Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Religious leaders issue rare joint appeal for unity in rebuilding Kosovo

PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) - Kosovo's Christian, Jewish and Muslim religious leaders issued a rare joint appeal to their communities Wednesday to join in rebuilding religious monuments and lives shattered by the province's ethnic conflict.

The appeal came at the end of a meeting organized by Norwegian Church Aid that brought together representatives of the Serb Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church and Kosovo's Islamic, Jewish and Evangelical communities.

In a joint statement, the leaders pleaded for the communities to "move towards an open future with interaction and profound responsibility for each other before God."

"In coming to terms with the past we acknowledge that all communities have suffered," it added. "We express sorrow for one another's suffering, praying that this suffering will no longer be a stumbling block."

The religious leaders committed to intensifying inter-religious dialogue and cooperation, as well as holding meetings between senior religious leaders, said the statement, issued by NCA.

The two-day meeting took place inside the NATO-guarded Patriarchate in the western town of Pec, and was held just before the continuation of U.N.-mediated talks on the province's future. There have been fears of an increase in tension between the communities during the talks, which are due to conclude at the end of 2006.

Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority, which is predominantly Muslim, wants the province to become independent. Serbs, who are Orthodox Christian, insist that some links with Serbia must be retained.

The joint statement condemned the destruction of churches, mosques and cemeteries targeted during a crackdown by Serb forces on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians or in the war's aftermath when ethnic Albanian extremists attacked Serb religious sites.

The religious leaders appealed for their communities to join them in rebuilding "not only our religious sites, but also to rebuild our lives, our hearts and our minds," they said in their statement.

Kosovo has been run as a U.N. protectorate since mid-1999, when a NATO air war halted the Serb crackdown.

The province was the seat of the medieval Serbian state and the Serbian Orthodox Church. Serbs cherish it as the cradle of their history and culture.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm Albanian and I say screw all religions and all that goes with them!

My biggest wish is that some nation does what Turkey and Serbia did to Albanians yesterday, do to SERBIA today and for atleast 500 years!


Albanian Son

Anonymous said...

yeah yeah yeah...serbs would cherish and worship a toilet if they thought it would bring them riches.


Rot in hell serbia!

From: Albanian son of an Albanian

Anonymous said...

Ok people stop feeding the fucking troll calling himself nyouthouselawyer. Dont you see the whole reason for his miserable existence is coming on this site and cuting and pasting crap. Nyouthouse lawyer i have one thing to say to you- a life unexamined is not worth living- so do humanity a favour and remove your genes from the worlds gene pool.

Anonymous said...

Albanians were attcking Serb churches before the war in 1998-that's one the of the resons the war started in the first place.

Anonymous said...

Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah....and big breath....yeah yeah yeah yeah and so on and so on....
whatever you shits say....


Wakey wakey fuckwits..smell the roses, you're all finished pack your bags and get ready to move back to Russia.

Albanian so of an Albanian

Anonymous said...

Dont feed the trolls especially nyouthouselawyer.