after Slobodan Milosevic's ouster. The victims' identities were established through DNA analysis and their remains have since been returned to families in Kosovo.
The United Nations has administered Kosovo since NATO's 1999 air war against Yugoslavia that forced Milosevic to end a crackdown on rebel ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.
An estimated 835 ethnic Albanians, many of them women and children, were buried in three mass graves in central Serbia during the war.
Pro-Western Serbian authorities revealed the locations of mass graves, including Batajnica, in 2001 -- the year Milosevic was handed over to the U.N. war crimes court at The Hague, Netherlands.
Hundreds of bodies have since been unearthed and returned to families in Kosovo.
Serbians arrested over wartime massacre in Kosovo
SARAJEVO, Oct 26 (AFP) -
Nine people including six acting Serbian policemen have been arrested on suspicion of killing 48 ethnic Albanian civilians in the 1998-1999 Kosovo conflict, a spokesman for Serbia's war crimes prosecutor said here Wednesday.
"The nine are suspected of having taken part in the murders of 48 civilians including four babies, 10 children, a pregnant woman and an 100-year-old woman," Bruno Vekaric told AFP.
The atrocities had taken place in the small town of Suva Reka, about 60 kilometers (36 miles) southwest of Kosovo's main city of Pristina, said Vekaric.
The remains of the victims were found in a mass grave in Batajnica, a suburb of the Serbian capital Belgrade, Vekaric said, adding the nine were questioned by a magistrate and that the prosecution demanded they be kept in custody.
The arrests are the first of acting Serbian policemen for their possible role in war crimes committed during the Kosovo conflict, which claimed an estimated 10,000 lives.
The remains of some 800 ethnic Albanians killed during the war were found in mass graves across Serbia after the collapse of the regime of former president Slobodan Milosevic in October 2000.
Three mass graves have since been found in Serbia including the one at the secret police training camp in Batajnica, which was discovered in 2001.
The remains of 834 ethnic Albanians have been exhumed from the sites, according to legal authorities in Belgrade. Some 635 of them have been identified and delivered to their families in Kosovo.
Kosovo, which is a province of Serbia, has been under UN protection since a NATO bombing campaign forced Serbian forces to withdraw in 1999 and end a crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatists.
Milosevic is on trial at the UN war crimes court at The Hague for his alleged role in atrocities during the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s.
Nine people including six acting Serbian policemen have been arrested on suspicion of killing 48 ethnic Albanian civilians in the 1998-1999 Kosovo conflict, a spokesman for Serbia's war crimes prosecutor said here Wednesday.
"The nine are suspected of having taken part in the murders of 48 civilians including four babies, 10 children, a pregnant woman and an 100-year-old woman," Bruno Vekaric told AFP.
The atrocities had taken place in the small town of Suva Reka, about 60 kilometers (36 miles) southwest of Kosovo's main city of Pristina, said Vekaric.
The remains of the victims were found in a mass grave in Batajnica, a suburb of the Serbian capital Belgrade, Vekaric said, adding the nine were questioned by a magistrate and that the prosecution demanded they be kept in custody.
The arrests are the first of acting Serbian policemen for their possible role in war crimes committed during the Kosovo conflict, which claimed an estimated 10,000 lives.
The remains of some 800 ethnic Albanians killed during the war were found in mass graves across Serbia after the collapse of the regime of former president Slobodan Milosevic in October 2000.
Three mass graves have since been found in Serbia including the one at the secret police training camp in Batajnica, which was discovered in 2001.
The remains of 834 ethnic Albanians have been exhumed from the sites, according to legal authorities in Belgrade. Some 635 of them have been identified and delivered to their families in Kosovo.
Kosovo, which is a province of Serbia, has been under UN protection since a NATO bombing campaign forced Serbian forces to withdraw in 1999 and end a crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatists.
Milosevic is on trial at the UN war crimes court at The Hague for his alleged role in atrocities during the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s.
Kosovo president tells EU envoy direct recognition of independence "best solution"
Text of report in English by independent internet news agency KosovaLive
Prishtina [Pristina], 26 October: President Ibrahim Rugova reiterated during a meeting with [Javier] Solana's special envoy to Kosova [Kosovo], Fernando Gentilini, that direct recognition of independence is the best solution for Kosova.
"However the institutions of Kosova are ready for resolving of Kosova's status, for achieving independence through international roadmap, namely through possible talks," Rugova said.
The meeting was focused on the recent developments in Kosova and on the work of Kosova institutions and international community after the UNSC decision for beginning of status talks. Both Rugova and Gentilini evaluated this event as a very important moment for Kosova.
Gentilini has appreciated the work of the president and the appointment of the negotiation team. "European Union is also making it own preparations for this issue," Gentilini said.
Source: KosovaLive website, Pristina, in English 26 Oct 05
Prishtina [Pristina], 26 October: President Ibrahim Rugova reiterated during a meeting with [Javier] Solana's special envoy to Kosova [Kosovo], Fernando Gentilini, that direct recognition of independence is the best solution for Kosova.
"However the institutions of Kosova are ready for resolving of Kosova's status, for achieving independence through international roadmap, namely through possible talks," Rugova said.
The meeting was focused on the recent developments in Kosova and on the work of Kosova institutions and international community after the UNSC decision for beginning of status talks. Both Rugova and Gentilini evaluated this event as a very important moment for Kosova.
Gentilini has appreciated the work of the president and the appointment of the negotiation team. "European Union is also making it own preparations for this issue," Gentilini said.
Source: KosovaLive website, Pristina, in English 26 Oct 05
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
NATO's top military brass in Kosovo as talks on its future announced
PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) - NATO's highest military body was arriving Tuesday in Kosovo, after the United Nations said talks on the disputed province's status could begin as early as next month.
NATO's Military Committee -- made of the permanent representatives of the 26 member nations -- will meet the top military officials in Kosovo for two days, while the alliance also considers its own future role in the province.
Lt. Gen. Giuseppe Valotto, the commander of NATO's peacekeeping force, known as KFOR, will brief the alliance's top brass about the situation in Kosovo and the peacekeeping force's plans, KFOR spokesman Col. Pio Sabetta said.
The delegation's visit to the province "demonstrates NATO's continuing strong commitment to its missions in the Balkans, and its support to the U.N.," the peacekeeping force in Kosovo said in a statement.
NATO moved into Kosovo as part of the United Nations deal following the alliance's war against Serbia in 1999, which halted Serb forces crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians and put the province under the international trusteeship.
The province -- legally part of Serbia-Montenegro, the union that replaced Yugoslavia -- has been run by a U.N. mission since then.
On Monday, the U.N. Security Council decided to launch talks on Kosovo's future, clearing the way for tough negotiations on the status of the ethnically divided province.
Though eagerly awaited, the prospect of the talks where ethnic Albanians and Serbs hold diametrically opposed views, have raised fears that extremists could use violence to protest the outcome. Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders are seeking independence, while its Serb minority and Belgrade officials want it to remain within Serbia-Montenegro.
NATO's Military Committee -- made of the permanent representatives of the 26 member nations -- will meet the top military officials in Kosovo for two days, while the alliance also considers its own future role in the province.
Lt. Gen. Giuseppe Valotto, the commander of NATO's peacekeeping force, known as KFOR, will brief the alliance's top brass about the situation in Kosovo and the peacekeeping force's plans, KFOR spokesman Col. Pio Sabetta said.
The delegation's visit to the province "demonstrates NATO's continuing strong commitment to its missions in the Balkans, and its support to the U.N.," the peacekeeping force in Kosovo said in a statement.
NATO moved into Kosovo as part of the United Nations deal following the alliance's war against Serbia in 1999, which halted Serb forces crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians and put the province under the international trusteeship.
The province -- legally part of Serbia-Montenegro, the union that replaced Yugoslavia -- has been run by a U.N. mission since then.
On Monday, the U.N. Security Council decided to launch talks on Kosovo's future, clearing the way for tough negotiations on the status of the ethnically divided province.
Though eagerly awaited, the prospect of the talks where ethnic Albanians and Serbs hold diametrically opposed views, have raised fears that extremists could use violence to protest the outcome. Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders are seeking independence, while its Serb minority and Belgrade officials want it to remain within Serbia-Montenegro.
Serbian president: UN decision to open talks on Kosovo status "expected"
Text of report by Serbian news agency Beta
Belgrade, 24 October: Serbian President Boris Tadic said this evening that Serbia faces a period of hard and complex talks on the future status of Kosovo-Metohija.
In a statement to the Beta news agency, Tadic said that the UN Security Council's decision to open talks on Kosovo-Metohija's status was an expected one.
"The scope for defending our interests has been narrowed down by a legacy of difficult consequences of the rule of Slobodan Milosevic and the Serbian Radical Party," the Serbian president said.
"We will protect our legitimate national and state interests with the force of arguments and with a mutually agreed plan and strategy," Tadic stressed.
Source: Beta news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 1942 gmt 24 Oct 05
Belgrade, 24 October: Serbian President Boris Tadic said this evening that Serbia faces a period of hard and complex talks on the future status of Kosovo-Metohija.
In a statement to the Beta news agency, Tadic said that the UN Security Council's decision to open talks on Kosovo-Metohija's status was an expected one.
"The scope for defending our interests has been narrowed down by a legacy of difficult consequences of the rule of Slobodan Milosevic and the Serbian Radical Party," the Serbian president said.
"We will protect our legitimate national and state interests with the force of arguments and with a mutually agreed plan and strategy," Tadic stressed.
Source: Beta news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 1942 gmt 24 Oct 05
Slovene president defends Kosovo independence plan proposal
Text of report by Slovene television on 24 October
[Presenter Edita M. Cetinski] Following harsh reactions [to his statement that independence was the only realistic option for Kosovo], mainly in Belgrade, but also in Kosovo and Slovenia, President Janez Drnovsek again discussed the resolution of the issue of Kosovo's status. He reiterated the reasons for his initiative: too much time has been wasted on the resolution of this issue, people there do not have a good life and it is high time we all started to behave responsibly. He also stressed that the plan put forward by him had been thoroughly deliberated.
[Reporter Polona Fijavz] President Drnovsek has established that he shook up and perhaps woke up the international stage with his proposals for solving the status of Kosovo. Today, he was even more determined in his statements. The postponement of the issue of Kosovo's status is contrary to all interests. As for the last six years - since the international community took over the administration [of Kosovo] - we cannot talk about some dazzling development, according to him. Therefore the time has come for the international community to transfer its responsibility for development to the Kosovo authorities.
[Drnovsek] Besides this, I have noticed that no-one has the guts to call a spade a spade and tackle the core of the issue, although today Kosovo is in reality already independent. Nobody talks about this as an option which we need to discuss directly.
[Reporter] Drnovsek stressed he truly believed that the proposed plan was useful and reiterated that it was imperative to guarantee the Serbian minority in Kosovo a decent life and grant it an appropriate status. The international community should withdraw after five years - only then would Kosovo be recognized internationally [as an independent state]. The EU should be put in charge of a development plan until then.
[Drnovsek] Too much time has already been wasted. There is too much standstill, people do not live well. It is high time everyone started to behave responsibly - the international community as well as the two sides [Serbia and Kosovo] - and that a solution was found.
[Reporter] On 2 November, the president will allegedly visit Pristina instead of Belgrade [the visit was cancelled by Serbia after Drnovsek announced his Kosovo proposal], but he did not want to either confirm or deny this news.
Source: Television Slovenia, Ljubljana, in Slovene 1700 gmt 24 Oct 05
[Presenter Edita M. Cetinski] Following harsh reactions [to his statement that independence was the only realistic option for Kosovo], mainly in Belgrade, but also in Kosovo and Slovenia, President Janez Drnovsek again discussed the resolution of the issue of Kosovo's status. He reiterated the reasons for his initiative: too much time has been wasted on the resolution of this issue, people there do not have a good life and it is high time we all started to behave responsibly. He also stressed that the plan put forward by him had been thoroughly deliberated.
[Reporter Polona Fijavz] President Drnovsek has established that he shook up and perhaps woke up the international stage with his proposals for solving the status of Kosovo. Today, he was even more determined in his statements. The postponement of the issue of Kosovo's status is contrary to all interests. As for the last six years - since the international community took over the administration [of Kosovo] - we cannot talk about some dazzling development, according to him. Therefore the time has come for the international community to transfer its responsibility for development to the Kosovo authorities.
[Drnovsek] Besides this, I have noticed that no-one has the guts to call a spade a spade and tackle the core of the issue, although today Kosovo is in reality already independent. Nobody talks about this as an option which we need to discuss directly.
[Reporter] Drnovsek stressed he truly believed that the proposed plan was useful and reiterated that it was imperative to guarantee the Serbian minority in Kosovo a decent life and grant it an appropriate status. The international community should withdraw after five years - only then would Kosovo be recognized internationally [as an independent state]. The EU should be put in charge of a development plan until then.
[Drnovsek] Too much time has already been wasted. There is too much standstill, people do not live well. It is high time everyone started to behave responsibly - the international community as well as the two sides [Serbia and Kosovo] - and that a solution was found.
[Reporter] On 2 November, the president will allegedly visit Pristina instead of Belgrade [the visit was cancelled by Serbia after Drnovsek announced his Kosovo proposal], but he did not want to either confirm or deny this news.
Source: Television Slovenia, Ljubljana, in Slovene 1700 gmt 24 Oct 05
REMARKS BY U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL KOFI ANNAN
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary-General, how soon will you name your special negotiator, chief negotiator, for Kosovo, and is that going to be Mr. Martti Ahtisaari?
KOFI ANNAN: I expect to name my Envoy in the course of the week. Yes, it is likely to be Martti Ahtisaari.
KOFI ANNAN: I expect to name my Envoy in the course of the week. Yes, it is likely to be Martti Ahtisaari.
UN overrides Serbia to launch talks on the future of Kosovo
The UN Security Council took the historic decision last night to begin talks on the future of Kosovo " over-riding Serbian objections and calling for negotiations on the territory's final status to begin. If Western powers have their way, the process, following appointment of a UN envoy, is expected to lead to 'conditional independence' for the ethnic Albanian-majority territory within a year.
That means Kosovo would no longer be part of Serbia but its independence would, for a transitional period, be curtailed, rather like that of Bosnia where policy is shaped by a highlevel representative of the international community.
After a meeting attended by Serbia's President Vojislav Kostunica, the 15-member council decided to act on a recommendation by the UN secretary general Kofi Annan to begin the final-status talks.
Mr Kostunica told the council that 'dismemberment of a democratic state and the change of its internationally recognised borders against its will are options not to be contemplated'. Kosovo has been under UN administration since 1999, when Nato forced Serbian forces out. Some 100,000 Serbs remain out of a population of two million.
That means Kosovo would no longer be part of Serbia but its independence would, for a transitional period, be curtailed, rather like that of Bosnia where policy is shaped by a highlevel representative of the international community.
After a meeting attended by Serbia's President Vojislav Kostunica, the 15-member council decided to act on a recommendation by the UN secretary general Kofi Annan to begin the final-status talks.
Mr Kostunica told the council that 'dismemberment of a democratic state and the change of its internationally recognised borders against its will are options not to be contemplated'. Kosovo has been under UN administration since 1999, when Nato forced Serbian forces out. Some 100,000 Serbs remain out of a population of two million.
Germany welcomes Kosovo status talks
BERLIN, Oct 25 (AFP) -
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer Tuesday welcomed the UN Security Council's decision to back the start of talks on the status of Kosovo.
He urged all parties to now act "constructively" over the troubled Serbian province.
Fischer said in a statement that it was now "high time" for a process to begin to determine Kosovo's final status and "continue the political momentum that has developed in the last six months".
He said both Kosovo and Serbia had a right to "clarity about the road ahead."
The Security Council gave its support Monday to UN chief Kofi Annan's "intention to start a political process to determine Kosovo's future status" as foreseen in a council resolution adopted in 1999.
The key issue in the talks will be whether or not the province should be allowed to become independent as sought by its Albanian majority -- a demand that is opposed by Belgrade.
"All parties are called on to contribute constructively to the status process. The international community will not accept unilateral steps -- compromises are expected from all sides," Fischer said.
"Any solution on the status of Kosovo must also contribute to strengthening of stability in the entire region," he said.
"Our goal remains the creation of a multi-ethnic, democratic Kosovo in which all residents, regardless of their ethnicity, can live in peace and security and according to European principles."
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer Tuesday welcomed the UN Security Council's decision to back the start of talks on the status of Kosovo.
He urged all parties to now act "constructively" over the troubled Serbian province.
Fischer said in a statement that it was now "high time" for a process to begin to determine Kosovo's final status and "continue the political momentum that has developed in the last six months".
He said both Kosovo and Serbia had a right to "clarity about the road ahead."
The Security Council gave its support Monday to UN chief Kofi Annan's "intention to start a political process to determine Kosovo's future status" as foreseen in a council resolution adopted in 1999.
The key issue in the talks will be whether or not the province should be allowed to become independent as sought by its Albanian majority -- a demand that is opposed by Belgrade.
"All parties are called on to contribute constructively to the status process. The international community will not accept unilateral steps -- compromises are expected from all sides," Fischer said.
"Any solution on the status of Kosovo must also contribute to strengthening of stability in the entire region," he said.
"Our goal remains the creation of a multi-ethnic, democratic Kosovo in which all residents, regardless of their ethnicity, can live in peace and security and according to European principles."
Kosovo premier hails UNSC's "historic" decision on status talks
Text of report in English by independent internet news agency KosovaLive
Prishtina [Pristina], 25 October: Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi viewed the decision of the UN Security Council for launching of status talks for Kosova's [Kosovo] future as a historic step.
Kosova Prime Minister, who is in a two day visit in Albania, emphasized that an independent Kosova would open perspective for all citizens. "I welcome the decision of the UN Security Council. This is an important and historical decision for the Kosova people. It will open the perspective for Kosova towards a peaceful future."
"An independent Kosova would be an example of citizens' democracy, coexistence and human values. It will help the regional stability and general economic development of our country," Kosumi said.
He said that Kosova institutions and citizens want and will get all responsibilities for building a new democratic state, where the rights of all the citizens, will be respected. "The process of talks will help in creating of confidence and in overcoming of disagreements between Kosova and Serbia. It will serve for solving of a numerous of unsettled issues between the two countries," Kosumi emphasized.
Prishtina [Pristina], 25 October: Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi viewed the decision of the UN Security Council for launching of status talks for Kosova's [Kosovo] future as a historic step.
Kosova Prime Minister, who is in a two day visit in Albania, emphasized that an independent Kosova would open perspective for all citizens. "I welcome the decision of the UN Security Council. This is an important and historical decision for the Kosova people. It will open the perspective for Kosova towards a peaceful future."
"An independent Kosova would be an example of citizens' democracy, coexistence and human values. It will help the regional stability and general economic development of our country," Kosumi said.
He said that Kosova institutions and citizens want and will get all responsibilities for building a new democratic state, where the rights of all the citizens, will be respected. "The process of talks will help in creating of confidence and in overcoming of disagreements between Kosova and Serbia. It will serve for solving of a numerous of unsettled issues between the two countries," Kosumi emphasized.
Tests indicate no signs of avian flu in Kosovo
Text of report by Kosovo Albanian newspaper Koha Ditore on 24 October
Prishtina [Pristina], 23 October: Via a press release circulated to the media, the Kosova [Kosovo] Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Rural Development and the Veterinary and Food Service of Kosova (AVUK) have advised that the results of tests on four samples of [sick] poultry have shown that there are no signs of avian flu in Kosova. The tests were done by the Veterinary Institute of Kosova.
"In all the cases we were dealing only with the cannibalistic [word as published] diagnosis of birds, which commonly occur in our farms. On this occasion, we would like to advise the public once again that there is no bird flu of any kind in Kosova," the statement reads.
According to officials of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Rural Development, the AVUK and other relevant governmental agencies have been mobilized in the Crisis Centre of Kosova. The ministry said in its statement, "Whenever there is any kind of suspicion, we constantly making appropriate examinations and analyses of samples. We have sophisticated equipment for this purpose donated by the United States; this makes it possible to determine a diagnosis quite quickly."
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Rural Development has also proposed holding a conference by the end of this month to address measures for preventing avian flu.
Source: Koha Ditore, Pristina, in Albanian 24 Oct 05 p 3
Prishtina [Pristina], 23 October: Via a press release circulated to the media, the Kosova [Kosovo] Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Rural Development and the Veterinary and Food Service of Kosova (AVUK) have advised that the results of tests on four samples of [sick] poultry have shown that there are no signs of avian flu in Kosova. The tests were done by the Veterinary Institute of Kosova.
"In all the cases we were dealing only with the cannibalistic [word as published] diagnosis of birds, which commonly occur in our farms. On this occasion, we would like to advise the public once again that there is no bird flu of any kind in Kosova," the statement reads.
According to officials of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Rural Development, the AVUK and other relevant governmental agencies have been mobilized in the Crisis Centre of Kosova. The ministry said in its statement, "Whenever there is any kind of suspicion, we constantly making appropriate examinations and analyses of samples. We have sophisticated equipment for this purpose donated by the United States; this makes it possible to determine a diagnosis quite quickly."
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Rural Development has also proposed holding a conference by the end of this month to address measures for preventing avian flu.
Source: Koha Ditore, Pristina, in Albanian 24 Oct 05 p 3
Russia approves UN decision on Kosovo - Foreign Ministry
MOSCOW. Oct 25 (Interfax) - Russia is satisfied with the UN Security Council's decision to approve the UN secretary general's recommendation to begin negotiations on the status of Kosovo, says a statement by Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Yakovenko posted on www.mid.ru on Tuesday.
"The decision made by the council regarding Kosovo fully agrees with Russia's position. Moscow has always been in favor of the UN Security Council playing the leading role at all stages of the Kosovo settlement," the statement says.
The Security Council should continue monitoring the situation in Kosovo, the statement says. "At the next stage, the task of observing standards will become particularly important. Without this, achieving long-term stabilization and a settlement in the region is impossible," the statement says.
"The decision made by the council regarding Kosovo fully agrees with Russia's position. Moscow has always been in favor of the UN Security Council playing the leading role at all stages of the Kosovo settlement," the statement says.
The Security Council should continue monitoring the situation in Kosovo, the statement says. "At the next stage, the task of observing standards will become particularly important. Without this, achieving long-term stabilization and a settlement in the region is impossible," the statement says.
BBC Interview with UNMIK Chief Petersen
As the UN prepares to start final status talks on Kosovo, the BBC's Matt Prodger spoke to Soren Jessen-Petersen, head of United Nations Mission in Kosovo.
Q: Do you expect Kosovo to be independent by this time next year?
A: I expect that status talks will have reached a result by then, but I will not comment on what that final result may be.
Q: The UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has recommended that negotiations should begin soon. What is the framework for those negotiations?
A: He has recommended that status talks should begin because there is a growing international understanding - and I would even say consensus - that the status quo is unsustainable. Status talks will begin with shuttle diplomacy, an envoy will be appointed and will shuttle between Pristina, Belgrade, and the capitals of key countries.
Q: How long will the process take?
A: Anywhere between six and 12 months. That's why I say that by this time next year there will be an outcome.
Q: Serbia says it will not accept independence for Kosovo, yet Kosovar Albanians say they will not accept anything less. What will be the compromise?
A: The very fact that these two positions are diametrically opposed also means that there would be no sense in asking the two sides to sit down and solve it. That would almost be an exercise in futility. If we want to arrive at a solution then we cannot expect them to agree.
Q: So it will be a "top down" solution, devised by the international community and imposed on the two sides? If so, what is it?
A: Not exactly. First of all, it's extremely important both in Kosovo and Belgrade that there is some kind of a dialogue. And also within civil society. They need to prepare their people both in Serbia and here. I know this is easier said than done but it must happen. Secondly, status talks will be conducted according to a set of already agreed guiding principles. For example: no partition of Kosovo; no return to the situation before March 1999; no union of Kosovo with neighbouring states; and other important principles such as protection of minorities, protection of important sites.
Q: The phrase "conditional independence" is being used a lot to describe the most probable outcome of talks. What do you understand by that?
A: I don't really know what it means, but I would say that in Europe today there are very few countries that have what I would call full sovereignty; some is ceded to international institutions such as the European Union. If you look at the countries in this region, they're already under a lot of conditions - the international financial institutions, the EU stabilisation and association agreements, conditions on entry to the EU in the case of Croatia. We are already looking at an important set of conditions imposed on states in the region.
Q: How are you going to enshrine the protection of minorities, in particular Serbs?
A: The protection of minorities in any status settlement is absolutely key. Whatever authority emerges from the status talks, the first it would do is ask for a continued international security presence - Nato. On police and justice, the EU. What there will certainly not be is a UN presence. Unmik will come to an end with a decision on status for Kosovo. But it's more than likely the international presence will continue in other forms and mainly through European institutions - the EU, OSCE and on the security side Nato. No doubt about that.
Q: Do you think Kosovo is ready to administer itself? Talks are going ahead without a number of key standards being met despite an earlier assurance that those standards would come first.
A: Let me qualify that - not fully met. Nobody disputes the fact that there has been a lot of progress. The discussion is about the degree of progress.
We know that on the standards linked to minority issues there are problems. On the return of refugees, for example - there has been an insignificant number of returns. On freedom of movement, we still have a problem where more than 20% of people say they don't feel they can move freely. These are problems that have to be addressed.
On the other hand, institutions are improving, there has been progress in the rule of law, we have a fairly good local Kosovo police service, the foundations have been laid for a legislative framework for the economy. The real improvement will only come with status. Frankly the standards that Kosovo has been asked to meet are standards that even my own country Denmark would have difficulties meeting.
Q: Kosovo is under international administration and the role that Serbia has in running it is minimal. Does it really matter what Belgrade thinks?
A: It matters because what we are seeking to do is not merely normalise Kosovo but normalise and stabilise the region. It also matters because UN resolution 1244 still recognises a role for Belgrade. Serbia's sovereignty has been temporarily suspended.
But most important is that the settlement of Kosovo must be in the interest of regional stabilisation and that means we have to be extremely careful how that is addressed. I think the way to do it is a settlement in the context of a clear European perspective for the region including, of course, Serbia.
Q: Is the intention ultimately is to take Kosovo into the EU alongside Serbia?
A: The intention is to take the entire region into the EU, and frankly if you do that then at the end of the day it doesn't really matter where the lines are.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/4364294.stm
Published: 2005/10/24 08:38:10 GMT
Q: Do you expect Kosovo to be independent by this time next year?
A: I expect that status talks will have reached a result by then, but I will not comment on what that final result may be.
Q: The UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has recommended that negotiations should begin soon. What is the framework for those negotiations?
A: He has recommended that status talks should begin because there is a growing international understanding - and I would even say consensus - that the status quo is unsustainable. Status talks will begin with shuttle diplomacy, an envoy will be appointed and will shuttle between Pristina, Belgrade, and the capitals of key countries.
Q: How long will the process take?
A: Anywhere between six and 12 months. That's why I say that by this time next year there will be an outcome.
Q: Serbia says it will not accept independence for Kosovo, yet Kosovar Albanians say they will not accept anything less. What will be the compromise?
A: The very fact that these two positions are diametrically opposed also means that there would be no sense in asking the two sides to sit down and solve it. That would almost be an exercise in futility. If we want to arrive at a solution then we cannot expect them to agree.
Q: So it will be a "top down" solution, devised by the international community and imposed on the two sides? If so, what is it?
A: Not exactly. First of all, it's extremely important both in Kosovo and Belgrade that there is some kind of a dialogue. And also within civil society. They need to prepare their people both in Serbia and here. I know this is easier said than done but it must happen. Secondly, status talks will be conducted according to a set of already agreed guiding principles. For example: no partition of Kosovo; no return to the situation before March 1999; no union of Kosovo with neighbouring states; and other important principles such as protection of minorities, protection of important sites.
Q: The phrase "conditional independence" is being used a lot to describe the most probable outcome of talks. What do you understand by that?
A: I don't really know what it means, but I would say that in Europe today there are very few countries that have what I would call full sovereignty; some is ceded to international institutions such as the European Union. If you look at the countries in this region, they're already under a lot of conditions - the international financial institutions, the EU stabilisation and association agreements, conditions on entry to the EU in the case of Croatia. We are already looking at an important set of conditions imposed on states in the region.
Q: How are you going to enshrine the protection of minorities, in particular Serbs?
A: The protection of minorities in any status settlement is absolutely key. Whatever authority emerges from the status talks, the first it would do is ask for a continued international security presence - Nato. On police and justice, the EU. What there will certainly not be is a UN presence. Unmik will come to an end with a decision on status for Kosovo. But it's more than likely the international presence will continue in other forms and mainly through European institutions - the EU, OSCE and on the security side Nato. No doubt about that.
Q: Do you think Kosovo is ready to administer itself? Talks are going ahead without a number of key standards being met despite an earlier assurance that those standards would come first.
A: Let me qualify that - not fully met. Nobody disputes the fact that there has been a lot of progress. The discussion is about the degree of progress.
We know that on the standards linked to minority issues there are problems. On the return of refugees, for example - there has been an insignificant number of returns. On freedom of movement, we still have a problem where more than 20% of people say they don't feel they can move freely. These are problems that have to be addressed.
On the other hand, institutions are improving, there has been progress in the rule of law, we have a fairly good local Kosovo police service, the foundations have been laid for a legislative framework for the economy. The real improvement will only come with status. Frankly the standards that Kosovo has been asked to meet are standards that even my own country Denmark would have difficulties meeting.
Q: Kosovo is under international administration and the role that Serbia has in running it is minimal. Does it really matter what Belgrade thinks?
A: It matters because what we are seeking to do is not merely normalise Kosovo but normalise and stabilise the region. It also matters because UN resolution 1244 still recognises a role for Belgrade. Serbia's sovereignty has been temporarily suspended.
But most important is that the settlement of Kosovo must be in the interest of regional stabilisation and that means we have to be extremely careful how that is addressed. I think the way to do it is a settlement in the context of a clear European perspective for the region including, of course, Serbia.
Q: Is the intention ultimately is to take Kosovo into the EU alongside Serbia?
A: The intention is to take the entire region into the EU, and frankly if you do that then at the end of the day it doesn't really matter where the lines are.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/4364294.stm
Published: 2005/10/24 08:38:10 GMT
Monday, October 24, 2005
UN council endorses start of Kosovo status talks
Reuters
UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Security Council on Monday embraced U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's recommendation that international talks be launched to decide whether Kosovo gains independence or remains a Serb province.
"The council offers its full support to this political process, which would determine Kosovo's future status, and further reaffirms its commitment to the objective of a multiethnic and democratic Kosovo which must reinforce regional stability," said a statement adopted unanimously by the 15-nation council.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in anticipation of the council statement, said he would name a special envoy this week to lead the talks and added it was likely to be former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, as expected.
Before the council vote, Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica warned it that Belgrade ruled out a process that could result in Kosovo's becoming a nation.
In a letter, however, Kosovo's prime minister, Bajram Kosumi, told the council that Kosovo's government in Pristina and the vast majority of its people felt the province should be granted independence.
In an apparent shift from past insistence on a complete break with the past, however, Kosumi added that Kosovo would welcome "the continued presence and involvement of the international community in our development."
In an interview with Reuters in Pristina, Kosumi said he expected an international "observation or advisory" mission after talks as "a psychological and practical guarantee for ethnic groups that their rights are observed."
The southern Serb province bordering Macedonia and Albania has been administered by the United Nations since Serb forces, accused of ethnic cleansing in a war with separatist guerrillas, were ousted by NATO in 1999.
Three months of NATO bombing that year forced Serbia's then leader, Slobodan Milosevic -- now on trial in an international tribunal in The Hague on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes -- to withdraw his forces.
Some 10,000 ethnic Albanian civilians died and 800,000 were expelled into neighboring Albania and Macedonia.
ALBANIANS IMPATIENT FOR INDEPENDENCE
More than six years later, Kosovo Albanians are impatient for the independence they thought they had won in 1999. Most are fed up with a U.N. administration perceived as overbearing and unable to revive an economy crippled by war and neglect.
But March 2004 Albanian mob riots against Kosovo Serbs killed 19 people and destroyed hundreds of homes, undermining Kosovo leaders' stated commitment to a multiethnic
society.
Diplomats say the West, though publicly refusing to back any particular solution, is preparing to push for "conditional independence" in talks that could last until spring 2006.
The West has all but written off Serbia's offer of broad autonomy as unworkable as the province's 90-percent Albanian majority flatly reject any return to Serb control, they say.
Kosumi's letter said Kosovo's final status "should be that of an independent state with the borders of Kosovo as they currently stand with neither partition nor cantonization."
Kosovo should be "a multiethnic, democratic and law-abiding place, which exists in peace and cooperation with its neighbors in the region and with the wider world," Kosumi said. "Within this broader vision, we are ready to elaborate more precise details of how Kosovo should be organized in both its institutions and its constitution."
Serbian premier Kostunica, however, called on the council to ensure Kosovo remained part of Serbia.
"I am convinced that the international community, embodied in the United Nations, will not succumb to threats of violence and permit a dismemberment of a democratic state and the undermining of the most basic principles of the international order," he said.
"I am convinced ... that no democratic and free state could accept this under any circumstances," Kostunica said.
Two key U.N. envoys, also appearing before the council, acknowledged Serbs and Kosovars were deeply divided over what the eventual fate of the southern Serb province should be. But they argued that resolving the issue would ultimately benefit both sides and bring more stability to the region.
"We all know that the positions of Belgrade and Pristina on the issue of Kosovo's status are far apart, but it will remain so until and unless it is resolved by an internationally managed process, and the sooner that is done, the better for the citizens in Kosovo and in the region," said Soren Jessen-Petersen, the province's U.N. administrator.
U.N. special envoy Kai Eide said he believed there had been a change in the region and Pristina and Belgrade now had a "shared expectation" that the status talks would begin.
"I am convinced that all will benefit from clarity with regard to what Kosovo will be," he said. "Such clarity will also remove an element of instability, which today hampers the political and economic development of Kosovo as well as of the region."
UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Security Council on Monday embraced U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's recommendation that international talks be launched to decide whether Kosovo gains independence or remains a Serb province.
"The council offers its full support to this political process, which would determine Kosovo's future status, and further reaffirms its commitment to the objective of a multiethnic and democratic Kosovo which must reinforce regional stability," said a statement adopted unanimously by the 15-nation council.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in anticipation of the council statement, said he would name a special envoy this week to lead the talks and added it was likely to be former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, as expected.
Before the council vote, Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica warned it that Belgrade ruled out a process that could result in Kosovo's becoming a nation.
In a letter, however, Kosovo's prime minister, Bajram Kosumi, told the council that Kosovo's government in Pristina and the vast majority of its people felt the province should be granted independence.
In an apparent shift from past insistence on a complete break with the past, however, Kosumi added that Kosovo would welcome "the continued presence and involvement of the international community in our development."
In an interview with Reuters in Pristina, Kosumi said he expected an international "observation or advisory" mission after talks as "a psychological and practical guarantee for ethnic groups that their rights are observed."
The southern Serb province bordering Macedonia and Albania has been administered by the United Nations since Serb forces, accused of ethnic cleansing in a war with separatist guerrillas, were ousted by NATO in 1999.
Three months of NATO bombing that year forced Serbia's then leader, Slobodan Milosevic -- now on trial in an international tribunal in The Hague on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes -- to withdraw his forces.
Some 10,000 ethnic Albanian civilians died and 800,000 were expelled into neighboring Albania and Macedonia.
ALBANIANS IMPATIENT FOR INDEPENDENCE
More than six years later, Kosovo Albanians are impatient for the independence they thought they had won in 1999. Most are fed up with a U.N. administration perceived as overbearing and unable to revive an economy crippled by war and neglect.
But March 2004 Albanian mob riots against Kosovo Serbs killed 19 people and destroyed hundreds of homes, undermining Kosovo leaders' stated commitment to a multiethnic
society.
Diplomats say the West, though publicly refusing to back any particular solution, is preparing to push for "conditional independence" in talks that could last until spring 2006.
The West has all but written off Serbia's offer of broad autonomy as unworkable as the province's 90-percent Albanian majority flatly reject any return to Serb control, they say.
Kosumi's letter said Kosovo's final status "should be that of an independent state with the borders of Kosovo as they currently stand with neither partition nor cantonization."
Kosovo should be "a multiethnic, democratic and law-abiding place, which exists in peace and cooperation with its neighbors in the region and with the wider world," Kosumi said. "Within this broader vision, we are ready to elaborate more precise details of how Kosovo should be organized in both its institutions and its constitution."
Serbian premier Kostunica, however, called on the council to ensure Kosovo remained part of Serbia.
"I am convinced that the international community, embodied in the United Nations, will not succumb to threats of violence and permit a dismemberment of a democratic state and the undermining of the most basic principles of the international order," he said.
"I am convinced ... that no democratic and free state could accept this under any circumstances," Kostunica said.
Two key U.N. envoys, also appearing before the council, acknowledged Serbs and Kosovars were deeply divided over what the eventual fate of the southern Serb province should be. But they argued that resolving the issue would ultimately benefit both sides and bring more stability to the region.
"We all know that the positions of Belgrade and Pristina on the issue of Kosovo's status are far apart, but it will remain so until and unless it is resolved by an internationally managed process, and the sooner that is done, the better for the citizens in Kosovo and in the region," said Soren Jessen-Petersen, the province's U.N. administrator.
U.N. special envoy Kai Eide said he believed there had been a change in the region and Pristina and Belgrade now had a "shared expectation" that the status talks would begin.
"I am convinced that all will benefit from clarity with regard to what Kosovo will be," he said. "Such clarity will also remove an element of instability, which today hampers the political and economic development of Kosovo as well as of the region."
As Kosovo moves towards future status talks, UN administrator lays our priorities
24 October 2005 – With forthcoming talks on the future status of Kosovo presenting risks and confronting political leaders with difficult choices, the United Nations administrator of the ethnically-divided Serbian province today laid out six priority areas to promote a multi-ethnic future, including better living conditions for minorities.
"While the way ahead will no doubt be difficult, it must nonetheless be clear to all of us that continuing with the status quo is not a viable option," Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative, Søren Jessen-Petersen, told the Security Council of the province where ethnic Albanians outnumber others, mainly Serbs, by about nine to one.
The UN has run Kosovo since the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) drove out Yugoslav troops amid grave human rights abuses in fighting between Albanians and Serbs in 1999. On Friday Mr. sent a letter to the Council calling for status talks to begin very soon, and he has mentioned independence or autonomy as options.
"We all know that the positions of Belgrade and Pristina on the issue of Kosovo's status are far apart," Mr. Jessen-Petersen acknowledged, referring to the capitals of Serbia and Kosovo. "But it will remain so until and unless it is resolved by an internationally managed process, and the sooner that is done, the better for the citizens in Kosovo and in the region.
"After more than six years of UN involvement and investment in Kosovo, we now have the chance and the challenge to support the citizens to leave the painful past behind and build a peaceful and prosperous future."
Mr. Annan, who attended the Council meeting, told reporters afterwards that he would likely appoint former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari as his Special Envoy to deal with status talks. Mr. Ahtisaari has most recently served as Mr. Annan's Special Envoy for the Humanitarian Crisis in the Horn of Africa.
The status process offers an opportunity for the Kosovo Albanian leadership "to show true commitment and take more decisive steps towards building the kind of multi-ethnic, democratic, and tolerant society that will undoubtedly bring them closer to realizing their dreams and goals when status is decided," Mr. Jessen-Petersen emphasized.
The first priority he mentioned was the need to reassure the Serbs by improving the living conditions of those now in Kosovo and fostering the sustainable returns of those still displaced.
"I don't expect major returns before status is clarified, but to reassure Kosovo Serbs of their future and to promote returns we need a constructive engagement of Belgrade and the direct involvement of the Kosovo Serbs," he said.
The other priorities are: a comprehensive reform of local government, an issue of crucial importance to minorities; establishing a transparent and non-politicized security apparatus; capacity building to ensure that Kosovo's institutions can take on their responsibilities; restructuring the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK); and maintaining a safe and secure environment.
"The security environment in Kosovo is at the moment stable, but isolated recent incidents remind us that, with the difficult status process about to begin, there is no place for complacency," he declared.
"That process, and possibly provocations from all sides, will undoubtedly test our ability to maintain the secure environment that has, by and large, prevailed in Kosovo during the last 18 months."
Also addressing Council members was Kai Eide, the Secretary-General's former Special Envoy for the Comprehensive Review of Kosovo, who introduced the report on his work.
Mr. Eide repeated his long-standing view that there would never be a good moment for addressing Kosovo's future status, and said both parties remain diametrically opposed with very little common ground. While prospects for reconciliation are modest, he supported the commencement of a process to determine future status, because it was important to keep the political process from stagnating.
"While the way ahead will no doubt be difficult, it must nonetheless be clear to all of us that continuing with the status quo is not a viable option," Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Representative, Søren Jessen-Petersen, told the Security Council of the province where ethnic Albanians outnumber others, mainly Serbs, by about nine to one.
The UN has run Kosovo since the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) drove out Yugoslav troops amid grave human rights abuses in fighting between Albanians and Serbs in 1999. On Friday Mr. sent a letter to the Council calling for status talks to begin very soon, and he has mentioned independence or autonomy as options.
"We all know that the positions of Belgrade and Pristina on the issue of Kosovo's status are far apart," Mr. Jessen-Petersen acknowledged, referring to the capitals of Serbia and Kosovo. "But it will remain so until and unless it is resolved by an internationally managed process, and the sooner that is done, the better for the citizens in Kosovo and in the region.
"After more than six years of UN involvement and investment in Kosovo, we now have the chance and the challenge to support the citizens to leave the painful past behind and build a peaceful and prosperous future."
Mr. Annan, who attended the Council meeting, told reporters afterwards that he would likely appoint former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari as his Special Envoy to deal with status talks. Mr. Ahtisaari has most recently served as Mr. Annan's Special Envoy for the Humanitarian Crisis in the Horn of Africa.
The status process offers an opportunity for the Kosovo Albanian leadership "to show true commitment and take more decisive steps towards building the kind of multi-ethnic, democratic, and tolerant society that will undoubtedly bring them closer to realizing their dreams and goals when status is decided," Mr. Jessen-Petersen emphasized.
The first priority he mentioned was the need to reassure the Serbs by improving the living conditions of those now in Kosovo and fostering the sustainable returns of those still displaced.
"I don't expect major returns before status is clarified, but to reassure Kosovo Serbs of their future and to promote returns we need a constructive engagement of Belgrade and the direct involvement of the Kosovo Serbs," he said.
The other priorities are: a comprehensive reform of local government, an issue of crucial importance to minorities; establishing a transparent and non-politicized security apparatus; capacity building to ensure that Kosovo's institutions can take on their responsibilities; restructuring the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK); and maintaining a safe and secure environment.
"The security environment in Kosovo is at the moment stable, but isolated recent incidents remind us that, with the difficult status process about to begin, there is no place for complacency," he declared.
"That process, and possibly provocations from all sides, will undoubtedly test our ability to maintain the secure environment that has, by and large, prevailed in Kosovo during the last 18 months."
Also addressing Council members was Kai Eide, the Secretary-General's former Special Envoy for the Comprehensive Review of Kosovo, who introduced the report on his work.
Mr. Eide repeated his long-standing view that there would never be a good moment for addressing Kosovo's future status, and said both parties remain diametrically opposed with very little common ground. While prospects for reconciliation are modest, he supported the commencement of a process to determine future status, because it was important to keep the political process from stagnating.
Scarred Kosovo faces challenges
By Matt Prodger
BBC News, Kosovo
The United Nations Security Council is expected to give the go-ahead for negotiations to resolve the status of Kosovo.
The province, which legally remains part of Serbia and Montenegro, has been under international administration since a war six years ago which left 10,000 people dead.
Negotiations are expected to last a year and will most likely result in some form of independence, with a continuing role for foreign peacekeepers to prevent further outbreaks of violence between Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority, and its remaining Serbs.
On a hilltop outside the village of Racak lies a cemetery with a difference.
It is not the Albanian flag fluttering above it in the autumnal sun, nor the flowers wrapped in plastic which adorn each grave. It is the fact that every person buried here is a murder victim.
Six years ago, Serbian police from nearby villages rounded up more than 40 people from Racak and massacred them. For Nato it was the final straw, and soon after, its bombs were ending Serbian rule in Kosovo.
At the local mosque, nearly every worshipper has a relative who died in the massacre. For 68-year-old Ramiz Ymeri, it was his son, his throat cut from ear to ear.
No compromise
He is in no mood today to compromise with Serbs over the future of Kosovo.
"Before we can even talk to Serbia, it first has to accept the independence of Kosovo," he says. "Only then can we start sorting out the past."
An hour's drive from Racak is another village, Brestovik. This is home to Serb refugees returning to Kosovo after six years in Serbia. Their houses have been rebuilt with aid from the Italian government.
Stana Dzavric has yet to plaster and paint her house, but she says she is overjoyed to be back home. Yet when I ask her how she will feel next year if Kosovo gains independence from Serbia and Montenegro, her face darkens.
"We won't stay here," she says. "We'll pack our bags and leave."
And there is no sign of compromise on a political level. Veton Surroi, a member of the Kosovo Albanian negotiating team says the demand for independence is non-negotiable.
"We are at the final stage of deciding on our independence," he tells me. "This is a mutual project with the Kosovans and the international community.
"The Kosovo Serbs will be involved in this process, no doubt about it, but the question of Belgrade is another issue. Belgrade lost its right to make decisions about this area by committing genocide six years ago."
Challenges
The Serbian government minister for Kosovo Sanda Raskovic-Ivic says: "We've compromised enough by offering the Albanians everything they already have: executive, legislative and judicial powers, plus a president. Under our plan we would retain sovereignty, one seat at the UN as Serbia and Montenegro and we would control the borders."
The most senior figure in Kosovo, the head of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (Unmik) Soren Jessen-Petersen, says that there is so little common ground between the two sides that getting them to agree would be "an exercise in futility".
Instead, the "non-negotiables" have been determined by the international community: for example no partition of Kosovo, no union of Kosovo with neighbouring states, no return to the situation before March 1999, and an insistence that Nato peacekeepers remain indefinitely.
High-ranking officials in Unmik are angry about the stance of the Serbian government.
"Belgrade is going to have to concede that Kosovo is a lost cause," one told the BBC. "And we need a strong negotiating partner in Belgrade to do that. But no democratic forces in Belgrade are standing up and saying that today."
Sanda Raskovic-Ivic says Serbs would throw out any government which gives up Kosovo.
"Having Kosovo taken away from Serbia would be very painful and very dangerous," she says. "It's the best way of encouraging nationalists and it's the best way of turning the clock back to the [Milosevic era of] the 1990s."
Within Kosovo another clock is ticking. Graffiti on the streets calls for "self-determination" now, and "no negotiations".
Shadowy groups issue statements warning of dire consequences if independence is not granted. The status quo, as diplomats like to say, is unacceptable. But change also brings its own problems.
Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/4370798.stm
Published: 2005/10/24 13:53:56 GMT
BBC News, Kosovo
The United Nations Security Council is expected to give the go-ahead for negotiations to resolve the status of Kosovo.
The province, which legally remains part of Serbia and Montenegro, has been under international administration since a war six years ago which left 10,000 people dead.
Negotiations are expected to last a year and will most likely result in some form of independence, with a continuing role for foreign peacekeepers to prevent further outbreaks of violence between Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority, and its remaining Serbs.
On a hilltop outside the village of Racak lies a cemetery with a difference.
It is not the Albanian flag fluttering above it in the autumnal sun, nor the flowers wrapped in plastic which adorn each grave. It is the fact that every person buried here is a murder victim.
Six years ago, Serbian police from nearby villages rounded up more than 40 people from Racak and massacred them. For Nato it was the final straw, and soon after, its bombs were ending Serbian rule in Kosovo.
At the local mosque, nearly every worshipper has a relative who died in the massacre. For 68-year-old Ramiz Ymeri, it was his son, his throat cut from ear to ear.
No compromise
He is in no mood today to compromise with Serbs over the future of Kosovo.
"Before we can even talk to Serbia, it first has to accept the independence of Kosovo," he says. "Only then can we start sorting out the past."
An hour's drive from Racak is another village, Brestovik. This is home to Serb refugees returning to Kosovo after six years in Serbia. Their houses have been rebuilt with aid from the Italian government.
Stana Dzavric has yet to plaster and paint her house, but she says she is overjoyed to be back home. Yet when I ask her how she will feel next year if Kosovo gains independence from Serbia and Montenegro, her face darkens.
"We won't stay here," she says. "We'll pack our bags and leave."
And there is no sign of compromise on a political level. Veton Surroi, a member of the Kosovo Albanian negotiating team says the demand for independence is non-negotiable.
"We are at the final stage of deciding on our independence," he tells me. "This is a mutual project with the Kosovans and the international community.
"The Kosovo Serbs will be involved in this process, no doubt about it, but the question of Belgrade is another issue. Belgrade lost its right to make decisions about this area by committing genocide six years ago."
Challenges
The Serbian government minister for Kosovo Sanda Raskovic-Ivic says: "We've compromised enough by offering the Albanians everything they already have: executive, legislative and judicial powers, plus a president. Under our plan we would retain sovereignty, one seat at the UN as Serbia and Montenegro and we would control the borders."
The most senior figure in Kosovo, the head of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (Unmik) Soren Jessen-Petersen, says that there is so little common ground between the two sides that getting them to agree would be "an exercise in futility".
Instead, the "non-negotiables" have been determined by the international community: for example no partition of Kosovo, no union of Kosovo with neighbouring states, no return to the situation before March 1999, and an insistence that Nato peacekeepers remain indefinitely.
High-ranking officials in Unmik are angry about the stance of the Serbian government.
"Belgrade is going to have to concede that Kosovo is a lost cause," one told the BBC. "And we need a strong negotiating partner in Belgrade to do that. But no democratic forces in Belgrade are standing up and saying that today."
Sanda Raskovic-Ivic says Serbs would throw out any government which gives up Kosovo.
"Having Kosovo taken away from Serbia would be very painful and very dangerous," she says. "It's the best way of encouraging nationalists and it's the best way of turning the clock back to the [Milosevic era of] the 1990s."
Within Kosovo another clock is ticking. Graffiti on the streets calls for "self-determination" now, and "no negotiations".
Shadowy groups issue statements warning of dire consequences if independence is not granted. The status quo, as diplomats like to say, is unacceptable. But change also brings its own problems.
Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/4370798.stm
Published: 2005/10/24 13:53:56 GMT
UN mulls talks on Kosovo's fate, BBC
The United Nations Security Council is debating whether Kosovo is ready for talks about its final status.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has said the talks should begin despite numerous shortcomings.
Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority wants independence, but Serbia wants to maintain sovereignty over the province.
Kosovo has been administered by the UN since Nato-led troops expelled Serb forces in 1999 to end the war there.
The head of the UN administration in Kosovo, Soren Jessen-Petersen, told the BBC the current situation was unsustainable.
Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica is expected to tell the Security Council that Kosovo should remain part of Serbia despite obtaining wide autonomy.
"Any imposed solution that would seize part of our territory would be a violation of international law," he was quoted as saying before leaving for New York.
Shuttle diplomacy
Mr Jessen-Petersen told the BBC the two positions are "diametrically opposed", and that asking the two sides to sit down and solve it would "almost be an exercise in futility".
But he was confident that with the help of a UN special envoy, who will shuttle between Pristina and Belgrade and other capitals in the region, an agreement would be reached within a year.
He went on to say that negotiations would be based on a set of principles that have already been agreed.
These include:
# no partition of Kosovo
# no return of the situation before March 1999
# no union of Kosovo with neighbouring states
# protection of minorities.
In 1999, Nato launched a 78-day air campaign against Serbia to stop a violent crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatist rebels.
Serbian forces were driven out, and the UN took over the administration of Kosovo, which formally remained a province of Serbia and Montenegro.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has said the talks should begin despite numerous shortcomings.
Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority wants independence, but Serbia wants to maintain sovereignty over the province.
Kosovo has been administered by the UN since Nato-led troops expelled Serb forces in 1999 to end the war there.
The head of the UN administration in Kosovo, Soren Jessen-Petersen, told the BBC the current situation was unsustainable.
Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica is expected to tell the Security Council that Kosovo should remain part of Serbia despite obtaining wide autonomy.
"Any imposed solution that would seize part of our territory would be a violation of international law," he was quoted as saying before leaving for New York.
Shuttle diplomacy
Mr Jessen-Petersen told the BBC the two positions are "diametrically opposed", and that asking the two sides to sit down and solve it would "almost be an exercise in futility".
But he was confident that with the help of a UN special envoy, who will shuttle between Pristina and Belgrade and other capitals in the region, an agreement would be reached within a year.
He went on to say that negotiations would be based on a set of principles that have already been agreed.
These include:
# no partition of Kosovo
# no return of the situation before March 1999
# no union of Kosovo with neighbouring states
# protection of minorities.
In 1999, Nato launched a 78-day air campaign against Serbia to stop a violent crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatist rebels.
Serbian forces were driven out, and the UN took over the administration of Kosovo, which formally remained a province of Serbia and Montenegro.
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Kosovo sets out on road to independence - The Independent
By Tim Judah
Published: 24 October 2005
The United Nations Security Council convenes at 10am today. By lunchtime, it is expected to have made a momentous decision, that could lead to the birth of a new state in Europe.
The 15-member council is to recommend that talks on the future status of Kosovo, a territory contested between Serbs and the majority ethnic Albanians, begin as soon as possible.
Meeting in Rome last Thursday, diplomats from the main Western countries that deal with the former Yugoslavia, plus Russia agreed on what will happen today so as to make sure that there are no late hitches.
Ever since the end of the Kosovo war in 1999 the territory has been under the jurisdiction of the UN, although legally it remains a part of Serbia. The process, which will begin today, is expected to end Serbia's sovereignty over Kosovo.
The council will be addressed by Kai Eide, the Norwegian diplomat who drew up the report on Kosovo. Within days of the meeting, Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary General is set to appoint Martti Ahtisaari, the former Finnish president to lead talks.
After a period of shuttle diplomacy he is expected to draw up a draft plan for the future of the territory that will propose what is known as "conditional independence". It means that Kosovo will no longer be part of Serbia but its independence will, for a transitional period, be curtailed, rather like that of Bosnia where policy is shaped by a high level representative of the international community.
While Serbia will resist the ending of its sovereignty over Kosovo, diplomats say that Russia, on whom the Serbian leadership was hoping for support, has already betrayed it.
In 1999, Nato mounted a 78-day bombing campaign against what was then still known as Yugoslavia. The bombing came after talks failed to produce a settlement between Serbs and separatist Albanian guerrillas.
Ever since, Kosovo has been run by the UN although progressively power has been transferred to its own elected authorities. Some 100,000 Serbs remain in Kosovo out of a total population of 2 million, more than 90 per cent of whom are ethnic Albanians who have consistently shown that they want independence.
Most of those Serbs who remain, live in enclaves some of which have to be protected by Nato-led peacekeepers. In March 2004, ethnic Albanian rioting left 19 dead and some 4,000 Serbs and Roma were ethnically cleansed. In his report, Mr Eide described inter-ethnic relations as "grim".
Serbia will fight a fierce rearguard action to retain sovereignty, if little else, over Kosovo.
Indeed, according to Dusan Batakovic, advisor on Kosovo to Serbian president Boris Tadic: "People think Serbia has given up Kosovo but it is not the case - to the contrary in fact."
Serbia says the Albanians can have virtually anything they want except full independence. Albanians say that everything is negotiable except independence. Indeed a movement is now gathering pace in Kosovo to oppose the coming talks.
It is led by Albin Kurti, a 30-year old former political prisoner who is organising supporters to be ready to take to the streets. He says he is against talks because they aim at compromise and there can be no compromise on the question of independence.
Diplomatic sources believe the talks will last up to nine months, after which the main Western powers will then act to impose "conditional independence" on Kosovo. The Albanians will probably accept that, plus a high level of autonomy for Serbian areas. Serb leaders however, resigned as they may be to the reality of the situation, say they will never formally accept the loss of Kosovo, which they regard as the cradle of their civilisation.
In principle, Kosovo Albanians will be led into talks by Ibrahim Rugova, their president and the best-known symbol of Kosovo.
However Mr Rugova is ill with lung cancer. If he dies or is incapacitated, it is expected to weaken the Albanian negotiating position.
Published: 24 October 2005
The United Nations Security Council convenes at 10am today. By lunchtime, it is expected to have made a momentous decision, that could lead to the birth of a new state in Europe.
The 15-member council is to recommend that talks on the future status of Kosovo, a territory contested between Serbs and the majority ethnic Albanians, begin as soon as possible.
Meeting in Rome last Thursday, diplomats from the main Western countries that deal with the former Yugoslavia, plus Russia agreed on what will happen today so as to make sure that there are no late hitches.
Ever since the end of the Kosovo war in 1999 the territory has been under the jurisdiction of the UN, although legally it remains a part of Serbia. The process, which will begin today, is expected to end Serbia's sovereignty over Kosovo.
The council will be addressed by Kai Eide, the Norwegian diplomat who drew up the report on Kosovo. Within days of the meeting, Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary General is set to appoint Martti Ahtisaari, the former Finnish president to lead talks.
After a period of shuttle diplomacy he is expected to draw up a draft plan for the future of the territory that will propose what is known as "conditional independence". It means that Kosovo will no longer be part of Serbia but its independence will, for a transitional period, be curtailed, rather like that of Bosnia where policy is shaped by a high level representative of the international community.
While Serbia will resist the ending of its sovereignty over Kosovo, diplomats say that Russia, on whom the Serbian leadership was hoping for support, has already betrayed it.
In 1999, Nato mounted a 78-day bombing campaign against what was then still known as Yugoslavia. The bombing came after talks failed to produce a settlement between Serbs and separatist Albanian guerrillas.
Ever since, Kosovo has been run by the UN although progressively power has been transferred to its own elected authorities. Some 100,000 Serbs remain in Kosovo out of a total population of 2 million, more than 90 per cent of whom are ethnic Albanians who have consistently shown that they want independence.
Most of those Serbs who remain, live in enclaves some of which have to be protected by Nato-led peacekeepers. In March 2004, ethnic Albanian rioting left 19 dead and some 4,000 Serbs and Roma were ethnically cleansed. In his report, Mr Eide described inter-ethnic relations as "grim".
Serbia will fight a fierce rearguard action to retain sovereignty, if little else, over Kosovo.
Indeed, according to Dusan Batakovic, advisor on Kosovo to Serbian president Boris Tadic: "People think Serbia has given up Kosovo but it is not the case - to the contrary in fact."
Serbia says the Albanians can have virtually anything they want except full independence. Albanians say that everything is negotiable except independence. Indeed a movement is now gathering pace in Kosovo to oppose the coming talks.
It is led by Albin Kurti, a 30-year old former political prisoner who is organising supporters to be ready to take to the streets. He says he is against talks because they aim at compromise and there can be no compromise on the question of independence.
Diplomatic sources believe the talks will last up to nine months, after which the main Western powers will then act to impose "conditional independence" on Kosovo. The Albanians will probably accept that, plus a high level of autonomy for Serbian areas. Serb leaders however, resigned as they may be to the reality of the situation, say they will never formally accept the loss of Kosovo, which they regard as the cradle of their civilisation.
In principle, Kosovo Albanians will be led into talks by Ibrahim Rugova, their president and the best-known symbol of Kosovo.
However Mr Rugova is ill with lung cancer. If he dies or is incapacitated, it is expected to weaken the Albanian negotiating position.
John Beyrle - U.S. Envoy for Kosovo Talks?
U.S. Ambassador to Bulgaria
A career officer in the senior Foreign Service at the rank of Minister-Counselor, John Beyrle has held policy positions and overseas assignments with an emphasis on U.S. relations Central and Eastern Europe and Russia and the USSR. He took up his duties as U.S. Ambassador in Sofia, Bulgaria in August, 2005. From 2002-05, he served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, following a Washington assignment as Acting Special Adviser to the Secretary of State for the New Independent States, an Assistant Secretary-level position overseeing relations with the states of the former Soviet Union. He had previously worked as Deputy Special Adviser in the same office.
From 1993-95, Mr. Beyrle was Director for Russian, Ukrainian and Eurasian Affairs on the staff of the National Security Council. His overseas assignments have included postings to the U.S. Embassies in Moscow and Sofia as a Political Officer and as Counselor for Political and Economic Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Prague. He has served as a member of the U.S. Delegation to the CFE Negotiations in Vienna, as a staff officer to Secretaries of State George Shultz and James Baker, and as a Pearson Fellow and foreign policy adviser to the late Senator Paul Simon (D-IL).
Mr. Beyrle received a B.A. degree with honors from Grand Valley State University (Michigan) and an M.S. as a Distinguished Graduate of the National War College, where he later taught as a Visiting Professor of National Security Studies. His foreign languages are Bulgarian, Czech, French, German and Russian. He is married to Jocelyn Greene, who is also a Foreign Service Officer. They have two daughters, Alison and Caroline.
A career officer in the senior Foreign Service at the rank of Minister-Counselor, John Beyrle has held policy positions and overseas assignments with an emphasis on U.S. relations Central and Eastern Europe and Russia and the USSR. He took up his duties as U.S. Ambassador in Sofia, Bulgaria in August, 2005. From 2002-05, he served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, following a Washington assignment as Acting Special Adviser to the Secretary of State for the New Independent States, an Assistant Secretary-level position overseeing relations with the states of the former Soviet Union. He had previously worked as Deputy Special Adviser in the same office.
From 1993-95, Mr. Beyrle was Director for Russian, Ukrainian and Eurasian Affairs on the staff of the National Security Council. His overseas assignments have included postings to the U.S. Embassies in Moscow and Sofia as a Political Officer and as Counselor for Political and Economic Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Prague. He has served as a member of the U.S. Delegation to the CFE Negotiations in Vienna, as a staff officer to Secretaries of State George Shultz and James Baker, and as a Pearson Fellow and foreign policy adviser to the late Senator Paul Simon (D-IL).
Mr. Beyrle received a B.A. degree with honors from Grand Valley State University (Michigan) and an M.S. as a Distinguished Graduate of the National War College, where he later taught as a Visiting Professor of National Security Studies. His foreign languages are Bulgarian, Czech, French, German and Russian. He is married to Jocelyn Greene, who is also a Foreign Service Officer. They have two daughters, Alison and Caroline.
Kosovo PM wants full independence after UN talks
PRISTINA, Serbia and Montenegro (Reuters) - Kosovo will accept international "observation" or advice after United Nations mediation on its fate, but the West can no longer place conditions on its independence from Serbia, the province's ethnic Albanian prime minister says.
"There definitely cannot be any conditions or new interim phases since they are obstructing economic progress," Bajram Kosumi told Reuters in an interview before the UN Security Council launches talks on the future of the disputed territory at a session on Monday.
He said he expected an international "observation or advisory" mission after talks as "a psychological and practical guarantee for ethnic groups that their rights are observed."
"But Kosovo must be an independent and sovereign state."
Kosumi's comments mark a shift toward the compromise urged by the United States and European Union as they move to decide the status of the majority Albanian province, legally part of Serbia but run by the United Nations since the 1998-99 war.
But they differ from what diplomats say some Western capitals are considering -- an independent Kosovo without full sovereignty, where the international community would reserve certain powers for years to come, particularly over human rights and minority protection.
Diplomats say the West, though publicly refusing to back any particular solution, is preparing to push for "conditional independence" in talks that could last until spring next year.
Serbia says independence is impossible, conditional or not.
Serbs say Kosovo, home to scores of centuries-old Orthodox religious sites, is sacred land. A clue to the diplomatic minefield ahead was Belgrade's cancellation last week of a visit by the Slovenian president after he backed independence for Kosovo.
The West has all but written off Serbia's official offer of broad autonomy as unworkable, a red rag to 2 million Albanians -- 90 percent of the population -- who reject a return to Serb control.
"Belgrade will never have the right to decide Kosovo's future," said Kosumi. "If Belgrade was asked, Kosovo might not even exist today," he said, echoing some foreign observers who say Serbia lost the moral right to govern the province in 1999. Continued ...
"There definitely cannot be any conditions or new interim phases since they are obstructing economic progress," Bajram Kosumi told Reuters in an interview before the UN Security Council launches talks on the future of the disputed territory at a session on Monday.
He said he expected an international "observation or advisory" mission after talks as "a psychological and practical guarantee for ethnic groups that their rights are observed."
"But Kosovo must be an independent and sovereign state."
Kosumi's comments mark a shift toward the compromise urged by the United States and European Union as they move to decide the status of the majority Albanian province, legally part of Serbia but run by the United Nations since the 1998-99 war.
But they differ from what diplomats say some Western capitals are considering -- an independent Kosovo without full sovereignty, where the international community would reserve certain powers for years to come, particularly over human rights and minority protection.
Diplomats say the West, though publicly refusing to back any particular solution, is preparing to push for "conditional independence" in talks that could last until spring next year.
Serbia says independence is impossible, conditional or not.
Serbs say Kosovo, home to scores of centuries-old Orthodox religious sites, is sacred land. A clue to the diplomatic minefield ahead was Belgrade's cancellation last week of a visit by the Slovenian president after he backed independence for Kosovo.
The West has all but written off Serbia's official offer of broad autonomy as unworkable, a red rag to 2 million Albanians -- 90 percent of the population -- who reject a return to Serb control.
"Belgrade will never have the right to decide Kosovo's future," said Kosumi. "If Belgrade was asked, Kosovo might not even exist today," he said, echoing some foreign observers who say Serbia lost the moral right to govern the province in 1999. Continued ...
For Kosovo, only one way forward - The International Herald Tribune
Soren Jessen-Petersen International Herald Tribune
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2005
PRISTINA, Kosovo The UN Security Council meets in New York on Monday to discuss Kosovo, six years, four months and 14 days after the passage of Resolution 1244, which marked the end of Slobodan Milosevic's reign of terror in Kosovo, and the beginning of a period of UN interim international administration there.
Six years, four months and 14 days is a long time for any place to be under interim administration. But it is not unprecedented. In Bosnia, 10 years after the end of its horrific war, the international community retains a large degree of executive authority through the Office of the High Representative. What is perhaps unique about Kosovo, though, is that its ultimate destination - its future status - has been undefined throughout this period.
This legal limbo, in which Kosovo remains part of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro (the successor state to Yugoslavia) but administered by the United Nations pending a final resolution of its status, has ceased to be sustainable. It is blocking efforts toward reconciliation in Kosovo.
The majority, the Kosovo Albanians, are worried about returning to the past and the Kosovo Serbs are worried about an uncertain future. The uncertainty that this situation engenders has a corrosive effect on regional politics. And its effects are also damaging economically, making investors chary of committing their money and preventing access to much-needed capital markets and international financial institutions.
In June, the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, appointed a special envoy, Kai Eide, to undertake a comprehensive overview of the situation in Kosovo. On the basis of that report, the secretary general has recommended to the Security Council that the process of settling Kosovo's status should commence "very soon."
If, as I hope, the Security Council agrees with the secretary general to open the status process, then Annan will appoint a special envoy who will begin what is likely, at least at first, to be an exhausting round of shuttle diplomacy between Belgrade and Pristina, regional capitals and the capitals of key European countries, as well as the United States.
Despite its manifest importance, however, the resolution of Kosovo's status will not - as too many people in Kosovo believe - prove to be a panacea. There are many practical issues to be dealt with, during and after status talks.
Most pressing from a human perspective is the question of minority rights. Too many Serbs and members of other minorities in Kosovo still fear for their safety. It is shameful to all of us that about 20 percent of Kosovo's Serbs do not feel free to move around safely within Kosovo.
Intimidation and a lack of freedom of movement are unacceptable and we will continue to work closely with the provisional government of Kosovo and with the representatives of the Serbian community to do everything we can to improve their quality of life. And while we are continuing to integrate the Kosovo Serbs into society, it is important that Belgrade finally allow them to take part in the political life of Kosovo and thereby give them a chance to reshape their own future.
Meanwhile Kosovo's economy remains in the doldrums, despite a large, young workforce and impressive mineral resources. Part of the problem lies with Kosovo's unresolved status, as I have mentioned, but unclear property rights also play a role. Kosovo's property records were removed to Belgrade in 1999 and have not been returned. These records are of little use to anyone in Belgrade, but would be of incalculable benefit to all if brought back to Pristina - a small gesture that could have a large effect.
The expectations attached to the status process are high in Kosovo. And so they should be. It is not every day that a process as historic as this is set in motion by the Security Council. We have come to this historic moment because there is broad agreement that the status quo is not sustainable.
An early resolution of the status question will finally allow Kosovo and the wider region to bury the past and focus on urgent social and economic priorities. It will also allow Kosovo and its neighbors to speed up their journey toward Europe.
(Soren Jessen-Petersen is the special representative of the UN secretary general and head of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo.)
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2005
PRISTINA, Kosovo The UN Security Council meets in New York on Monday to discuss Kosovo, six years, four months and 14 days after the passage of Resolution 1244, which marked the end of Slobodan Milosevic's reign of terror in Kosovo, and the beginning of a period of UN interim international administration there.
Six years, four months and 14 days is a long time for any place to be under interim administration. But it is not unprecedented. In Bosnia, 10 years after the end of its horrific war, the international community retains a large degree of executive authority through the Office of the High Representative. What is perhaps unique about Kosovo, though, is that its ultimate destination - its future status - has been undefined throughout this period.
This legal limbo, in which Kosovo remains part of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro (the successor state to Yugoslavia) but administered by the United Nations pending a final resolution of its status, has ceased to be sustainable. It is blocking efforts toward reconciliation in Kosovo.
The majority, the Kosovo Albanians, are worried about returning to the past and the Kosovo Serbs are worried about an uncertain future. The uncertainty that this situation engenders has a corrosive effect on regional politics. And its effects are also damaging economically, making investors chary of committing their money and preventing access to much-needed capital markets and international financial institutions.
In June, the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, appointed a special envoy, Kai Eide, to undertake a comprehensive overview of the situation in Kosovo. On the basis of that report, the secretary general has recommended to the Security Council that the process of settling Kosovo's status should commence "very soon."
If, as I hope, the Security Council agrees with the secretary general to open the status process, then Annan will appoint a special envoy who will begin what is likely, at least at first, to be an exhausting round of shuttle diplomacy between Belgrade and Pristina, regional capitals and the capitals of key European countries, as well as the United States.
Despite its manifest importance, however, the resolution of Kosovo's status will not - as too many people in Kosovo believe - prove to be a panacea. There are many practical issues to be dealt with, during and after status talks.
Most pressing from a human perspective is the question of minority rights. Too many Serbs and members of other minorities in Kosovo still fear for their safety. It is shameful to all of us that about 20 percent of Kosovo's Serbs do not feel free to move around safely within Kosovo.
Intimidation and a lack of freedom of movement are unacceptable and we will continue to work closely with the provisional government of Kosovo and with the representatives of the Serbian community to do everything we can to improve their quality of life. And while we are continuing to integrate the Kosovo Serbs into society, it is important that Belgrade finally allow them to take part in the political life of Kosovo and thereby give them a chance to reshape their own future.
Meanwhile Kosovo's economy remains in the doldrums, despite a large, young workforce and impressive mineral resources. Part of the problem lies with Kosovo's unresolved status, as I have mentioned, but unclear property rights also play a role. Kosovo's property records were removed to Belgrade in 1999 and have not been returned. These records are of little use to anyone in Belgrade, but would be of incalculable benefit to all if brought back to Pristina - a small gesture that could have a large effect.
The expectations attached to the status process are high in Kosovo. And so they should be. It is not every day that a process as historic as this is set in motion by the Security Council. We have come to this historic moment because there is broad agreement that the status quo is not sustainable.
An early resolution of the status question will finally allow Kosovo and the wider region to bury the past and focus on urgent social and economic priorities. It will also allow Kosovo and its neighbors to speed up their journey toward Europe.
(Soren Jessen-Petersen is the special representative of the UN secretary general and head of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo.)
Fleeing past, meeting his death - The Chicago Tribune
By Colin McMahon Tribune foreign correspondent 30 minutes ago
Nebojsa Minic looked pitiable on his deathbed, shriveled beyond recognition, eyes rolling in his head, a misshapen mouth struggling to utter the simplest of words.
But pity often eludes those who fail to show it themselves. And according to the survivors of ethnic Albanian families massacred by Serb militias in Kosovo, Minic never showed humanity, much less pity. If Nebojsa Minic, commander of the notorious Lightning paramilitary group, was rotting on the other side of the world, he would get no sympathy from the Albanian town of Pec.
"Home," Minic said repeatedly in a tense interview Tuesday night, 36 hours before he died. It was one of the few words besides "yes" or "no" that Minic could say clearly, and he kept coming back to it like a prayer.
But it was not Pec he meant by home; it was his apartment in the western Argentine city of Mendoza.
Kosovo? "No," Minic said. He did not want to go there.
Minic's run from his blood-soaked past began in 1999 after the men of Lightning were accused of dozens of rapes, robberies and murders of Albanian Muslims in Kosovo. It ended Thursday in a cramped public hospital in Mendoza, on a plastic mattress with soiled linen, when Minic, 41, stopped breathing and freed the hand of his devoted Argentine girlfriend.
In between those bookends of death, Minic stumbled through a half-dozen countries, through moneymaking schemes that sometimes worked and sometimes didn't. The odyssey bought Minic time, but it never brought him peace.
Minic could not escape a Mendoza state police investigator. He could not escape a jilted lover who gave Minic a roof, food and money only to be repaid with intimidation. He could not escape cancer and AIDS.
Nor could he escape the horrors of Kosovo or the nickname he adopted there: "Mrtvi," the Serbian word for "dead."
"He seems tremendously sad," Minic's attorney, Alejandra Ruiz, said the day before he died. "He cannot imagine a life without war. . . . The thing is: He could have led a normal life here, and now he's dying."
Minic's "normal" life in Mendoza was a mess of irregularities. He told people he was rich but often had no pocket money. He opened a pizzeria called La Bomba without a proper permit. He came into Argentina on a false passport, was arrested for using a second false passport and then freed and allowed to stay in Mendoza using his first false identity.
Friends, lovers and even Minic's guards at the hospital called him "Vlada" until the day he died. But the real Vlada Radivojevic, whose identity Minic had assumed, was somewhere in Europe, according to a police trace of passport and immigration records.
"I was shocked when I saw the files," said Omar Perez Botti, Mendoza's top police investigator when authorities were tipped about Minic's true identity in March 2005.
Ghastly crimes
The crimes Minic was accused of ordering or participating in were ghastly. Munja, or Lightning, was a loose grouping of police, thugs and self-proclaimed Serb patriots who engaged in violent "ethnic cleansing" of Albanians from Pec and other Kosovo communities.
Testimony collected by human-rights activists and Serbian prosecutors accuses Minic of joining a Serb paramilitary raid on the village of Cuska in which 41 ethnic Albanians were executed. Minic was also accused of ordering the rape, torture and murder of members of the Bala family in Pec.
In the interview Tuesday night, Minic responded to a series of questions with "yes" or "no." Occasionally he forced out a clear word or a phrase, fighting the paralysis that had spread through most of his body. His lack of teeth made it worse--Minic had yanked several out himself when they rotted in his mouth.
Minic's girlfriend, Anahi Escobedo, manipulated Minic's mouth to help him articulate. She stroked his head, which lacked the long black and gray hair that had given him a bohemian look a few months before, and held cigarettes up to his mouth.
Minic held the gaze of his questioners, and there was plenty of fire left in the blue eyes that had so unnerved and intimidated Lightning's victims. He acknowledged knowing other members of Lightning. But he reacted with disdain when confronted with the accusations and when told that many people in Kosovo hated him.
"No," Minic said, giving his head a slight shake, he did not kill innocent civilians.
"No," the war was not about religion.
"Yes," God still loved him.
"No," he did not regret anything he had done.
"I am not a criminal," Minic said. "I am a soldier."
Minic's definition of soldier is as loose as his definition of war. Anything went in war, he told friends, lovers and people he merely ran into through his travels. There could be no such thing as a war crime, Minic said. And if you were not there, if you did not see the fallen comrades and the civilians tortured by the other side, then you cannot know what war is, nor can you judge.
"He would say he was the kind of person who leads," said Iris Palomares, a 52-year-old science professor in Mendoza who thought that she and Minic were in love but now believes he was just using her.
"He said, `Some people could say I was a criminal, but others would say I was a leader who defended my country.'"
Palomares and others said Minic spent hours talking about his life, especially about the Kosovo war. At times he would say he was a "very bad person."
Then one night, during a typical conversation in the kitchen, Minic told Palomares and her son that he was on the Internet. He spoke his real name, even wrote it down, and suggested she look for him on the Web. She and her son tried, she said, with Minic by their side. But maybe because the connection was poor, nothing came up. Minic appeared surprised.
"I never have understood why he told me that story. He did not tell me the details. He just gave me the name and told me it was a nom de guerre," Palomares said. "Maybe he wanted me to turn him in."
Whatever Minic's motive, writing down his real name led to his arrest.
After Minic and Palomares had a falling out, things turned ugly. There were disputes over money, with Palomares estimating she loaned Minic thousands of dollars to get travel documents and start his business ventures. Minic accused Palomares of stalking him. He even went to the police for a restraining order.
Then one day, angry and suspicious, Palomares found the name scribbled among some papers. She went to an Internet cafe and ran a full search. The screen filled with hit after hit.
"I wanted to die," she said, futilely trying to hold back tears during a 90-minute interview. "That I had a person like this with such a past in my house with my children.
"He was always making you feel sorry for him and making you help him," Palomares said. "I don't understand how I as a grown woman did not see this."
Palomares went to the local police, and eventually her information reached Perez Botti. In mid-May, Minic was arrested while being treated at the hospital for lung cancer and AIDS.
Within weeks, Serbian war crimes prosecutors would request Minic's extradition. That process was working its way through Argentine courts when Minic died.
`Not the same man'
On the morning of Minic's death, Escobedo stood by the corpse and idly rubbed Minic's ankle and calf. She had dressed him in jeans and a light blue shirt. She had closed his eyes. And she had wrapped a bandage around his head to keep his jaw closed. It gave Nebojsa Minic a cartoonish look, like a corpse with a toothache.
"This man called Nebojsa, this is not the same man I know as Vlada," Escobedo said.
And she was right. The man lying there was a picture of impotence and frailty. Minic had decayed from the inside out, and whatever fear, rage and hate he had been hauling around were no longer dangerous or frightening or volatile. It was still there, spent, stuck inside him.
Nebojsa Minic looked pitiable on his deathbed, shriveled beyond recognition, eyes rolling in his head, a misshapen mouth struggling to utter the simplest of words.
But pity often eludes those who fail to show it themselves. And according to the survivors of ethnic Albanian families massacred by Serb militias in Kosovo, Minic never showed humanity, much less pity. If Nebojsa Minic, commander of the notorious Lightning paramilitary group, was rotting on the other side of the world, he would get no sympathy from the Albanian town of Pec.
"Home," Minic said repeatedly in a tense interview Tuesday night, 36 hours before he died. It was one of the few words besides "yes" or "no" that Minic could say clearly, and he kept coming back to it like a prayer.
But it was not Pec he meant by home; it was his apartment in the western Argentine city of Mendoza.
Kosovo? "No," Minic said. He did not want to go there.
Minic's run from his blood-soaked past began in 1999 after the men of Lightning were accused of dozens of rapes, robberies and murders of Albanian Muslims in Kosovo. It ended Thursday in a cramped public hospital in Mendoza, on a plastic mattress with soiled linen, when Minic, 41, stopped breathing and freed the hand of his devoted Argentine girlfriend.
In between those bookends of death, Minic stumbled through a half-dozen countries, through moneymaking schemes that sometimes worked and sometimes didn't. The odyssey bought Minic time, but it never brought him peace.
Minic could not escape a Mendoza state police investigator. He could not escape a jilted lover who gave Minic a roof, food and money only to be repaid with intimidation. He could not escape cancer and AIDS.
Nor could he escape the horrors of Kosovo or the nickname he adopted there: "Mrtvi," the Serbian word for "dead."
"He seems tremendously sad," Minic's attorney, Alejandra Ruiz, said the day before he died. "He cannot imagine a life without war. . . . The thing is: He could have led a normal life here, and now he's dying."
Minic's "normal" life in Mendoza was a mess of irregularities. He told people he was rich but often had no pocket money. He opened a pizzeria called La Bomba without a proper permit. He came into Argentina on a false passport, was arrested for using a second false passport and then freed and allowed to stay in Mendoza using his first false identity.
Friends, lovers and even Minic's guards at the hospital called him "Vlada" until the day he died. But the real Vlada Radivojevic, whose identity Minic had assumed, was somewhere in Europe, according to a police trace of passport and immigration records.
"I was shocked when I saw the files," said Omar Perez Botti, Mendoza's top police investigator when authorities were tipped about Minic's true identity in March 2005.
Ghastly crimes
The crimes Minic was accused of ordering or participating in were ghastly. Munja, or Lightning, was a loose grouping of police, thugs and self-proclaimed Serb patriots who engaged in violent "ethnic cleansing" of Albanians from Pec and other Kosovo communities.
Testimony collected by human-rights activists and Serbian prosecutors accuses Minic of joining a Serb paramilitary raid on the village of Cuska in which 41 ethnic Albanians were executed. Minic was also accused of ordering the rape, torture and murder of members of the Bala family in Pec.
In the interview Tuesday night, Minic responded to a series of questions with "yes" or "no." Occasionally he forced out a clear word or a phrase, fighting the paralysis that had spread through most of his body. His lack of teeth made it worse--Minic had yanked several out himself when they rotted in his mouth.
Minic's girlfriend, Anahi Escobedo, manipulated Minic's mouth to help him articulate. She stroked his head, which lacked the long black and gray hair that had given him a bohemian look a few months before, and held cigarettes up to his mouth.
Minic held the gaze of his questioners, and there was plenty of fire left in the blue eyes that had so unnerved and intimidated Lightning's victims. He acknowledged knowing other members of Lightning. But he reacted with disdain when confronted with the accusations and when told that many people in Kosovo hated him.
"No," Minic said, giving his head a slight shake, he did not kill innocent civilians.
"No," the war was not about religion.
"Yes," God still loved him.
"No," he did not regret anything he had done.
"I am not a criminal," Minic said. "I am a soldier."
Minic's definition of soldier is as loose as his definition of war. Anything went in war, he told friends, lovers and people he merely ran into through his travels. There could be no such thing as a war crime, Minic said. And if you were not there, if you did not see the fallen comrades and the civilians tortured by the other side, then you cannot know what war is, nor can you judge.
"He would say he was the kind of person who leads," said Iris Palomares, a 52-year-old science professor in Mendoza who thought that she and Minic were in love but now believes he was just using her.
"He said, `Some people could say I was a criminal, but others would say I was a leader who defended my country.'"
Palomares and others said Minic spent hours talking about his life, especially about the Kosovo war. At times he would say he was a "very bad person."
Then one night, during a typical conversation in the kitchen, Minic told Palomares and her son that he was on the Internet. He spoke his real name, even wrote it down, and suggested she look for him on the Web. She and her son tried, she said, with Minic by their side. But maybe because the connection was poor, nothing came up. Minic appeared surprised.
"I never have understood why he told me that story. He did not tell me the details. He just gave me the name and told me it was a nom de guerre," Palomares said. "Maybe he wanted me to turn him in."
Whatever Minic's motive, writing down his real name led to his arrest.
After Minic and Palomares had a falling out, things turned ugly. There were disputes over money, with Palomares estimating she loaned Minic thousands of dollars to get travel documents and start his business ventures. Minic accused Palomares of stalking him. He even went to the police for a restraining order.
Then one day, angry and suspicious, Palomares found the name scribbled among some papers. She went to an Internet cafe and ran a full search. The screen filled with hit after hit.
"I wanted to die," she said, futilely trying to hold back tears during a 90-minute interview. "That I had a person like this with such a past in my house with my children.
"He was always making you feel sorry for him and making you help him," Palomares said. "I don't understand how I as a grown woman did not see this."
Palomares went to the local police, and eventually her information reached Perez Botti. In mid-May, Minic was arrested while being treated at the hospital for lung cancer and AIDS.
Within weeks, Serbian war crimes prosecutors would request Minic's extradition. That process was working its way through Argentine courts when Minic died.
`Not the same man'
On the morning of Minic's death, Escobedo stood by the corpse and idly rubbed Minic's ankle and calf. She had dressed him in jeans and a light blue shirt. She had closed his eyes. And she had wrapped a bandage around his head to keep his jaw closed. It gave Nebojsa Minic a cartoonish look, like a corpse with a toothache.
"This man called Nebojsa, this is not the same man I know as Vlada," Escobedo said.
And she was right. The man lying there was a picture of impotence and frailty. Minic had decayed from the inside out, and whatever fear, rage and hate he had been hauling around were no longer dangerous or frightening or volatile. It was still there, spent, stuck inside him.
Saturday, October 22, 2005
Serbian PM says he will never accept the independence of Kosovo
BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) - Serbia's prime minister said Saturday that he would never accept the granting of independence to the republic's U.N.-run Kosovo province.
Vojislav Kostunica spoke shortly before leaving Belgrade for New York where he will head Serbia's delegation at a key United Nations Security Council session on Kosovo on Monday.
The Security Council is expected to announce the start of U.N-mediated talks -- possibly as early as next month -- which are to determine the future status of Serbia's volatile province.
Kosovo, formally part of Serbia, has been an international protectorate for more than six years and its majority ethnic Albanian population overwhelmingly favors independence for the region.
But Kostunica said Serbia would never accept such "legal violence" against Serbia.
"Kosovo is an integral part of Serbia, always has been and must remain that way," Kostunica said.
Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations and NATO since the Alliance launched an air war in 1999 against Serbia to end its crackdown against separatist ethnic Albanians.
The Kosovo status is a tense issue, as the ethnic Albanians refuse to settle for anything less than independence and Serbia insists the region must not break away.
Kostunica said that Serbia is "ready for a compromise," which would include "substantial autonomy" for Kosovo but within the boundaries of Serbia-Montenegro.
Kosovo's ethnic Albanians in the past have rejected such offers from Belgrade.
Vojislav Kostunica spoke shortly before leaving Belgrade for New York where he will head Serbia's delegation at a key United Nations Security Council session on Kosovo on Monday.
The Security Council is expected to announce the start of U.N-mediated talks -- possibly as early as next month -- which are to determine the future status of Serbia's volatile province.
Kosovo, formally part of Serbia, has been an international protectorate for more than six years and its majority ethnic Albanian population overwhelmingly favors independence for the region.
But Kostunica said Serbia would never accept such "legal violence" against Serbia.
"Kosovo is an integral part of Serbia, always has been and must remain that way," Kostunica said.
Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations and NATO since the Alliance launched an air war in 1999 against Serbia to end its crackdown against separatist ethnic Albanians.
The Kosovo status is a tense issue, as the ethnic Albanians refuse to settle for anything less than independence and Serbia insists the region must not break away.
Kostunica said that Serbia is "ready for a compromise," which would include "substantial autonomy" for Kosovo but within the boundaries of Serbia-Montenegro.
Kosovo's ethnic Albanians in the past have rejected such offers from Belgrade.
Serbia minister linked to Mladic
A retired general with links to war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic has been appointed the new defence minister for Serbia and Montenegro.
Zoran Stankovic, 50, a former head of Belgrade military hospital, was voted in by parliament with a large majority.
He replaces Prvoslav Davinic, who resigned amid claims he misused funds.
Mr Stankovic's appointment has prompted media speculation he may negotiate Gen Mladic's surrender. He met the top UN war crimes prosecutor last month.
Mr Stankovic, a pathologist, says he developed a "special relationship" with Gen Mladic after carrying out an autopsy on his daughter when she killed herself in 1994.
However, he said he had not seen the former Bosnian Serb army commander for six years and did not know his current whereabouts.
'Not realistic'
Speaking to Belgrade TV channel B92 shortly after his appointment, Mr Stankovic said he would ensure Serbia's security forces kept up their hunt for Gen Mladic.
But, he added: "It is not realistic to think that a defence minister will run after Mladic through the mountains."
He said he had met prosecutor Carla del Ponte to hear what the UN war crimes tribunal wanted from the army.
Several officers are on trial in the Hague over crimes allegedly committed during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war.
Gen Mladic, on the run since 1995, is accused of orchestrating the killing of nearly 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica - the worst single atrocity in Europe since World War II.
Ms del Ponte has urged the Serbian authorities to arrest him by mid-December to face charges of genocide.
The tribunal believes Gen Mladic is being hidden within Serbia's borders by hardliners in the military.
Mr Stankovic was the choice of Serbia for the post of defence minister for Serbia and Montenegro. The union retains a common army and council of ministers.
Mr Davinic resigned after he was accused of ordering more than double the amount of military equipment needed in a $300m (£164m) private deal.
Zoran Stankovic, 50, a former head of Belgrade military hospital, was voted in by parliament with a large majority.
He replaces Prvoslav Davinic, who resigned amid claims he misused funds.
Mr Stankovic's appointment has prompted media speculation he may negotiate Gen Mladic's surrender. He met the top UN war crimes prosecutor last month.
Mr Stankovic, a pathologist, says he developed a "special relationship" with Gen Mladic after carrying out an autopsy on his daughter when she killed herself in 1994.
However, he said he had not seen the former Bosnian Serb army commander for six years and did not know his current whereabouts.
'Not realistic'
Speaking to Belgrade TV channel B92 shortly after his appointment, Mr Stankovic said he would ensure Serbia's security forces kept up their hunt for Gen Mladic.
But, he added: "It is not realistic to think that a defence minister will run after Mladic through the mountains."
He said he had met prosecutor Carla del Ponte to hear what the UN war crimes tribunal wanted from the army.
Several officers are on trial in the Hague over crimes allegedly committed during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war.
Gen Mladic, on the run since 1995, is accused of orchestrating the killing of nearly 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica - the worst single atrocity in Europe since World War II.
Ms del Ponte has urged the Serbian authorities to arrest him by mid-December to face charges of genocide.
The tribunal believes Gen Mladic is being hidden within Serbia's borders by hardliners in the military.
Mr Stankovic was the choice of Serbia for the post of defence minister for Serbia and Montenegro. The union retains a common army and council of ministers.
Mr Davinic resigned after he was accused of ordering more than double the amount of military equipment needed in a $300m (£164m) private deal.
Friday, October 21, 2005
Kosovo Continues to Bury War Victims
Relatives attend the burial of 30 Kosovo Albanians October 21, 2005, who were killed during the 1998-99 war between Serb forces and separatist guerrillas and buried in mass graves 350 kilometres north in Belgrade. The funeral took place in Kosovo Polje, just outside Kosovo's capital Pristina after the remains were returned from Serbia. REUTERS/Hazir Reka
I, Ramush - Salon.com
Former Kosovar rebel and prime minister Ramush Haradinaj is a local hero. He also faces war crime charges.
By Ginanne Brownell
Oct. 21, 2005 | Ramush Haradinaj was locked up in a jail cell in The Hague from March until June this year, charged with heinous war crimes committed during Kosovo's war against its parent state, Serbia, in the 1990s. Formerly a commander in the guerrilla group the Kosovo Liberation Army, Haradinaj was elected prime minister in December 2004. His political reign ended after only three months, when he stepped down to face charges brought by the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia).
Still, this summer, images of the darkly handsome 37-year-old loomed large across the region. Billboards bearing his name towered over Pristina, the capital. Shopkeepers along "Bill Klinton" Boulevard taped up fliers showing their support for him. Across the countryside, young and old alike wore T-shirts emblazoned with the phrase "Our Prime has a job to do here."
This fall may be the most integral time in Kosovo's history. In early October, Kai Eide, Kofi Annan's special envoy to Kosovo, presented a report outlining whether the perennially wartorn region had met the various democratic and human rights standards set out by the United Nations in 2003. It is expected that Eide's report will open the door for negotiations to begin in November on whether Kosovo will be granted nationhood by the U.N.
Currently, conventional wisdom says it's a matter of when rather than if Kosovo, whose ethnic population is 90 percent Albanian, will be granted conditional independence. Says one former international official familiar with Balkan politics: "The road ahead may be rocky, but the international community wants it to end in some form of independence, because everyone realizes that the Albanian majority will accept nothing else."
If so, it would be a momentous occasion for Kosovo. And for anyone who wants to understand the embattled land, its conflicted leaders, and its tenuous relationship with the West, perhaps the best place to begin is with the story of Ramush Haradinaj.
The man and the myth are impossible to separate in a region that is a dense thicket of dangerous innuendoes, rumors and propaganda. He has been described as highly intelligent and disciplined. A native of Kosovo and an ethnic Albanian, he is almost universally credited with leading his fragile nation toward independence from Serbia, and doing more in his 100 days in office than the previous government had done in three years.
But there is another side to Ramush -- his first name alone is universal across Kosovo. He is a scrappy man who, when provoked, can lash out with chilling results. Earlier this spring he caustically told a group of protesters at a rally to shut up or "I'll fuck your mothers." His detractors describe him as a ruthless military "psychopath" who terrorized his own men and the local population into loyalty. And his ICTY rap sheet details 17 crimes against humanity including overseeing murder, rape and the displacement of people.
Haradinaj's trial is scheduled to begin in January 2007. Provisions of his release from The Hague in June meant that he was not allowed to contact politicians, attend public events or speak with journalists. That time expired in early September and now Haradinaj is planning a return to the political scene. It could not have come at a more effective time. Haradinaj's prime ministerial successor, Bajram Kosumi, has been hit with corruption and sex allegations, and has had a weak support base. Earlier this summer, it was revealed that Kosovo's President Ibrahim Rugova, who has no heir apparent, is battling lung cancer. So there is no single figurehead for Kosovo at the moment.
Politics in Kosovo have historically been a slippery slope of intrigues and mudslinging, and there are no guarantees that it will be granted independence by the United Nations. Serbs are certainly hellbent not to let Kosovo go. Serbia's President Boris Tadic has said his nation would be open to "more than autonomy" but it would be political suicide in Serbia to be seen to even consider independence for Kosovo. His main concern is that losing Kosovo might bring ultra-nationalist parties back into power. The northern regions of Kosovo also happen to have the greatest concentration of mineral wealth in all of southeastern Europe. And those resources are worth fighting for.
Kosovo has long been fought over as Serbs across the Balkans consider the region to be their holy land. Ethnic Serbs consider Kosovo the original seat of their Orthodox church, while Kosovar Albanians claim to be the original inhabitants. Kosovo was the place where the disintegration of Yugoslavia began in 1989, when Slobodan Milosevic whipped up Serbian nationalism at a speech at the historic site of Kosovo Polje, where the Serb Empire had been defeated by the Turks in 1389. Four wars erupted in quick succession -- in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo -- with violence, mayhem and the birth of the term "ethnic cleansing."
Today, Haradinaj's reputation within Kosovo and among those in the international community has not been crippled by his upcoming trial. Although many observers doubt that he can hold an elected position while he awaits his trial, there is a sense in Kosovo that he could emerge as a statesman-like figure in the status negotiations. "Ramush can play a 'Nixon goes to China' role by pursuing ethnic reconciliation on a daily basis," says Scott Bates, senior fellow for national security at the Center for National Policy. "He has the guts and street credibility to change the tone in Kosovo."
Haradinaj's bare-knuckles beginnings were exactly what Kosovo, battling for independence from Serbia, sought in a leader. His mix of raw intelligence and street smarts jived with Kosovars who were looking to follow someone who embodied the rural Kosovar spirit -- and not someone crowned with traditional Western credentials.
The second of 10 children, Haradinaj was the star kid of the large family. His mother, Ruki, says he was always a respectful and polite child, who from an early age seemed to know innately what was the right thing to do. "He was a child who felt for other people, and though I can try to take credit for teaching him that, it would not be true -- he was born with that gift."
Haradinaj's shopkeeper father, Hilmi, was a member of the Communist Party, and he raised his sprawling family in a part of Kosovo with strong nationalist traditions. "Culturally, Ramush was like someone who came from Arkansas or Tennessee, which is very different than coming from New York," says journalist James Pettifer, author of "Kosova Express." He excelled in school, often being given the opportunity to lead the class in schoolwork, and he used every opportunity to learn. "When he was very little he would write down numbers in the dirt and then erase them and write them over again and as he got older he would read lots of books, even when he was herding sheep he would be reading as he walked," his mother says.
His plans after graduating at the top of his class in 1987 were to volunteer in the Yugoslavian army for a year and then head to Pristina University to study astronomy. That, however, was never to be, though Haradinaj did obtain a university education by completing a law degree last year while serving in government.
Although he impressed his superiors enough to be promoted to corporal (something rare for an ethnic Albanian), the economic situation for the family was becoming bleaker and Haradinaj became an economic migrant. Working odd jobs in Switzerland, France and Italy as a nightclub bouncer, a martial arts teacher and a security guard at rock concerts, Haradinaj also fell in love for the first time. Joanna Carlsson, a young Finnish woman, was his live-in love for several years and is the mother of his eldest son. Their relationship ended around 2001, and in 2003 Haradinaj married a pretty TV presenter, Anita Mucaj, who is the mother of his son, Gjini.
While Haradinaj was living in Western Europe, learning French and English, back home Kosovo was simmering over with tensions as Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic kicked ethnic Albanians out of their state jobs and refused to admit them to university. Many in the diaspora, tired of how the Albanian leadership was preaching passive resistance, decided they must fight for their independence and Haradinaj took up the cause, smuggling weapons such as guns and grenades back to his parents' house on trips home.
In 1997, the nation of Albania, which borders Kosovo, fell into anarchy when a series of pyramid investment schemes went bust. Huge caches of weapons were thrown open to everyone, and the KLA, which had formed in 1993 and had been up to that point involved in small-scale guerrilla warfare against the Serbs, reaped the gold mine. The same year that Haradinaj witnessed his brother Luan being killed in an ambush, while smuggling arms across the mountain border between Kosovo and Albania, he proved his dedication to Kosovo by moving back to the region and becoming a point person for the KLA.
Haradinaj would later lose a second brother in the war and a third brother was murdered this past April in what was apparently a blood feud. The Haradinaj home became a guerrilla compound, and in 1998, the Serbs attacked the house and surrounding area hoping to dent the KLA operations in the region. During intense fighting, Haradinaj was shot in the leg, arm and lower stomach. Unable to see through all the smoke, he spoke to a silhouette he believed to be his father, telling him to take cover. The figure was a policeman who fired at Haradinaj. One "bullet hit me [in] the pocket where the keys were, so [it] did not have the full effect, but it caused me 12 different holes where the pieces of metal had gone," Haradinaj later recalled. Running into a room, he found some cheese and used it as a compress on his leg to stop the bleeding. He continued to fight against Serb forces until they eventually retreated several hours later.
The KLA continued to grow from a guerrilla operation to a small, organized army. Both the United States and NATO would eventually back the KLA, a controversial decision. At one point, the KLA was branded a terrorist organization by the State Department and funds going to the KLA were declared illegal. However, as the West was drawn closer and closer into war with Serbia, the KLA was seen as the key organization for providing intelligence.
Haradinaj moved up the ranks to become a senior commander. During a cease-fire in 1998, he came into contact with U.S. and British intelligence agents; realizing that Haradinaj controlled western Kosovo, they nurtured relations with him that would prove invaluable to all parties. The West gained important battlefield intelligence and Haradinaj made contacts that led to his rise as a politician. In March 1999, after months of shuttle diplomacy by the international community, hoping to get Serbia to end the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, NATO began a bombing campaign that would last three months. Haradinaj, equipped with a satellite phone supplied by the alliance, helped to pinpoint targets for bombing and continued to command his fighting troops.
"Ramush really struck me because he was just so calm and professional and very different from your average KLA soldier," says journalist Stacy Sullivan, author of "Be Not Afraid, for You Have Sons in America," which chronicles the links between U.S. Albanian émigrés and the KLA. But Haradinaj was also said to be a strict commander who would beat his men to maintain discipline. A British military official told London's Observer newspaper in 2000 he had seen Haradinaj beat two Albanian men who supposedly had let Serb police into their home. "Someone would pass [Haradinaj] information and he would disappear for two hours. The end result would be several bodies in a ditch," the source stated.
The ICTY states that Haradinaj's KLA unit kidnapped and murdered 40 Serb civilians, some of whose remains were found decomposing in a canal and had marks of torture. Reports on Kosovo.com, a pro-Serb Web site, say that other bodies were stuffed into wells and that Haradinaj's troops also killed Albanians believed to have been helping Serbs. "[The Serbs] accused us of perpetrating acts so they could justify their actions to domestic public opinion," Haradinaj has said. "I cannot say we were perfect during the war, we were human, [and we reacted] when they attacked our family and values."
After the Kosovo War ended in June 1999, diplomats in Kosovo claimed that Haradinaj was persuaded to enter the political fray by British and American intelligence, which wanted to see the KLA's support split between Haradinaj and another former KLA commander, Hashim Thaci, a more radical and unruly candidate. Haradinaj founded the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), a political party that was considered to be moderate, in the spring of 2000 and began building up clout. Quickly moving his way up the ranks, Haradinaj positioned himself to become the prime minister of the ruling coalition.
There were glitches along the way. In 2000, he was involved in a punch-up with Russian peacekeepers and was injured in a murky attack on his neighbors. During July of that year, in what was allegedly a drunken squabble, Haradinaj was hit in the neck with shrapnel from a grenade and was treated first at Camp Bondsteel and then taken by helevac to another U.S. base in Germany for treatment. In 2001, when reports circulated that Haradinaj was funding his party with profits from petrol and cigarette smuggling, the United Nations forced him to shut down the smuggling operation.
But detractors began to give Haradinaj credit as he quickly turned himself into a polished statesman; instead of running on the obvious issue of independence, Haradinaj tackled issues such as improving education and basic infrastructure. "He seemed young and decisive, able to make the shift from guerrilla leader to political leader, rather like Michael Collins of the Irish Republican Army did in the early 1920s," says Britain's former Europe minister Denis MacShane. At a dinner held soon after Kosovo's first assembly elections in 2001, members were asked to mix and mingle. Haradinaj headed straight over to a Serbian delegate, where he sat down and conversed all evening with him about judo.
An array of Western advisors coached him on how to dress, act and master the subtle nuances of spin. Haradinaj proved to be an able leader, lobbying heavily to have a Serb become his minister of returns. "What was striking was that when he became prime minister, he seemed to grow into the role immediately," says Carne Ross, whose group, International Diplomat, advises the Kosovar government.
Haradinaj's indictment on war crimes was not unexpected, and his reaction to it only reinforced his newfound statesman persona. "He of course had the option to bolt for the hills and become a fugitive, and although if he had run he would have always found a home and a refuge, he chose not to," says a source familiar with Haradinaj. Instead, he stood down from his role as prime minister and told Kosovars to remain calm. However, according to an International Crisis Group report, Haradinaj in private told colleagues a week before his indictment, "They won't take me alive." Some say he meant it as joke, while others say no, he meant exactly what he said.
Haradinaj declared his innocence and said he would do whatever he was asked to do by the ICTY. But he didn't hesitate to declare that the international community had made a grave mistake. "[The ICTY] is treating liberation fighters the same as aggressors who destroyed entire nations and turned the region into ruins," he said, as some of his bodyguards and ministers wept. He also claimed he was a victim of "horse-trading" between The Hague and Belgrade, Serbia's capital, to encourage the hand-over of Serbs such as Gen. Ratko Mladic, who is wanted on war crimes charges in Bosnia, and still remains at large.
Although conspiracy theorists claim that Haradinaj's indictment on war crimes was an act of sabotage to destabilize the region, what it really shows, observers say, is that the ICTY is an equal opportunity prosecutor: Serbs can no longer claim they are the only ones being prosecuted, as Croatians, Bosnians and now Kosovars have been charged with crimes.
"There is a misguided attempt by the ICTY to prosecute Serbs, Croatian, Kosovars equally," says Niccolo Figa-Talamanca, who works for No Peace Without Justice, a nonprofit organization, and was involved in investigating war crimes during the war in Kosovo. Milosevic, currently on trial at The Hague, is the ICTY's most famous catch and someone whom Carla Del Ponte, the chief prosecutor at ICTY, fought hard to get and prosecute. Haradinaj says he was charged solely because of his Albanian ethnicity. "If the same accusations were leveled against a Serb, it would not be near the scale of gravity, whether they were true or not," he says.
Of course, whether the charges of rape, murder and ethnic cleansing stick depends upon the evidence. But in Kosovo, there are few people willing to even acknowledge his war crimes. "We investigated cases of kidnapping, disappearances, but we never managed to search cases related to Haradinaj," says Natasa Kandic, founder of the Humanitarian Law Center in Belgrade. "No one from Kosovo will talk about that because all people are afraid to speak about his indictment and his responsibility. I think you will not find anyone to talk to you."
The U.S. put Kosovo on the back burner after Sept. 11, focusing on more pressing issues in Afghanistan and Iraq. But it seeks to retain good relations with Kosovo because Camp Bondsteel in central Kosovo is likely to remain a permanent military base for jumping-off points in Eastern Europe. There is also the feeling that though Kosovar Albanians tend to be secular -- 95 percent are Muslim and 5 percent are Catholic -- there exists the possibility that because of the lack of opportunities for growth and a 60 percent unemployment rate, the province could prove fertile ground for regional Islamic terrorism. "The U.S. is feeling that the situation needs to be resolved before it could potentially be a terrorist haven," says James Lyon of the International Crisis Group. "It is an Islamic majority so you have the potential."
Before his indictment on war crimes, Haradinaj's star seemed to shine bright in the U.S. State Department. "Ramush is the kind of man Americans could get excited about," says Whit Mason, an advisor to the Kosovar government. "Ramush built his career on the basis of charisma and vision, which is something that Americans expect of a politician, and [while] the other parties were practicing mudslinging, Haradinaj practically claimed to be apolitical, which is something the Americans found refreshing."
Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden has described Haradinaj as "a tough guy [who] looks as if he could lift an ox out of a ditch," and this March paid tribute to him on the Senate floor. "I want to publicly salute him for his personal courage, for the statesmanship he has demonstrated over the last two years [and] I wish him well," Biden said.
However, the U.S. began to distance itself from Haradinaj when Del Ponte and her ICTY colleagues brought his possible war crimes to light. "[The Americans] have been backing him for the long term, and they wanted him to be one of their main vectors of influence here for the next 10 or 20 years," Mason says. "So they did not want him to be prime minister now, they wanted him to deal with these charges, beat them and hoped he would come back and be a powerful leader who is sympathetic to the U.S."
Today, there are strong feelings among Kosovars as well as international observers that if Haradinaj is found not guilty, or even has to serve a short prison term, he is still likely to be a political star in Kosovo. "If the U.S. government is smart they will continue to have quiet, sotto voce conversations with Ramush [to] keep a little bit of oil on the water as we move through this period," says John Norris, a former State Department official during the Clinton administration, and author of "Collision Course: Nato, Russia and Kosovo."
"Ramush is a revolutionary and revolutionaries are capable of greatness and brutality, and if you push them into a corner, you don't know what they will do," says Sullivan. "If Ramush thought it was necessary to kill Serb civilians to get his independent Kosovo, he probably would have done it. On the other hand, when he saw that helping Serbs return was necessary for an independent Kosovo, he made sure the Serbs were allowed to return."
Haradinaj, it seems, has done whatever it takes to help Kosovars become independent. Judges in The Hague, who earlier this month ruled that Haradinaj could return to politics, are reviewing an appeal by Del Ponte, who is unhappy with the thought of Haradinaj getting involved in Kosovo affairs. Rumors are circulating that Haradinaj's AAK party might merge with another party, the LDK, led by President Ibrahim Rugova, to become the Democratic Union of Kosovo. If that happens, it is believed that Haradinaj would be the head, making the party strong and united with both the president and prime minister of Kosovo as members. Regardless of The Hague's decision over Haradinaj's reentry into the political life of Kosovo, what is certain is that Haradinaj's presence and influence are still felt across the region. That brings comfort to many and sends shivers up the spines of others.
-- By Ginanne Brownell
By Ginanne Brownell
Oct. 21, 2005 | Ramush Haradinaj was locked up in a jail cell in The Hague from March until June this year, charged with heinous war crimes committed during Kosovo's war against its parent state, Serbia, in the 1990s. Formerly a commander in the guerrilla group the Kosovo Liberation Army, Haradinaj was elected prime minister in December 2004. His political reign ended after only three months, when he stepped down to face charges brought by the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia).
Still, this summer, images of the darkly handsome 37-year-old loomed large across the region. Billboards bearing his name towered over Pristina, the capital. Shopkeepers along "Bill Klinton" Boulevard taped up fliers showing their support for him. Across the countryside, young and old alike wore T-shirts emblazoned with the phrase "Our Prime has a job to do here."
This fall may be the most integral time in Kosovo's history. In early October, Kai Eide, Kofi Annan's special envoy to Kosovo, presented a report outlining whether the perennially wartorn region had met the various democratic and human rights standards set out by the United Nations in 2003. It is expected that Eide's report will open the door for negotiations to begin in November on whether Kosovo will be granted nationhood by the U.N.
Currently, conventional wisdom says it's a matter of when rather than if Kosovo, whose ethnic population is 90 percent Albanian, will be granted conditional independence. Says one former international official familiar with Balkan politics: "The road ahead may be rocky, but the international community wants it to end in some form of independence, because everyone realizes that the Albanian majority will accept nothing else."
If so, it would be a momentous occasion for Kosovo. And for anyone who wants to understand the embattled land, its conflicted leaders, and its tenuous relationship with the West, perhaps the best place to begin is with the story of Ramush Haradinaj.
The man and the myth are impossible to separate in a region that is a dense thicket of dangerous innuendoes, rumors and propaganda. He has been described as highly intelligent and disciplined. A native of Kosovo and an ethnic Albanian, he is almost universally credited with leading his fragile nation toward independence from Serbia, and doing more in his 100 days in office than the previous government had done in three years.
But there is another side to Ramush -- his first name alone is universal across Kosovo. He is a scrappy man who, when provoked, can lash out with chilling results. Earlier this spring he caustically told a group of protesters at a rally to shut up or "I'll fuck your mothers." His detractors describe him as a ruthless military "psychopath" who terrorized his own men and the local population into loyalty. And his ICTY rap sheet details 17 crimes against humanity including overseeing murder, rape and the displacement of people.
Haradinaj's trial is scheduled to begin in January 2007. Provisions of his release from The Hague in June meant that he was not allowed to contact politicians, attend public events or speak with journalists. That time expired in early September and now Haradinaj is planning a return to the political scene. It could not have come at a more effective time. Haradinaj's prime ministerial successor, Bajram Kosumi, has been hit with corruption and sex allegations, and has had a weak support base. Earlier this summer, it was revealed that Kosovo's President Ibrahim Rugova, who has no heir apparent, is battling lung cancer. So there is no single figurehead for Kosovo at the moment.
Politics in Kosovo have historically been a slippery slope of intrigues and mudslinging, and there are no guarantees that it will be granted independence by the United Nations. Serbs are certainly hellbent not to let Kosovo go. Serbia's President Boris Tadic has said his nation would be open to "more than autonomy" but it would be political suicide in Serbia to be seen to even consider independence for Kosovo. His main concern is that losing Kosovo might bring ultra-nationalist parties back into power. The northern regions of Kosovo also happen to have the greatest concentration of mineral wealth in all of southeastern Europe. And those resources are worth fighting for.
Kosovo has long been fought over as Serbs across the Balkans consider the region to be their holy land. Ethnic Serbs consider Kosovo the original seat of their Orthodox church, while Kosovar Albanians claim to be the original inhabitants. Kosovo was the place where the disintegration of Yugoslavia began in 1989, when Slobodan Milosevic whipped up Serbian nationalism at a speech at the historic site of Kosovo Polje, where the Serb Empire had been defeated by the Turks in 1389. Four wars erupted in quick succession -- in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo -- with violence, mayhem and the birth of the term "ethnic cleansing."
Today, Haradinaj's reputation within Kosovo and among those in the international community has not been crippled by his upcoming trial. Although many observers doubt that he can hold an elected position while he awaits his trial, there is a sense in Kosovo that he could emerge as a statesman-like figure in the status negotiations. "Ramush can play a 'Nixon goes to China' role by pursuing ethnic reconciliation on a daily basis," says Scott Bates, senior fellow for national security at the Center for National Policy. "He has the guts and street credibility to change the tone in Kosovo."
Haradinaj's bare-knuckles beginnings were exactly what Kosovo, battling for independence from Serbia, sought in a leader. His mix of raw intelligence and street smarts jived with Kosovars who were looking to follow someone who embodied the rural Kosovar spirit -- and not someone crowned with traditional Western credentials.
The second of 10 children, Haradinaj was the star kid of the large family. His mother, Ruki, says he was always a respectful and polite child, who from an early age seemed to know innately what was the right thing to do. "He was a child who felt for other people, and though I can try to take credit for teaching him that, it would not be true -- he was born with that gift."
Haradinaj's shopkeeper father, Hilmi, was a member of the Communist Party, and he raised his sprawling family in a part of Kosovo with strong nationalist traditions. "Culturally, Ramush was like someone who came from Arkansas or Tennessee, which is very different than coming from New York," says journalist James Pettifer, author of "Kosova Express." He excelled in school, often being given the opportunity to lead the class in schoolwork, and he used every opportunity to learn. "When he was very little he would write down numbers in the dirt and then erase them and write them over again and as he got older he would read lots of books, even when he was herding sheep he would be reading as he walked," his mother says.
His plans after graduating at the top of his class in 1987 were to volunteer in the Yugoslavian army for a year and then head to Pristina University to study astronomy. That, however, was never to be, though Haradinaj did obtain a university education by completing a law degree last year while serving in government.
Although he impressed his superiors enough to be promoted to corporal (something rare for an ethnic Albanian), the economic situation for the family was becoming bleaker and Haradinaj became an economic migrant. Working odd jobs in Switzerland, France and Italy as a nightclub bouncer, a martial arts teacher and a security guard at rock concerts, Haradinaj also fell in love for the first time. Joanna Carlsson, a young Finnish woman, was his live-in love for several years and is the mother of his eldest son. Their relationship ended around 2001, and in 2003 Haradinaj married a pretty TV presenter, Anita Mucaj, who is the mother of his son, Gjini.
While Haradinaj was living in Western Europe, learning French and English, back home Kosovo was simmering over with tensions as Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic kicked ethnic Albanians out of their state jobs and refused to admit them to university. Many in the diaspora, tired of how the Albanian leadership was preaching passive resistance, decided they must fight for their independence and Haradinaj took up the cause, smuggling weapons such as guns and grenades back to his parents' house on trips home.
In 1997, the nation of Albania, which borders Kosovo, fell into anarchy when a series of pyramid investment schemes went bust. Huge caches of weapons were thrown open to everyone, and the KLA, which had formed in 1993 and had been up to that point involved in small-scale guerrilla warfare against the Serbs, reaped the gold mine. The same year that Haradinaj witnessed his brother Luan being killed in an ambush, while smuggling arms across the mountain border between Kosovo and Albania, he proved his dedication to Kosovo by moving back to the region and becoming a point person for the KLA.
Haradinaj would later lose a second brother in the war and a third brother was murdered this past April in what was apparently a blood feud. The Haradinaj home became a guerrilla compound, and in 1998, the Serbs attacked the house and surrounding area hoping to dent the KLA operations in the region. During intense fighting, Haradinaj was shot in the leg, arm and lower stomach. Unable to see through all the smoke, he spoke to a silhouette he believed to be his father, telling him to take cover. The figure was a policeman who fired at Haradinaj. One "bullet hit me [in] the pocket where the keys were, so [it] did not have the full effect, but it caused me 12 different holes where the pieces of metal had gone," Haradinaj later recalled. Running into a room, he found some cheese and used it as a compress on his leg to stop the bleeding. He continued to fight against Serb forces until they eventually retreated several hours later.
The KLA continued to grow from a guerrilla operation to a small, organized army. Both the United States and NATO would eventually back the KLA, a controversial decision. At one point, the KLA was branded a terrorist organization by the State Department and funds going to the KLA were declared illegal. However, as the West was drawn closer and closer into war with Serbia, the KLA was seen as the key organization for providing intelligence.
Haradinaj moved up the ranks to become a senior commander. During a cease-fire in 1998, he came into contact with U.S. and British intelligence agents; realizing that Haradinaj controlled western Kosovo, they nurtured relations with him that would prove invaluable to all parties. The West gained important battlefield intelligence and Haradinaj made contacts that led to his rise as a politician. In March 1999, after months of shuttle diplomacy by the international community, hoping to get Serbia to end the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, NATO began a bombing campaign that would last three months. Haradinaj, equipped with a satellite phone supplied by the alliance, helped to pinpoint targets for bombing and continued to command his fighting troops.
"Ramush really struck me because he was just so calm and professional and very different from your average KLA soldier," says journalist Stacy Sullivan, author of "Be Not Afraid, for You Have Sons in America," which chronicles the links between U.S. Albanian émigrés and the KLA. But Haradinaj was also said to be a strict commander who would beat his men to maintain discipline. A British military official told London's Observer newspaper in 2000 he had seen Haradinaj beat two Albanian men who supposedly had let Serb police into their home. "Someone would pass [Haradinaj] information and he would disappear for two hours. The end result would be several bodies in a ditch," the source stated.
The ICTY states that Haradinaj's KLA unit kidnapped and murdered 40 Serb civilians, some of whose remains were found decomposing in a canal and had marks of torture. Reports on Kosovo.com, a pro-Serb Web site, say that other bodies were stuffed into wells and that Haradinaj's troops also killed Albanians believed to have been helping Serbs. "[The Serbs] accused us of perpetrating acts so they could justify their actions to domestic public opinion," Haradinaj has said. "I cannot say we were perfect during the war, we were human, [and we reacted] when they attacked our family and values."
After the Kosovo War ended in June 1999, diplomats in Kosovo claimed that Haradinaj was persuaded to enter the political fray by British and American intelligence, which wanted to see the KLA's support split between Haradinaj and another former KLA commander, Hashim Thaci, a more radical and unruly candidate. Haradinaj founded the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), a political party that was considered to be moderate, in the spring of 2000 and began building up clout. Quickly moving his way up the ranks, Haradinaj positioned himself to become the prime minister of the ruling coalition.
There were glitches along the way. In 2000, he was involved in a punch-up with Russian peacekeepers and was injured in a murky attack on his neighbors. During July of that year, in what was allegedly a drunken squabble, Haradinaj was hit in the neck with shrapnel from a grenade and was treated first at Camp Bondsteel and then taken by helevac to another U.S. base in Germany for treatment. In 2001, when reports circulated that Haradinaj was funding his party with profits from petrol and cigarette smuggling, the United Nations forced him to shut down the smuggling operation.
But detractors began to give Haradinaj credit as he quickly turned himself into a polished statesman; instead of running on the obvious issue of independence, Haradinaj tackled issues such as improving education and basic infrastructure. "He seemed young and decisive, able to make the shift from guerrilla leader to political leader, rather like Michael Collins of the Irish Republican Army did in the early 1920s," says Britain's former Europe minister Denis MacShane. At a dinner held soon after Kosovo's first assembly elections in 2001, members were asked to mix and mingle. Haradinaj headed straight over to a Serbian delegate, where he sat down and conversed all evening with him about judo.
An array of Western advisors coached him on how to dress, act and master the subtle nuances of spin. Haradinaj proved to be an able leader, lobbying heavily to have a Serb become his minister of returns. "What was striking was that when he became prime minister, he seemed to grow into the role immediately," says Carne Ross, whose group, International Diplomat, advises the Kosovar government.
Haradinaj's indictment on war crimes was not unexpected, and his reaction to it only reinforced his newfound statesman persona. "He of course had the option to bolt for the hills and become a fugitive, and although if he had run he would have always found a home and a refuge, he chose not to," says a source familiar with Haradinaj. Instead, he stood down from his role as prime minister and told Kosovars to remain calm. However, according to an International Crisis Group report, Haradinaj in private told colleagues a week before his indictment, "They won't take me alive." Some say he meant it as joke, while others say no, he meant exactly what he said.
Haradinaj declared his innocence and said he would do whatever he was asked to do by the ICTY. But he didn't hesitate to declare that the international community had made a grave mistake. "[The ICTY] is treating liberation fighters the same as aggressors who destroyed entire nations and turned the region into ruins," he said, as some of his bodyguards and ministers wept. He also claimed he was a victim of "horse-trading" between The Hague and Belgrade, Serbia's capital, to encourage the hand-over of Serbs such as Gen. Ratko Mladic, who is wanted on war crimes charges in Bosnia, and still remains at large.
Although conspiracy theorists claim that Haradinaj's indictment on war crimes was an act of sabotage to destabilize the region, what it really shows, observers say, is that the ICTY is an equal opportunity prosecutor: Serbs can no longer claim they are the only ones being prosecuted, as Croatians, Bosnians and now Kosovars have been charged with crimes.
"There is a misguided attempt by the ICTY to prosecute Serbs, Croatian, Kosovars equally," says Niccolo Figa-Talamanca, who works for No Peace Without Justice, a nonprofit organization, and was involved in investigating war crimes during the war in Kosovo. Milosevic, currently on trial at The Hague, is the ICTY's most famous catch and someone whom Carla Del Ponte, the chief prosecutor at ICTY, fought hard to get and prosecute. Haradinaj says he was charged solely because of his Albanian ethnicity. "If the same accusations were leveled against a Serb, it would not be near the scale of gravity, whether they were true or not," he says.
Of course, whether the charges of rape, murder and ethnic cleansing stick depends upon the evidence. But in Kosovo, there are few people willing to even acknowledge his war crimes. "We investigated cases of kidnapping, disappearances, but we never managed to search cases related to Haradinaj," says Natasa Kandic, founder of the Humanitarian Law Center in Belgrade. "No one from Kosovo will talk about that because all people are afraid to speak about his indictment and his responsibility. I think you will not find anyone to talk to you."
The U.S. put Kosovo on the back burner after Sept. 11, focusing on more pressing issues in Afghanistan and Iraq. But it seeks to retain good relations with Kosovo because Camp Bondsteel in central Kosovo is likely to remain a permanent military base for jumping-off points in Eastern Europe. There is also the feeling that though Kosovar Albanians tend to be secular -- 95 percent are Muslim and 5 percent are Catholic -- there exists the possibility that because of the lack of opportunities for growth and a 60 percent unemployment rate, the province could prove fertile ground for regional Islamic terrorism. "The U.S. is feeling that the situation needs to be resolved before it could potentially be a terrorist haven," says James Lyon of the International Crisis Group. "It is an Islamic majority so you have the potential."
Before his indictment on war crimes, Haradinaj's star seemed to shine bright in the U.S. State Department. "Ramush is the kind of man Americans could get excited about," says Whit Mason, an advisor to the Kosovar government. "Ramush built his career on the basis of charisma and vision, which is something that Americans expect of a politician, and [while] the other parties were practicing mudslinging, Haradinaj practically claimed to be apolitical, which is something the Americans found refreshing."
Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden has described Haradinaj as "a tough guy [who] looks as if he could lift an ox out of a ditch," and this March paid tribute to him on the Senate floor. "I want to publicly salute him for his personal courage, for the statesmanship he has demonstrated over the last two years [and] I wish him well," Biden said.
However, the U.S. began to distance itself from Haradinaj when Del Ponte and her ICTY colleagues brought his possible war crimes to light. "[The Americans] have been backing him for the long term, and they wanted him to be one of their main vectors of influence here for the next 10 or 20 years," Mason says. "So they did not want him to be prime minister now, they wanted him to deal with these charges, beat them and hoped he would come back and be a powerful leader who is sympathetic to the U.S."
Today, there are strong feelings among Kosovars as well as international observers that if Haradinaj is found not guilty, or even has to serve a short prison term, he is still likely to be a political star in Kosovo. "If the U.S. government is smart they will continue to have quiet, sotto voce conversations with Ramush [to] keep a little bit of oil on the water as we move through this period," says John Norris, a former State Department official during the Clinton administration, and author of "Collision Course: Nato, Russia and Kosovo."
"Ramush is a revolutionary and revolutionaries are capable of greatness and brutality, and if you push them into a corner, you don't know what they will do," says Sullivan. "If Ramush thought it was necessary to kill Serb civilians to get his independent Kosovo, he probably would have done it. On the other hand, when he saw that helping Serbs return was necessary for an independent Kosovo, he made sure the Serbs were allowed to return."
Haradinaj, it seems, has done whatever it takes to help Kosovars become independent. Judges in The Hague, who earlier this month ruled that Haradinaj could return to politics, are reviewing an appeal by Del Ponte, who is unhappy with the thought of Haradinaj getting involved in Kosovo affairs. Rumors are circulating that Haradinaj's AAK party might merge with another party, the LDK, led by President Ibrahim Rugova, to become the Democratic Union of Kosovo. If that happens, it is believed that Haradinaj would be the head, making the party strong and united with both the president and prime minister of Kosovo as members. Regardless of The Hague's decision over Haradinaj's reentry into the political life of Kosovo, what is certain is that Haradinaj's presence and influence are still felt across the region. That brings comfort to many and sends shivers up the spines of others.
-- By Ginanne Brownell
Kosovo Sept CPI Up 0.8% M/M - Table
PRISTINA (Serbia and Montenegro), October 20 (SeeNews) - The September consumer price index (CPI) of the U.N.-run province of Kosovo increased by 0.8% compared to the previous month, after rising by a 0.2% in August, statistics showed on Thursday.
Kosovo Consumer Prices Index (pct change):
..............................................................Y/Y.....................M/M
TOTAL..................................................+1.3.....................+0.8
Food+Drink...........................................-0.1.....................+0.5
Spirits+Tobacco....................................+14.5....................0.0
Clothing+Shoes....................................-4.0.......................-0.1
Rents+Energy+Water..........................-4.4.......................+1.3
Furnishings+Household Equipment.......-1.9......................-0.1
Health Care...........................................-0.8........................0.0
Transport..............................................+14.1...................+4.4
Communications....................................-0.5.......................0.0
Culture+Entertainment..........................-1.6.......................0.0
Education..............................................-4.2.......................-0.5
Hotels+Cafes+Restaurants.....................-0.2.....................-0.2
Other.....................................................-0.1.......................0.0
NOTE: Kosovo, a province of two million people, 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..................................................+1.3.....................+0.8
Food+Drink...........................................-0.1.....................+0.5
Spirits+Tobacco....................................+14.5....................0.0
Clothing+Shoes....................................-4.0.......................-0.1
Rents+Energy+Water..........................-4.4.......................+1.3
Furnishings+Household Equipment.......-1.9......................-0.1
Health Care...........................................-0.8........................0.0
Transport..............................................+14.1...................+4.4
Communications....................................-0.5.......................0.0
Culture+Entertainment..........................-1.6.......................0.0
Education..............................................-4.2.......................-0.5
Hotels+Cafes+Restaurants.....................-0.2.....................-0.2
Other.....................................................-0.1.......................0.0
NOTE: Kosovo, a province of two million people, 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.
Slovene president sends plan for Kosovo status talks to UN, EU Commission
Excerpt from report by Slovene television on 20 October
[Presenter] A few minutes ago, the authorities in Belgrade responded with harsh criticism to the statement which Slovene President Janez Drnovsek made yesterday about independence being the only realistic option for Kosovo. Serbia-Montenegro President Svetozar Marovic cancelled Drnovsek's visit to Belgrade which had been planned for the beginning of November.
President Drnovsek today sent a plan for the Kosovo status negotiations to [UN] Secretary-General Kofi Annan and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.
[Reporter Polona Fijavz] President Drnovsek yesterday presented his thoughts on the unclear and complicated Kosovo status. Today, he put forward a specific plan for solving this question. The plan, which he sent to Annan, Barroso and the presidents of states involved in the Kosovo contact group, envisages:
[Drnovsek] I think that security will first of all have to be provided for the Serb minority in Kosovo. Kosovo Serbs should enjoy a relevant level of autonomy so that they will be able to put forward their interests within Kosovo's parliament and government. I am of the opinion that a special status should be granted to Serbian historic monuments in Kosovo.
[Reporter] The plan envisages that Kosovo bodies would take over all authorities from the international community within 18 months. Parliamentary, government and presidential elections should be called in that period of time. According to Drnovsek's plan, smaller international forces would stay in Kosovo for further five years. If basic conditions are met, Kosovo would in that time be granted international legal status.
Drnovsek's plan also includes the EU which would prepare an economic development plan for Kosovo so that Kosovo would be able to survive economically and become economically independent. [Passage omitted]
Source: Television Slovenia, Ljubljana, in Slovene 1700 gmt 20 Oct 05
[Presenter] A few minutes ago, the authorities in Belgrade responded with harsh criticism to the statement which Slovene President Janez Drnovsek made yesterday about independence being the only realistic option for Kosovo. Serbia-Montenegro President Svetozar Marovic cancelled Drnovsek's visit to Belgrade which had been planned for the beginning of November.
President Drnovsek today sent a plan for the Kosovo status negotiations to [UN] Secretary-General Kofi Annan and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.
[Reporter Polona Fijavz] President Drnovsek yesterday presented his thoughts on the unclear and complicated Kosovo status. Today, he put forward a specific plan for solving this question. The plan, which he sent to Annan, Barroso and the presidents of states involved in the Kosovo contact group, envisages:
[Drnovsek] I think that security will first of all have to be provided for the Serb minority in Kosovo. Kosovo Serbs should enjoy a relevant level of autonomy so that they will be able to put forward their interests within Kosovo's parliament and government. I am of the opinion that a special status should be granted to Serbian historic monuments in Kosovo.
[Reporter] The plan envisages that Kosovo bodies would take over all authorities from the international community within 18 months. Parliamentary, government and presidential elections should be called in that period of time. According to Drnovsek's plan, smaller international forces would stay in Kosovo for further five years. If basic conditions are met, Kosovo would in that time be granted international legal status.
Drnovsek's plan also includes the EU which would prepare an economic development plan for Kosovo so that Kosovo would be able to survive economically and become economically independent. [Passage omitted]
Source: Television Slovenia, Ljubljana, in Slovene 1700 gmt 20 Oct 05
Vajgl Pessimistic after Kosovo Talks in Belgrade
Belgrade, 21 October (STA) - Ivo Vajgl, the foreign policy advisor to
Slovenian President Janez Drnovsek, was not optimistic after Friday's
talks in Belgrade, where he presented Drnovsek's plan for the status of
Kosovo to Serbia-Montenegro officials.
The Serbian side was "hard and unyielding" about the independence of
Kosovo. "I don't think I convinced anyone that their arguments are flawed.
I was convincing people that they must negotiate," Vajgl told STA.
"Negotiations mean being ready for compromise and ready to defend it, not
attack it from the onset," Vajlg said, adding that the Serbian side was
very defensive about the status of the restive province.
According to him, the main objective of Drnovsek's nine-point plan is to
speed up negotiations on Kosovo, which are set to start after the UN
Security Council session of 24 October.
"The main reason why the president decided for that is to resolve a
problem which is a burden on the entire region, an obstacle to its
Euro-Atlantic integration and where it is obvious that the status quo only
means the situation in Kosovo is deteriorating every day," Vajgl said.
Vajgl noted that the outcome of the talks will probably be "a compromise
which no side will be 100% pleased with." "It is important that each side
prepares their people for a compromise, as the negotiators will have to
defend the outcome."
Vajgl also presented the proposal that Slovenia host a meeting on Kosovo,
but said that "the atmosphere is not right at this point."
Vajgl held talks with Serbia-Montenegro Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic and
Radomir Diklic, advisor to Serbia-Montenegro President Svetozar Marovic. He
is expected in Pristina later today.
His visit comes just a day after Marovic cancelled the planned visit by
Drnovsek to Serbia-Montenegro, scheduled for 2 November, because of the
Drnovsek's statement that under the appropriate conditions, independence
is the only realistic option for Kosovo.
Slovenian President Janez Drnovsek, was not optimistic after Friday's
talks in Belgrade, where he presented Drnovsek's plan for the status of
Kosovo to Serbia-Montenegro officials.
The Serbian side was "hard and unyielding" about the independence of
Kosovo. "I don't think I convinced anyone that their arguments are flawed.
I was convincing people that they must negotiate," Vajgl told STA.
"Negotiations mean being ready for compromise and ready to defend it, not
attack it from the onset," Vajlg said, adding that the Serbian side was
very defensive about the status of the restive province.
According to him, the main objective of Drnovsek's nine-point plan is to
speed up negotiations on Kosovo, which are set to start after the UN
Security Council session of 24 October.
"The main reason why the president decided for that is to resolve a
problem which is a burden on the entire region, an obstacle to its
Euro-Atlantic integration and where it is obvious that the status quo only
means the situation in Kosovo is deteriorating every day," Vajgl said.
Vajgl noted that the outcome of the talks will probably be "a compromise
which no side will be 100% pleased with." "It is important that each side
prepares their people for a compromise, as the negotiators will have to
defend the outcome."
Vajgl also presented the proposal that Slovenia host a meeting on Kosovo,
but said that "the atmosphere is not right at this point."
Vajgl held talks with Serbia-Montenegro Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic and
Radomir Diklic, advisor to Serbia-Montenegro President Svetozar Marovic. He
is expected in Pristina later today.
His visit comes just a day after Marovic cancelled the planned visit by
Drnovsek to Serbia-Montenegro, scheduled for 2 November, because of the
Drnovsek's statement that under the appropriate conditions, independence
is the only realistic option for Kosovo.
Thursday, October 20, 2005
Independence for Kosovo
From Foreign Affairs, November/December 2005
By Charles A. Kupchan
Summary: Given the atrocities they have suffered in the past and the autonomy they are enjoying now, Kosovo's Albanians will never accept continued Serbian sovereignty. The time has come to give them what they want -- independence.
CHARLES A. KUPCHAN is Professor of International Affairs at Georgetown University and Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. His most recent book is "The End of the American Era: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Geopolitics of the Twenty-first Century."
YIELDING TO BALKAN REALITY
Amid the unraveling of Yugoslavia that began in the early 1990s, the United States and its European allies have staunchly defended multiethnic society in the Balkans. The military interventions in Bosnia and Kosovo, the ongoing peacekeeping missions there, the hundreds of millions of dollars given annually in economic aid -- these sacrifices have been made to preserve the individual states that once constituted a federal Yugoslavia and to prevent bloodshed among the numerous ethnic groups that populate them. Now, however, the time has come to let pragmatism triumph over principle -- and move decisively toward independence for Kosovo.
The most important piece of unfinished business in the Balkans is the final status of Kosovo, the southern province of Serbia, which has been under international trusteeship since NATO's intervention in 1999. Anxious to scale back its obligations in the region and confronted with growing impatience among Kosovo's population, the international community is finally gearing up for negotiations over Kosovo's political future, as provided for under UN Security Council Resolution 1244.
Serbs, for whom Kosovo is an ancestral homeland and the site of many important Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries, insist that the area remain under Serbian sovereignty. Broader opposition to separating Kosovo from Serbia stems from concern about the potential precedent that would be set by redrawing boundaries along ethnic lines and the likely impact this move would have on the integrity of the borders of Macedonia, Montenegro, and Bosnia.
Nevertheless, harsh realities on the ground make independence for Kosovo the only viable option. In the current state of limbo, relations between the Albanian majority, which is mostly Muslim, and the Serbian minority, which is mostly Orthodox Christian, have reached the boiling point. The Albanian leadership in Pristina, which governs Kosovo in an uneasy partnership with UN authorities, wants nothing to do with Belgrade. Kosovo has already left Serbia's orbit. And throughout the area, walls of hostility divide ordinary Albanians and Serbs. In spirit as well as fact, multiethnic society is nowhere to be found.
Pretending otherwise and denying or delaying independence risks a return to disorder and bloodshed -- and is therefore the greater of two evils. The formal separation of Kosovo from Serbia instead offers the best hope for rebuilding moderation and tolerance among ethnic Albanians, making it far more likely that they will eventually live in peace with Serbs, Roma, and the other minority groups among them.
A HOUSE DIVIDED
Driving from central Serbia into Kosovo already feels like crossing a national boundary, and a militarized one at that: Serbian border guards, then a no man's land, then a border control staffed by Kosovo police as well as UN and NATO personnel. In the no man's land, drivers change their license plates; cars with Serbian tags will sometimes be attacked in Kosovo, and those with Kosovar plates are equally at risk in Serbia.
In Kosovo, signs abound that the area has been poisoned by intercommunal violence. NATO troops, armed UN guards, and members of the Kosovo Police Service are ubiquitous, keeping the palpable ethnic tensions in check. Serbs live in fortified enclaves, their access roads often guarded by NATO patrols. Before the war, two of Kosovo's largest cities, Pristina and Prizren, were home to tens of thousands of Serbs. They are now virtually Serb-free. A few smaller towns, such as Orahovac, have maintained their multiethnic character, but the Serbs there live in isolated ghettos, set off from Albanian neighborhoods by a block or two of burned-out homes. Serbs rarely venture into the Albanian section of town, fearful of abuse or worse.
Roughly 90 percent of Kosovo's population of some two million is ethnic Albanian, and most of the rest of the population is Serbian. This ethnic imbalance was long in the making, a result primarily of successive Serbian exoduses to the north during the Ottoman era and, more recently, higher birthrates among Albanians. Since World War II, political power has shifted back and forth between the two communities. In Tito's Yugoslavia, Kosovo's Albanians enjoyed a significant degree of autonomy. Beginning in the late 1980s, Serbia's nationalist leader Slobodan Milosevic tightened Belgrade's grip, and ethnic Albanians suffered repression and political and economic exploitation. Milosevic responded to armed Albanian resistance with a campaign of ethnic cleansing that began in 1998, killing at least 10,000 Albanians and driving hundreds of thousands from their homes.
After NATO's intervention and the eventual withdrawal of Serbian forces, ethnic Albanians exacted their revenge. During the war and the retribution that followed, at least a thousand Serbs were killed, while tens of thousands fled; their ransacked homes, stores, and churches still mar the landscape. To this day, Albanians continue to dish back the ethnic discrimination they suffered during the 1990s. In many Serbian enclaves, no one holds a steady job; the communities rely on handouts from aid organizations and from Belgrade. As one Serbian resident of Orahovac told me in July, "We don't call this life, we call it an imitation of life."
Although outbreaks of actual ethnic violence are now uncommon, Serbs remain on guard. In March 2004, Albanians rioted across Kosovo, leading to widespread attacks on Serbs, forcing thousands to flee and undoing what little progress had been made in repairing intercommunal ties. This past August, two Serbs were killed in a drive-by shooting.
The communities are so polarized that simple dialogue is hard to find. In a conversation with Serbian residents in Lipljan, one of the few multiethnic towns left near Pristina, a participant invited passing Albanians to join the discussion. One after another scurried away. "Most Albanians are no longer willing to have contact with us," a Serb commented. In Prizren, about 35 miles southwest of Lipljan, one of the few remaining Serbs there explained that she still meets with Albanian friends behind closed doors. "But in public, they pretend not to recognize me," she lamented, "as it is not good for Albanians to be seen with Serbs."
By any measure, the political conditions in Kosovo fall well short of the standards that the international community has set as preconditions for moving to final-status negotiations. Serbs do not enjoy freedom of movement, one of the main reasons that only a handful of those who fled since 1999 have returned. The process of decentralization meant to empower local communities has proved stillborn. Political and legal institutions have yet to mature, stymied by infighting among political parties, crime and corruption, and patronage systems deeply embedded in the clannish structure of Albanian society. Poverty is pervasive, with unemployment topping 50 percent even among ethnic Albanians. An inadequate power supply makes for daily blackouts, and Kosovo's uncertain political status leaves it unable to attract the foreign capital it needs to invest in basic infrastructure.
The case for independence, however, rests not on Kosovo's readiness, but on the lack of realistic alternatives. Ethnic Albanians are now in command, and they are adamant about breaking away from Serbia. As Kosovo's prime minister, Bajram Kosumi, made clear in his office in Pristina, "The people of Kosovo will decide their own future. ... If Kosovo does not become independent, there will be serious consequences." Kosovo's Albanians have reached their limits; the atrocities and injustices of the past, combined with the empowerment of the present, make it all but impossible to envisage the continuation of Serbian sovereignty. Unfortunately, continued sovereignty is exactly what the Serbian government has in mind.
BLIND ALLEYS
"Less than independence, more than autonomy," Serbia's president, Boris Tadic, explained in a meeting in Belgrade. Under his formula, Kosovo would largely manage its own affairs but remain nominally a part of Serbia and forgo diplomatic representation abroad. "The independence of Kosovo is unacceptable for me, and for all of Serbia," he insisted. Tadic and his advisers fear that an independent Kosovo would imperil not only the Serbs living there, but also the course of democracy in Serbia itself. "Independence will drive a stake through the heart of Serbian democracy," one of Tadic's top aides said. The president agreed, noting that "if independence is imposed on Serbia, we will once more become a black hole of the Balkans. The Radicals [extreme nationalists] will be elected. And they will stay in power for a generation."
Kosovo's independence, however, should not be held hostage to Serbia's inability to trust itself to behave responsibly. The United States and its European partners were too timid in confronting Serbian nationalism throughout most of the 1990s, and much blood was shed as a result. The international community should not make the same mistake today. Serbia's darker instincts need to be extinguished, not accommodated.
It is true that extreme nationalists might come to power in Serbia in the wake of Kosovo's independence. But if Belgrade becomes more belligerent, turns its back on the war crimes tribunal operating in The Hague, and veers away from integration into Europe, Serbs will only find their country more isolated and impoverished. By making clear that the nationalist agenda has been leading the country down a blind alley, Serbia's loss of sovereignty over Kosovo could well result in the strengthening of Serbian centrists.
Rather than threatening doomsday scenarios if Kosovo becomes independent, Serbia's leaders should be doing just the opposite: talking about life after separation and preparing the public accordingly. Yet to date, only one high-ranking Serbian politician, former Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic, has publicly endorsed letting Kosovo go. Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica and President Tadic, both of whom have the nationalist credentials necessary to call for moderation and compromise, have failed to rise to the occasion.
Instead, the Serbian government has encouraged Kosovar Serbs to boycott elections in the province and distance themselves from Pristina, only intensifying the Serbian minority's political isolation. Belgrade has played down Serbia's culpability in the ethnic violence of the 1990s, tolerating nationalist myths and strengthening popular belief in the inviolability of Serbia's territorial claims. Belgrade is correct to worry about how Kosovar Serbs would fare after independence, but its behavior has done little either to strengthen its case for keeping Kosovo in the fold or to ready its citizens for the impending loss of their southern province.
MAKING THE INEVITABLE TOLERABLE
As it eases Kosovo away from Serbian sovereignty, the international community should make independence contingent on three conditions. first, Pristina must make substantial progress on putting in place the essentials of a functioning state. To accomplish this goal, Kosovo's government must strengthen democratic institutions and the rule of law, clamp down on corruption and crime, and redress widespread poverty and unemployment.
Second, Pristina must do much more to ensure the well-being of those Serbs who choose to stay put. Many Serbs intend to quit Kosovo if it becomes independent simply as a matter of principle. To encourage them to remain, ethnic Albanian leaders will need to capitalize on the prospect of independence to promote tolerance and protect minority rights. Reviving multiethnicity will become easier as Kosovo formally moves beyond Belgrade's reach, enabling Albanian moderates to neutralize militant voices. As Ruzhdi Saramati, a former brigade commander in the Kosovo Liberation Army, put it in a meeting in Prizren, "Independence will help end extremist elements within the Albanian community."
As part of its effort to safeguard minority rights, Pristina should also agree to put Christian sites throughout Kosovo under international supervision. Well over a hundred churches and monasteries have been destroyed or damaged since 1999, many of them during the 2004 riots. Numerous religious sites are now armed camps, guarded by NATO troops and barbed wire. To ensure that they remain secure and accessible, these sites should be given international protection for the indefinite future.
Third -- and most controversial -- the international community should reconsider its blanket opposition to the partition of Kosovo, indicating instead that it is prepared to accept partition provided that Pristina and Belgrade both consent. From the Ibar River north to the boundary with Serbia proper, Kosovo is populated almost exclusively by Serbs. The area is about 15 percent of Kosovo's territory and contains about one-third of its Serbs. Pristina makes no pretense of governing the region, which in most respects remains functionally a part of Serbia.
Granting northern Kosovo to Serbia while the rest of the province becomes independent would relieve Pristina of the futile task of trying to assert control over a region that, come what may, intends to maintain its links to Belgrade. In Mitrovica, the area's main city, Albanian and Serbian communities already reside on opposite sides of the Ibar, making it an attractive location for Serbs who choose to relocate from other parts of Kosovo. As long as Pristina is disabused of any hope of swapping northern Kosovo for Albanian enclaves in southern Serbia, partition would also represent a compromise of sorts, enabling Belgrade to claim that it has not been left empty-handed. As one of President Tadic's advisers stated, "If we are looking for a compromise solution, partition seems to be the easy way out."
Many in the international community insist that the partition of Kosovo along ethnic lines would send a dangerous signal, condoning ethnic segregation and fueling fragmentation elsewhere in the Balkans. This argument is not without merit. It would have been best if the peoples of the former Yugoslavia had been able to live together amicably in a unitary state. The breakup of Yugoslavia certainly violated the civic values on which multiethnic society rests -- as would the independence and partition of Kosovo. But when the best outcome proves impossible to achieve, the imperatives of stability ultimately require compromising the principle of multiethnicity. Just as these imperatives provide a compelling rationale for Kosovo's separation from Serbia, so might it be necessary for Kosovo itself to be partitioned in order to bring peace to the region.
Furthermore, Kosovo's situation is unique: its independence, and even its partition, is unlikely to trigger further unraveling in the Balkans. With or without the territory north of the Ibar, Kosovo's independence promises to stabilize Macedonia by forestalling the radicalization of its ethnic Albanians and neutralizing Albanian extremists throughout the region. Even if it does not, it is Macedonia's treatment of its Albanian minority that will do more to stabilize (or destabilize) the country than developments elsewhere. And although ethnic tensions continue to bedevil Bosnia, its future, like Montenegro's, will be little affected by Kosovo's ultimate political status or boundaries.
It is well worth keeping the option of Kosovo's partition on the table, therefore, especially if doing so would provide Belgrade with sufficient inducement to make a deal. The international community should also be prepared to sweeten the pot by offering Serbia more economic assistance, relief from its $13 billion in external debt, and a clear pathway to membership in NATO and the European Union.
Securing Kosovo's independence will ultimately require the approval of the UN Security Council. Russia and China, both of which struggle with separatist movements at home, are unlikely to relish an outcome that effectively embraces secession along ethnic lines. But neither country has compelling interests in the Balkans. Russia's affinity for its Slavic brethren in Serbia is of minimal political consequence, and both Moscow and Beijing are intent on maintaining good relations with the United States and Europe. It is difficult to imagine that either Russia or China would make serious trouble over the future of a small tract of land that has no oil, no nuclear weapons, and a GDP of less than $3 billion.
The peaceful separation of Kosovo from Serbia will require sustained and adept diplomacy from the international community, courageous leadership from Belgrade, and tolerance and good governance from Kosovar Albanians -- all commodities that have been in dangerously short supply. Nonetheless, Kosovo's independence is the best hope for finally settling one of the most intractable feuds in the Balkans, defeating the remnants of extreme nationalism in Serbia, and laying the foundations for a Balkan politics that focuses on the opportunities of the future rather than the wrongs of the past.
By Charles A. Kupchan
Summary: Given the atrocities they have suffered in the past and the autonomy they are enjoying now, Kosovo's Albanians will never accept continued Serbian sovereignty. The time has come to give them what they want -- independence.
CHARLES A. KUPCHAN is Professor of International Affairs at Georgetown University and Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. His most recent book is "The End of the American Era: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Geopolitics of the Twenty-first Century."
YIELDING TO BALKAN REALITY
Amid the unraveling of Yugoslavia that began in the early 1990s, the United States and its European allies have staunchly defended multiethnic society in the Balkans. The military interventions in Bosnia and Kosovo, the ongoing peacekeeping missions there, the hundreds of millions of dollars given annually in economic aid -- these sacrifices have been made to preserve the individual states that once constituted a federal Yugoslavia and to prevent bloodshed among the numerous ethnic groups that populate them. Now, however, the time has come to let pragmatism triumph over principle -- and move decisively toward independence for Kosovo.
The most important piece of unfinished business in the Balkans is the final status of Kosovo, the southern province of Serbia, which has been under international trusteeship since NATO's intervention in 1999. Anxious to scale back its obligations in the region and confronted with growing impatience among Kosovo's population, the international community is finally gearing up for negotiations over Kosovo's political future, as provided for under UN Security Council Resolution 1244.
Serbs, for whom Kosovo is an ancestral homeland and the site of many important Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries, insist that the area remain under Serbian sovereignty. Broader opposition to separating Kosovo from Serbia stems from concern about the potential precedent that would be set by redrawing boundaries along ethnic lines and the likely impact this move would have on the integrity of the borders of Macedonia, Montenegro, and Bosnia.
Nevertheless, harsh realities on the ground make independence for Kosovo the only viable option. In the current state of limbo, relations between the Albanian majority, which is mostly Muslim, and the Serbian minority, which is mostly Orthodox Christian, have reached the boiling point. The Albanian leadership in Pristina, which governs Kosovo in an uneasy partnership with UN authorities, wants nothing to do with Belgrade. Kosovo has already left Serbia's orbit. And throughout the area, walls of hostility divide ordinary Albanians and Serbs. In spirit as well as fact, multiethnic society is nowhere to be found.
Pretending otherwise and denying or delaying independence risks a return to disorder and bloodshed -- and is therefore the greater of two evils. The formal separation of Kosovo from Serbia instead offers the best hope for rebuilding moderation and tolerance among ethnic Albanians, making it far more likely that they will eventually live in peace with Serbs, Roma, and the other minority groups among them.
A HOUSE DIVIDED
Driving from central Serbia into Kosovo already feels like crossing a national boundary, and a militarized one at that: Serbian border guards, then a no man's land, then a border control staffed by Kosovo police as well as UN and NATO personnel. In the no man's land, drivers change their license plates; cars with Serbian tags will sometimes be attacked in Kosovo, and those with Kosovar plates are equally at risk in Serbia.
In Kosovo, signs abound that the area has been poisoned by intercommunal violence. NATO troops, armed UN guards, and members of the Kosovo Police Service are ubiquitous, keeping the palpable ethnic tensions in check. Serbs live in fortified enclaves, their access roads often guarded by NATO patrols. Before the war, two of Kosovo's largest cities, Pristina and Prizren, were home to tens of thousands of Serbs. They are now virtually Serb-free. A few smaller towns, such as Orahovac, have maintained their multiethnic character, but the Serbs there live in isolated ghettos, set off from Albanian neighborhoods by a block or two of burned-out homes. Serbs rarely venture into the Albanian section of town, fearful of abuse or worse.
Roughly 90 percent of Kosovo's population of some two million is ethnic Albanian, and most of the rest of the population is Serbian. This ethnic imbalance was long in the making, a result primarily of successive Serbian exoduses to the north during the Ottoman era and, more recently, higher birthrates among Albanians. Since World War II, political power has shifted back and forth between the two communities. In Tito's Yugoslavia, Kosovo's Albanians enjoyed a significant degree of autonomy. Beginning in the late 1980s, Serbia's nationalist leader Slobodan Milosevic tightened Belgrade's grip, and ethnic Albanians suffered repression and political and economic exploitation. Milosevic responded to armed Albanian resistance with a campaign of ethnic cleansing that began in 1998, killing at least 10,000 Albanians and driving hundreds of thousands from their homes.
After NATO's intervention and the eventual withdrawal of Serbian forces, ethnic Albanians exacted their revenge. During the war and the retribution that followed, at least a thousand Serbs were killed, while tens of thousands fled; their ransacked homes, stores, and churches still mar the landscape. To this day, Albanians continue to dish back the ethnic discrimination they suffered during the 1990s. In many Serbian enclaves, no one holds a steady job; the communities rely on handouts from aid organizations and from Belgrade. As one Serbian resident of Orahovac told me in July, "We don't call this life, we call it an imitation of life."
Although outbreaks of actual ethnic violence are now uncommon, Serbs remain on guard. In March 2004, Albanians rioted across Kosovo, leading to widespread attacks on Serbs, forcing thousands to flee and undoing what little progress had been made in repairing intercommunal ties. This past August, two Serbs were killed in a drive-by shooting.
The communities are so polarized that simple dialogue is hard to find. In a conversation with Serbian residents in Lipljan, one of the few multiethnic towns left near Pristina, a participant invited passing Albanians to join the discussion. One after another scurried away. "Most Albanians are no longer willing to have contact with us," a Serb commented. In Prizren, about 35 miles southwest of Lipljan, one of the few remaining Serbs there explained that she still meets with Albanian friends behind closed doors. "But in public, they pretend not to recognize me," she lamented, "as it is not good for Albanians to be seen with Serbs."
By any measure, the political conditions in Kosovo fall well short of the standards that the international community has set as preconditions for moving to final-status negotiations. Serbs do not enjoy freedom of movement, one of the main reasons that only a handful of those who fled since 1999 have returned. The process of decentralization meant to empower local communities has proved stillborn. Political and legal institutions have yet to mature, stymied by infighting among political parties, crime and corruption, and patronage systems deeply embedded in the clannish structure of Albanian society. Poverty is pervasive, with unemployment topping 50 percent even among ethnic Albanians. An inadequate power supply makes for daily blackouts, and Kosovo's uncertain political status leaves it unable to attract the foreign capital it needs to invest in basic infrastructure.
The case for independence, however, rests not on Kosovo's readiness, but on the lack of realistic alternatives. Ethnic Albanians are now in command, and they are adamant about breaking away from Serbia. As Kosovo's prime minister, Bajram Kosumi, made clear in his office in Pristina, "The people of Kosovo will decide their own future. ... If Kosovo does not become independent, there will be serious consequences." Kosovo's Albanians have reached their limits; the atrocities and injustices of the past, combined with the empowerment of the present, make it all but impossible to envisage the continuation of Serbian sovereignty. Unfortunately, continued sovereignty is exactly what the Serbian government has in mind.
BLIND ALLEYS
"Less than independence, more than autonomy," Serbia's president, Boris Tadic, explained in a meeting in Belgrade. Under his formula, Kosovo would largely manage its own affairs but remain nominally a part of Serbia and forgo diplomatic representation abroad. "The independence of Kosovo is unacceptable for me, and for all of Serbia," he insisted. Tadic and his advisers fear that an independent Kosovo would imperil not only the Serbs living there, but also the course of democracy in Serbia itself. "Independence will drive a stake through the heart of Serbian democracy," one of Tadic's top aides said. The president agreed, noting that "if independence is imposed on Serbia, we will once more become a black hole of the Balkans. The Radicals [extreme nationalists] will be elected. And they will stay in power for a generation."
Kosovo's independence, however, should not be held hostage to Serbia's inability to trust itself to behave responsibly. The United States and its European partners were too timid in confronting Serbian nationalism throughout most of the 1990s, and much blood was shed as a result. The international community should not make the same mistake today. Serbia's darker instincts need to be extinguished, not accommodated.
It is true that extreme nationalists might come to power in Serbia in the wake of Kosovo's independence. But if Belgrade becomes more belligerent, turns its back on the war crimes tribunal operating in The Hague, and veers away from integration into Europe, Serbs will only find their country more isolated and impoverished. By making clear that the nationalist agenda has been leading the country down a blind alley, Serbia's loss of sovereignty over Kosovo could well result in the strengthening of Serbian centrists.
Rather than threatening doomsday scenarios if Kosovo becomes independent, Serbia's leaders should be doing just the opposite: talking about life after separation and preparing the public accordingly. Yet to date, only one high-ranking Serbian politician, former Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic, has publicly endorsed letting Kosovo go. Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica and President Tadic, both of whom have the nationalist credentials necessary to call for moderation and compromise, have failed to rise to the occasion.
Instead, the Serbian government has encouraged Kosovar Serbs to boycott elections in the province and distance themselves from Pristina, only intensifying the Serbian minority's political isolation. Belgrade has played down Serbia's culpability in the ethnic violence of the 1990s, tolerating nationalist myths and strengthening popular belief in the inviolability of Serbia's territorial claims. Belgrade is correct to worry about how Kosovar Serbs would fare after independence, but its behavior has done little either to strengthen its case for keeping Kosovo in the fold or to ready its citizens for the impending loss of their southern province.
MAKING THE INEVITABLE TOLERABLE
As it eases Kosovo away from Serbian sovereignty, the international community should make independence contingent on three conditions. first, Pristina must make substantial progress on putting in place the essentials of a functioning state. To accomplish this goal, Kosovo's government must strengthen democratic institutions and the rule of law, clamp down on corruption and crime, and redress widespread poverty and unemployment.
Second, Pristina must do much more to ensure the well-being of those Serbs who choose to stay put. Many Serbs intend to quit Kosovo if it becomes independent simply as a matter of principle. To encourage them to remain, ethnic Albanian leaders will need to capitalize on the prospect of independence to promote tolerance and protect minority rights. Reviving multiethnicity will become easier as Kosovo formally moves beyond Belgrade's reach, enabling Albanian moderates to neutralize militant voices. As Ruzhdi Saramati, a former brigade commander in the Kosovo Liberation Army, put it in a meeting in Prizren, "Independence will help end extremist elements within the Albanian community."
As part of its effort to safeguard minority rights, Pristina should also agree to put Christian sites throughout Kosovo under international supervision. Well over a hundred churches and monasteries have been destroyed or damaged since 1999, many of them during the 2004 riots. Numerous religious sites are now armed camps, guarded by NATO troops and barbed wire. To ensure that they remain secure and accessible, these sites should be given international protection for the indefinite future.
Third -- and most controversial -- the international community should reconsider its blanket opposition to the partition of Kosovo, indicating instead that it is prepared to accept partition provided that Pristina and Belgrade both consent. From the Ibar River north to the boundary with Serbia proper, Kosovo is populated almost exclusively by Serbs. The area is about 15 percent of Kosovo's territory and contains about one-third of its Serbs. Pristina makes no pretense of governing the region, which in most respects remains functionally a part of Serbia.
Granting northern Kosovo to Serbia while the rest of the province becomes independent would relieve Pristina of the futile task of trying to assert control over a region that, come what may, intends to maintain its links to Belgrade. In Mitrovica, the area's main city, Albanian and Serbian communities already reside on opposite sides of the Ibar, making it an attractive location for Serbs who choose to relocate from other parts of Kosovo. As long as Pristina is disabused of any hope of swapping northern Kosovo for Albanian enclaves in southern Serbia, partition would also represent a compromise of sorts, enabling Belgrade to claim that it has not been left empty-handed. As one of President Tadic's advisers stated, "If we are looking for a compromise solution, partition seems to be the easy way out."
Many in the international community insist that the partition of Kosovo along ethnic lines would send a dangerous signal, condoning ethnic segregation and fueling fragmentation elsewhere in the Balkans. This argument is not without merit. It would have been best if the peoples of the former Yugoslavia had been able to live together amicably in a unitary state. The breakup of Yugoslavia certainly violated the civic values on which multiethnic society rests -- as would the independence and partition of Kosovo. But when the best outcome proves impossible to achieve, the imperatives of stability ultimately require compromising the principle of multiethnicity. Just as these imperatives provide a compelling rationale for Kosovo's separation from Serbia, so might it be necessary for Kosovo itself to be partitioned in order to bring peace to the region.
Furthermore, Kosovo's situation is unique: its independence, and even its partition, is unlikely to trigger further unraveling in the Balkans. With or without the territory north of the Ibar, Kosovo's independence promises to stabilize Macedonia by forestalling the radicalization of its ethnic Albanians and neutralizing Albanian extremists throughout the region. Even if it does not, it is Macedonia's treatment of its Albanian minority that will do more to stabilize (or destabilize) the country than developments elsewhere. And although ethnic tensions continue to bedevil Bosnia, its future, like Montenegro's, will be little affected by Kosovo's ultimate political status or boundaries.
It is well worth keeping the option of Kosovo's partition on the table, therefore, especially if doing so would provide Belgrade with sufficient inducement to make a deal. The international community should also be prepared to sweeten the pot by offering Serbia more economic assistance, relief from its $13 billion in external debt, and a clear pathway to membership in NATO and the European Union.
Securing Kosovo's independence will ultimately require the approval of the UN Security Council. Russia and China, both of which struggle with separatist movements at home, are unlikely to relish an outcome that effectively embraces secession along ethnic lines. But neither country has compelling interests in the Balkans. Russia's affinity for its Slavic brethren in Serbia is of minimal political consequence, and both Moscow and Beijing are intent on maintaining good relations with the United States and Europe. It is difficult to imagine that either Russia or China would make serious trouble over the future of a small tract of land that has no oil, no nuclear weapons, and a GDP of less than $3 billion.
The peaceful separation of Kosovo from Serbia will require sustained and adept diplomacy from the international community, courageous leadership from Belgrade, and tolerance and good governance from Kosovar Albanians -- all commodities that have been in dangerously short supply. Nonetheless, Kosovo's independence is the best hope for finally settling one of the most intractable feuds in the Balkans, defeating the remnants of extreme nationalism in Serbia, and laying the foundations for a Balkan politics that focuses on the opportunities of the future rather than the wrongs of the past.
Picture of the Day
A comparison of Saddam, Milosevic trials
By DUSAN STOJANOVIC, Associated Press Writer
In this combo image, Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic sits in the court of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Dec. 11, 2001, left, and deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein sits in the Iraqi Special Tribunal at an initial appearance in Baghdad, July 21, 2005. The trial of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was barely under way, but it carried a striking resemblance to the war crimes trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. Both the former strongmen were defiant, refused to recognize the courts that are trying them, bickered with judges and insisted they were innocent.
(Published October 20‚ 2005)
BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) - Both Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milosevic have displayed defiance in the courtroom, tangled with judges and proclaimed their innocence. But the two deposed strongmen are being tried in two very different ways: the former Iraqi leader in a U.S.-backed national court and the former Yugoslav president by a U.N. tribunal.
And if the Milosevic trial is any measure, Iraqis' quest for justice could take years.
Aside from the defiant behavior of Saddam and Milosevic at their opening trial sessions, the parallels between the judicial proceedings in Baghdad and The Hague, Netherlands, could be misleading.
"Although Milosevic and Saddam may have similar personalities, and both don't recognize courts which are trying them, there is a vast difference over the legal proceedings against them," said Branislav Tapuskovic, a former court-appointed lawyer for Milosevic in The Hague.
"The fact that the Baghdad court was set up by an interested party leads to worries that it is not impartial and raises fears of a show trial," Tapuskovic said.
Saddam pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and torture when his long-awaited trial opened Wednesday, with the one-time dictator arguing about the legitimacy of the court and scuffling with guards.
The first session of Saddam's trial lasted about three hours, and the judge ordered an adjournment until Nov. 28, though a cancer-stricken prosecution witness will testify Sunday.
The trial of Milosevic, who faces 66 war crimes counts for alleged offenses during the decade-long breakup of the former Yugoslavia, has been going off and on for more than three years, with no end in sight following frequent delays because of Milosevic's chronic heart problems.
"The case against Saddam focuses on a concrete event, while the charges against Milosevic are a bit vague and sometimes political," Tapuskovic said, pointing to another difference between the two trials.
Saddam could face the death penalty if convicted for the 1982 massacre of nearly 150 Shiite Muslims in the town of Dujail. The Hague court has no death penalty, and Milosevic could be sentenced to life in prison if found guilty.
While Saddam grudgingly said: "I'm not guilty" after an argument with a judge Wednesday, Milosevic refused to enter a plea when his trial opened at the U.N. tribunal in February 2002.
A three-judge panel had to enter a not guilty plea for Milosevic, who repeatedly questioned the legitimacy of The Hague tribunal, claiming it was established by his longtime enemy - the United States - to "unjustly" punish him and the Serbian people.
Like Saddam on Wednesday, Milosevic repeatedly has addressed the judges as "the so-called court," and still refuses to say "prosecution," calling its representatives "the other side."
Because he doesn't recognize the court, Milosevic, a law graduate who never practiced law, has refused to appoint a lawyer and is defending himself. Saddam has an attorney.
Another difference appears to be the determination of the Iraqi authorities to avoid a repetition of Milosevic's successful use of his trial to embarrass the prosecution by highlighting the involvement of the major powers in the conflict in former Yugoslavia.
In contrast to the case against Milosevic, which consists of charges for crimes allegedly committed in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo, Saddam is being tried - thus far - on tightly focused charges.
This will make it difficult for him to emulate Milosevic's expansive arguments, and the judges will likely prevent Saddam from introducing evidence of outside support for his policies during the 1980s because it would not be relevant to the charge he is facing.
Another similarity is a huge public interest in the country for the start of the two trials, and diverse reactions they have prompted among local supporters and opponents.
The idea by a private television network to beam the Milosevic trial to Serbian households was meant to confront Serbs with the atrocities he allegedly masterminded.
Years later, many are asking whether the initiative has backfired and actually increased Milosevic's approval ratings.
"When I watched Saddam on trial yesterday, I almost saw Slobo," Belgrade law student Milica Petrovic said, referring to Milosevic by his nickname. "For the sake of the Iraqis, I wish their quest for justice is swifter than ours."
By DUSAN STOJANOVIC, Associated Press Writer
In this combo image, Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic sits in the court of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Dec. 11, 2001, left, and deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein sits in the Iraqi Special Tribunal at an initial appearance in Baghdad, July 21, 2005. The trial of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was barely under way, but it carried a striking resemblance to the war crimes trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. Both the former strongmen were defiant, refused to recognize the courts that are trying them, bickered with judges and insisted they were innocent.
(Published October 20‚ 2005)
BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) - Both Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milosevic have displayed defiance in the courtroom, tangled with judges and proclaimed their innocence. But the two deposed strongmen are being tried in two very different ways: the former Iraqi leader in a U.S.-backed national court and the former Yugoslav president by a U.N. tribunal.
And if the Milosevic trial is any measure, Iraqis' quest for justice could take years.
Aside from the defiant behavior of Saddam and Milosevic at their opening trial sessions, the parallels between the judicial proceedings in Baghdad and The Hague, Netherlands, could be misleading.
"Although Milosevic and Saddam may have similar personalities, and both don't recognize courts which are trying them, there is a vast difference over the legal proceedings against them," said Branislav Tapuskovic, a former court-appointed lawyer for Milosevic in The Hague.
"The fact that the Baghdad court was set up by an interested party leads to worries that it is not impartial and raises fears of a show trial," Tapuskovic said.
Saddam pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and torture when his long-awaited trial opened Wednesday, with the one-time dictator arguing about the legitimacy of the court and scuffling with guards.
The first session of Saddam's trial lasted about three hours, and the judge ordered an adjournment until Nov. 28, though a cancer-stricken prosecution witness will testify Sunday.
The trial of Milosevic, who faces 66 war crimes counts for alleged offenses during the decade-long breakup of the former Yugoslavia, has been going off and on for more than three years, with no end in sight following frequent delays because of Milosevic's chronic heart problems.
"The case against Saddam focuses on a concrete event, while the charges against Milosevic are a bit vague and sometimes political," Tapuskovic said, pointing to another difference between the two trials.
Saddam could face the death penalty if convicted for the 1982 massacre of nearly 150 Shiite Muslims in the town of Dujail. The Hague court has no death penalty, and Milosevic could be sentenced to life in prison if found guilty.
While Saddam grudgingly said: "I'm not guilty" after an argument with a judge Wednesday, Milosevic refused to enter a plea when his trial opened at the U.N. tribunal in February 2002.
A three-judge panel had to enter a not guilty plea for Milosevic, who repeatedly questioned the legitimacy of The Hague tribunal, claiming it was established by his longtime enemy - the United States - to "unjustly" punish him and the Serbian people.
Like Saddam on Wednesday, Milosevic repeatedly has addressed the judges as "the so-called court," and still refuses to say "prosecution," calling its representatives "the other side."
Because he doesn't recognize the court, Milosevic, a law graduate who never practiced law, has refused to appoint a lawyer and is defending himself. Saddam has an attorney.
Another difference appears to be the determination of the Iraqi authorities to avoid a repetition of Milosevic's successful use of his trial to embarrass the prosecution by highlighting the involvement of the major powers in the conflict in former Yugoslavia.
In contrast to the case against Milosevic, which consists of charges for crimes allegedly committed in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo, Saddam is being tried - thus far - on tightly focused charges.
This will make it difficult for him to emulate Milosevic's expansive arguments, and the judges will likely prevent Saddam from introducing evidence of outside support for his policies during the 1980s because it would not be relevant to the charge he is facing.
Another similarity is a huge public interest in the country for the start of the two trials, and diverse reactions they have prompted among local supporters and opponents.
The idea by a private television network to beam the Milosevic trial to Serbian households was meant to confront Serbs with the atrocities he allegedly masterminded.
Years later, many are asking whether the initiative has backfired and actually increased Milosevic's approval ratings.
"When I watched Saddam on trial yesterday, I almost saw Slobo," Belgrade law student Milica Petrovic said, referring to Milosevic by his nickname. "For the sake of the Iraqis, I wish their quest for justice is swifter than ours."
Albanian premier tones down stance on Kosovo - daily
Text of report by Albanian newspaper Shekulli on 19 October
Prime Minister Sali Berisha has toned down his stand on Kosova's [Kosovo] independence. While on a visit to Montenegro, where an international meeting on the conservation of Shkoder Lake is taking place, he presented his latest stand on the issue of Kosova's independence at a meeting he had with Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic.
According to a press release from the Prime Minister's Office, Berisha said that the Albanian government held that the Kosova issue should be resolved in accordance with the will of the Kosova people and in cooperation with the Contact Group.
The Albanian prime minister also stressed that guaranteeing the rights and freedom of the ethnic Serbian and other minorities as well as the Prishtina [Pristina]-Belgrade dialogue were of particular importance. The two interlocutors seem to have been in agreement on this point.
According to Deutsche Welle , for his part, Djukanovic said, "I voiced our desire to the effect that, according to the planned dynamics, the problem of Kosova's status should be settled through a Belgrade-Prishtina dialogue and with the mediation of the international community at the end of this year or in the middle of next year."
Djukanovic added that next spring, Podgorica intended to hold a referendum about the state status of Montenegro.
At his meeting with Berisha, there was also a discussion about deepening cooperation between the two countries. The two heads of government agreed to step up joint efforts in the struggle against organized crime.
The Albanian prime minister expounded his opinion about broader and more efficient coordination of the work of the law-enforcement institutions in the context of this struggle.
Berisha also said that cooperation in the field of tourism could be improved, enabling tourists to visit both countries on the same trip. Likewise, Albania and Montenegro could also support each other by integrating the energy system at a regional level.
Speaking about the infrastructure that links the two counties, Berisha termed the current road "a symbol of past relations," adding that this road should be improved as soon as possible to enable normal transport between Albania and its northern neighbour.
Appraising Montenegro's cooperation with Albania, Djukanovic stressed that it was a positive example of cross-border relations for the whole region.
At a dinner the Montenegrin prime minister gave in honour of Prime Minister Berisha there were also representatives of the Albanian political parties in Montenegro. There was a discussion of the rights of ethnic minorities both in Montenegro and the region in general.
Yesterday morning the two prime ministers attended the inauguration of a regional seminar sponsored by UNESCO, the Council of Europe, and the World Wildlife Fund.
Source: Shekulli, Tirana, in Albanian 19 Oct 05 p 4
Prime Minister Sali Berisha has toned down his stand on Kosova's [Kosovo] independence. While on a visit to Montenegro, where an international meeting on the conservation of Shkoder Lake is taking place, he presented his latest stand on the issue of Kosova's independence at a meeting he had with Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic.
According to a press release from the Prime Minister's Office, Berisha said that the Albanian government held that the Kosova issue should be resolved in accordance with the will of the Kosova people and in cooperation with the Contact Group.
The Albanian prime minister also stressed that guaranteeing the rights and freedom of the ethnic Serbian and other minorities as well as the Prishtina [Pristina]-Belgrade dialogue were of particular importance. The two interlocutors seem to have been in agreement on this point.
According to Deutsche Welle , for his part, Djukanovic said, "I voiced our desire to the effect that, according to the planned dynamics, the problem of Kosova's status should be settled through a Belgrade-Prishtina dialogue and with the mediation of the international community at the end of this year or in the middle of next year."
Djukanovic added that next spring, Podgorica intended to hold a referendum about the state status of Montenegro.
At his meeting with Berisha, there was also a discussion about deepening cooperation between the two countries. The two heads of government agreed to step up joint efforts in the struggle against organized crime.
The Albanian prime minister expounded his opinion about broader and more efficient coordination of the work of the law-enforcement institutions in the context of this struggle.
Berisha also said that cooperation in the field of tourism could be improved, enabling tourists to visit both countries on the same trip. Likewise, Albania and Montenegro could also support each other by integrating the energy system at a regional level.
Speaking about the infrastructure that links the two counties, Berisha termed the current road "a symbol of past relations," adding that this road should be improved as soon as possible to enable normal transport between Albania and its northern neighbour.
Appraising Montenegro's cooperation with Albania, Djukanovic stressed that it was a positive example of cross-border relations for the whole region.
At a dinner the Montenegrin prime minister gave in honour of Prime Minister Berisha there were also representatives of the Albanian political parties in Montenegro. There was a discussion of the rights of ethnic minorities both in Montenegro and the region in general.
Yesterday morning the two prime ministers attended the inauguration of a regional seminar sponsored by UNESCO, the Council of Europe, and the World Wildlife Fund.
Source: Shekulli, Tirana, in Albanian 19 Oct 05 p 4
Serbian war criminal Minic dies in Argentina
BUENOS AIRES, Oct 20 (AFP) -
Nebjosa Minic, a Serbian police commander accused of war crimes in the former Yugoslavia, has died in Argentina where he had been detained since May, local officials in Mendoza province said.
Minic, 40, suffered from AIDS and lung cancer, but the cause of death at a hospital in Mendoza was not given.
The UN war crimes court for the former Yugoslavia had sought his extradition for trial for allegedly ordering war crimes against the civilian population in Kosovo in 1999.
He was stopped in Mendoza after an anonymous tip to authorities. He was carrying a fake passport in the name of Goran Petrovic, a former minister of Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic.
Nebjosa Minic, a Serbian police commander accused of war crimes in the former Yugoslavia, has died in Argentina where he had been detained since May, local officials in Mendoza province said.
Minic, 40, suffered from AIDS and lung cancer, but the cause of death at a hospital in Mendoza was not given.
The UN war crimes court for the former Yugoslavia had sought his extradition for trial for allegedly ordering war crimes against the civilian population in Kosovo in 1999.
He was stopped in Mendoza after an anonymous tip to authorities. He was carrying a fake passport in the name of Goran Petrovic, a former minister of Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic.
Kosovo, Serbian authorities to sign agreement on displaced persons
Text of report in English by independent internet news agency KosovaLive
Prishtina [Pristina], 20 October: Minister of Local Self-Administration Lutfi Haziri said today in Prishtina that very soon they will sign an agreement with the Serbian government on a lasting return of displaced persons.
Haziri made these comments in a regular meeting of the working group for Standard III - Freedom of Movement - and Standard IV - Lasting Return.
In relation with the lasting return, Haziri said that the situation is still the same.
"This is one of the standards that needs time, but we are working actively to implement the government plan on a lasting return. At this stage, we are pending to sign a protocol for lasting return with the Belgrade government," said Haziri.
Haziri said that the biggest obstacle to the implementation of the lasting return was the negative stance of the Belgrade government, which continues to manipulate the displaced persons.
"I hope that this document will change their stance, and they be more cooperative in the area of implementing this elementary right in the future," said Haziri.
In relation to the Standard III - Freedom of Movement - Haziri said that there are positive results in this aspect, if compared to the previous months.
Haziri also said that there is an increase of the minority employment.
Source: KosovaLive website, Pristina, in English 20 Oct 05
Prishtina [Pristina], 20 October: Minister of Local Self-Administration Lutfi Haziri said today in Prishtina that very soon they will sign an agreement with the Serbian government on a lasting return of displaced persons.
Haziri made these comments in a regular meeting of the working group for Standard III - Freedom of Movement - and Standard IV - Lasting Return.
In relation with the lasting return, Haziri said that the situation is still the same.
"This is one of the standards that needs time, but we are working actively to implement the government plan on a lasting return. At this stage, we are pending to sign a protocol for lasting return with the Belgrade government," said Haziri.
Haziri said that the biggest obstacle to the implementation of the lasting return was the negative stance of the Belgrade government, which continues to manipulate the displaced persons.
"I hope that this document will change their stance, and they be more cooperative in the area of implementing this elementary right in the future," said Haziri.
In relation to the Standard III - Freedom of Movement - Haziri said that there are positive results in this aspect, if compared to the previous months.
Haziri also said that there is an increase of the minority employment.
Source: KosovaLive website, Pristina, in English 20 Oct 05
UN Downsizing Operations In Kosovo - Spokesman
PRISTINA (AP)--The U.N. is downsizing its mission in Kosovo, a spokesman said Thursday.
The mission began to trim the number of people on a team that has dealt with the civil administration in a province, which it has run since 1999, said Neeraj Singh, the U.N. spokesman in Kosovo.
Kosovo, legally part of Serbia-Montenegro, the union that replaced Yugoslavia, has been administered by a U.N. mission since mid-1999 when a North Atlantic Treaty Organization air war forced Serbia to halt its crackdown on independence- seeking ethnic Albanians and relinquish control of the province.
Talks to determine Kosovo's future are expected to begin by the year's end. At the center of the issue are ethnic Albanian demands for an independent state, while Serbs want the province remains within their borders.
Recently, the U.N. has drafted plans to transfer responsibilities to the local authorities as it plans to decrease its presence while hoping to turn over some responsibilities to a possible European Union-led mission after the talks on the province's future.
The U.N. administration - in place since the conflict ended six years ago - runs the police, justice department and economy in the disputed region.
The province has an elected legislature, a president and a government working alongside the U.N. mission, which still remains the ultimate authority in the province's affairs.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
The mission began to trim the number of people on a team that has dealt with the civil administration in a province, which it has run since 1999, said Neeraj Singh, the U.N. spokesman in Kosovo.
Kosovo, legally part of Serbia-Montenegro, the union that replaced Yugoslavia, has been administered by a U.N. mission since mid-1999 when a North Atlantic Treaty Organization air war forced Serbia to halt its crackdown on independence- seeking ethnic Albanians and relinquish control of the province.
Talks to determine Kosovo's future are expected to begin by the year's end. At the center of the issue are ethnic Albanian demands for an independent state, while Serbs want the province remains within their borders.
Recently, the U.N. has drafted plans to transfer responsibilities to the local authorities as it plans to decrease its presence while hoping to turn over some responsibilities to a possible European Union-led mission after the talks on the province's future.
The U.N. administration - in place since the conflict ended six years ago - runs the police, justice department and economy in the disputed region.
The province has an elected legislature, a president and a government working alongside the U.N. mission, which still remains the ultimate authority in the province's affairs.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
Kosovo de facto independent – negotiations on independence de jure (Koha)
In the leading front-page story, Koha Ditore carries a report by the Danish Institute for International Relations, the conclusion of which is that Kosovo is de facto independent and negotiations on status are focused on how to make it a permanent status according to the wish of Kosovo Albanians. Koha notes that “the final report which is prepared especially on the eve of the UN Security Council suggests that four ‘red lines’ need to be determined before status negotiations: status to be a guarantee for internal security, to determine sovereignty, for EU and US to guarantee security, and long-term guarantees and support for the economic and financial sector.”
Ahtisaari talks to Solana about Kosovo (Koha)
Koha Ditore quotes sources from Brussels as saying that there are no dilemmas anymore on the name of the international envoy on status. The paper says the name of the former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari has already received the support of all relevant international circles and that, in this context, Ahtisaari visited Brussels on Wednesday to, according to Koha, present some of his ideas to the EU High Representative Javier Solana on the future process in Kosovo.
Zëri, reporting on the meeting between Solana and Ahtisaari, carries a caption saying EU backs Ahtisaari for the post of chief-negotiator on Kosovo status.
Zëri, reporting on the meeting between Solana and Ahtisaari, carries a caption saying EU backs Ahtisaari for the post of chief-negotiator on Kosovo status.
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
US says Kosovo status quo 'cannot be sustained'
The situation in Kosovo, where UN and NATO missions are trying to keep the peace between ethnic Albanian and Serbians, cannot be sustained and must be changed through pivotal negotiations next month, a top US official said.
"There is no question that the status quo cannot be sustained and it has to be changed," Nicholas Burns, the undersecretary of state for political affairs, told reporters at the US embassy in Paris.
A UN Security Council meeting scheduled for Monday would ask UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to appoint a special UN envoy to handle negotiations, which will determine the future of the territory, he said.
"The Kosovo final status talks should begin in the month of November," Burns said, adding that he would be appointed the US negotiator.
"We don't know where this process is going to lead, but it has to lead to something better than the status quo that has not been conducive to either stability or peace in Kosovo over the course of the past several years."
The "US very firmly supports" the talks, he said.
Kosovo, technically part of Serbia, has been under UN administration since June 1999 when NATO forced Serbian armed forces to cease their crackdown on ethnic Albanians and to withdraw from the territory.
Since then, NATO peacekeepers, including US and French troops, have been trying to maintain peace amid frequent flare-ups of violence between the ethnic Albanians and the dwindling ethnic Serbian minority.
The ethnic Albanians are seeking full independence, but that has been rejected by Belgrade.
Burns said the issue was one of several he discussed with French officials during his one-day trip to Paris.
The head of the UN mission in Kosovo, Soren Jessen-Petersen, said in neighbouring Albania Wednesday that "we have all come to the conclusion that after six years ... the status quo is no longer tenable."
He confirmed that the UN Security Council session next week would set a timetable for the negotiations and that they would begin next month.
"There is an absolute agreement throughout the region, Europe and the world that the Kosovo that emerges from the decision (about its) status must be a stable, tolerant, multi-ethnic and democratic Kosovo," Petersen said.
"There is no question that the status quo cannot be sustained and it has to be changed," Nicholas Burns, the undersecretary of state for political affairs, told reporters at the US embassy in Paris.
A UN Security Council meeting scheduled for Monday would ask UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to appoint a special UN envoy to handle negotiations, which will determine the future of the territory, he said.
"The Kosovo final status talks should begin in the month of November," Burns said, adding that he would be appointed the US negotiator.
"We don't know where this process is going to lead, but it has to lead to something better than the status quo that has not been conducive to either stability or peace in Kosovo over the course of the past several years."
The "US very firmly supports" the talks, he said.
Kosovo, technically part of Serbia, has been under UN administration since June 1999 when NATO forced Serbian armed forces to cease their crackdown on ethnic Albanians and to withdraw from the territory.
Since then, NATO peacekeepers, including US and French troops, have been trying to maintain peace amid frequent flare-ups of violence between the ethnic Albanians and the dwindling ethnic Serbian minority.
The ethnic Albanians are seeking full independence, but that has been rejected by Belgrade.
Burns said the issue was one of several he discussed with French officials during his one-day trip to Paris.
The head of the UN mission in Kosovo, Soren Jessen-Petersen, said in neighbouring Albania Wednesday that "we have all come to the conclusion that after six years ... the status quo is no longer tenable."
He confirmed that the UN Security Council session next week would set a timetable for the negotiations and that they would begin next month.
"There is an absolute agreement throughout the region, Europe and the world that the Kosovo that emerges from the decision (about its) status must be a stable, tolerant, multi-ethnic and democratic Kosovo," Petersen said.
European Parliament will vote on a resolution on Kosovo’s independence in October (Koha)
The paper reports that the EP has instructed its Committee of Foreign Affairs to compile a report on Kosovo with special emphasis on how Kosovo’s independence will affect the situation in the region.
Staes stated that very soon there will be a report of a special envoy on Kosovo, based on which the EP will then will draft a resolution where EU responsible institutions for Foreign Affairs would be urged to support the independence of Kosovo and boost their role there.
Commenting on ‘conditional independence’ Staes said that he wasn’t certain of what international circles meant by that phrase. He further urged the local community in Kosovo to keep on working on Standards during the status talks, writes Koha.
Staes stated that very soon there will be a report of a special envoy on Kosovo, based on which the EP will then will draft a resolution where EU responsible institutions for Foreign Affairs would be urged to support the independence of Kosovo and boost their role there.
Commenting on ‘conditional independence’ Staes said that he wasn’t certain of what international circles meant by that phrase. He further urged the local community in Kosovo to keep on working on Standards during the status talks, writes Koha.
Serbia reportedly obstructs Kosovo power imports
Excerpt from report by Salie Gajtani: "Kosovo in dark, Serbia blocks power from export", published by Kosovo Albanian newspaper Koha Ditore on 18 October
Prishtina [Pristina], 17 October: The evident lack of power in Kosova [Kosovo] on Sunday and Monday [ 16-17 October], which resulted in power cuts of three hours on and three hours off, was not only a consequence of the breakdown at the B2 power plant, but also a consequence of Serbia's obstacles to the system of importing electricity from the countries in the region.
The Irish management officials at the KEK [Kosova Power Corporation] have said they have decided to make public the obstacles that EPS (Elektro Priveda Srbije [Serbian Power Industry]) has been making to the power transmission system, as these obstacles affect both the import and export of power in Kosova. Serbia has also refused to pay the internationally set tariffs when it sends electricity to other countries of the region through Kosova.
KEK Commercial Director Sean McGoldrick told Koha Ditore that there are two things that the EPS has been doing wrong. "The EPS has been preventing even other neighbour countries from selling electricity to Kosova, and has been interfering in the KEK's affairs by blocking it from buying energy that is cheaper than the electricity that Serbia offers. Serbia has also been sending its electricity to Greece through Kosova, and it does not pay any tariffs for that," he said.
Meanwhile, no one from the EPS was willing to comment on these accusations under the excuse that company spokesperson Momcilo Cebalovic was not at his workplace on Monday [17 October]. Despite Koha Ditore's insistence throughout Monday to get an answer by telephone, people on the other side of the line kept saying, "Only spokesperson Cebalovic can give an answer to this question."
Officials from the Kosova Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) have said that even though they do not manage the KEK, they will undertake all the necessary measures to resolve this problem. They also blamed the bosses of the ESBI Irish company that manages the KEK for this situation.
MEM Deputy Minister Agron Dida said the ESBI failed to make the necessary preparations on time for the import of energy. "Usually these things are done on time, and we need to have yearly strategic contracts, and not monthly, as the KEK has been doing," said Dida. "This is what the law says," he added. [passage omitted]
Source: Koha Ditore, Pristina, in Albanian 18 Oct 05 p 5
Prishtina [Pristina], 17 October: The evident lack of power in Kosova [Kosovo] on Sunday and Monday [ 16-17 October], which resulted in power cuts of three hours on and three hours off, was not only a consequence of the breakdown at the B2 power plant, but also a consequence of Serbia's obstacles to the system of importing electricity from the countries in the region.
The Irish management officials at the KEK [Kosova Power Corporation] have said they have decided to make public the obstacles that EPS (Elektro Priveda Srbije [Serbian Power Industry]) has been making to the power transmission system, as these obstacles affect both the import and export of power in Kosova. Serbia has also refused to pay the internationally set tariffs when it sends electricity to other countries of the region through Kosova.
KEK Commercial Director Sean McGoldrick told Koha Ditore that there are two things that the EPS has been doing wrong. "The EPS has been preventing even other neighbour countries from selling electricity to Kosova, and has been interfering in the KEK's affairs by blocking it from buying energy that is cheaper than the electricity that Serbia offers. Serbia has also been sending its electricity to Greece through Kosova, and it does not pay any tariffs for that," he said.
Meanwhile, no one from the EPS was willing to comment on these accusations under the excuse that company spokesperson Momcilo Cebalovic was not at his workplace on Monday [17 October]. Despite Koha Ditore's insistence throughout Monday to get an answer by telephone, people on the other side of the line kept saying, "Only spokesperson Cebalovic can give an answer to this question."
Officials from the Kosova Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) have said that even though they do not manage the KEK, they will undertake all the necessary measures to resolve this problem. They also blamed the bosses of the ESBI Irish company that manages the KEK for this situation.
MEM Deputy Minister Agron Dida said the ESBI failed to make the necessary preparations on time for the import of energy. "Usually these things are done on time, and we need to have yearly strategic contracts, and not monthly, as the KEK has been doing," said Dida. "This is what the law says," he added. [passage omitted]
Source: Koha Ditore, Pristina, in Albanian 18 Oct 05 p 5
Kosovo Police Disperse Anti-UN Protesters;Dozens Arrested
PRISTINA (AP)--Police in Kosovo on Wednesday used pepper spray to disperse dozens of ethnic Albanian protesters spray-painting U.N. vehicles with anti-U.N. slogans. Several dozen were arrested.
About 100 demonstrators wearing white T-shirts painted the Albanian word for " the end" on several U.N. cars parked near the U.N. mission headquarters in Kosovo's capital, Pristina.
Police arrested dozens of youths, including former student leader Albin Kurti.
The demonstration was organized by a group called Self-determination, which has staged regular protests to demand that the U.N. leave Kosovo. The group is also pressing for the province's independence from Serbia and rejects the idea of negotiations over Kosovo's future status with Serbia.
Kurti, the leader of the group, was jailed by Serb authorities during the crackdown by former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's forces on ethnic Albanian separatists in Kosovo. He spent several years in prison.
Kosovo has been administered by the U.N. since a 1999 North Atlantic Treaty Organization air war halted the Serb offensive.
There are around 3,000 U.N. police serving alongside 7,000 members of the fledgling Kosovo Police Service.
The province's status remains disputed. The ethnic Albanian majority wants independence, while Serbs living in Kosovo demand that it remain part of Serbia. Talks to determine Kosovo's future are expected to take place later this year.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
About 100 demonstrators wearing white T-shirts painted the Albanian word for " the end" on several U.N. cars parked near the U.N. mission headquarters in Kosovo's capital, Pristina.
Police arrested dozens of youths, including former student leader Albin Kurti.
The demonstration was organized by a group called Self-determination, which has staged regular protests to demand that the U.N. leave Kosovo. The group is also pressing for the province's independence from Serbia and rejects the idea of negotiations over Kosovo's future status with Serbia.
Kurti, the leader of the group, was jailed by Serb authorities during the crackdown by former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's forces on ethnic Albanian separatists in Kosovo. He spent several years in prison.
Kosovo has been administered by the U.N. since a 1999 North Atlantic Treaty Organization air war halted the Serb offensive.
There are around 3,000 U.N. police serving alongside 7,000 members of the fledgling Kosovo Police Service.
The province's status remains disputed. The ethnic Albanian majority wants independence, while Serbs living in Kosovo demand that it remain part of Serbia. Talks to determine Kosovo's future are expected to take place later this year.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
SRSG Jessen-Petersen to represent Kosovo at the SC meeting (Zëri)
Zëri quotes UNMIK spokesman Neeraj Singh as saying that SRSG Søren Jessen-Petersen will represent Kosovo at the meeting of the UN Security Council on 24th October. The paper notes that none of the representatives of Kosovo institutions will attend the meeting. The SC meeting will discuss the recommendations of UNSG Kofi Annan to start the process of resolving Kosovo’s final status.
Four new options on the road toward negotiations (Koha Ditore)
Koha Ditore reports on the front page that Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova could have new problems with the functioning of the Negotiating Team. The paper quotes unnamed sources as saying that Prime Minister Kosumi in meetings with international officials and in the government meeting has pre-announced that the government would form working groups on Kosovo’s status. However, this was denied by PM’s advisor Avni Arifi.Koha also says that in the next meeting of the Negotiating Team, which is expected to take place next week, there will be four proposals by Opposition leaders Hashim Thaçi and Veton Surroi. The PDK leader will call for the enlargement of the group and ask that the working groups have three coordinators. Surroi on the other hand will ask that the deputy leaders of the four main political parties form a political group within the Negotiating Team. He will also call for the creation of the advisory committee for minorities through which the interests of minorities would be integrated in the negotiating process.
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Dutch Minister Visits Kosovo To Promote Investments
PRISTINA (AP)--The Dutch development minister arrived in Kosovo Tuesday to discuss the private business sector in the disputed U.N.-run province as part of a plan to promote Dutch investments in the Balkans.
The Netherlands has contributed EUR160 million since mid-1999 in projects on infrastructure, health and the return of those displaced by the 1998-99 conflict between ethnic Albanian rebels and Serb government forces.
Development minister Agnes van Ardenne met with Kosovo's top U.N. official Soren Jessen-Petersen and other leaders. She will also give a speech at Pristina's university on regional cooperation and free trade.
Kosovo is legally a province of Serbia-Montenegro, the union that replaced Yugoslavia, but has been under U.N. administration since mid-1999, when a North Atlantic Treaty Organization-led air war halted Serb forces' crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians.
The province is among Europe's poorest regions.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
The Netherlands has contributed EUR160 million since mid-1999 in projects on infrastructure, health and the return of those displaced by the 1998-99 conflict between ethnic Albanian rebels and Serb government forces.
Development minister Agnes van Ardenne met with Kosovo's top U.N. official Soren Jessen-Petersen and other leaders. She will also give a speech at Pristina's university on regional cooperation and free trade.
Kosovo is legally a province of Serbia-Montenegro, the union that replaced Yugoslavia, but has been under U.N. administration since mid-1999, when a North Atlantic Treaty Organization-led air war halted Serb forces' crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians.
The province is among Europe's poorest regions.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
Trial of Milosevic Holds Lessons for Iraqi Prosecutors
By Molly Moore
THE HAGUE -- Three years and eight months into the war crimes trial of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, the courtroom still crackles with explosive outbursts.
"You know perfectly well those people were butchered!" prosecutor Geoffrey Nice shouted at a former Serbian police chief this month while questioning him about the deaths of more than 40 ethnic Albanians in the Kosovo village of Racak during the winter of 1999.
"This is preposterous!" shot back the witness, Bogoljub Janicevic, his wire-rimmed glasses sliding down his nose.
On the opposite side of the courtroom, on the fifth anniversary of his fall from power in Belgrade, the white-haired Milosevic sat impassively. But his face darkened several shades of red, as often happens when testimony heats up.
As Iraqi prosecutors prepare for the trial of former president Saddam Hussein, scheduled to begin in Baghdad on Wednesday, Milosevic's slow-moving case at the U.N. Balkans war crimes tribunal demonstrates the many pitfalls entailed in trying deposed leaders in a court of law: The defendants drag out their cases, they can intimidate witnesses, and any links to atrocities are usually concealed by layers of subordinates.
For the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia -- the first international war crimes court established since the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials after World War II -- the long-running Milosevic courtroom drama is both a cause of the toughest criticism the tribunal has received and a symbol of its greatest success.
"The slowness sometimes doesn't give us the best image," Theodor Meron, president of the 25-judge tribunal, said in an interview. "But this is truly an historic case."
Speaking of the Iraqi court, Meron said it would have to guarantee the rights of its famous defendant to be credible to the public: "Any court dealing with atrocities has to pay particular respect to due process. There can be no cutting corners."
Meron, who was born in Poland, spent four years in a Nazi prison camp as a youth.
The prosecution of Milosevic and 125 other people by the 12-year-old tribunal is creating a body of law that many legal experts say will serve as a guide for future war crimes tribunals worldwide. Iraqi judges and officials from war crimes tribunals newly established in Africa and the Balkans have consulted court officials recently.
The length and complexity of the Milosevic trial helped convince Iraqi prosecutors that they needed to concentrate on a few key events rather than attempt to cover the full range of alleged atrocities during Hussein's 24-year rule, legal experts and observers said.
Milosevic, 64, is charged with 66 counts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity spanning the 1991-95 war in Croatia, the 1992-95 war in Bosnia and the 1998-99 Serb crackdown in Kosovo. He could face life in prison; the court does not impose the death sentence. He denies the charges.
The volume and complexity of the hundreds of thousands of documents and exhibits in his case and others at The Hague have brought about some of the most high-tech courtrooms in the world. Transcripts appear on judges' computer screens minutes after words are uttered. The tribunal recently finished its first e-court case -- a completely paperless trial that received mixed reviews from document-addicted lawyers and judges.
But one of the greatest obstacles for prosecutors is the sheer force of the personality on trial, said Florence Hartmann, spokeswoman for the Yugoslavia tribunal's prosecutors and a former French newspaper reporter who wrote a book about Milosevic. Many witnesses at The Hague, like the onetime police chief, are Milosevic's former subordinates.
"Witnesses address him as Mr. President," Hartmann said. "Milosevic plays to the court, and Saddam Hussein will play to the court. They don't forget they were president. They don't feel what they did was a crime."
In the cases involving former heads of state, prosecutors often have no smoking gun, no direct evidence tying the defendant to specific acts. "You have to find the invisible ropes they're pulling," Hartmann said. "It's their orders that lead to the crimes. You have to find the insiders, and that's the most difficult."
Milosevic, who holds a law degree, is acting as his own attorney, with a staff of Serbian lawyers and researchers collecting material and conducting investigations for his defense. He also has two court-appointed attorneys who intervene on his behalf in procedural matters. Two of Milosevic's attorneys did not return telephone calls seeking their views on the trial.
Early in the trial, Milosevic was known for courtroom speeches and temperamental outbursts. He has reined those in but continues to follow every nuance of the exchanges, frequently interjecting complaints or questions. He corrects the courtroom interpreters.
"It's like a dance between Milosevic and the judges," said Edgar Chen, who monitors the Balkans cases here for the Washington-based Coalition for International Justice. "Milosevic wants to talk a lot; the judges want to give the appearance to ensure that Milosevic is getting a fair trial. They're overly fair to him, overly cautious."
Milosevic does not formally acknowledge the authority of the court. But, notes Meron, the tribunal president, "he complies with the rules of the game for the most part. If he insists on calling the judges 'Mister' instead of 'Your Honor,' I regret that. But it doesn't mean he's not otherwise respectful to the judges."
Many critics and courtroom observers say Milosevic is the main reason his trial has lasted so long. He has logged 66 sick days since it began. On doctors' recommendation, court sessions are kept to three days a week to reduce stress on a man who has hypertension.
Court officials who keep track of each side's allotted presentation time down to the minute said that as of early this month, Milosevic had used 14,521 minutes for his defense -- or 67.23 percent of the time allowed. They predict the trial will not end until sometime next year.
The judges, frustrated with the pace of the proceedings, have urged prosecutors to trim the indictment list to a manageable number of their strongest claims. Prosecutors have refused. "To shorten the indictments doesn't respect the victims or the reality of what that guy did," said Hartmann, the prosecutors' spokeswoman.
Prosecutors have called on 295 witnesses, including the sobbing victims of atrocities; Gen. Wesley K. Clark, the former NATO commander; and Milosevic insiders who testified in closed sessions under protective custody.
The prosecution's exhibits have created an archive of eyewitness accounts and often gruesome photographs and videos of some of the worst atrocities in Europe since the end of World War II: the slaughter of an estimated 8,000 Muslim men and boys in July 1995 in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica and the relentless shelling of Sarajevo.
"This tribunal is driving evidence up to the surface that would have been buried and would have taken historians and academics 100 years to dig up," said Chen, of the Coalition for International Justice.
Prosecutors have constructed their case around testimony and documents they allege show a chain of command that led to the head of state. They have called on mid-level police and army officers and used internal documents to argue that Serb forces directed or supported by Milosevic executed campaigns of terror.
In Bosnia, they allege, he took part in planning expulsions of non-Serbs; in other cases, they are attempting to show that even if Milosevic did not have a direct hand in atrocities, he knew about them and did nothing to stop them.
The former Yugoslav president has used the trial to condemn NATO, the United States and the European Union for supporting the Kosovo Liberation Army, which he and his witnesses refer to as a band of terrorists.
Denying culpability in any of the wars, he has used defense witnesses and documents to try to demonstrate he had no control over local police or army officials who might have committed crimes. Many of his witnesses, including former police chief Janicevic this month, testified that they often disciplined such subordinates.
"So many people think all this should be forgotten," said Elsana Nurkovic, a 29-year-old Montenegrin who spent her college years in Belgrade protesting Milosevic's rule and now records every hour of his trial for the Belgrade-based Humanitarian Law Center. "He was a powerful man who could destroy everything. When I went into the courtroom, it was so real that somebody who committed so many crimes is now on trial. That felt good."
THE HAGUE -- Three years and eight months into the war crimes trial of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, the courtroom still crackles with explosive outbursts.
"You know perfectly well those people were butchered!" prosecutor Geoffrey Nice shouted at a former Serbian police chief this month while questioning him about the deaths of more than 40 ethnic Albanians in the Kosovo village of Racak during the winter of 1999.
"This is preposterous!" shot back the witness, Bogoljub Janicevic, his wire-rimmed glasses sliding down his nose.
On the opposite side of the courtroom, on the fifth anniversary of his fall from power in Belgrade, the white-haired Milosevic sat impassively. But his face darkened several shades of red, as often happens when testimony heats up.
As Iraqi prosecutors prepare for the trial of former president Saddam Hussein, scheduled to begin in Baghdad on Wednesday, Milosevic's slow-moving case at the U.N. Balkans war crimes tribunal demonstrates the many pitfalls entailed in trying deposed leaders in a court of law: The defendants drag out their cases, they can intimidate witnesses, and any links to atrocities are usually concealed by layers of subordinates.
For the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia -- the first international war crimes court established since the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials after World War II -- the long-running Milosevic courtroom drama is both a cause of the toughest criticism the tribunal has received and a symbol of its greatest success.
"The slowness sometimes doesn't give us the best image," Theodor Meron, president of the 25-judge tribunal, said in an interview. "But this is truly an historic case."
Speaking of the Iraqi court, Meron said it would have to guarantee the rights of its famous defendant to be credible to the public: "Any court dealing with atrocities has to pay particular respect to due process. There can be no cutting corners."
Meron, who was born in Poland, spent four years in a Nazi prison camp as a youth.
The prosecution of Milosevic and 125 other people by the 12-year-old tribunal is creating a body of law that many legal experts say will serve as a guide for future war crimes tribunals worldwide. Iraqi judges and officials from war crimes tribunals newly established in Africa and the Balkans have consulted court officials recently.
The length and complexity of the Milosevic trial helped convince Iraqi prosecutors that they needed to concentrate on a few key events rather than attempt to cover the full range of alleged atrocities during Hussein's 24-year rule, legal experts and observers said.
Milosevic, 64, is charged with 66 counts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity spanning the 1991-95 war in Croatia, the 1992-95 war in Bosnia and the 1998-99 Serb crackdown in Kosovo. He could face life in prison; the court does not impose the death sentence. He denies the charges.
The volume and complexity of the hundreds of thousands of documents and exhibits in his case and others at The Hague have brought about some of the most high-tech courtrooms in the world. Transcripts appear on judges' computer screens minutes after words are uttered. The tribunal recently finished its first e-court case -- a completely paperless trial that received mixed reviews from document-addicted lawyers and judges.
But one of the greatest obstacles for prosecutors is the sheer force of the personality on trial, said Florence Hartmann, spokeswoman for the Yugoslavia tribunal's prosecutors and a former French newspaper reporter who wrote a book about Milosevic. Many witnesses at The Hague, like the onetime police chief, are Milosevic's former subordinates.
"Witnesses address him as Mr. President," Hartmann said. "Milosevic plays to the court, and Saddam Hussein will play to the court. They don't forget they were president. They don't feel what they did was a crime."
In the cases involving former heads of state, prosecutors often have no smoking gun, no direct evidence tying the defendant to specific acts. "You have to find the invisible ropes they're pulling," Hartmann said. "It's their orders that lead to the crimes. You have to find the insiders, and that's the most difficult."
Milosevic, who holds a law degree, is acting as his own attorney, with a staff of Serbian lawyers and researchers collecting material and conducting investigations for his defense. He also has two court-appointed attorneys who intervene on his behalf in procedural matters. Two of Milosevic's attorneys did not return telephone calls seeking their views on the trial.
Early in the trial, Milosevic was known for courtroom speeches and temperamental outbursts. He has reined those in but continues to follow every nuance of the exchanges, frequently interjecting complaints or questions. He corrects the courtroom interpreters.
"It's like a dance between Milosevic and the judges," said Edgar Chen, who monitors the Balkans cases here for the Washington-based Coalition for International Justice. "Milosevic wants to talk a lot; the judges want to give the appearance to ensure that Milosevic is getting a fair trial. They're overly fair to him, overly cautious."
Milosevic does not formally acknowledge the authority of the court. But, notes Meron, the tribunal president, "he complies with the rules of the game for the most part. If he insists on calling the judges 'Mister' instead of 'Your Honor,' I regret that. But it doesn't mean he's not otherwise respectful to the judges."
Many critics and courtroom observers say Milosevic is the main reason his trial has lasted so long. He has logged 66 sick days since it began. On doctors' recommendation, court sessions are kept to three days a week to reduce stress on a man who has hypertension.
Court officials who keep track of each side's allotted presentation time down to the minute said that as of early this month, Milosevic had used 14,521 minutes for his defense -- or 67.23 percent of the time allowed. They predict the trial will not end until sometime next year.
The judges, frustrated with the pace of the proceedings, have urged prosecutors to trim the indictment list to a manageable number of their strongest claims. Prosecutors have refused. "To shorten the indictments doesn't respect the victims or the reality of what that guy did," said Hartmann, the prosecutors' spokeswoman.
Prosecutors have called on 295 witnesses, including the sobbing victims of atrocities; Gen. Wesley K. Clark, the former NATO commander; and Milosevic insiders who testified in closed sessions under protective custody.
The prosecution's exhibits have created an archive of eyewitness accounts and often gruesome photographs and videos of some of the worst atrocities in Europe since the end of World War II: the slaughter of an estimated 8,000 Muslim men and boys in July 1995 in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica and the relentless shelling of Sarajevo.
"This tribunal is driving evidence up to the surface that would have been buried and would have taken historians and academics 100 years to dig up," said Chen, of the Coalition for International Justice.
Prosecutors have constructed their case around testimony and documents they allege show a chain of command that led to the head of state. They have called on mid-level police and army officers and used internal documents to argue that Serb forces directed or supported by Milosevic executed campaigns of terror.
In Bosnia, they allege, he took part in planning expulsions of non-Serbs; in other cases, they are attempting to show that even if Milosevic did not have a direct hand in atrocities, he knew about them and did nothing to stop them.
The former Yugoslav president has used the trial to condemn NATO, the United States and the European Union for supporting the Kosovo Liberation Army, which he and his witnesses refer to as a band of terrorists.
Denying culpability in any of the wars, he has used defense witnesses and documents to try to demonstrate he had no control over local police or army officials who might have committed crimes. Many of his witnesses, including former police chief Janicevic this month, testified that they often disciplined such subordinates.
"So many people think all this should be forgotten," said Elsana Nurkovic, a 29-year-old Montenegrin who spent her college years in Belgrade protesting Milosevic's rule and now records every hour of his trial for the Belgrade-based Humanitarian Law Center. "He was a powerful man who could destroy everything. When I went into the courtroom, it was so real that somebody who committed so many crimes is now on trial. That felt good."
Monday, October 17, 2005
Officials say Kosovo's independence not to undermine Macedonia's territorial integrity
PRISTINA, Oct 17 (Hina) - The government of Kosovo on Monday evening reported there were no grounds to fear that possible independence of Kosovo would threaten the territorial integrity of Macedonia.
The government in Pristina stated this after Macedonia's Prime Minister Vlado Buckovski asked Kosovo political representatives to give guarantees that Kosovo's independence would not pose a threat to his country's territorial integrity.
Avni Arifi, an advisor to Kosovo Premier, said the government and institutions of Kosovo recognised the territorial integrity of neighbouring Macedonia adding that independent Kosovo would be a factor of stability also for other countries in the region.
The Kanal 5 television network in Macedonia quoted Buckovski who invited Kosovo Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi to visit Skopje. Kosumi's arrival is expected on Thursday or Friday.
The government in Pristina stated this after Macedonia's Prime Minister Vlado Buckovski asked Kosovo political representatives to give guarantees that Kosovo's independence would not pose a threat to his country's territorial integrity.
Avni Arifi, an advisor to Kosovo Premier, said the government and institutions of Kosovo recognised the territorial integrity of neighbouring Macedonia adding that independent Kosovo would be a factor of stability also for other countries in the region.
The Kanal 5 television network in Macedonia quoted Buckovski who invited Kosovo Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi to visit Skopje. Kosumi's arrival is expected on Thursday or Friday.
Kosovo leaders tell OSCE delegation independence "will not be negotiated"
Text of report in English by independent internet news agency KosovaLive
Prishtina [Pristina], 17 October: The delegation of OSCE ambassadors, which is visiting Kosova [Kosovo], said that their evaluation about the situation in Kosova is similar with the report of Ambassador Eide, whereas they did not prejudice the status.
The OSCE delegation met today with Kosova Assembly Speaker Nexhat Daci and with Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi. The meeting was focused on preparations of Kosova delegation for the status process.
The chairman of the delegation, Slovene Ambassador to the OSCE Janez Lenarcic, said that this visit shows the OSCE commitment to Kosova and to the current developments here. "We are interested to learn more about the preparations made for the status talks," Lenarcic said.
"The OSCE evaluation on the situation in Kosova is similar to Eide's report, which was also welcomed in Prishtina," said Lenarcic.
Whereas Daci and Kosumi told the OSCE ambassadors that independence will not be negotiated with anyone.
Daci said that he discussed with OSCE ambassadors about the processes in Kosova and about the preparations being made for the status talks. "I informed them that the Kosovar delegation will not negotiate independence with anyone," said Daci, adding that Kosovar delegation will discuss only on special aspects, such as security issue, protection of human rights and protection of other minority cultures and history.
Kosumi said that the OSCE ambassadors have a permanent approach and a permanent interest in Kosova. "The meeting was focused on the preparations for Kosova's final status talks and on the future role of the OSCE," said Kosumi.
The 25-member delegation also met with the head of UNMIK [UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo], Soeren Jessen-Petersen. This afternoon they will meet with the opposition leaders Hashim Thaci and Veton Surroi, as well as with the representatives of other communities living in Kosova.
Source: KosovaLive website, Pristina, in English 17 Oct 05
Prishtina [Pristina], 17 October: The delegation of OSCE ambassadors, which is visiting Kosova [Kosovo], said that their evaluation about the situation in Kosova is similar with the report of Ambassador Eide, whereas they did not prejudice the status.
The OSCE delegation met today with Kosova Assembly Speaker Nexhat Daci and with Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi. The meeting was focused on preparations of Kosova delegation for the status process.
The chairman of the delegation, Slovene Ambassador to the OSCE Janez Lenarcic, said that this visit shows the OSCE commitment to Kosova and to the current developments here. "We are interested to learn more about the preparations made for the status talks," Lenarcic said.
"The OSCE evaluation on the situation in Kosova is similar to Eide's report, which was also welcomed in Prishtina," said Lenarcic.
Whereas Daci and Kosumi told the OSCE ambassadors that independence will not be negotiated with anyone.
Daci said that he discussed with OSCE ambassadors about the processes in Kosova and about the preparations being made for the status talks. "I informed them that the Kosovar delegation will not negotiate independence with anyone," said Daci, adding that Kosovar delegation will discuss only on special aspects, such as security issue, protection of human rights and protection of other minority cultures and history.
Kosumi said that the OSCE ambassadors have a permanent approach and a permanent interest in Kosova. "The meeting was focused on the preparations for Kosova's final status talks and on the future role of the OSCE," said Kosumi.
The 25-member delegation also met with the head of UNMIK [UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo], Soeren Jessen-Petersen. This afternoon they will meet with the opposition leaders Hashim Thaci and Veton Surroi, as well as with the representatives of other communities living in Kosova.
Source: KosovaLive website, Pristina, in English 17 Oct 05
New Srebrenica mass grave found
A forensic team in Bosnia has found the remains of another 482 victims of the Srebrenica massacre, officials say.
The head of the forensic team said only eight sets of remains were complete, indicating that bodies had been moved by bulldozer in an effort to hide them.
The mass grave is the latest of five found so far in the village of Liplje, about 30km (19 miles) from Srebrenica.
Almost 8,000 Muslims were killed by Bosnian Serbs there in 1995 - Europe's worst atrocity since World War II.
Thousands of bodies have been recovered from mass graves around Srebrenica over the past few years.
Reassemble skeletons
Forensic team leader Murat Hurtic said the exhumation of the latest grave in Liplje took the number of bodies found in the village to more than 1,000.
"Experts will now start examination of bones found in all five sites in order to reassemble as many skeletons as possible," he said.
"Since bulldozers were used for reburial of the victims into five secondary mass graves it is very possible that parts of a single body are found in two or three sites."
Mr Hurtic told Reuters news agency he believed the remains were those of Muslims killed by Bosnian Serb forces at Petkovci dam after fleeing Srebrenica.
The massacre took place after Serb forces stormed the UN-designated safe area near the end of the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia-Hercegovina.
The Bosnian Serbs' political leader during the war, Radovan Karadzic, and his military commander, Ratko Mladic, are still being sought.
Both men have been indicted by the UN tribunal for alleged war crimes and genocide over the Srebrenica massacre.
The head of the forensic team said only eight sets of remains were complete, indicating that bodies had been moved by bulldozer in an effort to hide them.
The mass grave is the latest of five found so far in the village of Liplje, about 30km (19 miles) from Srebrenica.
Almost 8,000 Muslims were killed by Bosnian Serbs there in 1995 - Europe's worst atrocity since World War II.
Thousands of bodies have been recovered from mass graves around Srebrenica over the past few years.
Reassemble skeletons
Forensic team leader Murat Hurtic said the exhumation of the latest grave in Liplje took the number of bodies found in the village to more than 1,000.
"Experts will now start examination of bones found in all five sites in order to reassemble as many skeletons as possible," he said.
"Since bulldozers were used for reburial of the victims into five secondary mass graves it is very possible that parts of a single body are found in two or three sites."
Mr Hurtic told Reuters news agency he believed the remains were those of Muslims killed by Bosnian Serb forces at Petkovci dam after fleeing Srebrenica.
The massacre took place after Serb forces stormed the UN-designated safe area near the end of the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia-Hercegovina.
The Bosnian Serbs' political leader during the war, Radovan Karadzic, and his military commander, Ratko Mladic, are still being sought.
Both men have been indicted by the UN tribunal for alleged war crimes and genocide over the Srebrenica massacre.
NATO: Criminals Halting Traffic In Western Kosovo
PRISTINA (AP)--NATO-led peacekeepers said Monday that "criminals" were stopping cars and halting traffic in western Kosovo after local media reports revealed that masked and armed man put up checkpoints in the area.
"We have some information about some criminals who are acting" in western Kosovo, said Lt. Col. Siegfried Jooss, spokesman for the peacekeepers in that part of the province. "They tried to stop cars," he added.
Local media have reported that a group calling itself "The Army for Kosovo's Independence" is setting up checkpoints in the west of the province and threatening U.N. and Kosovo officials with death and kidnapping if they stand in the way of the province's independence.
Jooss said that NATO were "doing their best" in assisting local and U.N. police force in "countering these criminals." U.N. police refused to comment.
However, the U.N. warned its staff against nighttime travel in U.N. marked vehicles in western Kosovo, an official speaking on condition of anonymity said.
An increased number of NATO and police checkpoints have been set up in that part of the province following last week's sightings of the group, who were wearing balaclavas, carrying automatic rifles and handing out leaflets containing the threats.
The appearance of armed extremist groups at a time when this disputed U.N.-run province nears talks on its future is a worrying sign for security officials in Kosovo. There are fears that extremists group might retort to violence if they aren't happy with the outcome of the talks.
Kosovo has been administered by the U.N. and patrolled by NATO-led peacekeepers since 1999. Talks to resolve its disputed status will start by the end of the year.
Kosovo's ethnic Albanians want full independence while Serbia insists it retains some authority over the province.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
"We have some information about some criminals who are acting" in western Kosovo, said Lt. Col. Siegfried Jooss, spokesman for the peacekeepers in that part of the province. "They tried to stop cars," he added.
Local media have reported that a group calling itself "The Army for Kosovo's Independence" is setting up checkpoints in the west of the province and threatening U.N. and Kosovo officials with death and kidnapping if they stand in the way of the province's independence.
Jooss said that NATO were "doing their best" in assisting local and U.N. police force in "countering these criminals." U.N. police refused to comment.
However, the U.N. warned its staff against nighttime travel in U.N. marked vehicles in western Kosovo, an official speaking on condition of anonymity said.
An increased number of NATO and police checkpoints have been set up in that part of the province following last week's sightings of the group, who were wearing balaclavas, carrying automatic rifles and handing out leaflets containing the threats.
The appearance of armed extremist groups at a time when this disputed U.N.-run province nears talks on its future is a worrying sign for security officials in Kosovo. There are fears that extremists group might retort to violence if they aren't happy with the outcome of the talks.
Kosovo has been administered by the U.N. and patrolled by NATO-led peacekeepers since 1999. Talks to resolve its disputed status will start by the end of the year.
Kosovo's ethnic Albanians want full independence while Serbia insists it retains some authority over the province.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
Why Kosova needs independence? - Veton Surroi
Author: Veton Surroi, member of the Kosovar delegation for status talks and the Chairman of ORA
Veton Surroi
1.
Independence of Kosova is not a matter of flag, anthem or emblem. It is not a matter of Battle of Kosovo or Illyrian-Dardanian continuity, either. Neither is a matter of isolation from the others. In the 21st century, the independence of Kosova is a matter of management, security and of prospect.
Let us begin with management. This is a territory that after so many conflicts, that culminated with the attempted genocide against the Albanian majority, has reached a stage of maturity that requires it to be managed by its inhabitants. This has been called and is called self-determination; but within the context here, let us name it simply in a business term, management. Of course, one can say that this can be corporative management; thus Kosova can be part of a bigger enterprise, of Serbia and Montenegro, for example, but the answer to this is simple. The big corporation, the socialist Yugoslavia has bankrupted and separate enterprises have derived from it. Some of them, e.g. Slovenia and Croatia, with extraordinary success, while some others, e.g. Bosnia and Herzegovina, still deficient. Serbia and Montenegro is a small corporation on the verge of bankruptcy, and as such not attractive to anyone, not even its constitutive enterprises.
But, there is one other successful corporation, the EU. However, a prerequisite for an enterprise to become a part of this corporation is to be healthy, on the one hand, and to have solved all legal- ownership-issues. Kosova, as a European territory, is interested in becoming a part of the EU, but in order to reach that goal, it has to define its “legal-ownership issues”, first. This simply means that the definition of Kosova’s status as an independent state should be perceived as a priority for the possibility of adherence into EU. So, Kosova is becoming independent though not to be isolated by other European nations and states, but in order to join the other European nations and states, including the Serb in the future.
2.
Why is it a matter of security?
In the 21st century, the experience of the 20th century was understood, and this is experience is that source of insecurity, both on the global and local level, are countries that have failed. Two examples are sufficient: former Yugoslavia, whose failure became a source of the biggest insecurity on the European continent after the World War II, and Afghanistan, which as a failed country had become a training heaven for international terrorism.
Vice versa, functional states represent the source of regional and global security. The only way how Kosovo can guarantee security for its citizens, and at the same be a guarantee for regional security, is through its own functional state. Kosovo in no way can be part of a Serbian state. This has been proven by all means, including even extreme violence, and it has been proven as a failed project, even to the extent that Serbia cannot still become a functional state, suffering the consequences of its own fascism, as a driving ideology for the for annexation of Kosovo in that time.
3.
Finally, it is a matter of prospect. In any segment of life, there is a need for fundamentals upon which the future is to be built.
In economy, for example, it has been proven that the can be no economic development without property being defined. Accordingly, in the overall development of Kosova, there can be forward steps unless the character of the state is defined. As long as there’s duality as far as the nature of state, there will be dual interpretation of its legal order, and duality on the fundamental issues, such as the assurance of the economic investments. We have seen this in Kosova during the six years with UNMIK, where the lack of defined power, and the resulting duality, have in fact brought enormous stagnation in the development of institutions, democracy and economy.. When it is unclear who is responsible in government, the whole chain of responsibility is lost, thus the nature of democracy and the power of the vote of sovereign, the citizen.
Therefore, Kosovo should become independent in order to build a democratic future of a responsible government and a future of economic development.
4.
I am aware that in Serbia, which in fact is the only country opposing Kosovo’s independence, there is a completely different approach, and that other entirely different argument are in play. I know that would bring about voices telling me: ”How would you protect Kosovo Serbs with these three principles of yours?” The answer is very simple: So far, all models that exclude the majority population taking full responsibilities have been used. The result for the Serbs was catastrophic; Milosevic made of them colonial administrators, and this put Kosova Serbs into a specific historical position to be regarded as a fifth colon in their country, new Kosova.
Let us try a model that prevailed in the united Europe, that of the majority population taking responsibility, in a democratic and functional state.
Veton Surroi
1.
Independence of Kosova is not a matter of flag, anthem or emblem. It is not a matter of Battle of Kosovo or Illyrian-Dardanian continuity, either. Neither is a matter of isolation from the others. In the 21st century, the independence of Kosova is a matter of management, security and of prospect.
Let us begin with management. This is a territory that after so many conflicts, that culminated with the attempted genocide against the Albanian majority, has reached a stage of maturity that requires it to be managed by its inhabitants. This has been called and is called self-determination; but within the context here, let us name it simply in a business term, management. Of course, one can say that this can be corporative management; thus Kosova can be part of a bigger enterprise, of Serbia and Montenegro, for example, but the answer to this is simple. The big corporation, the socialist Yugoslavia has bankrupted and separate enterprises have derived from it. Some of them, e.g. Slovenia and Croatia, with extraordinary success, while some others, e.g. Bosnia and Herzegovina, still deficient. Serbia and Montenegro is a small corporation on the verge of bankruptcy, and as such not attractive to anyone, not even its constitutive enterprises.
But, there is one other successful corporation, the EU. However, a prerequisite for an enterprise to become a part of this corporation is to be healthy, on the one hand, and to have solved all legal- ownership-issues. Kosova, as a European territory, is interested in becoming a part of the EU, but in order to reach that goal, it has to define its “legal-ownership issues”, first. This simply means that the definition of Kosova’s status as an independent state should be perceived as a priority for the possibility of adherence into EU. So, Kosova is becoming independent though not to be isolated by other European nations and states, but in order to join the other European nations and states, including the Serb in the future.
2.
Why is it a matter of security?
In the 21st century, the experience of the 20th century was understood, and this is experience is that source of insecurity, both on the global and local level, are countries that have failed. Two examples are sufficient: former Yugoslavia, whose failure became a source of the biggest insecurity on the European continent after the World War II, and Afghanistan, which as a failed country had become a training heaven for international terrorism.
Vice versa, functional states represent the source of regional and global security. The only way how Kosovo can guarantee security for its citizens, and at the same be a guarantee for regional security, is through its own functional state. Kosovo in no way can be part of a Serbian state. This has been proven by all means, including even extreme violence, and it has been proven as a failed project, even to the extent that Serbia cannot still become a functional state, suffering the consequences of its own fascism, as a driving ideology for the for annexation of Kosovo in that time.
3.
Finally, it is a matter of prospect. In any segment of life, there is a need for fundamentals upon which the future is to be built.
In economy, for example, it has been proven that the can be no economic development without property being defined. Accordingly, in the overall development of Kosova, there can be forward steps unless the character of the state is defined. As long as there’s duality as far as the nature of state, there will be dual interpretation of its legal order, and duality on the fundamental issues, such as the assurance of the economic investments. We have seen this in Kosova during the six years with UNMIK, where the lack of defined power, and the resulting duality, have in fact brought enormous stagnation in the development of institutions, democracy and economy.. When it is unclear who is responsible in government, the whole chain of responsibility is lost, thus the nature of democracy and the power of the vote of sovereign, the citizen.
Therefore, Kosovo should become independent in order to build a democratic future of a responsible government and a future of economic development.
4.
I am aware that in Serbia, which in fact is the only country opposing Kosovo’s independence, there is a completely different approach, and that other entirely different argument are in play. I know that would bring about voices telling me: ”How would you protect Kosovo Serbs with these three principles of yours?” The answer is very simple: So far, all models that exclude the majority population taking full responsibilities have been used. The result for the Serbs was catastrophic; Milosevic made of them colonial administrators, and this put Kosova Serbs into a specific historical position to be regarded as a fifth colon in their country, new Kosova.
Let us try a model that prevailed in the united Europe, that of the majority population taking responsibility, in a democratic and functional state.
Kosovo is Back - The Washington Post
Monday, October 17, 2005; Page A14
FOR YEARS the West used a convenient formula for keeping the troublesome Balkan province of Kosovo on a back burner: "standards before status." By this the United States and European governments meant that Kosovo should develop stable democratic political institutions under a United Nations administration before any decision was made on whether it should become an independent state or remain part of Serbia, from which it was liberated by a 1999 NATO military campaign. The strategy proved to be a flop: The U.N. administration failed to rebuild Kosovo's economy or create a capable judiciary and government, while a NATO-led peacekeeping force flinched from preventing the creeping partition of the province into areas controlled by the Albanian-majority population and minority Serbs.
The Bush administration has consequently embraced a new tack, which is to deal with the hard question of Kosovo's status. With Washington's encouragement, the U.N. Security Council is soon to appoint an envoy to launch negotiations with Serb and Kosovar leaders. The idea is that, if the province's future can be settled, it will be easier for it to proceed with needed reforms and reconstruction. That may be true, but tackling Kosovo successfully will require a large investment of energy and resources by the United States and key European allies, both diplomatically and in Kosovo.
The Bush administration says it is prepared to make that commitment: Undersecretary of State R. Nicholas Burns paid a high-profile visit to Serbia and Kosovo last week to hammer home the message. The administration says it is open-minded about Kosovo's final status. But the best solution is readily apparent to most Western policymakers: Since returning Kosovo to Serbian rule is unacceptable to 90 percent of its population, it must become independent, probably under some form of international supervision. Serbia opposes this solution, but Western reasoning is that persuading its leadership to let go of Kosovo is a crucial step toward ridding Serbia of its poisonous nationalism and moving it toward integration with Europe's liberal democracies.
Making this policy work in practice will require overcoming the resistance not only of Serbian hard-line nationalists but of their backers in Russia. Even tougher will be overcoming the resistance of Kosovo Albanians to making reasonable concessions to the Serb minority -- such as allowing considerable autonomy in Serb-populated areas -- while stopping and reversing the Serb minority's attempt to break off northern parts of the province and annex them to Serbia.
The United States and the European Union will both have to take some of the very steps they've tried to avoid during the last several years. Most important of these is an E.U. commitment to a relatively rapid process of accepting Kosovo, Serbia and other states in the former Yugoslavia as members, provided they fully embrace democratic institutions and give up nationalist agendas. The Bush administration, for its part, will need to support integration of Serbia and other Balkan states into NATO and promise that U.S. troops will remain in the area for a few more years to ensure security. This is not an easy time for either the United States or Europe to take on such tasks. But as the experience of the last few years demonstrates, there will never be a good time to deal with Kosovo, and the longer a solution is delayed, the harder it may be.
FOR YEARS the West used a convenient formula for keeping the troublesome Balkan province of Kosovo on a back burner: "standards before status." By this the United States and European governments meant that Kosovo should develop stable democratic political institutions under a United Nations administration before any decision was made on whether it should become an independent state or remain part of Serbia, from which it was liberated by a 1999 NATO military campaign. The strategy proved to be a flop: The U.N. administration failed to rebuild Kosovo's economy or create a capable judiciary and government, while a NATO-led peacekeeping force flinched from preventing the creeping partition of the province into areas controlled by the Albanian-majority population and minority Serbs.
The Bush administration has consequently embraced a new tack, which is to deal with the hard question of Kosovo's status. With Washington's encouragement, the U.N. Security Council is soon to appoint an envoy to launch negotiations with Serb and Kosovar leaders. The idea is that, if the province's future can be settled, it will be easier for it to proceed with needed reforms and reconstruction. That may be true, but tackling Kosovo successfully will require a large investment of energy and resources by the United States and key European allies, both diplomatically and in Kosovo.
The Bush administration says it is prepared to make that commitment: Undersecretary of State R. Nicholas Burns paid a high-profile visit to Serbia and Kosovo last week to hammer home the message. The administration says it is open-minded about Kosovo's final status. But the best solution is readily apparent to most Western policymakers: Since returning Kosovo to Serbian rule is unacceptable to 90 percent of its population, it must become independent, probably under some form of international supervision. Serbia opposes this solution, but Western reasoning is that persuading its leadership to let go of Kosovo is a crucial step toward ridding Serbia of its poisonous nationalism and moving it toward integration with Europe's liberal democracies.
Making this policy work in practice will require overcoming the resistance not only of Serbian hard-line nationalists but of their backers in Russia. Even tougher will be overcoming the resistance of Kosovo Albanians to making reasonable concessions to the Serb minority -- such as allowing considerable autonomy in Serb-populated areas -- while stopping and reversing the Serb minority's attempt to break off northern parts of the province and annex them to Serbia.
The United States and the European Union will both have to take some of the very steps they've tried to avoid during the last several years. Most important of these is an E.U. commitment to a relatively rapid process of accepting Kosovo, Serbia and other states in the former Yugoslavia as members, provided they fully embrace democratic institutions and give up nationalist agendas. The Bush administration, for its part, will need to support integration of Serbia and other Balkan states into NATO and promise that U.S. troops will remain in the area for a few more years to ensure security. This is not an easy time for either the United States or Europe to take on such tasks. But as the experience of the last few years demonstrates, there will never be a good time to deal with Kosovo, and the longer a solution is delayed, the harder it may be.
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Kosovo starts journey toward self-rule - The Toronto Star
Kosovars growing weary of foreign bureaucracies, says Haroon Siddiqui
HAROON SIDDIQUI
He is called the Gandhi of the Balkans, a pacifist in a land of ethnic cleansing that killed 300,000 people in the heart of Europe.
Ibrahim Rugova, president of Kosovo, speaks like the professor of linguistics and literature he was — until 1989 when he joined the movement to resist the murderous Serb nationalism of Slobodan MilosEvic.
Had it not been for the 1999 NATO bombing that forced the Serbs out and placed Kosovo under United Nations control, "I'd not have been alive and talking to you," Rugova told me in 2001. Today, his campaign for Kosovo's independence is about to bear fruit.
A U.N. report recommends that Kosovo begin the process of formally breaking away from Serbia and Montenegro, the leftover state of the former Yugoslavia, of which Kosovo is still nominally a province.
However, on the eve of this momentous moment, Rugova is down with lung cancer.
"He's undergoing therapy and improving daily and will lead the negotiations to independence," Skender Hyseni, his chief political adviser, says over the phone from Pristina.
The Pristina-Belgrade talks, expected to last a year, will have much to untangle.
The 1998-99 Serb attacks on the Muslim Kosovars left at least 10,000 dead and a million homeless. About 800,000 have since returned, including most of the 5,000 who had found refuge in Canada.
Kosovo exemplifies the Canadian idea of the world community overriding state sovereignty to intervene on humanitarian grounds. It also offers a sobering lesson in the difficulties of nation building by a myriad of multinational agencies.
Of the 30,000 NATO troops originally sent, 17,000 from 30 nations remain. The Kosovo Force (KFOR) is supposed to report to the U.N. Interim Administration Mission (Unmik) but doesn't. It operates on its own.
While KFOR keeps the peace, Unmik runs the civil administration, gradually devolving departments to Rugova and the elected national assembly.
A separate 6,000-strong police force, the Kosovo Police Service, under an international commissioner, keeps domestic law and order, or tries to. Then there's the Kosovo Protection Corps, successor to the Kosovo Liberation Army that was supposedly dismantled after 1999 but wasn't. This contingent of 5,000 is an army-in-waiting.
The three forces don't work together. Which is why a minor incident against the minority Serbs last year got out of hand. Mobs destroyed Serb homes and churches, leaving 19 dead and 4,000 homeless.
The European Union is responsible for most of the reconstruction and redevelopment, while a six-nation Contact Group — the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia — guides overall policy.
Meanwhile, much to the chagrin of most parties, the International Criminal Tribunal, which is trying Milosevic, among others, has indicted a former Kosovo guerrilla commander, Ramush Haradinaj, for crimes committed by his unit in the events leading up to 1999.
He was, however, popular and rose to become prime minister. The Hague tribunal was seen as scoring brownie points while being impotent in apprehending notorious Bosnian war criminals Radovan Karadzic and Gen. Ratko Mladic. Embarrassed, the tribunal last week announced that Haradinaj, out on bail since June, could re-engage in politics.
The cumulative result of all of the above has been that six years after being welcomed as liberators, the various international contingents in Kosovo have outlived their welcome. The Kosovars see them as a self-perpetuating bureaucracy, which must be resisted as if it were an occupying force, even a benign one.
The deeper problem lies with the international community that has kept Kosovo in limbo. It must provide enough carrots to Belgrade to let Kosovo go (perhaps a promise of membership in the EU). It must ensure protection for the Serb minority.
Partitioning Kosovo is not in the cards. Doing so would be to condemn Bosnia, where the Bosnians, Serbs and Croats were cobbled together into an uneasy union under the 1995 Dayton Accords.
Nor is the idea of ethnically Albanian Kosovo joining Albania. The Kosovars themselves do not want that.
The best way forward is for Pristina and Belgrade to begin negotiations, under international supervision, with the goal of Kosovo becoming independent, as did Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Macedonia.
Haroon Siddiqui's column appears Thursday and Sunday. hsiddiq@thestar.ca.
HAROON SIDDIQUI
He is called the Gandhi of the Balkans, a pacifist in a land of ethnic cleansing that killed 300,000 people in the heart of Europe.
Ibrahim Rugova, president of Kosovo, speaks like the professor of linguistics and literature he was — until 1989 when he joined the movement to resist the murderous Serb nationalism of Slobodan MilosEvic.
Had it not been for the 1999 NATO bombing that forced the Serbs out and placed Kosovo under United Nations control, "I'd not have been alive and talking to you," Rugova told me in 2001. Today, his campaign for Kosovo's independence is about to bear fruit.
A U.N. report recommends that Kosovo begin the process of formally breaking away from Serbia and Montenegro, the leftover state of the former Yugoslavia, of which Kosovo is still nominally a province.
However, on the eve of this momentous moment, Rugova is down with lung cancer.
"He's undergoing therapy and improving daily and will lead the negotiations to independence," Skender Hyseni, his chief political adviser, says over the phone from Pristina.
The Pristina-Belgrade talks, expected to last a year, will have much to untangle.
The 1998-99 Serb attacks on the Muslim Kosovars left at least 10,000 dead and a million homeless. About 800,000 have since returned, including most of the 5,000 who had found refuge in Canada.
Kosovo exemplifies the Canadian idea of the world community overriding state sovereignty to intervene on humanitarian grounds. It also offers a sobering lesson in the difficulties of nation building by a myriad of multinational agencies.
Of the 30,000 NATO troops originally sent, 17,000 from 30 nations remain. The Kosovo Force (KFOR) is supposed to report to the U.N. Interim Administration Mission (Unmik) but doesn't. It operates on its own.
While KFOR keeps the peace, Unmik runs the civil administration, gradually devolving departments to Rugova and the elected national assembly.
A separate 6,000-strong police force, the Kosovo Police Service, under an international commissioner, keeps domestic law and order, or tries to. Then there's the Kosovo Protection Corps, successor to the Kosovo Liberation Army that was supposedly dismantled after 1999 but wasn't. This contingent of 5,000 is an army-in-waiting.
The three forces don't work together. Which is why a minor incident against the minority Serbs last year got out of hand. Mobs destroyed Serb homes and churches, leaving 19 dead and 4,000 homeless.
The European Union is responsible for most of the reconstruction and redevelopment, while a six-nation Contact Group — the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia — guides overall policy.
Meanwhile, much to the chagrin of most parties, the International Criminal Tribunal, which is trying Milosevic, among others, has indicted a former Kosovo guerrilla commander, Ramush Haradinaj, for crimes committed by his unit in the events leading up to 1999.
He was, however, popular and rose to become prime minister. The Hague tribunal was seen as scoring brownie points while being impotent in apprehending notorious Bosnian war criminals Radovan Karadzic and Gen. Ratko Mladic. Embarrassed, the tribunal last week announced that Haradinaj, out on bail since June, could re-engage in politics.
The cumulative result of all of the above has been that six years after being welcomed as liberators, the various international contingents in Kosovo have outlived their welcome. The Kosovars see them as a self-perpetuating bureaucracy, which must be resisted as if it were an occupying force, even a benign one.
The deeper problem lies with the international community that has kept Kosovo in limbo. It must provide enough carrots to Belgrade to let Kosovo go (perhaps a promise of membership in the EU). It must ensure protection for the Serb minority.
Partitioning Kosovo is not in the cards. Doing so would be to condemn Bosnia, where the Bosnians, Serbs and Croats were cobbled together into an uneasy union under the 1995 Dayton Accords.
Nor is the idea of ethnically Albanian Kosovo joining Albania. The Kosovars themselves do not want that.
The best way forward is for Pristina and Belgrade to begin negotiations, under international supervision, with the goal of Kosovo becoming independent, as did Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Macedonia.
Haroon Siddiqui's column appears Thursday and Sunday. hsiddiq@thestar.ca.
Saturday, October 15, 2005
Kosovo veterinary experts attribute 80 poultry deaths to "common disease"
Text of report by Esat Vatovci and Hakim Kasami: "There is no avian flu in Vushtrri"; published by Kosovo Albanian newspaper Koha Ditore on 14 October
Vushtrri [Vucitrn], 13 October: Eighty chickens have died at Syle Rexhepi's farm in Vushtrri within the space of a month. The owner himself has said that from the time his chickens started dying, no one from the veterinary service has visited his farm. He added that he does not even know why they died. Syle said his chickens started dying one month ago.
"Beginning one month ago, three-four chickens started dying every day, sometimes even more," he said. He was not able to explain why this happened.
This phenomenon that appeared at Rexhepi's farm has triggered much suspicion about the possibility of the avian flu appearing in Kosova [Kosovo]. But according to officials from the Veterinary and Food Agency in Kosova, there is no room for such suspicions.
Besfort Gunga from this agency outlined that the phenomenon that appeared on the farm in Vushtrri has nothing to do with the possibility of the avian flu's appearance in Kosova.
"This has nothing to do with such a phenomenon. It has to do with chickens dying for one month. And based on the initial symptoms, we believe this was caused because the conditions in which they lived were not very good," Gunga told Koha Ditore .
Arsim Arifi, an expert from the Veterinary Service of Kosova, emphasized the same thing.
"After we heard about the case, we went and we took samples to the Veterinary Laboratory of Kosova. Now we are waiting for the results," Arifi said.
According to him, apart from the dead chickens, no other symptoms that would lead one to suspect such a disease can be noted in other chickens.
"There is no reason to cause any amount of fear among citizens, because based on what we have seen with our eyes, it is not the avian flu, which has appeared in other countries of Europe, but in this case it is a common disease," Arifi stated.
Source: Koha Ditore, Pristina, in Albanian 14 Oct 05 p 5
Vushtrri [Vucitrn], 13 October: Eighty chickens have died at Syle Rexhepi's farm in Vushtrri within the space of a month. The owner himself has said that from the time his chickens started dying, no one from the veterinary service has visited his farm. He added that he does not even know why they died. Syle said his chickens started dying one month ago.
"Beginning one month ago, three-four chickens started dying every day, sometimes even more," he said. He was not able to explain why this happened.
This phenomenon that appeared at Rexhepi's farm has triggered much suspicion about the possibility of the avian flu appearing in Kosova [Kosovo]. But according to officials from the Veterinary and Food Agency in Kosova, there is no room for such suspicions.
Besfort Gunga from this agency outlined that the phenomenon that appeared on the farm in Vushtrri has nothing to do with the possibility of the avian flu's appearance in Kosova.
"This has nothing to do with such a phenomenon. It has to do with chickens dying for one month. And based on the initial symptoms, we believe this was caused because the conditions in which they lived were not very good," Gunga told Koha Ditore .
Arsim Arifi, an expert from the Veterinary Service of Kosova, emphasized the same thing.
"After we heard about the case, we went and we took samples to the Veterinary Laboratory of Kosova. Now we are waiting for the results," Arifi said.
According to him, apart from the dead chickens, no other symptoms that would lead one to suspect such a disease can be noted in other chickens.
"There is no reason to cause any amount of fear among citizens, because based on what we have seen with our eyes, it is not the avian flu, which has appeared in other countries of Europe, but in this case it is a common disease," Arifi stated.
Source: Koha Ditore, Pristina, in Albanian 14 Oct 05 p 5
Austria plans EU conference on Balkans in 2006
Zagreb, 15 October: Austria plans on holding a conference on the Balkans in the first half of 2006, when it takes over the presidency of the European Union, President Heinz Fischer said in Zagreb on Saturday [15 October].
Speaking at the final press conference of Central European presidents at the end of the two-day Croatia Summit 2005, Fischer said the summit had proved that other countries in the region were also interested in European integration.
He said the summit had been very successful and an opportunity for presidents of Central European countries to get to know each other better.
Croatia is developing very positively, said Klaus Mangold, executive adviser of the president of DaimlerChrysler AG and chairman of the German Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations. He was speaking on behalf of a European business delegation which attended the summit.
We concluded that Croatia is developing very positively and the European economy advocates that it become a member of the EU as soon as possible, he said, adding that everything would be done to support Croatia so that its entry negotiations did not last too long.
Mangold said that today the summit focused on economic issues and that it was clearly said that nobody in the European economy advocated unbridled capitalism.
We always try to find a balanced way between what the world economy makes us do in terms of competition and the social acceptability of a process in which the people in Europe will feel good, he said.
We feel there can be no employment or social peace in Europe without growth, which is common to both politics and the economy and a fact we highly appreciate, Mangold added.
The European business delegation represents EUR400 billion in turnover and 1.6 billion employees, he said.
Croatian President Stjepan Mesic said an important topic of all talks during the summit had been the challenge represented by globalisation and how to deal with its consequences.
Albanian President Alfred Moisiu said the debate on economic issues had been very important because one could not aspire to progress without a developed economy or prospects of economic development.
Asked about the final status of Kosovo, he said the population of Kosovo wanted independence.
The will of the people of Kosovo is independence and we are convinced that only this will bring about peace and stability in the region, Moisiu said, adding that Kosovo must become part of the integration process because it was the only way to turn towards a peaceful future.
Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski said the launching of EU entry negotiations was a historic moment for Croatia and a big encouragement to Macedonia and the entire region because it was clear that the enlargement process was not stopped.
The project of European unification is so important that regardless of all controversies and disputes, it must be completed successfully, he said, voicing hope that at next year's summit of Central European presidents in Bulgaria, Macedonia would enjoy EU candidate status.
Bosnia and Hercegovina President Ivo Miro Jovic said the Zagreb summit would support his country's attempts to adopt EU standards and that it had demonstrated that the EU was open for all who organized their country in accordance with principles valid in Europe.
The heads of states who attended the summit unanimously assessed it as very successful and well-organized. They departed from Zagreb in the afternoon.
Tight security measures were taken for the event, causing major traffic gridlocks around Zagreb's Westin hotel and at the airport.
Source: HINA news agency, Zagreb, in English 1534 gmt 15 Oct 05
Speaking at the final press conference of Central European presidents at the end of the two-day Croatia Summit 2005, Fischer said the summit had proved that other countries in the region were also interested in European integration.
He said the summit had been very successful and an opportunity for presidents of Central European countries to get to know each other better.
Croatia is developing very positively, said Klaus Mangold, executive adviser of the president of DaimlerChrysler AG and chairman of the German Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations. He was speaking on behalf of a European business delegation which attended the summit.
We concluded that Croatia is developing very positively and the European economy advocates that it become a member of the EU as soon as possible, he said, adding that everything would be done to support Croatia so that its entry negotiations did not last too long.
Mangold said that today the summit focused on economic issues and that it was clearly said that nobody in the European economy advocated unbridled capitalism.
We always try to find a balanced way between what the world economy makes us do in terms of competition and the social acceptability of a process in which the people in Europe will feel good, he said.
We feel there can be no employment or social peace in Europe without growth, which is common to both politics and the economy and a fact we highly appreciate, Mangold added.
The European business delegation represents EUR400 billion in turnover and 1.6 billion employees, he said.
Croatian President Stjepan Mesic said an important topic of all talks during the summit had been the challenge represented by globalisation and how to deal with its consequences.
Albanian President Alfred Moisiu said the debate on economic issues had been very important because one could not aspire to progress without a developed economy or prospects of economic development.
Asked about the final status of Kosovo, he said the population of Kosovo wanted independence.
The will of the people of Kosovo is independence and we are convinced that only this will bring about peace and stability in the region, Moisiu said, adding that Kosovo must become part of the integration process because it was the only way to turn towards a peaceful future.
Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski said the launching of EU entry negotiations was a historic moment for Croatia and a big encouragement to Macedonia and the entire region because it was clear that the enlargement process was not stopped.
The project of European unification is so important that regardless of all controversies and disputes, it must be completed successfully, he said, voicing hope that at next year's summit of Central European presidents in Bulgaria, Macedonia would enjoy EU candidate status.
Bosnia and Hercegovina President Ivo Miro Jovic said the Zagreb summit would support his country's attempts to adopt EU standards and that it had demonstrated that the EU was open for all who organized their country in accordance with principles valid in Europe.
The heads of states who attended the summit unanimously assessed it as very successful and well-organized. They departed from Zagreb in the afternoon.
Tight security measures were taken for the event, causing major traffic gridlocks around Zagreb's Westin hotel and at the airport.
Source: HINA news agency, Zagreb, in English 1534 gmt 15 Oct 05
Prime Minister Kosumi to Belgrade: Let’s find the missing (Koha)
Koha Ditore reports that the Kosovo Government has pledged for full cooperation on the issue of missing persons, one week after the head of Pristina-Belgrade talks on missing persons, Francois Stamm, criticised both capitals and called on them to work more seriously on the matter. The paper notes that Prime Minister Kosumi has accepted the remarks by the International Red Cross Committee and has pledged on behalf of the Kosovo Government that he would closely cooperate with the organisation in finding information on the possible whereabouts of missing persons. Kosumi has also called on Belgrade to stop politicising the issue of missing persons and to say where the missing persons from Kosovo are.
CG meets in Washington on 2 November, Ahtisaari in the Balkans several days later (Zëri)
Zëri predicts on the front page that after the Security Council meeting on 24th October, which is expected to support Annan’s recommendation for the start of status talks, the preparatory process for negotiations is expected to accelerate.
The paper quotes unnamed sources from diplomatic circles as saying that in a Presidential Statement the Security Council could call on Annan to appoint his special envoy on status.
Zëri also says that the Contact Group will have a highly important meeting on 2nd November in Washington, which will be hosted by US Under-Secretary of State Nicholas Burns. According to the paper, the Contact Group is expected to be the key decision-making international structure on Kosovo’s status, even though Marti Ahtisaari will spearhead the process of talks on behalf of the UN and Secretary General Annan.
The paper quotes unnamed sources from diplomatic circles as saying that in a Presidential Statement the Security Council could call on Annan to appoint his special envoy on status.
Zëri also says that the Contact Group will have a highly important meeting on 2nd November in Washington, which will be hosted by US Under-Secretary of State Nicholas Burns. According to the paper, the Contact Group is expected to be the key decision-making international structure on Kosovo’s status, even though Marti Ahtisaari will spearhead the process of talks on behalf of the UN and Secretary General Annan.
Friday, October 14, 2005
U.S. signals a return to solving issues in Balkans- The International Herald Tribune
By Nicholas Wood The New York Times
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2005
BELGRADE Having receded from international attention since the ethnic wars of the 1990s, the western Balkans seem likely to return to the spotlight in the months ahead as the United States indicated it has made a substantial change of policy.
During a three-day visit to Bosnia, Kosovo and Serbia, Nicholas Burns, the State Department's under secretary for political affairs, said his government was determined to "re-engage" in the region and tackle problems lingering from the earlier conflicts.
In interviews and comments to journalists over the three days, Burns said the United States saw a substantial opportunity for change in the region, as power began to be transferred to local authorities in Bosnia and Kosovo, powers that had been vested in the hands of international forces. Those forces were in charge to enforce reforms and uphold the peace.
The policy indicates a move away from agreements that succeeded in bringing about an end to conflicts but that are now widely seen by politicians and diplomats as poor foundations for stable development. Nevertheless these agreements - the Dayton Accords in the case of Bosnia and a UN Security Council resolution in Kosovo - have remained the blueprints for policy.
As a result of these agreements and lacking local political leadership the engage in reform, the region has been held back, according to Burns, who is the third-highest-ranking figure in the State Department.
"This region has been victimized, because at the end of the Cold War every other part of Central Europe and the former Soviet Union has had a chance to reform, in a peaceful, relatively peaceful environment, and most of the Balkans have not," he said.
Some of those proscribed changes are already under way.
In Kosovo, preparations for talks on the future status of the province have begun. The region's Albanian majority hopes it will lead to the creation of independent state, but most of Kosovo's Serb minority want the region to remain part of Serbia.
Burns said he expected the negotiations to begin within 30 days, and that their conclusion would transfer substantial powers to local authorities from the United Nations mission that has run the region since the end of the war in 1999.
It was the recurrence of violence across Kosovo in March 2004 that underlined the fragility of the international community's role in the Balkans. More than 50,000 Albanians attacked Serbs and other ethnic groups despite the presence of 17,000 peacekeeping troops. UN officials concluded that the violence demonstrated deep popular frustration with the failure to resolve the province's future.
"This is a pressure cooker and people are not going to tolerate another five years of not knowing who they are, what country they live in and what their future is," Burns said.
In Bosnia, the risk of renewed violence is regarded as minimal, but the country's Serb, Muslim and Croat population remain deeply divided. Since the end of the war, international officials have sought to forge a more unified state, but have made slow progress. The United States is helping to convene a meeting of Bosnia's political leaders in Washington to mark the 10th anniversary of the Dayton Accords; at that meeting, Burns said, he hoped the leaders would agree on an undertaking aimed at ceding their powers to a more unified state.
Bosnia's tripartite presidency - each ethnic group has its own president - would be replaced with a single president, and the powers of the federal parliament and prime minister would be reinforced.
At the same time, Burns suggested that there was a consensus in the international community to phase out Bosnia's high representative, the country's most senior international official, a position currently held by a former British politician, Lord Ashdown. That job was established by the Dayton Accords and the person holding it has the power to fire politicians and public officials and to pass laws.
"Ten years is a long time for a country to be under international stewardship, and it is time now to diminish the powers" of the high representative "and give the locals that authority," Burns said.
In both Bosnia and Kosovo, the speed as which these changes can take place will depend on the willingness of the Serb leadership, much of which argues that it has the most to lose.
Leaders of Bosnia's Serb Republic have persistently opposed efforts to create a more centralized state at the expense of their own "entity," as it is known.
Serbia's conservative prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica, is opposed to holding talks on Kosovo's future. During his visit to the region, Burns reiterated several times that the Serbian government could not veto a negotiated settlement on the province.
A Serbian government statement issued shortly after Kostunica met Burns in Belgrade on Friday afternoon, suggested any agreement should be based on compromise but that Kosovo should remain "within the existing boundary of Serbia and Montenegro."
Serbia has yet to normalize its relations with the United States, and is blocked from full membership in the European Union, over its failure to find and arrest the region's leading war crimes suspects, Radovan Karadzic, the wartime leader of the Bosnian Serbs and his military commander Ratko Mladic.
Were Serbia to hand over both men to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, and accept a negotiated settlement on the future of Kosovo, it would be assured of closer ties with both the European Union and the United States.
"I think that will also be a key way for Serbia to escape its past," said Burns. "If Serbia wants to look forward, it has to look backward in order to atone for its mistakes of the 1990s."
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2005
BELGRADE Having receded from international attention since the ethnic wars of the 1990s, the western Balkans seem likely to return to the spotlight in the months ahead as the United States indicated it has made a substantial change of policy.
During a three-day visit to Bosnia, Kosovo and Serbia, Nicholas Burns, the State Department's under secretary for political affairs, said his government was determined to "re-engage" in the region and tackle problems lingering from the earlier conflicts.
In interviews and comments to journalists over the three days, Burns said the United States saw a substantial opportunity for change in the region, as power began to be transferred to local authorities in Bosnia and Kosovo, powers that had been vested in the hands of international forces. Those forces were in charge to enforce reforms and uphold the peace.
The policy indicates a move away from agreements that succeeded in bringing about an end to conflicts but that are now widely seen by politicians and diplomats as poor foundations for stable development. Nevertheless these agreements - the Dayton Accords in the case of Bosnia and a UN Security Council resolution in Kosovo - have remained the blueprints for policy.
As a result of these agreements and lacking local political leadership the engage in reform, the region has been held back, according to Burns, who is the third-highest-ranking figure in the State Department.
"This region has been victimized, because at the end of the Cold War every other part of Central Europe and the former Soviet Union has had a chance to reform, in a peaceful, relatively peaceful environment, and most of the Balkans have not," he said.
Some of those proscribed changes are already under way.
In Kosovo, preparations for talks on the future status of the province have begun. The region's Albanian majority hopes it will lead to the creation of independent state, but most of Kosovo's Serb minority want the region to remain part of Serbia.
Burns said he expected the negotiations to begin within 30 days, and that their conclusion would transfer substantial powers to local authorities from the United Nations mission that has run the region since the end of the war in 1999.
It was the recurrence of violence across Kosovo in March 2004 that underlined the fragility of the international community's role in the Balkans. More than 50,000 Albanians attacked Serbs and other ethnic groups despite the presence of 17,000 peacekeeping troops. UN officials concluded that the violence demonstrated deep popular frustration with the failure to resolve the province's future.
"This is a pressure cooker and people are not going to tolerate another five years of not knowing who they are, what country they live in and what their future is," Burns said.
In Bosnia, the risk of renewed violence is regarded as minimal, but the country's Serb, Muslim and Croat population remain deeply divided. Since the end of the war, international officials have sought to forge a more unified state, but have made slow progress. The United States is helping to convene a meeting of Bosnia's political leaders in Washington to mark the 10th anniversary of the Dayton Accords; at that meeting, Burns said, he hoped the leaders would agree on an undertaking aimed at ceding their powers to a more unified state.
Bosnia's tripartite presidency - each ethnic group has its own president - would be replaced with a single president, and the powers of the federal parliament and prime minister would be reinforced.
At the same time, Burns suggested that there was a consensus in the international community to phase out Bosnia's high representative, the country's most senior international official, a position currently held by a former British politician, Lord Ashdown. That job was established by the Dayton Accords and the person holding it has the power to fire politicians and public officials and to pass laws.
"Ten years is a long time for a country to be under international stewardship, and it is time now to diminish the powers" of the high representative "and give the locals that authority," Burns said.
In both Bosnia and Kosovo, the speed as which these changes can take place will depend on the willingness of the Serb leadership, much of which argues that it has the most to lose.
Leaders of Bosnia's Serb Republic have persistently opposed efforts to create a more centralized state at the expense of their own "entity," as it is known.
Serbia's conservative prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica, is opposed to holding talks on Kosovo's future. During his visit to the region, Burns reiterated several times that the Serbian government could not veto a negotiated settlement on the province.
A Serbian government statement issued shortly after Kostunica met Burns in Belgrade on Friday afternoon, suggested any agreement should be based on compromise but that Kosovo should remain "within the existing boundary of Serbia and Montenegro."
Serbia has yet to normalize its relations with the United States, and is blocked from full membership in the European Union, over its failure to find and arrest the region's leading war crimes suspects, Radovan Karadzic, the wartime leader of the Bosnian Serbs and his military commander Ratko Mladic.
Were Serbia to hand over both men to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, and accept a negotiated settlement on the future of Kosovo, it would be assured of closer ties with both the European Union and the United States.
"I think that will also be a key way for Serbia to escape its past," said Burns. "If Serbia wants to look forward, it has to look backward in order to atone for its mistakes of the 1990s."
UN war crimes court reimposes curbs on former Kosovo PM
THE HAGUE, Oct 14 (AFP) -
The United Nations war crimes court reimposed restrictions on former Kosovo prime minister Ramush Haradinaj lifted just two days earlier after chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte stepped in, the tribunal said Friday.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) said Del Ponte had called Thursday for a stay of execution of its decision, pending a formal appeal.
On Wednesday the ICTY gave permission to Haradinaj, who is on parole pending trial on charges of war crimes committed during the 1998-99 Kosovo conflict, to take part in political activities with prior approval of the UN mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).
Normally suspects awaiting trial in The Hague are not allowed to take part in public political activities or hold elected office, and Del Ponte's spokeswoman Florence Harrtmann said she was upset by the court's ruling.
She felt it could have an impact on the trial, notably by deterring witnesses from giving evidence.
Haradinaj's defence had asked the court to allow him as president of his party, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, to resume his activities.
The UN-mandated court agreed to the request to a limited extent and only with the approval of UNMIK. The decision does not mean that Haradinaj will be able to serve as prime minister again.
Haradinaj turned himself into the ICTY in March after resigning as prime minister when an indictment against him was made public.
He is accused of murder, persecution, rape and cruel treatment of Serb, Roma and Albanian civilians in Kosovo when he was a commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), an ethnic Albanian guerrilla movement in the 1990s.
Earlier Friday, in his first official outing since the ban was lifted, Haradinaj said he had promised Kosovo president Ibrahim Rugova he "would continue to support the positive process which is led by him and which is in the interests of all citizens."
"The Hague tribunal made a positive decision on Haradinaj's right to be engaged in politics," Rugova said. "Haradinaj's involvement in political activities would help the process leading to independence."
Haradinaj had called on all citizens to support the political process and help to build "a democratic Kosovo and real freedom with respect of all who live in Kosovo" in a statement published in Kosovo newspapers on Friday.
Belgrade said Thursday it strongly opposed the decision, and would demand the UN war crimes tribunal gives Serb indictees the right to participate in politics like former Kosovo prime minister.
Kosovo is a southern Serbian province that has been administered by the United Nations since a 1999 NATO-led bombing campaign forced Serbian troops to end a crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists and pull out.
The court had ruled that "taking into account the very special circumstances of the case, especially UNMIK's assessment of the anticipated positive effects of the accused's involvement in public political activities and the upcoming negotiations on the final status of Kosovo, there should be some possibility for (Haradinaj) to take part in public political activities and negotiations."
The court instructed UNMIK to allow Haradinaj to take part in public politics only if it would be "important for a positive development of the political and security situation in Kosovo."
The court requested bi-weekly reports from UNMIK on the situation and expressly stated that it could revoke the privileges it had granted Haradinaj at any time.
The United Nations war crimes court reimposed restrictions on former Kosovo prime minister Ramush Haradinaj lifted just two days earlier after chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte stepped in, the tribunal said Friday.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) said Del Ponte had called Thursday for a stay of execution of its decision, pending a formal appeal.
On Wednesday the ICTY gave permission to Haradinaj, who is on parole pending trial on charges of war crimes committed during the 1998-99 Kosovo conflict, to take part in political activities with prior approval of the UN mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).
Normally suspects awaiting trial in The Hague are not allowed to take part in public political activities or hold elected office, and Del Ponte's spokeswoman Florence Harrtmann said she was upset by the court's ruling.
She felt it could have an impact on the trial, notably by deterring witnesses from giving evidence.
Haradinaj's defence had asked the court to allow him as president of his party, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, to resume his activities.
The UN-mandated court agreed to the request to a limited extent and only with the approval of UNMIK. The decision does not mean that Haradinaj will be able to serve as prime minister again.
Haradinaj turned himself into the ICTY in March after resigning as prime minister when an indictment against him was made public.
He is accused of murder, persecution, rape and cruel treatment of Serb, Roma and Albanian civilians in Kosovo when he was a commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), an ethnic Albanian guerrilla movement in the 1990s.
Earlier Friday, in his first official outing since the ban was lifted, Haradinaj said he had promised Kosovo president Ibrahim Rugova he "would continue to support the positive process which is led by him and which is in the interests of all citizens."
"The Hague tribunal made a positive decision on Haradinaj's right to be engaged in politics," Rugova said. "Haradinaj's involvement in political activities would help the process leading to independence."
Haradinaj had called on all citizens to support the political process and help to build "a democratic Kosovo and real freedom with respect of all who live in Kosovo" in a statement published in Kosovo newspapers on Friday.
Belgrade said Thursday it strongly opposed the decision, and would demand the UN war crimes tribunal gives Serb indictees the right to participate in politics like former Kosovo prime minister.
Kosovo is a southern Serbian province that has been administered by the United Nations since a 1999 NATO-led bombing campaign forced Serbian troops to end a crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists and pull out.
The court had ruled that "taking into account the very special circumstances of the case, especially UNMIK's assessment of the anticipated positive effects of the accused's involvement in public political activities and the upcoming negotiations on the final status of Kosovo, there should be some possibility for (Haradinaj) to take part in public political activities and negotiations."
The court instructed UNMIK to allow Haradinaj to take part in public politics only if it would be "important for a positive development of the political and security situation in Kosovo."
The court requested bi-weekly reports from UNMIK on the situation and expressly stated that it could revoke the privileges it had granted Haradinaj at any time.
OSCE Chairman: Very Important To Start Talks On Kosovo
BELGRADE (AP)--The chairman of Europe's leading security organization said Friday that it was very important to begin talks on the fate of U.N.-run Kosovo province.
Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel - the current chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe - said the negotiations could start next month.
"For me, OSCE, Slovenia and most our friends in the E.U., it is of great importance that this process starts," Rupel said after talks with Serbia- Montenegro Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic.
"What we wish to see is a united and free Europe, and without solving ... the Kosovo problem it is hard to imagine such a Europe," Rupel said.
Rupel will travel to Kosovo from Belgrade for meetings with local ethnic Albanian and Serb leaders.
Serbian media reported ahead of Rupel's visit that his meetings in Belgrade will focus on the OSCE's role in the future negotiations on the status of Kosovo that are expected to start by the end of the year.
Kosovo is formally part of Serbia-Montenegro, although it has been run by the U.N. and NATO since 1999, when a NATO bombing of the country forced Belgrade to end a crackdown against separatist ethnic Albanians.
Belgrade is hoping to retain at least formal control over its southern region at the future negotiations, while Kosovo's majority ethnic Albanians insist the province should become an independent state.
Foreign Minister Draskovic complained during the meeting with Rupel about the position of the minority Serbs in Kosovo, who live in isolated enclaves there guarded by NATO troops.
Draskovic said that "nowhere in Europe are the rights of a nation so violated as those of the Serb people in Kosovo."
A top U.S. official has said Washington will appoint a special envoy for the Kosovo negotiations.
Rupel also met in Belgrade with Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica and other top officials. In Pristina, Rupel will meet with U.N. administrator of Kosovo Soren Jessen-Petersen and local leaders.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel - the current chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe - said the negotiations could start next month.
"For me, OSCE, Slovenia and most our friends in the E.U., it is of great importance that this process starts," Rupel said after talks with Serbia- Montenegro Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic.
"What we wish to see is a united and free Europe, and without solving ... the Kosovo problem it is hard to imagine such a Europe," Rupel said.
Rupel will travel to Kosovo from Belgrade for meetings with local ethnic Albanian and Serb leaders.
Serbian media reported ahead of Rupel's visit that his meetings in Belgrade will focus on the OSCE's role in the future negotiations on the status of Kosovo that are expected to start by the end of the year.
Kosovo is formally part of Serbia-Montenegro, although it has been run by the U.N. and NATO since 1999, when a NATO bombing of the country forced Belgrade to end a crackdown against separatist ethnic Albanians.
Belgrade is hoping to retain at least formal control over its southern region at the future negotiations, while Kosovo's majority ethnic Albanians insist the province should become an independent state.
Foreign Minister Draskovic complained during the meeting with Rupel about the position of the minority Serbs in Kosovo, who live in isolated enclaves there guarded by NATO troops.
Draskovic said that "nowhere in Europe are the rights of a nation so violated as those of the Serb people in Kosovo."
A top U.S. official has said Washington will appoint a special envoy for the Kosovo negotiations.
Rupel also met in Belgrade with Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica and other top officials. In Pristina, Rupel will meet with U.N. administrator of Kosovo Soren Jessen-Petersen and local leaders.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
Playing the Fool in War’s Shadow - IWPR
Kosovo film exposes some awkward home truths about the nature of post-war society.
By Jeta Xharra in Pristina (BCR No 579 14-Oct-05)
The bomb scare which halted the premiere of “Kukumi”, Kosovo’s first feature film in 17 years illustrated how long-anticipated celebrations in the break-away territory can still go badly wrong.
The bomb was placed under a vehicle in the ministry of culture’s car park, forcing the police to evacuate the neighbouring ABC cinema where the film, produced by Kosovafilm, premiered on September 30.
The film itself raises the awkward question as to whether Kosovo’s undefined future status together with an absence of the rule of law is undermining personal freedoms.
Kukumi is a story of three lunatic asylum inmates - Mara, Hasan and Kukumi - who escape during the chaos of June 1999 when Serb forces pulled out of Kosovo as NATO peace-keepers advanced.
The film won the special prize at the Sarajevo International Film Festival as well as the Regione del Veneto award at the Venice International Film Festival this year.
The film charts the voyage of the three characters against a backdrop of returning refugees, post-war liberation euphoria and the breakdown of law and order in which thieves, looters and rapists flourish.
It comes as no surprise that from the perspective of the former inmates, the world outside their asylum appears far madder than life inside their old institution – and a great deal more uncertain.
Kukumi portrays Kosovo as a land of idyllic hills, beautiful woods, purple skies and pretty wooden cottages inhabited by harsh and backward peasants.
The villages themselves have a character of their own which threaten to crush any sign of individuality and original thought.
The old men of the Albanian village in their plis - the traditional white hats - take on the appearance of a gang of mafia dons, eager to find someone to crucify instead of their more traditional role as pillars of the local community.
The 56-year-old director of Kukumi, Isa Qosja, has made an unusually brave film which questions the nature of freedom and liberation itself at a time when most Kosovars expected that their first film would deal with their suffering under Serbian forces.
Instead of focusing on ethnic particulars, this film is more concerned with asking the difficult universal questions about what happens to human beings when anarchy descends.
What happens in the film is that men rape their brothers’ wives, thinking they can get away with it because no-one is watching.
In another scene, the village thug erects a checkpoint and extorts money from returning refugees, demanding cash for every tractor that passes by.
The film is about much more than simply post-war Kosovo, rather it appears an accurate portrayal of how when food, shelter and law-and-order disappear, some men will use the situation to get away, quite literally, with murder.
For many Kosovars, the looting and brutality that followed in the wake of hurricane Katrina in New Orleans was reminiscent of the chaos that engulfed the territory when the NATO bombing campaign ended.
But if the mob is an established tradition in the United States, the casual brutality that emerged in post-war Kosovo stemmed from an older set of patriarchal laws which were used as an excuse to rob property from the weak and deny care to the vulnerable.
The violence encountered by Hasan, Mara and Kukumi in the film is fictional, but there were plenty of genuine experiences endured by real people who are still haunted by the post-war legal vacuum and the return of archaic and backward traditions.
Shyrete Berisha is one of the survivors of the Suva Reka massacre where 57 members of Berisha family were killed by Serb troops in March 1999.
Shyrete’s four children and her husband were among the murdered and she herself suffered shrapnel wounds, pieces of which are still lodged in her body.
But the source of her present woes stem from traditions which were cited by her brother-in-law, Xhelal Berisha, to seize her home while she was a refugee.
Xhelal took the house on the grounds that it was his father’s before it was his now deceased brother’s and that according to Albanian tradition, property passes down the male bloodline and not to the wife.
Shyrete found it impossible to live in the property, mirroring a similar situation encountered by Hasan and Mara in Kukumi.
Reality also mirrors the film in the village of Krusha e Vogel, where 114 men were massacred in 1999. There, a ten-year-old remains parentless, because the father has been murdered and the mother marries a man whose family, according to tradition, cannot raise another man’s child.
Kukumi also makes fun of the Kosovo’s institutions which have failed to rectify injustices such as these.
It is particularly refreshing to see the film’s main character mock old politicians’ stereotypically stern speeches about the “intelligent people of Kosovo” while the camera focuses on a dull and ignorant crowd of men, clapping their hands without actually understanding the politician’s words.
The reaction of Kukumi, brilliantly played by actor Luan Jaha, is to show his genitals at the precise moment the politician launches into a tirade about freedom and the motherland.
Importantly, the film also questions the relevance of NATO peacekeepers in contemporary Kosovo.
At the beginning, the presence of the troops brings some benefit, but by the end they are portrayed as being more prone to causing fatal accidents than serving any useful purpose.
Towards the close of the film, the viewer is left with the idea that the characters were better off in their asylum rather than having to endure the uncertainties of reality in post-war Kosovo.
At the premiere, that feeling was accentuated amongst members of the audience who had to evacuate the cinema 20 minutes before the end because of the bomb scare thus reinforcing the continued uncertainty coating day-to-day reality in Kosovo today.
Although efforts were made to add glitz and glamour to Kosovo’s first feature film premiere, the reality intruded to make the end result far less appealing.
The microphones used for the film’s presentation and speeches did not work; the film’s projection began with a black line down the middle of the screen and the lack of any seating plan ensured that many in the audience were left to stand.
The film ending with a bomb scare only added to the feeling of a dysfunctional land waiting to explode.
Jeta Xharra is director of BIRN Kosovo, a localised IWPR project.
By Jeta Xharra in Pristina (BCR No 579 14-Oct-05)
The bomb scare which halted the premiere of “Kukumi”, Kosovo’s first feature film in 17 years illustrated how long-anticipated celebrations in the break-away territory can still go badly wrong.
The bomb was placed under a vehicle in the ministry of culture’s car park, forcing the police to evacuate the neighbouring ABC cinema where the film, produced by Kosovafilm, premiered on September 30.
The film itself raises the awkward question as to whether Kosovo’s undefined future status together with an absence of the rule of law is undermining personal freedoms.
Kukumi is a story of three lunatic asylum inmates - Mara, Hasan and Kukumi - who escape during the chaos of June 1999 when Serb forces pulled out of Kosovo as NATO peace-keepers advanced.
The film won the special prize at the Sarajevo International Film Festival as well as the Regione del Veneto award at the Venice International Film Festival this year.
The film charts the voyage of the three characters against a backdrop of returning refugees, post-war liberation euphoria and the breakdown of law and order in which thieves, looters and rapists flourish.
It comes as no surprise that from the perspective of the former inmates, the world outside their asylum appears far madder than life inside their old institution – and a great deal more uncertain.
Kukumi portrays Kosovo as a land of idyllic hills, beautiful woods, purple skies and pretty wooden cottages inhabited by harsh and backward peasants.
The villages themselves have a character of their own which threaten to crush any sign of individuality and original thought.
The old men of the Albanian village in their plis - the traditional white hats - take on the appearance of a gang of mafia dons, eager to find someone to crucify instead of their more traditional role as pillars of the local community.
The 56-year-old director of Kukumi, Isa Qosja, has made an unusually brave film which questions the nature of freedom and liberation itself at a time when most Kosovars expected that their first film would deal with their suffering under Serbian forces.
Instead of focusing on ethnic particulars, this film is more concerned with asking the difficult universal questions about what happens to human beings when anarchy descends.
What happens in the film is that men rape their brothers’ wives, thinking they can get away with it because no-one is watching.
In another scene, the village thug erects a checkpoint and extorts money from returning refugees, demanding cash for every tractor that passes by.
The film is about much more than simply post-war Kosovo, rather it appears an accurate portrayal of how when food, shelter and law-and-order disappear, some men will use the situation to get away, quite literally, with murder.
For many Kosovars, the looting and brutality that followed in the wake of hurricane Katrina in New Orleans was reminiscent of the chaos that engulfed the territory when the NATO bombing campaign ended.
But if the mob is an established tradition in the United States, the casual brutality that emerged in post-war Kosovo stemmed from an older set of patriarchal laws which were used as an excuse to rob property from the weak and deny care to the vulnerable.
The violence encountered by Hasan, Mara and Kukumi in the film is fictional, but there were plenty of genuine experiences endured by real people who are still haunted by the post-war legal vacuum and the return of archaic and backward traditions.
Shyrete Berisha is one of the survivors of the Suva Reka massacre where 57 members of Berisha family were killed by Serb troops in March 1999.
Shyrete’s four children and her husband were among the murdered and she herself suffered shrapnel wounds, pieces of which are still lodged in her body.
But the source of her present woes stem from traditions which were cited by her brother-in-law, Xhelal Berisha, to seize her home while she was a refugee.
Xhelal took the house on the grounds that it was his father’s before it was his now deceased brother’s and that according to Albanian tradition, property passes down the male bloodline and not to the wife.
Shyrete found it impossible to live in the property, mirroring a similar situation encountered by Hasan and Mara in Kukumi.
Reality also mirrors the film in the village of Krusha e Vogel, where 114 men were massacred in 1999. There, a ten-year-old remains parentless, because the father has been murdered and the mother marries a man whose family, according to tradition, cannot raise another man’s child.
Kukumi also makes fun of the Kosovo’s institutions which have failed to rectify injustices such as these.
It is particularly refreshing to see the film’s main character mock old politicians’ stereotypically stern speeches about the “intelligent people of Kosovo” while the camera focuses on a dull and ignorant crowd of men, clapping their hands without actually understanding the politician’s words.
The reaction of Kukumi, brilliantly played by actor Luan Jaha, is to show his genitals at the precise moment the politician launches into a tirade about freedom and the motherland.
Importantly, the film also questions the relevance of NATO peacekeepers in contemporary Kosovo.
At the beginning, the presence of the troops brings some benefit, but by the end they are portrayed as being more prone to causing fatal accidents than serving any useful purpose.
Towards the close of the film, the viewer is left with the idea that the characters were better off in their asylum rather than having to endure the uncertainties of reality in post-war Kosovo.
At the premiere, that feeling was accentuated amongst members of the audience who had to evacuate the cinema 20 minutes before the end because of the bomb scare thus reinforcing the continued uncertainty coating day-to-day reality in Kosovo today.
Although efforts were made to add glitz and glamour to Kosovo’s first feature film premiere, the reality intruded to make the end result far less appealing.
The microphones used for the film’s presentation and speeches did not work; the film’s projection began with a black line down the middle of the screen and the lack of any seating plan ensured that many in the audience were left to stand.
The film ending with a bomb scare only added to the feeling of a dysfunctional land waiting to explode.
Jeta Xharra is director of BIRN Kosovo, a localised IWPR project.
Buckovski: Kosovo will be independent (Zëri)
In an interview with La Libre Belgique, FYROM Prime Minister Vlado Buckovski was quoted as saying, “I am realistic. I am certain that Kosovo will be independent. In the beginning there will certainly be independence with conditions. At the same time, Serbia will benefit from the agreement on Stabilisation and Association.”
Burns: No veto, no violence – talks start in 30 days (dailies)
All dailies give extensive coverage to yesterday’s visit by US Under-Secretary of State Nicholas Burns and his meetings with international and local leaders in Pristina. Most dailies highlight Burns’ quote that talks on Kosovo’s status will start in 30 days.
Koha Ditore reports on the front page that Burns has called on Serbia to be fairer toward Kosovo, and he called on the Kosovan political leadership to be united on the eve of, and during, status talks and not repeat the Rambouillet scenario. Burns also said that during status talks, the US will have a special envoy.
“It is no up to the US or any other country to say what the status of Kosovo will be. Therefore, my country doesn’t support any specific option. This should be the responsibility of the people living here, but also the responsibility of the Union of Serbia and Montenegro. Therefore, we hope that in 30 days we will see the start of status talks and people will start talking to each other about the best ways for moving forward,” Burns was quoted as saying.
Koha Ditore reports on the front page that Burns has called on Serbia to be fairer toward Kosovo, and he called on the Kosovan political leadership to be united on the eve of, and during, status talks and not repeat the Rambouillet scenario. Burns also said that during status talks, the US will have a special envoy.
“It is no up to the US or any other country to say what the status of Kosovo will be. Therefore, my country doesn’t support any specific option. This should be the responsibility of the people living here, but also the responsibility of the Union of Serbia and Montenegro. Therefore, we hope that in 30 days we will see the start of status talks and people will start talking to each other about the best ways for moving forward,” Burns was quoted as saying.
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Picture of the Day - U.S. Under Secretary R. Nicholas Burns in Kosovo
Picture of the Day - U.S. Undersecretary of State R. Nicholas Burns in Kosovo
Originally uploaded by kosovareport.
Belgrade, Pristina won't be able to veto Kosovo talks: US
PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro, Oct 13 (AFP) -
The United States wants talks on Kosovo's status to begin within 30 days, a senior US State Department official said on a visit to the troubled province Thursday.
"The situation has to change. The process has to begin in the next 30 days," said US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns, adding neither Belgrade nor Pristina should be allowed to obstruct the progress of the negotiations.
"... Countries and peoples should talk together about the best way forward," Burns said.
"We don't believe that any of the parties of the negotiations will have a veto over the negotiations. We don't believe that this negotiating train can be stopped. It's got to move forward ... so no vetoes," he said.
Burns was speaking after he met with senior local officials including the president of Kosovo, Ibrahim Rugova, in a diplomatic drive to prepare for the upcoming talks on the disputed province's future status.
Kosovo has been run by the United Nations and NATO since a 1999 bombing campaign by the military alliance forced Serbian forces to stop a crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatists.
"Our hope is that the two last months of 2005 and the first months of 2006 will be months of great change for Kosovo and a strong opportunity for the people of Kosovo to find their own future."
The United States wants talks on Kosovo's status to begin within 30 days, a senior US State Department official said on a visit to the troubled province Thursday.
"The situation has to change. The process has to begin in the next 30 days," said US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns, adding neither Belgrade nor Pristina should be allowed to obstruct the progress of the negotiations.
"... Countries and peoples should talk together about the best way forward," Burns said.
"We don't believe that any of the parties of the negotiations will have a veto over the negotiations. We don't believe that this negotiating train can be stopped. It's got to move forward ... so no vetoes," he said.
Burns was speaking after he met with senior local officials including the president of Kosovo, Ibrahim Rugova, in a diplomatic drive to prepare for the upcoming talks on the disputed province's future status.
Kosovo has been run by the United Nations and NATO since a 1999 bombing campaign by the military alliance forced Serbian forces to stop a crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatists.
"Our hope is that the two last months of 2005 and the first months of 2006 will be months of great change for Kosovo and a strong opportunity for the people of Kosovo to find their own future."
US official Burns: Kosovo negotiations should begin in 30 days
Text of report by Kosovo Albanian television KohaVision TV on 13 October
[Announcer] United States Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns said in Prishtina [Pristina] today that negotiations on the Kosova [Kosovo] status should start within 30 days. The American diplomat Burns has asked the Albanian side to be unified in order to succeed in negotiations. Speaking of Kosova Serbs, Burns said it is their right to determine their position during negotiations.
[Reporter Shkelzen Coca] The status quo needs to be changed, US Under Secretary of State for Political Issues Nicholas Burns said during a press conference today. He said that the Albanian and Serb sides need to negotiate in order to find a common future without violence. The US diplomat Burns has asked the Kosova Albanian leaders to be united during the negotiations.
[Nicholas Burns in English with superimposed Albanian] We want to see that the Kosova negotiating team is a true team of unity, because only by acting together, through a joint strategy and one voice in relation to Serbia, it will be easier than [the 1999 negotiations] in Rambouillet [in France].
[Reporter] Burns said that Kosova Serbs have the right to decide themselves how they are going to be represented in the negotiations.
[Nicholas Burns] We can not speak of a Kosova team and a Serbia-Montenegro team since to date only the Albanian representatives have created their negotiating team, whereas Serbs need yet to decide whether they will participate in Prishtina, Belgrade or create their own team.
[Reporter] He [Burns] saw the beginning of negotiations on status as historic, while reaffirming that the United States has no vision on what the future Kosova status negotiations would bring, except that it would be a compromise. [Passage omitted: unrelated issue]
Source: KohaVision TV, Pristina, in Albanian 1700 gmt 13 Oct 05
[Announcer] United States Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns said in Prishtina [Pristina] today that negotiations on the Kosova [Kosovo] status should start within 30 days. The American diplomat Burns has asked the Albanian side to be unified in order to succeed in negotiations. Speaking of Kosova Serbs, Burns said it is their right to determine their position during negotiations.
[Reporter Shkelzen Coca] The status quo needs to be changed, US Under Secretary of State for Political Issues Nicholas Burns said during a press conference today. He said that the Albanian and Serb sides need to negotiate in order to find a common future without violence. The US diplomat Burns has asked the Kosova Albanian leaders to be united during the negotiations.
[Nicholas Burns in English with superimposed Albanian] We want to see that the Kosova negotiating team is a true team of unity, because only by acting together, through a joint strategy and one voice in relation to Serbia, it will be easier than [the 1999 negotiations] in Rambouillet [in France].
[Reporter] Burns said that Kosova Serbs have the right to decide themselves how they are going to be represented in the negotiations.
[Nicholas Burns] We can not speak of a Kosova team and a Serbia-Montenegro team since to date only the Albanian representatives have created their negotiating team, whereas Serbs need yet to decide whether they will participate in Prishtina, Belgrade or create their own team.
[Reporter] He [Burns] saw the beginning of negotiations on status as historic, while reaffirming that the United States has no vision on what the future Kosova status negotiations would bring, except that it would be a compromise. [Passage omitted: unrelated issue]
Source: KohaVision TV, Pristina, in Albanian 1700 gmt 13 Oct 05
US warns against violence as Kosovo talks loom
By Matthew Robinson
PRISTINA, Serbia and Montenegro (Reuters) - The United States warned on Thursday against the use of violence as negotiations on the future of Serbia's disputed province of Kosovo near, saying its people had a unique opportunity to define their own future.
"We implore the parties to these negotiations not to use intimidation or the threat of violence, or violence itself as a tactic in the negotiations," U.S. Undersecretary for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns said in the Kosovo capital Pristina.
He said the end of 2005 and the first months of 2006 would be a period of "great chance" for the province, where the ethnic Albanian majority wants independence after six years as a de facto United Nations protectorate.
"There is a historic opportunity for the people of Kosovo now to define their own future," Burns told reporters.
His comments are certain to cause concern in Belgrade, which hopes to retain Kosovo within Serbia's borders despite the will of 1.9 million ethnic Albanians -- 90 percent of the population -- to secede.
Legally part of Serbia, Kosovo has been run by the United Nations since 1999, when NATO bombing drove out Serb forces accused of brutal atrocities against civilians in a war with separatist guerrillas.
Frozen in international limbo since, Kosovo was thrust back on to the international agenda when riots erupted in March 2004, killing 19 people.
Ethnic Albanian mobs torched Serb homes and churches in a two-day orgy of violence that exposed 17,000 NATO-led peacekeepers as slow and ineffective.
"We remember what happened in March 2004," Burns said. "There is no place for that in U.N.-sponsored negotiations."
Serbia opposes independence for its southern province, its religious heartland, and believes the West is rushing to resolve its fate for fear of a new explosion of violence.
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has recommended talks begin once the Security Council gives the green light at a session on October 24.
Diplomats in Pristina say Western powers will steer the negotiations toward a form of "conditional independence" under continued international supervision and with major concessions to 100,000 minority Serbs.
Annan is expected to appoint a special envoy for status talks at the end of October, with former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari reportedly favorite for the job.
Diplomats predict negotiations will run up to spring next year, when the envoy will draft an imposed solution if the two sides cannot agree.
PRISTINA, Serbia and Montenegro (Reuters) - The United States warned on Thursday against the use of violence as negotiations on the future of Serbia's disputed province of Kosovo near, saying its people had a unique opportunity to define their own future.
"We implore the parties to these negotiations not to use intimidation or the threat of violence, or violence itself as a tactic in the negotiations," U.S. Undersecretary for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns said in the Kosovo capital Pristina.
He said the end of 2005 and the first months of 2006 would be a period of "great chance" for the province, where the ethnic Albanian majority wants independence after six years as a de facto United Nations protectorate.
"There is a historic opportunity for the people of Kosovo now to define their own future," Burns told reporters.
His comments are certain to cause concern in Belgrade, which hopes to retain Kosovo within Serbia's borders despite the will of 1.9 million ethnic Albanians -- 90 percent of the population -- to secede.
Legally part of Serbia, Kosovo has been run by the United Nations since 1999, when NATO bombing drove out Serb forces accused of brutal atrocities against civilians in a war with separatist guerrillas.
Frozen in international limbo since, Kosovo was thrust back on to the international agenda when riots erupted in March 2004, killing 19 people.
Ethnic Albanian mobs torched Serb homes and churches in a two-day orgy of violence that exposed 17,000 NATO-led peacekeepers as slow and ineffective.
"We remember what happened in March 2004," Burns said. "There is no place for that in U.N.-sponsored negotiations."
Serbia opposes independence for its southern province, its religious heartland, and believes the West is rushing to resolve its fate for fear of a new explosion of violence.
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has recommended talks begin once the Security Council gives the green light at a session on October 24.
Diplomats in Pristina say Western powers will steer the negotiations toward a form of "conditional independence" under continued international supervision and with major concessions to 100,000 minority Serbs.
Annan is expected to appoint a special envoy for status talks at the end of October, with former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari reportedly favorite for the job.
Diplomats predict negotiations will run up to spring next year, when the envoy will draft an imposed solution if the two sides cannot agree.
Kosovo Trust Agency opens bids in eighth round of privatization
Text of report by Radio-Television Kosovo TV on 12 October
[Announcer] The Kosovo Trust Agency [KTA] held in Pristina today a ceremony to open the eighth round of bids in the privatization process. In this round, 12 Socially Owned Enterprises [SOE] were privatized, of which 15 new companies are to be formed. The KTA has received 102 bids in the eighth round.
[Minister of Industry and Trade Bujar Dugolli] The Kosovo government is not satisfied with the pace of the privatization process in Kosovo, and the Agency for Investment Promotion is expected to have a positive influence in persuading new foreign investors and serious companies to invest in Kosovo. There are challenges and numerous obstacles, but they can be overcome.
[Head of UNMIK Pillar IV, Joachim Ruecker] Privatization is by no means an easy process, but thanks to the Kosovo Trust Agency personnel and the Board, this process is moving along very quickly. This is a good opportunity for the Kosovo economy and private investment. KTA staff have worked hard to prepare these enterprises for privatization; this was not easy because of the many complaints about the ownership of the enterprises.
[Reporter] The next round of the privatization process is to be held in December, while in January there will be a special spin-off, for the Golesh mining complex, Peja Brewery and Grand Hotel in Pristina, which are considered the jewels of the Kosovo economy.
Source: RTK TV, Pristina, in Albanian 1730 gmt 12 Oct 05
[Announcer] The Kosovo Trust Agency [KTA] held in Pristina today a ceremony to open the eighth round of bids in the privatization process. In this round, 12 Socially Owned Enterprises [SOE] were privatized, of which 15 new companies are to be formed. The KTA has received 102 bids in the eighth round.
[Minister of Industry and Trade Bujar Dugolli] The Kosovo government is not satisfied with the pace of the privatization process in Kosovo, and the Agency for Investment Promotion is expected to have a positive influence in persuading new foreign investors and serious companies to invest in Kosovo. There are challenges and numerous obstacles, but they can be overcome.
[Head of UNMIK Pillar IV, Joachim Ruecker] Privatization is by no means an easy process, but thanks to the Kosovo Trust Agency personnel and the Board, this process is moving along very quickly. This is a good opportunity for the Kosovo economy and private investment. KTA staff have worked hard to prepare these enterprises for privatization; this was not easy because of the many complaints about the ownership of the enterprises.
[Reporter] The next round of the privatization process is to be held in December, while in January there will be a special spin-off, for the Golesh mining complex, Peja Brewery and Grand Hotel in Pristina, which are considered the jewels of the Kosovo economy.
Source: RTK TV, Pristina, in Albanian 1730 gmt 12 Oct 05
U.S. Undersecretary of State Burns holds talks on Kosovo's future
PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) - The United States will appoint a special envoy to participate in upcoming talks on Kosovo's future status, U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said Thursday.
Burns, the State Department's third-ranking official, said the people of the disputed U.N.-run province "have a right to know what their future will be," and he urged both sides to be ready for compromise.
"We will appoint a special American envoy to participate in support of the United Nations in these talks, and we will not favor any outcomes," Burns said after meeting with Kosovo's ailing president, Ibrahim Rugova.
Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority wants full independence, while its Serb minority and officials in Belgrade say the province should have broad autonomy but remain within Serbia-Montenegro, the union that replaced Yugoslavia.
Last week, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan recommended that the talks start later this year, with a report saying Kosovo had shown enough progress in building democratic institutions. The report warned Europe and the U.S. not to let the tiny Balkan region fade from international attention.
Annan is expected to appoint a U.N. envoy to travel between Kosovo's capital of Pristina, Belgrade and Western capitals in trying to broker an agreement.
Burns said Kosovo's uncertain political status was unsustainable, and that talks on its future should start before the year's end and continue in a "rapid and focused way."
"The final result should be one where all the people of Kosovo can live in peace with each other," Burns said.
Kosovo has been run by a U.N. mission -- with a strong NATO peacekeeping presence -- since mid-1999, when a NATO air war forced former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to end a crackdown against rebel ethnic Albanians in the province.
Burns, the State Department's third-ranking official, said the people of the disputed U.N.-run province "have a right to know what their future will be," and he urged both sides to be ready for compromise.
"We will appoint a special American envoy to participate in support of the United Nations in these talks, and we will not favor any outcomes," Burns said after meeting with Kosovo's ailing president, Ibrahim Rugova.
Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority wants full independence, while its Serb minority and officials in Belgrade say the province should have broad autonomy but remain within Serbia-Montenegro, the union that replaced Yugoslavia.
Last week, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan recommended that the talks start later this year, with a report saying Kosovo had shown enough progress in building democratic institutions. The report warned Europe and the U.S. not to let the tiny Balkan region fade from international attention.
Annan is expected to appoint a U.N. envoy to travel between Kosovo's capital of Pristina, Belgrade and Western capitals in trying to broker an agreement.
Burns said Kosovo's uncertain political status was unsustainable, and that talks on its future should start before the year's end and continue in a "rapid and focused way."
"The final result should be one where all the people of Kosovo can live in peace with each other," Burns said.
Kosovo has been run by a U.N. mission -- with a strong NATO peacekeeping presence -- since mid-1999, when a NATO air war forced former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to end a crackdown against rebel ethnic Albanians in the province.
Kosovo Serb politician criticizes Belgrade's "populist" approach to Kosovo
Text of report by Lj. Staletovic entitled "Serbia without a stance and negotiators" negotiations by the Serbian newspaper Glas javnosti on 11 October
Belgrade: Kosovo Albanians are taking the most elite team to the forthcoming negotiations on the status of Kosovo, while Belgrade has yet to compose its delegation.
Oliver Ivanovic, head of the Serbian List for Kosovo-Metohija, says it is unacceptable that Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica will not be permanently engaged on the team, which in his opinion should include President Boris Tadic as well.
"With all due respect for the other problems we have at the moment, the problem of Kosovo is, I believe, the most pressing and should therefore be seriously addressed by Serbia's strongest team. There is no time for dithering. Besides this team we need to set up another for logistics support; we must act speedily as there is no time for 'settling in'. Albanians will accept whatever they are told, but I fear we will stubbornly say 'no' and might face another Rambouillet that brought on UN Security Council Resolution 1244. The negotiations will yield a document that will spell the basis for status, which will be transitional at first, and then final. The fact that we have no clearly defined platform is another matter. We must say clearly what we want. I am afraid that interest is low on the problem of Kosovo, that we are centred on other topics, mostly scandals. I believe the burden weighs too heavily on the minority government and that we need new elections. We need the government to address Kosmet more seriously, not the chiefly populist approach it has taken with resonant statements that serve daily political purposes," said Ivanovic, declining to speculate on the composition of Serbia's team.
Dusan Prorokovic, chairman of the Serbian Assembly Committee for Kosovo-Metohija, insists that Belgrade has a platform. "We have a platform that was supported by the Serbian Assembly and three conclusions by the EU specifying that the province will not be partitioned, there is to be no return to its previous status, or annexing the province to another state, which prevents the creation of a greater Albania. The Serbian platform contains a fourth conclusion: no independence for Kosovo," said Prorokovic, adding that Belgrade and Pristina should hold a dialogue on expanded autonomy for Kosmet.
Belgrade: Kosovo Albanians are taking the most elite team to the forthcoming negotiations on the status of Kosovo, while Belgrade has yet to compose its delegation.
Oliver Ivanovic, head of the Serbian List for Kosovo-Metohija, says it is unacceptable that Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica will not be permanently engaged on the team, which in his opinion should include President Boris Tadic as well.
"With all due respect for the other problems we have at the moment, the problem of Kosovo is, I believe, the most pressing and should therefore be seriously addressed by Serbia's strongest team. There is no time for dithering. Besides this team we need to set up another for logistics support; we must act speedily as there is no time for 'settling in'. Albanians will accept whatever they are told, but I fear we will stubbornly say 'no' and might face another Rambouillet that brought on UN Security Council Resolution 1244. The negotiations will yield a document that will spell the basis for status, which will be transitional at first, and then final. The fact that we have no clearly defined platform is another matter. We must say clearly what we want. I am afraid that interest is low on the problem of Kosovo, that we are centred on other topics, mostly scandals. I believe the burden weighs too heavily on the minority government and that we need new elections. We need the government to address Kosmet more seriously, not the chiefly populist approach it has taken with resonant statements that serve daily political purposes," said Ivanovic, declining to speculate on the composition of Serbia's team.
Dusan Prorokovic, chairman of the Serbian Assembly Committee for Kosovo-Metohija, insists that Belgrade has a platform. "We have a platform that was supported by the Serbian Assembly and three conclusions by the EU specifying that the province will not be partitioned, there is to be no return to its previous status, or annexing the province to another state, which prevents the creation of a greater Albania. The Serbian platform contains a fourth conclusion: no independence for Kosovo," said Prorokovic, adding that Belgrade and Pristina should hold a dialogue on expanded autonomy for Kosmet.
US Undersecretary Of State To Discuss Kosovo's Future
PRISTINA (AP)--U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns arrived in Kosovo Thursday for talks with leaders of this disputed province on its future status.
Burns, the State Department's third-ranking official, will meet with the province's prime minister, president and its negotiating team, a week after U.N. Secretary-general Kofi Annan recommended the start of talks that could lead to the independence of Kosovo.
Annan's recommendation to the U.N. Security Council was delivered with a report that said enough progress had been made in creating the institutions to make a government work in Kosovo. Europe and the U.S. mustn't allow the region to stagnate or fade from international attention, the report said.
Diplomats have argued that only a lasting peace will create political certainty demanded by investors and donors - the outsiders who can provide the cash needed to restart a hobbled economy and rebuild Kosovo's infrastructure.
Burns said earlier that Kosovo's uncertain political status "is no longer sustainable," and that talks on its future should start before the end of the year and continue in a "rapid and focused way."
Kosovo has been run by a U.N. mission - with a strong North Atlantic Treaty 0rganization peacekeeping presence -since mid-1999, when a NATO air war forced former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to end a crackdown against rebel ethnic Albanians in the province.
The issue of Kosovo's fate is highly contentious because the province's majority ethnic Albanians want full independence, but the Serb minority insists that Kosovo remain part of Serbia-Montenegro, the union that replaced Yugoslavia.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
Burns, the State Department's third-ranking official, will meet with the province's prime minister, president and its negotiating team, a week after U.N. Secretary-general Kofi Annan recommended the start of talks that could lead to the independence of Kosovo.
Annan's recommendation to the U.N. Security Council was delivered with a report that said enough progress had been made in creating the institutions to make a government work in Kosovo. Europe and the U.S. mustn't allow the region to stagnate or fade from international attention, the report said.
Diplomats have argued that only a lasting peace will create political certainty demanded by investors and donors - the outsiders who can provide the cash needed to restart a hobbled economy and rebuild Kosovo's infrastructure.
Burns said earlier that Kosovo's uncertain political status "is no longer sustainable," and that talks on its future should start before the end of the year and continue in a "rapid and focused way."
Kosovo has been run by a U.N. mission - with a strong North Atlantic Treaty 0rganization peacekeeping presence -since mid-1999, when a NATO air war forced former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to end a crackdown against rebel ethnic Albanians in the province.
The issue of Kosovo's fate is highly contentious because the province's majority ethnic Albanians want full independence, but the Serb minority insists that Kosovo remain part of Serbia-Montenegro, the union that replaced Yugoslavia.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
Tadic: It will be a difficult year for Serbia (Koha Ditore)
Koha Ditore quotes Serbian President Boris Tadic as saying that he doesn’t believe that the Major Powers will change their position vis-à-vis Kosovo. According to Tadic, the reason the Major Powers are insisting on the start of status talks is because they have no gain from prolonging the current situation and the military mission in Kosovo has a great cost for them.
“We must appeal for the respect of world and European standards. It will be a difficult year for Serbia,” said Tadic, adding that Serbia must enter negotiations with optimism and with a clear plan.
“We must appeal for the respect of world and European standards. It will be a difficult year for Serbia,” said Tadic, adding that Serbia must enter negotiations with optimism and with a clear plan.
US UndeUS Under-Secretary of State Burns arrives in Pristina today (dailies)r-Secretary of State Burns arrives in Pristina today (dailies)
All daily newspapers report that US Under-Secretary of State Nicholas Burns will arrive in Pristina today. Burns will meet President Ibrahim Rugova at the latter’s residence, and he will also meet other Kosovo political leaders in the premises of the US Office in Pristina.
An editorial by Zëri refers to Burns as the diplomat that paved the way to the start of negotiations on Kosovo’s status.
An editorial by Zëri refers to Burns as the diplomat that paved the way to the start of negotiations on Kosovo’s status.
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
US takes tough line in Balkans on ties with Nato - The Financial Times
By Daniel Dombey in Brussels and Eric Jansson in Belgrade
Published: October 12 2005 18:46 | Last updated: October 12 2005 18:46
The US will this week deliver a tough message to the countries of the former Yugoslavia that contrasts with the softer approach taken by the European Union.
Brussels has opened negotiations with Croatia and Serbia-Montenegro this month, even though alleged war criminals from the two countries are at large. Croatia is now on course to become an EU member while Serbia is negotiating a “stabilisation and association agreement”, widely seen as a way station to full membership.
By contrast, Washington says neither country should be allowed to deepen its ties with Nato, the US-led military alliance, while the most prominent war crimes indictees Ante Gotovina and Ratko Mladic remain at large.
Nicholas Burns, US undersecretary of state, is set to deliver the message on a trip to the region this week.
“Nato has to hold this line on these war criminals,” he said in comments ahead of his arrival on Wednesday.
He added that in June he had been led to expect Mr Mladic's imminent arrest: “We're not going to put much stock in promises. We're just going to look for actions, and we'll withhold normalisation of our relations until that happens.”
Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, is also likely to push Bosnia-Herzegovina, which remains largely split between its Serb and Muslim-Croat populations, to move towards becoming a more unitary state over the next 12 to 18 months.
Ms Rice would like to use a conference on the 10th anniversary of Bosnia's Dayton peace deal in November to convince Bosnia to abolish its tripartite presidency to make way for a single head of state. Bosnia at present has a dozen governments at the national, federal and provincial levels.
The pressure from the US and the recent decisions by the EU come at a sensitive time. Serbia, the region's linchpin, faces the prospect of being split off both from its partner state of Montenegro, which is pushing for a referendum on independence, and from its province of Kosovo.
Despite pressure from Belgrade, Kofi Annan, United Nations secretary-general, is set to name Martti Ahtisaari, the former Finnish president, as his special envoy to lead negotiations on Kosovo's final status.
Published: October 12 2005 18:46 | Last updated: October 12 2005 18:46
The US will this week deliver a tough message to the countries of the former Yugoslavia that contrasts with the softer approach taken by the European Union.
Brussels has opened negotiations with Croatia and Serbia-Montenegro this month, even though alleged war criminals from the two countries are at large. Croatia is now on course to become an EU member while Serbia is negotiating a “stabilisation and association agreement”, widely seen as a way station to full membership.
By contrast, Washington says neither country should be allowed to deepen its ties with Nato, the US-led military alliance, while the most prominent war crimes indictees Ante Gotovina and Ratko Mladic remain at large.
Nicholas Burns, US undersecretary of state, is set to deliver the message on a trip to the region this week.
“Nato has to hold this line on these war criminals,” he said in comments ahead of his arrival on Wednesday.
He added that in June he had been led to expect Mr Mladic's imminent arrest: “We're not going to put much stock in promises. We're just going to look for actions, and we'll withhold normalisation of our relations until that happens.”
Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, is also likely to push Bosnia-Herzegovina, which remains largely split between its Serb and Muslim-Croat populations, to move towards becoming a more unitary state over the next 12 to 18 months.
Ms Rice would like to use a conference on the 10th anniversary of Bosnia's Dayton peace deal in November to convince Bosnia to abolish its tripartite presidency to make way for a single head of state. Bosnia at present has a dozen governments at the national, federal and provincial levels.
The pressure from the US and the recent decisions by the EU come at a sensitive time. Serbia, the region's linchpin, faces the prospect of being split off both from its partner state of Montenegro, which is pushing for a referendum on independence, and from its province of Kosovo.
Despite pressure from Belgrade, Kofi Annan, United Nations secretary-general, is set to name Martti Ahtisaari, the former Finnish president, as his special envoy to lead negotiations on Kosovo's final status.
Kosovo destined for independence, but on probation
By Matthew Robinson
PRISTINA, Serbia and Montenegro (Reuters) - The majority Albanian province of Kosovo can win independence from Serbia in 2006 but it will be conditioned by an "international supervision" proviso, diplomats and analysts say.
While Serbia insists Kosovo can only have autonomy, the West will steer talks due to begin later this year toward a form of "conditional independence", they say. Quite possibly it would be conditioned on accepting a European Union monitoring mission.
"Conditional independence is the central consensus in the international community," said a senior European diplomat. "There's an idea what the outcome will be, but … no blueprint."
Full sovereignty might be offered when democratic standards were achieved and only as Serbia and the states of the western Balkans join the EU over the course of the next decade.
The United Nations took control of Kosovo in 1999 after NATO bombing drove out Serb forces accused of killing 10,000 Albanians in their 1998-99 war with separatist rebels.
Six years later, with the 90 percent ethnic Albanian majority clamoring for independence, the major Western powers which intervened in 1999 say U.N.-protectorate status is no longer sustainable. They want a solution in 2006.
Serbs see Kosovo as their Jerusalem, the cradle of a thousand years of Orthodox Christianity. No Serbian leader has dared to admit it may soon be lost.
But Western governments believe Serbia has already lost Kosovo. The problem is getting Serbs to face up to reality.
"Reintegrating Kosovo into Serbia and Montenegro will not win the Albanians' consent. It could only be achieved and sustained by the use of force, which is why it will not happen," says Judy Batt of the Institute for Security Studies in Paris.
Faced with 1.9 million hostile Albanians, Serbia could not hope to govern Kosovo again, and cannot afford it, she adds.
PRISTINA, Serbia and Montenegro (Reuters) - The majority Albanian province of Kosovo can win independence from Serbia in 2006 but it will be conditioned by an "international supervision" proviso, diplomats and analysts say.
While Serbia insists Kosovo can only have autonomy, the West will steer talks due to begin later this year toward a form of "conditional independence", they say. Quite possibly it would be conditioned on accepting a European Union monitoring mission.
"Conditional independence is the central consensus in the international community," said a senior European diplomat. "There's an idea what the outcome will be, but … no blueprint."
Full sovereignty might be offered when democratic standards were achieved and only as Serbia and the states of the western Balkans join the EU over the course of the next decade.
The United Nations took control of Kosovo in 1999 after NATO bombing drove out Serb forces accused of killing 10,000 Albanians in their 1998-99 war with separatist rebels.
Six years later, with the 90 percent ethnic Albanian majority clamoring for independence, the major Western powers which intervened in 1999 say U.N.-protectorate status is no longer sustainable. They want a solution in 2006.
Serbs see Kosovo as their Jerusalem, the cradle of a thousand years of Orthodox Christianity. No Serbian leader has dared to admit it may soon be lost.
But Western governments believe Serbia has already lost Kosovo. The problem is getting Serbs to face up to reality.
"Reintegrating Kosovo into Serbia and Montenegro will not win the Albanians' consent. It could only be achieved and sustained by the use of force, which is why it will not happen," says Judy Batt of the Institute for Security Studies in Paris.
Faced with 1.9 million hostile Albanians, Serbia could not hope to govern Kosovo again, and cannot afford it, she adds.
Serbia returns to Kosovo bodily remains of 22 ethnic Albanians
Text of report by Bosnian Serb news agency SRNA
Belgrade, 12 October: Gvozden Gagic, president of the Serbia-Montenegro Council of Ministers commission for missing persons, has told the SRNA agency that the bodily remains of 22 Kosovo Albanians, which have been exhumed from a mass grave in Petrovo Selo, near [the northeastern town of] Negotin, were handed over to UNMIK [United Nations Interim Administration in Kosovo] at the Merdare border crossing today.
Gagic said that UNMIK was going to conduct a forensic examination and an additional identification process of some of the bodies, which had been initially identified. The bodies will then be handed over to their families.
He said that a total of 633 bodies from locations in Serbia had been handed over to UNMIK so far.
Source: SRNA news agency, Bijeljina, in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian 1316 gmt 12 Oct 05
Belgrade, 12 October: Gvozden Gagic, president of the Serbia-Montenegro Council of Ministers commission for missing persons, has told the SRNA agency that the bodily remains of 22 Kosovo Albanians, which have been exhumed from a mass grave in Petrovo Selo, near [the northeastern town of] Negotin, were handed over to UNMIK [United Nations Interim Administration in Kosovo] at the Merdare border crossing today.
Gagic said that UNMIK was going to conduct a forensic examination and an additional identification process of some of the bodies, which had been initially identified. The bodies will then be handed over to their families.
He said that a total of 633 bodies from locations in Serbia had been handed over to UNMIK so far.
Source: SRNA news agency, Bijeljina, in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian 1316 gmt 12 Oct 05
UN war crimes court lifts some restrictions on former Kosovo PM
THE HAGUE, Oct 12 (AFP) -
The United Nations war crimes court decided Wednesday to lift some restrictions on former Kosovo prime minister Ramush Haradinaj, allowing him to take part in political activities with prior approval of the UN mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).
Haradinaj returned home to Kosovo in June on provisional release to await his trial on charges of war crimes committed during the 1998-99 Kosovo conflict.
Normally suspects awaiting trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague are not allowed to take part in public political activities or hold elected office.
But Hardinaj's defence asked the court to allow him as president of his party, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, to resume his activities.
The UN-mandated court agreed to the request to a limited extent and only with the approval of Haradinaj to do so to a limited extent and only with the approval of UNMIK. The decision does not mean that Haradinaj will be able to serve as prime minister again.
Haradinaj turned himself into the ICTY in March after resigning as prime minister when an indictment against him was made public.
He is accused of murder, persecution, rape and cruel treatment of Serb, Roma and Albanian civilians in Kosovo when he was a commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), an ethnic Albanian guerrilla movement in the 1990s.
UNMIK wrote in an assessment that Haradinaj's involvement in public political activities "would most likely contribute in a constructive manner to the positive development of the political security situation in Kosovo."
The court ruled that "taking into account the very special circumstances of the case, especially UNMIK's assessment of the anticipated positive effects of the accused's involvement in public political activities and the upcoming negotiations on the final status of Kosovo, there should be some possibility for (Haradinaj) to take part in public political activities and negotiations."
Any time Haradinaj wants to appear in public or engage in public political activities he has to first ask for UNMIK's approval.
The court also instructed UNMIK to allow Haradinaj to take part in public politics only if it would be "important for a positive development of the political and security situation in Kosovo."
The court requested bi-weekly reports from UNMIK on the situation and expressly stated that it could revoke the privileges it has granted Haradinaj at any time.
The United Nations war crimes court decided Wednesday to lift some restrictions on former Kosovo prime minister Ramush Haradinaj, allowing him to take part in political activities with prior approval of the UN mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).
Haradinaj returned home to Kosovo in June on provisional release to await his trial on charges of war crimes committed during the 1998-99 Kosovo conflict.
Normally suspects awaiting trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague are not allowed to take part in public political activities or hold elected office.
But Hardinaj's defence asked the court to allow him as president of his party, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, to resume his activities.
The UN-mandated court agreed to the request to a limited extent and only with the approval of Haradinaj to do so to a limited extent and only with the approval of UNMIK. The decision does not mean that Haradinaj will be able to serve as prime minister again.
Haradinaj turned himself into the ICTY in March after resigning as prime minister when an indictment against him was made public.
He is accused of murder, persecution, rape and cruel treatment of Serb, Roma and Albanian civilians in Kosovo when he was a commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), an ethnic Albanian guerrilla movement in the 1990s.
UNMIK wrote in an assessment that Haradinaj's involvement in public political activities "would most likely contribute in a constructive manner to the positive development of the political security situation in Kosovo."
The court ruled that "taking into account the very special circumstances of the case, especially UNMIK's assessment of the anticipated positive effects of the accused's involvement in public political activities and the upcoming negotiations on the final status of Kosovo, there should be some possibility for (Haradinaj) to take part in public political activities and negotiations."
Any time Haradinaj wants to appear in public or engage in public political activities he has to first ask for UNMIK's approval.
The court also instructed UNMIK to allow Haradinaj to take part in public politics only if it would be "important for a positive development of the political and security situation in Kosovo."
The court requested bi-weekly reports from UNMIK on the situation and expressly stated that it could revoke the privileges it has granted Haradinaj at any time.
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
U.N. prosecutors say 'Vukovar three' had advanced plan to kill non-Serbs
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - War crimes prosecutors accused three former Yugoslav army officers Tuesday of the premeditated massacre of at least 264 patients, refugees and medical staff at Vukovar hospital in Croatia in 1991, an atrocity that helped propel Yugoslavia into years of warfare that led to its breakup.
At the opening of their trial by the U.N. tribunal for Yugoslavia, two of the three stood before the judges and professed innocence, calling on them to uncover the truth behind the killing and punish the true perpetrators.
Gen. Mile Mrksic, Capt. Miroslav Radic and Col. Veselin Sljivancanin, all ethnic Serbs, are being tried on eight counts of war crimes, including persecution, extermination, murder, torture and inhumane acts.
Sljivancanin was indicted in 1995 for leading the siege of Vukovar, a town on the banks of the Danube River which forms the border with Serbia-Montenegro, formerly Yugoslavia.
The once elegant 14th century town was virtually flattened in a three-month onslaught that killed about 1,700 Croats.
"The city was subjected to a repeated, continuous and often indiscriminate intense artillery and air bombardment, forcing many inhabitants to live in underground shelters or basements," prosecutor Marks Moore said in an opening statement.
Around 1,000-2,000 people were sheltering at the hospital during the intense fighting between Croats and Serb forces that broke out just months after Croatia declared independence from the six-nation Yugoslav socialist federation.
In the last days of the assault, Serb soldiers evacuated around 400 people sheltering in the hospital and took them to a farm. The U.N. indictment says the patients and hospital staff were beaten for hours before being led in groups of 10 and 20 to a nearby field to be executed.
Moore described a hellish scene as the hospital was cleared. Serb soldiers took a pregnant woman and shot her in the vagina, killing her and her unborn baby. More than half of 195 bodies later exhumed from a mass grave had been patients killed by gunshot. Prosecutors say the bodies of 64 are still missing.
Sljivancanin, wearing a black suit and tie, told the court he was a victim of propaganda, never broke the law, and had sought to prevent the deaths of innocent civilians.
"I do not want to use these facts to draw attention from the innocent who were killed, the people from the Vukovar hospital. Those who did commit that crime should meet their just punishment," he said, standing at the defendants table. "After all these years of persecution, all kinds of untruth and agony, I will finally receive justice."
Radic also spoke briefly saying "it is very difficult to bear the burden of being accused of war crimes for which I personally believe I am innocent."
Prosecutors will call witnesses to testify about a meeting six days before the assault on the hospital in November 1991, when a nationalist Serb doctrine was discussed.
"This war is a great test for Serbs. Those who pass the test will become winners. Deserters cannot go unpunished," Serb radical Vojislav Seselj was quoted as having told commanders.
"Not a single Ustacha must leave Vukovar alive," he reportedly said, using a derogatory term for Croat collaborators during World War II. Seselj is facing a separate war crimes trial at the U.N. court.
Charges were dropped against a fourth suspect, Slavko Dokmanovic, who has died.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia was established in 1994 to prosecute war crimes during the wars in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo in the 1990s. It has indicted 161 individuals for alleged atrocities, including former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.
Among seven suspects still at large are former Serbian leader Radovan Karadzic and his wartime general, Ratko Mladic, and Croatian Gen. Ante Gotovina.
At the opening of their trial by the U.N. tribunal for Yugoslavia, two of the three stood before the judges and professed innocence, calling on them to uncover the truth behind the killing and punish the true perpetrators.
Gen. Mile Mrksic, Capt. Miroslav Radic and Col. Veselin Sljivancanin, all ethnic Serbs, are being tried on eight counts of war crimes, including persecution, extermination, murder, torture and inhumane acts.
Sljivancanin was indicted in 1995 for leading the siege of Vukovar, a town on the banks of the Danube River which forms the border with Serbia-Montenegro, formerly Yugoslavia.
The once elegant 14th century town was virtually flattened in a three-month onslaught that killed about 1,700 Croats.
"The city was subjected to a repeated, continuous and often indiscriminate intense artillery and air bombardment, forcing many inhabitants to live in underground shelters or basements," prosecutor Marks Moore said in an opening statement.
Around 1,000-2,000 people were sheltering at the hospital during the intense fighting between Croats and Serb forces that broke out just months after Croatia declared independence from the six-nation Yugoslav socialist federation.
In the last days of the assault, Serb soldiers evacuated around 400 people sheltering in the hospital and took them to a farm. The U.N. indictment says the patients and hospital staff were beaten for hours before being led in groups of 10 and 20 to a nearby field to be executed.
Moore described a hellish scene as the hospital was cleared. Serb soldiers took a pregnant woman and shot her in the vagina, killing her and her unborn baby. More than half of 195 bodies later exhumed from a mass grave had been patients killed by gunshot. Prosecutors say the bodies of 64 are still missing.
Sljivancanin, wearing a black suit and tie, told the court he was a victim of propaganda, never broke the law, and had sought to prevent the deaths of innocent civilians.
"I do not want to use these facts to draw attention from the innocent who were killed, the people from the Vukovar hospital. Those who did commit that crime should meet their just punishment," he said, standing at the defendants table. "After all these years of persecution, all kinds of untruth and agony, I will finally receive justice."
Radic also spoke briefly saying "it is very difficult to bear the burden of being accused of war crimes for which I personally believe I am innocent."
Prosecutors will call witnesses to testify about a meeting six days before the assault on the hospital in November 1991, when a nationalist Serb doctrine was discussed.
"This war is a great test for Serbs. Those who pass the test will become winners. Deserters cannot go unpunished," Serb radical Vojislav Seselj was quoted as having told commanders.
"Not a single Ustacha must leave Vukovar alive," he reportedly said, using a derogatory term for Croat collaborators during World War II. Seselj is facing a separate war crimes trial at the U.N. court.
Charges were dropped against a fourth suspect, Slavko Dokmanovic, who has died.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia was established in 1994 to prosecute war crimes during the wars in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo in the 1990s. It has indicted 161 individuals for alleged atrocities, including former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.
Among seven suspects still at large are former Serbian leader Radovan Karadzic and his wartime general, Ratko Mladic, and Croatian Gen. Ante Gotovina.
U.S. will block Croatia, Serbia ties to NATO unless suspects sent to war crimes court
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - The United States insisted Tuesday that it will block efforts by Croatia and Serbia-Montenegro to draw closer to NATO until the Balkan nations hand over suspects to the international war crimes tribunal.
"NATO has to hold this line on these war criminals," said Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns. "We can't forget and we cannot let these war criminals off the hook."
His comments came a week after the European Union adopted a softer line on closer ties with both countries.
Burns also gave vigorous U.S. backing to the decision Friday by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to recommend the start of international talks that could lead to the independence of Kosovo.
"It's time to begin the final status talks," Burns told reporters after talks at NATO headquarters. "It is time to give the people of Kosovo a chance to determine their own future."
He said the talks should start before the end of this year and "proceed in a rapid and focused way." Burns was noncommittal on whether Kosovo should chose independence or remain as an autonomous part of Serbia.
"It is not for us to be scripting the result and you won't hear the United States favoring either of those two alternatives," he said.
The EU last week opened membership talks with Croatia although Gen. Ante Gotovina, a fugitive wanted by the international court, remains at large.
The Europeans also started talks on a cooperation agreement with Serbia-Montenegro despite the country's failure to detain Bosnian Serb war leader Ratko Mladic.
Burns said the United States would block any effort by the 26-nation NATO to make a similar move.
"The message is very clear, Croatia will not become a member of NATO until (Gotovina) is arrested and sent to The Hague, and Serbia will not become a member of Partnership for Peace until Mladic is," he said.
Partnership for Peace is a NATO outreach program that has been used to prepare nations for membership of the alliance.
Burns took a particularly tough line on the Serb leadership in Belgrade and in the Serbian entity in Bosnia.
"We're going to have to judge the authorities in Belgrade especially, as well as the authorities in (Republika Srpska capital) Banja Luka, by their actions, because their words have just not amounted to much," he said.
Burns is scheduled to travel to Bosnia, Serbia and Kosovo after his meeting in Brussels.
"NATO has to hold this line on these war criminals," said Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns. "We can't forget and we cannot let these war criminals off the hook."
His comments came a week after the European Union adopted a softer line on closer ties with both countries.
Burns also gave vigorous U.S. backing to the decision Friday by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to recommend the start of international talks that could lead to the independence of Kosovo.
"It's time to begin the final status talks," Burns told reporters after talks at NATO headquarters. "It is time to give the people of Kosovo a chance to determine their own future."
He said the talks should start before the end of this year and "proceed in a rapid and focused way." Burns was noncommittal on whether Kosovo should chose independence or remain as an autonomous part of Serbia.
"It is not for us to be scripting the result and you won't hear the United States favoring either of those two alternatives," he said.
The EU last week opened membership talks with Croatia although Gen. Ante Gotovina, a fugitive wanted by the international court, remains at large.
The Europeans also started talks on a cooperation agreement with Serbia-Montenegro despite the country's failure to detain Bosnian Serb war leader Ratko Mladic.
Burns said the United States would block any effort by the 26-nation NATO to make a similar move.
"The message is very clear, Croatia will not become a member of NATO until (Gotovina) is arrested and sent to The Hague, and Serbia will not become a member of Partnership for Peace until Mladic is," he said.
Partnership for Peace is a NATO outreach program that has been used to prepare nations for membership of the alliance.
Burns took a particularly tough line on the Serb leadership in Belgrade and in the Serbian entity in Bosnia.
"We're going to have to judge the authorities in Belgrade especially, as well as the authorities in (Republika Srpska capital) Banja Luka, by their actions, because their words have just not amounted to much," he said.
Burns is scheduled to travel to Bosnia, Serbia and Kosovo after his meeting in Brussels.
Project to return Roma to Mitrovica continues - Kosovo Protection Corps
Text of report in English by independent internet news agency KosovaLive
Mitrovice [Kosovska Mitrovica], 10 October: The work of the Kosova [Kosovo] Protection Corps [TMK] in implementing the project on the return of Roma to their neighbourhood in Mitrovice is more than just a technical assistance, TMK Commander Agim Ceku said today in Mitrovice.
"The TMK is accomplishing this way not only its Standards but the Standards on a sustainable return as well," Gen Ceku said at the initiation of the second phase of the project.
He said during that the TMK is strongly supporting the return of all people to their properties.
General Ceku evaluated highly the cooperation with Kfor [Kosovo Force], Mitrovice Municipal Assembly and UNMIK [UN Interim Administrative Mission in Kosovo] on implementing of this project.
Ceku said that the TMK has made an extraordinary progress during these six years, hoping that the status of the TMK will be reviewed alongside with the talks for the future of Kosova.
Source: KosovaLive website, Pristina, in English 10 Oct 05
Mitrovice [Kosovska Mitrovica], 10 October: The work of the Kosova [Kosovo] Protection Corps [TMK] in implementing the project on the return of Roma to their neighbourhood in Mitrovice is more than just a technical assistance, TMK Commander Agim Ceku said today in Mitrovice.
"The TMK is accomplishing this way not only its Standards but the Standards on a sustainable return as well," Gen Ceku said at the initiation of the second phase of the project.
He said during that the TMK is strongly supporting the return of all people to their properties.
General Ceku evaluated highly the cooperation with Kfor [Kosovo Force], Mitrovice Municipal Assembly and UNMIK [UN Interim Administrative Mission in Kosovo] on implementing of this project.
Ceku said that the TMK has made an extraordinary progress during these six years, hoping that the status of the TMK will be reviewed alongside with the talks for the future of Kosova.
Source: KosovaLive website, Pristina, in English 10 Oct 05
The path of the Army for Independence (Express)
In its leading front-page article, Express reports that on the night between Sunday and Monday armed and uniformed men have handed out a communiqué to vehicles that were crossing the Decan-Gjakova road. According to the newspaper, these men set up a checkpoint on behalf of the Army for the Independence of Kosovo.
The paper notes that this is not the first appearance of the Army for the Independence of Kosovo. In the meantime, KFOR and police do not see the communiqués as a threat.
The paper claims to have a copy of the communiqué. In its statement, the Army for Independence has set an ultimatum to the Kosovo Assembly to declare independence by 15th October.
The paper notes that this is not the first appearance of the Army for the Independence of Kosovo. In the meantime, KFOR and police do not see the communiqués as a threat.
The paper claims to have a copy of the communiqué. In its statement, the Army for Independence has set an ultimatum to the Kosovo Assembly to declare independence by 15th October.
James Dobbins – the US envoy for status? (Koha)
Citing reliable sources, Koha Ditore reports that the US Administration is expected to appoint Ambassador James Dobbins as one of the three assistants of the chief-negotiator on status to be appointed by the United Nations. Dobbins was special advisor to President Clinton and Secretary of State Albright for Kosovo and for the implementation of the Dayton Agreement in Bosnia. He also had key responsibilities in the US administration in crisis management during the war in Kosovo.
The paper recalls that Dobbins had said in the past that the international community should change its policy vis-à-vis Kosovo so that “the US and EU could make public their willingness to support Kosovo’s independence in its current borders, under the condition that Kosovo political leaders would prove to be able to build a society where all people would live in peace and dignity.”
The paper recalls that Dobbins had said in the past that the international community should change its policy vis-à-vis Kosovo so that “the US and EU could make public their willingness to support Kosovo’s independence in its current borders, under the condition that Kosovo political leaders would prove to be able to build a society where all people would live in peace and dignity.”
Resolution for independence – ready for endorsement
Koha Ditore reports on the front page that the Resolution for the independence of Kosovo is on a good path of being endorsed by the Assembly, because the document proposed by the PDK has been harmonised by the other Assembly groups and has received the green light from the two respective Assembly committees. According to the newspaper, the endorsement of the resolution, which is expected to happen in a special session of the Assembly, will be considered a success by all Assembly groups.
Zëri reports on the front page that the Assembly Presidency will meet today to see if all the procedures have been met in order to call an urgent plenary session for the endorsement of the resolution, or if it will call for a little more time for talks between local entities and also with the international community. Zëri says that the heads of the Assembly groups expect the Presidency to call the urgent plenary session either for Thursday or Friday.
Zëri reports on the front page that the Assembly Presidency will meet today to see if all the procedures have been met in order to call an urgent plenary session for the endorsement of the resolution, or if it will call for a little more time for talks between local entities and also with the international community. Zëri says that the heads of the Assembly groups expect the Presidency to call the urgent plenary session either for Thursday or Friday.
Monday, October 10, 2005
Defining Kosovo by Tim Judah
With talks on the disputed UN-administered Serbian province of Kosovo poised to begin in December, all sides are hedging their bets - Belgrade to maintain its sovereignty over the province as possible and Pristina to win nothing short of full independence - while observers worry of rising tensions that could lead to more bloodshed.
By Tim Judah for ISN Security Watch (10/10/05)
Talks on Kosovo’s status will, more than likely, begin in December and move to some sort of climax possibly as early as next spring. However, as one of the most senior diplomats involved in the Kosovo issue has told ISN Security Watch, “turbulence can be expected”.
After six years under UN jurisdiction it is safe to say that the disputed province is now moving towards a new chapter in its history, but it remains unclear what the outcome of the talks will be.
The disputed province
Kosovo’s future status is bitterly disputed between Serbs and Albanians. Of its 2 million people, more than 90 per cent are ethnic Albanians who have consistently demanded independence. The Serbian government’s current policy is “more than autonomy but less than independence”.
While the province enjoyed relative autonomy under the Yugoslav Communist government in the 1970s, the 1980s were characterized by rising ethnic tensions, with both Serbs and Albanians complaining of discrimination. In August 1987, as the Communist regime was taking its final breath, rising Serbian politician Slobodan Milosevic visited the province, setting the stage for what was to become a bloody conflict. In 1989, Milosevic stripped Kosovo of its autonomy. Mass unrest and the slaughter and forced removal of Kosovo Albanians ensued during the war of 1998-1999.
Since the end of the Kosovo war in 1999, after NATO’s military action against Serbs, the province has been under the jurisdiction of the UN, although technically sovereignty has remained with Serbia.
In the months that followed NATO’s military action in 1999, large numbers of Kosovo Serbs fled the province to Serbia. The minority that decided to stay have since lived in enclaves, some of them guarded by international forces. Serbian Orthodox religious sites and institutions have been under the constant threat of attack by Albanians since then.
Lessening the blow to Serbia
The decision to begin talks in December comes days after the EU agreed to begin talks with Serbia on a Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA), the first step towards EU membership for western Balkan nations. Diplomats have told ISN Security Watch that they decided not to let the outstanding issue of Ratko Mladic - the fugitive wartime Bosnian Serb army general wanted by the UN’s war crimes tribunal in The Hague - stand in the way of those talks.
Instead, they are hoping that the good news of the conclusion of an SAA agreement next year may help counteract the simultaneous bad news of the final loss of Kosovo and the secession of Montenegro from the state union with Serbia.
On 7 October, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan wrote to the UN Security Council recommending that long awaited talks on the province’s future begin soon.
Annan’s recommendation was made in a letter, which accompanied a report on the situation in the province made for him by Kai Eide, Norway’s ambassador to NATO.
In the document, Eide said progress in implementing a series of standards devised by the UN, which cover everything from free elections to minority rights, was “uneven” but pointed out that “there will not be any good moment for addressing Kosovo’s future status…nevertheless an overall assessment leads to the conclusion that the time has come to commence this process”.
Annan said he would initiate preparations for the appointment of a special envoy to lead the future status process - preparations that are already advanced - and it is widely expected that former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, who has considerable Balkan experience, will be chosen for the job.
The UN Security Council is now scheduled to meet on 18 December to discuss Kosovo.
According to diplomatic sources, the UN envoy will have three deputies: one from the US, one from the EU, and one from Russia.
The next phase
Following a series of interviews with ISN Security Watch over the last few weeks in London, Belgrade, and the Kosovo capital of Pristina, it is possible to envisage the talks scenario, at least for the next few months. Most of those who talked to ISN Security Watch on this topic did so on condition of anonymity.
Security Watch sources believe that the person chosen to head the talks, along with his deputies, will initiate a period of shuttle diplomacy in December.
The initial round of talks will not be face to face, but it is possible that working groups could be set up to look at several specific issues. After a period of intensive shuttling, the envoy may then withdraw with his team to compose an initial draft agreement on Kosovo.
Once this draft is completed, it is expected that Serbian and Albanian negotiators could be summoned to meet, rather like the failed 1999 talks at Rambouillet outside Paris.
Austria takes over the EU presidency from Britain at the beginning of next year and diplomats have suggested that Vienna should be used by the UN Kosovo envoy as a base.
That remains to be seen but, what is conceivable says Veton Surroi, the Kosovo Albanian publisher, opposition leader, and member of the Kosovo Albanian negotiating team, is that the face-to-face discussions begin in “let us say, a castle in Austria in May”.
One very senior diplomat outlined a scenario in which he expected the Serbian delegation would fight extremely hard to make sure that all the safeguards they want for Kosovo’s Serbs and the Orthodox Churches and monasteries were securely in the final document.
In this, they will have been given a boost by the fact that Eide has already recommended much of what they say they want.
For example, he has suggested an extensive decentralization plan in which Kosovo Serbs would be given competences “in areas such as police, justice, education, culture, media, and the economy”. He has also recommended that “protective space” should be created around Serbian Orthodox religious sites and institutions and that ways should be found to place them “under a form of international protection”.
The fact that the Serbian side may well succeed in getting much of what it wants in terms of the internal organization of Kosovo does not of course mean it will succeed in getting what it wants in terms of the broader picture.
Serbian government policy, as outlined by Sanda Raskovic-Ivic, the head of Serbia’s Coordination Center for Kosovo, is that Kosovo can have judicial, executive, and legislative autonomy, but that sovereignty must remain with Serbia.
In the scenario outlined for ISN Security Watch, what may happen is that after Serbia has succeeded in packing the draft agreement with all the safeguards it seeks and in having its interests acknowledged in certain areas, the Serbian delegation may then refuse to endorse the plan because it also points the way to Kosovo’s independence at a sooner or later date.
Reluctantly, perhaps the Albanians then would be compelled to accept more in terms of Serbian rights in Kosovo than they would have done otherwise, but they would accept this under international pressure as the high price of independence.
Serbia’s leaders, none of whom want to take responsibility for losing Kosovo, can also say that, at this point and having fought as hard as possible, Kosovo was taken away from Serbia but not with Belgrade’s consent.
Defining independence
The question now arises as to what form of independence Kosovo will have, and at what stage. Significantly, the Eide report never uses the phrase “final status”, as opposed to “future status”, and the last lines of the report leave the door open for several options.
While arguing that “the international community must do the utmost to ensure that whatever the status becomes, it does not become a ‘failed status’”, it also says: “Entering the future status process does not mean the last stage, but the next stage of the international presence.”
Although Eide was not asked to comment on the question of ultimate sovereignty he does make various suggestions that broadly chime with mainstream diplomatic opinion about the fate of Kosovo. That is that there should be a follow-up mission to KFOR, the current NATO-led force there, that at least some US troops should remain, and that the EU take on a role in the police sphere at the very least.
Certain elements of the Bosnian model look set to be borrowed, too: for example, the installation of a High Representative with considerable powers, if not across the board, then in the field of inter-ethnic relations. In this sense, the independence that many diplomats and analysts are assuming Kosovo will get will be “conditional”.
It may well be that the document of reference to consult now is the International Commission on the Balkans of last April, which outlines a four-stage transition to full independence over an unspecified period culminating in Kosovo joining the EU.
Belgrade sobering up
Although conditional independence does indeed look likely for Kosovo, its Albanian leaders - who have done little so far to prepare for talks and seemingly have been lulled into a false sense of security by such a widespread assumption - are perhaps more concerned with their place in history than the tough negotiations ahead.
In this they have underestimated the sobering-up that has taken place in Belgrade in the last few months. Although it is true that for the moment it is unclear who will have the last word in Belgrade on what can or cannot be agreed, it is clear that there is now a far more realistic idea of what might be achieved in Kosovo than there was several months ago.
For example, experienced diplomats with a deep knowledge of Kosovo, such as Dusan Batakovic, who currently advises Serbian President Boris Tadic, are now gaming various scenarios for talks and preparing positions.
This does not mean that the Serbian side can stave off the ending of their sovereignty over Kosovo, but it does mean that Serbia stands a better chance of doing so than it did before. One (reserve) aim may well be to see whether the issue of sovereignty can be left open or at least left extremely unclear for the foreseeable future.
Such an option would be unacceptable to the Kosovo Albanians, whose negotiators will be looking over their shoulders at developments back home. In this context, the “joker” in the pack is Albin Kurti, a 30-year old former student leader and political prisoner.
Studying the techniques of the young people who organized the overthrow of their former regimes in Serbia, Georgia, and Ukraine, Kurti is currently organizing people in a bid to ready them to come out onto the streets to protest against the future talks.
His argument is that talks aim at compromise and that there can be no compromise on Kosovo’s independence. In other words, negotiations can only take place when Kosovo is independent and thus an equal of Serbia.
His slogan - “No Negotiations! Self Determination!” - is already plastered all over Pristina, but his strength is as yet untested. If, however, at a crucial point in talks, one of the Albanian parties - for example, the Democratic Party of Kosovo of former guerrilla leader Hashim Thaci - decides to swing his support behind Kurti then the outcome of talks, especially if a wave of anti-Serbian ethnic cleansing similar to that of March 2004 also breaks out again, cannot be predicted.
Tim Judah is a senior international correspondent for ISN Security Watch. He is also the author of The Serbs: History, Myth and the Destruction of Yugoslavia and Kosovo: War and Revenge, both published by Yale University Press.
By Tim Judah for ISN Security Watch (10/10/05)
Talks on Kosovo’s status will, more than likely, begin in December and move to some sort of climax possibly as early as next spring. However, as one of the most senior diplomats involved in the Kosovo issue has told ISN Security Watch, “turbulence can be expected”.
After six years under UN jurisdiction it is safe to say that the disputed province is now moving towards a new chapter in its history, but it remains unclear what the outcome of the talks will be.
The disputed province
Kosovo’s future status is bitterly disputed between Serbs and Albanians. Of its 2 million people, more than 90 per cent are ethnic Albanians who have consistently demanded independence. The Serbian government’s current policy is “more than autonomy but less than independence”.
While the province enjoyed relative autonomy under the Yugoslav Communist government in the 1970s, the 1980s were characterized by rising ethnic tensions, with both Serbs and Albanians complaining of discrimination. In August 1987, as the Communist regime was taking its final breath, rising Serbian politician Slobodan Milosevic visited the province, setting the stage for what was to become a bloody conflict. In 1989, Milosevic stripped Kosovo of its autonomy. Mass unrest and the slaughter and forced removal of Kosovo Albanians ensued during the war of 1998-1999.
Since the end of the Kosovo war in 1999, after NATO’s military action against Serbs, the province has been under the jurisdiction of the UN, although technically sovereignty has remained with Serbia.
In the months that followed NATO’s military action in 1999, large numbers of Kosovo Serbs fled the province to Serbia. The minority that decided to stay have since lived in enclaves, some of them guarded by international forces. Serbian Orthodox religious sites and institutions have been under the constant threat of attack by Albanians since then.
Lessening the blow to Serbia
The decision to begin talks in December comes days after the EU agreed to begin talks with Serbia on a Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA), the first step towards EU membership for western Balkan nations. Diplomats have told ISN Security Watch that they decided not to let the outstanding issue of Ratko Mladic - the fugitive wartime Bosnian Serb army general wanted by the UN’s war crimes tribunal in The Hague - stand in the way of those talks.
Instead, they are hoping that the good news of the conclusion of an SAA agreement next year may help counteract the simultaneous bad news of the final loss of Kosovo and the secession of Montenegro from the state union with Serbia.
On 7 October, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan wrote to the UN Security Council recommending that long awaited talks on the province’s future begin soon.
Annan’s recommendation was made in a letter, which accompanied a report on the situation in the province made for him by Kai Eide, Norway’s ambassador to NATO.
In the document, Eide said progress in implementing a series of standards devised by the UN, which cover everything from free elections to minority rights, was “uneven” but pointed out that “there will not be any good moment for addressing Kosovo’s future status…nevertheless an overall assessment leads to the conclusion that the time has come to commence this process”.
Annan said he would initiate preparations for the appointment of a special envoy to lead the future status process - preparations that are already advanced - and it is widely expected that former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, who has considerable Balkan experience, will be chosen for the job.
The UN Security Council is now scheduled to meet on 18 December to discuss Kosovo.
According to diplomatic sources, the UN envoy will have three deputies: one from the US, one from the EU, and one from Russia.
The next phase
Following a series of interviews with ISN Security Watch over the last few weeks in London, Belgrade, and the Kosovo capital of Pristina, it is possible to envisage the talks scenario, at least for the next few months. Most of those who talked to ISN Security Watch on this topic did so on condition of anonymity.
Security Watch sources believe that the person chosen to head the talks, along with his deputies, will initiate a period of shuttle diplomacy in December.
The initial round of talks will not be face to face, but it is possible that working groups could be set up to look at several specific issues. After a period of intensive shuttling, the envoy may then withdraw with his team to compose an initial draft agreement on Kosovo.
Once this draft is completed, it is expected that Serbian and Albanian negotiators could be summoned to meet, rather like the failed 1999 talks at Rambouillet outside Paris.
Austria takes over the EU presidency from Britain at the beginning of next year and diplomats have suggested that Vienna should be used by the UN Kosovo envoy as a base.
That remains to be seen but, what is conceivable says Veton Surroi, the Kosovo Albanian publisher, opposition leader, and member of the Kosovo Albanian negotiating team, is that the face-to-face discussions begin in “let us say, a castle in Austria in May”.
One very senior diplomat outlined a scenario in which he expected the Serbian delegation would fight extremely hard to make sure that all the safeguards they want for Kosovo’s Serbs and the Orthodox Churches and monasteries were securely in the final document.
In this, they will have been given a boost by the fact that Eide has already recommended much of what they say they want.
For example, he has suggested an extensive decentralization plan in which Kosovo Serbs would be given competences “in areas such as police, justice, education, culture, media, and the economy”. He has also recommended that “protective space” should be created around Serbian Orthodox religious sites and institutions and that ways should be found to place them “under a form of international protection”.
The fact that the Serbian side may well succeed in getting much of what it wants in terms of the internal organization of Kosovo does not of course mean it will succeed in getting what it wants in terms of the broader picture.
Serbian government policy, as outlined by Sanda Raskovic-Ivic, the head of Serbia’s Coordination Center for Kosovo, is that Kosovo can have judicial, executive, and legislative autonomy, but that sovereignty must remain with Serbia.
In the scenario outlined for ISN Security Watch, what may happen is that after Serbia has succeeded in packing the draft agreement with all the safeguards it seeks and in having its interests acknowledged in certain areas, the Serbian delegation may then refuse to endorse the plan because it also points the way to Kosovo’s independence at a sooner or later date.
Reluctantly, perhaps the Albanians then would be compelled to accept more in terms of Serbian rights in Kosovo than they would have done otherwise, but they would accept this under international pressure as the high price of independence.
Serbia’s leaders, none of whom want to take responsibility for losing Kosovo, can also say that, at this point and having fought as hard as possible, Kosovo was taken away from Serbia but not with Belgrade’s consent.
Defining independence
The question now arises as to what form of independence Kosovo will have, and at what stage. Significantly, the Eide report never uses the phrase “final status”, as opposed to “future status”, and the last lines of the report leave the door open for several options.
While arguing that “the international community must do the utmost to ensure that whatever the status becomes, it does not become a ‘failed status’”, it also says: “Entering the future status process does not mean the last stage, but the next stage of the international presence.”
Although Eide was not asked to comment on the question of ultimate sovereignty he does make various suggestions that broadly chime with mainstream diplomatic opinion about the fate of Kosovo. That is that there should be a follow-up mission to KFOR, the current NATO-led force there, that at least some US troops should remain, and that the EU take on a role in the police sphere at the very least.
Certain elements of the Bosnian model look set to be borrowed, too: for example, the installation of a High Representative with considerable powers, if not across the board, then in the field of inter-ethnic relations. In this sense, the independence that many diplomats and analysts are assuming Kosovo will get will be “conditional”.
It may well be that the document of reference to consult now is the International Commission on the Balkans of last April, which outlines a four-stage transition to full independence over an unspecified period culminating in Kosovo joining the EU.
Belgrade sobering up
Although conditional independence does indeed look likely for Kosovo, its Albanian leaders - who have done little so far to prepare for talks and seemingly have been lulled into a false sense of security by such a widespread assumption - are perhaps more concerned with their place in history than the tough negotiations ahead.
In this they have underestimated the sobering-up that has taken place in Belgrade in the last few months. Although it is true that for the moment it is unclear who will have the last word in Belgrade on what can or cannot be agreed, it is clear that there is now a far more realistic idea of what might be achieved in Kosovo than there was several months ago.
For example, experienced diplomats with a deep knowledge of Kosovo, such as Dusan Batakovic, who currently advises Serbian President Boris Tadic, are now gaming various scenarios for talks and preparing positions.
This does not mean that the Serbian side can stave off the ending of their sovereignty over Kosovo, but it does mean that Serbia stands a better chance of doing so than it did before. One (reserve) aim may well be to see whether the issue of sovereignty can be left open or at least left extremely unclear for the foreseeable future.
Such an option would be unacceptable to the Kosovo Albanians, whose negotiators will be looking over their shoulders at developments back home. In this context, the “joker” in the pack is Albin Kurti, a 30-year old former student leader and political prisoner.
Studying the techniques of the young people who organized the overthrow of their former regimes in Serbia, Georgia, and Ukraine, Kurti is currently organizing people in a bid to ready them to come out onto the streets to protest against the future talks.
His argument is that talks aim at compromise and that there can be no compromise on Kosovo’s independence. In other words, negotiations can only take place when Kosovo is independent and thus an equal of Serbia.
His slogan - “No Negotiations! Self Determination!” - is already plastered all over Pristina, but his strength is as yet untested. If, however, at a crucial point in talks, one of the Albanian parties - for example, the Democratic Party of Kosovo of former guerrilla leader Hashim Thaci - decides to swing his support behind Kurti then the outcome of talks, especially if a wave of anti-Serbian ethnic cleansing similar to that of March 2004 also breaks out again, cannot be predicted.
Tim Judah is a senior international correspondent for ISN Security Watch. He is also the author of The Serbs: History, Myth and the Destruction of Yugoslavia and Kosovo: War and Revenge, both published by Yale University Press.
Kosovo: Stability Pact Head Cites Lack Of EU Strategy For Kosovo
Austria's Erhard Busek, who heads the EU-led Stability Pact for Southeastern Europe, spoke recently with the Kosovo subunit of RFE/RL's South Slavic and Albanian Languages Service about efforts to resolve disputes over the status of the UN-administered province of Kosovo, in Serbia and Montenegro. Interview by Ilirjana A. Bajo.
RFE/RL: Mr. Busek, a few months ago you declared that the EU does not have a strategy with respect to Kosova. (Editor's note: While the international community generally uses "Kosovo," it is "Kosova" in Albanian.) Do you think Brussels has one now, and if so what is it?
Erhard Busek: No, I think there is no clear position on the side of EU about what to do with Kosovo. I think it is also a problem on the one side in Belgrade, because what they think about a kind of autonomy is not enough. From the other side, Kosovars are convinced that they are already independent and [independence] is also not possible. Now we are waiting for [UN special envoy Kai Eide's report on possible Kosovo status talks] and for a facilitator. There are rumors that [Former Finnish President and expected leader of eventual status talks] Marti Ahtisaari might be the person who will go between Belgrade and Prishtina. If [as a result of steps such as the Eide report and bringing in an intermediary] they [achieve some progress] in 2006, that is very good.
RFE/RL: Several experts and politicians say that the outcome of status negotiations could result in conditional independence. Under this scenario, how do you see the relationship between independence and sovereignty?
Busek: If experts have such an opinion, that is very nice; I think the real problem is to convince both sides. Belgrade is convinced that Kosovo is still part of Serbia and it has to stay; Kosovars are convinced that independence is the only solution -- immediate independence. I think this is the problem. We have to try to convince both parts that they have to make some concessions. We have to go to each other and develop a timeline so we can solve this problem.
"My personal conviction that the "Europeanization" of Kosovo is the only possible solution. So the EU and other European countries are taking over from the UN. I think the same should happen [in] Bosnia-Herzegovina."
RFE/RL: If changes take place and the EU is ready to lead a mission in Kosova, how it should look, in your opinion?
Busek: Nobody is pleased because the possibilities of EU are limited; it is a question of staff, money, and so on. But it is my personal conviction that the "Europeanization" of Kosovo is the only possible solution. So the EU and other European countries are taking over from the UN. I think the same should happen [in] Bosnia-Herzegovina.
RFE/RL: You mentioned that the EU has no clear position toward Kosova. Do other international players, outside the EU, have a position on Kosova?
Busek: My impression is -- although it is not explicitly [stated]-- that the United States is clearer on this than Europeans.
RFE/RL: Do you think that solving Kosova's status will contribute to regional stability and, if so, will there be any deadline for the end of negotiations?
Busek: A deadline makes no sense. The real deadline is if we get results. I think the current situation of Kosovo is not blocking just Serbia but the whole region, and there is an influence on Macedonia and Albania. There must also be a regional interest in solving this problem. As far as I can see, the countries of the region are going more and more in this direction -- to create some pressure...that it should be solved.
RFE/RL: How do you see the positions of Tirana, Belgrade, and Skopje toward Kosova? Are they playing a constructive role?
Busek: Tirana sometimes makes some statements that are semi-helpful, but I think they are keeping a kind of distance. Skopje is very much interested in seeing it solved, because if [a solution over Kosova's final status has any negative impact on the Albanian-populated parts of Macedonia], it will be very bad [for Skopje]. They are very interested in having a solution that is generally accepted.
RFE/RL: To remain on Belgrade, do you think the international community should give a major role to Belgrade when Belgrade already has lost a war in Kosova?
Busek: I think Belgrade has a key role, because what is coming out should be more or less acceptable to Belgrade. The problem is that the government is not the strongest one -- and the political parties are also trying to get something out of this. If they are campaigning -- if I might say -- they do it in a very brutal way on this subject.
RFE/RL: Mr. Busek, a few months ago you declared that the EU does not have a strategy with respect to Kosova. (Editor's note: While the international community generally uses "Kosovo," it is "Kosova" in Albanian.) Do you think Brussels has one now, and if so what is it?
Erhard Busek: No, I think there is no clear position on the side of EU about what to do with Kosovo. I think it is also a problem on the one side in Belgrade, because what they think about a kind of autonomy is not enough. From the other side, Kosovars are convinced that they are already independent and [independence] is also not possible. Now we are waiting for [UN special envoy Kai Eide's report on possible Kosovo status talks] and for a facilitator. There are rumors that [Former Finnish President and expected leader of eventual status talks] Marti Ahtisaari might be the person who will go between Belgrade and Prishtina. If [as a result of steps such as the Eide report and bringing in an intermediary] they [achieve some progress] in 2006, that is very good.
RFE/RL: Several experts and politicians say that the outcome of status negotiations could result in conditional independence. Under this scenario, how do you see the relationship between independence and sovereignty?
Busek: If experts have such an opinion, that is very nice; I think the real problem is to convince both sides. Belgrade is convinced that Kosovo is still part of Serbia and it has to stay; Kosovars are convinced that independence is the only solution -- immediate independence. I think this is the problem. We have to try to convince both parts that they have to make some concessions. We have to go to each other and develop a timeline so we can solve this problem.
"My personal conviction that the "Europeanization" of Kosovo is the only possible solution. So the EU and other European countries are taking over from the UN. I think the same should happen [in] Bosnia-Herzegovina."
RFE/RL: If changes take place and the EU is ready to lead a mission in Kosova, how it should look, in your opinion?
Busek: Nobody is pleased because the possibilities of EU are limited; it is a question of staff, money, and so on. But it is my personal conviction that the "Europeanization" of Kosovo is the only possible solution. So the EU and other European countries are taking over from the UN. I think the same should happen [in] Bosnia-Herzegovina.
RFE/RL: You mentioned that the EU has no clear position toward Kosova. Do other international players, outside the EU, have a position on Kosova?
Busek: My impression is -- although it is not explicitly [stated]-- that the United States is clearer on this than Europeans.
RFE/RL: Do you think that solving Kosova's status will contribute to regional stability and, if so, will there be any deadline for the end of negotiations?
Busek: A deadline makes no sense. The real deadline is if we get results. I think the current situation of Kosovo is not blocking just Serbia but the whole region, and there is an influence on Macedonia and Albania. There must also be a regional interest in solving this problem. As far as I can see, the countries of the region are going more and more in this direction -- to create some pressure...that it should be solved.
RFE/RL: How do you see the positions of Tirana, Belgrade, and Skopje toward Kosova? Are they playing a constructive role?
Busek: Tirana sometimes makes some statements that are semi-helpful, but I think they are keeping a kind of distance. Skopje is very much interested in seeing it solved, because if [a solution over Kosova's final status has any negative impact on the Albanian-populated parts of Macedonia], it will be very bad [for Skopje]. They are very interested in having a solution that is generally accepted.
RFE/RL: To remain on Belgrade, do you think the international community should give a major role to Belgrade when Belgrade already has lost a war in Kosova?
Busek: I think Belgrade has a key role, because what is coming out should be more or less acceptable to Belgrade. The problem is that the government is not the strongest one -- and the political parties are also trying to get something out of this. If they are campaigning -- if I might say -- they do it in a very brutal way on this subject.
Serbia Fails to Curb Violence Against Minorities - Human Watch Report
(New York, October 10, 2005) The Serbian government is failing to tackle a rising tide of violence against the country’s ethnic and religious minorities, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today as the European Union enlargement Kosovo: Failure of NATO, U.N. to Protect Minorities
Press Release, July 27, 2004
The 52-page report, “Dangerous Indifference: Violence Against Minorities in Serbia,” documents a range of crimes against minorities since 2003, including physical assaults, attacks on religious and cultural buildings, and cemetery desecration. The Serbian government’s response to these attacks has been inadequate. Officials have been quick to minimize incidents, police have sometimes failed to protect mosques and minority-owned businesses from attack, prosecutors have been slow to prosecute attacks, and those who are brought to justice are often punished with suspended jail terms or small fines.
“Violence against minorities has increasingly become a problem in Serbia today,” said Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Serbia cannot hope to move closer towards the European Union unless it starts taking these attacks a lot more seriously.”
The EU Enlargement Commissioner, Olli Rehn, will visit Belgrade today, to open negotiations with the Serbian government on a Stabilization and Association Agreement. The protection of minorities in Serbia is an important benchmark for upgraded EU ties.
Over the past year and a half, the Serbian government’s weak reaction to ethnic and religious violence has served to encourage Serb extremists. In March 2004, Serb ultranationalists in Belgrade and elsewhere in the country reacted angrily to news of anti-Serb violence in the predominant
Press Release, July 27, 2004
The 52-page report, “Dangerous Indifference: Violence Against Minorities in Serbia,” documents a range of crimes against minorities since 2003, including physical assaults, attacks on religious and cultural buildings, and cemetery desecration. The Serbian government’s response to these attacks has been inadequate. Officials have been quick to minimize incidents, police have sometimes failed to protect mosques and minority-owned businesses from attack, prosecutors have been slow to prosecute attacks, and those who are brought to justice are often punished with suspended jail terms or small fines.
“Violence against minorities has increasingly become a problem in Serbia today,” said Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Serbia cannot hope to move closer towards the European Union unless it starts taking these attacks a lot more seriously.”
The EU Enlargement Commissioner, Olli Rehn, will visit Belgrade today, to open negotiations with the Serbian government on a Stabilization and Association Agreement. The protection of minorities in Serbia is an important benchmark for upgraded EU ties.
Over the past year and a half, the Serbian government’s weak reaction to ethnic and religious violence has served to encourage Serb extremists. In March 2004, Serb ultranationalists in Belgrade and elsewhere in the country reacted angrily to news of anti-Serb violence in the predominant