PRISTINA, Serbia (AP)--Kosovo's outgoing U.N. chief said Thursday that ethnic Albanians' dream of independence for the province must not become a nightmare for the Serb minority.
Soren Jessen-Petersen's plea came on his last day as the head of the U.N. mission in this province of 2 million, the status of which is being decided in U.N.-sponsored talks between the rival ethnic Albanian and Serbian communities.
"Your dream should not be a nightmare for others," Jessen-Petersen told Kosovo's mainly ethnic Albanian lawmakers during his farewell speech.
Kosovo, which officially remains part of Serbia, has been administered by the U.N. and patrolled by international peacekeepers since mid-1999, when a NATO air war halted a crackdown by former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic's forces on separatist ethnic Albanians. The province's ethnic Albanian majority wants full independence, but Belgrade insists it retains control.
An estimated 10,000 ethnic Albanians were killed in Kosovo's war. After the end of the war, tens of thousands of Serbs fled the province in the face of reprisal attacks and threats from ethnic Albanians.
Those Serbs who remain live mainly in heavily guarded, isolated enclaves.
International officials have suggested some form of independence for the province - which Serbs consider the birthplace of their national identity - is the most likely outcome of the U.N.-mediated talks taking place in Vienna, Austria.
After serving for two years as the chief administrator in the U.N.-run province, Jessen-Petersen conceded that one of his greatest failures was the inability to bring its bitterly divided communities closer.
While acknowledging that the life of Serbs and other minorities remains hard, he blamed authorities in Serbia for discouraging the minority Serbs from participating in Kosovo's political life, which they have been boycotting since the worst anti-Serb violence rocked Kosovo in 2004.
Jessen-Petersen said that "major challenges" in the fields of rule of law, economy and in trying to ensure the multiethnic character of Kosovo will remain even after the status decision is reached, likely at the end of 2006.
Jessen-Petersen, a Danish refugee expert and former European Union representative to Macedonia, was appointed to the post in June 2004 and has been the longest-serving of five U.N. chiefs since the end of the war.
A lawyer, he has been assistant high commissioner for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, as then chairman of a European Union initiative to manage population movements in the western Balkans. [ 29-06-06 1502GMT ]
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Milosevic's brother praises President Lukashenka on Belarus TV
Belarusian TV has broadcast an interview with Borislav Milosevic, former Yugoslav ambassador to Russia and brother of the late Yugoslav president, Slobodan Milosevic.
Speaking in the interview aired on 28 June, Milosevic said that the EU stood behind a recent referendum on Montenegro's independence. He forecast that the Albanian minority in the Balkans will press for a referendum on Kosovo's independence. Albanians in the Balkans will be pressing for the creation of "Great Albania", he said. He added that Albania will turn into an Islamic state and "this will do no good to Europe". He forecast that a possible referendum on Kosovo's independence may create a precedent for such referenda in Russian republics and did not rule out "a Yugoslav scenario" for Russia. Milosevic accused Albanians in Kosovo of trafficking drugs to Europe. This problem will only aggravate if Kosovo becomes independent, he predicted.
He slammed the West's "unbridled propaganda" against Belarus and attempts "to demonize" Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka. He also criticized NATO's plans to set up military bases in former Yugoslavia. Milosevic did not rule out the construction of a NATO naval base in Montenegro. He warned that NATO's expansion plans are aimed at securing the bloc's dominance in the world.
He said that NATO's operation against Yugoslavia demonstrated that "Europe was fighting against itself". He criticized Europe's participation in the US "adventures" in Iraq and Afghanistan. Milosevic also criticized the USA and its allies for exerting pressure on other countries under the pretext of combating international terrorism.
Commenting on the March presidential election in Belarus, Milosevic said the West is pressurizing Lukashenka for his independent policies. He added that Yugoslavia experienced similar pressure during a presidential election in his country. He praised Lukashenka for his visit to Belgrade during NATO's bombings and thanked Belarus for support.
Commenting on the death of his brother, he rebuked the Hague tribunal for not allowing Slobodan Milosevic to undergo treatment. Independence costs leaders dearly, he said.
The interview lasted for about 20 minutes. No further processing is planned.
Source: Belarusian television, Minsk, in Russian 1850 gmt 28 Jun 06
Speaking in the interview aired on 28 June, Milosevic said that the EU stood behind a recent referendum on Montenegro's independence. He forecast that the Albanian minority in the Balkans will press for a referendum on Kosovo's independence. Albanians in the Balkans will be pressing for the creation of "Great Albania", he said. He added that Albania will turn into an Islamic state and "this will do no good to Europe". He forecast that a possible referendum on Kosovo's independence may create a precedent for such referenda in Russian republics and did not rule out "a Yugoslav scenario" for Russia. Milosevic accused Albanians in Kosovo of trafficking drugs to Europe. This problem will only aggravate if Kosovo becomes independent, he predicted.
He slammed the West's "unbridled propaganda" against Belarus and attempts "to demonize" Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka. He also criticized NATO's plans to set up military bases in former Yugoslavia. Milosevic did not rule out the construction of a NATO naval base in Montenegro. He warned that NATO's expansion plans are aimed at securing the bloc's dominance in the world.
He said that NATO's operation against Yugoslavia demonstrated that "Europe was fighting against itself". He criticized Europe's participation in the US "adventures" in Iraq and Afghanistan. Milosevic also criticized the USA and its allies for exerting pressure on other countries under the pretext of combating international terrorism.
Commenting on the March presidential election in Belarus, Milosevic said the West is pressurizing Lukashenka for his independent policies. He added that Yugoslavia experienced similar pressure during a presidential election in his country. He praised Lukashenka for his visit to Belgrade during NATO's bombings and thanked Belarus for support.
Commenting on the death of his brother, he rebuked the Hague tribunal for not allowing Slobodan Milosevic to undergo treatment. Independence costs leaders dearly, he said.
The interview lasted for about 20 minutes. No further processing is planned.
Source: Belarusian television, Minsk, in Russian 1850 gmt 28 Jun 06
Serbia's PM Insists Serbs Will Never Give Up Kosovo
GRACANICA, Serbia (AP)--Serbs will never give up Kosovo, Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said Wednesday after arriving in Kosovo to mark the anniversary of an epic battle against Ottoman forces.
Security measures were high for the visit of Kostunica, who was attending ceremonies marking Vidovdan, or St. Vitus Day - the anniversary of the 1389 battle in which a Christian army led by Serbian Prince Lazar was defeated in Kosovo by invading Ottoman forces.
The battle came to symbolize Serbs' historic resolve not to give up Kosovo, the heartland of their statehood and religion.
"There is no better place...to repeat what every Serbian has to know: Kosovo has been and will always remain part of Serbia," said Kostunica, triggering applause and chanting from large crowds in the grounds of a 14th century monastery in Gracanica, a Serb enclave in Kosovo heavily protected by North Atlantic Treaty Organization peacekeepers.
Kostunica urged the dwindling Serb community to remain determined and unified at a time when Serbs and ethnic Albanians are conducting U.N.-sponsored talks on Kosovo's future.
Kosovo, which officially remains part of Serbia, has been administered by the U.N. and patrolled by international peacekeepers since mid-1999, when a NATO air war halted a crackdown by former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic's forces on separatist ethnic Albanians.
The province's ethnic Albanian majority wants full independence, but Belgrade insists it retain control.
Tension and occasional violence persists between ethnic Albanians and the minority Serbs, who live in heavily guarded and isolated enclaves.
"We would not be able to pray today if it was not for the army's protection," he said.
Kosovo special police arrested 116 ethnic Albanian protesters who blocked roads linking Kosovo to the rest of Serbia in a bid to prevent the visit. Among those arrested was a member of Kosovo's parliament.
Many of the arrested protesters were members of an ethnic Albanian group calling itself "Self-determination," which described Kostunica's visit as "a provocation."
The group compared the trip to a 1989 visit by Milosevic, who used the St. Vitus Day anniversary to deliver a speech that whipped up Serb nationalist fervor. The event was seen as key in events that led to disintegration of Yugoslavia and a decade of Balkan wars.
An estimated 10,000 ethnic Albanians were killed in Kosovo's 1998-99 war. Afterward, tens of thousands of Serbs fled the province due to reprisal attacks and threats from ethnic Albanians.
Security measures were high for the visit of Kostunica, who was attending ceremonies marking Vidovdan, or St. Vitus Day - the anniversary of the 1389 battle in which a Christian army led by Serbian Prince Lazar was defeated in Kosovo by invading Ottoman forces.
The battle came to symbolize Serbs' historic resolve not to give up Kosovo, the heartland of their statehood and religion.
"There is no better place...to repeat what every Serbian has to know: Kosovo has been and will always remain part of Serbia," said Kostunica, triggering applause and chanting from large crowds in the grounds of a 14th century monastery in Gracanica, a Serb enclave in Kosovo heavily protected by North Atlantic Treaty Organization peacekeepers.
Kostunica urged the dwindling Serb community to remain determined and unified at a time when Serbs and ethnic Albanians are conducting U.N.-sponsored talks on Kosovo's future.
Kosovo, which officially remains part of Serbia, has been administered by the U.N. and patrolled by international peacekeepers since mid-1999, when a NATO air war halted a crackdown by former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic's forces on separatist ethnic Albanians.
The province's ethnic Albanian majority wants full independence, but Belgrade insists it retain control.
Tension and occasional violence persists between ethnic Albanians and the minority Serbs, who live in heavily guarded and isolated enclaves.
"We would not be able to pray today if it was not for the army's protection," he said.
Kosovo special police arrested 116 ethnic Albanian protesters who blocked roads linking Kosovo to the rest of Serbia in a bid to prevent the visit. Among those arrested was a member of Kosovo's parliament.
Many of the arrested protesters were members of an ethnic Albanian group calling itself "Self-determination," which described Kostunica's visit as "a provocation."
The group compared the trip to a 1989 visit by Milosevic, who used the St. Vitus Day anniversary to deliver a speech that whipped up Serb nationalist fervor. The event was seen as key in events that led to disintegration of Yugoslavia and a decade of Balkan wars.
An estimated 10,000 ethnic Albanians were killed in Kosovo's 1998-99 war. Afterward, tens of thousands of Serbs fled the province due to reprisal attacks and threats from ethnic Albanians.
Serb leader lays claim to Kosovo
By Nicholas Wood International Herald Tribune
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 2006
GRACANICA, Kosovo The prime minister of Serbia made a symbolic visit Wednesday to this town in the province of Kosovo, asserting Serbia's historic and religious claims to the region.
Vojislav Kostunica picked July 28, which Serbs regard as the most important date in their history. It commemorates the 14th-century defeat of the mainly Christian army in Kosovo by Ottoman Turks.
In Gracanica, "there is no better place to repeat what every Serb has to know," the prime minister told of hundreds of Serbs gathered on the grounds of the 14th-century monastery in the center of the village. "Kosovo has been and will always remain part of Serbia."
His foray into the United Nations-administered region was the latest attempt to head off what the government in Belgrade sees as the province's increasing momentum to becoming a separate state. That has long been the goal of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority.
Serbian and Albanian negotiators have made little progress on the topic in meetings in Vienna over the past six months. But Western diplomats here said independence would probably be granted by the UN Security Council by the end of the year, most probably in an imposed settlement.
The Serbian government has made no indication that it is ready to accept or even acknowledge such an agreement and senior UN officials in Kosovo appear worried about how the settlement will play out.
Kostunica met with Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain in London on Tuesday and warned that Serbia might break its ties with the West unless the international community took a more conciliatory approach to its claims to Kosovo and to Serbia's failure to arrest the war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic, a former Serb general. The European Union cut off negotiations on Serbian membership in the bloc in May over the failure to detain Mladic.
Seventeen years ago, when he was president, Slobodan Milosevic used the same occasion to promote Serbian nationalism when he addressed a million Serbs gathered at the presumed site of the battlefield and gave a similar message, one that ultimately led to the break-up of Yugoslavia and the loss of tens of thousands of lives.
This time the anniversary was a low- key affair. With members of Serbia's Orthodox Church, Kostunica attended a ceremony in which Serbian mothers of four or more children were given gold and silver medals, an attempt to encourage the Serbian birth rate in the province, which lags behind that of the Albanians. The visit was his second since he came to office two-and-a-half years ago.
Sounding a conciliatory note, Kostunica told the crowd in Gracanica that Serbia wanted to reach a "compromise" over Kosovo's future, but made no mention of what that might entail.
Serbs, he said, want "justice, rights and peace, want to talk, want to make an arrangement, want to make a compromise and to make the right solution historically for Kosovo."
Although officially a part of Serbia, Kosovo has been controlled by the United Nations since June 1999, when Yugoslav troops accused of committing widespread atrocities were forced to withdraw after NATO-led bombing.
From 1998 to 1999 an estimated 10,000 people, mostly ethnic Albanian civilians, were killed as the Serb-dominated Yugoslav Army and the Serbian police cracked down on an insurgency led by ethnic Albanians.
While the day's visit passed without any significant reaction from ethnic Albanian leaders, international officials working here said they were alarmed that Serbian officials were toughening their stance over the province's future.
Senior UN officials say the government is trying to play up ethnic tensions to undermine the Albanian-led government's drive for independence.
In a recent interview, the departing head of the UN Mission in Kosovo, Soren Jessen-Petersen, warned that Belgrade's policies were compounding already hostile relations between Serbs and ethnic Albanians.
He said leading Serbian politicians were playing up safety worries, in ways that could prompt Serbs to leave the province.
"The Kosovo Serbs are constantly hearing statements from Belgrade that would give them every reason to fear for their future," said Jessen-Petersen, who is to leave his post Friday.
"We have had some statements by leading politicians saying it is clear that Serbs here have a choice between death or exodus," he said. "They are not the kinds of statements that you make if you want the Serbs to stay here."
Belgrade wants to administer the Serbian areas of Kosovo directly.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 28, 2006
GRACANICA, Kosovo The prime minister of Serbia made a symbolic visit Wednesday to this town in the province of Kosovo, asserting Serbia's historic and religious claims to the region.
Vojislav Kostunica picked July 28, which Serbs regard as the most important date in their history. It commemorates the 14th-century defeat of the mainly Christian army in Kosovo by Ottoman Turks.
In Gracanica, "there is no better place to repeat what every Serb has to know," the prime minister told of hundreds of Serbs gathered on the grounds of the 14th-century monastery in the center of the village. "Kosovo has been and will always remain part of Serbia."
His foray into the United Nations-administered region was the latest attempt to head off what the government in Belgrade sees as the province's increasing momentum to becoming a separate state. That has long been the goal of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority.
Serbian and Albanian negotiators have made little progress on the topic in meetings in Vienna over the past six months. But Western diplomats here said independence would probably be granted by the UN Security Council by the end of the year, most probably in an imposed settlement.
The Serbian government has made no indication that it is ready to accept or even acknowledge such an agreement and senior UN officials in Kosovo appear worried about how the settlement will play out.
Kostunica met with Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain in London on Tuesday and warned that Serbia might break its ties with the West unless the international community took a more conciliatory approach to its claims to Kosovo and to Serbia's failure to arrest the war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic, a former Serb general. The European Union cut off negotiations on Serbian membership in the bloc in May over the failure to detain Mladic.
Seventeen years ago, when he was president, Slobodan Milosevic used the same occasion to promote Serbian nationalism when he addressed a million Serbs gathered at the presumed site of the battlefield and gave a similar message, one that ultimately led to the break-up of Yugoslavia and the loss of tens of thousands of lives.
This time the anniversary was a low- key affair. With members of Serbia's Orthodox Church, Kostunica attended a ceremony in which Serbian mothers of four or more children were given gold and silver medals, an attempt to encourage the Serbian birth rate in the province, which lags behind that of the Albanians. The visit was his second since he came to office two-and-a-half years ago.
Sounding a conciliatory note, Kostunica told the crowd in Gracanica that Serbia wanted to reach a "compromise" over Kosovo's future, but made no mention of what that might entail.
Serbs, he said, want "justice, rights and peace, want to talk, want to make an arrangement, want to make a compromise and to make the right solution historically for Kosovo."
Although officially a part of Serbia, Kosovo has been controlled by the United Nations since June 1999, when Yugoslav troops accused of committing widespread atrocities were forced to withdraw after NATO-led bombing.
From 1998 to 1999 an estimated 10,000 people, mostly ethnic Albanian civilians, were killed as the Serb-dominated Yugoslav Army and the Serbian police cracked down on an insurgency led by ethnic Albanians.
While the day's visit passed without any significant reaction from ethnic Albanian leaders, international officials working here said they were alarmed that Serbian officials were toughening their stance over the province's future.
Senior UN officials say the government is trying to play up ethnic tensions to undermine the Albanian-led government's drive for independence.
In a recent interview, the departing head of the UN Mission in Kosovo, Soren Jessen-Petersen, warned that Belgrade's policies were compounding already hostile relations between Serbs and ethnic Albanians.
He said leading Serbian politicians were playing up safety worries, in ways that could prompt Serbs to leave the province.
"The Kosovo Serbs are constantly hearing statements from Belgrade that would give them every reason to fear for their future," said Jessen-Petersen, who is to leave his post Friday.
"We have had some statements by leading politicians saying it is clear that Serbs here have a choice between death or exodus," he said. "They are not the kinds of statements that you make if you want the Serbs to stay here."
Belgrade wants to administer the Serbian areas of Kosovo directly.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Kosovo Picks 2.7 Mln Euro Bid for Winery, 2.5 Mln Euro for Quarry
PRISTINA (Serbia), June 27 (SeeNews) - The privatisation authority of the U.N.-run Serbian province of Kosovo said it had picked provisional buyers for a winery, who offered to pay 2.7 million euro ($3.39 million), and for a quarry, who offered 2.5 million euro.
Kosovo Trust Agency (KTA), the body charged with the sale of hundreds of state-owned companies in the province, discloses the names of the buyers only after it signs privatisation contracts with them.
The Kosova Vera winery owns 19 hectares of land with 15,000 square metres of built-up area. It is fully equipped for wine production but relies on third parties for grape supply. The winery was put up for sale in the beginning of the year. KTA had extended the bidding deadline by nearly two months due to lack of bids, KTA said on its website.
The Cikatova quarry assets include some 10,000 square metres of built-up area, while the total land area under its ownership is nearly 64 hectares.
KTA also said it had picked buyers for the companies, offered for sale in the 15th wave of privatisation in Kosovo.
Details follow about prices received by KTA for the companies included in the 15th privatisation wave.
COMPANY.............................LINE OF BUSINESS...........HIGHEST BID (in euro)
1. IFS Progress Prizren..........polyester producer.................1,110,000
2. Kosovotrans ...........................transport............................505,000
3. IFS Progres Istog.............polyester producer....................776,527
4. Agri-Station Gjakove......administrative building ................717,000
5. Restaurant Tirana..................restaurant.............................222,222
6. Magjistrala..........................agricultural land.......................166,000
7. Agri-Land Qesta................agricultural land.........................314,500
8. Malishgan........................agricultural land..........................355,555
9. Motel Nora .......................motel and restaurant.................443,194
10. Gusar ...............................cattle farm...............................131,000
11. Gusar...........................agricultural land...........................240,000
12. Leshan..................................warehouse...........................101,000
13. Koretin...........................agricultural land..........................45,555
14. Kamenica.........................veterinary..................................15,000
15. Viti........................................veterinary.............................91,265
16. Tregtia Shtime ...................shopping mall.........................942,000
17. Tregtia Prishtine & Lipjan......shopping mall.......................384,750
18. Runiku..................................office premises.......................61,235
19. Hotel Palas..............................hotel....................................305,550
KTA, which seeks to sell 90% of the assets of 500 state-owned companies in Kosovo by mid-2006, has sold around 320 of them so far, earning around 250 million euro.
Legally still a province of Serbia, Kosovo has been under U.N. administration since 1999 following NATO bombings that expelled Serb forces to end what Western powers said was repression of civilians in fighting an ethnic Albanian rebel insurgency. U.N.-brokered talks are underway to determine the future status of Kosovo.
Kosovo Trust Agency (KTA), the body charged with the sale of hundreds of state-owned companies in the province, discloses the names of the buyers only after it signs privatisation contracts with them.
The Kosova Vera winery owns 19 hectares of land with 15,000 square metres of built-up area. It is fully equipped for wine production but relies on third parties for grape supply. The winery was put up for sale in the beginning of the year. KTA had extended the bidding deadline by nearly two months due to lack of bids, KTA said on its website.
The Cikatova quarry assets include some 10,000 square metres of built-up area, while the total land area under its ownership is nearly 64 hectares.
KTA also said it had picked buyers for the companies, offered for sale in the 15th wave of privatisation in Kosovo.
Details follow about prices received by KTA for the companies included in the 15th privatisation wave.
COMPANY.............................LINE OF BUSINESS...........HIGHEST BID (in euro)
1. IFS Progress Prizren..........polyester producer.................1,110,000
2. Kosovotrans ...........................transport............................505,000
3. IFS Progres Istog.............polyester producer....................776,527
4. Agri-Station Gjakove......administrative building ................717,000
5. Restaurant Tirana..................restaurant.............................222,222
6. Magjistrala..........................agricultural land.......................166,000
7. Agri-Land Qesta................agricultural land.........................314,500
8. Malishgan........................agricultural land..........................355,555
9. Motel Nora .......................motel and restaurant.................443,194
10. Gusar ...............................cattle farm...............................131,000
11. Gusar...........................agricultural land...........................240,000
12. Leshan..................................warehouse...........................101,000
13. Koretin...........................agricultural land..........................45,555
14. Kamenica.........................veterinary..................................15,000
15. Viti........................................veterinary.............................91,265
16. Tregtia Shtime ...................shopping mall.........................942,000
17. Tregtia Prishtine & Lipjan......shopping mall.......................384,750
18. Runiku..................................office premises.......................61,235
19. Hotel Palas..............................hotel....................................305,550
KTA, which seeks to sell 90% of the assets of 500 state-owned companies in Kosovo by mid-2006, has sold around 320 of them so far, earning around 250 million euro.
Legally still a province of Serbia, Kosovo has been under U.N. administration since 1999 following NATO bombings that expelled Serb forces to end what Western powers said was repression of civilians in fighting an ethnic Albanian rebel insurgency. U.N.-brokered talks are underway to determine the future status of Kosovo.
Blair to convince Serbia of Kosovo’s inevitable independence.
LONDON, June 27 (Itar-Tass) — British Premier Tony Blair is determined to convince Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunisa during their Tuesday meeting here that he should recognise the inevitability of Kosovo’s independence, which the territory is expected to get by the end of 2006, the “Financial Times” reports.
The British side will also call on the Balkan partners once more to ensure Belgrade’s abidance by its international commitments to arrest the persons, who are charged of war crimes. In case of a refusal to implement them and of unwillingness to comply with the new vision of the configuration of the state formations in the south-eastern part of Europe, Belgrade may be confronted with tougher isolation and waning possibility of having closer relations with the European Union, the newspaper predicts.
At the same time, it notes that the Serbian public at large is exerting pressure on Kostunisa to prevent Belgrade from renouncing its “historical claims” to Kosovo. This is why the Serbian authorities are continuing to insist on “maximum possible autonomy” to the territory without granting it independence.
The newspaper also points out that the 100,000 Serbs, still remaining on the territory of Kosovo, are sounding the alarm in view of the resumption ethnic violence, intended to oust them out of Kosovo. Two hundred thousand people have reportedly fled from the territory after the 1999 hostilities, which is at least fifty per cent of the Serbian minority there. Only five per cent of them have returned to their homes in Kosovo in spite of the entry into force of the protocol on the repatriation of refugees, which was adopted with the mediation of the United Nations.
The British side will also call on the Balkan partners once more to ensure Belgrade’s abidance by its international commitments to arrest the persons, who are charged of war crimes. In case of a refusal to implement them and of unwillingness to comply with the new vision of the configuration of the state formations in the south-eastern part of Europe, Belgrade may be confronted with tougher isolation and waning possibility of having closer relations with the European Union, the newspaper predicts.
At the same time, it notes that the Serbian public at large is exerting pressure on Kostunisa to prevent Belgrade from renouncing its “historical claims” to Kosovo. This is why the Serbian authorities are continuing to insist on “maximum possible autonomy” to the territory without granting it independence.
The newspaper also points out that the 100,000 Serbs, still remaining on the territory of Kosovo, are sounding the alarm in view of the resumption ethnic violence, intended to oust them out of Kosovo. Two hundred thousand people have reportedly fled from the territory after the 1999 hostilities, which is at least fifty per cent of the Serbian minority there. Only five per cent of them have returned to their homes in Kosovo in spite of the entry into force of the protocol on the repatriation of refugees, which was adopted with the mediation of the United Nations.
Kosovo prime minister urges Albanians in Macedonia to refrain from violence
PRISTINA, Serbia (AP) - Kosovo's prime minister appealed Tuesday to ethnic Albanian political parties in neighboring Macedonia to refrain from violence that has marred the campaigning ahead of elections in the Balkan country.
Agim Ceku said violence in the past week threatened to "deeply damage not only the good image that Macedonia has built, but also the legitimacy of the (ethnic) Albanian political class in the country."
"They become an obstacle in the country's path to integration" into European Union and NATO, Ceku said in a statement.
He also called upon Kosovo's citizens to stay away from Macedonia's internal affairs a day after Macedonia's Prime Minister Vlado Buckovski discussed the violence by telephone with him and opposition leader Hashim Thaci, asking them to condemn the recent incidents and urge Macedonia's ethnic Albanian leaders to rein in their supporters.
Thaci issued a similar appeal Monday.
In his statement, Ceku said that by behaving responsibly, ethnic Albanian leaders in Macedonia would contribute toward resolving Kosovo's disputed status, which is the subject of U.N.-brokered negotiations, which aim to conclude by the year-end.
More than two dozen violent incidents have been reported since the election campaign began in mid-June in Macedonia, mostly between supporters of rival ethnic Albanian parties.
The July 5 elections in Macedonia are seen as a test for the country of 2 million, held five years after ethnic conflict threatened to develop into civil war between Macedonians and ethnic Albanians, who make up nearly the third of the population.
NATO and European Union officials have warned that fair elections are crucial to Macedonian hopes of joining the military alliance and the 25-member bloc.
The alliance warned Macedonia's political parties Tuesday to contain the pre-election violence or risk delays in the Balkan country's ambitions to join the military alliance.
Agim Ceku said violence in the past week threatened to "deeply damage not only the good image that Macedonia has built, but also the legitimacy of the (ethnic) Albanian political class in the country."
"They become an obstacle in the country's path to integration" into European Union and NATO, Ceku said in a statement.
He also called upon Kosovo's citizens to stay away from Macedonia's internal affairs a day after Macedonia's Prime Minister Vlado Buckovski discussed the violence by telephone with him and opposition leader Hashim Thaci, asking them to condemn the recent incidents and urge Macedonia's ethnic Albanian leaders to rein in their supporters.
Thaci issued a similar appeal Monday.
In his statement, Ceku said that by behaving responsibly, ethnic Albanian leaders in Macedonia would contribute toward resolving Kosovo's disputed status, which is the subject of U.N.-brokered negotiations, which aim to conclude by the year-end.
More than two dozen violent incidents have been reported since the election campaign began in mid-June in Macedonia, mostly between supporters of rival ethnic Albanian parties.
The July 5 elections in Macedonia are seen as a test for the country of 2 million, held five years after ethnic conflict threatened to develop into civil war between Macedonians and ethnic Albanians, who make up nearly the third of the population.
NATO and European Union officials have warned that fair elections are crucial to Macedonian hopes of joining the military alliance and the 25-member bloc.
The alliance warned Macedonia's political parties Tuesday to contain the pre-election violence or risk delays in the Balkan country's ambitions to join the military alliance.
UNMIK: Kostunica visit allowed in consultation with Kosovo government
Text of report by Fatmir Aliu and Sami Kastrati: "Kostunica allowed; Ceku and Haziri also in favour" published by the Kosovo Albanian newspaper Koha Ditore on 27 June
Prishtina [Pristina], 26 June: The UN Mission in Kosova [Kosovo] decided on Monday [26 June] to allow Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica to visit a town in Kosova on St Vitus day, Wednesday 28 June.
A few days ago, Serbian Prime Minister Kostunica asked the authorities of the international administration in Kosova to allow this visit for, as he wrote in his letter, "private and religious" reasons.
UNMIK [UN Interim Administrative Mission in Kosovo] Information Department Chief Alexander Ivanko confirmed to Koha Ditore, and also officially, that the decision whether or not to allow Kostunica has been made and it is in Kostunica's favour.
"We made the decision at 1800 [1600 gmt] and we have already requested the security forces in Kosova to make all the preparations for the visit that we have granted Prime Minister Kostunica. He has asked to visit Gracanice [Gracanica] on St Vitus day and we have allowed this because the request has no political motives behind it, only religious and private ones," Ivankov told Koha Ditore.
He asserted that the Kosova government has been asked and consulted on all these questions. According to Ivankov, the Kosova government did not oppose it. However, on Monday Kosova government officials came out against this visit, and some even tried to pass the responsibility onto the international authorities.
But, according to Ivankov, the most senior officials of the country were asked about Vojislav Kostunica's visit to Kosova. "We consulted Kosova Prime Minister Agim Ceku and his deputy Lutfi Haziri," Ivankov told Koha Ditore.
Meanwhile, other officials of the institutions of Kosova have spoken against Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's visit to Kosova on St Vitus day.
Kosova Assembly Speaker Kole Berisha said that such visits could occur only when Kosova and Serbia are completely separated. He added that if he were to be asked, Kostunica would not be allowed to visit any place or town in Kosova.
"My position would be no, because it is too early to pay a visit to Kosova. We can visit Serbia, and Belgrade can visit Kosova once we are completely separated. If I were to be asked about Kostunica's visit, I would say no. It is UNMIK, however, that is responsible for this issue," Berisha said.
Kosova government spokeswoman Ulpiana Lama repeated the same words for all the local and international media throughout her working day and she conveyed the message that it is not up to the local authorities to decide whether or not to allow Kostunica to pay a visit to Kosova, because the request was addressed to UNMIK.
"The request was not made to us, the Kosova government, but to the UNMIK authorities; therefore, it is up to them to give an answer," Lama said.
She added that there are two elements to be considered in this visit: the visit of Kostunica as a citizen, and that of Kostunica the politician. "As a citizen, anyone can come to Kosova, celebrate religious holidays, and exercise religious freedom, for as long as the Kosova government and the Kosovar society promotes and protects the principle of the freedom of movement. As a politician, Kostunica should be careful not to manipulate the passions of the audience that he addresses and he should not misuse the opportunity that is being offered to him. Moving forward a political agenda that favours separation and outlines divergences only discredits the personality of Kostunica as a politician before the eyes of the international community," Lama said, outlining her advice for Kostunica.
According to Serbian news agencies, Belgrade officials said that "Kosova and Metohija and the Gracanice Monastery are the places that the Serbian prime minister should visit and where he should be with the Serb people on St Vitus day."
Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica made his request to visit Kosova on 28 June, on the day of St Vitus, which, in the collective memory of Serbs, is the 617th anniversary of the Battle of Kosova in 1389, when the army of the Balkan peoples and that of the Ottoman Empire confronted each other. Seventeen years ago, in 1989, Slobodan Milosevic held a nationalistic speech in Gazimestan [Kosovo Polje], heralding the beginning of bloody wars in the former Yugoslavia.
However, the visit by the Serbian prime minister is not the first by a Serbian official. Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic visited Kosova last year on this holiday. This visit was also marked by protest.
At the time when the decision was made by the international administration, the town of Gracanice, which is located 6km east of Prishtina, was at the stage of making security preparations. Two police patrols were placed at its entry and exit, while police forces and Kfor [Kosovo Force] military troops were located in the town itself and around the Gracanice Monastery.
Sources from the Kosovar police said that if the movements inside and outside Gracanice are not completely limited on Tuesday and Wednesday, then measures will be stepped up to include a search of all vehicles that come in and out of the town.
Source: Koha Ditore, Pristina, in Albanian 27 Jun 06
Prishtina [Pristina], 26 June: The UN Mission in Kosova [Kosovo] decided on Monday [26 June] to allow Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica to visit a town in Kosova on St Vitus day, Wednesday 28 June.
A few days ago, Serbian Prime Minister Kostunica asked the authorities of the international administration in Kosova to allow this visit for, as he wrote in his letter, "private and religious" reasons.
UNMIK [UN Interim Administrative Mission in Kosovo] Information Department Chief Alexander Ivanko confirmed to Koha Ditore, and also officially, that the decision whether or not to allow Kostunica has been made and it is in Kostunica's favour.
"We made the decision at 1800 [1600 gmt] and we have already requested the security forces in Kosova to make all the preparations for the visit that we have granted Prime Minister Kostunica. He has asked to visit Gracanice [Gracanica] on St Vitus day and we have allowed this because the request has no political motives behind it, only religious and private ones," Ivankov told Koha Ditore.
He asserted that the Kosova government has been asked and consulted on all these questions. According to Ivankov, the Kosova government did not oppose it. However, on Monday Kosova government officials came out against this visit, and some even tried to pass the responsibility onto the international authorities.
But, according to Ivankov, the most senior officials of the country were asked about Vojislav Kostunica's visit to Kosova. "We consulted Kosova Prime Minister Agim Ceku and his deputy Lutfi Haziri," Ivankov told Koha Ditore.
Meanwhile, other officials of the institutions of Kosova have spoken against Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's visit to Kosova on St Vitus day.
Kosova Assembly Speaker Kole Berisha said that such visits could occur only when Kosova and Serbia are completely separated. He added that if he were to be asked, Kostunica would not be allowed to visit any place or town in Kosova.
"My position would be no, because it is too early to pay a visit to Kosova. We can visit Serbia, and Belgrade can visit Kosova once we are completely separated. If I were to be asked about Kostunica's visit, I would say no. It is UNMIK, however, that is responsible for this issue," Berisha said.
Kosova government spokeswoman Ulpiana Lama repeated the same words for all the local and international media throughout her working day and she conveyed the message that it is not up to the local authorities to decide whether or not to allow Kostunica to pay a visit to Kosova, because the request was addressed to UNMIK.
"The request was not made to us, the Kosova government, but to the UNMIK authorities; therefore, it is up to them to give an answer," Lama said.
She added that there are two elements to be considered in this visit: the visit of Kostunica as a citizen, and that of Kostunica the politician. "As a citizen, anyone can come to Kosova, celebrate religious holidays, and exercise religious freedom, for as long as the Kosova government and the Kosovar society promotes and protects the principle of the freedom of movement. As a politician, Kostunica should be careful not to manipulate the passions of the audience that he addresses and he should not misuse the opportunity that is being offered to him. Moving forward a political agenda that favours separation and outlines divergences only discredits the personality of Kostunica as a politician before the eyes of the international community," Lama said, outlining her advice for Kostunica.
According to Serbian news agencies, Belgrade officials said that "Kosova and Metohija and the Gracanice Monastery are the places that the Serbian prime minister should visit and where he should be with the Serb people on St Vitus day."
Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica made his request to visit Kosova on 28 June, on the day of St Vitus, which, in the collective memory of Serbs, is the 617th anniversary of the Battle of Kosova in 1389, when the army of the Balkan peoples and that of the Ottoman Empire confronted each other. Seventeen years ago, in 1989, Slobodan Milosevic held a nationalistic speech in Gazimestan [Kosovo Polje], heralding the beginning of bloody wars in the former Yugoslavia.
However, the visit by the Serbian prime minister is not the first by a Serbian official. Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic visited Kosova last year on this holiday. This visit was also marked by protest.
At the time when the decision was made by the international administration, the town of Gracanice, which is located 6km east of Prishtina, was at the stage of making security preparations. Two police patrols were placed at its entry and exit, while police forces and Kfor [Kosovo Force] military troops were located in the town itself and around the Gracanice Monastery.
Sources from the Kosovar police said that if the movements inside and outside Gracanice are not completely limited on Tuesday and Wednesday, then measures will be stepped up to include a search of all vehicles that come in and out of the town.
Source: Koha Ditore, Pristina, in Albanian 27 Jun 06
Serbian premier tells Blair independent Kosovo would destabilize region
[Presenter] Serbian Premier Vojislav Kostunica has held talks in London with British Premier Tony Blair and Minister for Europe Geoff Hoon on resolving the issues of Kosovo-Metohija and cooperation with the Hague tribunal. Kostunica informed his British counterpart on Belgrade's stance that the solution to the province's status must be sought within the framework of international law and that Serbia is ready to give Kosovo more autonomy than any other region in Europe. [Reporting] From London Bojan Brkic:
[Reporter Bojan Brkic] Even though the British media had said that Tony Blair would openly tell the Serbian premier that his government was dissatisfied because Serbia was not preparing for the fact that Kosovo would be independent, Premier Kostunica said after the meeting that no such thing occurred and that Tony Blair was more interested in Belgrade's stance and plans. Kostunica informed him that the independence of Kosovo would destabilize the region and Serbia was prepared to negotiate on the widest possible autonomy, one which does not exist in any other European country.
The second topic of the talks was the suspension of negotiations on Serbia joining the European Union because of incomplete cooperation with the Hague tribunal. Premier Kostunica said that in Serbia, not only was there the political will to arrest Ratko Mladic, but this was being done thoroughly and it was unproductive to have the whole country in a stalemate because of one fugitive. The most significant outcome of this part of the talks was that Tony Blair, according to Kostunica, endorsed the idea of Serbia continuing negotiations with Brussels and receiving assistance in cooperation with the Hague [tribunal].
Source: RTS 1 TV, Belgrade, in Serbian 1300 gmt 27 Jun 06
[Reporter Bojan Brkic] Even though the British media had said that Tony Blair would openly tell the Serbian premier that his government was dissatisfied because Serbia was not preparing for the fact that Kosovo would be independent, Premier Kostunica said after the meeting that no such thing occurred and that Tony Blair was more interested in Belgrade's stance and plans. Kostunica informed him that the independence of Kosovo would destabilize the region and Serbia was prepared to negotiate on the widest possible autonomy, one which does not exist in any other European country.
The second topic of the talks was the suspension of negotiations on Serbia joining the European Union because of incomplete cooperation with the Hague tribunal. Premier Kostunica said that in Serbia, not only was there the political will to arrest Ratko Mladic, but this was being done thoroughly and it was unproductive to have the whole country in a stalemate because of one fugitive. The most significant outcome of this part of the talks was that Tony Blair, according to Kostunica, endorsed the idea of Serbia continuing negotiations with Brussels and receiving assistance in cooperation with the Hague [tribunal].
Source: RTS 1 TV, Belgrade, in Serbian 1300 gmt 27 Jun 06
Kosovo president says ethnic Albanians must live alongside Serbs
TIRANA, Albania (AP) - Kosovo's President Fatmir Sejdiu on Tuesday said the ethnic Albanian population in the province must acknowledge and live alongside the Serb minority.
"It is an important objective at this time of development -- Kosovo wants to testify to an internal stability ... and to have a special commitment to the minorities in Kosovo," said Sejdiu at a news conference after meeting with Albanian President Alfred Moisiu on the first day of a two-day visit to Albania.
"That is part of our obligation to prove ourselves" he said, adding ethnic Albanians should "become an example of good neighborhood, a powerful guarantee for further integration processes."
Moisiu hailed Sejdiu for "the personal steps undertaken together with premier (Agim Ceku) to get close to the Serb minority in Kosovo, something which speaks of the determination of Kosovo politics, which considers (the Serbs) equal among equals in a future Kosovo."
Both presidents said Albania and Kosovo had to intensify political, economic, cultural and other relations.
Sejdiu was due to address the parliament during his visit, and meet with Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha, Parliament Speaker Jozefina Topalli and opposition leaders. He will also receive a Tirana University medal.
His visit comes amid U.N.-mediated talks between predominantly ethnic Albanian Kosovo and Serbia over the future status of the province. Ethnic Albanians want Kosovo to become independent; Serbs want it to remain part of Serbia.
Albania has been the biggest supporter of separatist ethnic Albanians in neighboring Kosovo, leading to frosty relations with Serbia. Tirana has, however, always said it has no territorial claims and does not intend border changes, adding that international institutions and military troops should stay in Kosovo even after its independence.
Earlier this month, during a visit to Pristina, Berisha said that an improvement in the way the ethnic Albanians in Kosovo treat the province's Serb minority would lead to an improvement in relations between Serbs and Albanians after years of enmity and distrust. He also said that peace and stability in the Balkans depend on Kosovo's eventually gaining independence.
"Our stand has been, is and remains: an independent Kosovo would favor stability in the Balkans and all together we would prepare for integration into the European Union," said Moisiu.
Although still formally a part of Serbia, Kosovo has been run by a United Nations administration and patrolled by international peacekeepers since NATO bombed Serbia to stop a crackdown by Belgrade on separatist ethnic Albanians.
Both presidents appealed to the ethnic Albanian political leaders in neighboring Macedonia to play by the rules of democracy and let the voters decide on the future government, and called recent cases of violence "improper and unacceptable" and "not normal."
"I believe (Albanian political forces) have enough energy to show that the fight for the vote is part of reflecting the political culture, and the electoral process is a good opportunity to testify to that," said Sejdiu.
"It is an important objective at this time of development -- Kosovo wants to testify to an internal stability ... and to have a special commitment to the minorities in Kosovo," said Sejdiu at a news conference after meeting with Albanian President Alfred Moisiu on the first day of a two-day visit to Albania.
"That is part of our obligation to prove ourselves" he said, adding ethnic Albanians should "become an example of good neighborhood, a powerful guarantee for further integration processes."
Moisiu hailed Sejdiu for "the personal steps undertaken together with premier (Agim Ceku) to get close to the Serb minority in Kosovo, something which speaks of the determination of Kosovo politics, which considers (the Serbs) equal among equals in a future Kosovo."
Both presidents said Albania and Kosovo had to intensify political, economic, cultural and other relations.
Sejdiu was due to address the parliament during his visit, and meet with Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha, Parliament Speaker Jozefina Topalli and opposition leaders. He will also receive a Tirana University medal.
His visit comes amid U.N.-mediated talks between predominantly ethnic Albanian Kosovo and Serbia over the future status of the province. Ethnic Albanians want Kosovo to become independent; Serbs want it to remain part of Serbia.
Albania has been the biggest supporter of separatist ethnic Albanians in neighboring Kosovo, leading to frosty relations with Serbia. Tirana has, however, always said it has no territorial claims and does not intend border changes, adding that international institutions and military troops should stay in Kosovo even after its independence.
Earlier this month, during a visit to Pristina, Berisha said that an improvement in the way the ethnic Albanians in Kosovo treat the province's Serb minority would lead to an improvement in relations between Serbs and Albanians after years of enmity and distrust. He also said that peace and stability in the Balkans depend on Kosovo's eventually gaining independence.
"Our stand has been, is and remains: an independent Kosovo would favor stability in the Balkans and all together we would prepare for integration into the European Union," said Moisiu.
Although still formally a part of Serbia, Kosovo has been run by a United Nations administration and patrolled by international peacekeepers since NATO bombed Serbia to stop a crackdown by Belgrade on separatist ethnic Albanians.
Both presidents appealed to the ethnic Albanian political leaders in neighboring Macedonia to play by the rules of democracy and let the voters decide on the future government, and called recent cases of violence "improper and unacceptable" and "not normal."
"I believe (Albanian political forces) have enough energy to show that the fight for the vote is part of reflecting the political culture, and the electoral process is a good opportunity to testify to that," said Sejdiu.
Monday, June 26, 2006
Blair warns Serbs to accept different vision for Kosovo
Financial Times
By Neil MacDonald in Belgrade and Mark Turner at the United,Nations
Published: June 26 2006 03:00 | Last updated: June 26 2006 03:00
Serbia must accept a "different vision" for the future make-up of south-east Europe or face increasing isolation and diminishing prospects of closer relations with the European Union, Tony Blair, the UK prime minister, will tell Vojislav Kostunica, his Serbian counterpart, tomorrow
At a London meeting at which Belgrade is likely to be pressed to meet its international obligations, such as catching indicted war criminals, Mr Kostunica would also be urged to accept the inevitability of independence for Kosovo, the breakaway Serbian province under United Nations administration, by the end of this year, British officials said.
The warning comes amid increased diplomatic activity as UN-mediated negotiations in Vienna over the status of Kosovo approach their decisive political phase. Six rounds of technical meetings have failed to produce any breakthrough on the basic status question.
Belgrade is under pressure from the UK, US and the UN administration in Kosovo to accept independence as the "least problematic solution".
However, Mr Kostunica faces formidable domestic pressure not to abandon Serbia's historical claims to the province, now dominated by ethnic Albanians. Belgrade continues to offer "the widest possible autonomy" without conceding sovereignty.
The 100,000 remaining Kosovo Serbs have sounded alarm bells about renewed ethnic violence aimed at driving them out. Serbs who have returned to northern Kosovo say they will pack up and go to central Serbia again unless the UN interim administration tracks down the murderer of Dragan Popovic, a 68-year-old Serbkilled last week on the doorstep of his home, to which he returned last year after abandoning it in 1999.
While an autopsy showed a gunshot wound to the back of his head, the UN administration refused to confirm an ethnic motive for the killing. UN officials warned Serbs against "any unilateral security measures not within the bounds of law", such as forming local militias.
Guaranteeing the rights and safety of the ethnic minorities who make up 10 per cent of Kosovo's population is the main test for the ethnic Albanian leadership negotiating independence.
Roughly 200,000 people - including at least half of the province's Serb population - from ethnic minority groups fled Kosovo in the wake of the 1999 war.
Only around 5 per cent of those Serbs have returned, despite a UN-brokered protocol on returns.
Soren Jessen-Petersen, chief UN administrator in Kosovo, told the UN Security Council last week that many Kosovo Serbs "feel confused, exposed and isolated, and they do not know what to think about the future".
But he also accused Belgrade of keeping them from engaging in local democratic politics.
Serbian state-run newspapers recently exposed internal UN plans for dealing with a "new Serb exodus" of 70,000 people from Kosovo in the event of independence.
UN officials in Belgrade confirmed the existence of emergency evacuation plans, but cautioned against citing these as a "scare tactic".
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006
By Neil MacDonald in Belgrade and Mark Turner at the United,Nations
Published: June 26 2006 03:00 | Last updated: June 26 2006 03:00
Serbia must accept a "different vision" for the future make-up of south-east Europe or face increasing isolation and diminishing prospects of closer relations with the European Union, Tony Blair, the UK prime minister, will tell Vojislav Kostunica, his Serbian counterpart, tomorrow
At a London meeting at which Belgrade is likely to be pressed to meet its international obligations, such as catching indicted war criminals, Mr Kostunica would also be urged to accept the inevitability of independence for Kosovo, the breakaway Serbian province under United Nations administration, by the end of this year, British officials said.
The warning comes amid increased diplomatic activity as UN-mediated negotiations in Vienna over the status of Kosovo approach their decisive political phase. Six rounds of technical meetings have failed to produce any breakthrough on the basic status question.
Belgrade is under pressure from the UK, US and the UN administration in Kosovo to accept independence as the "least problematic solution".
However, Mr Kostunica faces formidable domestic pressure not to abandon Serbia's historical claims to the province, now dominated by ethnic Albanians. Belgrade continues to offer "the widest possible autonomy" without conceding sovereignty.
The 100,000 remaining Kosovo Serbs have sounded alarm bells about renewed ethnic violence aimed at driving them out. Serbs who have returned to northern Kosovo say they will pack up and go to central Serbia again unless the UN interim administration tracks down the murderer of Dragan Popovic, a 68-year-old Serbkilled last week on the doorstep of his home, to which he returned last year after abandoning it in 1999.
While an autopsy showed a gunshot wound to the back of his head, the UN administration refused to confirm an ethnic motive for the killing. UN officials warned Serbs against "any unilateral security measures not within the bounds of law", such as forming local militias.
Guaranteeing the rights and safety of the ethnic minorities who make up 10 per cent of Kosovo's population is the main test for the ethnic Albanian leadership negotiating independence.
Roughly 200,000 people - including at least half of the province's Serb population - from ethnic minority groups fled Kosovo in the wake of the 1999 war.
Only around 5 per cent of those Serbs have returned, despite a UN-brokered protocol on returns.
Soren Jessen-Petersen, chief UN administrator in Kosovo, told the UN Security Council last week that many Kosovo Serbs "feel confused, exposed and isolated, and they do not know what to think about the future".
But he also accused Belgrade of keeping them from engaging in local democratic politics.
Serbian state-run newspapers recently exposed internal UN plans for dealing with a "new Serb exodus" of 70,000 people from Kosovo in the event of independence.
UN officials in Belgrade confirmed the existence of emergency evacuation plans, but cautioned against citing these as a "scare tactic".
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006
U.N. to allow Serbia's prime minister to visit Kosovo
PRISTINA, Serbia (AP) - The U.N. mission in Kosovo will allow Serbia's Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica to visit the disputed province, a U.N. official said Monday.
Kostunica will participate Wednesday in ceremonies marking Vidovdan, or St. Vitus Day, which marks the day that Ottoman forces defeated a Christian army led by Serbian Prince Lazar in 1389, a U.N. official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.
Kosovo has been administered by the U.N. since mid-1999, when a NATO air war halted a crackdown by Serb forces on ethnic Albanians seeking independence.
Kostunica had asked U.N. authorities in Kosovo -- who will also be in charge of arranging for his protection during his stay -- for permission to visit. The province's U.N. administration can deny entry to anyone they believe could be under threat, or if their presence could pose a threat to others.
In 2000, they denied permission for a visit by Albanian President Sali Berisha on security grounds.
Ethnic Albanians, who comprise about 90 percent of the province's population of 2 million, want independence. Serbia insists on retaining some control over the province, which it considers the birthplace of its national identity centuries ago.
An estimated 10,000 ethnic Albanians were killed in Kosovo's war. After the end of the war, tens of thousands of Serbs fled the province in the face of reprisal attacks and threats from ethnic Albanian extremists.
The Serbs who remain live mainly in isolated enclaves scattered around the province, and the two communities remain as divided as ever.
Kostunica's visit will come amid U.N.-mediated talks aimed at determining whether Kosovo becomes fully independent or remains part of Serbia and following his planned meetings in London with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Kostunica will participate Wednesday in ceremonies marking Vidovdan, or St. Vitus Day, which marks the day that Ottoman forces defeated a Christian army led by Serbian Prince Lazar in 1389, a U.N. official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.
Kosovo has been administered by the U.N. since mid-1999, when a NATO air war halted a crackdown by Serb forces on ethnic Albanians seeking independence.
Kostunica had asked U.N. authorities in Kosovo -- who will also be in charge of arranging for his protection during his stay -- for permission to visit. The province's U.N. administration can deny entry to anyone they believe could be under threat, or if their presence could pose a threat to others.
In 2000, they denied permission for a visit by Albanian President Sali Berisha on security grounds.
Ethnic Albanians, who comprise about 90 percent of the province's population of 2 million, want independence. Serbia insists on retaining some control over the province, which it considers the birthplace of its national identity centuries ago.
An estimated 10,000 ethnic Albanians were killed in Kosovo's war. After the end of the war, tens of thousands of Serbs fled the province in the face of reprisal attacks and threats from ethnic Albanian extremists.
The Serbs who remain live mainly in isolated enclaves scattered around the province, and the two communities remain as divided as ever.
Kostunica's visit will come amid U.N.-mediated talks aimed at determining whether Kosovo becomes fully independent or remains part of Serbia and following his planned meetings in London with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Balkan Gains in Peril
By Gordon N. Bardos
Sunday, June 25, 2006; B07
The Bush administration is facing a moment of truth in the Balkans. Montenegro's newly declared independence, the decision on Kosovo's future status expected later this year and ongoing efforts to promote constitutional reform in Bosnia-Herzegovina all bring sharply into focus the irreconcilability of two administration goals: disengagement from the Balkans (so full attention can be given to Afghanistan and the Middle East) and the obligation to manage the political and security changes facing southeastern Europe in the near future.
Given the European Union's problems -- an economic downturn in much of the eurozone, weak leadership in Italy and Germany, lame-duck leaders in Britain and France, and enlargement fatigue -- expecting the alliance to provide serious leadership in the region over the next few years is unrealistic.
The disintegration of Serbia-Montenegro is only the first of many important changes the region confronts. Montenegro's declaration of independence on June 3 from its union with Serbia was a considerable success for its top politician, Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic. But the independence referendum campaign and its outcome revealed the deep divisions within Montenegrin society. While the referendum passed by a 55 to 45 percent margin, in real terms the difference between the pro-independence and anti-independence blocs (roughly 45,000 votes) was less than the number of people in Yankee Stadium on a Sunday afternoon. Voters identifying themselves as Montenegrins, Albanians, or Muslims voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence, while Montenegrin citizens identifying themselves as Serbs -- more than 30 percent of the population -- voted just as strongly for maintaining the union. These divisions, coupled with an economy in which less than 20 percent of the population is officially employed, suggest future Montenegrin politics could be bitter and divisive.
Independent Montenegro faces two important challenges. The first is healing the wounds of the independence campaign and fostering an atmosphere in which the Serb population will be able to play a constructive role in political life. The second is satisfying the demands of Montenegro's ethnic minorities now that the terms of the political game in the country are changed. For several years Djukanovic has enjoyed the support of Albanian and Muslim minorities because they supported his campaign to break the tie with Serbia. Now that this has been achieved, ethnic minorities are likely to up the ante and begin seeking increased cultural and territorial autonomy within the new state. Montenegrin politics could begin to resemble the difficult, ethnically based politics of Bosnia-Herzegovina or Macedonia, which would hamper the country's Euro-Atlantic integration efforts down the road.
The spillover effects of Montenegro's independence referendum are already evident. Serb leaders in Bosnia have aired the possibility of holding their own independence referendum, while some Bosnian Muslim politicians have started calling for the Bosnian Serb republic to be eliminated altogether. Either action would mean, in effect, scrapping the Dayton Accords, which have kept the peace in Bosnia since 1995. In Serbia, support for extreme nationalist parties is rising and likely to increase still more if, as is widely expected, Kosovo is granted some form of independence later in the year. In Kosovo, recent reports by the United Nations and Human Rights Watch on corruption in political life and the absence of the rule of law show that place is a long way from becoming a stable democratic polity.
All of this suggests how easy it would be, absent strong U.S. leadership, for events to spin out of control and erase 10 years of efforts to stabilize the region. In such an unstable political climate, statements by U.S. policymakers about their eagerness to pull U.S. troops out of the Balkans and turn the job over to the Europeans only embolden extremists. Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia and Serbia are all gearing up for elections, and moderate political forces in these countries need U.S. support now to convince their electorates that the difficult choices being made to adopt economic and political reforms will pay off in the near future, not two or three electoral cycles down the line. The assassination of former Serbian prime minister Zoran Djindjic in March 2003 is a tragic reminder of the great personal risks reformers throughout southeastern Europe are taking. They need and deserve U.S. understanding and support.
By visiting Baghdad this month, President Bush sent a strong personal message to Iraqis that the United States intends to support their country until its transition to democracy is completed. The administration should send a similar message to both extremists and moderates in the Balkans that the United States will actively lead the effort to integrate all the countries of southeastern Europe into both NATO and the European Union -- and that it won't pull out until the job is done.
The writer is assistant director of the Harriman Institute at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. He also serves as a Balkans analyst for Freedom House.
Sunday, June 25, 2006; B07
The Bush administration is facing a moment of truth in the Balkans. Montenegro's newly declared independence, the decision on Kosovo's future status expected later this year and ongoing efforts to promote constitutional reform in Bosnia-Herzegovina all bring sharply into focus the irreconcilability of two administration goals: disengagement from the Balkans (so full attention can be given to Afghanistan and the Middle East) and the obligation to manage the political and security changes facing southeastern Europe in the near future.
Given the European Union's problems -- an economic downturn in much of the eurozone, weak leadership in Italy and Germany, lame-duck leaders in Britain and France, and enlargement fatigue -- expecting the alliance to provide serious leadership in the region over the next few years is unrealistic.
The disintegration of Serbia-Montenegro is only the first of many important changes the region confronts. Montenegro's declaration of independence on June 3 from its union with Serbia was a considerable success for its top politician, Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic. But the independence referendum campaign and its outcome revealed the deep divisions within Montenegrin society. While the referendum passed by a 55 to 45 percent margin, in real terms the difference between the pro-independence and anti-independence blocs (roughly 45,000 votes) was less than the number of people in Yankee Stadium on a Sunday afternoon. Voters identifying themselves as Montenegrins, Albanians, or Muslims voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence, while Montenegrin citizens identifying themselves as Serbs -- more than 30 percent of the population -- voted just as strongly for maintaining the union. These divisions, coupled with an economy in which less than 20 percent of the population is officially employed, suggest future Montenegrin politics could be bitter and divisive.
Independent Montenegro faces two important challenges. The first is healing the wounds of the independence campaign and fostering an atmosphere in which the Serb population will be able to play a constructive role in political life. The second is satisfying the demands of Montenegro's ethnic minorities now that the terms of the political game in the country are changed. For several years Djukanovic has enjoyed the support of Albanian and Muslim minorities because they supported his campaign to break the tie with Serbia. Now that this has been achieved, ethnic minorities are likely to up the ante and begin seeking increased cultural and territorial autonomy within the new state. Montenegrin politics could begin to resemble the difficult, ethnically based politics of Bosnia-Herzegovina or Macedonia, which would hamper the country's Euro-Atlantic integration efforts down the road.
The spillover effects of Montenegro's independence referendum are already evident. Serb leaders in Bosnia have aired the possibility of holding their own independence referendum, while some Bosnian Muslim politicians have started calling for the Bosnian Serb republic to be eliminated altogether. Either action would mean, in effect, scrapping the Dayton Accords, which have kept the peace in Bosnia since 1995. In Serbia, support for extreme nationalist parties is rising and likely to increase still more if, as is widely expected, Kosovo is granted some form of independence later in the year. In Kosovo, recent reports by the United Nations and Human Rights Watch on corruption in political life and the absence of the rule of law show that place is a long way from becoming a stable democratic polity.
All of this suggests how easy it would be, absent strong U.S. leadership, for events to spin out of control and erase 10 years of efforts to stabilize the region. In such an unstable political climate, statements by U.S. policymakers about their eagerness to pull U.S. troops out of the Balkans and turn the job over to the Europeans only embolden extremists. Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia and Serbia are all gearing up for elections, and moderate political forces in these countries need U.S. support now to convince their electorates that the difficult choices being made to adopt economic and political reforms will pay off in the near future, not two or three electoral cycles down the line. The assassination of former Serbian prime minister Zoran Djindjic in March 2003 is a tragic reminder of the great personal risks reformers throughout southeastern Europe are taking. They need and deserve U.S. understanding and support.
By visiting Baghdad this month, President Bush sent a strong personal message to Iraqis that the United States intends to support their country until its transition to democracy is completed. The administration should send a similar message to both extremists and moderates in the Balkans that the United States will actively lead the effort to integrate all the countries of southeastern Europe into both NATO and the European Union -- and that it won't pull out until the job is done.
The writer is assistant director of the Harriman Institute at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. He also serves as a Balkans analyst for Freedom House.
Friday, June 23, 2006
American Analyst Says Belgrade May be Working to Divide
By Barry Wood
Washington
23 June 2006
The head of the International Crisis Group research agency in Serbia, James Lyon, says the Belgrade government appears to be intent on dividing the mostly Albanian province of Kosovo. Lyon spoke Friday at a Radio Free Europe forum in Washington.
Speaking in Washington, Lyon said the Serbian government has decided that it wants the separation of Serbian and ethnic Albanian areas of Kosovo. Evidence of the decision, he said, comes from the increasing number of propaganda pieces in state-controlled media and the rehabilitation of several Milosevic era ideologues. "All the preparations have been completed. And the Serbian government literally can flip a switch and partition Kosovo," he said.
The area in question is largely populated by Serbs, comprises less than a quarter of Kosovo's territory, and is adjacent to Serbia proper. In a real sense, said Lyon, the partition has already occurred. "All of the telephone infrastructure has been rerouted both from the enclaves and from the north, northern Mitrovica, Zvecan, Zubin Potok, and those areas. The electricity infrastructure has been completely rerouted. As we're all aware the administrative, educational, judicial, police infrastructure is all dependent on Belgrade," he said.
While still technically a province of Serbia, the United Nations is likely later this year to put Kosovo on a road to independence. Ninety percent of Kosovo's population is ethnic Albanian.
Agim Ceku, Kosovo's prime minister, rejects the assertion that Kosovo is already divided. "That's not true. Kosovo is one unit. Yes, in the north the majority are Serbs who live there. (But) Unmik (the United Nations administration) has authority over all Kosovo. Kfor (the NATO led force) is there," he said.
Speaking to VOA in Washington, Ceku said he does not believe there will be a partition. "There is a temptation for a soft partition, if we recognize this. But it's just a temptation. It will not be allowed by the international community, which has decided there will be no partition in Kosovo," he said.
United Nations led talks in Vienna on Kosovo's future are deadlocked with the Serbs refusing to consider the independence that the ethnic Albanian majority insist upon. Altogether, there are less than 100 thousand Serbs in Kosovo and only half of them live in the area adjacent to Serbia proper.
Washington
23 June 2006
The head of the International Crisis Group research agency in Serbia, James Lyon, says the Belgrade government appears to be intent on dividing the mostly Albanian province of Kosovo. Lyon spoke Friday at a Radio Free Europe forum in Washington.
Speaking in Washington, Lyon said the Serbian government has decided that it wants the separation of Serbian and ethnic Albanian areas of Kosovo. Evidence of the decision, he said, comes from the increasing number of propaganda pieces in state-controlled media and the rehabilitation of several Milosevic era ideologues. "All the preparations have been completed. And the Serbian government literally can flip a switch and partition Kosovo," he said.
The area in question is largely populated by Serbs, comprises less than a quarter of Kosovo's territory, and is adjacent to Serbia proper. In a real sense, said Lyon, the partition has already occurred. "All of the telephone infrastructure has been rerouted both from the enclaves and from the north, northern Mitrovica, Zvecan, Zubin Potok, and those areas. The electricity infrastructure has been completely rerouted. As we're all aware the administrative, educational, judicial, police infrastructure is all dependent on Belgrade," he said.
While still technically a province of Serbia, the United Nations is likely later this year to put Kosovo on a road to independence. Ninety percent of Kosovo's population is ethnic Albanian.
Agim Ceku, Kosovo's prime minister, rejects the assertion that Kosovo is already divided. "That's not true. Kosovo is one unit. Yes, in the north the majority are Serbs who live there. (But) Unmik (the United Nations administration) has authority over all Kosovo. Kfor (the NATO led force) is there," he said.
Speaking to VOA in Washington, Ceku said he does not believe there will be a partition. "There is a temptation for a soft partition, if we recognize this. But it's just a temptation. It will not be allowed by the international community, which has decided there will be no partition in Kosovo," he said.
United Nations led talks in Vienna on Kosovo's future are deadlocked with the Serbs refusing to consider the independence that the ethnic Albanian majority insist upon. Altogether, there are less than 100 thousand Serbs in Kosovo and only half of them live in the area adjacent to Serbia proper.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Kosovo To Select Bidder For New Power Plant In Early 2007
PRISTINA, Serbia (AP)--Kosovo's authorities will select a bidder to build a new power plant in early 2007 in the impoverished province, which frequently battles energy problems, the energy minister said Wednesday.
Ethem Ceku, who runs Kosovo's Ministry for Energy and Minerals, said the project to build Kosovo C, with a capacity of producing 1800 to 2100 megawatts of electricity, will be the largest investment that the province has seen since it came under U.N. rule in mid-1999.
Kosovo, a province of 2 million with an unemployment rate estimated at 50%, has been gripped by frequent power shortages, which have made it dependent on expensive imports for years, an anomaly for a territory with billions of tons of coal reserves.
The province has two thermal power plants -Kosovo A and B -both old and dilapidated, just outside the capital Pristina, prone to breakdowns that cause regular power cuts, despite large investments. It also sits at the center of a region with a growing energy demand in Europe.
The authorities will call on potential investors in mid-July to make proposals on how they think that Kosovo's short and mid term energy problems can be solved, said Joachim Ruecker, the U.N. official in charge of the economy sector.
That will be followed by opening a bid procedure later in the year, which will be completed with choosing a partner, Ruecker said.
The building of the new plant, as well as the rehabilitation of an old plant and the opening of a new lignite mine, should be completed by 2012, and will cost about EUR3 billion, Ceku said.
"We will be able to turn Kosovo from a place where its citizens, schools and hospitals face energy restrictions, in a place of stability," Ceku said.
He said companies from U.S., Germany, Italy, France, Russia and Turkey have shown interest in the province's energy sector.
Kosovo, formally a province of Serbia, has been administered by the U.N. since mid-1999. Talks to determine whether the province will become independent or remain with Serbia are underway.
Ethem Ceku, who runs Kosovo's Ministry for Energy and Minerals, said the project to build Kosovo C, with a capacity of producing 1800 to 2100 megawatts of electricity, will be the largest investment that the province has seen since it came under U.N. rule in mid-1999.
Kosovo, a province of 2 million with an unemployment rate estimated at 50%, has been gripped by frequent power shortages, which have made it dependent on expensive imports for years, an anomaly for a territory with billions of tons of coal reserves.
The province has two thermal power plants -Kosovo A and B -both old and dilapidated, just outside the capital Pristina, prone to breakdowns that cause regular power cuts, despite large investments. It also sits at the center of a region with a growing energy demand in Europe.
The authorities will call on potential investors in mid-July to make proposals on how they think that Kosovo's short and mid term energy problems can be solved, said Joachim Ruecker, the U.N. official in charge of the economy sector.
That will be followed by opening a bid procedure later in the year, which will be completed with choosing a partner, Ruecker said.
The building of the new plant, as well as the rehabilitation of an old plant and the opening of a new lignite mine, should be completed by 2012, and will cost about EUR3 billion, Ceku said.
"We will be able to turn Kosovo from a place where its citizens, schools and hospitals face energy restrictions, in a place of stability," Ceku said.
He said companies from U.S., Germany, Italy, France, Russia and Turkey have shown interest in the province's energy sector.
Kosovo, formally a province of Serbia, has been administered by the U.N. since mid-1999. Talks to determine whether the province will become independent or remain with Serbia are underway.
Bushes See Sites, Answer Public Questions in Austria
Tears rolled down the cheeks of some White House aides as that same questioner, a woman named Rezarta Gashi, expressed gratitude for the U.S.-NATO intervention in Kosovo in 1999.
She gave Bush her thanks, although he wasn't involved. Bill Clinton was president at the time; Bush was governor of Texas.
"The intervention of 1999, of the American troops along with NATO partners, has enabled me to be a participant today at this round-table," Gashi said. "Otherwise, most of all, I would have had the tragic fate of my father, a prominent university professor and minister of agriculture, as well, who was murdered in the war."
Tears flowed from Bush communications director Nicole Wallace and Anita McBride, the first lady's chief of staff, while the president and Laura Bush listened intently.
Bush clenched his jaw. The first lady had a stern look on her face.
She gave Bush her thanks, although he wasn't involved. Bill Clinton was president at the time; Bush was governor of Texas.
"The intervention of 1999, of the American troops along with NATO partners, has enabled me to be a participant today at this round-table," Gashi said. "Otherwise, most of all, I would have had the tragic fate of my father, a prominent university professor and minister of agriculture, as well, who was murdered in the war."
Tears flowed from Bush communications director Nicole Wallace and Anita McBride, the first lady's chief of staff, while the president and Laura Bush listened intently.
Bush clenched his jaw. The first lady had a stern look on her face.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Belgrade's "isolationist" attitude toward Kosovo Serbs unhelpful, envoy says
.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The Serbian government has left minority Serbs in Kosovo isolated and unable to make informed choices, a tactic that can only complicate negotiations on the tiny province's future, a U.N. official said Tuesday.
Belgrade bars the 100,000 ethnic Serbs in Kosovo from joining the province's government and sometimes forces them to choose between taking a salary from Serbia or from Kosovo, top U.N. envoy Soren Jessen-Petersen told the U.N. Security Council.
"I do not see any merit to Belgrade's isolationist policy from the point of view of Kosovo's Serbs," Jessen-Petersen told the Security Council.
The briefing was Jessen-Petersen's last before he steps down June 30 as U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special representative for Kosovo, which has been under U.N. stewardship since 1999.
Talks are under way to determine whether Kosovo becomes an independent state or remains attached to Serbia. They have stumbled because Kosovo insists on full independence, while Serbia says it will only allow the province greater autonomy.
A key stumbling block has been the fate of the ethnic Serbs who make up less than 10 percent of the population.
Jessen-Petersen was briefing the council on a report in which Annan said neither the ethnic Albanians or Serbs will benefit unless they show more willingness to make concessions in the talks on Kosovo's future.
Yet Jessen-Petersen said Kosovo is making progress and its leaders showed a "far greater willingness" to reach out to minorities, particularly the Kosovo Serbs.
The problem, he said, is that Serbs are left "confused, exposed and isolated" because of the messages sent by the Serbian government. Many of them want to take part in Kosovo's administration but are barred from doing so.
He suggested that Belgrade makes Kosovo Serbs feel that crimes against them are always motivated by ethnicity, an unfair characterization that "perpetuates a climate of insecurity."
Serbia's representative at the meeting, Sanda Raskovic-Ivic, rejected Jessen-Petersen's remarks, saying that Kosovo Serbs should only participate if they can do so in a meaningful way.
Raskovic-Ivic stressed that Belgrade believes Kosovo Serbs face grave danger from the ethnic Albanians there.
"The very right to survival of Serbs and non-Albanians, a definite minority in the province, has been threatened," she said.
The current talks on Kosovo's future are being held under the auspices of the United Nations, the United States, Britain, Germany, France, Russia and Italy. That group has said it wants a solution by the end of the year.
Kosovo's ethnic Albanians took up arms in 1998 to secede from Serbia, triggering a brutal government crackdown which led to NATO military intervention in 1999 that eventually forced Serbia to hand over authority of Kosovo to a temporary U.N. administration and NATO peacekeepers.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The Serbian government has left minority Serbs in Kosovo isolated and unable to make informed choices, a tactic that can only complicate negotiations on the tiny province's future, a U.N. official said Tuesday.
Belgrade bars the 100,000 ethnic Serbs in Kosovo from joining the province's government and sometimes forces them to choose between taking a salary from Serbia or from Kosovo, top U.N. envoy Soren Jessen-Petersen told the U.N. Security Council.
"I do not see any merit to Belgrade's isolationist policy from the point of view of Kosovo's Serbs," Jessen-Petersen told the Security Council.
The briefing was Jessen-Petersen's last before he steps down June 30 as U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special representative for Kosovo, which has been under U.N. stewardship since 1999.
Talks are under way to determine whether Kosovo becomes an independent state or remains attached to Serbia. They have stumbled because Kosovo insists on full independence, while Serbia says it will only allow the province greater autonomy.
A key stumbling block has been the fate of the ethnic Serbs who make up less than 10 percent of the population.
Jessen-Petersen was briefing the council on a report in which Annan said neither the ethnic Albanians or Serbs will benefit unless they show more willingness to make concessions in the talks on Kosovo's future.
Yet Jessen-Petersen said Kosovo is making progress and its leaders showed a "far greater willingness" to reach out to minorities, particularly the Kosovo Serbs.
The problem, he said, is that Serbs are left "confused, exposed and isolated" because of the messages sent by the Serbian government. Many of them want to take part in Kosovo's administration but are barred from doing so.
He suggested that Belgrade makes Kosovo Serbs feel that crimes against them are always motivated by ethnicity, an unfair characterization that "perpetuates a climate of insecurity."
Serbia's representative at the meeting, Sanda Raskovic-Ivic, rejected Jessen-Petersen's remarks, saying that Kosovo Serbs should only participate if they can do so in a meaningful way.
Raskovic-Ivic stressed that Belgrade believes Kosovo Serbs face grave danger from the ethnic Albanians there.
"The very right to survival of Serbs and non-Albanians, a definite minority in the province, has been threatened," she said.
The current talks on Kosovo's future are being held under the auspices of the United Nations, the United States, Britain, Germany, France, Russia and Italy. That group has said it wants a solution by the end of the year.
Kosovo's ethnic Albanians took up arms in 1998 to secede from Serbia, triggering a brutal government crackdown which led to NATO military intervention in 1999 that eventually forced Serbia to hand over authority of Kosovo to a temporary U.N. administration and NATO peacekeepers.
UN official warns Belgrade of damaging Kosovo
UNITED NATIONS, June 20 (Reuters) - The U.N. governor of Kosovo on Tuesday warned Belgrade that its policies in the province were damaging and divisive and were complicating negotiations on the future status of Kosovo.
Soren Jessen-Petersen criticized Belgrade, which finances many services in enclaves in the province, for ordering all Serb government employees in Kosovo to resign from jobs with the United Nations or lose their Serbian paychecks.
"I take the opportunity to call on Belgrade ... to withdraw this damaging directive," he told the U.N. Security Council. He called Serbia's action a "divisive move" that prevented Kosovo Serbs from participating in their future.
Jessen-Petersen, in his last address to the council after two years in the post, said Kosovo was suffering economic hardship and that unemployment was spectacularly high with no prospect of foreign investment until its future was resolved.
"The risk is very clear. Kosovo is a place with some extremely difficult social hardship cases," Jessen-Petersen told a news conference after his council address. "It is my biggest hope that we clarify the status."
The status talks are conducted by Martti Ahtisaari, a Finish statesman. An outcome is expected be presented to the Security Council for approval by the end of the year.
At Jessen-Petersen's side was Kosovo's prime minister, Agim Ceku, who took office in March and is considered to have taken some steps to promote reconciliation with Kosovo Serbs.
Kosovo's 90 percent Albanian majority demands independence -- an outcome favored by the West as the only viable solution, providing rights for Serbs are closely monitored. But Serbia, which has claims on the province rejects this.
The Serbian official in charge of Kosovo policy, Sanda Raskovic-Ivic. told the council that the best solution was "substantial autonomy" within Serbia.
She emphasized little progress had been made to resolve Serb property rights and human rights. "There is no rule of law, corruption is rife, pervasive organized crime hampers economic recovery and ...undermines people's faith in institutions."
Russia's U.N. ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, urged a compromise but stopped short of rejecting independence. But he said a timetable to end status talks by the end of the year was arbitrary and wrong.
"This can be assured only over a lengthy period of time," Churkin said, adding that a "one-sided unilaterally-imposed solution" was not acceptable to the Security Council.
Kosovo has been under U.N. rule since 1999, when NATO bombs drove out Serb forces, accused of ethnic cleansing while fighting an ethnic Albanian insurgency.
Soren Jessen-Petersen criticized Belgrade, which finances many services in enclaves in the province, for ordering all Serb government employees in Kosovo to resign from jobs with the United Nations or lose their Serbian paychecks.
"I take the opportunity to call on Belgrade ... to withdraw this damaging directive," he told the U.N. Security Council. He called Serbia's action a "divisive move" that prevented Kosovo Serbs from participating in their future.
Jessen-Petersen, in his last address to the council after two years in the post, said Kosovo was suffering economic hardship and that unemployment was spectacularly high with no prospect of foreign investment until its future was resolved.
"The risk is very clear. Kosovo is a place with some extremely difficult social hardship cases," Jessen-Petersen told a news conference after his council address. "It is my biggest hope that we clarify the status."
The status talks are conducted by Martti Ahtisaari, a Finish statesman. An outcome is expected be presented to the Security Council for approval by the end of the year.
At Jessen-Petersen's side was Kosovo's prime minister, Agim Ceku, who took office in March and is considered to have taken some steps to promote reconciliation with Kosovo Serbs.
Kosovo's 90 percent Albanian majority demands independence -- an outcome favored by the West as the only viable solution, providing rights for Serbs are closely monitored. But Serbia, which has claims on the province rejects this.
The Serbian official in charge of Kosovo policy, Sanda Raskovic-Ivic. told the council that the best solution was "substantial autonomy" within Serbia.
She emphasized little progress had been made to resolve Serb property rights and human rights. "There is no rule of law, corruption is rife, pervasive organized crime hampers economic recovery and ...undermines people's faith in institutions."
Russia's U.N. ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, urged a compromise but stopped short of rejecting independence. But he said a timetable to end status talks by the end of the year was arbitrary and wrong.
"This can be assured only over a lengthy period of time," Churkin said, adding that a "one-sided unilaterally-imposed solution" was not acceptable to the Security Council.
Kosovo has been under U.N. rule since 1999, when NATO bombs drove out Serb forces, accused of ethnic cleansing while fighting an ethnic Albanian insurgency.
Kosovo Serbs recruit ex-soldiers for defence
MITROVICA, Serbia, June 20 (Reuters) - Serbs in northern Kosovo have recruited hundreds of former Yugoslav army soldiers to defend them from attacks by ethnic Albanians pushing for independence for the province, Serb officials said on Tuesday.
It is the latest sign of resistance among the Serb minority in the United Nations-run province to the drive for independence by the 2 million-strong Albanian majority. U.N.-led talks look likely to give Kosovo some form of independence before year-end.
Officials in the north, home to 50,000 Serbs, said 385 former Yugoslav reservists had been employed by municipalities to "organise defence in the event of extremist violence".
"We have been forced into such a move because of police ineffectiveness, and the cover-up of crimes and their perpetrators," Zvecan mayor Dragisa Milovic told Reuters. Officially, the "Civil Defence Service" will not be armed.
The north, adjacent to central Serbia, cut ties last month with Albanian authorities in the capital -- a move some analysts said was a precursor to a Serb bid to partition the province.
Underlining Serb fears, police said a 68-year-old Serb refugee who returned to Kosovo having fled after the war had been found dead in his home in the western town of Klina. A police source said he had been shot. The motive was unclear.
Serb troops were forced from Kosovo in 1999 when NATO bombed to halt their killing and ethnic cleansing of ethnic Albanian civilians in a two-year war with separatist guerrillas.
Around half the Serb population fled a wave of revenge attacks. The 100,000 who stayed live in enclaves isolated from the ethnic Albanian majority.
Kosovo's outgoing U.N. governor, Soren Jessen-Petersen, told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that Kosovo Albanian leaders had made strides in improving the rights and security of the remaining Serbs -- something U.N. and Western diplomats say is vital to clinching independence.
The Serbs say this is a lie and blame a recent spate of violence on Albanians bent on driving them out.
Direct talks on Kosovo's fate began in February in Vienna under U.N. mediation. The crunch issue of status should be on the table in late July, with Western powers determined to end seven years of limbo in Kosovo by the end of the year.
Diplomats say the West favours independence, but fear a bid by Serbs in the north to partition Kosovo, a move seen certain to bring Albanian retaliation likely to force thousands to flee.
The U.N. has contingency plans for the exodus of 50,000 Serbs if Kosovo splits from Serbia. The 17,000-strong NATO peace force said this month it would bolster mobile units in the north by reopening a military base there.
(Additional reporting by Shaban Buza)
It is the latest sign of resistance among the Serb minority in the United Nations-run province to the drive for independence by the 2 million-strong Albanian majority. U.N.-led talks look likely to give Kosovo some form of independence before year-end.
Officials in the north, home to 50,000 Serbs, said 385 former Yugoslav reservists had been employed by municipalities to "organise defence in the event of extremist violence".
"We have been forced into such a move because of police ineffectiveness, and the cover-up of crimes and their perpetrators," Zvecan mayor Dragisa Milovic told Reuters. Officially, the "Civil Defence Service" will not be armed.
The north, adjacent to central Serbia, cut ties last month with Albanian authorities in the capital -- a move some analysts said was a precursor to a Serb bid to partition the province.
Underlining Serb fears, police said a 68-year-old Serb refugee who returned to Kosovo having fled after the war had been found dead in his home in the western town of Klina. A police source said he had been shot. The motive was unclear.
Serb troops were forced from Kosovo in 1999 when NATO bombed to halt their killing and ethnic cleansing of ethnic Albanian civilians in a two-year war with separatist guerrillas.
Around half the Serb population fled a wave of revenge attacks. The 100,000 who stayed live in enclaves isolated from the ethnic Albanian majority.
Kosovo's outgoing U.N. governor, Soren Jessen-Petersen, told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that Kosovo Albanian leaders had made strides in improving the rights and security of the remaining Serbs -- something U.N. and Western diplomats say is vital to clinching independence.
The Serbs say this is a lie and blame a recent spate of violence on Albanians bent on driving them out.
Direct talks on Kosovo's fate began in February in Vienna under U.N. mediation. The crunch issue of status should be on the table in late July, with Western powers determined to end seven years of limbo in Kosovo by the end of the year.
Diplomats say the West favours independence, but fear a bid by Serbs in the north to partition Kosovo, a move seen certain to bring Albanian retaliation likely to force thousands to flee.
The U.N. has contingency plans for the exodus of 50,000 Serbs if Kosovo splits from Serbia. The 17,000-strong NATO peace force said this month it would bolster mobile units in the north by reopening a military base there.
(Additional reporting by Shaban Buza)
PM tells US officials Kosovo independence to bring stability in region
Text of report by Kosovo Albanian Kosovapress news agency website
Washington, 19 June: At a meeting today with the members of the US National Security Council, Prime Minister Agim Ceku said that the international recognition of the independence of Kosova [Kosovo] would generate political stability, economic progress, and a new dynamics for the entire region.
The head of the Kosova government said that an independent and democratic Kosova would be a strategic partner of the United States in the areas of energy and security. Focusing on the latter, the prime minister mentioned the role that the Kosova Protection Corps [TMK] would be able to play in tackling security challenges.
Ceku focused on the work of the Kosova government in dealing with priorities, such as the Standards, and in producing a positive vision of democracy in Kosova, which would be functional and designed to create favourable and safe environment for all Kosova citizens.
Jack D. Crouch, an assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser, said that the United States remained committed to helping Kosova and expected it to develop democratic standards, such as multi-ethnicity and respect and tolerance for minorities.
At the meeting, Kosova President Fatmir Sejdiu focused on the status of Kosova and the work of the negotiating team.
Sometime today, the Kosova delegation is expected to meet with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Daniel Fried, assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs, and Rosemary di Carlo, deputy assistant secretary of state, the Kosova Government Information Office has announced.
Source: Kosovapress news agency website, Pristina, in Albanian 19 Jun 06
Washington, 19 June: At a meeting today with the members of the US National Security Council, Prime Minister Agim Ceku said that the international recognition of the independence of Kosova [Kosovo] would generate political stability, economic progress, and a new dynamics for the entire region.
The head of the Kosova government said that an independent and democratic Kosova would be a strategic partner of the United States in the areas of energy and security. Focusing on the latter, the prime minister mentioned the role that the Kosova Protection Corps [TMK] would be able to play in tackling security challenges.
Ceku focused on the work of the Kosova government in dealing with priorities, such as the Standards, and in producing a positive vision of democracy in Kosova, which would be functional and designed to create favourable and safe environment for all Kosova citizens.
Jack D. Crouch, an assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser, said that the United States remained committed to helping Kosova and expected it to develop democratic standards, such as multi-ethnicity and respect and tolerance for minorities.
At the meeting, Kosova President Fatmir Sejdiu focused on the status of Kosova and the work of the negotiating team.
Sometime today, the Kosova delegation is expected to meet with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Daniel Fried, assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs, and Rosemary di Carlo, deputy assistant secretary of state, the Kosova Government Information Office has announced.
Source: Kosovapress news agency website, Pristina, in Albanian 19 Jun 06
Kosovo government reiterates commitment to help return of all refugees
Text of report in English by independent internet news agency KosovaLive
Prishtina [Pristina], 20 June: On World Refugees Day the government said that despite the limited budget, it has managed to provide conditions for return, and pledged that it will work even harder for returning of all of refugees home.
The government said that it is committed to create conditions for return of all to return to their properties.
"We share the pain and sufferings with all those who are refugees and displaced persons with the hope and wish that they will find strength to keep alive their hopes until the day when their status as a refugee ends and when they return to their homes to begin a new life," the government stated in a press release.
The Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosova [Kosovo], ambassador Werner Wnendt, today urged refugees and the internally displaced persons [IDPs] to hold on to their dreams of returning home.
"We at the OSCE honour the strength, the patience, and the hopes held by all refugees and IDPs from and within Kosovo, and on this day encourage you to persevere. We are helping to prepare the ground for your return, so that your dreams can be realized in the near future," he said.
Prime Minister Ceku has launched a "Confidence-Building Task Force" and a "Communities Security Council" to assess and address the needs of minorities, who remain the most at-risk populations for human rights violations in Kosovo. The PISG [Provisional Institutions of Self-Government] also recently endorsed a Protocol on Voluntary and Sustainable Returns.
Ambassador Wnendt added: "We applaud all the recent efforts by the authorities to take remedial action towards improving the conditions in Kosovo for voluntary and sustainable returns of refugees and IDPs. We stand beside this government and all its institutions, as an ally and supporter in the quest to secure better living conditions for refugees, IDPs and all Kosovo residents."
The UN General Assembly designated 20 June every year as World Refugee Day in a resolution that was unanimously adopted in 2000.
Source: KosovaLive website, Pristina, in English 20 Jun 06
Prishtina [Pristina], 20 June: On World Refugees Day the government said that despite the limited budget, it has managed to provide conditions for return, and pledged that it will work even harder for returning of all of refugees home.
The government said that it is committed to create conditions for return of all to return to their properties.
"We share the pain and sufferings with all those who are refugees and displaced persons with the hope and wish that they will find strength to keep alive their hopes until the day when their status as a refugee ends and when they return to their homes to begin a new life," the government stated in a press release.
The Head of the OSCE Mission in Kosova [Kosovo], ambassador Werner Wnendt, today urged refugees and the internally displaced persons [IDPs] to hold on to their dreams of returning home.
"We at the OSCE honour the strength, the patience, and the hopes held by all refugees and IDPs from and within Kosovo, and on this day encourage you to persevere. We are helping to prepare the ground for your return, so that your dreams can be realized in the near future," he said.
Prime Minister Ceku has launched a "Confidence-Building Task Force" and a "Communities Security Council" to assess and address the needs of minorities, who remain the most at-risk populations for human rights violations in Kosovo. The PISG [Provisional Institutions of Self-Government] also recently endorsed a Protocol on Voluntary and Sustainable Returns.
Ambassador Wnendt added: "We applaud all the recent efforts by the authorities to take remedial action towards improving the conditions in Kosovo for voluntary and sustainable returns of refugees and IDPs. We stand beside this government and all its institutions, as an ally and supporter in the quest to secure better living conditions for refugees, IDPs and all Kosovo residents."
The UN General Assembly designated 20 June every year as World Refugee Day in a resolution that was unanimously adopted in 2000.
Source: KosovaLive website, Pristina, in English 20 Jun 06
Serb cemetery desecrated in Kosovo
PRISTINA, Serbia (AP) - Vandals have damaged tombstones in a Serb cemetery in central Kosovo, police and a Serb government center said Tuesday.
Sixteen graveside monuments were damaged in the Serb village of Staro Gracko, 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of the province's capital, Pristina, said police spokesman Veton Elshani.
Police were at the scene investigating. Elshani said it was not clear when the damage was done.
But a Serb government-run center in Kosovo, quoting local Serb representatives, said a group got into the cemetery early Tuesday and vandalized the monuments, leaving behind broken crosses, benches and pots for flowers and candles.
Kosovo has been run by a United Nations mission since 1999, when a NATO air war halted Serb forces' crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians.
U.N.-brokered talks will determine whether Kosovo will become an independent state, as the ethnic Albanians demand, or remain attached to Serbia, as the province's minority Serbs insist.
Sixteen graveside monuments were damaged in the Serb village of Staro Gracko, 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of the province's capital, Pristina, said police spokesman Veton Elshani.
Police were at the scene investigating. Elshani said it was not clear when the damage was done.
But a Serb government-run center in Kosovo, quoting local Serb representatives, said a group got into the cemetery early Tuesday and vandalized the monuments, leaving behind broken crosses, benches and pots for flowers and candles.
Kosovo has been run by a United Nations mission since 1999, when a NATO air war halted Serb forces' crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians.
U.N.-brokered talks will determine whether Kosovo will become an independent state, as the ethnic Albanians demand, or remain attached to Serbia, as the province's minority Serbs insist.
Monday, June 19, 2006
Exclusive Picture of the Day: U.S. Sec. of State Rice Meeting Kosovo Leaders
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (C) shakes hands with Kosovo's President Fatmir Sejdiu (L), as Kosovo's Prime Minister Agim Ceku (R) smiles, before their meeting in the Secretary's Outer Office at the State Department in Washington June 19, 2006. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas (UNITED STATES)
Kosovo Working Toward Stability, Top Leaders Tell US Rice
WASHINGTON (AP)--Kosovo's top leaders said they told the U.S. secretary of state in a meeting Monday that they are working to build a modern, multiethnic country.
"We are looking for Kosovo to become a normal country," Prime Minister Agim Ceku told reporters after he and President Fatmir Sejdiu met with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Ceku said he and Sejdiu assured Rice that they were capable of running a stable, democratic country, but that Kosovo needed resources from the U.S. to help transform itself.
Kosovo, formally a province of Serbia, has been administered by the United Nations since NATO's 1999 air war forced Serb forces to end a crackdown on separatist ethnic Albanians and relinquish control over the region.
Talks are under way to determine whether Kosovo becomes an independent state or remains attached to Serbia.
Ethnic Albanians in Kosovo insist on full independence, while the minority Serbs and Belgrade want the province to remain within Serbia.
Before Monday's meeting, the U.S. State Department was stressing the need for Kosovo's leaders to build confidence with minority communities, State Department spokeswoman Nancy Beck said.
Ceku said the majority of people in Kosovo understand that it is "in their best interest to accommodate minorities."
"We are looking for Kosovo to become a normal country," Prime Minister Agim Ceku told reporters after he and President Fatmir Sejdiu met with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Ceku said he and Sejdiu assured Rice that they were capable of running a stable, democratic country, but that Kosovo needed resources from the U.S. to help transform itself.
Kosovo, formally a province of Serbia, has been administered by the United Nations since NATO's 1999 air war forced Serb forces to end a crackdown on separatist ethnic Albanians and relinquish control over the region.
Talks are under way to determine whether Kosovo becomes an independent state or remains attached to Serbia.
Ethnic Albanians in Kosovo insist on full independence, while the minority Serbs and Belgrade want the province to remain within Serbia.
Before Monday's meeting, the U.S. State Department was stressing the need for Kosovo's leaders to build confidence with minority communities, State Department spokeswoman Nancy Beck said.
Ceku said the majority of people in Kosovo understand that it is "in their best interest to accommodate minorities."
Bush to Visit Europe This Week - Pro-US Sentiment Peaks in Kosovo
VIENNA, Austria — Abu Ghraib. Guantanamo. Haditha. America's problems with Iraq are casting a long shadow over President Bush's meeting with European Union leaders this week.
The gathering is restricted to U.S. officials and the European Union leadership, and the agenda focuses on Iran's nuclear ambitions, agricultural subsidies and the West's dependence on imported oil and gas.
But the United States' precarious world standing will be the unspoken theme of Wednesday's session in Vienna.
Ahead of the visit, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said he doubted Bush would have much to say about the U.S. prison for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, allegations of prisoner abuse in Iraq and alleged killings of Iraqi civilians by Marines in Haditha.
For millions of Europeans, however, these are the issues that matter — and their concerns are shared by politicians.
Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, plans to urge Bush to close Guantanamo. Peter Pilz, a senior member of Austria's Green party, says Schuessel should tell Bush "that the criminal actions of his government will not be tolerated in Europe."
Pilz is one of Austria's more outspoken public figures. Still, his sentiments — that the U.S. is breaking the law in Iraq and in its larger fight against terror — are shared by many Europeans angry over the Iraq invasion, recent suicides at Guantanamo and the reported existence of secret CIA prisons worldwide.
Newspaper editorials reflect Europe's dismay with a partnership most here see as has having gone wrong.
"Those who came as liberators, those who wanted to bring the rule of justice ... lost their moral credibility in Iraq," wrote the German weekly Die Zeit. "Not just a few soldiers have 'lost their control' as they like to say. America's entire Iraq policy is out of control."
In France, the newspaper Le Monde wrote of the Guantanamo suicides: "We continue to ask by what heavenly decree America holds itself above the rule of law."
Young people, like Andrej Mantei of Berlin, are even more scathing. "I don't think it's possible that anybody could make worse foreign policy than Bush," he says.
And even many older people are critical, unlike a few decades ago, when they equated America with the war against Nazi Germany, postwar reconstruction and the shield against the Soviet Union.
"I think Bush was wrong, and he should have remorse," said Rosa Sarrocco, 80, of Rome. "The recent events ... have had a further negative impact on my opinion of America."
America's image problems in Europe are reflected by a survey done by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and released last week. Favorable opinions of the United States ranged from a high of 56 percent in Britain to a low of 23 percent in Spain.
Even in Britain, support for Bush was only 30 percent, and 60 percent of British respondents said the Iraq war has made the world less safe.
Pro-U.S. sentiment is stronger in much of formerly communist eastern Europe, where Washington's contribution to toppling Soviet dominance lingers in many minds. It peaks in Kosovo, whose ethnic Albanian majority gratefully remembers the U.S.-led bombing in 1999 that forced Serb troops from the province.
"Till I die, I will support whatever America does, be it in Iraq, Afghanistan or elsewhere," says Arben Shaqiri, a 25-year-old bartender in Pristina, Kosovo's main city.
But "Old Europe" is more critical. There have always been trans-Atlantic rivalries, but the divide has grown: The end of the Cold War removed the threat that had united America and Europe since World War II.
It's partly a reflection of two societies drifting apart as the continent seeks to preserve its model of free college education, universal health care, seven-week holidays and other social programs that reflect a different emphasis from the American work ethic.
In his book, "The European Dream," author Jeremy Rifkin outlines characteristics that push the two peoples apart. "The American Dream puts an emphasis on economic growth, personal wealth and independence," he writes. "The new European Dream focuses more on sustainable development, quality of life, and interdependence."
A recent addition to the differences is widespread European dislike not just of the Iraq war but Bush's blunt style. Editorials often talk of the Texan as the "cowboy president."
Washington's decision to work in concert with other world powers as it tries to engage Iran over its nuclear program shows America may have learned some lessons about the benefits of diplomacy.
Still, the damage seems done.
"Whatever the Bush administration does, it is automatically viewed with suspicion by the European population," says Steven Casey of the London School of Economics, an expert on American public opinion.
The gathering is restricted to U.S. officials and the European Union leadership, and the agenda focuses on Iran's nuclear ambitions, agricultural subsidies and the West's dependence on imported oil and gas.
But the United States' precarious world standing will be the unspoken theme of Wednesday's session in Vienna.
Ahead of the visit, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said he doubted Bush would have much to say about the U.S. prison for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, allegations of prisoner abuse in Iraq and alleged killings of Iraqi civilians by Marines in Haditha.
For millions of Europeans, however, these are the issues that matter — and their concerns are shared by politicians.
Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, plans to urge Bush to close Guantanamo. Peter Pilz, a senior member of Austria's Green party, says Schuessel should tell Bush "that the criminal actions of his government will not be tolerated in Europe."
Pilz is one of Austria's more outspoken public figures. Still, his sentiments — that the U.S. is breaking the law in Iraq and in its larger fight against terror — are shared by many Europeans angry over the Iraq invasion, recent suicides at Guantanamo and the reported existence of secret CIA prisons worldwide.
Newspaper editorials reflect Europe's dismay with a partnership most here see as has having gone wrong.
"Those who came as liberators, those who wanted to bring the rule of justice ... lost their moral credibility in Iraq," wrote the German weekly Die Zeit. "Not just a few soldiers have 'lost their control' as they like to say. America's entire Iraq policy is out of control."
In France, the newspaper Le Monde wrote of the Guantanamo suicides: "We continue to ask by what heavenly decree America holds itself above the rule of law."
Young people, like Andrej Mantei of Berlin, are even more scathing. "I don't think it's possible that anybody could make worse foreign policy than Bush," he says.
And even many older people are critical, unlike a few decades ago, when they equated America with the war against Nazi Germany, postwar reconstruction and the shield against the Soviet Union.
"I think Bush was wrong, and he should have remorse," said Rosa Sarrocco, 80, of Rome. "The recent events ... have had a further negative impact on my opinion of America."
America's image problems in Europe are reflected by a survey done by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and released last week. Favorable opinions of the United States ranged from a high of 56 percent in Britain to a low of 23 percent in Spain.
Even in Britain, support for Bush was only 30 percent, and 60 percent of British respondents said the Iraq war has made the world less safe.
Pro-U.S. sentiment is stronger in much of formerly communist eastern Europe, where Washington's contribution to toppling Soviet dominance lingers in many minds. It peaks in Kosovo, whose ethnic Albanian majority gratefully remembers the U.S.-led bombing in 1999 that forced Serb troops from the province.
"Till I die, I will support whatever America does, be it in Iraq, Afghanistan or elsewhere," says Arben Shaqiri, a 25-year-old bartender in Pristina, Kosovo's main city.
But "Old Europe" is more critical. There have always been trans-Atlantic rivalries, but the divide has grown: The end of the Cold War removed the threat that had united America and Europe since World War II.
It's partly a reflection of two societies drifting apart as the continent seeks to preserve its model of free college education, universal health care, seven-week holidays and other social programs that reflect a different emphasis from the American work ethic.
In his book, "The European Dream," author Jeremy Rifkin outlines characteristics that push the two peoples apart. "The American Dream puts an emphasis on economic growth, personal wealth and independence," he writes. "The new European Dream focuses more on sustainable development, quality of life, and interdependence."
A recent addition to the differences is widespread European dislike not just of the Iraq war but Bush's blunt style. Editorials often talk of the Texan as the "cowboy president."
Washington's decision to work in concert with other world powers as it tries to engage Iran over its nuclear program shows America may have learned some lessons about the benefits of diplomacy.
Still, the damage seems done.
"Whatever the Bush administration does, it is automatically viewed with suspicion by the European population," says Steven Casey of the London School of Economics, an expert on American public opinion.
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Tensions with Serbs raise fears over links with EU
Tensions with Serbs raise fears over links with EU
Concerns are mounting that Serbia could break with the west because of tensions over unfulfilled obligations to the international community.
The country's lack of progress in arresting and transferring Gen Ratlo Mladic, an indicted war criminal, is a key stumbling block, but European Union diplomats also fear Russian backing for hardliners in Serbia who question the need – or the inevitability – of a "European future" for south-eastern Europe.
There was a "sense of urgency concerning Serbia" at an EU summit in Brussels last week that discussed ways of bolstering ties with Belgrade, according to one person who was present.
Foreign ministers in attendance warned that the EU needed to prevent Serbia from "falling into nationalism" and had to ensure that the country was not "lost."
"An important consideration is keeping Serbia in the right direction as a country, not driving away from the EU and towards extreme behaviour," said a UK official. But he emphasised that Belgrade also had to live up to its commitments.
Last month the EU stopped negotiations on a stabilisation and association agreement with Belgrade – widely seen as a step towards EU membership – over Serbia's failure to apprehend Mr Mladic.
Since then, Belgrade has seen Montenegro, formerly the junior partner in a federation with Serbia, win recognition as a sovereign state.
Serbia also faces losing its province of Kosovo this year, since the world's big powers intend to resolve the territory's "final status" and largely favour independence for the ethnic Albanian majority.
Against such a backdrop, Serbia's ultranationalist Radical party has gained strength, registering 40 per cent in a recent poll, amid disillusionment with the governing coalition of largely pro-EU "democratic forces".
But prime minister Vojislav Kostunica, a moderate nationalist, also received a shot in the arm last week in Moscow, where he met Vladimir Putin, Russia's president. Mr Kostunica came out of the meeting "extremely satisfied", said officials in his government.
At the EU foreign ministers' meeting at the summit, Olli Rehn, EU enlargement commissioner, urged deeper economic and trade links with Serbia while the association talks are in limbo.
The Commission also favours relaxing visa rules for Serbian nationals, although this may be scaled down to a scheme reducing red tape for Serbian students following opposition from countries such as France.
Mr Rehn has also proposed a plan to help Serbia co-operate with the United Nations tribunal on the former Yugoslavia, which has demanded Mr Mladic's transfer over crimes connected with the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.
Copyright 2006 Financial Times
Concerns are mounting that Serbia could break with the west because of tensions over unfulfilled obligations to the international community.
The country's lack of progress in arresting and transferring Gen Ratlo Mladic, an indicted war criminal, is a key stumbling block, but European Union diplomats also fear Russian backing for hardliners in Serbia who question the need – or the inevitability – of a "European future" for south-eastern Europe.
There was a "sense of urgency concerning Serbia" at an EU summit in Brussels last week that discussed ways of bolstering ties with Belgrade, according to one person who was present.
Foreign ministers in attendance warned that the EU needed to prevent Serbia from "falling into nationalism" and had to ensure that the country was not "lost."
"An important consideration is keeping Serbia in the right direction as a country, not driving away from the EU and towards extreme behaviour," said a UK official. But he emphasised that Belgrade also had to live up to its commitments.
Last month the EU stopped negotiations on a stabilisation and association agreement with Belgrade – widely seen as a step towards EU membership – over Serbia's failure to apprehend Mr Mladic.
Since then, Belgrade has seen Montenegro, formerly the junior partner in a federation with Serbia, win recognition as a sovereign state.
Serbia also faces losing its province of Kosovo this year, since the world's big powers intend to resolve the territory's "final status" and largely favour independence for the ethnic Albanian majority.
Against such a backdrop, Serbia's ultranationalist Radical party has gained strength, registering 40 per cent in a recent poll, amid disillusionment with the governing coalition of largely pro-EU "democratic forces".
But prime minister Vojislav Kostunica, a moderate nationalist, also received a shot in the arm last week in Moscow, where he met Vladimir Putin, Russia's president. Mr Kostunica came out of the meeting "extremely satisfied", said officials in his government.
At the EU foreign ministers' meeting at the summit, Olli Rehn, EU enlargement commissioner, urged deeper economic and trade links with Serbia while the association talks are in limbo.
The Commission also favours relaxing visa rules for Serbian nationals, although this may be scaled down to a scheme reducing red tape for Serbian students following opposition from countries such as France.
Mr Rehn has also proposed a plan to help Serbia co-operate with the United Nations tribunal on the former Yugoslavia, which has demanded Mr Mladic's transfer over crimes connected with the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.
Copyright 2006 Financial Times
Friday, June 16, 2006
BREAKING NEWS: Kosovo's President, PM to meet US Secretary of State Rice during visit to US next week
PRISTINA, Serbia (AP) - Kosovo's top leaders travel to Washington next week to hold talks with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the president's office said Friday.
President Fatmir Sejdiu and Prime Minister Agim Ceku are to meet Rice on Monday, said Muhamet Hamiti, the president's adviser.
Sejdiu will visit the United States for the first time since he was elected in February, succeeding Kosovo's late President Ibrahim Rugova, who died of lung cancer earlier this year.
During his trip, Sejdiu will meet other officials in the State Department and the White House, the statement said. Ceku is also scheduled to attend a regular U.N. Security Council meeting on the province on June 20.
Kosovo, formally a province of Serbia, has been administered by the United Nations since NATO's 1999 air war forced Serb forces to end a crackdown on separatist ethnic Albanians and relinquish control over the region.
Talks to determine Kosovo's future -- whether it becomes an independent state or remains attached to Serbia -- are under way and are aimed at steering the two sides toward settling the province's status by the end of the year.
Ethnic Albanians in Kosovo insist on full independence, while the minority Serbs and Belgrade want the province to remain within Serbia.
The negotiation process is led by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari and the United States have appointed an envoy in the process.
President Fatmir Sejdiu and Prime Minister Agim Ceku are to meet Rice on Monday, said Muhamet Hamiti, the president's adviser.
Sejdiu will visit the United States for the first time since he was elected in February, succeeding Kosovo's late President Ibrahim Rugova, who died of lung cancer earlier this year.
During his trip, Sejdiu will meet other officials in the State Department and the White House, the statement said. Ceku is also scheduled to attend a regular U.N. Security Council meeting on the province on June 20.
Kosovo, formally a province of Serbia, has been administered by the United Nations since NATO's 1999 air war forced Serb forces to end a crackdown on separatist ethnic Albanians and relinquish control over the region.
Talks to determine Kosovo's future -- whether it becomes an independent state or remains attached to Serbia -- are under way and are aimed at steering the two sides toward settling the province's status by the end of the year.
Ethnic Albanians in Kosovo insist on full independence, while the minority Serbs and Belgrade want the province to remain within Serbia.
The negotiation process is led by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari and the United States have appointed an envoy in the process.
Albania PM says Kosovo independence brings stability to region
Text of report in English by independent internet news agency KosovaLive
Prishtina [Pristina], 16 June: Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha said during his address to Kosova [Kosovo] Assembly that the Albanian nation is moving safely towards the European future.
He said that Kosova will become independent and a sovereign state with guarantees of human rights for all citizens.
'This is a solution that guarantees stability not only to Kosova but also to Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro."
Source: KosovaLive website, Pristina, in English 16 Jun 06
Prishtina [Pristina], 16 June: Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha said during his address to Kosova [Kosovo] Assembly that the Albanian nation is moving safely towards the European future.
He said that Kosova will become independent and a sovereign state with guarantees of human rights for all citizens.
'This is a solution that guarantees stability not only to Kosova but also to Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro."
Source: KosovaLive website, Pristina, in English 16 Jun 06
EU SEE Coordinator Expects an Independent Kosovo Soon
The European Union’s special coordinator for Southeastern Europe, Erhard Busek, says that he expects Kosovo to follow Montenegro in pushing for full independence from Serbia.
A former Austrian vice-chancellor, Busek has said that Serbian offers of broad autonomy for the province have come far too late to appease Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian majority. Busek said Belgrade had to realise that the decision by Montenegro to declare its independence and Kosovo’s push to do the same are a direct result of the nationalist agenda pursued by Slobodan Milosevic. That agenda led to the breakup of the Yugoslav federation and the Balkan wars of the 1990s.
Kosovo is still technically a province of Serbia, although it has been under UN administration since the end of the 1999 NATO military campaign against Belgrade.
Vienna has been hosting talks between Belgrade and Pristina on the future status of Kosovo. Austria has also made stability in the Balkans a top priority as the current president of the EU. The Kosovars have ruled out autonomy, saying they will settle for nothing less than becoming a fully independent country.
Some officials in Belgrade say independence would lead to violence against Kosovo’s Serbs and would inflame ultranationalists in Serbia.
A former Austrian vice-chancellor, Busek has said that Serbian offers of broad autonomy for the province have come far too late to appease Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian majority. Busek said Belgrade had to realise that the decision by Montenegro to declare its independence and Kosovo’s push to do the same are a direct result of the nationalist agenda pursued by Slobodan Milosevic. That agenda led to the breakup of the Yugoslav federation and the Balkan wars of the 1990s.
Kosovo is still technically a province of Serbia, although it has been under UN administration since the end of the 1999 NATO military campaign against Belgrade.
Vienna has been hosting talks between Belgrade and Pristina on the future status of Kosovo. Austria has also made stability in the Balkans a top priority as the current president of the EU. The Kosovars have ruled out autonomy, saying they will settle for nothing less than becoming a fully independent country.
Some officials in Belgrade say independence would lead to violence against Kosovo’s Serbs and would inflame ultranationalists in Serbia.
EU Launches Project To Train Kosovo's Border Police
PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP)--The European Union Friday launched a project to train Kosovo's border police, officials said, as U.N. peacekeepers administering the province hope to transfer more control to local authorities.
The EUR1 million program will bring in experts to train border police officers in using surveillance equipment and examining documents in order to combat transnational crime, the E.U. said in a statement.
Kosovo, formally part of Serbia, has been under U.N. administrative rule since mid-1999, when NATO waged an air war to halt Serb forces' crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians.
The U.N. mission is in the process of transferring authority over judiciary and police to the local authorities as it reduces its presence with the aim of turning over some other responsibilities to a possible E.U.-led mission once a decision on the province's future is reached.
There are more than 2,000 U.N. police officers in Kosovo and the province has a 7,000-strong local police force. [ 16-06-06 1151GMT ]
The EUR1 million program will bring in experts to train border police officers in using surveillance equipment and examining documents in order to combat transnational crime, the E.U. said in a statement.
Kosovo, formally part of Serbia, has been under U.N. administrative rule since mid-1999, when NATO waged an air war to halt Serb forces' crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians.
The U.N. mission is in the process of transferring authority over judiciary and police to the local authorities as it reduces its presence with the aim of turning over some other responsibilities to a possible E.U.-led mission once a decision on the province's future is reached.
There are more than 2,000 U.N. police officers in Kosovo and the province has a 7,000-strong local police force. [ 16-06-06 1151GMT ]
Balkans moving toward European integration, progress needed: commission
WASHINGTON, June 16, 2006 (AFP) -
Balkan countries need to do more to protect the Roma community and must hand over indicted war criminals if they are to continue on the path to joining the European Union and NATO, US officials and experts said.
At a hearing before the US Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki Commission, several witnesses on Thursday noted that countries such as Albania, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Croatia and Macedonia have made some progress in implementing democratic reforms and improving human rights.
But they underlined that ethnic minorities, especially the Roma community, remain vulnerable to discrimination and violence and denounced the fact that top war crimes suspects Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic remain at large.
"Whether it be physical harassment from police, lack of access to basic services such as education, health care and housing, or societal discrimination, the Roma are among the most marginalized of minorities," Rosemary DiCarlo, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, told the hearing.
Estimated at eight to 12 million, Roma are Europe's largest ethnic minority and also one of its most marginalized.
Nicolae Gheorghe, adviser for Roma and Sinti (Gypsies) issues with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said the major challenge facing institutions and governments in the Balkans was the implementation of policies aimed at integrating the Roma in society.
"For any lasting changes to take place, there must be a thorough examination of the underlying root causes of human rights abuses towards Roma communities -- namely issues of racism and discrimination -- and these must be addressed through legislation and with the full support of international institutions," Gheorghe told the Helsinki Commission.
The commission is a bi-partisan US rights watchdog set up by Congress. It consists of nine members from the US Senate, nine from the House of Representatives, and one member each from the Departments of State, Defense and Commerce.
Its chairman, Senator Sam Brownback, said while some countries in the Balkans have made remarkable strides to recover from a decade of regional conflict there is still concern that Europe will leave them behind.
He and others stressed that unless Karadzic and Mladic, who have been charged with genocide and crimes against humanity for their role in the 1992-95 Bosnian war, are brought to justice, there was little chance of Serbia joining Euro-Atlantic institutions.
"This is a year of decision in the Balkans," said Daniel Serwer, of the United States Institute of Peace. "The question is whether the decisions will bring peace or instability."
He said that while Bosnia, Serbia and the Serb province of Kosovo are not likely to go back to war, none has established peace on a firm foundation.
Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and Macedonia are all hoping to join the European Union (EU) as well as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
But in a significant setback last month, the EU suspended talks on closer ties with Serbia because of its failure to fulfill a promise to "locate, arrest and transfer" Mladic to The Hague by April 30.
Balkan countries need to do more to protect the Roma community and must hand over indicted war criminals if they are to continue on the path to joining the European Union and NATO, US officials and experts said.
At a hearing before the US Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki Commission, several witnesses on Thursday noted that countries such as Albania, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Croatia and Macedonia have made some progress in implementing democratic reforms and improving human rights.
But they underlined that ethnic minorities, especially the Roma community, remain vulnerable to discrimination and violence and denounced the fact that top war crimes suspects Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic remain at large.
"Whether it be physical harassment from police, lack of access to basic services such as education, health care and housing, or societal discrimination, the Roma are among the most marginalized of minorities," Rosemary DiCarlo, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, told the hearing.
Estimated at eight to 12 million, Roma are Europe's largest ethnic minority and also one of its most marginalized.
Nicolae Gheorghe, adviser for Roma and Sinti (Gypsies) issues with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said the major challenge facing institutions and governments in the Balkans was the implementation of policies aimed at integrating the Roma in society.
"For any lasting changes to take place, there must be a thorough examination of the underlying root causes of human rights abuses towards Roma communities -- namely issues of racism and discrimination -- and these must be addressed through legislation and with the full support of international institutions," Gheorghe told the Helsinki Commission.
The commission is a bi-partisan US rights watchdog set up by Congress. It consists of nine members from the US Senate, nine from the House of Representatives, and one member each from the Departments of State, Defense and Commerce.
Its chairman, Senator Sam Brownback, said while some countries in the Balkans have made remarkable strides to recover from a decade of regional conflict there is still concern that Europe will leave them behind.
He and others stressed that unless Karadzic and Mladic, who have been charged with genocide and crimes against humanity for their role in the 1992-95 Bosnian war, are brought to justice, there was little chance of Serbia joining Euro-Atlantic institutions.
"This is a year of decision in the Balkans," said Daniel Serwer, of the United States Institute of Peace. "The question is whether the decisions will bring peace or instability."
He said that while Bosnia, Serbia and the Serb province of Kosovo are not likely to go back to war, none has established peace on a firm foundation.
Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and Macedonia are all hoping to join the European Union (EU) as well as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
But in a significant setback last month, the EU suspended talks on closer ties with Serbia because of its failure to fulfill a promise to "locate, arrest and transfer" Mladic to The Hague by April 30.
Talks on Kosovo status ended in 1999, Democratic Party chairman says
Text of report by Radio-Television Kosovo TV website on 15 June
PDK [Democratic Party of Kosovo] chairman and member of the Negotiation Team Hashim Thaci said today that talks on Kosova's [Kosovo] status ended in Rambouillet in 1999, while now talks are being held for the forming of a new state of Kosova and minority rights. He is optimistic that things are going in the right direction so Kosova can become a state this year. There are some claims to divide Kosova, however, Kosova will be unified with a unified Mitrovica said Thaci commenting the latest developments in northern Kosova. On the issue of replacing UNMIK with EUMIK he added that there will be an international presence in Kosova in accordance to the new reality of the new state of Kosova.
Source: RTK TV website, Pristina, in Albanian 15 Jun 06
PDK [Democratic Party of Kosovo] chairman and member of the Negotiation Team Hashim Thaci said today that talks on Kosova's [Kosovo] status ended in Rambouillet in 1999, while now talks are being held for the forming of a new state of Kosova and minority rights. He is optimistic that things are going in the right direction so Kosova can become a state this year. There are some claims to divide Kosova, however, Kosova will be unified with a unified Mitrovica said Thaci commenting the latest developments in northern Kosova. On the issue of replacing UNMIK with EUMIK he added that there will be an international presence in Kosova in accordance to the new reality of the new state of Kosova.
Source: RTK TV website, Pristina, in Albanian 15 Jun 06
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Serbia: Hundreds of ethnic Albanians demand regional self-rule at rally
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) - Hundreds of ethnic Albanians demonstrated in tense southern Serbia Thursday, demanding regional self-rule in the municipalities where they form a majority.
At the gathering in the town of Presevo, near the boundary with U.N.-run province of Kosovo, the ethnic Albanians accused the Serbian government of an "inadequate" approach to problems in the area.
The Presevo Valley was the scene of an ethnic Albanian rebellion in 2000-2001, which ended in a western-brokered deal granting more rights to the local communities.
The ethnic Albanians in the area have said they want to split the region from Serbia and unite it with neighboring Kosovo, also populated predominantly by ethnic Albanians.
Speaking at the rally, local ethnic Albanian leader and former Presevo mayor Riza Halimi said the Presevo Valley should gain "regional self-rule." He did not elaborate.
At the gathering in the town of Presevo, near the boundary with U.N.-run province of Kosovo, the ethnic Albanians accused the Serbian government of an "inadequate" approach to problems in the area.
The Presevo Valley was the scene of an ethnic Albanian rebellion in 2000-2001, which ended in a western-brokered deal granting more rights to the local communities.
The ethnic Albanians in the area have said they want to split the region from Serbia and unite it with neighboring Kosovo, also populated predominantly by ethnic Albanians.
Speaking at the rally, local ethnic Albanian leader and former Presevo mayor Riza Halimi said the Presevo Valley should gain "regional self-rule." He did not elaborate.
ANALYSIS-Serbia on the ropes has the West a little worried
BELGRADE, June 15 (Reuters) - Shattered buildings on the boulevard tell the story: Belgrade is the only European capital bombed by NATO and Serbia does not forget it.
The cruise-missile ruins on "Tomahawk Alley" are totems of resentment of a people who feel misunderstood and abused by the powerful Westerners who ought to be their friends.
Seven years after NATO dropped its last bomb to drive Serb forces out of Kosovo, the Serbs still feel battered -- by rebukes, ultimatums and penalties from Brussels and Washington, by humiliating visa restrictions, by the sting of exclusion.
This feeling of "more stick than carrot" benefits hardline nationalists who tell Serbia the West never did love it and never will, says analyst Dejan Vuk Stankovic.
Setbacks and dashed hopes are part of the daily news diet here but the past six weeks were exceptional even by Serbian standards, and the latest party poll ratings reflect that.
On May 3, the European Union froze pre-membership talks with Serbia because it failed to hand over top war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic, a Bosnian Serb, to the U.N. tribunal in The Hague.
On May 21, Serbia's partner Montenegro chose independence, saying the EU freeze proved it would be better off without Serbia and its odious legacy as instigator of the Yugoslav wars.
On June 9, a poll gave the opposition Radical Party over 40 percent voter support. Radicals worship Mladic, back revanchist aims, hate Western interference and despise liberals.
WRONG TIMING
"The Montenegro referendum ... has increased Serbia's anger at the international community and its feeling of isolation," former U.S. ambassador William Montgomery wrote this week.
It made Serbs "less cooperative, more negative and more aggressive" at the very time the West needs their cooperation on Kosovo, whose 90 percent ethnic Albanian majority is expected to get independence this year with or without Serb approval.
A Western-inspired U.N. vote to amputate Serbia's cherished southern province could be exploited by anti-Western parties to whip up national outrage, with unpredictable consequences.
The U.S. and EU do not want Serbia reverting to chauvinism. They want it embedded in the West, not on the ropes, or at bay, or off the reservation in a region known for radical solutions.
Europe's worst wars since 1945 started here, just 15 years ago. Fighting in Bosnia and Croatia went on until 1995. In 1998-99 it raged again in Kosovo. Then it flared next door in Macedonia in 2000. The overall toll was 200,000 dead.
Serb analysts say Kosovo independence would further crank up support for the Radicals, raising the possibility of a hardline government in Belgrade if, as some predict, a snap election later this year unseats Serbia's fractious minority coalition.
The U.N. and NATO are braced for the possible exodus of 50,000 Serbs from Kosovo if the Albanians get independence, and for unrest in the Serb-dominated north which favours partition. But there is no known plan for a lurch back to defiance in Belgrade -- an issue to be discussed at this week's EU summit.
To complicate the picture in the wake of Montenegro's independence, Serbs in Bosnia sounded an alarm in the West this month by insisting they too have a right to vote for secession.
A breakaway movement in either place, egged on by a hardline Serbia, could scupper hopes of a peaceful solution in Kosovo.
WEAKENING RESTRAINT, RISING RESENTMENT
No one expects all-out war to return to the Balkans, because people are in no mood for it, and war does not mix with hopes of a more prosperous future via EU and NATO membership.
But if hopes are scotched by a new isolationism, restraint could weaken as resentment of the West rises. Without official restraint the Balkans is known to breed violence.
Many Serbs firmly believe they are being bullied into betraying national interests and should tell the West where to go. The question is whether this sentiment will predominate.
NATO bombed for 78 days in 1999 to make Slobodan Milosevic pull his troops out of Kosovo. Seven years ago this week the army withdrew, bristling with brassy bandoliers and defiance.
Despite reconciliation, the defiance still smoulders, sustained by a lingering Serb sense of exceptionalism.
Serbia had to be threatened with sanctions before seeing the West was serious about surrendering suspects to The Hague to stand trial for the worst atrocities of the late 20th century.
It still refuses to admit the reality that Kosovo Albanians will never again entrust their fate to the state that killed 10,000 of them in two years, and drove out nearly a million.
Most Serbs have not seen Kosovo, yet insist it is their inalienable cultural and religious "Jerusalem". In the words of one analyst Serbia "wants the land but not the people on it".
The cruise-missile ruins on "Tomahawk Alley" are totems of resentment of a people who feel misunderstood and abused by the powerful Westerners who ought to be their friends.
Seven years after NATO dropped its last bomb to drive Serb forces out of Kosovo, the Serbs still feel battered -- by rebukes, ultimatums and penalties from Brussels and Washington, by humiliating visa restrictions, by the sting of exclusion.
This feeling of "more stick than carrot" benefits hardline nationalists who tell Serbia the West never did love it and never will, says analyst Dejan Vuk Stankovic.
Setbacks and dashed hopes are part of the daily news diet here but the past six weeks were exceptional even by Serbian standards, and the latest party poll ratings reflect that.
On May 3, the European Union froze pre-membership talks with Serbia because it failed to hand over top war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic, a Bosnian Serb, to the U.N. tribunal in The Hague.
On May 21, Serbia's partner Montenegro chose independence, saying the EU freeze proved it would be better off without Serbia and its odious legacy as instigator of the Yugoslav wars.
On June 9, a poll gave the opposition Radical Party over 40 percent voter support. Radicals worship Mladic, back revanchist aims, hate Western interference and despise liberals.
WRONG TIMING
"The Montenegro referendum ... has increased Serbia's anger at the international community and its feeling of isolation," former U.S. ambassador William Montgomery wrote this week.
It made Serbs "less cooperative, more negative and more aggressive" at the very time the West needs their cooperation on Kosovo, whose 90 percent ethnic Albanian majority is expected to get independence this year with or without Serb approval.
A Western-inspired U.N. vote to amputate Serbia's cherished southern province could be exploited by anti-Western parties to whip up national outrage, with unpredictable consequences.
The U.S. and EU do not want Serbia reverting to chauvinism. They want it embedded in the West, not on the ropes, or at bay, or off the reservation in a region known for radical solutions.
Europe's worst wars since 1945 started here, just 15 years ago. Fighting in Bosnia and Croatia went on until 1995. In 1998-99 it raged again in Kosovo. Then it flared next door in Macedonia in 2000. The overall toll was 200,000 dead.
Serb analysts say Kosovo independence would further crank up support for the Radicals, raising the possibility of a hardline government in Belgrade if, as some predict, a snap election later this year unseats Serbia's fractious minority coalition.
The U.N. and NATO are braced for the possible exodus of 50,000 Serbs from Kosovo if the Albanians get independence, and for unrest in the Serb-dominated north which favours partition. But there is no known plan for a lurch back to defiance in Belgrade -- an issue to be discussed at this week's EU summit.
To complicate the picture in the wake of Montenegro's independence, Serbs in Bosnia sounded an alarm in the West this month by insisting they too have a right to vote for secession.
A breakaway movement in either place, egged on by a hardline Serbia, could scupper hopes of a peaceful solution in Kosovo.
WEAKENING RESTRAINT, RISING RESENTMENT
No one expects all-out war to return to the Balkans, because people are in no mood for it, and war does not mix with hopes of a more prosperous future via EU and NATO membership.
But if hopes are scotched by a new isolationism, restraint could weaken as resentment of the West rises. Without official restraint the Balkans is known to breed violence.
Many Serbs firmly believe they are being bullied into betraying national interests and should tell the West where to go. The question is whether this sentiment will predominate.
NATO bombed for 78 days in 1999 to make Slobodan Milosevic pull his troops out of Kosovo. Seven years ago this week the army withdrew, bristling with brassy bandoliers and defiance.
Despite reconciliation, the defiance still smoulders, sustained by a lingering Serb sense of exceptionalism.
Serbia had to be threatened with sanctions before seeing the West was serious about surrendering suspects to The Hague to stand trial for the worst atrocities of the late 20th century.
It still refuses to admit the reality that Kosovo Albanians will never again entrust their fate to the state that killed 10,000 of them in two years, and drove out nearly a million.
Most Serbs have not seen Kosovo, yet insist it is their inalienable cultural and religious "Jerusalem". In the words of one analyst Serbia "wants the land but not the people on it".
Albanian premier calls for Kosovo's independence
Text of report in English by Albanian news agency ATA
Pristina, 15 June: Prime Minister Sali Berisha said on Thursday [15 June] that "the Albanian nation moves free and safe towards the future." "Kosova [Kosovo] and Albania move like two sisters towards EU and Euro-Atlantic integration," he said.
In a greeting message delivered to the Assembly of Kosova, Berisha stressed: "The date of 12 June 1999 marks a great event in the history of freedom and peace not just for Kosova but for the whole Balkans, Europe, NATO and its member countries. On this anniversary, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to those who turned into a reality the dream of freedom of the citizens of Kosova, my great expectation".
Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha was received with standing applause by deputies in the special session of the Assembly of Kosova as he entered the hall and his speech was applauded several times. "Please, allow me, first of all, to convey to you, the representatives of the people of Kosova, on behalf of the government and the citizens of Albania the most cordial greetings, the deepest gratitude and absolute and all-round support for your forward advance in the efforts for the realization of your legitimate aspirations", Prime Minister Berisha said in his address to the deputies of the Assembly of Kosova.
Further on, in his speech Mr.Berisha said: "I come to Kosova only three days after the seventh anniversary of the liberation of Kosova and just three days after Albania signed with the European Union the Stabilization and Association Agreement [SAA], leaving behind the transition and consolidating, in an irreversible way, its road towards joining the family of the peoples and European states".
"I bow before the resistance of the citizens of Kosova, their sublime sacrifice for freedom, dignity, honour and national and European identity. I also express admiration to you for transforming this Assembly into a real temple, sponsor of freedom values, for the approval of laws for building democracy, rule of law in the European Kosova, in Kosova of equal citizens that moves towards Euro-Atlantic integration," said Berisha.
The prime minister said: "I notice with satisfaction that in Kosova notable progress has been achieved in regard to keeping of stability and tranquillity, in the progressive realization of the required standards. These achievements have been a result of your willingness to build all-embracing democratic institutions based on Western values that guarantee respect of the rights and freedoms of the individual and of the minorities in a free country", said the prime minister.
Speaking about Albania's stand in regard to Kosova status, Berisha said: "Albania has been and will continue to be an important factor, active and constructive for the solution of Kosova issue". "Albania's stand for Kosova is crystal clear: we strongly support the efforts of the international community, the Security Council, the Contact Group and the Mission of the envoy of the UN secretary-general, Marti Ahtisaari, along with the representatives of Kosova, for finding a solution, which takes into account the real will of the people of Kosova", said Berisha.
According to the prime minister, "Albania also supports the basic principles drafted by the international bodies on which such a solution will be build: no return to situation prior 1999, no division of Kosova and no union with any other country".
Berisha said: "We consider the international presence as indispensable for Kosova even in the period after the status." The prime minister also expressed his appreciation about the work of UNMIK [UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo ] chief, Soeren Jessen-Petersen, saying that "we believe that the brilliant job of Mr Petersen will be proceeded further up to the completion of negotiations and determination of the final status of Kosova", said Berisha.
According to him, Albania considers Kosova's independence as the only solution which guarantees peace and stability in Kosova, but even in the other surrounding countries. "Peace, stability and their consolidation in Kosova have a great importance for Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro and Balkans as a whole. But, their consolidation makes a hard and vital process," said Berisha.
Speaking about the cooperation between Albania and Kosova, Berisha said: "Albania and Kosova have common interests in all the fields, but more is needed in the future. Kosova, through the ports of Albania (Shengjin) approaches with Europe. To this goal serves even the acceleration of the work on the realization of the project on Durres-Morine road. More intensity and interest is needed even for the increase of trade, tourist relations and the creation of a unique energy network, development of educational, scientific and cultural links," said Berisha. The prime minister stressed that "Albania considers Kosova part of the democratic and integration processes in the region and over a wider area".
Source: ATA news agency, Tirana, in English 1842 gmt 15 Jun 06
Pristina, 15 June: Prime Minister Sali Berisha said on Thursday [15 June] that "the Albanian nation moves free and safe towards the future." "Kosova [Kosovo] and Albania move like two sisters towards EU and Euro-Atlantic integration," he said.
In a greeting message delivered to the Assembly of Kosova, Berisha stressed: "The date of 12 June 1999 marks a great event in the history of freedom and peace not just for Kosova but for the whole Balkans, Europe, NATO and its member countries. On this anniversary, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to those who turned into a reality the dream of freedom of the citizens of Kosova, my great expectation".
Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha was received with standing applause by deputies in the special session of the Assembly of Kosova as he entered the hall and his speech was applauded several times. "Please, allow me, first of all, to convey to you, the representatives of the people of Kosova, on behalf of the government and the citizens of Albania the most cordial greetings, the deepest gratitude and absolute and all-round support for your forward advance in the efforts for the realization of your legitimate aspirations", Prime Minister Berisha said in his address to the deputies of the Assembly of Kosova.
Further on, in his speech Mr.Berisha said: "I come to Kosova only three days after the seventh anniversary of the liberation of Kosova and just three days after Albania signed with the European Union the Stabilization and Association Agreement [SAA], leaving behind the transition and consolidating, in an irreversible way, its road towards joining the family of the peoples and European states".
"I bow before the resistance of the citizens of Kosova, their sublime sacrifice for freedom, dignity, honour and national and European identity. I also express admiration to you for transforming this Assembly into a real temple, sponsor of freedom values, for the approval of laws for building democracy, rule of law in the European Kosova, in Kosova of equal citizens that moves towards Euro-Atlantic integration," said Berisha.
The prime minister said: "I notice with satisfaction that in Kosova notable progress has been achieved in regard to keeping of stability and tranquillity, in the progressive realization of the required standards. These achievements have been a result of your willingness to build all-embracing democratic institutions based on Western values that guarantee respect of the rights and freedoms of the individual and of the minorities in a free country", said the prime minister.
Speaking about Albania's stand in regard to Kosova status, Berisha said: "Albania has been and will continue to be an important factor, active and constructive for the solution of Kosova issue". "Albania's stand for Kosova is crystal clear: we strongly support the efforts of the international community, the Security Council, the Contact Group and the Mission of the envoy of the UN secretary-general, Marti Ahtisaari, along with the representatives of Kosova, for finding a solution, which takes into account the real will of the people of Kosova", said Berisha.
According to the prime minister, "Albania also supports the basic principles drafted by the international bodies on which such a solution will be build: no return to situation prior 1999, no division of Kosova and no union with any other country".
Berisha said: "We consider the international presence as indispensable for Kosova even in the period after the status." The prime minister also expressed his appreciation about the work of UNMIK [UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo ] chief, Soeren Jessen-Petersen, saying that "we believe that the brilliant job of Mr Petersen will be proceeded further up to the completion of negotiations and determination of the final status of Kosova", said Berisha.
According to him, Albania considers Kosova's independence as the only solution which guarantees peace and stability in Kosova, but even in the other surrounding countries. "Peace, stability and their consolidation in Kosova have a great importance for Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro and Balkans as a whole. But, their consolidation makes a hard and vital process," said Berisha.
Speaking about the cooperation between Albania and Kosova, Berisha said: "Albania and Kosova have common interests in all the fields, but more is needed in the future. Kosova, through the ports of Albania (Shengjin) approaches with Europe. To this goal serves even the acceleration of the work on the realization of the project on Durres-Morine road. More intensity and interest is needed even for the increase of trade, tourist relations and the creation of a unique energy network, development of educational, scientific and cultural links," said Berisha. The prime minister stressed that "Albania considers Kosova part of the democratic and integration processes in the region and over a wider area".
Source: ATA news agency, Tirana, in English 1842 gmt 15 Jun 06
EU to work on incentives for Serbia
BRUSSELS, June 15 (Reuters) - The EU said on Thursday it would work on incentives, including easier bloc entry for young Serbians, to encourage Serbia to opt for integration into Europe and reject nationalist isolation.
At a summit in Brussels, EU foreign ministers discussed ways of reaching out to Serbia, even though negotiations on closer ties were suspended last month after Belgrade failed to hand over fugitive war crimes indictee Ratko Mladic.
The European Union has said talks about a closer association with the bloc -- a prelude to actual candidate status -- would remain on ice as long as Mladic was at large. Mladic led Bosnian Serb forces in Balkan conflicts in the 1990s. "There is high awareness the visa question is one that is important in particular for the young generation," said Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency.
"We will be working on developing a number of positive measures at the same time, expecting very clearly Serbia to engage on a path of reforms and provide full cooperation with the (international war crimes tribunal)," she said.
Ministers at the summit expressed concern about the risk of an upsurge in nationalism should Serbia be left out in the cold.
"It is clear that one of the things we are discussing here is how we prevent Serbia falling into nationalism which will create disturbances in the Balkans," said Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller.
"We believe that we can only prevent that by telling the Serbs there are possibilities, but this also means that certain conditions are fulfilled."
EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn told Reuters an action plan would be worked out with Serbia to encourage it to comply.
"We need to support Serbia to join the European mainstream and there is a sense of urgency, a sense of seriousness ... especially about the need to help Serbia to help itself, by encouraging it to achieve full cooperation with the (tribunal)."
Rehn said he had proposed intensified cooperation between the EU presidency, foreign policy chief Javier Solana and the EU's executive Commission on support measures, including visa facilitation and economic and trade relations.
He said it was a political signal of the bloc's support for Serbia's future with the EU, although there had been "no dramatic change" in its cooperation with the tribunal.
Serbia has suffered a series of setbacks this year, fuelling a growing feeling of abandonment in Belgrade that has raised widespread fears of increased nationalism.
Apart from the freezing of talks on closer EU ties, Montenegro has seceded from its union with Serbia and the province of Kosovo, which has an ethnic Albanian majority, is poised to follow suit.
At a summit in Brussels, EU foreign ministers discussed ways of reaching out to Serbia, even though negotiations on closer ties were suspended last month after Belgrade failed to hand over fugitive war crimes indictee Ratko Mladic.
The European Union has said talks about a closer association with the bloc -- a prelude to actual candidate status -- would remain on ice as long as Mladic was at large. Mladic led Bosnian Serb forces in Balkan conflicts in the 1990s. "There is high awareness the visa question is one that is important in particular for the young generation," said Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency.
"We will be working on developing a number of positive measures at the same time, expecting very clearly Serbia to engage on a path of reforms and provide full cooperation with the (international war crimes tribunal)," she said.
Ministers at the summit expressed concern about the risk of an upsurge in nationalism should Serbia be left out in the cold.
"It is clear that one of the things we are discussing here is how we prevent Serbia falling into nationalism which will create disturbances in the Balkans," said Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller.
"We believe that we can only prevent that by telling the Serbs there are possibilities, but this also means that certain conditions are fulfilled."
EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn told Reuters an action plan would be worked out with Serbia to encourage it to comply.
"We need to support Serbia to join the European mainstream and there is a sense of urgency, a sense of seriousness ... especially about the need to help Serbia to help itself, by encouraging it to achieve full cooperation with the (tribunal)."
Rehn said he had proposed intensified cooperation between the EU presidency, foreign policy chief Javier Solana and the EU's executive Commission on support measures, including visa facilitation and economic and trade relations.
He said it was a political signal of the bloc's support for Serbia's future with the EU, although there had been "no dramatic change" in its cooperation with the tribunal.
Serbia has suffered a series of setbacks this year, fuelling a growing feeling of abandonment in Belgrade that has raised widespread fears of increased nationalism.
Apart from the freezing of talks on closer EU ties, Montenegro has seceded from its union with Serbia and the province of Kosovo, which has an ethnic Albanian majority, is poised to follow suit.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Kosovo Reformist Party chairman meets Serb leader
Text of report by Radio-Television Kosovo TV on 13 June
[Announcer] ORA [Kosovo Reformist Party] Chairman Veton Surroi met today in northern Mitrovica Kosova Serb leader Oliver Ivanovic they discussed decentralization process. During the meeting Ivanovic presented to Surroi the newest Serb plan compiled by the Serb List for Kosova on decentralization. This plan foresees the forming of around 10 municipalities and as such it has been opposed by Minister of Local Government Lutfi Haziri.
[Kosova Serb leader Oliver Ivanovic in Serbian with Albanian voice-over] The next step is to have talks with the Contact Group on Friday where we are going to present our plan. Afterwards, it would be the right thing to meet with Kosova [Kosovo] Negotiation Team and discuss this issue. We want functional local government that meets the needs of citizens.
[Reporter] Kosova Serb leader Oliver Ivanovic believes that his plan on decentralization is more functional and it would be a compromise solution between Prishtina and Belgrade delegations on decentralization process.
Source: RTK TV, Pristina, in Albanian 1730 gmt 13 Jun 06
[Announcer] ORA [Kosovo Reformist Party] Chairman Veton Surroi met today in northern Mitrovica Kosova Serb leader Oliver Ivanovic they discussed decentralization process. During the meeting Ivanovic presented to Surroi the newest Serb plan compiled by the Serb List for Kosova on decentralization. This plan foresees the forming of around 10 municipalities and as such it has been opposed by Minister of Local Government Lutfi Haziri.
[Kosova Serb leader Oliver Ivanovic in Serbian with Albanian voice-over] The next step is to have talks with the Contact Group on Friday where we are going to present our plan. Afterwards, it would be the right thing to meet with Kosova [Kosovo] Negotiation Team and discuss this issue. We want functional local government that meets the needs of citizens.
[Reporter] Kosova Serb leader Oliver Ivanovic believes that his plan on decentralization is more functional and it would be a compromise solution between Prishtina and Belgrade delegations on decentralization process.
Source: RTK TV, Pristina, in Albanian 1730 gmt 13 Jun 06
Austria seeks to stop Serbia feeling abandoned
(c) 2006 Reuters Limited
VIENNA, June 14 (Reuters) - Austria has put Serbia on the agenda of European Union foreign ministers at the EU summit starting on Thursday, seeking to keep the former Yugoslav state from drifting into isolation.
Serbia has endured a series of setbacks this year with more coming down the road, fuelling a growing feeling of abandonment in Belgrade which Austria fears could foster radical movements.
The EU froze talks for closer ties with the Balkan state in May when Serbia failed to deliver war criminal Ratko Mladic. Montenegro seceded from its union with Serbia in the same month. Its breakaway province, Kosovo, is knocking on the door.
"We knew this year would be difficult (for Serbia)," said Austrian foreign minister Ursula Plassnik at a news conference in Vienna ahead of the Brussels summit.
"Decisions about a nation's status are among the most delicate issues the international community has to discuss and resolve, and there are several such issues still outstanding in the region," she added in an allusion to Kosovo.
Plassnik said she put Serbia on the agenda for the foreign ministers' dinner -- a standard feature on the sidelines of EU summits -- and Austrian diplomats said it was mainly meant as a signal to Serbians that the world still cares about them.
"They are feeling cornered at the moment," said one diplomat. "We can't allow that they think they are just bulldozed over and turn to the wrong, nationalist people," the diplomat said.
Talks about a closer association with the EU -- a prelude to actual candidate status -- will remain on ice for Serbia as long as Mladic is at large. The main carrot for Serbia is the possibility of visa facilitations for Serbian citizens.
"Of course in theory it would be the best if we could just resume the (association talks) tomorrow," the diplomat said. "But we can't if Mladic doesn't turn up, we owe that to ourselves."
Austria will ask EU leaders at the summit to reiterate a declaration by EU foreign ministers in March saying that the future of the entire region of former Yugoslavia and Albania -- the "western Balkans" in EU lingo -- was in the EU.
VIENNA, June 14 (Reuters) - Austria has put Serbia on the agenda of European Union foreign ministers at the EU summit starting on Thursday, seeking to keep the former Yugoslav state from drifting into isolation.
Serbia has endured a series of setbacks this year with more coming down the road, fuelling a growing feeling of abandonment in Belgrade which Austria fears could foster radical movements.
The EU froze talks for closer ties with the Balkan state in May when Serbia failed to deliver war criminal Ratko Mladic. Montenegro seceded from its union with Serbia in the same month. Its breakaway province, Kosovo, is knocking on the door.
"We knew this year would be difficult (for Serbia)," said Austrian foreign minister Ursula Plassnik at a news conference in Vienna ahead of the Brussels summit.
"Decisions about a nation's status are among the most delicate issues the international community has to discuss and resolve, and there are several such issues still outstanding in the region," she added in an allusion to Kosovo.
Plassnik said she put Serbia on the agenda for the foreign ministers' dinner -- a standard feature on the sidelines of EU summits -- and Austrian diplomats said it was mainly meant as a signal to Serbians that the world still cares about them.
"They are feeling cornered at the moment," said one diplomat. "We can't allow that they think they are just bulldozed over and turn to the wrong, nationalist people," the diplomat said.
Talks about a closer association with the EU -- a prelude to actual candidate status -- will remain on ice for Serbia as long as Mladic is at large. The main carrot for Serbia is the possibility of visa facilitations for Serbian citizens.
"Of course in theory it would be the best if we could just resume the (association talks) tomorrow," the diplomat said. "But we can't if Mladic doesn't turn up, we owe that to ourselves."
Austria will ask EU leaders at the summit to reiterate a declaration by EU foreign ministers in March saying that the future of the entire region of former Yugoslavia and Albania -- the "western Balkans" in EU lingo -- was in the EU.
Serbian NGO says emergency measures in northern Kosovo dangerous for Serbs
Text of report by Serbian news agency Beta
Belgrade, 13 June: The Forum for Security and Democracy (FBD) today warned the authorities in Serb municipalities in northern Kosovo and Belgrade that unilateral decisions on introducing emergency measures could have unforeseeable consequences on Serbs in the province and on Serbia as a state.
The FBD advised the municipal authorities in Zubin Potok and other municipalities to re-examine whether they had overstepped their authority when they introduced emergency measures, specifically whether they had violated UN Security Council Resolution 1244 on Kosovo-Metohija.
The FBD argues that the municipality of Zubin Potok is not authorized to ban the presence of regional Kosovo police forces from its territory, or investigating units, which is precisely what the adopted measure says.
The FBD considers controversial and dangerous plans by the municipality to post an advertisement for the admission of 999 Serb policemen, invoking Resolution 1244.
"We particularly consider dangerous requests to the local population to cooperate with the municipality in the implementation of these measures, including 'self-organization,' that is Serb guards, as was decided yesterday," said the FBD.
The FBD recommended that they consider in particular the impact of the above measures on the security of Serbs south of northern Kosovo. The body called on Serbs, Serb parties and political representatives to assume a critical stance on Serb organized crime in northern Kosovo, which often masks its operations and declares them attacks by Albanian extremists.
Source: Beta news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 1221 gmt 13 Jun 06
Belgrade, 13 June: The Forum for Security and Democracy (FBD) today warned the authorities in Serb municipalities in northern Kosovo and Belgrade that unilateral decisions on introducing emergency measures could have unforeseeable consequences on Serbs in the province and on Serbia as a state.
The FBD advised the municipal authorities in Zubin Potok and other municipalities to re-examine whether they had overstepped their authority when they introduced emergency measures, specifically whether they had violated UN Security Council Resolution 1244 on Kosovo-Metohija.
The FBD argues that the municipality of Zubin Potok is not authorized to ban the presence of regional Kosovo police forces from its territory, or investigating units, which is precisely what the adopted measure says.
The FBD considers controversial and dangerous plans by the municipality to post an advertisement for the admission of 999 Serb policemen, invoking Resolution 1244.
"We particularly consider dangerous requests to the local population to cooperate with the municipality in the implementation of these measures, including 'self-organization,' that is Serb guards, as was decided yesterday," said the FBD.
The FBD recommended that they consider in particular the impact of the above measures on the security of Serbs south of northern Kosovo. The body called on Serbs, Serb parties and political representatives to assume a critical stance on Serb organized crime in northern Kosovo, which often masks its operations and declares them attacks by Albanian extremists.
Source: Beta news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 1221 gmt 13 Jun 06
Another Serb municipality in northern Kosovo introduces emergency measures
Text of report by Serbia-Montenegrin radio Kontakt Plus on 13 June
[Announcer] Leposavic municipal deputies decided today [13 June] to introduce emergency measures in this northern Kosovo municipality and to cut all ties with Kosovo interim institutions. Zeljko Tvrdisic reports.
[Tvrdisic] This is the third municipality in northern Kosovo, following Zvecan and Zubin Potok, which decided to cut ties with the Kosovo government due to, as it was stated, alarmingly-worsened security situation in this part of Kosovo. Besides the decision that Serbs refuse to receive salaries and all other dues from Kosovo institutions, the deputies also supported a general petition from last week's rally in Zvecan, that they get self-organized for security reasons. It was also mentioned that the Leposavic municipality was prepared, if the previous petition is not met, to take part in employing and financing 999 Serb policemen. The measure passed by the Leposavic deputies stepped took immediate effect and shall be implemented until perpetrators of numerous crimes have been found, i.e. until the security situation in northern Kosovo has stabilized.
Source: Kontakt Plus, Kosovska Mitrovica, in Serbian 1500 gmt 13 Jun 06
[Announcer] Leposavic municipal deputies decided today [13 June] to introduce emergency measures in this northern Kosovo municipality and to cut all ties with Kosovo interim institutions. Zeljko Tvrdisic reports.
[Tvrdisic] This is the third municipality in northern Kosovo, following Zvecan and Zubin Potok, which decided to cut ties with the Kosovo government due to, as it was stated, alarmingly-worsened security situation in this part of Kosovo. Besides the decision that Serbs refuse to receive salaries and all other dues from Kosovo institutions, the deputies also supported a general petition from last week's rally in Zvecan, that they get self-organized for security reasons. It was also mentioned that the Leposavic municipality was prepared, if the previous petition is not met, to take part in employing and financing 999 Serb policemen. The measure passed by the Leposavic deputies stepped took immediate effect and shall be implemented until perpetrators of numerous crimes have been found, i.e. until the security situation in northern Kosovo has stabilized.
Source: Kontakt Plus, Kosovska Mitrovica, in Serbian 1500 gmt 13 Jun 06
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
For Albanians in Kosovo, Hope for Independence From Serbia
By NICHOLAS WOOD
BELGRADE, Serbia, June 8 — Seven years after Kosovo was placed under United Nations control, it appears increasingly likely that the province will be allowed to break away from Serbia formally and become an independent nation.
Members of the United Nations Security Council appear to be leaning toward permitting Kosovo to go its own way. The Council is expected to vote on Kosovo's fate by the end of the year, unless the Serbs and Kosovo Albanians, who have been negotiating unsuccessfully for months, reach a resolution.
But some of the world's most powerful countries are fearful the move will encourage separatist movements elsewhere to intensify their often bloody struggles and give hope to nascent independence groups that have not yet begun to fight.
On the other hand Russia, which had been adamantly opposed to Kosovo's independence, has indicated that it may set a welcome precedent for pro-Russian movements in Georgia and Moldova.
The six nations working on a plan for Kosovo's future — Britain, France, Italy, the United States, Germany and Russia — have coordinated international policy there since the province came under the control of the United Nations.
Their representatives say they will try to draft a resolution for the Security Council that will be so specific to the province that it will avoid setting a precedent for other separatists.
The United Nations has controlled Kosovo, which is still officially a part of Serbia, since June 1999, when Yugoslav troops accused of committing widespread atrocities were forced to withdraw after months of NATO-led bombing. In 1998 and 1999, an estimated 10,000 people, mostly ethnic Albanian civilians, were killed as the Serb-dominated Yugoslav Army and the Serbian police cracked down on an ethnic Albanian insurgency.
Diplomats who represent the United States and Britain in the talks say they believe that the only solution Kosovo's ethnic Albanians will accept is independence, but the diplomats insist that such a new state must provide guarantees for the minority Serbs. Other Western governments also want to find a speedy solution because they are growing weary of financing the peacekeeping troops and the international officials who now administer the province.
But Serbian leaders, wounded by Montenegro's recent break from Serbia and bitterly opposed to yet another split, say Kosovo independence could encourage the breakup of Bosnia and Herzegovina, another former Yugoslav republic.
Milorad Dodik, the prime minister of the Bosnian Serb republic — the area seized by Bosnian Serb forces during the 1992-1995 war — said the region should "affirm the right to self-determination" by holding a referendum. The republic has remained part of Bosnia since the end of the conflict, but many Bosnian Serb politicians have long hoped to unite with neighboring Serbia. A referendum could split Bosnia and provoke renewed violence.
While Mr. Dodik later toned down his remarks, saying the suggestion was "theoretical," ethnic Serbian politicians throughout the region say that if Kosovo becomes independent, pressure will inevitably increase for the breakup of Bosnia.
Some leaders in Serbia have suggested that Kosovo itself should be split, with the Serb-dominated north allowed to remain a part of Serbia, while the Albanian-dominated south forms its own government.
"If the Albanians want independence, maybe they should give something in return," Cedomir Antic, a member of the G17 Plus, a political party in Serbia's coalition government, said in a recent interview.
The United Nations Mission in Kosovo recently announced the deployment of an additional 500 police officers in the north, after threats by local leaders to form vigilante groups to provide security for Serbs against Albanians. Ethnic Albanian leaders have said the threats signal a separatist intent. The NATO-led peacekeeping force also said it would re-open a military base in the area.
In the Caucasus, two pro-Russian breakaway areas of Georgia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, might seek statehood on their own. Both have been outside the control of Georgia's government since the early 1990's. In addition, Transnistria, a Communist-run separatist region on the eastern edge of Moldova, may seek independence.
In January, President Vladimir V. Putin made it clear that he regarded Kosovo as a precedent for the Caucasus, saying, "If someone believes that Kosovo should be granted full independence as a state, then why should we deny it to the Abkhaz and the South Ossetians?"
Abkhaz politicians have asserted recently that their claims for international recognition are stronger than Kosovo's, because they are not under international protection and because, in their view, they have had a democratic government for almost 12 years.
U.N. Leader in Kosovo to Leave
By The New York Times
LJUBLJANA, Slovenia, June 12 — Soren Jessen-Petersen, the chief of the United Nations mission in Kosovo, announced Monday that he would step down from his post at the end of this month.
Mr. Jessen-Petersen, a Dane, has been in Kosovo since June 2004, and is the United Nations' longest serving head of mission since it took over the administration of the province from Serbia in 1999. He said he was stepping down for "family reasons."
BELGRADE, Serbia, June 8 — Seven years after Kosovo was placed under United Nations control, it appears increasingly likely that the province will be allowed to break away from Serbia formally and become an independent nation.
Members of the United Nations Security Council appear to be leaning toward permitting Kosovo to go its own way. The Council is expected to vote on Kosovo's fate by the end of the year, unless the Serbs and Kosovo Albanians, who have been negotiating unsuccessfully for months, reach a resolution.
But some of the world's most powerful countries are fearful the move will encourage separatist movements elsewhere to intensify their often bloody struggles and give hope to nascent independence groups that have not yet begun to fight.
On the other hand Russia, which had been adamantly opposed to Kosovo's independence, has indicated that it may set a welcome precedent for pro-Russian movements in Georgia and Moldova.
The six nations working on a plan for Kosovo's future — Britain, France, Italy, the United States, Germany and Russia — have coordinated international policy there since the province came under the control of the United Nations.
Their representatives say they will try to draft a resolution for the Security Council that will be so specific to the province that it will avoid setting a precedent for other separatists.
The United Nations has controlled Kosovo, which is still officially a part of Serbia, since June 1999, when Yugoslav troops accused of committing widespread atrocities were forced to withdraw after months of NATO-led bombing. In 1998 and 1999, an estimated 10,000 people, mostly ethnic Albanian civilians, were killed as the Serb-dominated Yugoslav Army and the Serbian police cracked down on an ethnic Albanian insurgency.
Diplomats who represent the United States and Britain in the talks say they believe that the only solution Kosovo's ethnic Albanians will accept is independence, but the diplomats insist that such a new state must provide guarantees for the minority Serbs. Other Western governments also want to find a speedy solution because they are growing weary of financing the peacekeeping troops and the international officials who now administer the province.
But Serbian leaders, wounded by Montenegro's recent break from Serbia and bitterly opposed to yet another split, say Kosovo independence could encourage the breakup of Bosnia and Herzegovina, another former Yugoslav republic.
Milorad Dodik, the prime minister of the Bosnian Serb republic — the area seized by Bosnian Serb forces during the 1992-1995 war — said the region should "affirm the right to self-determination" by holding a referendum. The republic has remained part of Bosnia since the end of the conflict, but many Bosnian Serb politicians have long hoped to unite with neighboring Serbia. A referendum could split Bosnia and provoke renewed violence.
While Mr. Dodik later toned down his remarks, saying the suggestion was "theoretical," ethnic Serbian politicians throughout the region say that if Kosovo becomes independent, pressure will inevitably increase for the breakup of Bosnia.
Some leaders in Serbia have suggested that Kosovo itself should be split, with the Serb-dominated north allowed to remain a part of Serbia, while the Albanian-dominated south forms its own government.
"If the Albanians want independence, maybe they should give something in return," Cedomir Antic, a member of the G17 Plus, a political party in Serbia's coalition government, said in a recent interview.
The United Nations Mission in Kosovo recently announced the deployment of an additional 500 police officers in the north, after threats by local leaders to form vigilante groups to provide security for Serbs against Albanians. Ethnic Albanian leaders have said the threats signal a separatist intent. The NATO-led peacekeeping force also said it would re-open a military base in the area.
In the Caucasus, two pro-Russian breakaway areas of Georgia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, might seek statehood on their own. Both have been outside the control of Georgia's government since the early 1990's. In addition, Transnistria, a Communist-run separatist region on the eastern edge of Moldova, may seek independence.
In January, President Vladimir V. Putin made it clear that he regarded Kosovo as a precedent for the Caucasus, saying, "If someone believes that Kosovo should be granted full independence as a state, then why should we deny it to the Abkhaz and the South Ossetians?"
Abkhaz politicians have asserted recently that their claims for international recognition are stronger than Kosovo's, because they are not under international protection and because, in their view, they have had a democratic government for almost 12 years.
U.N. Leader in Kosovo to Leave
By The New York Times
LJUBLJANA, Slovenia, June 12 — Soren Jessen-Petersen, the chief of the United Nations mission in Kosovo, announced Monday that he would step down from his post at the end of this month.
Mr. Jessen-Petersen, a Dane, has been in Kosovo since June 2004, and is the United Nations' longest serving head of mission since it took over the administration of the province from Serbia in 1999. He said he was stepping down for "family reasons."
Kosovo: parties still remain far apart in deciding future status, Annan reports
13 June 2006 – Despite some progress in talks to decide the final status of Kosovo, the parties remain far apart and compromise is crucial, Secretary-General Kofi Annan says in his latest report on the Albanian-majority Serbian province, which the United Nations has run since Western forces drove out Yugoslav troops in 1999 amid ethnic fighting.
“I echo the calls made for both sides to demonstrate flexibility, generosity and a spirit of compromise in the talks,” he writes of the dialogue between Kosovo Albanians and Serbs which began in Vienna in February under the auspices of UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari and have been held about twice monthly since.
“Though initial positions will naturally differ, mutually beneficial arrangements can be found if both sides pursue negotiations in this manner. Without such an approach, progress will be difficult and neither side will benefit,” he adds.
Independence and autonomy are among options that have been mentioned for the province, where Albanians outnumber Serbs and others by 9 to 1. Serbia rejects independence and Kosovo's Serbs have been boycotting the province’s local government the ‘Provisional Institutions,’ a fact Mr. Annan laments in the report.
“It is equally essential that the Kosovo Serbs rejoin the Provisional Institutions at all levels and actively engage in them,” he writes. “Remaining outside the Institutions will not bring their communities any benefit, and in fact negatively affects their ability to bring meaningful improvements into the lives of their communities.”
He voices concern at reports of pressure on Kosovo Serbs to withdraw from the Institutions and calls on Serbia to facilitate, not to hamper, their participation.
As he has in previous reports, he stresses the need for implementation of the so-called Standards, eight targets that include building democratic institutions, enforcing minority rights, creating a functioning economy and setting up an impartial legal system.
He welcomes efforts by Kosovo’s new Prime Minister Agim Ceku to accelerate the process, calls on the Kosovo government to tackle the challenges in their implementation without delay, and cites the Serbs’ unwillingness to participate in the Institutions as “an increasing obstacle” to their fulfilment.
“Real progress in this regard (the Standards) remains an essential factor in determining progress in the political process to determine Kosovo’s future status,” he says.
Mr. Annan stresses that reconciliation remains essential and although all communities have a role to play in that effort, the principal responsibility rests with the majority. He welcomes the increased outreach to minorities, particularly the Serbs, and voices disappointment that so few of those who fled in the aftermath of the ouster of Yugoslav troops have so far returned.
“I echo the calls made for both sides to demonstrate flexibility, generosity and a spirit of compromise in the talks,” he writes of the dialogue between Kosovo Albanians and Serbs which began in Vienna in February under the auspices of UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari and have been held about twice monthly since.
“Though initial positions will naturally differ, mutually beneficial arrangements can be found if both sides pursue negotiations in this manner. Without such an approach, progress will be difficult and neither side will benefit,” he adds.
Independence and autonomy are among options that have been mentioned for the province, where Albanians outnumber Serbs and others by 9 to 1. Serbia rejects independence and Kosovo's Serbs have been boycotting the province’s local government the ‘Provisional Institutions,’ a fact Mr. Annan laments in the report.
“It is equally essential that the Kosovo Serbs rejoin the Provisional Institutions at all levels and actively engage in them,” he writes. “Remaining outside the Institutions will not bring their communities any benefit, and in fact negatively affects their ability to bring meaningful improvements into the lives of their communities.”
He voices concern at reports of pressure on Kosovo Serbs to withdraw from the Institutions and calls on Serbia to facilitate, not to hamper, their participation.
As he has in previous reports, he stresses the need for implementation of the so-called Standards, eight targets that include building democratic institutions, enforcing minority rights, creating a functioning economy and setting up an impartial legal system.
He welcomes efforts by Kosovo’s new Prime Minister Agim Ceku to accelerate the process, calls on the Kosovo government to tackle the challenges in their implementation without delay, and cites the Serbs’ unwillingness to participate in the Institutions as “an increasing obstacle” to their fulfilment.
“Real progress in this regard (the Standards) remains an essential factor in determining progress in the political process to determine Kosovo’s future status,” he says.
Mr. Annan stresses that reconciliation remains essential and although all communities have a role to play in that effort, the principal responsibility rests with the majority. He welcomes the increased outreach to minorities, particularly the Serbs, and voices disappointment that so few of those who fled in the aftermath of the ouster of Yugoslav troops have so far returned.
U.N. envoy: Kosovo independence this year
PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro, June 13 (UPI) -- A U.N. envoy says the Serbia province of Kosovo will be independent this year.
Soren Jessen-Petersen, outgoing chief of the U.N. Kosovo civilian mission, Tuesday told the Albanian-language Koha Ditore newspaper in Pristina that Kosovo this year will become independent of the Serbian government in Belgrade.
Recalling that Petersen has never spoken directly what will be Kosovo's future status, Koha Ditore quoted the Danish diplomat as saying, "The dream of a majority of Kosovo's people will become true. It is clear that the Kosovo dream, and we know that Kosovo's dream is independence, will become reality."
Some 90 percent of the Kosovo population is ethnic-Albania while the rest are Serbian.
Serbs and ethnic-Albanians are meeting to decide who will govern Kosovo once U.N. and NATO personnel leave.
Soren Jessen-Petersen, outgoing chief of the U.N. Kosovo civilian mission, Tuesday told the Albanian-language Koha Ditore newspaper in Pristina that Kosovo this year will become independent of the Serbian government in Belgrade.
Recalling that Petersen has never spoken directly what will be Kosovo's future status, Koha Ditore quoted the Danish diplomat as saying, "The dream of a majority of Kosovo's people will become true. It is clear that the Kosovo dream, and we know that Kosovo's dream is independence, will become reality."
Some 90 percent of the Kosovo population is ethnic-Albania while the rest are Serbian.
Serbs and ethnic-Albanians are meeting to decide who will govern Kosovo once U.N. and NATO personnel leave.
OK Seen Likely For Kosovo To Break Away From Serbia -NYT
NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- It appears increasingly likely that Kosovo will be allowed to formally break away from Serbia and become an independent nation, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
The province has been under United Nations control for seven years, but now members of the U.N. Security Council appear to be leaning toward permitting Kosovo to go its own way, the newspaper reported.
The Council is expected to vote on Kosovo's fate by the end of the year, The Times said, unless the Serbs and Kosovo Albanians, who have been negotiating unsuccessfully for months, reach a resolution.
It said representatives of the six nations working on a plan for Kosovo's future - Britain, France, Italy, the U.S., Germany and Russia - say they will try to draft a resolution for the Security Council that will be so specific to the province that it will avoid setting a precedent for other separatists.
The fear among some of the world's most powerful countries is that allowing Kosovo to split away from Serbia will encourage separatist movements elsewhere to intensify their often bloody struggles and give hope to nascent independence groups that have not yet begun to fight.
Diplomats who represent the U.S. and the U.K. in the talks say they believe the only solution Kosovo's ethnic Albanians will accept is independence, but the diplomats insist that such a new state must provide guarantees for the minority Serbs, The Times said. Other Western governments also want to find a speedy solution because they are growing weary of financing the peacekeeping troops and the international officials who now administer the province.
But Serbian leaders, wounded by Montenegro's recent break from Serbia and bitterly opposed to yet another split, say Kosovo independence could encourage the breakup of Bosnia and Herzegovina, another former Yugoslav republic.
The province has been under United Nations control for seven years, but now members of the U.N. Security Council appear to be leaning toward permitting Kosovo to go its own way, the newspaper reported.
The Council is expected to vote on Kosovo's fate by the end of the year, The Times said, unless the Serbs and Kosovo Albanians, who have been negotiating unsuccessfully for months, reach a resolution.
It said representatives of the six nations working on a plan for Kosovo's future - Britain, France, Italy, the U.S., Germany and Russia - say they will try to draft a resolution for the Security Council that will be so specific to the province that it will avoid setting a precedent for other separatists.
The fear among some of the world's most powerful countries is that allowing Kosovo to split away from Serbia will encourage separatist movements elsewhere to intensify their often bloody struggles and give hope to nascent independence groups that have not yet begun to fight.
Diplomats who represent the U.S. and the U.K. in the talks say they believe the only solution Kosovo's ethnic Albanians will accept is independence, but the diplomats insist that such a new state must provide guarantees for the minority Serbs, The Times said. Other Western governments also want to find a speedy solution because they are growing weary of financing the peacekeeping troops and the international officials who now administer the province.
But Serbian leaders, wounded by Montenegro's recent break from Serbia and bitterly opposed to yet another split, say Kosovo independence could encourage the breakup of Bosnia and Herzegovina, another former Yugoslav republic.
Monday, June 12, 2006
Kosovo citizens see outgoing UNMIK chief as best international leader
Text of report by Kosovo Albanian television KohaVision TV on 12 June
[Announcer] During the two years of his mission in Kosova [Kosovo] the UNMIK [United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo] Chief Soeren Jessen-Petersen has created the image of a cooperative administrator who was determined. He insisted constantly to find a resolution on Kosova's status as soon as possible and encouraged institutional and party leaders, as well as Kosova people, to work in accomplishing their dream for independence. Who is he, and what did he do in Kosova, let us hear the report:
[Reporter, Xhemajl Rexha] The stereotype [among Kosovo nationals] of a cold Scandinavian has not changed, but this is not true about the Danish Soeren Jessen-Petersen. He was nominated at the post of UNMIK chief on 16 August 2004 and he managed to improve the image of UNMIK and the post he was holding. This is best illustrated by a UNDP poll: on March 2004, when the riots took place, the approval rate for UNMIK fell to 25 per cent, whereas for its chief to 30 per cent; only a year later, in March 2005, UNMIK chief Soeren Jessen-Petersen enjoyed much popularity with an approval rate over 80 per cent. This was the record support for an UNMIK chief administrator.
Jessen-Petersen stood out for his close ties and good cooperation with institutional and party leaders as well as Kosova minorities. During his mission he dealt with two presidents and four prime ministers. He made efforts to raise the consciousness among the citizens and the leaders to build a democratic and multi-ethnic Kosova with a good future. During his time he visited many Kosova villages and towns and spoke to the people about the importance of the Standards [set for Kosovo by international community]. On 24 October 2005, when the UN Security Council approved the beginning of Kosova status talks, Jessen-Petersen reported before the Council about Kosova government's efforts to secure a safe and secure environment for all.
In many of his declarations Jessen-Petersen said he hoped that the dream of the majority would be fulfilled. In a single case in Decan [Decane] he also mentioned independence, something he hesitated to talk about today. Not everyone liked the Dane; Self-Determination Movement activists protested in front of his offices several times and even blocked the entrance to the mission he will lead for another three weeks. Jessen-Petersen called the activists of the movement enemies to Kosova's independence.
Jessen-Petersen is leaving at a very important time, when talks on final status are expected to start soon. According to him things are moving in the right direction because, according to him, the status quo is intolerable. Before coming to Kosova he served as an assistant to the High Commissioner for Refugees and as a special envoy of the EU in Shkup [Skopje, Macedonia] until 2004. He is a jurist and a trained journalist. He has a number of publications. His family, wife and four children, live in Washington. He also said he would write a book part of which would be dedicated to Kosova.
Source: KohaVision TV, Pristina, in Albanian 1700 gmt 12 Jun 06
[Announcer] During the two years of his mission in Kosova [Kosovo] the UNMIK [United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo] Chief Soeren Jessen-Petersen has created the image of a cooperative administrator who was determined. He insisted constantly to find a resolution on Kosova's status as soon as possible and encouraged institutional and party leaders, as well as Kosova people, to work in accomplishing their dream for independence. Who is he, and what did he do in Kosova, let us hear the report:
[Reporter, Xhemajl Rexha] The stereotype [among Kosovo nationals] of a cold Scandinavian has not changed, but this is not true about the Danish Soeren Jessen-Petersen. He was nominated at the post of UNMIK chief on 16 August 2004 and he managed to improve the image of UNMIK and the post he was holding. This is best illustrated by a UNDP poll: on March 2004, when the riots took place, the approval rate for UNMIK fell to 25 per cent, whereas for its chief to 30 per cent; only a year later, in March 2005, UNMIK chief Soeren Jessen-Petersen enjoyed much popularity with an approval rate over 80 per cent. This was the record support for an UNMIK chief administrator.
Jessen-Petersen stood out for his close ties and good cooperation with institutional and party leaders as well as Kosova minorities. During his mission he dealt with two presidents and four prime ministers. He made efforts to raise the consciousness among the citizens and the leaders to build a democratic and multi-ethnic Kosova with a good future. During his time he visited many Kosova villages and towns and spoke to the people about the importance of the Standards [set for Kosovo by international community]. On 24 October 2005, when the UN Security Council approved the beginning of Kosova status talks, Jessen-Petersen reported before the Council about Kosova government's efforts to secure a safe and secure environment for all.
In many of his declarations Jessen-Petersen said he hoped that the dream of the majority would be fulfilled. In a single case in Decan [Decane] he also mentioned independence, something he hesitated to talk about today. Not everyone liked the Dane; Self-Determination Movement activists protested in front of his offices several times and even blocked the entrance to the mission he will lead for another three weeks. Jessen-Petersen called the activists of the movement enemies to Kosova's independence.
Jessen-Petersen is leaving at a very important time, when talks on final status are expected to start soon. According to him things are moving in the right direction because, according to him, the status quo is intolerable. Before coming to Kosova he served as an assistant to the High Commissioner for Refugees and as a special envoy of the EU in Shkup [Skopje, Macedonia] until 2004. He is a jurist and a trained journalist. He has a number of publications. His family, wife and four children, live in Washington. He also said he would write a book part of which would be dedicated to Kosova.
Source: KohaVision TV, Pristina, in Albanian 1700 gmt 12 Jun 06
Serbs in northern Kosovo say they have formed own security units
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Serbia (AP) - Serbs in tense northern Kosovo said Monday they have formed neighborhood security units following a recent spate of attacks in the area. The U.N. police said they had no knowledge of such units.
The Serb Coordination Center said in a statement that the self-styled observation posts and vigilante groups were set up at "potentially dangerous points" last week to stave off possible attacks against the Serbs in northern Kosovo.
"Constant attacks on the Serbs and their property, from robberies to murders, have forced us to organize ourselves," the statement said. It added that the units were formed with the help of members of the Kosovo police and former Serb police. No other details were given.
There was no immediate comment from the U.N. authorities in Kosovo, who have run the province since a 1999 war. The U.N. police in Kosovska Mitrovica -- the divided city that is the center of northern Kosovo -- said they were not aware that the units were formed.
The Serbs last week have complained of growing incidents in the region, and the U.N. authorities promised to send additional police to step up security.
Forming of Serb-only units could fuel tensions in Kosovo, amid the ongoing U.N.-brokered negotiations that will decide whether the province will gain independence or remain part of Serbia.
Kosovo now formally is a Serbian province, but it has been run by the United Nations and NATO since 1999, when a NATO air war against Serbia forced Belgrade to end a crackdown against Kosovo's ethnic Albanian separatists and pull out of the province.
Ethnic Albanians in Kosovo insist on gaining independence, while the minority Serbs and Belgrade want the province to remain within Serbia.
Also Monday, Serbia's president Boris Tadic warned that "any form of independence" for Kosovo would destabilize the Balkans. Serbia has offered Kosovo full autonomy from Belgrade's government, but not territorial independence.
The Serb Coordination Center said in a statement that the self-styled observation posts and vigilante groups were set up at "potentially dangerous points" last week to stave off possible attacks against the Serbs in northern Kosovo.
"Constant attacks on the Serbs and their property, from robberies to murders, have forced us to organize ourselves," the statement said. It added that the units were formed with the help of members of the Kosovo police and former Serb police. No other details were given.
There was no immediate comment from the U.N. authorities in Kosovo, who have run the province since a 1999 war. The U.N. police in Kosovska Mitrovica -- the divided city that is the center of northern Kosovo -- said they were not aware that the units were formed.
The Serbs last week have complained of growing incidents in the region, and the U.N. authorities promised to send additional police to step up security.
Forming of Serb-only units could fuel tensions in Kosovo, amid the ongoing U.N.-brokered negotiations that will decide whether the province will gain independence or remain part of Serbia.
Kosovo now formally is a Serbian province, but it has been run by the United Nations and NATO since 1999, when a NATO air war against Serbia forced Belgrade to end a crackdown against Kosovo's ethnic Albanian separatists and pull out of the province.
Ethnic Albanians in Kosovo insist on gaining independence, while the minority Serbs and Belgrade want the province to remain within Serbia.
Also Monday, Serbia's president Boris Tadic warned that "any form of independence" for Kosovo would destabilize the Balkans. Serbia has offered Kosovo full autonomy from Belgrade's government, but not territorial independence.
UN tribunal rules out delay in Ojdanic war crimes trial
THE HAGUE, June 12, 2006 (AFP) -
The UN war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia on Monday ruled out delaying the trial of former Yugoslav army chief Dragoljub Ojdanic after an attack against his lawyers, the court said.
The trial, in which Ojdanic is charged jointly with five other suspects including former Serbian president Milan Milutinovic, would begin in July, the court said.
Ojdanic's defence team demanded that his trial be delayed after an attack on his lawyers in the southern Serbian province of Kosovo, where the defendants' crimes were allegedly committed.
The lawyers, accompanied by members of the United Nations mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), were attacked by villagers in a southern town on May 25. Rocks were thrown at the convoy and three police and some 30 villagers were injured.
Following the attack the defence team had to leave Kosovo and was advised by UNMIK that the visit could not be resumed.
Ojdanic's lawyers said the former general's right to a fair trial had been violated as the defence could not investigate the allegations under the circumstances in Kosovo.
All the defendants were close to ex-Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, who died in March while on trial in The Hague at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
They are alleged to have waged a systematic campaign of terror and violence against the majority ethnic Albanian population in Kosovo in the late 1990s.
The UN war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia on Monday ruled out delaying the trial of former Yugoslav army chief Dragoljub Ojdanic after an attack against his lawyers, the court said.
The trial, in which Ojdanic is charged jointly with five other suspects including former Serbian president Milan Milutinovic, would begin in July, the court said.
Ojdanic's defence team demanded that his trial be delayed after an attack on his lawyers in the southern Serbian province of Kosovo, where the defendants' crimes were allegedly committed.
The lawyers, accompanied by members of the United Nations mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), were attacked by villagers in a southern town on May 25. Rocks were thrown at the convoy and three police and some 30 villagers were injured.
Following the attack the defence team had to leave Kosovo and was advised by UNMIK that the visit could not be resumed.
Ojdanic's lawyers said the former general's right to a fair trial had been violated as the defence could not investigate the allegations under the circumstances in Kosovo.
All the defendants were close to ex-Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, who died in March while on trial in The Hague at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
They are alleged to have waged a systematic campaign of terror and violence against the majority ethnic Albanian population in Kosovo in the late 1990s.
Kosovo's UN Administrator Says To Leave Province
PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP)--Kosovo's top U.N. administrator told staff Monday he is leaving the province at the end of June.
Soeren Jessen-Petersen, a Danish refugee expert and former European Union representative to Macedonia who has been in Kosovo for nearly two years, told the U.N. staff in the province he "will be departing at an important moment in the history of Kosovo.
"I am confident, however, that the political process leading toward a status decision is on track," Jessen-Petersen said in an e-mail to his staff, obtained by the AP.
"The destiny of Kosovo is clear and the future course toward a democratic, multiethnic society is more than ever in the good hands of the people and the elected political leaders of Kosovo."
Jessen-Petersen's decision comes at the most sensitive time for the disputed province since U.N. administration began in 1999. The U.N. took control after the NATO air war that forced Serb forces to relinquish control over Kosovo. Talks to determine Kosovo's future status - whether it becomes independent state or remains somehow attached to Serbia - are under way in Vienna, Austria.
It wasn't immediately clear whether someone will succeed Jessen-Petersen in the post.
Jessen-Petersen, named to the post by U.N. Secretary-general Kofi Annan in June 2004, was the province's fifth U.N. chief since the end of the war and was regarded as popular.
A lawyer, he had served as assistant high commissioner for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees from January 1998 to December 2001. He later became chairman of a European Union initiative to manage population movements in the western Balkans.
The province is as divided as ever. Ethnic Albanian and Serbs remain entrenched in their diametrically opposed positions on the province's future status. It also remains one of the poorest regions in Europe, with an unemployment rate estimated at over 50%.
On Sunday, the chief U.N. negotiator, the former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, said the two sides will be invited to present their proposal for Kosovo's final status in the end of July.
Soeren Jessen-Petersen, a Danish refugee expert and former European Union representative to Macedonia who has been in Kosovo for nearly two years, told the U.N. staff in the province he "will be departing at an important moment in the history of Kosovo.
"I am confident, however, that the political process leading toward a status decision is on track," Jessen-Petersen said in an e-mail to his staff, obtained by the AP.
"The destiny of Kosovo is clear and the future course toward a democratic, multiethnic society is more than ever in the good hands of the people and the elected political leaders of Kosovo."
Jessen-Petersen's decision comes at the most sensitive time for the disputed province since U.N. administration began in 1999. The U.N. took control after the NATO air war that forced Serb forces to relinquish control over Kosovo. Talks to determine Kosovo's future status - whether it becomes independent state or remains somehow attached to Serbia - are under way in Vienna, Austria.
It wasn't immediately clear whether someone will succeed Jessen-Petersen in the post.
Jessen-Petersen, named to the post by U.N. Secretary-general Kofi Annan in June 2004, was the province's fifth U.N. chief since the end of the war and was regarded as popular.
A lawyer, he had served as assistant high commissioner for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees from January 1998 to December 2001. He later became chairman of a European Union initiative to manage population movements in the western Balkans.
The province is as divided as ever. Ethnic Albanian and Serbs remain entrenched in their diametrically opposed positions on the province's future status. It also remains one of the poorest regions in Europe, with an unemployment rate estimated at over 50%.
On Sunday, the chief U.N. negotiator, the former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, said the two sides will be invited to present their proposal for Kosovo's final status in the end of July.
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Russia recognizes Montenegro's independence - foreign ministry
MOSCOW, June 11 (RIA Novosti) - Russia has recognized the Republic of Montenegro as an independent and sovereign state, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Sunday.
In a referendum held May 21, the tiny Balkan republic voted to break away from its union with Serbia, completing the breakup of the former Yugoslavia.
"In compliance with the Russian president's decree, the Russian side has recognized the Republic of Montenegro as an independent and sovereign state," the ministry said in a statement placed on its website.
Russia has offered Montenegro to hold negotiations on establishing diplomatic relations between the two states at the level of ambassadors and opening embassies in Moscow and Podgorica, the ministry said.
In a referendum held May 21, the tiny Balkan republic voted to break away from its union with Serbia, completing the breakup of the former Yugoslavia.
"In compliance with the Russian president's decree, the Russian side has recognized the Republic of Montenegro as an independent and sovereign state," the ministry said in a statement placed on its website.
Russia has offered Montenegro to hold negotiations on establishing diplomatic relations between the two states at the level of ambassadors and opening embassies in Moscow and Podgorica, the ministry said.
Kosovo premier gets official invitation to travel to UN
Text of report by Kosovo Albanian television KohaVision TV on 9 June
[Announcer] Kosova [Kosovo] Prime Minister Agim Ceku has received an official invitation to travel to New York together with UNMIK [UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo] chief Soeren Jessen-Petersen. Jessen-Petersen will be reporting to the UN Security Council on the progress made in the implementation of Standards [set for Kosovo by international community] in Kosova. The head of the international administration said the decision on local elections would be taken after consultations with [UN special envoy for Kosovo status talks] Martti Ahtisaari and that before he takes the decision he would take as a basis Kosova's interests, which is resolution of the status during this year.
[Reporter Xhemajl Rexha] While in New York, Kosova Prime Minister Agim Ceku will be meeting representatives of the five countries that are permanent members of the Security Council. Jessen-Petersen will be reporting before this UN body on the progress made in the fulfilment of the Standards. His report will come before Martti Ahtisaari's report on the continuation of negotiations. In their weekly meeting Soeren Jessen-Petersen and Agim Ceku discussed the government's decision to take over responsibility for the transport of minorities.
[Soeren Jessen-Petersen, in English with Albanian voiceover] I welcome the fact that the government will be taking over the transport of minorities, on the other hand, I hope that the shameful acts of throwing stones at buses will stop, because they are not in Kosova's interests.
[Reporter] The Kosovo premier asked the UNMIK administration for support in a number of fields in order to accomplish successfully the 13 priorities set by the Contact Group.
[Agim Ceku] There are many fields where UNMIK can help us, especially in the field of return, reconstruction of homes, the issue of missing persons, property agency and many other issues, where UNMIK's participation and contribution is necessary.
[Reporter] Jessen-Petersen also met the Democratic Party of Kosova [PDK] leader Hashim Thaci to discuss the future of local elections. He said the position of the PDK, as the second biggest political force in the country, is very important, yet, according to him, the decision should be in the best interests of Kosova.
[Soeren Jessen-Petersen] I see my job right now as doing whatever I can to support the status process, definition of status within 2006, because this is an issue that determines everything. My decision will be based in Kosova's best interest and for this I will consult Ahtisaari as well.
[Reporter] The body that voiced its disagreement with the postponement of the local elections most is the Ora Reformist Party.
Source: KohaVision TV, Pristina, in Albanian 1700 gmt 9 Jun 06
[Announcer] Kosova [Kosovo] Prime Minister Agim Ceku has received an official invitation to travel to New York together with UNMIK [UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo] chief Soeren Jessen-Petersen. Jessen-Petersen will be reporting to the UN Security Council on the progress made in the implementation of Standards [set for Kosovo by international community] in Kosova. The head of the international administration said the decision on local elections would be taken after consultations with [UN special envoy for Kosovo status talks] Martti Ahtisaari and that before he takes the decision he would take as a basis Kosova's interests, which is resolution of the status during this year.
[Reporter Xhemajl Rexha] While in New York, Kosova Prime Minister Agim Ceku will be meeting representatives of the five countries that are permanent members of the Security Council. Jessen-Petersen will be reporting before this UN body on the progress made in the fulfilment of the Standards. His report will come before Martti Ahtisaari's report on the continuation of negotiations. In their weekly meeting Soeren Jessen-Petersen and Agim Ceku discussed the government's decision to take over responsibility for the transport of minorities.
[Soeren Jessen-Petersen, in English with Albanian voiceover] I welcome the fact that the government will be taking over the transport of minorities, on the other hand, I hope that the shameful acts of throwing stones at buses will stop, because they are not in Kosova's interests.
[Reporter] The Kosovo premier asked the UNMIK administration for support in a number of fields in order to accomplish successfully the 13 priorities set by the Contact Group.
[Agim Ceku] There are many fields where UNMIK can help us, especially in the field of return, reconstruction of homes, the issue of missing persons, property agency and many other issues, where UNMIK's participation and contribution is necessary.
[Reporter] Jessen-Petersen also met the Democratic Party of Kosova [PDK] leader Hashim Thaci to discuss the future of local elections. He said the position of the PDK, as the second biggest political force in the country, is very important, yet, according to him, the decision should be in the best interests of Kosova.
[Soeren Jessen-Petersen] I see my job right now as doing whatever I can to support the status process, definition of status within 2006, because this is an issue that determines everything. My decision will be based in Kosova's best interest and for this I will consult Ahtisaari as well.
[Reporter] The body that voiced its disagreement with the postponement of the local elections most is the Ora Reformist Party.
Source: KohaVision TV, Pristina, in Albanian 1700 gmt 9 Jun 06
Time for Kosovo's independence to be recognized, says premier
Text of report by Radio-Television Kosovo TV on 9 June
The time has come for the international community to recognize Kosova's [Kosovo's] independence as it did with Montenegro, said Prime Minister Agim Ceku. He added that with this act the destructive past of the post-Tito era will be finalized and its former parts will be on the right path towards joining the European Union and NATO.
PM Ceku stressed that Kosova's statehood is a precondition for its economic development. Kosova needs sovereignty so it can encourage foreign investment and create a healthy developing alternative, thus moving away from an economy that is dependent on donor aid. On the issue of minorities Ceku said that the government is making an effort to build trust, especially with the Serb minority, to convince them that a sovereign Kosova will have a positive role in the Balkans.
We want to have good cooperation relations with all countries within the framework of the EU and NATO. Albania, with which Kosova has historical, cultural and linguistic ties, is a natural partner. Such a partnership can be formed with Serbia too if it decides to take the path of cooperation and integration and not the one of obstruction and division, said Kosova Prime Minister Agim Ceku.
Source: RTK TV, Pristina, in Albanian 0937 gmt 9 Jun 06
The time has come for the international community to recognize Kosova's [Kosovo's] independence as it did with Montenegro, said Prime Minister Agim Ceku. He added that with this act the destructive past of the post-Tito era will be finalized and its former parts will be on the right path towards joining the European Union and NATO.
PM Ceku stressed that Kosova's statehood is a precondition for its economic development. Kosova needs sovereignty so it can encourage foreign investment and create a healthy developing alternative, thus moving away from an economy that is dependent on donor aid. On the issue of minorities Ceku said that the government is making an effort to build trust, especially with the Serb minority, to convince them that a sovereign Kosova will have a positive role in the Balkans.
We want to have good cooperation relations with all countries within the framework of the EU and NATO. Albania, with which Kosova has historical, cultural and linguistic ties, is a natural partner. Such a partnership can be formed with Serbia too if it decides to take the path of cooperation and integration and not the one of obstruction and division, said Kosova Prime Minister Agim Ceku.
Source: RTK TV, Pristina, in Albanian 0937 gmt 9 Jun 06
Friday, June 09, 2006
EU to recognize Montenegro independence
BRUSSELS, June 9, 2006 (AFP) -
European Union foreign ministers will agree next week to recognize the independence of Montenegro, following its referendum decision to split from Serbia, EU sources said Friday.
The ministers, holding regular talks in Luxembourg on Monday, will "give the green light" for recognition of the tiny Balkan state by the 25-nation bloc, said one diplomat on condition of anonymity.
Another EU official said the ministers will agree that "the EU member states will develop their relations with the republic of Montenegro as an independent state."
Montenegro formally declared its independence on Saturday after 55.5 percent of its voters supported separation from Serbia, with which it had been tied in a loose federation since 2003, in a referendum on May 21.
Under international law it will be up to individual EU member states to formally recognize Montenegro, rather than the EU as a whole. They can do so at different speeds and in different ways.
A British diplomat said that London plans to do so rapidly, although others may be more reluctant, given the sensitive situation in the Balkans in particular concerning Serbia.
The diplomat warned that Serbia needs encouragement after a series of knockbacks in recenth months.
The Montenegro referendum followed the suspension of EU membership talks because of lack of progress in finding key war crimes suspects, and signs that its southern province of Kosovo could one day become independent.
"It's a difficult time for the Serbs at the moment," he said. "The perception in Serbia is that they are having a lot of doors closed on them ... It's essential to give a positive message to Serbia."
Montenegro's independence signalled almost the final act in the turbulent break-up of the former Yugoslav, which was ripped apart by a series of bloody wars in the early 1990s.
Serbia sealed the final act of Yugoslavia's history when it proclaimed independence itself Monday, lowering the flag of the defunct Serbia and Montenegro federation and raising the Serbian standard in its place.
European Union foreign ministers will agree next week to recognize the independence of Montenegro, following its referendum decision to split from Serbia, EU sources said Friday.
The ministers, holding regular talks in Luxembourg on Monday, will "give the green light" for recognition of the tiny Balkan state by the 25-nation bloc, said one diplomat on condition of anonymity.
Another EU official said the ministers will agree that "the EU member states will develop their relations with the republic of Montenegro as an independent state."
Montenegro formally declared its independence on Saturday after 55.5 percent of its voters supported separation from Serbia, with which it had been tied in a loose federation since 2003, in a referendum on May 21.
Under international law it will be up to individual EU member states to formally recognize Montenegro, rather than the EU as a whole. They can do so at different speeds and in different ways.
A British diplomat said that London plans to do so rapidly, although others may be more reluctant, given the sensitive situation in the Balkans in particular concerning Serbia.
The diplomat warned that Serbia needs encouragement after a series of knockbacks in recenth months.
The Montenegro referendum followed the suspension of EU membership talks because of lack of progress in finding key war crimes suspects, and signs that its southern province of Kosovo could one day become independent.
"It's a difficult time for the Serbs at the moment," he said. "The perception in Serbia is that they are having a lot of doors closed on them ... It's essential to give a positive message to Serbia."
Montenegro's independence signalled almost the final act in the turbulent break-up of the former Yugoslav, which was ripped apart by a series of bloody wars in the early 1990s.
Serbia sealed the final act of Yugoslavia's history when it proclaimed independence itself Monday, lowering the flag of the defunct Serbia and Montenegro federation and raising the Serbian standard in its place.
UNMIK chief says Self-Determination Movement's rally not in Kosovo's interest
Text of report in English by independent internet news agency KosovaLive
Prishtina [Pristina], 9 June: The head of UNMIK [UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo] Soeren Jessen-Petersen said today that the enemies of independence will be very happy when they see the protests of the Self-Determination Movement on the streets of Prishtina, while Prime Minister Agim Ceku said that at this crucial time all should be responsible not to prolong the process of Kosova's independence.
Jessen-Petersen and Ceku made those comments at a meeting which was held during the time of police interventions against protestors.
"I simply do not understand what these people (Self-Determination Movement protesters) are doing. I think they are lost. I think they are misguided and clearly they are not working in the interest of Kosova," he [unspecified] said.
"The enemies of independence must be very happy with what is happening in front of UNMIK HQ. We do not need anything that will distract attention from the status process," he said.
Jessen-Petersen said that UNMIK is doing its job in helping the people and the institutions of Kosova. He also said that he feels proud of the job UNMIK has been doing in Kosova.
Source: KosovaLive website, Pristina, in English 9 Jun 06
Prishtina [Pristina], 9 June: The head of UNMIK [UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo] Soeren Jessen-Petersen said today that the enemies of independence will be very happy when they see the protests of the Self-Determination Movement on the streets of Prishtina, while Prime Minister Agim Ceku said that at this crucial time all should be responsible not to prolong the process of Kosova's independence.
Jessen-Petersen and Ceku made those comments at a meeting which was held during the time of police interventions against protestors.
"I simply do not understand what these people (Self-Determination Movement protesters) are doing. I think they are lost. I think they are misguided and clearly they are not working in the interest of Kosova," he [unspecified] said.
"The enemies of independence must be very happy with what is happening in front of UNMIK HQ. We do not need anything that will distract attention from the status process," he said.
Jessen-Petersen said that UNMIK is doing its job in helping the people and the institutions of Kosova. He also said that he feels proud of the job UNMIK has been doing in Kosova.
Source: KosovaLive website, Pristina, in English 9 Jun 06
Kosovo negotiating team says drafting of new constitution should be speeded up
Text of report in English by independent internet news agency KosovaLive
Prishtina [Pristina], 9 June: The Kosova [Kosovo] negotiating team highlighted the need for acceleration of the work on drafting the new constitution of Kosova, and evaluated that they are prepared to face with all challenges the talks will bring in the future.
Spokesperson Skender Hyseni said that neither modalities nor the time when this constitution will end have been determined yet.
"What is most important, the new constitution will contain all culminant values of Western democracies."
The team in today's meeting has also discussed on the future status talks. "Tomorrow, the negotiating team will meet UN status mediator Marti Ahtisaari and we will know more after that meeting. However we are ready to face all challenges," he said.
Source: KosovaLive website, Pristina, in English 9 Jun 06
Prishtina [Pristina], 9 June: The Kosova [Kosovo] negotiating team highlighted the need for acceleration of the work on drafting the new constitution of Kosova, and evaluated that they are prepared to face with all challenges the talks will bring in the future.
Spokesperson Skender Hyseni said that neither modalities nor the time when this constitution will end have been determined yet.
"What is most important, the new constitution will contain all culminant values of Western democracies."
The team in today's meeting has also discussed on the future status talks. "Tomorrow, the negotiating team will meet UN status mediator Marti Ahtisaari and we will know more after that meeting. However we are ready to face all challenges," he said.
Source: KosovaLive website, Pristina, in English 9 Jun 06
A newer, smaller Serbia tries to cope with changes
Two weeks after Montenegro voted to end its federation with Serbia and declare independence, the process has begun to divide the assets shared by the two states.
Across the two republics, soldiers and police officers have lowered the tricolors of Serbia and Montenegro flying over state buildings and replaced them with their own flags. But the ceremonies have taken on different meanings in each state.
While the government of Montenegro has been triumphant in asserting its independence, in Serbia there is a sense of loss as the government and people come to terms with what is a new and reduced identity.
In Belgrade, once the capital of a country that stretched from Greece to Austria, politicians are struggling with their divorce from Montenegro, a state with which they share a common history, language and religion stretching back hundreds of years.
Many in Serbia described a government shocked by the outcome of the referendum May 21, one which it had once refused to contemplate.
"They feel as though something has been cut off from their body," said Nenad Djurdjevic, a government employee and an adviser to Serbia and Montenegro's minister for human rights. "Some politicians here still think that the Serbian state lies where the Serbian people are." Ljiljana Smajlovic, editor of Serbia's conservative daily newspaper, Politika, said, "They are acting like a boxer who has been knocked down."
Montenegro's separation seems to be yet another defeat for Serbia. After the separation of Croatia and then Bosnia and Herzegovina from Yugoslavia in two bloody wars, Serbia has lost its links with yet another Serb-populated area.
While this time the separation was prompted by a peaceful ballot, the perception is that this was an option that Serbia itself did not choose; it was foisted upon it.
Now statesmen here have to reconcile themselves to a realm of influence that is smaller than at any time since the end of World War I. Serbia and Montenegro's federal government building is perhaps the clearest symbol of that decline, a huge concrete complex in New Belgrade that once administered Socialist-era Yugoslavia. Until last week the complex was home to most of Serbia and Montenegro's ministries. On Tuesday the Serbian flag was raised above the building and the government is now wondering what to do with the office space inside, and what to do with many of the 2,750 employees who work there.
The Yugoslav federation has finally collapsed, and some here are saying that Serbia needs to reconcile itself to a new future and a new nation on its border. If Kosovo, the United Nations-run province that is still formally a part of Serbia, wins its own independence by the end of the year, Serbia will be better able to deal with its own internal political and economic reforms.
"This would be the first time since 1918 that Serbia will not be divided by ethnic and constitutional struggles," said Ceda Antic, a member of the G17 Plus party, which supports Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's coalition government. But for many that is too hard a thought to absorb for the moment.
"Like the majority of the population, I think, I'm in a funk," said Smajlovic, the editor. People need time, she said, to acknowledge the creation of what is effectively a new state.
Serbs are again turning to black humor to deal with their woes. One joke told here recounts the nationalist slogan of the 1990s: "Serbia do Tokija," or Serbia to Tokyo, has been replaced by a new formula: "Serbia kao Nokia," or Serbia like Nokia. Just like the Finnish cellphones, Serbia comes in a newer and smaller model every year.
Across the two republics, soldiers and police officers have lowered the tricolors of Serbia and Montenegro flying over state buildings and replaced them with their own flags. But the ceremonies have taken on different meanings in each state.
While the government of Montenegro has been triumphant in asserting its independence, in Serbia there is a sense of loss as the government and people come to terms with what is a new and reduced identity.
In Belgrade, once the capital of a country that stretched from Greece to Austria, politicians are struggling with their divorce from Montenegro, a state with which they share a common history, language and religion stretching back hundreds of years.
Many in Serbia described a government shocked by the outcome of the referendum May 21, one which it had once refused to contemplate.
"They feel as though something has been cut off from their body," said Nenad Djurdjevic, a government employee and an adviser to Serbia and Montenegro's minister for human rights. "Some politicians here still think that the Serbian state lies where the Serbian people are." Ljiljana Smajlovic, editor of Serbia's conservative daily newspaper, Politika, said, "They are acting like a boxer who has been knocked down."
Montenegro's separation seems to be yet another defeat for Serbia. After the separation of Croatia and then Bosnia and Herzegovina from Yugoslavia in two bloody wars, Serbia has lost its links with yet another Serb-populated area.
While this time the separation was prompted by a peaceful ballot, the perception is that this was an option that Serbia itself did not choose; it was foisted upon it.
Now statesmen here have to reconcile themselves to a realm of influence that is smaller than at any time since the end of World War I. Serbia and Montenegro's federal government building is perhaps the clearest symbol of that decline, a huge concrete complex in New Belgrade that once administered Socialist-era Yugoslavia. Until last week the complex was home to most of Serbia and Montenegro's ministries. On Tuesday the Serbian flag was raised above the building and the government is now wondering what to do with the office space inside, and what to do with many of the 2,750 employees who work there.
The Yugoslav federation has finally collapsed, and some here are saying that Serbia needs to reconcile itself to a new future and a new nation on its border. If Kosovo, the United Nations-run province that is still formally a part of Serbia, wins its own independence by the end of the year, Serbia will be better able to deal with its own internal political and economic reforms.
"This would be the first time since 1918 that Serbia will not be divided by ethnic and constitutional struggles," said Ceda Antic, a member of the G17 Plus party, which supports Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's coalition government. But for many that is too hard a thought to absorb for the moment.
"Like the majority of the population, I think, I'm in a funk," said Smajlovic, the editor. People need time, she said, to acknowledge the creation of what is effectively a new state.
Serbs are again turning to black humor to deal with their woes. One joke told here recounts the nationalist slogan of the 1990s: "Serbia do Tokija," or Serbia to Tokyo, has been replaced by a new formula: "Serbia kao Nokia," or Serbia like Nokia. Just like the Finnish cellphones, Serbia comes in a newer and smaller model every year.
UN envoy arrives in Kosovo as police clash with protestors
PRISTINA, Serbia, June 9, 2006 (AFP) -
The top United Nations envoy for Kosovo, Martti Ahtisaari, arrived in Pristina Friday hours after riot police clashed with ethnic Albanian protestors in the disputed Serbian province.
More than 50 riot police used protective shields to push back about 100 of the demonstrators, who were protesting against the presence of the UN mission that has administered Kosovo since the war that ended in 1999.
The protestors were trying to block the entrance to the headquarters of the UN mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) in the provincial capital Pristina, where Ahtisaari is visiting for three days.
Ahtisaari met Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu and Prime Minister Agim Ceku shortly after arriving, and discussed the status of ongoing UN-sponsored talks between Belgrade and Pristina on the future of the province.
Ahtisaari described the talks, launched in February, as an "effort to create the conditions where minorities in Kosovo can have a decent life and good future."
He said he would brief the UN Security Council in July on the progress of the talks, which have yet to address the sensitive topic of the status of the province. Ethnic Albanian majority has demanded independence, opposed by Belgrade.
"We will then start moving towards discussion on the actual status, most hopefully later in July," Ahtisaari said, adding that expert talks on technical issues would nevertheless continue at the same time.
Belgrade has said it could accept a large degree of autonomy for the province within Serbia, but the majority ethnic Albanian population wants nothing short of independence.
The Kosovo conflict ended in mid-1999, when NATO air strikes drove out forces loyal to former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic.
During the weekend, Finish diplomat Ahtisaari is set to meet a number of senior international officials and leaders of Kosovo's Serb minority.
His arrival was shadowed with the protest of ethnic Albanian demonstrators, members of a youth movement called "Self-determination" which is seeking Kosovo's independence without any negotiations.
The police arrested 55 of the demonstrators, including their leader Albin Kurti, before forming a cordon around the UN mission building.
"We are establishing a level of responsibility of those arrested, whose total number is now 82," police spokesman Veton Elshani told AFP.
After the incident, about 100 protestors remained close to the UN headquarters, although the police cordon prevented them from approaching the premises.
The clashes came after police used force to break a blockade of the UNMIK building and arrest 36 protestors earlier on Friday. Nine of them were later released because they were juveniles.
"Police used minimal force and only when it was necessary because the protestors were resisting and some of them were tied to one another," Elshani said.
The group also staged a large protest outside the building on Thursday against the presence of UN mission that has administered Kosovo since the 1998-1999 war between separatist Albanian guerrillas and Serbian forces.
The future status of Kosovo, which legally remains a part of Serbia, is to be determined in UN-backed talks by the year's end.
The top United Nations envoy for Kosovo, Martti Ahtisaari, arrived in Pristina Friday hours after riot police clashed with ethnic Albanian protestors in the disputed Serbian province.
More than 50 riot police used protective shields to push back about 100 of the demonstrators, who were protesting against the presence of the UN mission that has administered Kosovo since the war that ended in 1999.
The protestors were trying to block the entrance to the headquarters of the UN mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) in the provincial capital Pristina, where Ahtisaari is visiting for three days.
Ahtisaari met Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu and Prime Minister Agim Ceku shortly after arriving, and discussed the status of ongoing UN-sponsored talks between Belgrade and Pristina on the future of the province.
Ahtisaari described the talks, launched in February, as an "effort to create the conditions where minorities in Kosovo can have a decent life and good future."
He said he would brief the UN Security Council in July on the progress of the talks, which have yet to address the sensitive topic of the status of the province. Ethnic Albanian majority has demanded independence, opposed by Belgrade.
"We will then start moving towards discussion on the actual status, most hopefully later in July," Ahtisaari said, adding that expert talks on technical issues would nevertheless continue at the same time.
Belgrade has said it could accept a large degree of autonomy for the province within Serbia, but the majority ethnic Albanian population wants nothing short of independence.
The Kosovo conflict ended in mid-1999, when NATO air strikes drove out forces loyal to former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic.
During the weekend, Finish diplomat Ahtisaari is set to meet a number of senior international officials and leaders of Kosovo's Serb minority.
His arrival was shadowed with the protest of ethnic Albanian demonstrators, members of a youth movement called "Self-determination" which is seeking Kosovo's independence without any negotiations.
The police arrested 55 of the demonstrators, including their leader Albin Kurti, before forming a cordon around the UN mission building.
"We are establishing a level of responsibility of those arrested, whose total number is now 82," police spokesman Veton Elshani told AFP.
After the incident, about 100 protestors remained close to the UN headquarters, although the police cordon prevented them from approaching the premises.
The clashes came after police used force to break a blockade of the UNMIK building and arrest 36 protestors earlier on Friday. Nine of them were later released because they were juveniles.
"Police used minimal force and only when it was necessary because the protestors were resisting and some of them were tied to one another," Elshani said.
The group also staged a large protest outside the building on Thursday against the presence of UN mission that has administered Kosovo since the 1998-1999 war between separatist Albanian guerrillas and Serbian forces.
The future status of Kosovo, which legally remains a part of Serbia, is to be determined in UN-backed talks by the year's end.
Thursday, June 08, 2006
Kosovo's Turn by Agim Ceku - The Wall Street Journal Europe
PRISTINA, Kosovo -- The prospects for a stable Balkan region, fully integrated into Europe, have never looked better. The time is ripe for the international community to recognize Kosovo's independence from Serbia the same way it just did with Montenegro. With this act, Yugoslavia's disastrous post-Tito era would finally come to conclusion and its former constitutive units would be on track for European Union and NATO membership.
There is no good reason to delay the decision on Kosovo's statehood. We have already more than legally earned our independence, as Serbia forfeited its right to exercise sovereignty over us twice in recent history. First, when it violated its own constitution and unilaterally revoked Kosovo's autonomy in 1989 without gaining the necessary consent of all eight federal units, including Kosovo's, to change the legal status of one of its republics. Second, when in 1998-1999 it engaged in a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing of the Albanian population, destroying its cultural heritage, property and thousands of human lives.
What's more, it is the will of the people of Kosovo to become independent and sovereign, as clearly expressed in a 1992 referendum. And the people would certainly confirm this will for independence again today, if only they were given the chance. If we want Kosovo to be a functional, stable and secure new member of the European family, the voice of its people should finally be recognized.
Keeping Kosovo under international control for much longer is unacceptable to Kosovars. The province has now lived for seven years under the open-ended, hybrid rule of an international protectorate with institutions of self-government. A simple modification of the status quo, such as replacing the United Nations mission with an EU equivalent, is certainly not a recipe for stability. Continuing this status of "permanent transition" can only weaken the legitimacy of the local leadership. Although international support, advice and monitoring are welcome, and NATO's presence here to provide security will remain necessary for some time to come, only full sovereignty will enable the Kosovo government to steer the country toward a better future.
Statehood is also the necessary precondition for economic development, especially in a region handicapped by decades of socialism and ravaged by war. The "mystery of capital," to use Hernando de Soto's words, is not a mystery at all to us. We know very well that without a functioning property-rights system there will be no market development. But without sovereignty, we cannot establish that system. Without sovereignty, the allocation of our resources will continue to be less than efficient. The sale of our public assets has been blocked for years due to Serbia's influence on the international agency charged with carrying out the privatization process. Privatization finally took off more recently, but its proceeds are still held in trust outside Kosovo because of the unresolved political status of our country. And seven years after the war, one of our greatest assets, the mining complex of Trepca, can still not be exploited due to an entanglement of rivaling property claims, millions of debts to foreign creditors, and the unwillingness of Serbia to let go of Kosovo.
Kosovo has a reasonably well-developed financial sector, a good tax system with low rates and simple rules, healthy finances, and a liberal trading regime. But it needs sovereignty to encourage foreign investments and create viable alternatives to the country's gray economy and wean the people from donor aid.
The skeptics who doubt that Kosovo's sovereignty would produce a stable and secure region rely on flimsy arguments. For instance, they claim that Kosovo's independence would endanger the security of the region by opening up the Pandora's box of separatism. Kosovo's independence, however, could only be a pretext, not a precedent, for other separatist movements. No other ethnic group can make an equally strong case for self-determination, as no other minority in the region needs protection from a repressive state.
And there is no need to be concerned for the groups that would become minorities in an independent Kosovo. All of the unresolved minority issues are very high on my government's agenda. We have strengthened the public transportation network in minority communities, funded minority media, promoted zero tolerance for hate crimes and allocated millions of euros to the reconstruction of private property and religious sites. The government is striving to build confidence with those minorities, primarily the Serbs, that believe they don't have any stake in an independent Kosovo.
We are determined to open up the interethnic dialogue, and we have made important progress with the Roma, Ashkali, Egyptian, Bosniak, Turkish and Gorani communities. We regret that the Serb minority continues to reject our offers and instead boycotts joint initiatives as well as the parliament, where it has a substantive representation of 21 members out of a total of 120.
Kosovo has offered Serbs great concessions, including a decentralization plan that guarantees the Serb-majority municipalities autonomous governance. However, Belgrade is not content with this offer. It is not interested in devolution. Instead, it advocates some form of cantonization to undermine Kosovo's sovereignty. To justify this position, the Serb leadership has resorted to its old scare-mongering technique, spreading misinformation about Serbs' supposedly being the victims of ethnic violence. The reality is that Kosovo's crime statistics for the first quarter of this year reveal a sharp decline in crimes with a possible ethnic motive. While Pristina is focused on solving the people's problems, Belgrade is preoccupied with territorial claims.
A sovereign Kosovo can only play a positive role in the wider Balkan region. We want cooperative relationships with other countries, within the framework of the EU and NATO. Albania, with which Kosovo shares a common history, culture and language, is a natural partner. And so could be Serbia if it chooses cooperation and integration over obstructionism and division.
---
Mr. Ceku is prime minister of Kosovo.
There is no good reason to delay the decision on Kosovo's statehood. We have already more than legally earned our independence, as Serbia forfeited its right to exercise sovereignty over us twice in recent history. First, when it violated its own constitution and unilaterally revoked Kosovo's autonomy in 1989 without gaining the necessary consent of all eight federal units, including Kosovo's, to change the legal status of one of its republics. Second, when in 1998-1999 it engaged in a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing of the Albanian population, destroying its cultural heritage, property and thousands of human lives.
What's more, it is the will of the people of Kosovo to become independent and sovereign, as clearly expressed in a 1992 referendum. And the people would certainly confirm this will for independence again today, if only they were given the chance. If we want Kosovo to be a functional, stable and secure new member of the European family, the voice of its people should finally be recognized.
Keeping Kosovo under international control for much longer is unacceptable to Kosovars. The province has now lived for seven years under the open-ended, hybrid rule of an international protectorate with institutions of self-government. A simple modification of the status quo, such as replacing the United Nations mission with an EU equivalent, is certainly not a recipe for stability. Continuing this status of "permanent transition" can only weaken the legitimacy of the local leadership. Although international support, advice and monitoring are welcome, and NATO's presence here to provide security will remain necessary for some time to come, only full sovereignty will enable the Kosovo government to steer the country toward a better future.
Statehood is also the necessary precondition for economic development, especially in a region handicapped by decades of socialism and ravaged by war. The "mystery of capital," to use Hernando de Soto's words, is not a mystery at all to us. We know very well that without a functioning property-rights system there will be no market development. But without sovereignty, we cannot establish that system. Without sovereignty, the allocation of our resources will continue to be less than efficient. The sale of our public assets has been blocked for years due to Serbia's influence on the international agency charged with carrying out the privatization process. Privatization finally took off more recently, but its proceeds are still held in trust outside Kosovo because of the unresolved political status of our country. And seven years after the war, one of our greatest assets, the mining complex of Trepca, can still not be exploited due to an entanglement of rivaling property claims, millions of debts to foreign creditors, and the unwillingness of Serbia to let go of Kosovo.
Kosovo has a reasonably well-developed financial sector, a good tax system with low rates and simple rules, healthy finances, and a liberal trading regime. But it needs sovereignty to encourage foreign investments and create viable alternatives to the country's gray economy and wean the people from donor aid.
The skeptics who doubt that Kosovo's sovereignty would produce a stable and secure region rely on flimsy arguments. For instance, they claim that Kosovo's independence would endanger the security of the region by opening up the Pandora's box of separatism. Kosovo's independence, however, could only be a pretext, not a precedent, for other separatist movements. No other ethnic group can make an equally strong case for self-determination, as no other minority in the region needs protection from a repressive state.
And there is no need to be concerned for the groups that would become minorities in an independent Kosovo. All of the unresolved minority issues are very high on my government's agenda. We have strengthened the public transportation network in minority communities, funded minority media, promoted zero tolerance for hate crimes and allocated millions of euros to the reconstruction of private property and religious sites. The government is striving to build confidence with those minorities, primarily the Serbs, that believe they don't have any stake in an independent Kosovo.
We are determined to open up the interethnic dialogue, and we have made important progress with the Roma, Ashkali, Egyptian, Bosniak, Turkish and Gorani communities. We regret that the Serb minority continues to reject our offers and instead boycotts joint initiatives as well as the parliament, where it has a substantive representation of 21 members out of a total of 120.
Kosovo has offered Serbs great concessions, including a decentralization plan that guarantees the Serb-majority municipalities autonomous governance. However, Belgrade is not content with this offer. It is not interested in devolution. Instead, it advocates some form of cantonization to undermine Kosovo's sovereignty. To justify this position, the Serb leadership has resorted to its old scare-mongering technique, spreading misinformation about Serbs' supposedly being the victims of ethnic violence. The reality is that Kosovo's crime statistics for the first quarter of this year reveal a sharp decline in crimes with a possible ethnic motive. While Pristina is focused on solving the people's problems, Belgrade is preoccupied with territorial claims.
A sovereign Kosovo can only play a positive role in the wider Balkan region. We want cooperative relationships with other countries, within the framework of the EU and NATO. Albania, with which Kosovo shares a common history, culture and language, is a natural partner. And so could be Serbia if it chooses cooperation and integration over obstructionism and division.
---
Mr. Ceku is prime minister of Kosovo.
Serbian judiciary breaks off ties with UNMIK due to political games - official
Text of report by Serbia-Montenegrin radio Kontakt Plus on 7 June
[Announcer] The [Belgrade] District Court War Crimes Council has not questioned witnesses in the process against war crimes indictee Anton Lekaj yesterday [6 June]. Judge Miroslav Alimpic said yesterday that UNMIK [UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo] head Soren Jessen-Petersen had just allowed that witnesses for defence to be heard. Members of the court council who are from Belgrade, Miroslav Alimpic and Dragoljub Stankovic, refused to attend such a hearing, stating that this was a political move and direct interference of executive power in judiciary.
There could be two reasons for such a move it is assumed that Jessen-Petersen wanted to demonstrate that the issue of statehood has already been dealt with or to emphasize his close personal ties with The Hague indictee [former Kosovo Prime Minister] Ramush Haradinaj, who is indicted, together with Lekaj, for war crimes committed in the Pastrik hotel [in 1999].
War Crimes Prosecutor's Office spokesman Bruno Vekaric said that he agrees with the view that this was Jessen-Petersen's political decision, adding that this was not the only reason [as heard].
[Vekaric] There is another reason for concern it is obvious that political games are stronger than a court proceeding, and Serbian judicial bodies are obviously victims of such political games in this case. I think this could harm the procedure, I believe it conveys a wrong message, and, unfortunately, the most important thing is that this is a sort of a break off in our cooperation with UNMIK judiciary.
Source: Kontakt Plus, Kosovska Mitrovica, in Serbian 1400 gmt 7 Jun 06
[Announcer] The [Belgrade] District Court War Crimes Council has not questioned witnesses in the process against war crimes indictee Anton Lekaj yesterday [6 June]. Judge Miroslav Alimpic said yesterday that UNMIK [UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo] head Soren Jessen-Petersen had just allowed that witnesses for defence to be heard. Members of the court council who are from Belgrade, Miroslav Alimpic and Dragoljub Stankovic, refused to attend such a hearing, stating that this was a political move and direct interference of executive power in judiciary.
There could be two reasons for such a move it is assumed that Jessen-Petersen wanted to demonstrate that the issue of statehood has already been dealt with or to emphasize his close personal ties with The Hague indictee [former Kosovo Prime Minister] Ramush Haradinaj, who is indicted, together with Lekaj, for war crimes committed in the Pastrik hotel [in 1999].
War Crimes Prosecutor's Office spokesman Bruno Vekaric said that he agrees with the view that this was Jessen-Petersen's political decision, adding that this was not the only reason [as heard].
[Vekaric] There is another reason for concern it is obvious that political games are stronger than a court proceeding, and Serbian judicial bodies are obviously victims of such political games in this case. I think this could harm the procedure, I believe it conveys a wrong message, and, unfortunately, the most important thing is that this is a sort of a break off in our cooperation with UNMIK judiciary.
Source: Kontakt Plus, Kosovska Mitrovica, in Serbian 1400 gmt 7 Jun 06
After the Divorce, Serbia Alone Mourns the Lost Partnership
NYT
BELGRADE, Serbia, June 7 -- Just over two weeks after Montenegro voted to bring an end to its federation with Serbia and declare independence, the two states have begun dividing up the assets they have shared.
In ceremonies across the two republics, soldiers and policemen have lowered the tricolor flag of Serbia and Montenegro flying over state buildings and replaced it with the flag of their own republic. But in each of the states, which together made up all that was left of the Communist-era Yugoslavia, the ceremonies appear to have taken on very different meanings.
While the Montenegrin government has been triumphant in asserting its new independence, here in Serbia there is a sense of loss as the government and people come to terms with a newly reduced identity.
Serbia's government has begrudgingly accepted the results of the May 21 referendum, in which 55.5 percent of Montenegro's voters chose independence, just enough under the rules set up by the government and the European Union.
Serbian leaders have said little about how they will reshape the government as it absorbs the functions that had been carried out by the federal administration. A spokeswoman for the Serbian government said nobody was available to be interviewed for this article.
Many here describe those leaders as shocked by an outcome that they had previously refused to contemplate.
''They feel as though something has been cut off from their body,'' said Nenad Djordjevic, a federal government employee who was an adviser to Serbia and Montenegro's minister for human rights. ''Some politicians here still think that the Serbian state lies where the Serbian people are.'' About a third of Montenegro's 620,000 residents are Serbs.
Montenegro's separation is one more defeat for Serbia, which lost Bosnia and Croatia in wars more than a decade ago and may soon lose the United Nations-run province of Kosovo, which is still formally a part of Serbia. The United States and Britain advocate such a split.
Some say that the breakup of Serbia and Montenegro, and the loss of Kosovo if it occurs, will produce benefits for Serbia, which they say will be better able to face its own political and economic changes.
''This would be the first time since 1918 that Serbia will not be divided by ethnic and constitutional struggles,'' said Ceda Antic, a member of the G17 Plus party, a member of the coalition government run by Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica.
But for many, that is too difficult a thought to absorb for the moment.
''Like the majority of the population, I think, I'm in a funk,'' said Ljiljana Smajlovic, editor of the conservative newspaper Politika. She said it would take some time before people would be ready to acknowledge the creation of what is effectively a new state.
Some are responding with a Serbian tradition: black humor. In Belgrade, people say that in the 1990's, the nationalist slogan was Serbia do Tokija, or Serbia to Tokyo. These days, they say, it is more accurate to say Serbia kao Nokia, or Serbia like Nokia. Just like the Finnish cellphones, Serbia comes in a newer and smaller model every year.
BELGRADE, Serbia, June 7 -- Just over two weeks after Montenegro voted to bring an end to its federation with Serbia and declare independence, the two states have begun dividing up the assets they have shared.
In ceremonies across the two republics, soldiers and policemen have lowered the tricolor flag of Serbia and Montenegro flying over state buildings and replaced it with the flag of their own republic. But in each of the states, which together made up all that was left of the Communist-era Yugoslavia, the ceremonies appear to have taken on very different meanings.
While the Montenegrin government has been triumphant in asserting its new independence, here in Serbia there is a sense of loss as the government and people come to terms with a newly reduced identity.
Serbia's government has begrudgingly accepted the results of the May 21 referendum, in which 55.5 percent of Montenegro's voters chose independence, just enough under the rules set up by the government and the European Union.
Serbian leaders have said little about how they will reshape the government as it absorbs the functions that had been carried out by the federal administration. A spokeswoman for the Serbian government said nobody was available to be interviewed for this article.
Many here describe those leaders as shocked by an outcome that they had previously refused to contemplate.
''They feel as though something has been cut off from their body,'' said Nenad Djordjevic, a federal government employee who was an adviser to Serbia and Montenegro's minister for human rights. ''Some politicians here still think that the Serbian state lies where the Serbian people are.'' About a third of Montenegro's 620,000 residents are Serbs.
Montenegro's separation is one more defeat for Serbia, which lost Bosnia and Croatia in wars more than a decade ago and may soon lose the United Nations-run province of Kosovo, which is still formally a part of Serbia. The United States and Britain advocate such a split.
Some say that the breakup of Serbia and Montenegro, and the loss of Kosovo if it occurs, will produce benefits for Serbia, which they say will be better able to face its own political and economic changes.
''This would be the first time since 1918 that Serbia will not be divided by ethnic and constitutional struggles,'' said Ceda Antic, a member of the G17 Plus party, a member of the coalition government run by Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica.
But for many, that is too difficult a thought to absorb for the moment.
''Like the majority of the population, I think, I'm in a funk,'' said Ljiljana Smajlovic, editor of the conservative newspaper Politika. She said it would take some time before people would be ready to acknowledge the creation of what is effectively a new state.
Some are responding with a Serbian tradition: black humor. In Belgrade, people say that in the 1990's, the nationalist slogan was Serbia do Tokija, or Serbia to Tokyo. These days, they say, it is more accurate to say Serbia kao Nokia, or Serbia like Nokia. Just like the Finnish cellphones, Serbia comes in a newer and smaller model every year.
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Kosovo Albanians are set targets to help Serbs
PRISTINA, Serbia, June 7 (Reuters) - World powers have given Kosovo six months to implement 13 specific steps to improve Serb rights as they near a decision on the demand of the province's ethnic Albanian majority for independence from Serbia.
The steps include adopting laws on languages and religious freedom, allocating funds for refugee returns and opening more police stations to address the rights and security of Kosovo's minorities, primarily its 100,000 Serbs.
The checklist, seen by Reuters on Wednesday, is a trimmed version of a much-criticised 2003 "Standards" document that contained over 100 pages of targets the United Nations wanted met before tackling Kosovo's fate.
The province of 2 million has been run by the United Nations since NATO bombs drove out Serb forces in June 1999 to end their brutal two-year counter-insurgency war.
The U.N. Security Council launched status talks last year after an envoy to Secretary-General Kofi Annan criticised progress on the standards but said delaying a decision on Kosovo's final status risked further stagnation.
The West wants a deal this year, fearing a repeat of 2004 Albanian riots that stretched NATO's 17,000 peacekeepers.
The Contact Group of the United States, Russia, Britain, Germany, France and Italy this week set leaders of the ethnic Albanian majority 13 tasks it wants done "within four to six months" -- the timeframe set for a deal on Kosovo's fate.
"To help focus (government) efforts over the next four to six months, the Contact Group has coordinated with the U.N. mission a list of priority action items for immediate implementation," the document states.
"This list is not exhaustive nor is it intended to minimise the importance of implementing all the Standards."
When Nato deployed half the Serb population fled a wave of revenge attacks and there are still sporadic shootings and bomb blasts targeting the Serb minority.
Diplomats say the West favours independence but wants the Albanians, who make up 90 percent of the province's population, to do more for the ghettoised Serb minority.
Kosovo's U.N. governor, Soren Jessen-Petersen, will praise recent Albanian efforts on minority rights in a report, seen in advance by Reuters, to the Security Council on June 20.
Serbs in the north said this week they had cut ties with the ethnic Albanian authorities over a spate of shootings they blame on Albanians. To ease fears, The U.N. said on Wednesday it would fill 130 vacancies in the Kosovo police with former Serbian police officers, provided their records were clean.
Serbs and Albanians opened direct talks on local government and church protection in February in Vienna. U.N. envoy Martti Ahtisaari will call for talks on Kosovo's final status in July.
Serbia shows no sign of agreeing to Kosovo's independence.
The steps include adopting laws on languages and religious freedom, allocating funds for refugee returns and opening more police stations to address the rights and security of Kosovo's minorities, primarily its 100,000 Serbs.
The checklist, seen by Reuters on Wednesday, is a trimmed version of a much-criticised 2003 "Standards" document that contained over 100 pages of targets the United Nations wanted met before tackling Kosovo's fate.
The province of 2 million has been run by the United Nations since NATO bombs drove out Serb forces in June 1999 to end their brutal two-year counter-insurgency war.
The U.N. Security Council launched status talks last year after an envoy to Secretary-General Kofi Annan criticised progress on the standards but said delaying a decision on Kosovo's final status risked further stagnation.
The West wants a deal this year, fearing a repeat of 2004 Albanian riots that stretched NATO's 17,000 peacekeepers.
The Contact Group of the United States, Russia, Britain, Germany, France and Italy this week set leaders of the ethnic Albanian majority 13 tasks it wants done "within four to six months" -- the timeframe set for a deal on Kosovo's fate.
"To help focus (government) efforts over the next four to six months, the Contact Group has coordinated with the U.N. mission a list of priority action items for immediate implementation," the document states.
"This list is not exhaustive nor is it intended to minimise the importance of implementing all the Standards."
When Nato deployed half the Serb population fled a wave of revenge attacks and there are still sporadic shootings and bomb blasts targeting the Serb minority.
Diplomats say the West favours independence but wants the Albanians, who make up 90 percent of the province's population, to do more for the ghettoised Serb minority.
Kosovo's U.N. governor, Soren Jessen-Petersen, will praise recent Albanian efforts on minority rights in a report, seen in advance by Reuters, to the Security Council on June 20.
Serbs in the north said this week they had cut ties with the ethnic Albanian authorities over a spate of shootings they blame on Albanians. To ease fears, The U.N. said on Wednesday it would fill 130 vacancies in the Kosovo police with former Serbian police officers, provided their records were clean.
Serbs and Albanians opened direct talks on local government and church protection in February in Vienna. U.N. envoy Martti Ahtisaari will call for talks on Kosovo's final status in July.
Serbia shows no sign of agreeing to Kosovo's independence.
Opportunity in the Balkans by Boris Tadic in the Washington Post
Last month the citizens of Montenegro voted for independence and an end to its union with Serbia. Thus a new state will be created in the Balkans. I hope it will be welcomed into the family of nations as soon as possible. As president of Serbia, successor to the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, I look forward to going to New York to hoist Serbia's flag at the United Nations.
Immediately after the announcement of the results by the referendum commission, I called on my fellow Serbian citizens to accept the Montenegrins' decision and to extend to them a hand of friendship. I traveled to Montenegro to convey these sentiments in person.
Now Serbia and Montenegro are negotiating the details of separation. Too often in our region this has been a sad and messy affair. Serbs believe that we have an opportunity to demonstrate that it can be reversed and to show how, in this separation, we can maintain the historical good relations between us. Too many of our citizens will live in each other's states to allow pettiness to prevail.
Serbia now needs to focus on the real challenges. We need to enhance our standard of living, finalize the outstanding issues that hamper our standing in the international community, and do what we must to pave the way for our integration into European and Euro-Atlantic structures.
This is a strategically vital year for Serbia -- and by extension for the European Union and NATO. We hope that responsible political leadership from Serbia will be reciprocated by these institutions. Our political leadership faces choices of a kind that have rarely confronted a country that is both democratic and at peace.
With the decision on Montenegro behind us, we must ensure that our obligation to the International Criminal Tribunal at The Hague is met. Serbia seeks intensified cooperation with international actors so that our efforts can be independently verified. This, rather than the punitive isolation of a democratic Serbia, is what is likely to get us all to the desired outcome. Those in Serbia who are complicit in the protection of Gen. Ratko Mladic, who is charged with war crimes in Bosnia, are the least patriotic of Serbs. They are part of that political culture that hijacked Serbia and its history some 15 years ago, using patriotism to camouflage their nefarious actions. In two world wars in the past century, Serbia aligned itself with the forces of freedom. We want to restore this great Serbian tradition. We believe we are very close to doing so.
The democratic leadership of Serbia has recently taken the initiative to restore momentum to the talks on Kosovo and Metohija. Serbia has asked for full talks on the future status of Kosovo to begin at the earliest possible date. The purpose is to offer proposals that will help establish a climate of greater confidence. The exceptionally perilous circumstances of Serbs in Kosovo require exceptional provisions for their protection if the international community does not wish to preside over their mass exodus. Anything short of this is tantamount to an international endorsement of vindictive actions against the citizens of Serbia. It is not reasonable to ask Serbia to believe in vague promises. A negotiated outcome on the future status of Kosovo is the only possible and feasible solution, and we all -- Serbs, Albanians and the entire region -- share the same interest in achieving such an outcome. But it requires building confidence, which needs to be done now.
There is a strong belief that the political forces that brought democracy to Serbia in the dramatic events of October 2000 must rise to the challenge posed by the immediate future, uniting their forces to complete the unfinished business on which they embarked more than five years ago. Such unity of purpose would, we hope, prompt a shift from conditionality to reciprocity between the international community and Serbia. This spirit and practice of reciprocity is the key to meeting the other tests democratic Serbia faces in coming months. Success must be complete and collective.
The writer is president of the Republic of Serbia.
Immediately after the announcement of the results by the referendum commission, I called on my fellow Serbian citizens to accept the Montenegrins' decision and to extend to them a hand of friendship. I traveled to Montenegro to convey these sentiments in person.
Now Serbia and Montenegro are negotiating the details of separation. Too often in our region this has been a sad and messy affair. Serbs believe that we have an opportunity to demonstrate that it can be reversed and to show how, in this separation, we can maintain the historical good relations between us. Too many of our citizens will live in each other's states to allow pettiness to prevail.
Serbia now needs to focus on the real challenges. We need to enhance our standard of living, finalize the outstanding issues that hamper our standing in the international community, and do what we must to pave the way for our integration into European and Euro-Atlantic structures.
This is a strategically vital year for Serbia -- and by extension for the European Union and NATO. We hope that responsible political leadership from Serbia will be reciprocated by these institutions. Our political leadership faces choices of a kind that have rarely confronted a country that is both democratic and at peace.
With the decision on Montenegro behind us, we must ensure that our obligation to the International Criminal Tribunal at The Hague is met. Serbia seeks intensified cooperation with international actors so that our efforts can be independently verified. This, rather than the punitive isolation of a democratic Serbia, is what is likely to get us all to the desired outcome. Those in Serbia who are complicit in the protection of Gen. Ratko Mladic, who is charged with war crimes in Bosnia, are the least patriotic of Serbs. They are part of that political culture that hijacked Serbia and its history some 15 years ago, using patriotism to camouflage their nefarious actions. In two world wars in the past century, Serbia aligned itself with the forces of freedom. We want to restore this great Serbian tradition. We believe we are very close to doing so.
The democratic leadership of Serbia has recently taken the initiative to restore momentum to the talks on Kosovo and Metohija. Serbia has asked for full talks on the future status of Kosovo to begin at the earliest possible date. The purpose is to offer proposals that will help establish a climate of greater confidence. The exceptionally perilous circumstances of Serbs in Kosovo require exceptional provisions for their protection if the international community does not wish to preside over their mass exodus. Anything short of this is tantamount to an international endorsement of vindictive actions against the citizens of Serbia. It is not reasonable to ask Serbia to believe in vague promises. A negotiated outcome on the future status of Kosovo is the only possible and feasible solution, and we all -- Serbs, Albanians and the entire region -- share the same interest in achieving such an outcome. But it requires building confidence, which needs to be done now.
There is a strong belief that the political forces that brought democracy to Serbia in the dramatic events of October 2000 must rise to the challenge posed by the immediate future, uniting their forces to complete the unfinished business on which they embarked more than five years ago. Such unity of purpose would, we hope, prompt a shift from conditionality to reciprocity between the international community and Serbia. This spirit and practice of reciprocity is the key to meeting the other tests democratic Serbia faces in coming months. Success must be complete and collective.
The writer is president of the Republic of Serbia.
Let's avoid "messy" separation - Serb president
BELGRADE, June 7 (Reuters) - Serbian President Boris Tadic urged Serbia and Montenegro on Wednesday to avoid another "sad and messy" separation in the Balkans following Montenegro's declaration of independence at the weekend.
Serbs should "show how, in this separation, we can maintain the historical good relations between us".
"Too many of our citizens will live in each other's state to allow pettiness to prevail," Tadic wrote in an op-ed piece in the Washington Post.
His political rival, Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, has not congratulated Montenegro on its May 21 referendum vote to end the union with Serbia, dissolving a partnership going back to 1918. His acceptance of it has sounded grudging.
Kostunica says there can be no "velvet divorce" with Montenegro, as with Czechoslovakia in January 1993, and last week he turned down an offer of European Union help in smoothing the separation.
In language clearly aimed at his own electorate as much as international observers of ex-Yugoslavia's slow transformation, Tadic said it was high time for Serbia, now a sovereign state, to focus on real challenges such as raising living standards.
Some diplomats speak of a sense of political drift in Serbia, its hopes of quick progress on the road to EU membership dented by Brussels' decision to freeze talks because Belgrade has not delivered war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic.
Political analysts expect a snap election later this year in which Tadic's Democratic Party can aim to unseat Kostunica's fragile minority coalition, which is already on the ropes.
"This is a strategically vital year for Serbia," the president wrote, in a reference to talks on whether the 90 percent ethnic Albanian majority in Kosovo province -- run by the United Nations and NATO -- will get the independence from Belgrade they demand or remain part of Serbia.
"We hope that responsible leadership from Serbia will be reciprocated by (the European Union and NATO). But Serbs in Kosovo would need "exceptional provisions for their protection" if a mass exodus is to be avoided, he said.
The U.N. has contingency plans for 50,000 Serbs leaving Kosovo if it gets independence -- a probability in international eyes but a prospect Kostunica refuses to countenance.
"Our political leadership faces choices of a kind that have rarely confronted a country that is both democratic and at peace," Tadic said.
Those who are hiding Mladic are "the least patriotic of Serbs. They are part of that political culture that hijacked Serbia and its history some 15 years ago".
He urged the forces that brought democracy to Serbia in October 2000 by toppling strongman Slobodan Milosevic to "rise to the challenge posed by the immediate future, uniting to complete unfinished business they embarked five years ago"
Serbs should "show how, in this separation, we can maintain the historical good relations between us".
"Too many of our citizens will live in each other's state to allow pettiness to prevail," Tadic wrote in an op-ed piece in the Washington Post.
His political rival, Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, has not congratulated Montenegro on its May 21 referendum vote to end the union with Serbia, dissolving a partnership going back to 1918. His acceptance of it has sounded grudging.
Kostunica says there can be no "velvet divorce" with Montenegro, as with Czechoslovakia in January 1993, and last week he turned down an offer of European Union help in smoothing the separation.
In language clearly aimed at his own electorate as much as international observers of ex-Yugoslavia's slow transformation, Tadic said it was high time for Serbia, now a sovereign state, to focus on real challenges such as raising living standards.
Some diplomats speak of a sense of political drift in Serbia, its hopes of quick progress on the road to EU membership dented by Brussels' decision to freeze talks because Belgrade has not delivered war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic.
Political analysts expect a snap election later this year in which Tadic's Democratic Party can aim to unseat Kostunica's fragile minority coalition, which is already on the ropes.
"This is a strategically vital year for Serbia," the president wrote, in a reference to talks on whether the 90 percent ethnic Albanian majority in Kosovo province -- run by the United Nations and NATO -- will get the independence from Belgrade they demand or remain part of Serbia.
"We hope that responsible leadership from Serbia will be reciprocated by (the European Union and NATO). But Serbs in Kosovo would need "exceptional provisions for their protection" if a mass exodus is to be avoided, he said.
The U.N. has contingency plans for 50,000 Serbs leaving Kosovo if it gets independence -- a probability in international eyes but a prospect Kostunica refuses to countenance.
"Our political leadership faces choices of a kind that have rarely confronted a country that is both democratic and at peace," Tadic said.
Those who are hiding Mladic are "the least patriotic of Serbs. They are part of that political culture that hijacked Serbia and its history some 15 years ago".
He urged the forces that brought democracy to Serbia in October 2000 by toppling strongman Slobodan Milosevic to "rise to the challenge posed by the immediate future, uniting to complete unfinished business they embarked five years ago"
U.N. to deploy 500 international policemen in Kosovo's tense north
PRISTINA, Serbia (AP) - The U.N. will deploy 500 additional police officers in Kosovo's troubled Serb-dominated north to increase security after a rise in tension, the province's top U.N. police chief said Wednesday.
U.N. officers from elsewhere in Kosovo will be moved to reinforce the police presence in Kosovska Mitrovica and other northern Serb towns near the provincial border, after NATO-led peacekeepers decided a few days ago to reopen an old military base in the area, U.N. police commissioner Kai Vittrup said.
Some international officials fear confrontation between Kosovo's divided communities of ethnic Albanians and Serbs, as talks to determine the province's future status enter a critical phase.
There are some 2,000 U.N. police officers serving in Kosovo, alongside more than 7,000 Kosovo policemen.
The police decision to boost security in the north follows days after local Serbian officials in that area said they would sever ties with provincial institutions that are dominated by the ethnic Albanian majority, following a number of incidents they blamed on ethnic Albanians.
A Kosovo Serb leader on Tuesday suggested possible creation of Serb vigilante groups to guard Serb-populated villages, if attacks continue against the minority group -- a move similar to that of Serb communities in Croatia when Yugoslavia began to unravel in the early 1990s.
Tensions have risen since last week's murder of a Serb youth near the town of Zvecan, which Serbs blamed on ethnic Albanian militants. Police said they had no evidence the slaying was an ethnically motivated crime.
NATO, meanwhile, will deploy some 500 Italian troops, part of the reserve component, to join the 17,500 strong NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo on Friday for a regular one-month rehearsal to prepare them for any potential crisis in the Balkans.
The exercise is aimed at showing NATO's ability to reinforce the peacekeepers currently deployed in Kosovo with its reserve components at short notice, said Col. Pio Sabetta, a spokesman for the NATO-led peacekeepers.
"This rehearsal sends a renewed clear message of NATO's and the international community's strong resolve and commitment to maintain peace and stability in the overall Balkans region," Sabetta said.
Seven years after the end of the war, the ethnic groups remain divided, with Kosovo Serbs mainly living in isolated enclaves fearing attacks by ethnic Albanians.
Talks to determine Kosovo's future are under way in Austria. Western envoys hope that some form of solution will be found by the end of 2006, which should primarily ensure the well-being of minorities, particularly Serbs.
Ethnic Albanians insist the province must become independent, while Serbia is offering broad autonomy, but not independence. Some Kosovo Serb leaders have warned of partition of the Serb-dominated north if independence is imposed upon them.
U.N. officers from elsewhere in Kosovo will be moved to reinforce the police presence in Kosovska Mitrovica and other northern Serb towns near the provincial border, after NATO-led peacekeepers decided a few days ago to reopen an old military base in the area, U.N. police commissioner Kai Vittrup said.
Some international officials fear confrontation between Kosovo's divided communities of ethnic Albanians and Serbs, as talks to determine the province's future status enter a critical phase.
There are some 2,000 U.N. police officers serving in Kosovo, alongside more than 7,000 Kosovo policemen.
The police decision to boost security in the north follows days after local Serbian officials in that area said they would sever ties with provincial institutions that are dominated by the ethnic Albanian majority, following a number of incidents they blamed on ethnic Albanians.
A Kosovo Serb leader on Tuesday suggested possible creation of Serb vigilante groups to guard Serb-populated villages, if attacks continue against the minority group -- a move similar to that of Serb communities in Croatia when Yugoslavia began to unravel in the early 1990s.
Tensions have risen since last week's murder of a Serb youth near the town of Zvecan, which Serbs blamed on ethnic Albanian militants. Police said they had no evidence the slaying was an ethnically motivated crime.
NATO, meanwhile, will deploy some 500 Italian troops, part of the reserve component, to join the 17,500 strong NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo on Friday for a regular one-month rehearsal to prepare them for any potential crisis in the Balkans.
The exercise is aimed at showing NATO's ability to reinforce the peacekeepers currently deployed in Kosovo with its reserve components at short notice, said Col. Pio Sabetta, a spokesman for the NATO-led peacekeepers.
"This rehearsal sends a renewed clear message of NATO's and the international community's strong resolve and commitment to maintain peace and stability in the overall Balkans region," Sabetta said.
Seven years after the end of the war, the ethnic groups remain divided, with Kosovo Serbs mainly living in isolated enclaves fearing attacks by ethnic Albanians.
Talks to determine Kosovo's future are under way in Austria. Western envoys hope that some form of solution will be found by the end of 2006, which should primarily ensure the well-being of minorities, particularly Serbs.
Ethnic Albanians insist the province must become independent, while Serbia is offering broad autonomy, but not independence. Some Kosovo Serb leaders have warned of partition of the Serb-dominated north if independence is imposed upon them.
Serbian premier's "harsh words" to EU seen as start of election campaign
The harsh words that Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica addressed to the EU after his meeting with Javier Solana [when he said EU help was not needed in solving relations between Serbia and Montenegro] was a signal to analysts that the prime minister had begun his election campaign and was preparing for elections soon.
Serbian Deputy Speaker Rade Obradovic, chairman of the DSS [Democratic Party of Serbia] council, denies that the government and his party have launched an election campaign.
"The party conducts regular activities in connection with its programme even when elections are not in the offing," said Obradovic. "The government is working on problems and acts accordingly. We plan on holding elections in the next year and a half, and there will be plenty of time for campaigning."
DS [Democratic Party] deputy club head Dusan Petrovic said only Kostunica could say whether he was setting out on an election campaign. However, the statement made after the meeting with Solana was not beneficial for Serbia and its citizens, said Petrovic, with the country entering into the final stage of talks on Kosovo-Metohija [Kosmet]. Serbia's diplomatic capacity has rather diminished after Kostunica equated the behaviour of the EU with Ratko Mladic.
"The decision on Kosmet will be made by the UN Security Council and it is very important for Serbia to have all the available strength to state its case and persuade the body that it is in its best interests to support what is in Serbia's best interests. Therefore, it is very, very bad of Kostunica assessing the EU's conduct and policy that way," said Petrovic.
SDU [Social Democratic Union] leader Zarko Korac does not think that Kostunica launched an election campaign. He believes that Kostunica is on the downside, after the suspension of talks with the EU and the resignation of Miroljub Labus as chief negotiator, while the fractured government pretends nothing happened. Montenegro is another blow to Kostunica's policy, and the last blow will be Kosovo, Korac foresees.
"Kostunica is being destructive, as one whose policy is on the loser's side," said Korac. Asked what could "force" Kostunica to call elections, Korac said he believed Kostunica would come out with a story for a broad-based government under the pretext that he had to protect the integrity of Serbia.
"That could happen after Martti Ahtisaari submits his report to the Security Council, most likely in July, as the report will probably mention some form of final status for Kosovo. Between the option of going to the polls and gaining full political legitimacy with a new government, I believe Kostunica is more likely to take advantage of the crisis to defer elections."
Unlike Korac, SPS [Socialist Party of Serbia] deputy chairman Milorad Vucelic understood Kostunica's words as nothing out of the ordinary.
"Clearly the EU had misunderstood what this was about and came to perform some sort of divorce, though the Constitution Charter says everything clearly. We do not need their help. Parliament is doing its job without them. I do not see why some people have an inferiority complex towards the EU and are all praise for it. The Constitutional Charter is explicit, we [Serbia] are the successor state, and Kostunica was merely conveying this. The way things are going, Solana and the EU will be assisting men in going to bed with their wives. I expect they will call Solana before and ask for permission," said Vucelic.
Source: Dnevnik, Novi Sad, in Serbian 6 Jun 06
Serbian Deputy Speaker Rade Obradovic, chairman of the DSS [Democratic Party of Serbia] council, denies that the government and his party have launched an election campaign.
"The party conducts regular activities in connection with its programme even when elections are not in the offing," said Obradovic. "The government is working on problems and acts accordingly. We plan on holding elections in the next year and a half, and there will be plenty of time for campaigning."
DS [Democratic Party] deputy club head Dusan Petrovic said only Kostunica could say whether he was setting out on an election campaign. However, the statement made after the meeting with Solana was not beneficial for Serbia and its citizens, said Petrovic, with the country entering into the final stage of talks on Kosovo-Metohija [Kosmet]. Serbia's diplomatic capacity has rather diminished after Kostunica equated the behaviour of the EU with Ratko Mladic.
"The decision on Kosmet will be made by the UN Security Council and it is very important for Serbia to have all the available strength to state its case and persuade the body that it is in its best interests to support what is in Serbia's best interests. Therefore, it is very, very bad of Kostunica assessing the EU's conduct and policy that way," said Petrovic.
SDU [Social Democratic Union] leader Zarko Korac does not think that Kostunica launched an election campaign. He believes that Kostunica is on the downside, after the suspension of talks with the EU and the resignation of Miroljub Labus as chief negotiator, while the fractured government pretends nothing happened. Montenegro is another blow to Kostunica's policy, and the last blow will be Kosovo, Korac foresees.
"Kostunica is being destructive, as one whose policy is on the loser's side," said Korac. Asked what could "force" Kostunica to call elections, Korac said he believed Kostunica would come out with a story for a broad-based government under the pretext that he had to protect the integrity of Serbia.
"That could happen after Martti Ahtisaari submits his report to the Security Council, most likely in July, as the report will probably mention some form of final status for Kosovo. Between the option of going to the polls and gaining full political legitimacy with a new government, I believe Kostunica is more likely to take advantage of the crisis to defer elections."
Unlike Korac, SPS [Socialist Party of Serbia] deputy chairman Milorad Vucelic understood Kostunica's words as nothing out of the ordinary.
"Clearly the EU had misunderstood what this was about and came to perform some sort of divorce, though the Constitution Charter says everything clearly. We do not need their help. Parliament is doing its job without them. I do not see why some people have an inferiority complex towards the EU and are all praise for it. The Constitutional Charter is explicit, we [Serbia] are the successor state, and Kostunica was merely conveying this. The way things are going, Solana and the EU will be assisting men in going to bed with their wives. I expect they will call Solana before and ask for permission," said Vucelic.
Source: Dnevnik, Novi Sad, in Serbian 6 Jun 06
Mistakes made during UNMIK police intervention in Mala Krusa - official
Text of report in English by independent internet news agency KosovaLive
Prishtina [Pristina], 7 June: The head of UNMIK [UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo], Soeren Jessen-Petersen, has instructed his principal deputy and the police commissioner to go back to Krushe e Vogel [Mala Krusa] village this week to share the results of the investigation on 25 May incident with the village residents.
The spokesperson for UNMIK, Gyorgy Kakuk, made it known at the press conference.
Kakuk said that the SRSG has received from the UNMIK Department of Justice the report on the findings on the preliminary investigation into the incident of 25 May, when a visit by the defence team of General Ojdanic to Krushe e Vogel led to confrontations between police and village residents in which a number of persons sustained injuries.
"The key finding of the preliminary investigation is that a number of mistakes were made in the process of approving and planning this visit. Not enough was done to ensure that all aspects of the visit, including security and political factors, were properly assessed and evaluated. In particular, the operational planning was made on the basis of inadequate information on the sensitivity of the visit and the history of the village. As a result of this, the visit was arranged without prior preparation of the villagers, including the necessary explanation and information about its purpose," the SRSG is quoted as saying.
"The unannounced visit caused considerable suspicion, anxiety, and misunderstanding among the village residents. In those circumstances, the explosive response provoked by the visit is understandable. At the same time it is highly regrettable that any violence resulted. The investigation has confirmed that it was necessary for the police to use reasonable means to enable the convoy to be evacuated safely. But I have no doubt that all of this could have been avoided if only adequate preparation for the visit, including a full explanation for the villagers, had taken place."
The SRSG stressed that these are only the preliminary findings. "We will need to carry out further investigation to ensure that we learn the lessons from this unfortunate incident and avoid any repetition," he said.
Thirty local injured mainly women and children were injured during their reaction from the visit of two Serbs. The local residents said that they knew the men and that they have participated in the massacre against the village residents. Krushe e Vogel has suffered the most during the war. The Serb military and police forces have killed and massacred 130 village residents.
Source: KosovaLive website, Pristina, in English 7 Jun 06
Prishtina [Pristina], 7 June: The head of UNMIK [UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo], Soeren Jessen-Petersen, has instructed his principal deputy and the police commissioner to go back to Krushe e Vogel [Mala Krusa] village this week to share the results of the investigation on 25 May incident with the village residents.
The spokesperson for UNMIK, Gyorgy Kakuk, made it known at the press conference.
Kakuk said that the SRSG has received from the UNMIK Department of Justice the report on the findings on the preliminary investigation into the incident of 25 May, when a visit by the defence team of General Ojdanic to Krushe e Vogel led to confrontations between police and village residents in which a number of persons sustained injuries.
"The key finding of the preliminary investigation is that a number of mistakes were made in the process of approving and planning this visit. Not enough was done to ensure that all aspects of the visit, including security and political factors, were properly assessed and evaluated. In particular, the operational planning was made on the basis of inadequate information on the sensitivity of the visit and the history of the village. As a result of this, the visit was arranged without prior preparation of the villagers, including the necessary explanation and information about its purpose," the SRSG is quoted as saying.
"The unannounced visit caused considerable suspicion, anxiety, and misunderstanding among the village residents. In those circumstances, the explosive response provoked by the visit is understandable. At the same time it is highly regrettable that any violence resulted. The investigation has confirmed that it was necessary for the police to use reasonable means to enable the convoy to be evacuated safely. But I have no doubt that all of this could have been avoided if only adequate preparation for the visit, including a full explanation for the villagers, had taken place."
The SRSG stressed that these are only the preliminary findings. "We will need to carry out further investigation to ensure that we learn the lessons from this unfortunate incident and avoid any repetition," he said.
Thirty local injured mainly women and children were injured during their reaction from the visit of two Serbs. The local residents said that they knew the men and that they have participated in the massacre against the village residents. Krushe e Vogel has suffered the most during the war. The Serb military and police forces have killed and massacred 130 village residents.
Source: KosovaLive website, Pristina, in English 7 Jun 06
U.N. official: Belgrade not encouraging Kosovo Serbs to participate in political life
SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) - The United Nations' top official in Kosovo blamed Serbia on Wednesday for failing to encourage Kosovo's Serb minority to participate in the province's political life.
U.N. mediators involved in negotiations aimed at settling Kosovo's postwar status -- namely whether the territory will become independent from Serbia -- have been pressing for Kosovo's Serbs and other minorities to take a bigger role in the provincial government.
"I'm concerned that we are not still seeing any noticeable improvement in the conditions of the Kosovo Serbs, despite all the efforts of the provisional government in Kosovo," said Soren Jessen-Petersen, who directs the U.N. administration that has helped run Kosovo's day-to-day affairs since the end of the war in 1999.
"I think the main reason is that -- despite calls on Belgrade to encourage Kosovo Serbs to participate in the political dialogue in Kosovo -- they have not been given that encouragement," he said.
Jessen-Petersen arrived in the Macedonian capital, Skopje, on Wednesday to brief officials about the latest developments in neighboring Kosovo, before presenting his report on the province to the U.N. Security Council on June 20.
The U.N.-brokered talks are being held in Vienna, Austria. Kosovo's ethnic Albanians are hoping to gain independence, but the province's Serbs and Serbian leaders in Belgrade want to keep at least a partial hold on the territory.
"I'm confident that before the end of the year we will see the settlement of the status of Kosovo," Jessen-Petersen said.
Nearly seven years after the end of the war in 1999, the ethnic groups remain divided, with Kosovo Serbs mainly living in isolated enclaves and fearing attacks by ethnic Albanian extremists.
U.N. mediators involved in negotiations aimed at settling Kosovo's postwar status -- namely whether the territory will become independent from Serbia -- have been pressing for Kosovo's Serbs and other minorities to take a bigger role in the provincial government.
"I'm concerned that we are not still seeing any noticeable improvement in the conditions of the Kosovo Serbs, despite all the efforts of the provisional government in Kosovo," said Soren Jessen-Petersen, who directs the U.N. administration that has helped run Kosovo's day-to-day affairs since the end of the war in 1999.
"I think the main reason is that -- despite calls on Belgrade to encourage Kosovo Serbs to participate in the political dialogue in Kosovo -- they have not been given that encouragement," he said.
Jessen-Petersen arrived in the Macedonian capital, Skopje, on Wednesday to brief officials about the latest developments in neighboring Kosovo, before presenting his report on the province to the U.N. Security Council on June 20.
The U.N.-brokered talks are being held in Vienna, Austria. Kosovo's ethnic Albanians are hoping to gain independence, but the province's Serbs and Serbian leaders in Belgrade want to keep at least a partial hold on the territory.
"I'm confident that before the end of the year we will see the settlement of the status of Kosovo," Jessen-Petersen said.
Nearly seven years after the end of the war in 1999, the ethnic groups remain divided, with Kosovo Serbs mainly living in isolated enclaves and fearing attacks by ethnic Albanian extremists.
Serbia, Kosovo, UN to Promote Return of Displaced
Serbia, Kosovo And UN Sign Accord to Promote Return of Displaced
New York, Jun 6 2006 4:00PM
Representatives of the Serbian and Kosovo Governments today signed an agreement to speed up the return of people displaced by ethnic conflict in the Serbian province, which the United Nations has administered ever since Western forces drove out Yugoslav troops in 1999 amid grave human rights abuses.
“The Protocol confirms that in spite of differences on various issues, there is a will to cooperate to end the situation of displacement while duly respecting the right of the internally displaced to return to their homes and to freely choose their places of residence,” Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Special Representative Søren Jessen-Petersen said, signing the accord on behalf of the UN.
The accord, a necessary step on the way to deciding the final status of the province where Albanians outnumber Serbs and others by 9 to 1, and from which many Serbs fled, “shows that we are all committed to put the rights of the displaced persons on the forefront,” he added.
The Protocol seeks to boost returns through provisions that range from affording access to basic services to promoting integration of internally displaced persons (IDPs). It acknowledges that a successful process is based on three elements: ensuring safety of returnees; returning property to the displaced and rebuilding their houses; and creating an environment that sustains returns.
The UN mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) has been seeking to foster communal harmony and promote the return of Serbs who fled ever since it started running the province after the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance (NATO) military intervention in 1999. Most Albanians who had fled during the earlier fighting with the Yugoslav army have already returned.
Direct talks between the Kosovo and Serbian sides began in February in Vienna under the auspices of Mr. Annan's Special Envoy for the future status of the province, Martti Ahtisaari.
Independence and autonomy are among options mentioned but Serbia rejects independence and Kosovo’s Serbs have been boycotting the province’s provisional institutions. Significant differences so far have emerged on issues of decentralization, just one of many issues on the table.
New York, Jun 6 2006 4:00PM
Representatives of the Serbian and Kosovo Governments today signed an agreement to speed up the return of people displaced by ethnic conflict in the Serbian province, which the United Nations has administered ever since Western forces drove out Yugoslav troops in 1999 amid grave human rights abuses.
“The Protocol confirms that in spite of differences on various issues, there is a will to cooperate to end the situation of displacement while duly respecting the right of the internally displaced to return to their homes and to freely choose their places of residence,” Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Special Representative Søren Jessen-Petersen said, signing the accord on behalf of the UN.
The accord, a necessary step on the way to deciding the final status of the province where Albanians outnumber Serbs and others by 9 to 1, and from which many Serbs fled, “shows that we are all committed to put the rights of the displaced persons on the forefront,” he added.
The Protocol seeks to boost returns through provisions that range from affording access to basic services to promoting integration of internally displaced persons (IDPs). It acknowledges that a successful process is based on three elements: ensuring safety of returnees; returning property to the displaced and rebuilding their houses; and creating an environment that sustains returns.
The UN mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) has been seeking to foster communal harmony and promote the return of Serbs who fled ever since it started running the province after the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance (NATO) military intervention in 1999. Most Albanians who had fled during the earlier fighting with the Yugoslav army have already returned.
Direct talks between the Kosovo and Serbian sides began in February in Vienna under the auspices of Mr. Annan's Special Envoy for the future status of the province, Martti Ahtisaari.
Independence and autonomy are among options mentioned but Serbia rejects independence and Kosovo’s Serbs have been boycotting the province’s provisional institutions. Significant differences so far have emerged on issues of decentralization, just one of many issues on the table.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Serbs of northern Kosovo move closer to secession: analysts
PRISTINA, Serbia, June 6, 2006 (AFP) -
Serb enclaves in northern Kosovo have taken a step towards separation from the rest of the ethnic Albanian-dominated province by cutting ties with the UN administration, media and analysts said Tuesday.
"The north is aiming towards a total secession" from Kosovo, influential daily Koha Ditore wrote, while one foreign analyst warned it was the "joker in the pack" for ongoing talks on the future of the province.
On Monday Serb leaders in the north of the UN-run province broke off relations with the UN mission (UNMIK) and declared a "state of emergency" following a recent wave of violence against Serbs.
The leaders, backed by Serbian authorities in Belgrade, have said that should Kosovo become independent, as its ethnic Albanian majority demands, they want the northern enclaves to secede and be attached to Serbia.
But another Kosovo Serb leader, Marko Jaksic, said the decision was primarily directed to the boycott of Kosovo institutions, dominated by ethnic Albanians, notably the government of the province.
"This decision is a product of bad security situation in the past seven years. We had to say stop to the terror finally," Jaksic told the Belgrade-based Beta news agency.
However, he insisted that the decision "has nothing to do with the negotiations" over the future status of the province.
"It should not have any influence on the talks," said Jaksic.
Since February Serbian and Kosovo Albanian officials have been engaged in the UN-sponsored talks -- expected to be wrapped up by the end of the year -- but they have made little progress.
The ethnic Albanian leaders are pushing for independence, which the Serbian government fiercly opposes although it has offered Kosovo greater autonomy.
"Kosovo is entering its most critical phase. I am afraid the north won't be controlled by Pristina any longer," Behxhet Shala, analyst at a Pristina-based human rights watchdog, said.
"The north is going to make any outcome of the status talks totally dysfunctional. Moreover, given the momentum of the secession there, I wouldn't exclude more dramatic developments," he said.
"Certainly, north Kosovo is becoming one of the biggest challenges of the status process talks," Alex Anderson, head of the Pristina office of the International Crisis Group think-tank, told AFP.
"I think there is an awful lot of work on the ground to make good the (UN's) insistence that there will be no partition of Kosovo," Anderson said.
"In the context of the coming status definition the north is an unpredictable part of Kosovo -- in a way like a joker in the pack," he added.
The Koha Ditore newspaper said that the movements in the north had been received with "political silence in Pristina", while another independent daily, Zeri, reported that the news had drawn concern from the UN administration in Kosovo.
Belgrade and Kosovo Serb leaders have complained for years that the NATO and UN missions running Kosovo have failed to ensure security for non-Albanians, pointing to constant small-scale attacks and a major anti-Serb rampage in 2004.
In a series of attacks against Serbs in the past 10 days, one man was killed and two were seriously injured.
The UN police commissioner said the latest incidents did not seem to be ethnically motivated. UN officials rarely comment on the motive for attacks against Serbs, citing a lack of evidence.
Anderson said the NATO-led peacekeeping mission appeared to be concerned at the Serbs' secession moves, and had announced the reopening of a base near Leposavic, a Serb-dominated town bordering the rest of Serbia.
"A lot of security concerns are going to shift to north Kosovo," particularly at the crucial end of talks and in their aftermath, he said.
At least one third of Kosovo's some 100,000 Serbs are thought to be living in and around the volatile northern town of Kosovska Mitrovica, which is divided between Serbs and ethnic Albanians. The others live in enclaves throughout the province.
Kosovo has been run by the United Nations and NATO since mid-1999, when an alliance's air war drove out Serbian forces and ended a brutal crackdown against separatist guerrillas from the ethnic Albanian majority.
Serb enclaves in northern Kosovo have taken a step towards separation from the rest of the ethnic Albanian-dominated province by cutting ties with the UN administration, media and analysts said Tuesday.
"The north is aiming towards a total secession" from Kosovo, influential daily Koha Ditore wrote, while one foreign analyst warned it was the "joker in the pack" for ongoing talks on the future of the province.
On Monday Serb leaders in the north of the UN-run province broke off relations with the UN mission (UNMIK) and declared a "state of emergency" following a recent wave of violence against Serbs.
The leaders, backed by Serbian authorities in Belgrade, have said that should Kosovo become independent, as its ethnic Albanian majority demands, they want the northern enclaves to secede and be attached to Serbia.
But another Kosovo Serb leader, Marko Jaksic, said the decision was primarily directed to the boycott of Kosovo institutions, dominated by ethnic Albanians, notably the government of the province.
"This decision is a product of bad security situation in the past seven years. We had to say stop to the terror finally," Jaksic told the Belgrade-based Beta news agency.
However, he insisted that the decision "has nothing to do with the negotiations" over the future status of the province.
"It should not have any influence on the talks," said Jaksic.
Since February Serbian and Kosovo Albanian officials have been engaged in the UN-sponsored talks -- expected to be wrapped up by the end of the year -- but they have made little progress.
The ethnic Albanian leaders are pushing for independence, which the Serbian government fiercly opposes although it has offered Kosovo greater autonomy.
"Kosovo is entering its most critical phase. I am afraid the north won't be controlled by Pristina any longer," Behxhet Shala, analyst at a Pristina-based human rights watchdog, said.
"The north is going to make any outcome of the status talks totally dysfunctional. Moreover, given the momentum of the secession there, I wouldn't exclude more dramatic developments," he said.
"Certainly, north Kosovo is becoming one of the biggest challenges of the status process talks," Alex Anderson, head of the Pristina office of the International Crisis Group think-tank, told AFP.
"I think there is an awful lot of work on the ground to make good the (UN's) insistence that there will be no partition of Kosovo," Anderson said.
"In the context of the coming status definition the north is an unpredictable part of Kosovo -- in a way like a joker in the pack," he added.
The Koha Ditore newspaper said that the movements in the north had been received with "political silence in Pristina", while another independent daily, Zeri, reported that the news had drawn concern from the UN administration in Kosovo.
Belgrade and Kosovo Serb leaders have complained for years that the NATO and UN missions running Kosovo have failed to ensure security for non-Albanians, pointing to constant small-scale attacks and a major anti-Serb rampage in 2004.
In a series of attacks against Serbs in the past 10 days, one man was killed and two were seriously injured.
The UN police commissioner said the latest incidents did not seem to be ethnically motivated. UN officials rarely comment on the motive for attacks against Serbs, citing a lack of evidence.
Anderson said the NATO-led peacekeeping mission appeared to be concerned at the Serbs' secession moves, and had announced the reopening of a base near Leposavic, a Serb-dominated town bordering the rest of Serbia.
"A lot of security concerns are going to shift to north Kosovo," particularly at the crucial end of talks and in their aftermath, he said.
At least one third of Kosovo's some 100,000 Serbs are thought to be living in and around the volatile northern town of Kosovska Mitrovica, which is divided between Serbs and ethnic Albanians. The others live in enclaves throughout the province.
Kosovo has been run by the United Nations and NATO since mid-1999, when an alliance's air war drove out Serbian forces and ended a brutal crackdown against separatist guerrillas from the ethnic Albanian majority.
Actress Eliza Dushku visits Kosovo, Albania, gets a tattoo
PRISTINA, Serbia (AP) - U.S. actress Eliza Dushku is taking back a very particular souvenir from her visit to her father's homeland -- a double-headed eagle, modeled after the one in Albania's national flag.
Dushku, 25, who starred as the title character in "Tru Calling" and as Faith in "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer," had the tattoo done on her back during her first visit to Albania and Kosovo.
She said she was impressed by the welcome and the honors she received during the trip, which included meeting Kosovo's Prime Minister, Agim Ceku.
"I'm flattered and taken aback, and yet it makes me want to be even louder and prouder Albanian," Dushku said, as she sat for a lunch with family and friends accompanying her during the visit to the U.N.-administered province.
She also laid a wreath at the grave of Kosovo's late President Ibrahim Rugova.
"It's very emotional," she said, displaying a rubber bracelet advocating independence for Kosovo. "There's so many emotions running through my soul, my mind and my heart."
Dushku, who said she always wanted to visit Kosovo, was here as part of a brief visit that took her to Albania as a guest in a song festival bringing together musicians from European countries.
But she might be coming back soon. During her three-day stay in Kosovo, she said she crossed paths with a South African filmmaker who is trying to put together a movie about the town of Djakovica, from which 1,000 people went missing during the 1998-1999 war.
"She said she went to bed and was thinking about it and that she envisioned me," Dushku said. "I think that will be amazing."
Dushku, 25, who starred as the title character in "Tru Calling" and as Faith in "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer," had the tattoo done on her back during her first visit to Albania and Kosovo.
She said she was impressed by the welcome and the honors she received during the trip, which included meeting Kosovo's Prime Minister, Agim Ceku.
"I'm flattered and taken aback, and yet it makes me want to be even louder and prouder Albanian," Dushku said, as she sat for a lunch with family and friends accompanying her during the visit to the U.N.-administered province.
She also laid a wreath at the grave of Kosovo's late President Ibrahim Rugova.
"It's very emotional," she said, displaying a rubber bracelet advocating independence for Kosovo. "There's so many emotions running through my soul, my mind and my heart."
Dushku, who said she always wanted to visit Kosovo, was here as part of a brief visit that took her to Albania as a guest in a song festival bringing together musicians from European countries.
But she might be coming back soon. During her three-day stay in Kosovo, she said she crossed paths with a South African filmmaker who is trying to put together a movie about the town of Djakovica, from which 1,000 people went missing during the 1998-1999 war.
"She said she went to bed and was thinking about it and that she envisioned me," Dushku said. "I think that will be amazing."
Monday, June 05, 2006
Kosovo negotiator: Serbia must pay Albanians sacked in 1990s all back pay
Text of report in English by independent internet news agency KosovaLive
Prishtina [Pristina], 5 June: Muhamet Mustafa, a member of the Kosova [Kosovo] delegation on economic issues, said that Kosovars requested in Vienna individual and collective compensation of salaries for employees who were forcibly removed from their jobs in early 1990s by the Serb-installed administration in Kosova.
Mustafa said that this request is based on UN Security Council Resolution 689 approved in 1991. "We also requested the establishment of international committees, through which this compensation will be realized," Mustafa said.
Mustafa said that Serbia should also pay other debts, such as misappropriation of Kosova's pension fund, bank savings, bonuses for children, destroying of properties, violence against human, property and physical rights of individuals.
Kosovars also presented in Vienna a report of the International Labour Office [ILO], which evaluates that the dismissing of Kosova Albanian workers was politically motivated.
In early 1990s, over 150,000 Kosova Albanian employees in the then Socially-Owned Enterprises were dismissed from jobs under justification that they are not loyal to the then Yugoslav Federation.
Source: KosovaLive website, Pristina, in English 5 Jun 06
Prishtina [Pristina], 5 June: Muhamet Mustafa, a member of the Kosova [Kosovo] delegation on economic issues, said that Kosovars requested in Vienna individual and collective compensation of salaries for employees who were forcibly removed from their jobs in early 1990s by the Serb-installed administration in Kosova.
Mustafa said that this request is based on UN Security Council Resolution 689 approved in 1991. "We also requested the establishment of international committees, through which this compensation will be realized," Mustafa said.
Mustafa said that Serbia should also pay other debts, such as misappropriation of Kosova's pension fund, bank savings, bonuses for children, destroying of properties, violence against human, property and physical rights of individuals.
Kosovars also presented in Vienna a report of the International Labour Office [ILO], which evaluates that the dismissing of Kosova Albanian workers was politically motivated.
In early 1990s, over 150,000 Kosova Albanian employees in the then Socially-Owned Enterprises were dismissed from jobs under justification that they are not loyal to the then Yugoslav Federation.
Source: KosovaLive website, Pristina, in English 5 Jun 06
18 Albanians, 4 Serbs arrested in Kosovo over human smuggling
PRISTINA, Serbia, June 5, 2006 (AFP) -
Eighteen people from Albania and four from Kosovo were detained after being caught crossing into Serbia from the northern part of its UN-run province, police said Monday.
"Serbian authorities on Sunday handed over to Kosovo authorities 18 Albanian citizens and four of Kosovo's citizens", police spokesman Veton Elshani told AFP.
"They are being kept in the detention centre in Pristina. The public prosecutor charged Albania's citizens for illegal border crossing, while Kosovo's citizens were charged for smuggling of humans," he added.
It is assumed that four Kosovars helped the Albanians to cross illegally into Serbia, from were they planned to be transferred to western Europe.
The police did not unveil the ethnic origin of the locals, but the province's electronic media said they were Serbs.
"Three of the four local people are under age," Elshani said.
Kosovo is technically part of Serbia but has been a UN protectorate since NATO intervened militarily in 1999 to end a war between Serbian forces and separatist guerrillas from the province's ethnic Albanian majority seeking independence.
Eighteen people from Albania and four from Kosovo were detained after being caught crossing into Serbia from the northern part of its UN-run province, police said Monday.
"Serbian authorities on Sunday handed over to Kosovo authorities 18 Albanian citizens and four of Kosovo's citizens", police spokesman Veton Elshani told AFP.
"They are being kept in the detention centre in Pristina. The public prosecutor charged Albania's citizens for illegal border crossing, while Kosovo's citizens were charged for smuggling of humans," he added.
It is assumed that four Kosovars helped the Albanians to cross illegally into Serbia, from were they planned to be transferred to western Europe.
The police did not unveil the ethnic origin of the locals, but the province's electronic media said they were Serbs.
"Three of the four local people are under age," Elshani said.
Kosovo is technically part of Serbia but has been a UN protectorate since NATO intervened militarily in 1999 to end a war between Serbian forces and separatist guerrillas from the province's ethnic Albanian majority seeking independence.
U.N. police chief in Kosovo says no evidence that Serb's killing motivated by ethnicity
PRISTINA, Serbia (AP) - The top U.N. police official in Kosovo said Monday that authorities were questioning two people over last week's slaying of a Serb youth and insisted there was no evidence to show that the killing was motivated by ethnicity.
The investigation of the shooting of Milan Veskovic "has thus far not revealed an interethnic connection," U.N. police commissioner Kai Vittrup said, while the Serb minority in northern Kosovo rallied to protest what they said was an increase in violent attacks against their community.
Several thousand Serbs gathered in the northern town of Zvecan, saying they would sever ties with Kosovo's institutions, which are dominated by representatives of the ethnic Albanian majority.
"The attacks were systematic, planned crimes to intimidate and ethnically cleanse Serb population from Kosovo," Serb leader Momir Kasalovic said.
Kasalovic cited two earlier incidents, including a woman who was seriously wounded in a shooting. Kasalovic blamed ethnic Albanian militants for the attacks and accused the province's U.N. officials of failing to protect the dwindling Serb community.
Police, however, have said the woman was wounded by a stray bullet in her yard and it appeared to have been discharged as part of celebratory gunfire from a nearby wedding party.
In the other attack, two men working at a gas station were shot multiple times and were recovering in hospital. Authorities have not established the attackers' identities, prompting Serb demands to find them.
Kasalovic represents several Serb municipalities and he said that "no Serbs will be on payroll any more" in health care, education and local government in Kosovo. He said the decision would take effect immediately.
A Serb boycott would probably not significantly affect Kosovo's institutions since only a small fraction of public employees in the province are Serbs.
Vittrup announced the police were putting into place "additional security procedures to ensure the safety of all Kosovo citizens," according to a U.N. statement. He did not elaborate.
Veskovic, 22, died of three gunshot wounds fired from an automatic weapon Thursday while he was in his car driving home in the northern part of the province after attending a party, authorities say.
Kosovo has been administered by a U.N. mission since mid-1999, when a NATO air war stopped a crackdown by Serb forces on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians.
Tensions between ethnic Albanians and Serbs remain high seven years since the end of the war. But the U.N. mission in Kosovo announced recently that ethnically motivated crime is decreasing in the disputed province.
The investigation of the shooting of Milan Veskovic "has thus far not revealed an interethnic connection," U.N. police commissioner Kai Vittrup said, while the Serb minority in northern Kosovo rallied to protest what they said was an increase in violent attacks against their community.
Several thousand Serbs gathered in the northern town of Zvecan, saying they would sever ties with Kosovo's institutions, which are dominated by representatives of the ethnic Albanian majority.
"The attacks were systematic, planned crimes to intimidate and ethnically cleanse Serb population from Kosovo," Serb leader Momir Kasalovic said.
Kasalovic cited two earlier incidents, including a woman who was seriously wounded in a shooting. Kasalovic blamed ethnic Albanian militants for the attacks and accused the province's U.N. officials of failing to protect the dwindling Serb community.
Police, however, have said the woman was wounded by a stray bullet in her yard and it appeared to have been discharged as part of celebratory gunfire from a nearby wedding party.
In the other attack, two men working at a gas station were shot multiple times and were recovering in hospital. Authorities have not established the attackers' identities, prompting Serb demands to find them.
Kasalovic represents several Serb municipalities and he said that "no Serbs will be on payroll any more" in health care, education and local government in Kosovo. He said the decision would take effect immediately.
A Serb boycott would probably not significantly affect Kosovo's institutions since only a small fraction of public employees in the province are Serbs.
Vittrup announced the police were putting into place "additional security procedures to ensure the safety of all Kosovo citizens," according to a U.N. statement. He did not elaborate.
Veskovic, 22, died of three gunshot wounds fired from an automatic weapon Thursday while he was in his car driving home in the northern part of the province after attending a party, authorities say.
Kosovo has been administered by a U.N. mission since mid-1999, when a NATO air war stopped a crackdown by Serb forces on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians.
Tensions between ethnic Albanians and Serbs remain high seven years since the end of the war. But the U.N. mission in Kosovo announced recently that ethnically motivated crime is decreasing in the disputed province.
Kosovo Serbs break ties with UN, declare 'emergency'
PRISTINA, Serbia, June 5, 2006 (AFP) -
A "state of emergency" was proclaimed in Serb enclaves in northern Kosovo on Monday as the embattled minority cut relations with the UN mission (UNMIK) over a wave of ethnic violence.
"The state of emergency is proclaimed from today on the territory of four municipalities in northern Kosovo," said Dragisa Milovic, an ethnic-Serb official in the town of Zvecan.
"All contacts with Kosovo institutions, in particular with UNMIK, are now being cut off, until those who have committed numerous crimes against the Serbs are caught."
Several thousand Serbs gathered in Zvecan to protest the violence, allegedly committed by extremists from Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority despite the presence of NATO peacekeepers throughout the province.
In a series of attacks against Serbs in the past 10 days, one man has been killed and two have been seriously injured.
But UN police commissioner Kai Vittrup said the latest "incidents involving Kosovo Serb victims do not appear to be ethnically motivated crimes".
"At the moment, we are putting in place additional security procedures to ensure the safety of all Kosovo citizens," Vittrup said in Pristina, the capital of the southern Serbian province which is under UN oversight.
UNMIK officials rarely describe violent attacks against Serbs as ethnically motivated crimes, citing a lack of evidence to determine a motive.
Since the end of Kosovo's 1998-1999 conflict, some 200,000 Serbs have fled the province fearing reprisals by ethnic Albanian extremists, while the remaining roughly 100,000 live in constant fear for their lives and property.
The province has been under UN and NATO control since the north Atlantic military alliance bombed Serbia in 1999 to force Serbian troops to end a brutal crackdown against armed Kosovo Albanian separatists.
Ethnic Albanians make up about 90 percent of Kosovo's population of some two million.
Belgrade and Kosovo Serb leaders have complained for years that the NATO and UN missions have failed to ensure security for non-Albanians, pointing to constant small-scale attacks and a major anti-Serb rampage in 2004.
Since February, Serbian and Kosovo Albanian officials have been engaged in UN-sponsored talks over the future status of the province, with the ethnic Albanians demanding full independence from Belgrade.
Belgrade says it could accept a large degree of autonomy for the province but insists that Kosovo is an inalienable part of Serbian territory, culture and religion.
A "state of emergency" was proclaimed in Serb enclaves in northern Kosovo on Monday as the embattled minority cut relations with the UN mission (UNMIK) over a wave of ethnic violence.
"The state of emergency is proclaimed from today on the territory of four municipalities in northern Kosovo," said Dragisa Milovic, an ethnic-Serb official in the town of Zvecan.
"All contacts with Kosovo institutions, in particular with UNMIK, are now being cut off, until those who have committed numerous crimes against the Serbs are caught."
Several thousand Serbs gathered in Zvecan to protest the violence, allegedly committed by extremists from Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority despite the presence of NATO peacekeepers throughout the province.
In a series of attacks against Serbs in the past 10 days, one man has been killed and two have been seriously injured.
But UN police commissioner Kai Vittrup said the latest "incidents involving Kosovo Serb victims do not appear to be ethnically motivated crimes".
"At the moment, we are putting in place additional security procedures to ensure the safety of all Kosovo citizens," Vittrup said in Pristina, the capital of the southern Serbian province which is under UN oversight.
UNMIK officials rarely describe violent attacks against Serbs as ethnically motivated crimes, citing a lack of evidence to determine a motive.
Since the end of Kosovo's 1998-1999 conflict, some 200,000 Serbs have fled the province fearing reprisals by ethnic Albanian extremists, while the remaining roughly 100,000 live in constant fear for their lives and property.
The province has been under UN and NATO control since the north Atlantic military alliance bombed Serbia in 1999 to force Serbian troops to end a brutal crackdown against armed Kosovo Albanian separatists.
Ethnic Albanians make up about 90 percent of Kosovo's population of some two million.
Belgrade and Kosovo Serb leaders have complained for years that the NATO and UN missions have failed to ensure security for non-Albanians, pointing to constant small-scale attacks and a major anti-Serb rampage in 2004.
Since February, Serbian and Kosovo Albanian officials have been engaged in UN-sponsored talks over the future status of the province, with the ethnic Albanians demanding full independence from Belgrade.
Belgrade says it could accept a large degree of autonomy for the province but insists that Kosovo is an inalienable part of Serbian territory, culture and religion.
Serbia declares itself sovereign state after split from Montenegro
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) - Serbian lawmakers proclaimed their Balkan republic a sovereign state Monday after tiny Montenegro decided to split from a union and dissolve the remnants of what was once Yugoslavia.
The 126 lawmakers unanimously acknowledged that their state is the heir to the union of Serbia-Montenegro -- the last shred of what was once a six-member Yugoslav federation. Parliament has 250 deputies, but the opposition boycotted the vote, walking out just before the balloting.
The walkout briefly left the ruling coalition without the necessary majority, and triggered a break in the session.
The session later resumed, but the slim majority of votes in favor of the government-backed declaration -- even though it was just a formality -- signaled the weakness of Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's Cabinet.
"Serbia, as the legal heir to the state union, must formally take over, or inherit, what it has created," parliament speaker Predrag Markovic said.
Serbia, as the union's legal successor, inherits membership in the United Nations and other international organizations.
The assembly instructed all state institutions to complete the process for Serbia's statehood within the next 45 days, including assuming the duties and responsibilities previously in the hands of the federal administration. Minutes after the vote, the Serbia-Montenegro flags were removed from the parliament building.
Neither Kostunica nor Serbian President Boris Tadic attended the session in an apparent bid to downplay the fact that Serbia became independent by default when Montenegro declared its own independence following a May 21 referendum.
Still, some deputies praised Serbia re-establishing its statehood after 88 years in the Balkan union.
"We will restore Serbia's glory," said Miloljub Albijanic, from the ruling G17 Plus party. "Long live independent Serbia."
But nationalist leader Tomislav Nikolic felt less proud.
"This is a sad day in the history of Serbia," he said. "Something is happening in Serbia against Serbia's will."
Montenegro's declaration of independence Saturday set in motion the process of dividing the joint state's armed forces, diplomatic missions, common assets and responsibilities.
Serbia and Montenegro were the only two former Yugoslav republics that stayed together after the violent disintegration of the Balkan federation in the 1990s.
Although the two nations share a common language and culture, as well as close historic ties, their relations cooled over recent years.
In the early 1990s, Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia also split from the Serb-led federation, triggering a series of bloody wars. Serbia's southern, ethnic Albanian-dominated province of Kosovo also hopes to gain independence at ongoing U.N.-brokered talks.
Meanwhile, Montenegro's President Filip Vujanovic sent a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan asking that his newly proclaimed state be admitted as a new member in the world body.
On Sunday, the Adriatic republic asked its neighbors, European Union states and permanent members of the U.N. Security Council to officially recognize it and establish diplomatic relations with its government.
The 126 lawmakers unanimously acknowledged that their state is the heir to the union of Serbia-Montenegro -- the last shred of what was once a six-member Yugoslav federation. Parliament has 250 deputies, but the opposition boycotted the vote, walking out just before the balloting.
The walkout briefly left the ruling coalition without the necessary majority, and triggered a break in the session.
The session later resumed, but the slim majority of votes in favor of the government-backed declaration -- even though it was just a formality -- signaled the weakness of Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's Cabinet.
"Serbia, as the legal heir to the state union, must formally take over, or inherit, what it has created," parliament speaker Predrag Markovic said.
Serbia, as the union's legal successor, inherits membership in the United Nations and other international organizations.
The assembly instructed all state institutions to complete the process for Serbia's statehood within the next 45 days, including assuming the duties and responsibilities previously in the hands of the federal administration. Minutes after the vote, the Serbia-Montenegro flags were removed from the parliament building.
Neither Kostunica nor Serbian President Boris Tadic attended the session in an apparent bid to downplay the fact that Serbia became independent by default when Montenegro declared its own independence following a May 21 referendum.
Still, some deputies praised Serbia re-establishing its statehood after 88 years in the Balkan union.
"We will restore Serbia's glory," said Miloljub Albijanic, from the ruling G17 Plus party. "Long live independent Serbia."
But nationalist leader Tomislav Nikolic felt less proud.
"This is a sad day in the history of Serbia," he said. "Something is happening in Serbia against Serbia's will."
Montenegro's declaration of independence Saturday set in motion the process of dividing the joint state's armed forces, diplomatic missions, common assets and responsibilities.
Serbia and Montenegro were the only two former Yugoslav republics that stayed together after the violent disintegration of the Balkan federation in the 1990s.
Although the two nations share a common language and culture, as well as close historic ties, their relations cooled over recent years.
In the early 1990s, Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia also split from the Serb-led federation, triggering a series of bloody wars. Serbia's southern, ethnic Albanian-dominated province of Kosovo also hopes to gain independence at ongoing U.N.-brokered talks.
Meanwhile, Montenegro's President Filip Vujanovic sent a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan asking that his newly proclaimed state be admitted as a new member in the world body.
On Sunday, the Adriatic republic asked its neighbors, European Union states and permanent members of the U.N. Security Council to officially recognize it and establish diplomatic relations with its government.
Kosovo president congratulates Montenegro on independence declaration
Text of report in English by independent internet news agency KosovaLive
Prishtina [Pristina], 5 June: President Fatmir Sejdiu congratulated his Montenegrin counterpart, Filip Vujanovic, on the decision of his country's Assembly to announce Montenegro an independent and sovereign country.
Sejdiu stated in his note that "the people and the institutions of Kosova are pleased that the will of the Montenegrin people is realized and we expect also our aspiration - Kosova to be recognized as an independent country - to be realized soon".
He said that the independent Kosova will develop good relations with Montenegro and with all other neighbours.
Source: KosovaLive website, Pristina, in English 5 Jun 06
Prishtina [Pristina], 5 June: President Fatmir Sejdiu congratulated his Montenegrin counterpart, Filip Vujanovic, on the decision of his country's Assembly to announce Montenegro an independent and sovereign country.
Sejdiu stated in his note that "the people and the institutions of Kosova are pleased that the will of the Montenegrin people is realized and we expect also our aspiration - Kosova to be recognized as an independent country - to be realized soon".
He said that the independent Kosova will develop good relations with Montenegro and with all other neighbours.
Source: KosovaLive website, Pristina, in English 5 Jun 06
Kosovo premier congratulates Montenegrins, thanks them for support
Text of report by Kosovo Albanian television KohaVision TV on 5 June
[Announcer] By saying Yes to independence, Montenegro, our neighbour in the West, has fulfilled its aspiration to break away from Serbian control and become an equal member of the family of sovereign and independent nations of the world, Kosova [Kosovo] Premier Agim Ceku said in his weekly radio address to the nation.
The birth of this new country in the Balkans, on the periphery of Europe is, according to the prime minister, the penultimate act of Yugoslavia's disintegration and also the final blow to the greater Serbia project. Our relations with Montenegro have shown signs of improvement since the Dayton accords [US-brokered 1995 Bosnian peace agreement] and gradually culminated in our liberation war from Milosevic's dictatorial regime. The Kosova people will never forget the hospitality the Montenegrin government and people showed during 1998-99 when they sheltered hundreds of thousands of Albanians who escaped Serbian repression in order to seek refuge in this small place, the Kosova prime minister said. As I have also said earlier, in a democratic Kosova, all citizens have a future regardless of their ethnicity, language and religion. It is time for the Montenegrin minority to come out openly and help strengthen our institutions, our common Kosova. Kosova is awaiting a definition of its status, independence and sovereignty. We will then move faster towards Europe. Until then we wish the Montenegrin government and the people a good journey, prosperity and peace, assuring them that we will soon meet in a united Europe, Kosova Premier Ceku underlined in his weekly address.
Source: KohaVision TV, Pristina, in Albanian 1700 gmt 5 Jun 06
[Announcer] By saying Yes to independence, Montenegro, our neighbour in the West, has fulfilled its aspiration to break away from Serbian control and become an equal member of the family of sovereign and independent nations of the world, Kosova [Kosovo] Premier Agim Ceku said in his weekly radio address to the nation.
The birth of this new country in the Balkans, on the periphery of Europe is, according to the prime minister, the penultimate act of Yugoslavia's disintegration and also the final blow to the greater Serbia project. Our relations with Montenegro have shown signs of improvement since the Dayton accords [US-brokered 1995 Bosnian peace agreement] and gradually culminated in our liberation war from Milosevic's dictatorial regime. The Kosova people will never forget the hospitality the Montenegrin government and people showed during 1998-99 when they sheltered hundreds of thousands of Albanians who escaped Serbian repression in order to seek refuge in this small place, the Kosova prime minister said. As I have also said earlier, in a democratic Kosova, all citizens have a future regardless of their ethnicity, language and religion. It is time for the Montenegrin minority to come out openly and help strengthen our institutions, our common Kosova. Kosova is awaiting a definition of its status, independence and sovereignty. We will then move faster towards Europe. Until then we wish the Montenegrin government and the people a good journey, prosperity and peace, assuring them that we will soon meet in a united Europe, Kosova Premier Ceku underlined in his weekly address.
Source: KohaVision TV, Pristina, in Albanian 1700 gmt 5 Jun 06
Friday, June 02, 2006
Serbian negotiator blames mediators for collapse of Vienna Kosovo talks
Text of report by "SJ" entitled "Total Collapse of Talks in Vienna"]Serbian newspaper Glas javnosti on 1 June
Belgrade, Vienna: "As the Albanian party refused to discuss any economic topics and insisted on maintaining utterly opposing views, the Vienna talks on Kosmet [Kosovo and Metohija] have been suspended and no date has been set for their resumption," said Dusan Celic, member of Serbia's team in charge of questions on assets and economy.
Serbia expects its proposal about changing the way for conducting the talks to be examined, with future status brought into the foreground, Celic told Glas.
"The reason is that yesterday's meeting showed that the talks cannot be conducted in segments. Speaking of assets, Albanians invoked the succession signed by the members of the former Yugoslavia in 2001, whereby all assets in Kosmet would remain theirs. We argued that those were Serbian assets now in the control of UNMIK [UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo]. The mediators would not take on a harsher stance towards the Albanian party, so they are to blame for the suspension of the talks," said Celic.
He said 700,000 land registry entries were usurped by Albanians and 17,000 complaints for damages filed by Serbs that were not in procedure, the obstacle being access to court due to security reasons.
"Yesterday's round of talks showed international mediators not well prepared for talks on assets and economy. For us, assets are the most important question together with freedom of movement and the right to live. The Albanian party came out with very extreme stances, even neglected Resolution 1244, trying to keep the talks focused on status only," said Celic.
The Serbian delegation returns today, while Albanians will remain in Vienna to discuss decentralization with mediators. We have learned unofficially that the mediators will try to influence the Albanians to soften their position. Presiding over yesterday's talks were Stefan Lehne and Albert Rohan, deputy to Martti Ahtisaari.
Source: Glas javnosti, Belgrade, in Serbian 1 Jun 06 p 2
Belgrade, Vienna: "As the Albanian party refused to discuss any economic topics and insisted on maintaining utterly opposing views, the Vienna talks on Kosmet [Kosovo and Metohija] have been suspended and no date has been set for their resumption," said Dusan Celic, member of Serbia's team in charge of questions on assets and economy.
Serbia expects its proposal about changing the way for conducting the talks to be examined, with future status brought into the foreground, Celic told Glas.
"The reason is that yesterday's meeting showed that the talks cannot be conducted in segments. Speaking of assets, Albanians invoked the succession signed by the members of the former Yugoslavia in 2001, whereby all assets in Kosmet would remain theirs. We argued that those were Serbian assets now in the control of UNMIK [UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo]. The mediators would not take on a harsher stance towards the Albanian party, so they are to blame for the suspension of the talks," said Celic.
He said 700,000 land registry entries were usurped by Albanians and 17,000 complaints for damages filed by Serbs that were not in procedure, the obstacle being access to court due to security reasons.
"Yesterday's round of talks showed international mediators not well prepared for talks on assets and economy. For us, assets are the most important question together with freedom of movement and the right to live. The Albanian party came out with very extreme stances, even neglected Resolution 1244, trying to keep the talks focused on status only," said Celic.
The Serbian delegation returns today, while Albanians will remain in Vienna to discuss decentralization with mediators. We have learned unofficially that the mediators will try to influence the Albanians to soften their position. Presiding over yesterday's talks were Stefan Lehne and Albert Rohan, deputy to Martti Ahtisaari.
Source: Glas javnosti, Belgrade, in Serbian 1 Jun 06 p 2
Kosovo war crimes suspect seeks trial delay
THE HAGUE, June 2, 2006 (AFP) -
Lawyers for former Yugoslav army general Dragoljub Ojdani have demanded that his war crimes trial, slated to begin this month, be delayed after an attack on the defence team in Kosovo, court documents made public Friday showed.
The lawyers accompanied by members of the United Nations force in Kosovo (UNMIK) were attacked by villagers in the southern town of Mala Krusha on May 25. Rocks were thrown at the convoy and in the ensuing scuffle three police officers and some 30 villagers were injured.
Following the attack the defence team had to leave Kosovo and was later advised by UNMIK that the visit could not be resumed.
General Ojdanic's lawyers are asking for the delay because they argue that his right to a fair trial has been violated as the defence cannot investigate his case in Kosovo.
"Under the circumstances, General Ojdanic's counsel cannot render effective assistance to him at trial because they cannot observe the scene of the crimes and access witnesses to the events which are the subject of the indictment," the defence submission said.
Ojdanic, former army chief of staff, was set to go on trial on June 10 along with five other high-ranking Serb officials, including former Serbian president Milan Milutinovic, for offences committed during the Serb crackdown in Kosovo in the late 1990s.
All were close to ex-Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, who died in March while on trial in The Hague at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
They are alleged to have waged a systematic campaign of terror and violence against the majority ethnic Albanian population of the Serbian province.
Hundreds of thousands of Albanians were forced out of Kosovo or killed in a campaign by Belgrade which was halted when NATO forces intervened in 1999.
It is not clear when the judges assigned to Ojdanic's case will rule on the request for a trial delay.
Lawyers for former Yugoslav army general Dragoljub Ojdani have demanded that his war crimes trial, slated to begin this month, be delayed after an attack on the defence team in Kosovo, court documents made public Friday showed.
The lawyers accompanied by members of the United Nations force in Kosovo (UNMIK) were attacked by villagers in the southern town of Mala Krusha on May 25. Rocks were thrown at the convoy and in the ensuing scuffle three police officers and some 30 villagers were injured.
Following the attack the defence team had to leave Kosovo and was later advised by UNMIK that the visit could not be resumed.
General Ojdanic's lawyers are asking for the delay because they argue that his right to a fair trial has been violated as the defence cannot investigate his case in Kosovo.
"Under the circumstances, General Ojdanic's counsel cannot render effective assistance to him at trial because they cannot observe the scene of the crimes and access witnesses to the events which are the subject of the indictment," the defence submission said.
Ojdanic, former army chief of staff, was set to go on trial on June 10 along with five other high-ranking Serb officials, including former Serbian president Milan Milutinovic, for offences committed during the Serb crackdown in Kosovo in the late 1990s.
All were close to ex-Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, who died in March while on trial in The Hague at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
They are alleged to have waged a systematic campaign of terror and violence against the majority ethnic Albanian population of the Serbian province.
Hundreds of thousands of Albanians were forced out of Kosovo or killed in a campaign by Belgrade which was halted when NATO forces intervened in 1999.
It is not clear when the judges assigned to Ojdanic's case will rule on the request for a trial delay.
Serbia "entered process of succession with Kosovo" at Vienna talks - official
Text of unattributed report entitled "Foreign debts make Kosova a state" published by Kosovo Albanian newspaper Koha Ditore on 2 June
Prishtina [Pristina], 1 June: The Kosovar delegation that discussed economic issues with the Serbian side in Vienna returned to Prishtina on Thursday [1 June] fully confident that it has made Serbia accept Kosova [Kosovo] as a state.
"Whether it likes it or not, Serbia entered the process of succession with Kosova yesterday, and the succession process takes place only between two states," Lutfi Haziri, deputy prime minister and member of the Kosova delegation, stated at a news conference upon returning from Vienna.
Succession turned into an issue in the sixth round of talks between the two sides in Vienna on Wednesday, in which Kosova's foreign debts were addressed. Property, savings, war damages and privatization were some of the other topics that were discussed.
Kosova delegation head Skender Hyseni said that, as regards external debts, Kosova successfully defended its platform, which the Kosovar delegation sees as part of the succession arrangements between the two countries.
"Kosova clearly expressed its readiness to recognize the 2001 agreement on succession reached among some entities of the former Yugoslavia," Hyseni said. "We presented the stance that Kosova is ready to take all the international liabilities deriving from the succession."
Members of the Kosovar delegation insisted that Kosova's external debts belong to Kosova and not Serbia, because, in their view, the fact that Kosova has foreign debts shows that it had its identity in the former Yugoslavia. Economy expert Muhamet Mustafa offered explanations on this matter. He advised that the debts have several aspects.
"There are allocated debts, that is, those debts whose final beneficiary is known, and in this respect we explained that Kosova's debts are not Serbia's debts. During the whole time, Serbia made efforts to present those debts as Serbia's, because if it exempted Kosova from those debts and its assets, it automatically means that Kosova was not a separate entity when it incurred those debts," he said.
"These are the debts Kosova initially received with the decisions of the Kosova parliament and with the ratification by the Assembly of Yugoslavia. We said we recognize Kosova's debts whose ultimate beneficiary is known and we asked for documentation from debtors," he added.
Mustafa said that, with regard to the allocated debts, the Kosova delegation defended the following stance: since Serbia occupied Kosova's assets during the 1990s and used those assets for its own benefits, then Serbia should pay those debts. While, as regards unallocated debts, he said that the Kosovars had agreed to share those debts according to a common criterion that was applied in the case of five other units of the former Yugoslavia.
As regards property issues, the Kosovars said the discussion focused on privatization, because the Serbian delegation imposed such a course.
"It seems that the Serbian delegation came to Vienna with only one aim in mind - to stop privatization, and they requested this in an explicit way," Skender Hyseni said. "But, in this case, too, Kosova defended a clear stance that the property of Kosova belongs to the citizens and the government of Kosova and that the privatization process is expected to conclude by the end of this year."
In any case, members of the Kosova delegation said the meeting concluded without any agreement between the parties. They said that, despite the fact that the Serbian side was not constructive, the Kosovars did all right.
"As regards the Serbian delegation, it cannot be said that any progress was reached as its members had come to Vienna to obstruct the entire process, and in particular they tried to stop the privatization process," Hyseni said. "It can be said that the Kosova delegation was definitely coherent and convincing and succeeded in offering the international community strong arguments on the correctness of its stance on this specific topic (economy)."
Deputy Prime Minister Haziri said that the Kosovar side was so well prepared that it caused serious trouble to the other party. "I can say that it was not easy at all to be on the other side. We made life difficult for the Serbs thanks to our serious preparation, clear stances and engagement," he said.
Haziri said the Kosovars made extraordinary progress not only on the economy, but also on other issues, such as pensions and the pension fund of Kosova, the request for the return of archives and cadastral documents of Kosova, then the war damages, both individual and collective, the damages caused to war victims, and so on.
Ilhami Gashi, another member of the Kosova delegation, said the talks were very difficult. "The thing that we noticed was that the Serbian delegation is still suffering from the past and it can in no way understand the future. We presented our stances in a professional way, because the materials and preparations were done professionally, and the interests of the Kosova citizens were presented in a dignified manner. The unity of our team proved that we are far ahead of the other side regarding cooperation with the international community," he said.
Source: Koha Ditore, Pristina, in Albanian 2 Jun 06 p 3
Prishtina [Pristina], 1 June: The Kosovar delegation that discussed economic issues with the Serbian side in Vienna returned to Prishtina on Thursday [1 June] fully confident that it has made Serbia accept Kosova [Kosovo] as a state.
"Whether it likes it or not, Serbia entered the process of succession with Kosova yesterday, and the succession process takes place only between two states," Lutfi Haziri, deputy prime minister and member of the Kosova delegation, stated at a news conference upon returning from Vienna.
Succession turned into an issue in the sixth round of talks between the two sides in Vienna on Wednesday, in which Kosova's foreign debts were addressed. Property, savings, war damages and privatization were some of the other topics that were discussed.
Kosova delegation head Skender Hyseni said that, as regards external debts, Kosova successfully defended its platform, which the Kosovar delegation sees as part of the succession arrangements between the two countries.
"Kosova clearly expressed its readiness to recognize the 2001 agreement on succession reached among some entities of the former Yugoslavia," Hyseni said. "We presented the stance that Kosova is ready to take all the international liabilities deriving from the succession."
Members of the Kosovar delegation insisted that Kosova's external debts belong to Kosova and not Serbia, because, in their view, the fact that Kosova has foreign debts shows that it had its identity in the former Yugoslavia. Economy expert Muhamet Mustafa offered explanations on this matter. He advised that the debts have several aspects.
"There are allocated debts, that is, those debts whose final beneficiary is known, and in this respect we explained that Kosova's debts are not Serbia's debts. During the whole time, Serbia made efforts to present those debts as Serbia's, because if it exempted Kosova from those debts and its assets, it automatically means that Kosova was not a separate entity when it incurred those debts," he said.
"These are the debts Kosova initially received with the decisions of the Kosova parliament and with the ratification by the Assembly of Yugoslavia. We said we recognize Kosova's debts whose ultimate beneficiary is known and we asked for documentation from debtors," he added.
Mustafa said that, with regard to the allocated debts, the Kosova delegation defended the following stance: since Serbia occupied Kosova's assets during the 1990s and used those assets for its own benefits, then Serbia should pay those debts. While, as regards unallocated debts, he said that the Kosovars had agreed to share those debts according to a common criterion that was applied in the case of five other units of the former Yugoslavia.
As regards property issues, the Kosovars said the discussion focused on privatization, because the Serbian delegation imposed such a course.
"It seems that the Serbian delegation came to Vienna with only one aim in mind - to stop privatization, and they requested this in an explicit way," Skender Hyseni said. "But, in this case, too, Kosova defended a clear stance that the property of Kosova belongs to the citizens and the government of Kosova and that the privatization process is expected to conclude by the end of this year."
In any case, members of the Kosova delegation said the meeting concluded without any agreement between the parties. They said that, despite the fact that the Serbian side was not constructive, the Kosovars did all right.
"As regards the Serbian delegation, it cannot be said that any progress was reached as its members had come to Vienna to obstruct the entire process, and in particular they tried to stop the privatization process," Hyseni said. "It can be said that the Kosova delegation was definitely coherent and convincing and succeeded in offering the international community strong arguments on the correctness of its stance on this specific topic (economy)."
Deputy Prime Minister Haziri said that the Kosovar side was so well prepared that it caused serious trouble to the other party. "I can say that it was not easy at all to be on the other side. We made life difficult for the Serbs thanks to our serious preparation, clear stances and engagement," he said.
Haziri said the Kosovars made extraordinary progress not only on the economy, but also on other issues, such as pensions and the pension fund of Kosova, the request for the return of archives and cadastral documents of Kosova, then the war damages, both individual and collective, the damages caused to war victims, and so on.
Ilhami Gashi, another member of the Kosova delegation, said the talks were very difficult. "The thing that we noticed was that the Serbian delegation is still suffering from the past and it can in no way understand the future. We presented our stances in a professional way, because the materials and preparations were done professionally, and the interests of the Kosova citizens were presented in a dignified manner. The unity of our team proved that we are far ahead of the other side regarding cooperation with the international community," he said.
Source: Koha Ditore, Pristina, in Albanian 2 Jun 06 p 3
Kosovo Launches 3.5 Mln Euro EU-funded Project To Back Institutions for Status Talks
PRISTINA (Serbia and Montenegro), June 2 (SeeNews) - Kosovo has launched a 3.5 million euro ($4.48 million) project aimed at supporting the institutions of the U.N.-run Serbian province to prepare for the talks on its future status, an official said on Friday.
"The project "Support for Kosovo's Institutions for the status talks and for the EU Integration" is completely financed by the EU," Virtyt Gacaferi, spokesman of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Kosovo, told SeeNews.
The European Agency for Reconstruction (EAR) will manage the project and the UNDP will implement it, Gacaferi said.
Under the two-year project a technical assistance will be provided in the field of legislation and in the process of transferring of more power to Kosovo's local institutions from the U.N. Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), Gacaferi said.
On Thursday EAR started a 2.0 million euro project to support the Kosovo's Ministry of Justice, established in December last year.
Legally still a province of Serbia, Kosovo has been under U.N. administration since 1999 following NATO bombings that expelled Serb forces to end what Western powers said was repression of civilians in fighting an ethnic Albanian rebel insurgency. U.N.-brokered talks are underway to determine the future status of Kosovo.
"The project "Support for Kosovo's Institutions for the status talks and for the EU Integration" is completely financed by the EU," Virtyt Gacaferi, spokesman of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Kosovo, told SeeNews.
The European Agency for Reconstruction (EAR) will manage the project and the UNDP will implement it, Gacaferi said.
Under the two-year project a technical assistance will be provided in the field of legislation and in the process of transferring of more power to Kosovo's local institutions from the U.N. Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), Gacaferi said.
On Thursday EAR started a 2.0 million euro project to support the Kosovo's Ministry of Justice, established in December last year.
Legally still a province of Serbia, Kosovo has been under U.N. administration since 1999 following NATO bombings that expelled Serb forces to end what Western powers said was repression of civilians in fighting an ethnic Albanian rebel insurgency. U.N.-brokered talks are underway to determine the future status of Kosovo.
Slovakia and Serbia: A tale of two Slavic states
Slovakia once ranked with Serbia in Europe's awkward squad; now Slovakia is streets ahead
160;
TEN years ago, there was not much to choose between Slovakia and Serbia. The former, though located in central Europe, felt like the Balkans. It was run, thuggishly and sleazily, by Vladimir Meciar. His fellow strongman, Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia, did far worse things in his neighbourhood, stirring up wars and displacing millions of people. But in domestic affairs, the two places had a similar feel. Their economies stagnated. Neither Slovakia nor Serbia seemed likely to join the European Union or NATO any time soon.
Since then, Slovakia has become a showpiece of post-communist change, with a shiny new bridge to complement the old townscape of spires and cobblestones in its now buzzing capital, Bratislava. A cross-party coalition removed Mr Meciar from power in 1998. It stabilised the economy, curbed Russian influence and groomed the country to join the EU and NATO. Re-elected in 2002, the prime minister, Mikulas Dzurinda, made Slovakia a reform star of central Europe, with a flat tax, labour deregulation and a solid pension system. Foreign investors, especially in the car industry, have flooded in.
Serbia, by contrast, is still languishing. Although Mr Milosevic left office in 2000, his country is still waiting to join the EU queue. The economy has stabilised but foreign investment is still puny. The recent vote for independence by Montenegro was another stage in the decay of Serbia's quasi-empire. In the short term at least, Serbian politics may move back, not forwards, under the shock.
What is more surprising, perhaps, is the short-term outlook in Slovakia: voters seem unlikely, in elections on June 17th, to give a third term to what outsiders see as the region's most successful government.
This highlights one of the biggest paradoxes of post-communist politics. Privatisation, stabilisation, liberalisation and flat taxes have stoked prosperity in every country that has adopted them. Slow and partial reforms do not work. Fast and deep ones do. Yet voters rarely see it like that.
Mr Dzurinda's troubles are a good example. One big source of weakness is his lack of a solid mandate. That is a typical problem: most post-communist reformers have gained office thanks to an electoral quirk, or because of a strong vote against the outgoing government. So it is no surprise that voters are miffed when they then find themselves being fed a diet of economic dislocation, greater inequality and cuts in public services, accompanied with claims that it is for their own good.
In Mr Dzurinda's case, his first term stemmed from public revulsion against the scandals and menacing behaviour of the Meciar regime. The first, broadly based coalition was sensible rather than radical. And Mr Dzurinda's own conservative party was far from being the most popular part of it. His re-election in 2002 was a fluke. Two minor parties of left and right failed to reach the threshold necessary to get into parliament. And his main rival, the populist ex-communists of "Smer" (Direction) did surprisingly badly. That allowed Mr Dzurinda to cobble together a new coalition, including other right-of-centre parties and a grouping representing the Hungarian minority. It too was unwieldy, but hung together enough for Mr Dzurinda, and his main ally, the brainy finance minister, Ivan Miklos, to get reform through.
Sadly, even successful reforms do not create much political support. Most of Mr Dzurinda's changes are now popular (only Smer is pledged, in theory at least, to cancel them). But post-communist voters have short memories and short fuses. They compare their lot not with the travails of the past, but with the secure and comfortable lives they see in old Europe.
The biggest reason for reformers losing popularity is that economics is only part of the story. The biggest failing among all the former captive nations has been in reform of state administration. Corrupt and incompetent officials, venal politicians, slow, expensive and untrustworthy courts, silly rules and a feeling of public powerlessness all combine to make voters feel fed up. On this front, Slovakia (like almost all ex-communist countries) has made little progress.
Still, Mr Dzurinda can be pleased. Reformers lose--but so does almost every incumbent. Mr Dzurinda is by some way the longest-serving post-communist prime minister, with nearly eight years in office. Most of his changes look irreversible. His party, or its allies, may yet return in a new governing coalition, albeit in a weaker position. Mr Miklos, with his plans for a knowledge economy, is a name to watch. But, as he admits, "it is normal that after eight years, people are tired."
It would be nice to think that post-communist countries would foster strong party systems, with mass memberships that could connect policy, politicians and voters. But that model of politics is declining in western Europe, and shows little sign of taking root in the east.
Discouraged Serbs should take heart from how far Slovakia has travelled--not just in economics, but also in the sophistication of its democracy. Having been ranked as one of Europe's problems, Slovaks are now seen as problem-solvers, whose experience of authoritarian rule makes them well placed to work as lobbyists for democratic reform.
Take the May 21st poll in Montenegro; as an exercise in democracy, overseen by the EU, it worked well. Both Montenegro's political camps agreed on terms for the poll; this averted a boycott, chaos or worse. As it happens, a lot of the EU's work was done by Slovaks. Earlier this year Miroslav Lajcak, the political director of the Slovak foreign ministry, was named a special EU envoy to settle the conditions for Montenegro's ballot. Then a Slovak diplomat, Frantisek Lipka, was appointed by the EU as head of the Montenegrin referendum commission. The fact that both Slovak envoys could speak the local tongue was an advantage; it countered the impression of patronising Westerners lording it over unruly natives. Montenegrins liked this.
But in Serbia, the mood is sour. Vojislav Kostunica, the prime minister, reacted to the independence vote with disbelief. Serbian-Montenegrin divorce proceedings must now start to dissolve their loose federal state; a declaration of independence will almost certainly come soon.
Although Serbia's president, Boris Tadic, congratulated the Montenegrins on independence (and said he would be in charge of Serbia's armed forces), Mr Kostunica and the nationalists around him appeared barely capable to taking in what had happened. Indeed, the credibility of Mr Kostunica's government is in freefall. In March the prime minister promised to send Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb general, to The Hague war-crimes tribunal; he failed to deliver. So the EU stopped talks with Serbia on an agreement that could lead to eventual membership.
Over the next few months, Serbia faces further shocks, including the formal loss of Kosovo, which many Serbs still see as the cradle of their heritage--although over 90% of its population is ethnic Albanian and it is now run by the UN.
This autumn, Martti Ahtisaari, the Finnish chairman of talks on Kosovo's future, is likely to propose granting it independence. That will be horrify the Serbs: if losing Montenegro was a bitter pill, losing Kosovo will be a poison draught. Mr Kostunica may react by calling an election. What follows could be messy, with gains for the ultra-nationalist Radicals (the most popular party in Serbia with a 38% poll rating) on whom Mr Kostunica already relies.
Slovakia's velvet divorce from the Czech Republic (in 1993) showed how a smooth resolution of "national questions" can pave the way for progress on other fronts. Sadly, the reverse is also true--a contested national question may poison Serbia's body politic for years to come.
160;
TEN years ago, there was not much to choose between Slovakia and Serbia. The former, though located in central Europe, felt like the Balkans. It was run, thuggishly and sleazily, by Vladimir Meciar. His fellow strongman, Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia, did far worse things in his neighbourhood, stirring up wars and displacing millions of people. But in domestic affairs, the two places had a similar feel. Their economies stagnated. Neither Slovakia nor Serbia seemed likely to join the European Union or NATO any time soon.
Since then, Slovakia has become a showpiece of post-communist change, with a shiny new bridge to complement the old townscape of spires and cobblestones in its now buzzing capital, Bratislava. A cross-party coalition removed Mr Meciar from power in 1998. It stabilised the economy, curbed Russian influence and groomed the country to join the EU and NATO. Re-elected in 2002, the prime minister, Mikulas Dzurinda, made Slovakia a reform star of central Europe, with a flat tax, labour deregulation and a solid pension system. Foreign investors, especially in the car industry, have flooded in.
Serbia, by contrast, is still languishing. Although Mr Milosevic left office in 2000, his country is still waiting to join the EU queue. The economy has stabilised but foreign investment is still puny. The recent vote for independence by Montenegro was another stage in the decay of Serbia's quasi-empire. In the short term at least, Serbian politics may move back, not forwards, under the shock.
What is more surprising, perhaps, is the short-term outlook in Slovakia: voters seem unlikely, in elections on June 17th, to give a third term to what outsiders see as the region's most successful government.
This highlights one of the biggest paradoxes of post-communist politics. Privatisation, stabilisation, liberalisation and flat taxes have stoked prosperity in every country that has adopted them. Slow and partial reforms do not work. Fast and deep ones do. Yet voters rarely see it like that.
Mr Dzurinda's troubles are a good example. One big source of weakness is his lack of a solid mandate. That is a typical problem: most post-communist reformers have gained office thanks to an electoral quirk, or because of a strong vote against the outgoing government. So it is no surprise that voters are miffed when they then find themselves being fed a diet of economic dislocation, greater inequality and cuts in public services, accompanied with claims that it is for their own good.
In Mr Dzurinda's case, his first term stemmed from public revulsion against the scandals and menacing behaviour of the Meciar regime. The first, broadly based coalition was sensible rather than radical. And Mr Dzurinda's own conservative party was far from being the most popular part of it. His re-election in 2002 was a fluke. Two minor parties of left and right failed to reach the threshold necessary to get into parliament. And his main rival, the populist ex-communists of "Smer" (Direction) did surprisingly badly. That allowed Mr Dzurinda to cobble together a new coalition, including other right-of-centre parties and a grouping representing the Hungarian minority. It too was unwieldy, but hung together enough for Mr Dzurinda, and his main ally, the brainy finance minister, Ivan Miklos, to get reform through.
Sadly, even successful reforms do not create much political support. Most of Mr Dzurinda's changes are now popular (only Smer is pledged, in theory at least, to cancel them). But post-communist voters have short memories and short fuses. They compare their lot not with the travails of the past, but with the secure and comfortable lives they see in old Europe.
The biggest reason for reformers losing popularity is that economics is only part of the story. The biggest failing among all the former captive nations has been in reform of state administration. Corrupt and incompetent officials, venal politicians, slow, expensive and untrustworthy courts, silly rules and a feeling of public powerlessness all combine to make voters feel fed up. On this front, Slovakia (like almost all ex-communist countries) has made little progress.
Still, Mr Dzurinda can be pleased. Reformers lose--but so does almost every incumbent. Mr Dzurinda is by some way the longest-serving post-communist prime minister, with nearly eight years in office. Most of his changes look irreversible. His party, or its allies, may yet return in a new governing coalition, albeit in a weaker position. Mr Miklos, with his plans for a knowledge economy, is a name to watch. But, as he admits, "it is normal that after eight years, people are tired."
It would be nice to think that post-communist countries would foster strong party systems, with mass memberships that could connect policy, politicians and voters. But that model of politics is declining in western Europe, and shows little sign of taking root in the east.
Discouraged Serbs should take heart from how far Slovakia has travelled--not just in economics, but also in the sophistication of its democracy. Having been ranked as one of Europe's problems, Slovaks are now seen as problem-solvers, whose experience of authoritarian rule makes them well placed to work as lobbyists for democratic reform.
Take the May 21st poll in Montenegro; as an exercise in democracy, overseen by the EU, it worked well. Both Montenegro's political camps agreed on terms for the poll; this averted a boycott, chaos or worse. As it happens, a lot of the EU's work was done by Slovaks. Earlier this year Miroslav Lajcak, the political director of the Slovak foreign ministry, was named a special EU envoy to settle the conditions for Montenegro's ballot. Then a Slovak diplomat, Frantisek Lipka, was appointed by the EU as head of the Montenegrin referendum commission. The fact that both Slovak envoys could speak the local tongue was an advantage; it countered the impression of patronising Westerners lording it over unruly natives. Montenegrins liked this.
But in Serbia, the mood is sour. Vojislav Kostunica, the prime minister, reacted to the independence vote with disbelief. Serbian-Montenegrin divorce proceedings must now start to dissolve their loose federal state; a declaration of independence will almost certainly come soon.
Although Serbia's president, Boris Tadic, congratulated the Montenegrins on independence (and said he would be in charge of Serbia's armed forces), Mr Kostunica and the nationalists around him appeared barely capable to taking in what had happened. Indeed, the credibility of Mr Kostunica's government is in freefall. In March the prime minister promised to send Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb general, to The Hague war-crimes tribunal; he failed to deliver. So the EU stopped talks with Serbia on an agreement that could lead to eventual membership.
Over the next few months, Serbia faces further shocks, including the formal loss of Kosovo, which many Serbs still see as the cradle of their heritage--although over 90% of its population is ethnic Albanian and it is now run by the UN.
This autumn, Martti Ahtisaari, the Finnish chairman of talks on Kosovo's future, is likely to propose granting it independence. That will be horrify the Serbs: if losing Montenegro was a bitter pill, losing Kosovo will be a poison draught. Mr Kostunica may react by calling an election. What follows could be messy, with gains for the ultra-nationalist Radicals (the most popular party in Serbia with a 38% poll rating) on whom Mr Kostunica already relies.
Slovakia's velvet divorce from the Czech Republic (in 1993) showed how a smooth resolution of "national questions" can pave the way for progress on other fronts. Sadly, the reverse is also true--a contested national question may poison Serbia's body politic for years to come.
The long goodbye by Agim Ceku - The Guardian
There is good reason to be optimistic about the western Balkans these
days. By popular referendum, Montenegro just regained its
independence from Serbia and is determined to accelerate its
accession to Europe. We believe that Kosovo will follow suit towards
the end of the year. With the birth of two new democratic states that
look forward to Europe, this is a hopeful epilogue for the tragic
decade that marked the dissolution of Yugoslavia.
We understand the pride that Montenegrins feel. After patiently
waiting for years to express their national aspirations through
democratic means, they restored their statehood. We wish we had been
granted the same chance. Kosovars held their democratic and peaceful
referendum on independence in 1992, with 87% of eligible voters
participating and 99% voting in favour of a sovereign state. It was
our democratic revolution against the last bastion of socialism in
Europe, a legitimate exercise of self-determination against the
Serbian state that, by revoking Kosovo's autonomy, was acting outside
its own constitution and laws. Belgrade rejected that outcome.
We resisted Serbia's occupation, peacefully at first but ultimately
by force of arms. Our volunteers in the Kosova Liberation Army (KLA)
had little more than courage and a shared will to be free, until
Nato's intervention.
Towards Nato member states we feel deep gratitude; for our fighters
we feel pride. We will never forget them. Nor we will forget the
thousands of civilians that were killed just because they were
Albanians. There was no single Srebrenica in our war, only hundreds
of small massacres that devastated the lives of entire communities.
Like other nations that have fought and won their survival and
independence, we treasure our past. But our national pride means only
that we love our language, our culture and our land. We do not want
to impose anything on others.
We have a chance now, for the first time since the collapse of the
Ottoman Empire and the age of the modern European nation states, to
channel our collective aspirations into the creation of an
independent state; we are ready to do so without prejudice against
anyone.
As prime minister, I am using my office as a pulpit to advocate the
respect and protection of minorities. I regularly meet citizens who
feel marginalised and threatened in order to reassure them. We know
how it feels to mourn loved ones killed because of who they were, or
to return to a burnt home, or to see no future for our children. We
do not want others to suffer as we have suffered. We want to make
sure that incidents like the riots of March 2004 against minority
communities do not happen again.
But as we engage in negotiations with Serbia to discuss shared
concerns, unfortunately we face stubborn obstruction. Serbia's
current leadership is actively opposing the dialogue the government
of Kosovo has developed with Serbs who live in Kosovo. It has driven
a wedge between local Serb residents and their political leadership.
The first, a largely poor, farming constituency, is left without
representation because the latter refuses to recognise Kosovo's
institution and to participate in the assembly and the government,
where it is allotted reserved seats by the constitutional framework.
Belgrade has asked Serbs not to accept payments from Kosovo's budget,
trying to neutralise all our honest efforts to integrate minorities.
For our part, we are being very constructive. We are ready to make
local government more efficient and bring it closer to citizens
through a substantive decentralisation, to protect and restore
Kosovo's cultural heritage and to solve once and for all the painful
issue of missing people on both sides. But these cannot be unilateral
efforts. We cannot achieve good results if we find only deaf ears to
all our openings.
Belgrade is not trying to improve the wellbeing and safety of Serbs
in Kosovo; it is holding them hostage to prove to the entire world
that Kosovo is not ready to be an inclusive society, and thus should
not be a state. This shows instead that Serbia is not an honest
partner in the negotiation on Kosovo's status, and that it should not
be rewarded for this uncompromising attitude.
What Serbia needs instead is a stronger international encouragement
to recognise its new neighbouring democracies and accept the new
reality of the western Balkans. For the people of Montenegro, it was
easy to sever their ties from Serbia. May it be as easy for the
people of Kosovo.
days. By popular referendum, Montenegro just regained its
independence from Serbia and is determined to accelerate its
accession to Europe. We believe that Kosovo will follow suit towards
the end of the year. With the birth of two new democratic states that
look forward to Europe, this is a hopeful epilogue for the tragic
decade that marked the dissolution of Yugoslavia.
We understand the pride that Montenegrins feel. After patiently
waiting for years to express their national aspirations through
democratic means, they restored their statehood. We wish we had been
granted the same chance. Kosovars held their democratic and peaceful
referendum on independence in 1992, with 87% of eligible voters
participating and 99% voting in favour of a sovereign state. It was
our democratic revolution against the last bastion of socialism in
Europe, a legitimate exercise of self-determination against the
Serbian state that, by revoking Kosovo's autonomy, was acting outside
its own constitution and laws. Belgrade rejected that outcome.
We resisted Serbia's occupation, peacefully at first but ultimately
by force of arms. Our volunteers in the Kosova Liberation Army (KLA)
had little more than courage and a shared will to be free, until
Nato's intervention.
Towards Nato member states we feel deep gratitude; for our fighters
we feel pride. We will never forget them. Nor we will forget the
thousands of civilians that were killed just because they were
Albanians. There was no single Srebrenica in our war, only hundreds
of small massacres that devastated the lives of entire communities.
Like other nations that have fought and won their survival and
independence, we treasure our past. But our national pride means only
that we love our language, our culture and our land. We do not want
to impose anything on others.
We have a chance now, for the first time since the collapse of the
Ottoman Empire and the age of the modern European nation states, to
channel our collective aspirations into the creation of an
independent state; we are ready to do so without prejudice against
anyone.
As prime minister, I am using my office as a pulpit to advocate the
respect and protection of minorities. I regularly meet citizens who
feel marginalised and threatened in order to reassure them. We know
how it feels to mourn loved ones killed because of who they were, or
to return to a burnt home, or to see no future for our children. We
do not want others to suffer as we have suffered. We want to make
sure that incidents like the riots of March 2004 against minority
communities do not happen again.
But as we engage in negotiations with Serbia to discuss shared
concerns, unfortunately we face stubborn obstruction. Serbia's
current leadership is actively opposing the dialogue the government
of Kosovo has developed with Serbs who live in Kosovo. It has driven
a wedge between local Serb residents and their political leadership.
The first, a largely poor, farming constituency, is left without
representation because the latter refuses to recognise Kosovo's
institution and to participate in the assembly and the government,
where it is allotted reserved seats by the constitutional framework.
Belgrade has asked Serbs not to accept payments from Kosovo's budget,
trying to neutralise all our honest efforts to integrate minorities.
For our part, we are being very constructive. We are ready to make
local government more efficient and bring it closer to citizens
through a substantive decentralisation, to protect and restore
Kosovo's cultural heritage and to solve once and for all the painful
issue of missing people on both sides. But these cannot be unilateral
efforts. We cannot achieve good results if we find only deaf ears to
all our openings.
Belgrade is not trying to improve the wellbeing and safety of Serbs
in Kosovo; it is holding them hostage to prove to the entire world
that Kosovo is not ready to be an inclusive society, and thus should
not be a state. This shows instead that Serbia is not an honest
partner in the negotiation on Kosovo's status, and that it should not
be rewarded for this uncompromising attitude.
What Serbia needs instead is a stronger international encouragement
to recognise its new neighbouring democracies and accept the new
reality of the western Balkans. For the people of Montenegro, it was
easy to sever their ties from Serbia. May it be as easy for the
people of Kosovo.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
UN prepares to leave Kosovo after status talks
PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro, June 1, 2006 (AFP) -
The United Nations mission administering Kosovo (UNMIK) said Thursday it had begun preparations to leave the southern Serbian province after the final settlement on its status is reached.
"We are preparing for exit", UNMIK chief Soren Jessen-Petersen told reporters.
Jessen-Petersen said the international administration, which has run the province since 1999, has already started to make the preparations to leave Kosovo.
"UNMIK has already started cutting its staff, and this is obvious because we are preparing to leave Kosovo after the status settlement," he said.
After NATO drove out forces under then Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic cracking down on ethnic Albanian separatists in mid-1999, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1244, establishing a UN protectorate over Kosovo.
Since February, Belgrade and officials of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian government have been engaged in the UN-sponsored talks over the future status of the province, but no significant progress has been made yet.
Belgrade insists it could accept a large degree of autonomy for the province within Serbia, but the majority ethnic Albanian population wants nothing short of independence.
Speaking after the meeting with Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Ceku, Jessen-Petersen said Resolution 1244 "will become invalid the moment that the UN Security Council approves a new resolution that will define Kosovo's future status."
Jessen-Petersen and Ceku will both attend a Security Council session later in June, focused on progress in fulfilling the internationally-set standards in the province.
The United Nations mission administering Kosovo (UNMIK) said Thursday it had begun preparations to leave the southern Serbian province after the final settlement on its status is reached.
"We are preparing for exit", UNMIK chief Soren Jessen-Petersen told reporters.
Jessen-Petersen said the international administration, which has run the province since 1999, has already started to make the preparations to leave Kosovo.
"UNMIK has already started cutting its staff, and this is obvious because we are preparing to leave Kosovo after the status settlement," he said.
After NATO drove out forces under then Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic cracking down on ethnic Albanian separatists in mid-1999, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1244, establishing a UN protectorate over Kosovo.
Since February, Belgrade and officials of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian government have been engaged in the UN-sponsored talks over the future status of the province, but no significant progress has been made yet.
Belgrade insists it could accept a large degree of autonomy for the province within Serbia, but the majority ethnic Albanian population wants nothing short of independence.
Speaking after the meeting with Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Ceku, Jessen-Petersen said Resolution 1244 "will become invalid the moment that the UN Security Council approves a new resolution that will define Kosovo's future status."
Jessen-Petersen and Ceku will both attend a Security Council session later in June, focused on progress in fulfilling the internationally-set standards in the province.
NATO to reopen base in Serb north of Kosovo
BELGRADE, June 1 (Reuters) - NATO said on Thursday it planned to reopen a base in the mainly Serb north of Kosovo, as a decision nears on ethnic Albanian demands for independence for the province and fears grow of an angry Serb reaction.
"For operational reasons we see the need to reuse this installation," spokesman Col. Pio Sabetta told Reuters, without elaborating.
Diplomats say there may be a risk of a unilateral Serb move to partition the United Nations-run province if independence is granted. The United Nations has contingency plans for an exodus of Serbs if Albanians are granted a state of their own.
Sabetta said the last base in the north was closed "a long time ago" but KFOR peacekeepers had maintained "mobile facilities", or patrols.
The Kosovo daily Zeri reported that the strengthening of the military presence in the north was directly linked to fears of unrest when the fate of the southern Serbian province is decided in talks to conclude later this year.
Sabetta said there was "no direct link" to the talks.
He said the 17,000-strong KFOR force planned to reopen an old Belgian base in the north, a strip of land adjoining central Serbia, possibly within the month.
Diplomats say the U.N.-led talks, which began in February, could end in a decision by the U.N. Security Council to amputate Kosovo from Serbia, stranding 100,000 Serbs outside their homeland, outnumbered by two million ethnic Albanians.
The 38-nation NATO-led force has only a minimal presence in the north. Leaders of 50,000 Serbs living there warn they will never consent to live in an independent Kosovo.
PARTITION
Kosovo's ethnic Albanian-dominated government welcomed KFOR's decision to redeploy troops in the north.
"It demonstrates a commitment to maintain security and control of the borders, especially now when Kosovo is going through the definition of its final status," said spokeswoman Ulpiana Lama.
Legally part of Serbia, Kosovo has been run by the United Nations since 1999, when NATO bombs drove out Serb forces to halt killings of civilians and ethnic cleansing employed by Belgrade in a two-year war with Albanian separatist guerrillas.
Around half the Serb population fled a wave of revenge attacks with the end of the war and NATO deployment. Serbs in the north have resisted U.N. overtures to integrate them with the rest of Kosovo, now run by Albanians under U.N. supervision.
The talks' U.N. mediators have ruled out autonomy for the Serb minority, fearing moves to partition the province would invite fresh violence and population movements.
The Belgrade daily Politika said on Thursday it had obtained a contingency plan by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees to deal with up to 70,000 Serb refugees in the event Kosovo gets independence.
(Additional reporting by Shaban Buza in Pristina)
"For operational reasons we see the need to reuse this installation," spokesman Col. Pio Sabetta told Reuters, without elaborating.
Diplomats say there may be a risk of a unilateral Serb move to partition the United Nations-run province if independence is granted. The United Nations has contingency plans for an exodus of Serbs if Albanians are granted a state of their own.
Sabetta said the last base in the north was closed "a long time ago" but KFOR peacekeepers had maintained "mobile facilities", or patrols.
The Kosovo daily Zeri reported that the strengthening of the military presence in the north was directly linked to fears of unrest when the fate of the southern Serbian province is decided in talks to conclude later this year.
Sabetta said there was "no direct link" to the talks.
He said the 17,000-strong KFOR force planned to reopen an old Belgian base in the north, a strip of land adjoining central Serbia, possibly within the month.
Diplomats say the U.N.-led talks, which began in February, could end in a decision by the U.N. Security Council to amputate Kosovo from Serbia, stranding 100,000 Serbs outside their homeland, outnumbered by two million ethnic Albanians.
The 38-nation NATO-led force has only a minimal presence in the north. Leaders of 50,000 Serbs living there warn they will never consent to live in an independent Kosovo.
PARTITION
Kosovo's ethnic Albanian-dominated government welcomed KFOR's decision to redeploy troops in the north.
"It demonstrates a commitment to maintain security and control of the borders, especially now when Kosovo is going through the definition of its final status," said spokeswoman Ulpiana Lama.
Legally part of Serbia, Kosovo has been run by the United Nations since 1999, when NATO bombs drove out Serb forces to halt killings of civilians and ethnic cleansing employed by Belgrade in a two-year war with Albanian separatist guerrillas.
Around half the Serb population fled a wave of revenge attacks with the end of the war and NATO deployment. Serbs in the north have resisted U.N. overtures to integrate them with the rest of Kosovo, now run by Albanians under U.N. supervision.
The talks' U.N. mediators have ruled out autonomy for the Serb minority, fearing moves to partition the province would invite fresh violence and population movements.
The Belgrade daily Politika said on Thursday it had obtained a contingency plan by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees to deal with up to 70,000 Serb refugees in the event Kosovo gets independence.
(Additional reporting by Shaban Buza in Pristina)
Explosion damages bridge between Kosovo Serb villages
Text of report by Belgrade-based Radio B92 on 1 June
[Announcer] The Coordination Centre for Kosovo-Metohija has stated that unknown perpetrators installed an explosive device which exploded on Tuesday evening [30 May] and damaged the bridge linking the Serb returnee villages of Grabac and Bicevo.
The coordinator for the Klina municipality, Stojan Doncic, said the bridge was badly damaged.
Source: Radio B92, Belgrade, in Serbian 1300 gmt 1 Jun 06
[Announcer] The Coordination Centre for Kosovo-Metohija has stated that unknown perpetrators installed an explosive device which exploded on Tuesday evening [30 May] and damaged the bridge linking the Serb returnee villages of Grabac and Bicevo.
The coordinator for the Klina municipality, Stojan Doncic, said the bridge was badly damaged.
Source: Radio B92, Belgrade, in Serbian 1300 gmt 1 Jun 06
Serbian status platform is an anachronism - Kosovo presidential aide
Text of report by Radio-Television Kosovo TV website on 31 May
Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu's senior political advisor Muhamet Hamiti has said that the Serbian platform for solving Kosova's [Kosovo] status is an anachronism in that it attempts to salvage some kind of governance over Kosova. The statement continues that a democratic, independent and sovereign Kosova with aspirations to integrate into North Atlantic and European structures is the firm position of the institutions representing the people of Kosova.
The time has come for international recognition of Kosova's independence. This has to happen this year, ending the process started by the international community for determining Kosova's final status. Kosova has been on the path towards independence since 1990 at a time when Milosevic was carrying out wars to create a grater Serbia with a wide consensus from the people of Serbia. The Belgrade political elite continues to please itself with diplomatic manoeuvres in the belief that they can keep nominal sovereignty over Kosova. All projects for a greater Serbia are an anachronism, as is the latest Belgrade project. The idea that Kosova could return once again to where it was is risible and totally wrong, morally and politically; they [the projects] are only there to please the illegitimate wishes of a side that caused a war with the aim of imposing its violent will over Kosova. Kosova and Serbia have to one day be equal parts of the European family. Kosova wants to be there and it will be there. Let Serbia decide for itself if it wants to take this path, said the statement by President Sejdiu's senior political advisor, Muhamet Hamiti.
Source: RTK TV website, Pristina, in Albanian 31 May 06
Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu's senior political advisor Muhamet Hamiti has said that the Serbian platform for solving Kosova's [Kosovo] status is an anachronism in that it attempts to salvage some kind of governance over Kosova. The statement continues that a democratic, independent and sovereign Kosova with aspirations to integrate into North Atlantic and European structures is the firm position of the institutions representing the people of Kosova.
The time has come for international recognition of Kosova's independence. This has to happen this year, ending the process started by the international community for determining Kosova's final status. Kosova has been on the path towards independence since 1990 at a time when Milosevic was carrying out wars to create a grater Serbia with a wide consensus from the people of Serbia. The Belgrade political elite continues to please itself with diplomatic manoeuvres in the belief that they can keep nominal sovereignty over Kosova. All projects for a greater Serbia are an anachronism, as is the latest Belgrade project. The idea that Kosova could return once again to where it was is risible and totally wrong, morally and politically; they [the projects] are only there to please the illegitimate wishes of a side that caused a war with the aim of imposing its violent will over Kosova. Kosova and Serbia have to one day be equal parts of the European family. Kosova wants to be there and it will be there. Let Serbia decide for itself if it wants to take this path, said the statement by President Sejdiu's senior political advisor, Muhamet Hamiti.
Source: RTK TV website, Pristina, in Albanian 31 May 06
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