Armed group roams western Kosovo

RELIEF WEB (SWITZERLAND)

Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR)
Date: 21 Oct 2005

A new militant Albanian organisation is claiming to be fighting those working against Albanian interests.

By Zana Limani in Pristina and Ibrahim Kelmendi in Peja (BCR No 580, 21-Oct-05)

The United Nations police force has increased security in western Kosovo following the emergence of a shadowy group calling for the territory's independence.

The announcement at a press conference on October 19 came after a week of denials from the UN force, known as UNMIK Police, that an armed and organised group dressed in black uniforms was roaming the area.

Residents have been stopped at night near Lugu i Beranit and on the road between Peja and Decani by members of an organisation calling themselves the Army for the Independence of Kosovo.

A 35 year old from Lugu i Behranit said he encountered an armed group of uniformed and masked people near the village of Rashiq. They told him that they were members of the new group and were looking for the "traitors of the people".

"They were very correct to me, looked serious and prepared," said the man.

The militant organisation first emerged several weeks ago, warning UNMIK officials to be wary crossing the region of Peja and Decani at night and insisting members of the Kosovo parliament would receive "capital punishment" if they failed to declare independence by October 15.

That date passed without incident, though the Kosovo Police Service and KFOR troops - who along with UNMIK Police are responsible for security in the territory - have been more visible than usual. Almost every car passing through the area has been stopped and thoroughly searched in an effort to find those connected to the group.

IWPR managed to contact a person who claims to be a member. He said the militants are a guerrilla movement, active throughout Kosovo not just in the western region. The group is organised so individual members have no idea who else is involved, he said, adding they are not fighting KFOR but those who work against the interest of Albanians.

The 90 per cent of Kosovo's population who are Albanian want independence, though it remains legally part of Serbia.

Kai Eide, the UN envoy on Kosovo, presented a report earlier this month on whether Kosovo Albanians have done enough to guarantee the rights of the Serb minority. The report recommends the status talks to begin next month, but said that the lack of Serb representation due to Serb boycott had created a 'grim' inter-ethnic situation.

A similar group of militants emerged in April last year callings itself the Albanian National Army. It appeared in Drenica during a ceremony marking the fifth anniversary of the deaths of two KLA fighters. It called for a "fight for the freedom of Albanian lands that are not controlled by KFOR and for Albanian interests wherever they are", but subsequently disappeared.

Peja residents appear unconcerned about the possibility of a new armed group in their midst. Some even support its goals, saying radical action is needed to ensure independence is the outcome of the negotiations on Kosovo's status.

UNMIK Police insists, however, that the latest group of militants to emerge is composed of a band of criminals who lack broad support.

"They only represent a small group of people who don't support the democratic way," said Kai Vitrupp, the commissioner of UNMIK Police.

KFOR commander Giuseppe Valotto urged calm and said the recent incidents would have no affect on the final status talks.

"I believe that 95 per cent of the people here are for peace and peace and quiet," said Valotto. "KFOR knows its duties and we will react to all threats. If there are armed groups we will fight them. Anyone who uses such [methods] is a criminal."

Some, like Nebojsa Covic, the former head of the Serbian government's Centre for Coordination of Kosovo, aren't convinced the group and those like it pose no real threat and say they should be taken seriously. "This not only put greater pressure on KFOR and UNMIK, who are frightened to begin with, but also on the Serbian and non-Albanian population," said Covic on B92 Television.

The emergence of the new group of militants over the past few weeks has coincided with a number of violent incidents in Kosovo.

Dejan Jankovic, the KPS commander for Gjilan, was wounded in an ambush as he drove through Old Kacanik near the town of Urosevac/Ferizaj. The public broadcaster RTK said a phantom Serb organisation from Strpce called The Voluntary Serb Guard -- Tigers had claimed responsibility.

This happened a few days after two young Serbs - Ivan Dejanovic, 24, and Aleksandar Stankovic, 28 - were shot dead on the road from Strpce to Urosevac/Ferizaj. After that incident, some local representatives threatened to form their own defence force if they didn't receive better protection.

Ibrahim Kelmendi is a correspondent for the Koha Ditore newspaper in Peja. Zana Limani is IWPR/BIRN Kosovo Project Coordinator.

Kosovo PM wants full independence after UN talks

Reuters, Mon Oct 24, 2005 5:07 AM ET By Matthew Robinson

PRISTINA, Serbia and Montenegro (Reuters) - Kosovo will accept international "observation" or advice after United Nations mediation on its fate, but the West can no longer place conditions on its independence from Serbia, the province's ethnic Albanian prime minister says.

"There definitely cannot be any conditions or new interim phases since they are obstructing economic progress," Bajram Kosumi told Reuters in an interview before the U.N. Security Council launches talks on the future of the disputed territory at a session on Monday.

He said he expected an international "observation or advisory" mission after talks as "a psychological and practical guarantee for ethnic groups that their rights are observed."

"But Kosovo must be an independent and sovereign state."

Kosumi's comments mark a shift toward the compromise urged by the United States and European Union as they move to decide the status of the majority Albanian province, legally part of Serbia but run by the United Nations since the 1998-99 war.

But they differ from what diplomats say some Western capitals are considering -- an independent Kosovo without full sovereignty, where the international community would reserve certain powers for years to come, particularly over human rights and minority protection.

Diplomats say the West, though publicly refusing to back any particular solution, is preparing to push for "conditional independence" in talks that could last until spring next year.

Serbia says independence is impossible, conditional or not.

Serbs say Kosovo, home to scores of centuries-old Orthodox religious sites, is sacred land. A clue to the diplomatic minefield ahead was Belgrade's cancellation last week of a visit by the Slovenian president after he backed independence for Kosovo.

The West has all but written off Serbia's official offer of broad autonomy as unworkable, a red rag to 2 million Albanians -- 90 percent of the population -- who reject a return to Serb control.

"Belgrade will never have the right to decide Kosovo's future," said Kosumi. "If Belgrade was asked, Kosovo might not even exist today," he said, echoing some foreign observers who say Serbia lost the moral right to govern the province in 1999.

ETHNIC CLEANSING

Three months of NATO bombing that year forced Serbia's then leader Slobodan Milosevic to withdraw his forces, accused of ethnic cleansing in a war with separatist guerrillas.

Some 10,000 ethnic Albanian civilians died and 800,000 were expelled into neighboring Albania and Macedonia.

The United Nations took control, backed by a NATO-led peace force now numbering 17,000 soldiers, still its largest.

More than six years later, Kosovo Albanians are impatient for the independence they thought won in 1999. Most are fed up with a U.N. mission perceived as overbearing and unable to revive an economy crippled by war and neglect.

But a U.N. special envoy has said the fledgling institutions are incapable of guaranteeing the rights of 100,000 Serbs, ghettoized and targeted for revenge.

Albanian mob riots against Kosovo Serbs in March 2004 killed 19 people and destroyed hundreds of homes. The two-day orgy of violence thrust Kosovo back onto the international agenda but tarnished its commitment to multi-ethnic democracy.

U.N. officials say any solution must devolve power to the Serb minority. The special envoy suggested police, justice, education, culture, media and economic development.

Albanians, who want to keep power in Pristina, fear such concessions could provide Belgrade with a foothold in Kosovo.

Kosovo will offer equal rights and opportunities to all its citizens, said Kosumi, but "division of territory or any autonomy based on ethnicity is wrong and has resulted in war."

"I agree there are fields in which Kosovo has not made enough progress," he said. "But the Kosovo government and its institutions are ready to guarantee they will work fully to achieve that progress."

Kosovo sets out on road to independence

THE INDEPENDENT (UK) 24 October 2005 11:16 By Tim Judah

The United Nations Security Council convenes at 10am today. By lunchtime, it is expected to have made a momentous decision, that could lead to the birth of a new state in Europe.

The 15-member council is to recommend that talks on the future status of Kosovo, a territory contested between Serbs and the majority ethnic Albanians, begin as soon as possible.

Meeting in Rome last Thursday, diplomats from the main Western countries that deal with the former Yugoslavia, plus Russia agreed on what will happen today so as to make sure that there are no late hitches.

Ever since the end of the Kosovo war in 1999 the territory has been under the jurisdiction of the UN, although legally it remains a part of Serbia. The process, which will begin today, is expected to end Serbia's sovereignty over Kosovo.

The council will be addressed by Kai Eide, the Norwegian diplomat who drew up the report on Kosovo. Within days of the meeting, Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary General is set to appoint Martti Ahtisaari, the former Finnish president to lead talks.

After a period of shuttle diplomacy he is expected to draw up a draft plan for the future of the territory that will propose what is known as "conditional independence". It means that Kosovo will no longer be part of Serbia but its independence will, for a transitional period, be curtailed, rather like that of Bosnia where policy is shaped by a high level representative of the international community.

While Serbia will resist the ending of its sovereignty over Kosovo, diplomats say that Russia, on whom the Serbian leadership was hoping for support, has already betrayed it.

In 1999, Nato mounted a 78-day bombing campaign against what was then still known as Yugoslavia. The bombing came after talks failed to produce a settlement between Serbs and separatist Albanian guerrillas.

Ever since, Kosovo has been run by the UN although progressively power has been transferred to its own elected authorities. Some 100,000 Serbs remain in Kosovo out of a total population of 2 million, more than 90 per cent of whom are ethnic Albanians who have consistently shown that they want independence.

Most of those Serbs who remain, live in enclaves some of which have to be protected by Nato-led peacekeepers. In March 2004, ethnic Albanian rioting left 19 dead and some 4,000 Serbs and Roma were ethnically cleansed. In his report, Mr Eide described inter-ethnic relations as "grim".

Serbia will fight a fierce rearguard action to retain sovereignty, if little else, over Kosovo.

Indeed, according to Dusan Batakovic, advisor on Kosovo to Serbian president Boris Tadic: "People think Serbia has given up Kosovo but it is not the case - to the contrary in fact."

Serbia says the Albanians can have virtually anything they want except full independence. Albanians say that everything is negotiable except independence. Indeed a movement is now gathering pace in Kosovo to oppose the coming talks.

It is led by Albin Kurti, a 30-year old former political prisoner who is organising supporters to be ready to take to the streets. He says he is against talks because they aim at compromise and there can be no compromise on the question of independence.

Diplomatic sources believe the talks will last up to nine months, after which the main Western powers will then act to impose "conditional independence" on Kosovo. The Albanians will probably accept that, plus a high level of autonomy for Serbian areas. Serb leaders however, resigned as they may be to the reality of the situation, say they will never formally accept the loss of Kosovo, which they regard as the cradle of their civilisation.

In principle, Kosovo Albanians will be led into talks by Ibrahim Rugova, their president and the best-known symbol of Kosovo.

However Mr Rugova is ill with lung cancer. If he dies or is incapacitated, it is expected to weaken the Albanian negotiating position.

Independent thinking

THE GUARDIAN (UK) COMMENT

Kosovo must become a state if it is to be a well-governed and democratic society, say Isa Blumi and Anna Di Lellio

Monday October 24, 2005

In the current debate on Kosovo's political status, talks about conditional independence and substantial decentralisation as the sole guarantee for the protection of Serb minorities have become a mantra.

However, if democracy and security are the desired goal, a prolonged international custodial role and decentralisation are not the solution.

Experience has shown that traditional high diplomacy in the Balkans, whose foundations were laid at the Congress of Berlin in 1878, creates instability for two main reasons - it routinely disregards the will of local agents and places an overbearing emphasis on ethnicity.

The consequences of this approach are pernicious, yet today's debate on Kosovo shows very little has been learned from its failure.

Take the decentralisation plan of 1903 that the Great Powers requested from the Ottoman government: the Mürzsteg scheme. The goal, then as today, was to protect the rights of Christians.

More than 100 villages in Kosovo were separated from their Albanian and Muslim neighbours and allowed to administer themselves with the assistance of outside "experts". Free from taxation, they had their own judicial and administrative institutions as well as gendarmeries organised and led by Italy, Russia and France.

Rather than ensuring stability, however, the Mürzsteg scheme facilitated the mobilisation of Serb and Bulgarian minority "communities", and clashes between Christians and Albanians over territory increased.

In the 1990s, the international conferences and peace plans designed to avoid the bloodshed in Yugoslavia were notable for following the same logic, giving space to the idea of a link between ethnic nationality and territory as a basis - paradoxically - on which to preserve multi-ethnicity.

The Carrington plan, the Vance plan, the Zagreb-4 plan, the Cutilheiro plan, the Vance-Owen peace plan, the Owen-Stoltenberg plan and the Contact Group plan all consequently failed to stop the war.

The 1995 Dayton peace accords were perhaps the most notorious example. They put an end to the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but created two distinct entities, along ethnic lines, that are de facto separated although legally together and could split given the chance.

Dayton established an international mission in Bosnia which, 10 years later, is still headed by a high representative with the power to overrule domestic institutions, impose legislation and dismiss local officials - a good recipe only for passive citizenship. More damning still, the two entities are hardly integrated or reconciled.

In Kosovo, too, a UN-led protectorate with broad powers, UNMIK, was established after the 1999 NATO intervention. An undemocratic institution by definition, it failed to create democratic citizenship in Kosovo but contributed to an irreconcilable ethnic separation - a serious obstacle to democracy and stability.

Six years of protectorate have consolidated an Albanian ethnic identity as discourse and practice. As an illustrative example, UNMIK travel documents, substituting Yugoslav passports, contribute to classify Albanians in Kosovo as a unique group without a state or a nation and identified only by their ethnicity.

The protectorate has also confirmed the de facto partition of Kosovo along ethnic lines at the Ibar river. As NATO troops settled in the southern section of the divided city of Mitrovica in June 1999, they did not fulfil their mandate to secure the entire territory of Kosovo, and seem even more unable to do so now.

Northern Kosovo, with its parallel structures of government and economy, constitutes a physical and political magnet for Serb communities south of the river as the vital umbilical cord to Belgrade.

Today, international diplomacy entrusts negotiation about Kosovo's status to a European special envoy with as many as three deputies - an American, a European, and a Russian. It would be highly advisable for this group to refrain from trying to impose a diplomatic solution that professes to support multi-ethnicity but instead carves out ethnic enclaves.

As in the past, decentralisation as a tool to protect - and substantially separate - Serb minorities is a solution that continues to empower self-styled "representatives" of ethnic groups and creates new possibilities for conflict.

Local and regional security concerns will be better guaranteed if Kosovo integration into NATO and the EU are given a clear timeline and tied to the functioning of Kosovo institutions, especially their ability to respect minority safety and rights. Conditional integration into Europe, not conditional independence, should be planned for Kosovo.

Would Kosovo be able to perform? It should be given the chance. But in order to become a democratic society governed by institutions that are more transparent and responsive than the current ones, it must become a state.

International bureaucracies acting in loco parentis can produce only passive citizenship and encourage local institutions to behave irresponsibly. As in the case of East Timor or Eritrea, or nearby Montenegro, Kosovan statehood could be decided locally in a referendum.

Toying with the idea that Serbia would maintain some sort of sovereignty over Kosovo will not ensure stability.

And it would not be good for Serbia, a country that, after years of indecision, must clearly know what its southern borders are. Serbia can only profit from acquiring, in an independent Kosovo, a more self-assured and friendly neighbour.

Isa Blumi teaches Middle East and Islamic Studies and History, and Anna Di Lellio has been involved in Kosovo since the war as an international administrator and researcher.

Kosovo premier visits Albania

Associated Press, Oct 24, 2005 3:33 AM

TIRANA, Albania-The prime minister of the U.N.-administered Kosovo was visiting Albania on Monday for talks on bilateral relations and upcoming talks on the province's status, the Albanian premier's office said.

Kosovo's Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi planned to meet his Albanian counterpart Sali Berisha, while the United Nation's Security Council discussed details on starting the talks on Kosovo's future.

Kosovo's top U.N. official, Soren Jessen-Petersen, also visited for talks with Albania's top leaders, many of whom have voiced support for Kosovo gaining full independence.

Kosovo, formally part of Serbia-Montenegro, became an international protectorate in 1999, after NATO bombed Serbia for 78 days to stop a crackdown against ethnic Albanian separatist rebels.

Its ethnic Albanian leadership and majority favor full independence from Serbia-Montenegro, while Belgrade and the province's Serb minority want it to remain part of the country that replaced the former Yugoslavia.

The United Nations is hoping to start negotiations on Kosovo's future by the end of the year.

UN expected to declare start of Kosovo status talks

ADN KRONOS INTERNATIONAL (ITALY) 24-Oct-05 11:16

New York/Belgrade, 24 Oct. (AKI) - The United Nations Security Council is expected to declare the beginning of talks on the final status of Kosovo at Monday's session, scheduled for 10 o'clock in New York, or 4.p.m. central European time. The long-awaited session will be addressed by the chief UN representative in Kosovo, Soren Jessen Petersen, and special envoy Kai Eide, who will report on the situation in the province, while the Serbian case will be presented by Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica.

Before departing for New York, Kostunica said he would defend the thesis that Kosovo is "an integral part of Serbia and must remain so". He said that the issue of Kosovo, whose majority ethnic Albanians demand independence, should be solved through a model of broad autonomy, without changing state borders.

Ethnic Albanians, who comprise a 1.7 million majority alongside an estimated 100.000 remaining Serbs in the province, have repeatedly warned they would settle for nothing short of independence. None of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders will address today's Security Council session, because of Belgrade's objections, said an aide to Kosovo premier Bajram Kosumi. But their position is well known and is expected to be elaborated by Petersen.

Kostunica said he was confident that the Security Council would guarantee by its authority "the respect of the international law, first of all the inviolability of the main principle of preserving sovereignty and territorial integrity and the respect for the internationally recognised borders of our country".

Kostunica's aid Slobodan Samardzic added that the Security Council was expected only to officially declare the beginning of talks today, while other details would be worked out at a later session.

Petersen: For Kosovo, only one way forward

INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE (FRANCE) OPINION By Soren Jessen-Petersen

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2005

PRISTINA, Kosovo The UN Security Council meets in New York on Monday to discuss Kosovo, six years, four months and 14 days after the passage of Resolution 1244, which marked the end of Slobodan Milosevic's reign of terror in Kosovo, and the beginning of a period of UN interim international administration there.

Six years, four months and 14 days is a long time for any place to be under interim administration. But it is not unprecedented. In Bosnia, 10 years after the end of its horrific war, the international community retains a large degree of executive authority through the Office of the High Representative. What is perhaps unique about Kosovo, though, is that its ultimate destination - its future status - has been undefined throughout this period.

This legal limbo, in which Kosovo remains part of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro (the successor state to Yugoslavia) but administered by the United Nations pending a final resolution of its status, has ceased to be sustainable. It is blocking efforts toward reconciliation in Kosovo.

The majority, the Kosovo Albanians, are worried about returning to the past and the Kosovo Serbs are worried about an uncertain future. The uncertainty that this situation engenders has a corrosive effect on regional politics. And its effects are also damaging economically, making investors chary of committing their money and preventing access to much-needed capital markets and international financial institutions.

In June, the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, appointed a special envoy, Kai Eide, to undertake a comprehensive overview of the situation in Kosovo. On the basis of that report, the secretary general has recommended to the Security Council that the process of settling Kosovo's status should commence "very soon."

If, as I hope, the Security Council agrees with the secretary general to open the status process, then Annan will appoint a special envoy who will begin what is likely, at least at first, to be an exhausting round of shuttle diplomacy between Belgrade and Pristina, regional capitals and the capitals of key European countries, as well as the United States.

Despite its manifest importance, however, the resolution of Kosovo's status will not - as too many people in Kosovo believe - prove to be a panacea. There are many practical issues to be dealt with, during and after status talks.

Most pressing from a human perspective is the question of minority rights. Too many Serbs and members of other minorities in Kosovo still fear for their safety. It is shameful to all of us that about 20 percent of Kosovo's Serbs do not feel free to move around safely within Kosovo.

Intimidation and a lack of freedom of movement are unacceptable and we will continue to work closely with the provisional government of Kosovo and with the representatives of the Serbian community to do everything we can to improve their quality of life. And while we are continuing to integrate the Kosovo Serbs into society, it is important that Belgrade finally allow them to take part in the political life of Kosovo and thereby give them a chance to reshape their own future.

Meanwhile Kosovo's economy remains in the doldrums, despite a large, young workforce and impressive mineral resources. Part of the problem lies with Kosovo's unresolved status, as I have mentioned, but unclear property rights also play a role. Kosovo's property records were removed to Belgrade in 1999 and have not been returned. These records are of little use to anyone in Belgrade, but would be of incalculable benefit to all if brought back to Pristina - a small gesture that could have a large effect.

The expectations attached to the status process are high in Kosovo. And so they should be. It is not every day that a process as historic as this is set in motion by the Security Council. We have come to this historic moment because there is broad agreement that the status quo is not sustainable.

An early resolution of the status question will finally allow Kosovo and the wider region to bury the past and focus on urgent social and economic priorities. It will also allow Kosovo and its neighbors to speed up their journey toward Europe.

(Soren Jessen-Petersen is the special representative of the UN secretary general and head of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo.)

Nowicki: A graveyard for humanitarian intervention

LEBANON DAILY STAR, Monday, October 24, 2005 By Marek Antoni Nowicki

Kosovo is often held up as a test case for the concept of "humanitarian" intervention. But as Iraq spirals into chaos, diplomats and leaders everywhere are again asking themselves if it is ever appropriate for alliances of nations or the international community as a whole to intervene when a sovereign country appears unable or unwilling to defend its citizens from genocide, war crimes or ethnic cleansing.

At the center of this debate is the so-called doctrine of the "responsibility to protect." As the United Nations-appointed ombudsperson in Kosovo for the past five years, I have had the unique opportunity to observe the aftereffects of that doctrine following NATO's intervention in the former Yugoslavia in 1999. Kosovo has subsequently become an international experiment in society building, led by the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).

Experiment is the right word here. Indeed, Kosovo has become a Petri dish for international intervention. Having lived and worked long enough in Kosovo to see the outcome so far, I contend that such experiments require further research.

Clearly, the need for international intervention in crises is often time-specific and a fairly swift response is frequently required. However, apart from military factors, where such intervention is being considered, it is of vital importance to focus international policy discussion on the rapid deployment of a linked civilian and security presence. This is especially true where human suffering is caused by communal conflict, as was the case in Kosovo.

An immediate deployment of an adequate civilian and security presence during the months immediately after the end of the 1999 NATO bombing campaign might well have provided suitable protective mechanisms against the backlash that allowed victims to become victimizers. NATO peacekeeping troops were not directed to stop the abductions, disappearances, retaliation killings, and massive property destruction by groups of ethnic Albanians, which led to a vast reverse ethnic cleansing of the non-Albanian (mainly Serb) population.

As a result of this neglect, a noxious social and political residue pervades today's Kosovo. Instead of cooling communal conflict, interethnic hatred remains as heated as ever.

In addition to the lack of an adequate civilian and security presence to reassure every community of its safety, the overall lack of legal mechanisms to deliver swift justice for crimes committed during and after the intervention created additional tension. So pervasive is this tension, in fact, that any chance of even beginning the much-needed reconciliation process must now be pushed far into the future.


Similarly, in Kosovo the international community has devoted little time to helping former combatants contemplate their collective responsibility for atrocities, no matter how direct or indirect their personal involvement. Without such an effort, attempting to improve the situation is like building a house on a sand dune.

This lack of foresight about and planning for the aftermath of armed intervention is not only dangerous to the people who have ostensibly been "saved;" it is counterproductive. Unless a humanitarian intervention is structured in such a way that it guarantees basic security, the underlying antagonisms that inspired the intervention in the first place will merely be reinforced, not diminished.

So, six years after NATO's intervention, Kosovo seems as far from stability and social peace as ever. Despite the frequent assurances of UN authorities that Kosovo is on a path toward reconciliation and true home rule, NATO officials indicate that there are plans to maintain a long-term military presence in the province in order to "guarantee that the political process will be concluded successfully."

This brings me to another key point: a workable exit strategy is just as important to the success of any future humanitarian intervention as the entry strategy. If an international intervention is to have any credible chance of success, clear criteria for what constitutes "success" are needed from the start. Only such clarity can allow for a proper end to international actors' engagement. In Kosovo, such clarity is and has been absent; as a result, NATO and the UN have no clear idea about when and how both should leave.

Someone once rightly said that it is easy to bomb, but much harder to build; it is relatively easy to defeat a regime militarily, but it is far more difficult to create a solid, sustainable, civil society in its place. The UN General Assembly should keep this in mind as it starts to codify the doctrine of the "responsibility to protect."

Marek Antoni Nowicki, a former member of the European Commission on Human Rights and the co-founder and president of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights in Warsaw, has been the UN-appointed ombudsperson in Kosovo since 2000.

Police arrest Albanian drug trafficker - Nova

CZECH NEWS AGENCY, Oct 22, 2005 8:40 PM

PRAGUE, Oct 22 (CTK) - Police have arrested a young Albanian who is suspected of trafficking in heroin and pervitine (meta- amphetamine), Nova commercial television reported today.

The suspect has been permanently living in the Czech Republic.

According to police, the man bought drugs from dozens of producers and dealers and exported them abroad, to Germany, National Anti-drug Centre chief Jiri Komorous told Nova.

Komorous added he expects police to arrest other suspects soon.

Czech detectives in cooperation with their German colleagues were monitoring the drug trafficker for several days. The man was arrested on a highway to Mlada Boleslav, central Bohemia.

The Albanian was taken into custody. If found guilty, he faces up to 15 years in prison.

Serbian PM says he will never accept the independence of Kosovo

Associated Press, Oct 22, 2005 9:57 AM

BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro-Serbia's prime minister said Saturday that he would never accept the granting of independence to the republic's U.N.-run Kosovo province.

Vojislav Kostunica spoke shortly before leaving Belgrade for New York where he will head Serbia's delegation at a key United Nations Security Council session on Kosovo on Monday.

The Security Council is expected to announce the start of U.N-mediated talks, possibly as early as next month, which are to determine the future status of Serbia's volatile province.

Kosovo, formally part of Serbia, has been an international protectorate for more than six years and its majority ethnic Albanian population overwhelmingly favors independence for the region.

But Kostunica said Serbia would never accept such "legal violence" against Serbia.

"Kosovo is an integral part of Serbia, always has been and must remain that way," Kostunica said.

Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations and NATO since the Alliance launched an air war in 1999 against Serbia to end its crackdown against separatist ethnic Albanians.

The Kosovo status is a tense issue, as the ethnic Albanians refuse to settle for anything less than independence and Serbia insists the region must not break away.

Kostunica said that Serbia is "ready for a compromise," which would include "substantial autonomy" for Kosovo but within the boundaries of Serbia-Montenegro.

Kosovo's ethnic Albanians in the past have rejected such offers from Belgrade.

UN Secretary General notes shortcomings in preservation of Orthodox holy sites in Kosovo

INTERFAX (RUSSIAN FEDERATION) 21 October 2005, 13:13

UN Secretary General notes shortcomings in preservation of Orthodox holy sites in Kosovo

Moscow, October 21, Interfax - The problem of preserving Orthodox holy sites in Kosovo plays an important part in status negotiations, permanent representative of Russian in the UN Andrei Denisov stated.

According to him, UN Secretary General's special envoy to Kosovo Kai Eide emphasized in his report to be discussed in the Security Council on October 24 the shortcomings in Kosovo in such principal matters as the situation of ethnic minorities, freedom of movement, decentralization of management, preservation of Orthodox holy sites, including those classified by the UNESCO as world cultural and historical heritage.

'The role of the UN mission in Kosovo which monitors the process is increasing', a Russian diplomat told Vremya novostei daily.

Annan recommends starting Kosovo future status talks now

UNITED NATIONS NEWS CENTRE 21 October 2005

Although democratic progress in Kosovo has been uneven, talks should begin now on the future status of the UN-administered province of Serbia and Montenegro, Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the Security Council in a letter released today.

In the letter accompanying a report of his Special Envoy for the Comprehensive Review of Kosovo, Ambassador Kai Eide of Norway, Mr. Annan writes that he accepts the study's finding, and intends to prepare for the possible appointment of another special envoy to lead the process on future status. Earlier this month he said options could include independence or autonomy.

"There will not be any good moment for addressing Kosovo's future status," Mr. Eide writes in his report, calling the situation "grim" for founding a multi-ethnic society in the Serbian province where ethnic Albanians outnumber other communities, mainly Serbs, by about 9 to 1. "It will continue to be a highly sensitive political issue.

"Nevertheless, an overall assessment leads to the conclusion that the time has come to commence this process. The political process, which is now under way, must continue," he adds stressing the urgent need for further progress in implementation of the so-called standards.

These cover eight targets in such areas as building democratic institutions, enforcing minority rights, creating a functioning economy and establishing an impartial legal system.

"Kosovo will not in the foreseeable future become a place where Kosovo Albanians and Kosovo Serbs are integrated," Mr. Eide writes. "They probably never were. Nevertheless, the reconciliation process should start. It must come from inside Kosovo and be embraced by all communities," he adds.

"The main burden will fall on the shoulders of the leaders of the majority population," he says, but adds that the international community must encourage reconciliation and provide active support.

Detailing the standards, Mr. Eide notes that the rule of law is hampered by a lack of ability and readiness to enforce legislation at all levels, and organized crime and corruption have been characterized as the biggest threats to stability Kosovo.

The overall security situation is stable, but fragile, he says. While the level of reported crime, including inter-ethnic crime, is low, there are frequently unreported cases of low-level, inter-ethnic violence and incidents, hampering freedom of movement.

"The overall return process has virtually come to a halt," he writes of the Serbs who fled when the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) drove out Yugoslav troops in 1999.

"The general atmosphere in many places is not conducive to return. Multi-ethnicity is often not seen as a goal," he adds, noting that as many or more Kosovo Serbs are leaving than are returning. "A viable return process will require support and attention over a longer period of time, in particular to facilitate access to services and repossession of land."

To achieve sustainable return and viable minority communities, a wider decentralization process will be required, he says.

"Determining the future status of Kosovo will in itself be a demanding challenge," the report concludes. "The international community must do the utmost to ensure that, whatever the eventual status, it does not become a 'failed' status."

Kosovo cannot remain indefinitely under international administration. However, it will continue to depend on a significant international presence on the ground, the report adds. "Entering the future status process does not mean entering the last stage, but the next stage of the international presence."

Macedonian, Albanian premiers discuss Kosovo solution

Associated Press, Oct 21, 2005 1:39 PM

SKOPJE, Macedonia-Macedonia and Albania on Friday ruled out the redrawing of borders in any deal on the future status of troubled province Kosovo.

Talks should "respect the current borders in the Balkans," Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha said during a one-day visit to Macedonia, while also calling for minority rights to be respected.

Kosovo claims some 2,000 hectares (4,942 acres) of disputed Macedonian territory, since a 2001 border agreement between Macedonia and the former Yugoslavia.

The United Nations has indicated it wants this dispute solved before tackling the overall status of Kosovo later this year. Kosovo's majority ethnic Albanians demand full independence while Belgrade and Kosovo's Serb minority insist it remain part of Serbia-Montenegro, the union that replaced Yugoslavia.

Kosovo has been run by a U.N. mission, with a strong NATO peacekeeping presence, since mid-1999, when a NATO air war forced former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to end a crackdown against rebel ethnic Albanians in the province.

"It is important at this moment to have a clear position that any solution for Kosovo must not question the current borders in the region," Macedonian Prime Minister Vlado Buckovski said Friday.

The two prime ministers said they supported each country's bid to join NATO and the European Union.

Berisha also met with Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski.

UNMIK Press Briefing Notes, 19 Oct 2005

RELIEF WEB (SWITZERLAND)

UNMIK Press Briefing Notes 19 October 2005

UNMIK Spokesperson Neeraj Singh
KFOR Chief PIO Col. Pio Sabetta
OSCE Spokesperson Sven Lindholm
EU Pillar Spokesperson Mechthild Henneke

UNMIK Spokesperson Neeraj Singh

The SRSG is in Tirana today for his first meeting with the new Government in Albania. He will be meeting the President, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and will also address the press in Tirana.

On Friday, the SRSG will travel to Madrid to attend a conference of the Trilateral Commission (Europe). The Trilateral Commission is a gathering of leading personalities in the fields of business, the media, academia, public service, etc. The SRSG will be taking the opportunity to update them on the current state of affairs in Kosovo and on the upcoming status process.

After the conference in Madrid, the SRSG will be leaving directly for New
York for the meeting of the Security Council on Monday.

Restructuring in Civil Administration

In the process of ongoing restructuring of UNMIK, the Civil Administration Pillar that is commonly known as UNMIK's Pillar II, is transforming into the Department of Civil Administration, as it downsizes into a trimmer "new look team" that will now be part of the SRSG's Office.

Under its Director Patricia Waring, the Department will have a Central Governance Unit (CGU) dealing with issues related to the central ministries, and a Municipal Coordination and Support Unit (MCSU) that will coordinate regional/municipal matters.

As you know, in July, Pillar II's Office of Community Affairs was combined with the Office of Returns and Communities to form a new Office of Communities, Returns and Minority Affairs (OCRM) that is part of the SRSG's Office.

Before that, in April, Pillar II started withdrawing from the ministries leaving only minimal staff for the purpose of liaison.

Now, UNMIK's Civil Administration is beginning to restructure its presence in the Regions. Rather than Regional Offices overseeing many Municipal Offices as was previously the case, a new structure has been devised in which clusters of municipalities will be overseen by "Hub" locations throughout Kosovo, each with one or two small satellite offices in selected communities. Clustering of municipalities to be served from hubs will start from 1 December. The Hubs will all report to a central Municipal Coordination and Support Unit (MCSU).

So you will be seeing progressive changes in the coming days. For example, come November, the Pristina and Gjilan/Gnjilane Regional Offices will disappear as they merge to be served from MCSU teams located in the front office of the Director. Similar restructuring will follow in the South West Region and Mitrovica in the beginning of 2006. We will keep you informed as it goes.

New laws

On 14 October the SRSG signed two new laws, the Wine Law and the Law on Social and Family Services, that had earlier been adopted by the Assembly of Kosovo. You may pick up copies from the Press Office.

KFOR Chief PIO Col. Pio Sabetta

No announcement.

OSCE Spokesperson Sven Lindholm

Today I want to promote the Youth Assembly in Lipjan/Lipljan. This is a multi-ethnic group of active teenages who want to make a chance in their community; it is a group that was begun with and still has the continued support of the OSCE.

Today in Shtime/Stimlje and Friday in Lipjan/Lipljan, they will be having the Stand Parade, basically a parade for standards. What they are trying to do is raise awareness of the situation in their communities, and demonstrate that all communities can move and associate, get together, freely without fear. This is a demonstration that they are ready to engage. The parades also aim to raise awareness to people in these towns and the PISG the concerns of youth - such as the lack of sport cultural and youth facilities. Municipal officials, including Municipal Assembly members are invited for the "Stand parade" and later an open debate on youth and community issues.

The Youth Assembly of Lipjan/Lipljan are having these parades to show they are part of their towns and reminding people not to forget about the needs.

Media - please get out of Prishtine/Pristina and go to these not-so-faraway towns and give support to youth action and involvement. The "Stand Parade" will be held today in Shtime/Stimlje at 1600 and Friday in Lipjan/Lipljan starting at 1400.

EU Pillar Spokesperson Mechthild Henneke

DSRSG Ruecker is visiting UNMIK Railways tomorrow.

He has an interesting programme and you are welcome to accompany him. The DSRSG will start at 13.30 at UNMIK Railways main HQ, ride the train to Priluzhe, Mitrovica and back to Fushe Kosovo/Kosovo Polje. There he will give a statement.

Second: The Mining Journal, an internationally recognized specialized journal for the mining sector has issued a supplement dedicated to Kosovo, the Land of opportunity for European Mining and Energy. Kosovo's mining resources are presented here in detail with maps, graphics and written information. I have brought some copies that you might wish to pick up. The Independent Commission for Mines and Minerals and the Ministry for Energy and Mining have largely contributed to the supplement. It will get distributed all over the world to mining companies and potential investors.

And one more event related to ICMM: The Independent Commission for Mines and Minerals will issue licenses for KEK on Friday at 14.00. We will send out a separate media alert in due time.

Neeraj: Thanks Mechthild, any questions?

BBC: A question to KFOR: Are you aware of any activities of the illegal armed groups around Kosovo today?

Col Sabetta: There is no evidence of any kind of illegal organization. What we are investigating are just isolated incidents of illegal checkpoints.

BBC: Where was that, sorry?

Col Sabetta: In the Southwest.

BBC: So you deny that there exist the armed groups in the, let's say, Southwest.

Col Sabetta: We have no evidence of the existence of any armed group.

BBC: Are you aware, as UNMIK, of any existence of any illegal armed group in Kosovo today?

Neeraj: I think this question was addressed by the [Police] Commissioner this morning in his press conference. I understand that some of you were not present there. I will just repeat what the Commissioner said: His assessment is that the security situation in general is stable, there have been reports of some criminal groups in the western part of Kosovo and the police are taking the measures necessary to address that.

VoA: Again to KFOR, you said that you are investigating, that's how I understood it?

Col Sabetta: Yes, correct.

VoA: Where exactly are you now in the course of the investigations? What kind of information did you get for now, and how did you get to confirm that there was an illegal checkpoint, that there were people manning that illegal checkpoint, and who is investigating, who exactly?

Col Sabetta: First I answer the last question. Of course police is something that is related to UNMIK/P and KPS; the investigation is in support of their investigation, we are not investigating by ourselves. All we know about that is just report concerning this kind of stuff because any KFOR vehicle has never been involved in any contact with those people, because as you know KFOR will never tolerate any illegal activity in Kosovo. And every time we saw an illegal activity we took all the measures in coordination with UNMIK/P and KPS to avoid this kind of incident. And the location, as I said, is just Southwest Kosovo.

VoA: Just to go back to the original question: If your soldiers get in touch, by accident, with these people, will they fight back, first; and second, if these people, you just confirmed that, I mean, you got information that these people are present in that part of Kosovo?

Col Sabetta: What I am saying . could you repeat, if we would get in touch with them?

VoA: If you just get in touch with these people by accident, whatever, you just see them, in an illegal checkpoint, would you fight back? Your soldiers, would they fight back? What would be the reaction of the KFOR soldiers?

Col Sabetta: The reaction of the KFOR soldiers would be to call for reinforcement and then to involve immediately KPS and UNMIK/P, they are responsible for this kind of stuff.

VoA: Okay, if I can just have an answer in black and white: Would you fight back if you get in touch with these people or not?

Col Sabetta: We will avoid that this kind of checkpoint will be in Kosovo, yes.

VoA: So, you would fight back?

Col Sabetta: We are not fighting anyone, we are just taking the right measures.

Blic: Are you the spokesperson for the entire KFOR in Kosovo?

Col Sabetta: I am supposed to be.

Blic: This is why I am asking if one of you from that western part or the Peja/Pec area has confirmed that KFOR has officially information on the presence of armed groups in this western part of Kosovo why you as the spokesperson are not saying that you have this information, rather you are saying that you don't have such information, what is correct? The information from the KFOR command for western Kosovo or what you are saying that you don't have such information?

Col Sabetta: Well thanks for this question. I am not saying that we don't have information, I'm just saying that on the basis of those information we are investigating, we are taking all the measures and what KFOR official said is just that we have this information and we are conducting all the activity in order to stop this.

Koha Ditore: Can you tell us, what kind of information do you have? What is the information that you have?

Col Sabetta: The information we are investigating, we are operating on, is that isolated illegal checkpoints from some people were seen in Kosovo. In the Southwest.

Koha Ditore: Is there any specific place?

Col Sabetta: No, in my information no, at the moment.

RTK: A question for KFOR. COMKFOR yesterday stated that they are going to fight these groups. How are you going to do this, how are you going to fight them?

Col Sabetta: Again, we have to be careful when we use the word 'fight'.

RTK: Well, he used it yesterday. He said "combattere".

Col Sabetta: "Contrastare", combattere in the sense contrastare. But let's go back to English otherwise others here will not understand. We have to be careful when we say 'fight'. Of course KFOR is having a mission and will take all the measures till we need something to be done. Then if we need to do something, we will do it, without any problem.

Q: One question for Neeraj. The government yesterday took the decision to re-evaluate the tender of the mobile telephone in Kosova. How do you estimate the decision by the government yesterday?

Neeraj: We do not have official communication of the government's decision so I cannot comment on the decision itself. On the issue, the situation as of now is that, as you know, UNMIK requested the International Telecommunications Union for an international dialling code for Kosovo. We are still awaiting a decision from the ITU on this request and the matter relating to the second mobile operator will be taken up once we have a decision from ITU.

BBC: Colonel, have you increased your security measures in the Southwest of Kosovo?

Col Sabetta: No, in general terms we don't see any change in the situation. That was why I was stressing isolated events do not change the general assessment.

BBC: So what are you going to wait for, to wait for someone to be killed or what?

Col Sabetta: What we are doing is taking the right measures to contrast the events. We are not awaiting anything.

BBC: What are your rules of engagement in this case?

Col Sabetta: Our rules of engagement in this case, if a patrol is getting in contact with these people they have to stabilize the situation and then as soon as possible to involve the KPS and UNMIK/P.

Beta: Mr. Vittrup said that the police has raised this security level and has also said that KFOR and the police are working together. What does this imply, KFOR has not raised the security level, the police has, but they are working together. Could you please explain this to us?

Col Sabetta: Sorry, I don't make any comments on other people's statements.

Blic: Again a question for you: If you say that you have information on the presence of armed groups in the area of Pec/Peja, do you have any concrete evidence for that. If you have it I would like to ask you to answer the question for us, please. Do you have any concrete evidence on the presence of armed groups in the area of Pec/Peja?

Col Sabetta: I say again, we are not talking about armed groups, we are talking about isolated incidents, isolated persons. We have report on that, we are investigating that.

Blic: The second question would be until when will your investigation last and will you wait for some incident to occur that one of these groups intercepts a vehicle on the road, for you to react?

Col Sabetta: To answer this question: Our investigation is not done in isolation, we are investigating in support of UNMIK/P and KPS. At the same time we are not awaiting anything, we are taking all the measures that are related to KFOR to avoid any kind of incident.

Reuters: Does KFOR or UNMIK police have any information as to the motives behind the actions of these men?

Col Sabetta: We have got no information concrete in this sense.

Neeraj: Okay the problem is, all these questions we have seen, the problem is when we are talking to you in plain language you are looking for a code to decipher it, so obviously you are not listening then. As I said, there have been "reports" of criminal groups appearing in the western part of Kosovo, in that general area. There hasn't been any direct encounter between any such group and the police. The question of motive and the question of what kind of groups these are, all these are matters that will come out if first of all the police or KFOR are able to confirm and to apprehend such groups. So I think at this stage we shouldn't be going beyond that. What I would caution against particularly to the media is that, and not just related to these groups we see also some emails or communiqué being sent to the media, you should not magnify the significance of such issues. What you should rest assured about is that the security establishment is fully geared and prepared to address any threats that may be posed to the security here. The assessment, and they have clearly stated that, again and again, the assessment is that the security situation generally is stable. Wherever there is a report, the police must and will investigate, and they do investigate, and they do take measures that are necessary. At this point we should leave it at that.

VoA: Are you really cooperating with each other, I mean KFOR and UNMIK because you, Colonel, are saying that these people are individuals and you, Neeraj, are saying that you deal with criminal groups or the reports are about criminal groups. Are they individuals or are they criminal groups? First, and second, you say that you are ready and that you can react to whatever happens and that there is no change in the security situation, that's the way I understood it from what you said. If there are individuals or criminal groups, and there are reports that these people are appearing in the streets stopping people, manning an illegal checkpoint, you will still say that there are no changes in the security situation and that the situation is fully under control and that there is no challenge or threat to the overall security situation?

Neeraj: I think you are just getting into semantics: groups are constituted of individuals. There have been reports from the people to the police, there have been civilians who have reported that they have seen such groups of people and police and KFOR have stated that they are looking into it and taking all the measures necessary.

AP: I don't know what the Commissioner had to say, I was not allowed in. I just wanted to check with you on one thing. What does make you tell your staff not to travel at night in the western part of Kosovo and, at the same time, you do not say the same thing to all the people in Kosovo. I mean, you are the executive authority here, with responsibility for all the people in Kosovo and you warn your own staff not to travel in that part of Kosovo. Is that because of media reporting or because you got specific information?

Neeraj: No, you always mix up issues. What you should clearly understand is that it is the police, the KPS and UNMIK Police that are responsible for the security of the population. And there is a separate establishment, and that is the UN security, which is responsible for the security of the UN staff. If there are any internal communications by UN security, they are doing their job, it is not meant for public consumption, we will not get into that discussion. Whenever police feel any need for any public announcement, any cautionary warning to the people, they do that, and you should not mix up the two institutions.

AP: If your security thinks that your people might be at risk, why don't you feel the need to tell other people who might be travelling and face the same risk as your people may be facing in those same roads? It's simple, because you are the executive authority, not an organization here, you run the place. If you cannot travel on that road, who can?

Neeraj: First of all, I will not discuss what the UN security thinks about their assessment of staff security. The assessment of the security of staff and the assessment of public security are two separate issues, you should not mix that up. I will not get into any discussion about any internal communications, however you address it I will not get into that.

Blic: A question for Neeraj and for Mr. Pio: do you have information on the presence on the army for an independent Kosovo and are you aware of the alleged deadline until the 15th of October to declare an independent Kosovo?

Neeraj: I think I also addressed this issue in the last press conference. There are reports we see from time to time in the media of groups claiming to operate in the territory of Kosovo. And now you should not mix up with what we have been discussing before. We have no reason to believe that in all these cases these groups are indeed existing or operating in Kosovo. It doesn't take much to create the impression of a group existing and operating, so there the media should be cautious and exercise discretion so as to not enhance the credibility of a phenomenon that may or may not exist. What we certainly do is, police on their part do take all reports seriously, and they take all measures necessary to investigate and to address such kind of reports. But apart from that you should not unduly magnify the seriousness of such issues.

Reuters: One for KFOR and one for UN. Is KFOR allowed to disarm these individuals under its rules of engagement? And for Neeraj, does the UN see these individuals as a greater threat to the UN itself rather than the people of Kosovo?

Col Sabetta: In this case we have specific rules of engagement that depends on the situation and that can be also a possibility.

Neeraj: On your question to me, as we have said, as the Commissioner has said today also, there are reports of some criminal groups in the west of Kosovo. The police are looking into it, they are taking the necessary measures and at this time our assessment is that the security situation is stable and therefore we do not see any direct threat in that sense.

AP: For KFOR, have you advised your soldiers to do anything regarding the chicken flu? Are you dealing with that problem at all?

Col Sabetta: We have initiated an information campaign in KFOR concerning that problem and of course we will follow all the regulation that will be adopted for this kind of problem.

AP: [inaudible]

Col Sabetta: We have taken the normal measures that everyone is taking in this case. We are explaining to the soldiers how to behave to avoid any kind of contact with birds and this kind of stuff.

Radio Kosova: Given that now the chicken flu is present in many countries, including Greece, all the measures that have been undertaken by Kosovo and considering the limited budget, do you believe that we can do something and do you believe that we can provide vaccines or other medications, protective measures or medications that are necessary with the ministry of agriculture and the ministry of health, as you know there are many limitations with regard to the budget to provide such necessary measures?

Neeraj: The Kosovo Government has already initiated preventive actions in this regard and the measures that the Kosovo government is taking are absolutely correct. We are working very closely with the Kosovo government to support them in this initiative and on the specific questions of resources etc I would direct you to the Kosovo institutions because they are in the lead, of course with our full support.

Radio Kosova: In all our context, we know that our budget in the ministry of agriculture as well as the ministry of health these are two issues, these are initiatives that should be dealt with by these two ministries and we know their very low budget around six percent that cannot fulfill the needs and my question is what kind of support shall you provide. Shall you seek any assistance by whoever to support the Kosovars and the government in this case?

Neeraj: On the resource management you should be asking the Kosovo government. Certainly from our side we are fully in support of the government and whatever support is required will be provided. What is important is that it is indeed a serious issue but, at the same time, it is not an issue for which there should be undue alarm at this stage. The Kosovo government is already taking preventive action, I understand they are also doing regular, almost daily, press briefings by the ministry of agriculture and the ministry of health is working with them. So we have to see as it goes, at this stage there is no reason for undue alarm on that count because all the authorities are taking all the necessary measures.

Express: A follow-up on a previous question. Are UNMIK and KFOR aware of the possibility of people being angry with the way of solving final status, and are you in a better situation than March 2004?

Neeraj: To address the second part of your question first, a lot of lessons were learned from the riots in March last year and a lot of measures have since been taken by UNMIK and KFOR to improve on the security response mechanism for any public order situation. So definitely on that count I can confidently say that the security establishment is better prepared for any public order situation that may arise. The political process relating to the status talks has been going very smoothly as per the timeline that was defined more than a year back, that the SRSG talked about I think in September/October last year, everything has gone in accordance with that plan. As you know there is going to be a Security Council meeting on Monday and then we are looking forward to going into the next phase. The security situation remains stable, there have been several challenges in the past months when the Kosovo people have shown themselves very mature and willing to go ahead on the way forward through peaceful and democratic means. So there is no reason to believe that there would be any destabilization because all the indicators are very positive. At the same time, of course, the security establishment remains prepared to address any eventuality in the course of this process where there may be any groups trying to destabilize the process, but at this time all the indicators are positive and stable.

Any more questions? Thank you.

Slovenian president's visit to Serbia cancelled over Kosovo initiative

ADN KRONOS INTERNATIONAL (ITALY) 21-Oct-05 11:22

Belgrade, 21 Oct. (AKI) - The Serbian authorities have cancelled the upcoming visit by Slovenian president Janez Drnovsek after his controversial comments that Kosovo should be granted independence triggered a storm of protest. In what seemed an ambitious diplomatic initiative, Drnovsek on Wednesday proposed an eight-point plan, which would give Kosovo full independence in five years, and proposed to host talks, expected to start in November, on the final status of the province, whose majority ethnic Albanians demand independence. Drnovsek

'I was expecting your visit, scheduled for November 2, this year with great joy", said president of Serbia and Montenegro, Svetozar Marovic, in a letter canceling Drnovsek's visit. But, he added, "your statement that 'Kosovo independence is the only realistic choice, with fulfillment of certain conditions', has caused bewilderment and protests. For this reason, I am convinced that the atmosphere in which your visit would take place, as well as its results, wouldn't fulfill our mutual goals", said Marovic.

Slovenian foreign minister Dimitrij Rupel, who currently chairs the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), stepped in to try to resolve the row. In a phone call to Serbia-Montenegro foreign minister, Vuk Draskovic, on Thursday, Rupel said that a unified stand of the Slovenian leaders was that Kosovo solution must be found in talks between Belgrade, Pristina and the international community, "a solution to which Serbia wouldn't agree, can't be a good solution", Rupel said.

But Belgrade remained firm and in a diplomatic note said Serbia and Montenegro "cannot, and would not, under any circumstances accept proclamation of an independent Kosovo state on its state territory and within its internationally recognized borders".

Drnovsek was sending his aide to Belgrade today to explain Slovenian president's plan, which he has already submitted to UN secretary general Kofi Annan, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barosso, and members of the six-nation Contact group for Kosovo.

Vajgl will later proceed to Pristina to elaborate the plan to Kosovo ethnic Albanian leaders.

Drnovsek's plan actually contains all the demands put forward by the Serbian government, regarding security and local self-rule for some 100.000 Serbs remaining in Kosovo, to which the international community has given little attention.

But Belgrade continues to object to independence, though it has no authority in the province which has been under UN control since 1998.

In a rare display of political solidarity, even the opposition Democratic Party in Serbia, said that the cancellation of Drnovsek's visit was a "normal reaction of a normal state at a proposal of its disintegration".

UN Security Council to support talks on Kosovo's future

RELIEF WEB (SWITZERLAND)

Source: Deutsche Presse Agentur (DPA)
Date: 21 Oct 2005

New York (dpa) - The U.N. Security Council will back talks on determining the political future of the Serb province of Kosovo, a move a senior U.N. official said Thursday is crucial for negotiations to succeed.

The 15-nation council, under the presidency of Romanian Ambassador Mihnea Ioan Motoc, has invited Serbia-Montenegro's President Vojislav Kostunica or his representative to attend the debate on Monday in New York.

The debate aims at building political momentum to settle the sovereignty issue of Kosovo, which since mid-1999 has been under U.N. administration after NATO warplanes drove out Serb military forces that were accused of repressing ethnic Albanians.

After the debate, the council intends to issue a statement supporting the start of a "political process to determine Kosovo's future status." It will also support the appointment of a special envoy to lead the talks.

"I am convinced that there'll be a solution at the end, no one is prepared to drag it out," the U.N. official said in a background briefing to reporters.

The special envoy, to be appointed by Annan, will work out principles and rules for the negotiations to begin. The U.N. said it would involve all sides in the dispute over Kosovo.

Countries neighbouring Serbia-Montenegro will be invited to contribute in the talks even though the formula of discussion is not yet established.

The U.N. official said there would be direct talks among the parties as well as shuttle diplomacy by the U.N. to move forward the process of settling Kosovo's future.

"There's no need... to rush (the negotiations), there is a need to keep everybody on board," the official said, adding that the goal is to make Kosovo a territory in which the inhabitants and minorities will enjoy full international rights.

He refused to characterize the talks as aiming at making Kosovo an independent or autonomous state.

He rejected also speculation that giving independence to Kosovo would contribute to a "greater Albania." Albania has had historical sight and influence on Kosovo for centuries and the latter's largest population are ethnic Albanians.

"No serious leaders in the region would advocate a greater Albania," the official said.

I, Ramush

SALON (USA) Oct. 21, 2005 By Ginanne Brownell

Former Kosovar rebel and prime minister Ramush Haradinaj is a local hero. He also faces war crime charges.

Ramush Haradinaj was locked up in a jail cell in The Hague from March until June this year, charged with heinous war crimes committed during Kosovo's war against its parent state, Serbia, in the 1990s. Formerly a commander in the guerrilla group the Kosovo Liberation Army, Haradinaj was elected prime minister in December 2004. His political reign ended after only three months, when he stepped down to face charges brought by the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia).

Still, this summer, images of the darkly handsome 37-year-old loomed large across the region. Billboards bearing his name towered over Pristina, the capital. Shopkeepers along "Bill Klinton" Boulevard taped up fliers showing their support for him. Across the countryside, young and old alike wore T-shirts emblazoned with the phrase "Our Prime has a job to do here."

This fall may be the most integral time in Kosovo's history. In early October, Kai Eide, Kofi Annan's special envoy to Kosovo, presented a report outlining whether the perennially wartorn region had met the various democratic and human rights standards set out by the United Nations in 2003. It is expected that Eide's report will open the door for negotiations to begin in November on whether Kosovo will be granted nationhood by the U.N.

Currently, conventional wisdom says it's a matter of when rather than if Kosovo, whose ethnic population is 90 percent Albanian, will be granted conditional independence. Says one former international official familiar with Balkan politics: "The road ahead may be rocky, but the international community wants it to end in some form of independence, because everyone realizes that the Albanian majority will accept nothing else."

If so, it would be a momentous occasion for Kosovo. And for anyone who wants to understand the embattled land, its conflicted leaders, and its tenuous relationship with the West, perhaps the best place to begin is with the story of Ramush Haradinaj.

The man and the myth are impossible to separate in a region that is a dense thicket of dangerous innuendoes, rumors and propaganda. He has been described as highly intelligent and disciplined. A native of Kosovo and an ethnic Albanian, he is almost universally credited with leading his fragile nation toward independence from Serbia, and doing more in his 100 days in office than the previous government had done in three years.

But there is another side to Ramush -- his first name alone is universal across Kosovo. He is a scrappy man who, when provoked, can lash out with chilling results. Earlier this spring he caustically told a group of protesters at a rally to shut up or "I'll fuck your mothers." His detractors describe him as a ruthless military "psychopath" who terrorized his own men and the local population into loyalty. And his ICTY rap sheet details 17 crimes against humanity including overseeing murder, rape and the displacement of people.

Haradinaj's trial is scheduled to begin in January 2007. Provisions of his release from The Hague in June meant that he was not allowed to contact politicians, attend public events or speak with journalists. That time expired in early September and now Haradinaj is planning a return to the political scene. It could not have come at a more effective time. Haradinaj's prime ministerial successor, Bajram Kosumi, has been hit with corruption and sex allegations, and has had a weak support base. Earlier this summer, it was revealed that Kosovo's President Ibrahim Rugova, who has no heir apparent, is battling lung cancer. So there is no single figurehead for Kosovo at the moment.

Politics in Kosovo have historically been a slippery slope of intrigues and mudslinging, and there are no guarantees that it will be granted independence by the United Nations. Serbs are certainly hellbent not to let Kosovo go. Serbia's President Boris Tadic has said his nation would be open to "more than autonomy" but it would be political suicide in Serbia to be seen to even consider independence for Kosovo. His main concern is that losing Kosovo might bring ultra-nationalist parties back into power. The northern regions of Kosovo also happen to have the greatest concentration of mineral wealth in all of southeastern Europe. And those resources are worth fighting for.

Kosovo has long been fought over as Serbs across the Balkans consider the region to be their holy land. Ethnic Serbs consider Kosovo the original seat of their Orthodox church, while Kosovar Albanians claim to be the original inhabitants. Kosovo was the place where the disintegration of Yugoslavia began in 1989, when Slobodan Milosevic whipped up Serbian nationalism at a speech at the historic site of Kosovo Polje, where the Serb Empire had been defeated by the Turks in 1389. Four wars erupted in quick succession -- in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo -- with violence, mayhem and the birth of the term "ethnic cleansing."

Today, Haradinaj's reputation within Kosovo and among those in the international community has not been crippled by his upcoming trial. Although many observers doubt that he can hold an elected position while he awaits his trial, there is a sense in Kosovo that he could emerge as a statesman-like figure in the status negotiations. "Ramush can play a 'Nixon goes to China' role by pursuing ethnic reconciliation on a daily basis," says Scott Bates, senior fellow for national security at the Center for National Policy. "He has the guts and street credibility to change the tone in Kosovo."

Haradinaj's bare-knuckles beginnings were exactly what Kosovo, battling for independence from Serbia, sought in a leader. His mix of raw intelligence and street smarts jived with Kosovars who were looking to follow someone who embodied the rural Kosovar spirit -- and not someone crowned with traditional Western credentials.

The second of 10 children, Haradinaj was the star kid of the large family. His mother, Ruki, says he was always a respectful and polite child, who from an early age seemed to know innately what was the right thing to do. "He was a child who felt for other people, and though I can try to take credit for teaching him that, it would not be true -- he was born with that gift."

Haradinaj's shopkeeper father, Hilmi, was a member of the Communist Party, and he raised his sprawling family in a part of Kosovo with strong nationalist traditions. "Culturally, Ramush was like someone who came from Arkansas or Tennessee, which is very different than coming from New York," says journalist James Pettifer, author of "Kosova Express." He excelled in school, often being given the opportunity to lead the class in schoolwork, and he used every opportunity to learn. "When he was very little he would write down numbers in the dirt and then erase them and write them over again and as he got older he would read lots of books, even when he was herding sheep he would be reading as he walked," his mother says.

His plans after graduating at the top of his class in 1987 were to volunteer in the Yugoslavian army for a year and then head to Pristina University to study astronomy. That, however, was never to be, though Haradinaj did obtain a university education by completing a law degree last year while serving in government.

Although he impressed his superiors enough to be promoted to corporal (something rare for an ethnic Albanian), the economic situation for the family was becoming bleaker and Haradinaj became an economic migrant. Working odd jobs in Switzerland, France and Italy as a nightclub bouncer, a martial arts teacher and a security guard at rock concerts, Haradinaj also fell in love for the first time. Joanna Carlsson, a young Finnish woman, was his live-in love for several years and is the mother of his eldest son. Their relationship ended around 2001, and in 2003 Haradinaj married a pretty TV presenter, Anita Mucaj, who is the mother of his son, Gjini.

While Haradinaj was living in Western Europe, learning French and English, back home Kosovo was simmering over with tensions as Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic kicked ethnic Albanians out of their state jobs and refused to admit them to university. Many in the diaspora, tired of how the Albanian leadership was preaching passive resistance, decided they must fight for their independence and Haradinaj took up the cause, smuggling weapons such as guns and grenades back to his parents' house on trips home.

In 1997, the nation of Albania, which borders Kosovo, fell into anarchy when a series of pyramid investment schemes went bust. Huge caches of weapons were thrown open to everyone, and the KLA, which had formed in 1993 and had been up to that point involved in small-scale guerrilla warfare against the Serbs, reaped the gold mine. The same year that Haradinaj witnessed his brother Luan being killed in an ambush, while smuggling arms across the mountain border between Kosovo and Albania, he proved his dedication to Kosovo by moving back to the region and becoming a point person for the KLA.

Haradinaj would later lose a second brother in the war and a third brother was murdered this past April in what was apparently a blood feud. The Haradinaj home became a guerrilla compound, and in 1998, the Serbs attacked the house and surrounding area hoping to dent the KLA operations in the region. During intense fighting, Haradinaj was shot in the leg, arm and lower stomach. Unable to see through all the smoke, he spoke to a silhouette he believed to be his father, telling him to take cover. The figure was a policeman who fired at Haradinaj. One "bullet hit me [in] the pocket where the keys were, so [it] did not have the full effect, but it caused me 12 different holes where the pieces of metal had gone," Haradinaj later recalled. Running into a room, he found some cheese and used it as a compress on his leg to stop the bleeding. He continued to fight against Serb forces until they eventually retreated several hours later.

The KLA continued to grow from a guerrilla operation to a small, organized army. Both the United States and NATO would eventually back the KLA, a controversial decision. At one point, the KLA was branded a terrorist organization by the State Department and funds going to the KLA were declared illegal. However, as the West was drawn closer and closer into war with Serbia, the KLA was seen as the key organization for providing intelligence.

Haradinaj moved up the ranks to become a senior commander. During a cease-fire in 1998, he came into contact with U.S. and British intelligence agents; realizing that Haradinaj controlled western Kosovo, they nurtured relations with him that would prove invaluable to all parties. The West gained important battlefield intelligence and Haradinaj made contacts that led to his rise as a politician. In March 1999, after months of shuttle diplomacy by the international community, hoping to get Serbia to end the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, NATO began a bombing campaign that would last three months. Haradinaj, equipped with a satellite phone supplied by the alliance, helped to pinpoint targets for bombing and continued to command his fighting troops.

"Ramush really struck me because he was just so calm and professional and very different from your average KLA soldier," says journalist Stacy Sullivan, author of "Be Not Afraid, for You Have Sons in America," which chronicles the links between U.S. Albanian émigrés and the KLA. But Haradinaj was also said to be a strict commander who would beat his men to maintain discipline. A British military official told London's Observer newspaper in 2000 he had seen Haradinaj beat two Albanian men who supposedly had let Serb police into their home. "Someone would pass [Haradinaj] information and he would disappear for two hours. The end result would be several bodies in a ditch," the source stated.

The ICTY states that Haradinaj's KLA unit kidnapped and murdered 40 Serb civilians, some of whose remains were found decomposing in a canal and had marks of torture. Reports on Kosovo.com, a pro-Serb Web site, say that other bodies were stuffed into wells and that Haradinaj's troops also killed Albanians believed to have been helping Serbs. "[The Serbs] accused us of perpetrating acts so they could justify their actions to domestic public opinion," Haradinaj has said. "I cannot say we were perfect during the war, we were human, [and we reacted] when they attacked our family and values."

After the Kosovo War ended in June 1999, diplomats in Kosovo claimed that Haradinaj was persuaded to enter the political fray by British and American intelligence, which wanted to see the KLA's support split between Haradinaj and another former KLA commander, Hashim Thaci, a more radical and unruly candidate. Haradinaj founded the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), a political party that was considered to be moderate, in the spring of 2000 and began building up clout. Quickly moving his way up the ranks, Haradinaj positioned himself to become the prime minister of the ruling coalition.

There were glitches along the way. In 2000, he was involved in a punch-up with Russian peacekeepers and was injured in a murky attack on his neighbors. During July of that year, in what was allegedly a drunken squabble, Haradinaj was hit in the neck with shrapnel from a grenade and was treated first at Camp Bondsteel and then taken by helevac to another U.S. base in Germany for treatment. In 2001, when reports circulated that Haradinaj was funding his party with profits from petrol and cigarette smuggling, the United Nations forced him to shut down the smuggling operation.

But detractors began to give Haradinaj credit as he quickly turned himself into a polished statesman; instead of running on the obvious issue of independence, Haradinaj tackled issues such as improving education and basic infrastructure. "He seemed young and decisive, able to make the shift from guerrilla leader to political leader, rather like Michael Collins of the Irish Republican Army did in the early 1920s," says Britain's former Europe minister Denis MacShane. At a dinner held soon after Kosovo's first assembly elections in 2001, members were asked to mix and mingle. Haradinaj headed straight over to a Serbian delegate, where he sat down and conversed all evening with him about judo.

An array of Western advisors coached him on how to dress, act and master the subtle nuances of spin. Haradinaj proved to be an able leader, lobbying heavily to have a Serb become his minister of returns. "What was striking was that when he became prime minister, he seemed to grow into the role immediately," says Carne Ross, whose group, International Diplomat, advises the Kosovar government.

Haradinaj's indictment on war crimes was not unexpected, and his reaction to it only reinforced his newfound statesman persona. "He of course had the option to bolt for the hills and become a fugitive, and although if he had run he would have always found a home and a refuge, he chose not to," says a source familiar with Haradinaj. Instead, he stood down from his role as prime minister and told Kosovars to remain calm. However, according to an International Crisis Group report, Haradinaj in private told colleagues a week before his indictment, "They won't take me alive." Some say he meant it as joke, while others say no, he meant exactly what he said.

Haradinaj declared his innocence and said he would do whatever he was asked to do by the ICTY. But he didn't hesitate to declare that the international community had made a grave mistake. "[The ICTY] is treating liberation fighters the same as aggressors who destroyed entire nations and turned the region into ruins," he said, as some of his bodyguards and ministers wept. He also claimed he was a victim of "horse-trading" between The Hague and Belgrade, Serbia's capital, to encourage the hand-over of Serbs such as Gen. Ratko Mladic, who is wanted on war crimes charges in Bosnia, and still remains at large.

Although conspiracy theorists claim that Haradinaj's indictment on war crimes was an act of sabotage to destabilize the region, what it really shows, observers say, is that the ICTY is an equal opportunity prosecutor: Serbs can no longer claim they are the only ones being prosecuted, as Croatians, Bosnians and now Kosovars have been charged with crimes.

"There is a misguided attempt by the ICTY to prosecute Serbs, Croatian, Kosovars equally," says Niccolo Figa-Talamanca, who works for No Peace Without Justice, a nonprofit organization, and was involved in investigating war crimes during the war in Kosovo. Milosevic, currently on trial at The Hague, is the ICTY's most famous catch and someone whom Carla Del Ponte, the chief prosecutor at ICTY, fought hard to get and prosecute. Haradinaj says he was charged solely because of his Albanian ethnicity. "If the same accusations were leveled against a Serb, it would not be near the scale of gravity, whether they were true or not," he says.

Of course, whether the charges of rape, murder and ethnic cleansing stick depends upon the evidence. But in Kosovo, there are few people willing to even acknowledge his war crimes. "We investigated cases of kidnapping, disappearances, but we never managed to search cases related to Haradinaj," says Natasa Kandic, founder of the Humanitarian Law Center in Belgrade. "No one from Kosovo will talk about that because all people are afraid to speak about his indictment and his responsibility. I think you will not find anyone to talk to you."

The U.S. put Kosovo on the back burner after Sept. 11, focusing on more pressing issues in Afghanistan and Iraq. But it seeks to retain good relations with Kosovo because Camp Bondsteel in central Kosovo is likely to remain a permanent military base for jumping-off points in Eastern Europe. There is also the feeling that though Kosovar Albanians tend to be secular -- 95 percent are Muslim and 5 percent are Catholic -- there exists the possibility that because of the lack of opportunities for growth and a 60 percent unemployment rate, the province could prove fertile ground for regional Islamic terrorism. "The U.S. is feeling that the situation needs to be resolved before it could potentially be a terrorist haven," says James Lyon of the International Crisis Group. "It is an Islamic majority so you have the potential."

Before his indictment on war crimes, Haradinaj's star seemed to shine bright in the U.S. State Department. "Ramush is the kind of man Americans could get excited about," says Whit Mason, an advisor to the Kosovar government. "Ramush built his career on the basis of charisma and vision, which is something that Americans expect of a politician, and [while] the other parties were practicing mudslinging, Haradinaj practically claimed to be apolitical, which is something the Americans found refreshing."

Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden has described Haradinaj as "a tough guy [who] looks as if he could lift an ox out of a ditch," and this March paid tribute to him on the Senate floor. "I want to publicly salute him for his personal courage, for the statesmanship he has demonstrated over the last two years [and] I wish him well," Biden said.

However, the U.S. began to distance itself from Haradinaj when Del Ponte and her ICTY colleagues brought his possible war crimes to light. "[The Americans] have been backing him for the long term, and they wanted him to be one of their main vectors of influence here for the next 10 or 20 years," Mason says. "So they did not want him to be prime minister now, they wanted him to deal with these charges, beat them and hoped he would come back and be a powerful leader who is sympathetic to the U.S."

Today, there are strong feelings among Kosovars as well as international observers that if Haradinaj is found not guilty, or even has to serve a short prison term, he is still likely to be a political star in Kosovo. "If the U.S. government is smart they will continue to have quiet, sotto voce conversations with Ramush [to] keep a little bit of oil on the water as we move through this period," says John Norris, a former State Department official during the Clinton administration, and author of "Collision Course: Nato, Russia and Kosovo."

"Ramush is a revolutionary and revolutionaries are capable of greatness and brutality, and if you push them into a corner, you don't know what they will do," says Sullivan. "If Ramush thought it was necessary to kill Serb civilians to get his independent Kosovo, he probably would have done it. On the other hand, when he saw that helping Serbs return was necessary for an independent Kosovo, he made sure the Serbs were allowed to return."

Haradinaj, it seems, has done whatever it takes to help Kosovars become independent. Judges in The Hague, who earlier this month ruled that Haradinaj could return to politics, are reviewing an appeal by Del Ponte, who is unhappy with the thought of Haradinaj getting involved in Kosovo affairs. Rumors are circulating that Haradinaj's AAK party might merge with another party, the LDK, led by President Ibrahim Rugova, to become the Democratic Union of Kosovo. If that happens, it is believed that Haradinaj would be the head, making the party strong and united with both the president and prime minister of Kosovo as members. Regardless of The Hague's decision over Haradinaj's reentry into the political life of Kosovo, what is certain is that Haradinaj's presence and influence are still felt across the region. That brings comfort to many and sends shivers up the spines of others.

U.S. Pressuring Balkan States to Support Kosovo Independence

SERBIANNA (USA) October 20, 2005. 11:47 AM (15:47 GMT)

 

Official Kosovo Albanian sources in Pristina have said that the U.S. is exerting pressure on Macedonia and Montenegro to express public support for Kosovo's independence and thereby isolate Serbia in its position against Kosovo's independence.

One of the criteria for determining future status of Serbian Kosovo province is, according to the US Under-Secretary Nicholas Burns, a position of the neighboring states.

Kosovo Albanian sources have indicated that the prime ministers of Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro might publicly embrace the prospect of an independent Kosovo at a joint meeting before November 10th, when status talks are expected to begin.

Prime Minister of Macedonia, Vlado Buckovski, said that he is unaware of a joint statement but intends to visit Pristina.

"I was reassured by our friends from Pristina that they would respect the territorial integrity of Macedonia," Macedonian Prime Minister Vlado Buckovski said late Tuesday. "[I]t is becoming evident that the Republic of Macedonia and its territorial integrity and sovereignty are not threatened by Kosovo's eventual final status," Buckovski added.

Macedonia has expressed concern that an independent Kosovo may be a springboard for future violent division of their state along ethnic lines where a large ethnic Albanian minority has already fomented violence under pretext of obtaining more rights.

This weekend, Buckovski will meet with Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha to discuss issues of territorial integrity. Berisha has already met with the Kosovo's UN administrator Søren Jessen-Petersen as well as Montenegro authorities.

On Sunday, Buckovski will go to Washington where he is expected to declare that Macedonia has dramatically improved its communications with Kosovo Albanian authorities.

Kosovo Albanian Assembly Speaker Nexhat Daci recently told the visiting Slovene Ambassador to the OSCE Janez Lenarcic, that a territorial break up of Serbia that will grant independence to Kosovo will not be negotiated by anyone and is the interest of stability of the region. During the visit, Kosovo Albanian authorities also declared that they support Macedonian territorial integrity.

President of Slovenia recently expressed an opinion that independence is the only solution to Kosovo's unresolved status.

Status of Kosovo became a question only after the conclusion of NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999.

Kosovo paramilitary threat prompts alert

FINANCIAL TIMES (UK) By Eric Jansson

October 21 2005 03:00 | Last updated: October 21 2005 03:00

A new criminal paramilitary group in Kosovo has forced UN police to step up security in Serbia's breakaway province, officials said.

The appearance of soldiers dressed in black - possibly members of a group calling itself the Kosovo Independence Army - comes as the UN Security Council prepares to call for talks on Kosovo's possible independence from Serbia.

Sanda Raskovic-Ivic, the Serbian government's lead co-ordinator for Kosovo affairs, said members of her staff on Tuesday had "escaped an armed ambush" apparently by the group. Eric Jansson, Belgrade

U.N. downsizes its operations in Kosovo

Associated Press, Oct 20, 2005 6:30 AM

PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro-The United Nations in Kosovo is downsizing its mission as in the province, a spokesman said Thursday.

The mission began to trim the number of people on a team that has dealt with the civil administration in a province, which it has run since 1999, said Neeraj Singh, the U.N. spokesman in Kosovo.

Kosovo, legally part of Serbia-Montenegro, the union that replaced Yugoslavia, has been administered by a U.N. mission since mid-1999 when a NATO air war forced Serbia to halt its crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians and relinquish control of the province.

Talks to determine Kosovo's future are expected to begin by the year's end. At the center of the issue are ethnic Albanian demands for an independent state, while Serbs want the province remains within their borders.

Recently, the U.N. has drafted plans to transfer responsibilities to the local authorities as it plans to decrease its presence while hoping to turn over some responsibilities to a possible European Union-led mission after the talks on the province's future.

The U.N. administration, in place since the conflict ended six years ago, runs the police, justice, as well as the economy in the disputed region.

The province has an elected legislature, a president and a government working alongside the U.N. mission, which still remains the ultimate authority in the province's affairs.