Tuesday, January 17, 2006

EU Envoy To Visit Kosovo For Talks On Status, Future Role

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP)--The European Union envoy for Kosovo was to arrive in the province Kosovo Tuesday to discuss the E.U.'s role in the province's status process, an official said.

Stefan Lehne, who will represent the E.U. in the upcoming U.N.-mediated talks, will meet with Kosovo's leaders and U.N. officials, said Torbjorn Sohlstrom, an E.U. official in the province.

The two-day visit will include discussions on the status talks process but also on the E.U.'s future role in Kosovo, in fields such as justice and policing, after its status is decided, Sohlstrom said.

Lehne was appointed last year as the E.U.'s representative to help former Finnish President Martii Ahtisaari, who will lead those discussions. He currently serves as director for southeastern Europe at E.U. headquarters and is a senior adviser to E.U. foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

E.U. officials recommended late last year the bloc take over policing duties in Kosovo from the U.N., which has been administering the province since 1999, adding the E.U. had a responsibility to help rebuild the troubled Balkan province.

A report drafted by Solana and E.U. Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn suggested the E.U. prepare for a police mission, which would be deployed after Kosovo's future status has been decided.

Although still technically a province within the loose union of Serbia and Montenegro, Kosovo has been administered by the U.N. since a 1999 NATO bombing campaign halted ex-president Slobodan Milosevic's crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatists.

Serbian leaders want Kosovo to be split administratively between its majority Albanians and minority Serbs, granting Albanians self-government while keeping the province part of Serbia. Ethnic Albanians are pressing for complete independence from Belgrade.

U.N.-sponsored final status discussions for Kosovo are expected to begin next week in Vienna, Austria.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Armed, Dangerous Man Wanted In Post Bar Shooting
Police Release Photograph Of Suspect

POSTED: 1:05 pm EST January 16, 2006

Police released a photograph Monday of a man -- considered to be armed and dangerous -- wanted in connection with a weekend fatal shooting at a Clinton Township bar.

Edmond Dodaj (pictured), 26, is accused of a shooting William "Billy" Jedrzejek, 22, in the parking lot of the Post Bar, located at 41240 Hayes, near 18 Mile Road, at about 1:30 a.m. Sunday, according to police. Police said Dodaj then fled the scene in a 2005 Mercury Mountaineer, which has been recovered.

The victim's father, William Jedrzejek Sr., told Local 4 that his son was shot at least two times, once in the head and once in the back. Jedrzejek was taken to St. Joseph's Medical Center in Clinton Township, where he died a short time later.

The family told Local 4 the man was singled out after someone in a crowd of people leaving the bar shouted an obscenity or slur directed to another man, now identified as the shooter. Investigators said the victim apparently did not know the shooter, according to a report in The Macomb Daily.

John Thompson, a general manager for the Post Bar chain, said the bar's owners and operators were "deeply saddened" by the incident and extended their condolences to the victim's family, according to the paper's report.

"The worst part of this is it looks like the young man who was shot was trying to do the right thing," said Thompson in the paper's report. "There was something going on between a man and a woman in the parking lot and he tried to be a good Samaritan by stepping in."

The victim's girlfriend, Megan Ventimigila, said Jedrzejek "didn't do anything wrong to deserve this."

"There was a confrontation between two other people, not including him," said Ventimigila.

Ventimigila said the man approached her boyfriend, and Jedrzejek said he did not want any trouble.

"Before anything could be done, he was on the ground," said Ventimigila.

Witnesses provided police with a description of the suspect and his vehicle.

Dodaj was described as 6 feet 2 inches tall, 180 pounds and of Albanian descent, police said. Police said he was armed with a handgun.

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