Top peacekeeper says economics key to stable Kosovo

Reuters, 20 Nov 2005 12:49:21 GMT By Michael Winfrey

 

SOFIA, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Solving Kosovo's desperate economic situation is crucial to making and keeping peace in the breakaway Serbian province, the head of the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force there said on Sunday.

 

Kosovo has been run by the United Nations since NATO kicked out Serbia's forces in a 1999 air war. Talks to determine its status are set to start on Monday, with the province's ethnic Albanian majority arguing for Kosovo's independence and Belgrade insisting the province is an integral part of Serbia.

 

Poverty, unemployment, and a lack of foreign investment are fanning ethnic tension in Kosovo and contributing to corruption, crime and violence, Italian Lieutenant-General Giuseppe Valotto said in remarks delivered for him at a conference.

 

"My biggest concern is the economic situation in Kosovo. The great majority of the population is facing extreme difficulties in this field," he said in a statement delivered by Major General Alberto Notari, deputy chief of staff for the Supreme Allied Command Transformation.

 

Kosovo Serbs, many living in isolated enclaves, have been the target of sporadic violence since the war, despite the watchful gaze of 17,000 NATO-led peacekeepers.

 

Kosovo's unemployment rate of around 60 percent is the highest in Europe, and a World Bank report showed 50 percent of the population lives on less than 1.50 euros ($1.75) a day.

 

The province's ambiguous status -- it operates like a state run by the United Nations but has no formal sovereignty -- means it cannot borrow from international institutions and aid has slowed since the U.N. took control six years ago.

 

NATO kicked out Serbian forces after a two-year conflict which pitted Belgrade against ethnic Albanian separatist fighters. Serbian forces were accused of killing thousands of civilians in a campaign to drive Albanians from the province.

 

Analysts also blame graft, a lack of expertise, and a perceived risky environment for the economic malaise.

 

Valotto, who in September took command of KFOR called for a longer-term Kosovo development strategy.

 

"The absence of a reliable project on development is a main factor for phenomena such as ethnic tension, crime and corruption, smuggling and other problems," he said.

 

"It is not normal that six years after the end of the war, and with the oncoming winter, people still suffer from cuts in electricity and water."

 

Western diplomats have warned of a possible upsurge in violence as talks begin for Kosovo's "final status". Many ethnic Albanians see the process as unnecessary and insulting.

 

But Valotto said KFOR had recently stepped up patrols and raids to show it would not tolerate violence or intimidation.

 

"This has been done to send a clear message to the part of Kosovo society... that does not believe in democracy and peaceful cohabitation but think they can solve conflict with violence and abusing the rights of the weak," he said.

NATO to Remain in Kosovo

PRENSA LATINA (CUBA)

 

Brussels, Nov 18 (Prensa Latina) The North Atlantic Treaty Organization will remain in Kosovo for as long as necessary, NATO secretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told La Libre Belgique daily.

 

In an interview released Friday, the NATO official said this presence is essential to guarantee the negotiation process on the territory´s future political status, in which NATO wants to participate, although it has not determined how.

 

De Hoop said that eventually NATO will plan a strategy for withdrawal, but this will take some time, as there are currently 17,000 troops from 35 NATO member countries in Kosovo.

 

Kosovo province is still formally Serbian, but has been administered by the UN since June 1999 when Belgrade agreed to withdraw politically and militarily in exchange for a cessation of NATO bombings.

 

NATO took upon itself the right to intervene in the conflict between the Serbian government and the Albanese separatists of Kosovo origin.

Four hurt in market bomb ahead of Kosovo talks

Reuters, 17 Nov 2005 16:20:45 GMT By Matthew Robinson

 

PRISTINA, Serbia and Montenegro, Nov 17 (Reuters) - A bomb exploded under a truck at a busy market in Kosovo on Thursday, injuring three Serbs and one ethnic Albanian ahead of talks to decide the fate of Serbia's breakaway province.

 

The mid-morning blast in the mainly Serb town of Strpce was the fifth attack since August in the area, a southern pocket of the U.N.-run province close to the Macedonia border.

 

U.N. police commissioner Kai Vittrup described the attacks as "criminal, terror acts directed by those who want to impose their solution on final status".

 

United Nations envoy Martti Ahtisaari is due in Kosovo on Monday for what he says will be a long, tough shuttle diplomacy mission to determine if Kosovo's 90-percent ethnic Albanian majority get independence or Serbia retains sovereignty.

 

U.N. officials and Western diplomats have warned of an possible upsurge in violence as Kosovo enters talks that are seen by many Albanians as unnecessary and insulting.

 

The Strpce market serves both Serbs and Albanians.

 

"One person is badly wounded but it is not life-threatening," police spokesman Agim Demiri told Reuters. The Serb mayor of the town said the three Serbs were all teenage boys.

 

Legally part of Serbia, Kosovo has been run by the United Nations since 1999, when NATO bombing forced out Serb forces accused of killing 10,000 ethnic Albanians civilians in a two-year war with separatist guerrillas.

 

"NON-NEGOTIABLE"

 

Kosovo Serbs, many living in isolated enclaves, have been the target of sporadic violence since the war, under the gaze of 17,000 NATO-led peacekeepers. Strpce is within the U.S. military's command zone.

 

Serbia opposes independence for the mountain-ringed province, home to scores of centuries-old Serb Orthodox religious sites and the so-called cradle of the Serb nation.

 

Building on a growing sense of entrenchment, the Kosovo parliament on Thursday adopted a platform for its negotiating team that declared independence "non-negotiable".

 

A similar resolution agreed by the Serbian government on Tuesday rejected the possibility of "unilateral secession" as a violation of international law, Belgrade's central argument against the creation of a separate Kosovo state.

 

Ahtisaari will begin his mission to reconcile these diametrically opposed positions by first shuttling through Balkan capitals next week, starting with Pristina.

 

Analysts say sporadic bomb blasts and shootings in Kosovo, often targeting U.N. vehicles or facilities, are part of a campaign to warn the U.N. Security Council against delaying a decision on "final status" or compromising on independence.

 

Diplomats say Western powers will steer the talks towards a form of independence under continued international supervision, particularly over minority rights and security. (Additional reporting by Shaban Buza and Branislav Krstic)

Former Albanian rebel rejects war crimes charges at trial in Serbia

Associated Press, Nov 18, 2005 7:58 AM

 

BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro-A former Albanian rebel from Kosovo accused of slaying a group of Kosovo Gypsies in 1999, rejected the charges at the start of his war crimes trial on Friday.

 

The case of Anton Lekaj, who admitted to being a member of the separatist Kosovo Liberation Army, is the first here against an ethnic Albanian from Kosovo on charges stemming from the 1998-99 war in the province.

 

Initial hearings were adjourned last month when Lekaj told the special tribunal in the Serbian capital, Belgrade, that he did not recognize its authority and demanded hearings be transferred to Kosovo. Serbia's Supreme Court has since rejected the motion.

 

Lekaj was charged with war crimes related to an incident when, together with four other named and a number of unidentified rebels, he allegedly ambushed a convoy of Gypsies in Kosovo on June 12, 1999.

 

Lekaj and the others allegedly abducted 11 passengers from the convoy, and "tortured and sexually molested them with extreme cruelty." Four of the Gypsies were later executed while the rest were released, according to the indictment.

 

The incident took place as NATO's three-month air campaign against ex-President Slobodan Milosevic was winding down and Serb troops were pulling out of Kosovo. NATO launched the campaign to halt Milosevic's crackdown on Kosovo's independence-seeking ethnic Albanians.

 

The indictment claims Lekaj's group acted under orders of Ramush Haradinaj, a top KLA leader who later became Kosovo's prime minister. Haradinaj has since surrendered to the U.N. war crimes tribunal at The Hague, Netherlands, to answer charges relating to his wartime activities.

 

Additionally, Lekaj, 25, is accused of raping an underage girl and sodomizing a man from the abducted group. He faces a 20-year jail sentence if convicted.

 

Lekaj was arrested during a car theft in August 2004 in Montenegro, Serbia's junior partner in the two-member union that succeeded the former Yugoslavia. Montenegrin authorities later extradited him to Serbia.

 

In court on Friday, Lekaj said he "strongly" rejected all the charges and denied Haradinaj was his commanding officer.

 

"I do not accept that at any time I ... committed rape, hurt or tortured, or killed anyone," Lekaj said.

 

Kosovo is formally part of Serbia, but since the end of the war there, Belgrade has had no authority in the province, which is administered by the United Nations.

 

In Lekaj's hometown of Djakovica, former KLA rebels have staged protests demanding his return to the province.

Kosovo paramilitary group threatens attacks

ADN KRONOS INTERNATIONAL (ITALY) 18-Nov-05 13:22

 

Pristina, 18 Nov. (AKI) - The self-proclaimed Army for Independence of Kosovo (AIK) on Friday issued fresh threats to the international peackeeping institutions in Pristina, saying that Kosovo's capital was the seat of a "modern occupier". The mysterious paramilitary group had previously issued similar threats, saying it would declare a "state of war" if Kosovo's parliament didn't proclaim the independence of the province, which has been under United Nations administration since 1999.

 

Kosovo's parliament, under pressure from the international community, at a session on Thursday stopped short of directly proclaiming independence, but adopted a resolution confirming "the political will of the people of Kosovo for an independent and sovereign state". The parliament said it would "guarantee the confirmation of the political will of the Kosovo people for independence at a referendum".

 

The talks on the final status of the province, whose Muslim-majority ethnic Albanians demand independence, are expected to get underway next week, when the chief UN negotiator, former president of Finland, Martti Ahtisaari, is due in Pristina and Belgrade on the first leg of his "shuttle diplomacy" tour.

 

As the talks neared, international observers confirmed the presency of shady paramilitary groups in Kosovo, applying pressure on the local leaders and the international community to grant Kosovo independence, despite Belgrade's opposition. A police car was blown up in the centre of Pristina on Wednesday evening, and a truck full of construction material exploded at a market place in the town of Strpce on Thursday, injuring two people. Many more potential victims had a "miraculous escape" said local officials.

 

The international police chief in Kosovo, Kai Vitrup, described the incidents as "terrorist acts" committed by those who seek to obstruct the status talks and to "impose their own solution for the future status of Kosovo".

 

The latest AIK threat, carried by Pristina's Albanian language media today, seemed to be directed primarily at the representatives of the United Nations administration (Unmik) and other international organisations. "Very likely, the city of Pristina, in which all institutions under the control of a modern' occupier are located, will be the target of our liberation forces starting from Wednesday, 23 November," an AIK statement said.

 

The operations would be carried out under the command of General Ozoni (obviously an assumed name), said the AIK, calling on members of the Kosovo police and Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC), to join in the struggle. The police and KPC were recruited from the former Kosovo Liberation Army, which started a rebellion against Belgrade rule in 1998 that had led to NATO bombing and the withdrawal of Serbian forces from the province.

 

The statement appealed to Pristina inhabitants to "remain calm, because AIK forces are well prepared". Unmik "won't be able to put up a resistance to our operations, but will have to ask our forces for a corridor to escape in shame," it said.

 

Kosovo parliament plays with fire

EURONEWS (FRANCE) 17/11/05 19:06 CET

 

The parliament in Kosovo has reaffirmed the will of the people of the Serbian province to assert their autonomy by passing a resolution backing full independence. The parliamentary move comes just days before talks brokered by the UN on the future of Kosovo begin. At about the same time, a bomb went off under a truck in a crowded Kosovan Serb market, injuring four people. Serb leaders blame this and other recent attacks on Albanian extremists pushing for freedom for Kosovo by force.

 

International leaders have been trying to warn Kosovo off driving for full independence, as some say this could encourage separatist movements elsewhere in a fragile region. Failure to resolve the issue though remains a thorny problem at the heart of an otherwise peaceful Europe. It could prevent an eventual EU membership deal for Serbia-Montenegro and, until it is resolved, it remains a near war-zone with patrolled frontiers within the EU.

US Congress Urged to Pay More Attention to Suffering in Kosovo

CYBERCAST NEWS SERVICE (USA), By Sherrie Gossett CNSNews.com Staff Writer, November 17, 2005

 

Washington, D.C. (CNSNews.com) - The U.S. Congress should send observation teams to Kosovo to witness first-hand the deplorable plight of minorities whose suffering over the past six years remains largely ignored by the world, according to a proposition delivered this week by a spokeswoman for the Serbian government.

 

Dr. Sanda Raskovic Ivic, a psychiatrist by profession, is the new head of the Kosovo-Metohija Coordination Center, a non-partisan panel in charge of pooling state, political and social resources to solve problems in the troubled province. She previously served as the refugee commissioner for the united republics of Serbia and Montenegro, part of the former Yugoslavia.

 

Kosovo, the southern province of Serbia and Montenegro, has been the site of ethnic cleansing of minority groups for several years, with ethnic Albanians, most of them Muslim, targeting Serbs, Muslim Slavs, Turks, Roma (gypsies) and Ashkali. Eighty-eight percent of Kosovo's population is made up of ethnic Albanians.

 

Prior to this violence, forces from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) bombed Yugoslavia between March and May of 1999 to compel then-Serbian President Slobodan Milosovic to withdraw his forces from Kosovo. At the time, it was widely reported that Serbs were engaged in the ethnic cleansing of Albanians.

 

Since June 1999, Kosovo has been governed by the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) under the authority of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1244. The United Nations recently authorized final talks on the status and future of the troubled province. Yet even with this international presence, including the stationing of 7,000 troops, ethnic cleansing and oppression of minorities continues, Raskovic Ivic said. (Click here to view maps of ethnic population changes. Powerpoint required.)

 

She was in Washington, D.C., this week to discuss Kosovo's status with members of Congress and the Bush administration's National Security Council. The province should have "more than autonomy, less than independence," according to Raskovic Ivic, who called this a "fair compromise" that will not include "victors and vanquished, winners and losers."

 

Accompanied by diplomatic personnel, Raskovic Ivic told Cybercast News Service that she was in the U.S. "to convey the real situation of minorities," in Kosovo. "Basic human rights are breached and there is no freedom of movement," she said. "The intimidation and shootings continue."

 

Schools in minority enclaves are overcrowded, Raskovic Ivic said, but students cannot attend other schools because of attempted hijackings of school buses, beatings and harassment.

 

Serbs are also said to be unwelcome at the majority of hospitals now run by ethnic Albanians, she said. "Some pregnant women who went to Albanian-run hospitals to give birth did not return alive."

 

Property rights of minorities are reported to be almost non-existent. "Sixty-two percent of the land in Kosovo is owned by Serbs, but in many instances buildings have been erected on that land without a permit" according to Raskovic Ivic, who added that in her judgment, "at least there should be some form of compensation to the owners."

 

"UNMIK (The United Nations Mission in Kosovo) has made over 70,000 decisions in favor of Serb property rights, yet there is no enforcement," said Raskovic Ivic. "Thousands of more claims are waiting to be processed."

 

Raskovic Ivic is also pushing for an effective security package to be implemented in the region, to address organized crime and potential terrorism.

 

"When a mobster is arrested he wraps himself in the Albanian flag," said Raskovic Ivic. "Then riots ensue amid complaints of human rights violations."

 

Raskovic Ivic also pointed to the heroin and cocaine that pass through the region. Kosovo is right in the middle of the narco-trafficking path that begins in Afghanistan and after Kosovo, extends to Western Europe and the United States.

 

Raskovic Ivic confirmed information that Cybercast News Service received last month, alleging that there are three major heroin laboratories operating in Kosovo, under protection of paramilitary soldiers or former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army. The information was received from the International Strategic Studies Institute in Washington, D.C. "There are a smaller number of labs working undercover as well, but they are all networked together," Raskovic Ivic said. "Like a cancer, these things are going to spread. Everyone is turning a blind eye to this."

 

Raskovic Ivic expressed concern over the law enforcement follow-up to the March 2004 attacks on churches in Kosovo. Albanian mobs allegedly attacked and destroyed 34 churches, monasteries and bishop residences. Since international forces took power in 1999, approximately 150 church properties have been attacked. The churches contained priceless Byzantine frescoes and other religious artifacts dating as far back as the 13th century. Many of the sites were reduced to rubble. (Click here to read the center's report on church destruction.)

 

"There have been no indictments, even though 23 of the perpetrators were caught on film," she said. Under pressure from the international community, the 23 were fired from their jobs.

 

Those who promote independence for Kosovo don't realize that the violence and lawlessness will not stop with that change in status, she said. U.S. Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) and U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) are among the American politicians supporting independence for Kosovo, she said.

 

Despite the ongoing crisis, Raskovic Ivic complained that the international community remains apathetic. "This is not treated as an issue, not only in the press but in the international community. No one asks about it. If international officials neglect the rule of law and the righteous position, this is saying that minorities are second-class citizens.

 

"No one even notices their suffering," she added. "If you suffer and no one notices, no one cares. It is a terrible thing."

New blasts in Kosovo as parliament debates independence motion

ADN KRONOS INTERNATIONAL (ITALY) 17-Nov-05 17:59

 

Pristina, 17 Nov. (AKI) - Two new explosions have shaken Kosovo as parliament was due to debate a resolution on the independence of the province, police sources said on Thursday. A police car exploded in the centre of Pristina, near the headquarters of the United Nations administration (Unmik) and a truck bomb was detonated at a market in the town of Strpce, injuring two people. Only a miracle prevented a real massacre, local officials said. The province has been under UN control since 1999,

 

"This is a real cause for concern, because for the first time we see such cases of terrorist attacks," Kai Vitrup, the commissioner of the international police in Kosovo told journalists. This was the fourth automobile explosion in Pristina over the past year, but UN officials have avoided calling them terrorist acts.

 

A mysterious paramilitary group calling itself the Army for the Independence of Kosovo (AIK) in early December issued a new threat to Kosovo's ethnic Albanian politicians, saying they would face a "difficult period" unless they proclaimed Kosovo's independence. UN officials in Pristina acknowledged in October that armed gangs had been spotted in western Kosovo, but played down their importance, saying these were small groups that had non support from the local population.

 

Vitrup said that the security situation in Kosovo has worsened, and violent acts have increased with the approaching of talks on the final status of the province, whose Muslim-majority ethnic Albanians demand independence.

 

"There are people who wish to prevent the status talks, but it's the police's job to prevent any violent activities," said Vitrup. These attacks "are directed by those who want to impose their own solution for the future status of Kosovo," he said.

 

The Ethnic Albanian parliament in Pristina was meanwhile debating a draft resolution, which was originally aimed at proclaiming Kosovo's independence, but the session dragged into the late afternoon after chief UN administrator Soren Jessen Petersen, who has wide powers in the province, warned that the parliament did not have the right to adopt such a resolution, and that he would annul it. The most parliament could do was to set guidelines for Pristina's negotiating team in the status talks- expected to start in December - Petersen said.

 

After several hours of political wrangling, the parliament adopted a resolution which was described as a guideline for the Pristina negotiating team. The resolution "confirms the political will of the people of Kosovo for an independent and sovereign state of Kosovo."

 

Had the resolution stopped short of an outright proclamation of independence, it might have been resolution might be acceptable to Petersen. But the declaration went on to state: "The parliament will guarantee the confirmation of the political will of the Kosovo people for independence at a referendum."

 

The Serbian government adopted a resolution this week, stating that Kosovo must remain a part of Serbia, which is expected to be approved by the Serbian parliament on Monday. In the ongoing "war of resolutions", Kosovo Serbs, who form a 100,000 minority against 1.7 million ethnic Albanians in the province, passed their own resolution on Thursday, saying that Kosovo "has been, is and will remain a part of Serbia".

 

The "resolution for Serb survival in Kosovo," as it was called, said that "one sided proclamation of Kosovo's independence by (ethnic) Albanian institutions was unacceptable and non-binding for the Serbs."

 

As the situation in Kosovo got more tense, NATO secretary-general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer in Brussels "strongly and seriously" warned all the parties involved to exercise restraint. "I call upon all participants in the play not to adopt such hard stands, and that applies to parliaments as well," Shefer said.

 

"Don't take irrevocable stands, because you might find yourselves in a difficult position at the closing phase of the talks when a compromise will have to be found," he cautioned.

 

Violence shakes up Kosovo

SERBIANNA (USA), Friday, November 17, 2005 -6:29 PM (20:29 GMT)

A wave of bombings, shootings and assassination attempts shakes up Kosovo as the Albanian dominated Kosovo assembly voted for a resolution stating that they will accept nothing less than independence in the UN-mediated talks on the future of the province.

Ethnic Serb homes in Kosovo are shown burning in this file photo from 2004, torched by an ethnic Albanian mob. Over 20 Churches have been destroyed in one day, most a heritage of the medieval Europe.

An explosion went off in downtown Pristina, near the UN and Kosovo Police headquarters confirms the Kosovo Police Service (KPS) official for the Pristina region, Sabrije Kamberi. The explosion occurred in Ljuana Haradinaj Street at about 8:30 pm and one vehicle of the KPS was damaged in the blast. Another bomb planted under a truck in the market in a southern Kosovo town of Strpce exploded injuring four people. Strpce Mayor said that the bomb injured three ethnic Serbs, Boban Markovic, born 1990, Darko Ivkovic, born 1989, and Milos Basaric, all from the village of Sevce near Strpce, as well as an ethnic Albanian, a truck owner Kadri Guri, born in 1956 from Kacanik near Urosevac.

In the Kosovo village of Suvi Do, unknown attackers opened fire on an ethnic Serb, Ilija Petronijevic, in the yard of his house.

Kosovo Police Service said that on the regional road from Pristina to Gnjilane near the village of Bresalce, an unknown person opened fire on a green Mazda, killing one person and seriously injuring another.

In a separate incident, a bomb planted in a Kosovo police vehicle detonated late Wednesday, but didn't injure the officer inside. Top police commissioner Kai Vitrupp said Thursday the device had been "big enough to kill a man inside."

Kosovo is a Serbian province that has been administered by the UN since 1999 when NATO attacks forced Milosevic troops out of the province. Since then, Albanians have engaged in violent attacks on ethnic minorities and demand independence.

Analysts say sporadic bomb blasts and shootings in Kosovo, often targeting U.N. vehicles, their facilities as well as ethnic Serbs are part of an Albanian campaign to warn the U.N. that in case their desire for independence is not granted more violence will be rendered.

Kosovo independence could harm Balkans: analysts

AFP, 18 novembre 2005 03:04

 

SKOPJE, Nov 18 - Granting Kosovo independence from Serbia could stir up separatist movements among ethnic Albanian minorities in other parts of the Balkans, analysts said ahead of the start of talks on the province's future status.

 

Some leaders in the fragile region, where ethnic tensions have led to a series of wars since 1991, fear another change of borders could provoke separatist demands by ethnic Albanian minorities in countries surrounding Kosovo.

 

"All Kosovo politicians, including President Ibrahim Rugova, should sign a declaration that would exclude any possible unification of territories with majority Albanian population in the region," said Macedonian Prime Minister Vlado Buckovski.

 

Macedonia, which borders Serbia and its province of Kosovo, offered shelter to tens of thousands of Kosovo Albanians fleeing the province in 1999 under repression of the regime of then Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic.

 

But only two years later, its own ethnic Albanian minority -- which makes up one quarter of the ex-Yugoslav republic's population of two million -- took up arms demanding more rights for its community.

 

The fighting ended after seven months with a peace deal brokered by the international community, and one of the main rebel leaders is now a member of the ruling coalition government.

 

"Ethnic Macedonians have serious fears of possible Kosovo independence, based on their own experience with ethnic Albanians," analyst Ljubomir Frckoski told AFP.

 

A recent poll in Macedonia showed a "majority of Albanians support the independence of Kosovo, while most Macedonians are sceptical towards it," said Dane Teleski of a local think-tank "Skopje."

 

"But Macedonians are not against independence if there are firm guarantees by the international community that it will not have any impact on the territorial integrity of the country," he said.

 

Such a stance was echoed by Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski, who said recently that Macedonia "is neither afraid of an independent Kosovo, nor of Kosovo within Serbia-Montenegro."

 

"What we want and insist is for Kosovo to be a territory with established legal order that will respect all international standards," Crvenkovski said.

 

Frckoski warned the "almost non-existent borders between Kosovo and Macedonia make the area a grave zone dominated by organised crime that can lead the region into chaos."

 

Fears of another armed conflict have also been spread with on-and-off presence of the Albanian National Army (ANA), an underground militant organisation grouping former Kosovo rebels and favoring unity of the ethnic community in the Balkans.

 

In 2001, ANA fighters were said to have joined ethnic Albanian rebels of the Macedonia-based guerrilla group National Liberation Army (NLA), clashing with Skopje security forces.

 

The ANA, listed as a "terrorist organisation" by the UN mission in Kosovo due to a number of armed attacks, has said it wants to set up a state grouping all ethnic Albanians in Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia and southern Serbia and Montenegro -- if needed through a war.

 

Ethnic Albanian politicians in the region have denounced ANA demands, but vowed support for Kosovo independence.

 

"The will of Kosovo citizens for independence should be respected, and thus the whole region would be stabilised," said Rafiz Haliti, top official of the ruling Democratic Union for Integration (DUI).

 

Ethnic Albanians living in southern Serbia -- a scene of armed clashes between Serb forces and the separatist rebels in 2001 -- have stopped short from backing Kosovo's independence, being warned both by Belgrade and the international community that their problems are not the same.

 

But they warned their own requests for more rights would have to be put on the agenda soon.

 

"Belgrade, Pristina and the international community have to discuss the status of Kosovo, but at one moment, we will also have to be involved in this process," said local Albanian leader Reza Halimi.

 

And tiny Montenegro, whose leadership has also called for independence from Serbia, has managed to calm separatist claims by its Albanian minority by improving their political and civil rights and involving the community in state and local affairs.

For Kosovo's Serbs and Albanians, reconciliation seems impossible

AFP, 18 novembre 2005 03:11

 

The war remains stuck in their memories and between Stanisa and Idriz, reconciliation seems impossible as the upcoming talks on Kosovo's status sharpens their hostility.

 

"If Kosovo becomes independent, then not even a single Serb will remain in our village," says Stanisa Djuricic, 45, a Serb leader in Velika Hoca, the south-central Kosovo village where some 700 Serbs remain from a pre-war population of about 1,700.

 

"Serbs say reconciliation may happen if Albanians can guarantee them security, but how can I guarantee them security from somebody whose family members have been massacred?" asks Idriz Shala, 69, an elder in the Albanian majority village of Zociste, just a few kilometres (miles) from Velika Hoca.

 

Between the two villages, NATO-led forces in Kosovo (KFOR) keep watch from a hilltop base and patrol the muddy streets in the area in their armoured vehicles.

 

Kosovo has been run by the United Nations and NATO since June 1999, when the alliance ended its 78-day bombing campaign against then Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic's forces for their suppression of ethnic Albanian rebels.

 

The UN mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) has since preached the need for a multi-ethnic society; however in practice the best international forces have been able to achieve is some measure of protection for the 30,000 Serbs in Kosovo enclaves.

 

International policymakers have seen some progress towards normality, but that is not enough for Stanisa, who says that during Kosovo's 1998-1999 war some 1,000 people fled across the province's border fearing reprisals following the conflict.

 

"We used to live together, visit each other and keep good relations, but that is the past. We dont have any contacts with people from surrounding Albanian villages," Stanisa says, adding he hopes things will improve within a few years.

 

The entrance to the Serb village is barricaded by KFOR troops, who patrol the area and watch for potential threats in the area, where armed groups operate under cover of dark.

 

"Nobody has seen them because we dare not go out at night. Of course we're fearful ... If the KFOR troops leave, so will we," Djuricic says, pointing beyond vineyards around the picturesque village to the peacekeepers on top of the hill.

 

Kosovo's Serbs, an estimated 30,000 of whom live nowadays in the province's enclaves, see the Serbian territory as the birthplace of their history and culture.

 

Its Albanians, who make up more than 90 percent of the province's population, are demanding independence from the ex-Yugoslav republic in the talks, which begin on Monday with chief UN mediator Martti Ahtisaari's visit to the region.

 

However many ethnic Albanians who have their own horror stories still view local Serbs as unrepentant former oppressors.

 

"All our Serb neighbours were heavily armed. When we returned after the war we found our homes burned to the ground," Idriz said, adding he expected some of the 40-50 Serb families who lived in Zociste before the war to return.

 

Not far from the village is the Serbian Orthodox monastery of Stari Vraci, whose 14th century church and bell tower lies in a rectangular heap of stones where its walls once stood.

 

The monastery's monk says the church and its surrounding buildings were blown up "professionally" three months after NATO troops entered Kosovo without protecting the site.

 

"We waited for five years to return but couldn't" as KFOR said it was unable to guarantee their safety until about a year ago, the monk added.

 

"I want to stay in the monastery. If Kosovo becomes independent I will stay although it implies risk," said Stari Vraci's Father Jovan.

One killed, one seriously wounded near Bresalce

I*Net, Belgrade, Thursday, November 10, 2005

17:30 The Kosovo Police Service advised that last night on the regional road from Pristina to Gnjilane near the village of Bresalce, an unknown person opened fire last night on a green Mazda, killing one person and seriously injuring another.

Serb man in Suvi Do shot at

I*Net, Belgrade, Friday, November 11, 2005

16:30 Unknown attackers opened fire on Ilija Petronijevic last night in the yard of his house in the village of Suvi Do near Kosovska Mitrovica, confirmed village resident Dejan Zivkovic.

Serbian Parliament to vote on new draft Resolution on Kosovo on Monday

KIM Info-service, November 17, 2005

The Serbian government on Tuesday (Nov 15) unanimously adopted a draft of the resolution rejecting independence for Kosovo in U.N.-mediated talks on the future of the breakaway province that begin next month.

The text of the platform, drafted as a 10-point resolution, calls for unequivocal support for a compromise on Kosovo's future status yet warns that the province's "territory is an inalienable part" of Serbia and that "any imposed solution will be considered illegitimate and unacceptable" by Belgrade.

The draft, expected to be approved by the Serbian Parliament next Monday (Nov 21), enjoys bipartisan support.

The full text of the Draft Resolution follows:

Draft Resolution of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia on a Mandate for Political Talks on the Future Status of Kosovo and Metohija

Proceeding from the Constitutional Charter of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro and the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia, principally the provisions providing constitutional guarantees for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro and the Republic of Serbia within its framework, and the provisions stipulating that the territory of Serbia and Montenegro consists of the territories of its member states, and that its borders are inviolable, Having in mind that sovereignty is vested in all the citizens of the Republic of Serbia and that its territory is a single whole, no part of which can be alienated (Article 5 of the Constitutional Charter of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro and Articles 2 and 4 of the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia),

Proceeding also from the basic principles and norms of the United Nations and other international organisations, defining state sovereignty and territorial integrity as fundamentals of the modern international order,

Having in mind the Resolutions of the Parliament of Serbia and Montenegro dated April 2, 2004 and September 1, 2003, the Resolutions of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia dated March 26, 2004 and May 4, 2001, the Declarations on Kosovo and Metohija passed by the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia on August 27, 2003 and May 31, 2001, as well as the Decision Approving the Plan for a Political Solution to the Current Situation in Kosovo and Metohija, dated April 29, 2004,

Confident that in democratic states, all disputes, including the gravest of conflicts, can and must be solved on the basis of these fundamental principles and norms, aspiring to a peaceful, comprehensive and permanent solution as a source of prosperity and reconciliation in the future,

Recalling that substantial autonomy and meaningful self-administration of Kosovo and Metohija were suggested as a political solution to the crisis in the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1160 (1998), the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 dated June 10, 1999, the Conclusions of G8 Foreign Ministers dated May 6, 1999, that is, a settlement that ended hostilities between the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia,  known as the Chernomyrdin-Ahtisaari agreement.

Based on Article 73, Point 2 of the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia and Article 160 of the Standing Orders of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia (Official Gazette No. 55/05 – refined text),

The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, at the session held on….., passed the following

Resolution of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia on a Mandate for Political Talks on the Future Status
of Kosovo and Metohija

The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia approves the beginning of political talks on the future status of Kosovo and Metohija, which, under the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1244 of June 10, 1999, has been under an interim civilian and military administration of the United Nations. Having given its consent, the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia defines by this Resolution the principles, framework and mandate binding for all state bodies authorised by the Resolution to participate in the process on behalf of the Republic of Serbia, as a member state of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro.

1.The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia and all state bodies express their full readiness to accept their share of responsibility in the process of finding a political solution to the issue of Kosovo and Metohija, based on the international law and in accordance with the democratic values of the modern world. The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, in line with the most universal principle of the United Nations prescribing the inviolability of sovereignty and territorial integrity of democratic states, defines by this Resolution the framework and mandate of political talks on the future status of Kosovo and Metohija.

Serbia and Montenegro is an internationally recognised state and, as such, a member of the United Nations and other international organisations. Just like to any other state, all the principles and norms endorsed by these organisations apply to Serbia and Montenegro, particularly those establishing the sovereignty and territorial integrity of member states. These primarily include the United Nations Charter and the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (today’s OSCE), signed in Helsinki, in 1975. Apart from these and other universally binding international-law documents in force, the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1244 and the other relevant U.N. resolutions (1160, 1199, 1203, all passed in 1998, and 1239, passed in 1999) have confirmed explicitly the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia and Montenegro (the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia at the time). Together with the basic sources of international law, the borders and territorial integrity of the states formed after the forcible breakup of the former Yugoslavia have been additionally guaranteed by special international legal documents and agreements, including Opinions by the Arbitration Commission of the Conference of Yugoslavia (Opinion No. 3 of January 11, 1992) and the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina (the Dayton-Paris Peace Accords).

2. The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia expresses a firm belief that the U.N. Security Council is a reliable guarantor of respect for the international law and the entire world order based on peace, respect for freedom as the ultimate political value and human rights as a measure of it. Accordingly, the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia expects the U.N. Security Council to use the power of its authority to ensure that the inviolable principle of respecting sovereignty and territorial integrity is not violated in the case of Serbia and Montenegro either. The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia voices a unanimous belief that entire international community shares the view that it is unacceptable to change the internationally recognised borders of a democratic state against its will. Any attempt at imposing a solution towards de facto legalisation of partition of the Republic of Serbia by a unilateral secession of part of its territory would be not only legal violence against a democratic state, but violence against the international law itself. It goes without saying that it would be an unparalleled case in international law and the practice of the world organisation, as well as a dangerous precedent with unforeseeable long-term consequences for the international order in general.

3.Having in mind the legal rationale, the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia would declare any imposed solution for the future status of Kosovo and Metohija illegitimate, illegal and invalid.

4.The future status of Kosovo and Metohija can be defined only within the framework of relevant principles and norms of the United Nations and other international organisations, with full respect to the constitutional system of Serbia and Montenegro and the Republic of Serbia. The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, within this broad framework, remains unconditionally committed to a compromise, expressing its full readiness for Kosovo and Metohija to be granted a status modelled after European solutions, which would be in full conformity with the principle of sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia and Montenegro as a recognised and equal international-law subject. The form and content of that solution should suit not only the national interests of the Republic of Serbia and the state union, but also the interests of the Albanian community in Kosovo and Metohija, the Serbs in the Province and all other inhabitants of Kosovo and Metohija. This universal goal is possible to attain only by a mutual, consensual solution for the future status of Kosovo and Metohija. In this respect, there is full political will to seek a tangible and feasible form of a stable and durable solution for Kosovo and Metohija, taking into full account the legitimate interests of Albanians in the Province.

The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia authorises the Government to advocate modalities of a sustainable political, institutional and legal solution for the future status of Kosovo and Metohija. The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia is aware of the fact that there can be different modalities of the future status of Kosovo and Metohija that do not question the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the state.

5.Over the past six years in particular, Serbs and other non-Albanians in the Province have been deprived of fundamental human rights and exposed to massive terror by Albanian extremists, targeted at changing the ethnic structure of the Province. Some elements of the Albanian extremist policy were set out in A Comprehensive Review of the Situation in Kosovo and Metohija by U.N. special envoy for standards implementation review Kai Eide.

The future status of Kosovo and Metohija must ensure respect for human rights of all national communities, be they a majority population or a minority population in the Province. These include the right to safe life, personal and property safety, fair and efficient judiciary, free exercise of property and property-related rights, freedom of movement and settlement, free expression of political, religious, cultural and other personal beliefs, the right to return and integration of internally displaced persons (IDPs), the right to equal employment opportunities and equal treatment in exercising public offices, as well as all other rights listed in the Council of Europe charters signed and ratified by Serbia and Montenegro.
All these rights are an integral part of a set of standards Kosovo and Metohija has to reach simultaneously with the future-status talks, which is also the opinion of the U.N. Security Council, based on special envoy Kai Eide’s report.

6. The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia expresses readiness for a peaceful and consensual solution for the future status of Kosovo and Metohija, which would be a significant step towards European integration, not only by our state, but all the states of the region. As a democratically organised state, and a member of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, the Republic of Serbia bears a great responsibility for peace and good cooperation in the neighbourhood. Having this in mind, Serbia, participating in the future-status talks thorough its authorised representatives, cannot allow for any solution that might threaten regional peace and good neighbourly relations in this part of Europe. This is Serbia’s principal goal and also its duty within the EU Stabilisation and Association Process. Such a strategic, developmental and democratic orientation of Serbia and Montenegro is supposed to ensure, among other things, much needed regional stability.

7. The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia welcomes the mediating role of the United Nations in the process of defining the future status of Kosovo and Metohija, confident that representatives of the world organisation, headed by the U.N. Secretary-General’s special envoy, will be guided by the basic principles and norms of the United Nations and work towards a consensual solution in good faith. The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia also expresses a belief that mediators in this process will provide for the necessary form of direct talks between representatives of Serbia and Montenegro and Kosovo Albanians.

8. The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia authorises the Government to discuss the future status of Kosovo and Metohija, in collaboration with competent state bodies and in conformity with the mandate defined by this Resolution. This is the sole mandate the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, as a representative body of all citizens of the Republic Serbia, has given for participation in the political process of seeking a solution for the future status of Kosovo and Metohija.

9. The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia will receive regular reports in the course of the talks on a political solution for the future status of Kosovo and Metohija.

10. The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia will declare itself on the results of the talks on a political solution for the future status of Kosovo and Metohija, having also in mind a constitutional provision that allows the citizens of the Republic of Serbia to declare themselves on important matters of state in a referendum.

(end)

Kosovo's parliament sets independence as ultimate goal for talks with Serbia

Associated Press, Nov 17, 2005 9:50 AM

 

PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro-Kosovo lawmakers on Thursday adopted a resolution stating that they will accept nothing less than independence in the U.N.-mediated talks on the future of the province.

 

The lawmakers, under pressure from U.S. and European diplomats, backed down from an earlier intention to unilaterally declare independence as they discussed their position in upcoming talks on the province's long-term future.

 

The 10-point resolution set the stage for a bitter political fight in the talks with Serbia, which insists the province should not gain independence but rather enjoy broad autonomy within the current union that replaced Yugoslavia.

 

The approved resolution stated that the province will accept nothing less than full independence and sovereignty for Kosovo, which has been run by the U.N. since mid-1999.

 

"The will of the people of Kosovo for independence is not negotiable," the resolution said.

 

The resolution, which will serve as the basis of the political platform for the ethnic Albanians in the talks, also welcomes the future international involvement demands that every move by Kosovo's negotiators be approved in the parliament or by referendum.

 

The Serbian government on Tuesday unanimously adopted a resolution rejecting independence for Kosovo in the U.N.-mediated talks expected to begin next month.

 

Sabri Hamiti, a senior member of the ruling Democratic League of Kosovo, said the toning down of the Kosovo position came after "immense pressure" from Western diplomats.

 

U.S. and European diplomats had warned ethnic Albanian leaders that they would consider a declaration of independence unilateral and would not accept it. The top U.N. official in Kosovo, Soren Jessen-Petersen, has the power to declare such a declaration illegal.

 

Serbian representatives in the province's assembly continued their boycott.

 

However, in Kosovo's northern, ethnically divided city of Kosovksa Mitrovica, some 200 Serb representatives of a self-styled council of Kosovo Serb municipalities adopted their own declaration warning that if the province became independent, that would be the "final stage in the cleansing of Serbs" from the province.

 

It will constitute the "greatest pogrom of Serbs in history," the declaration said.

 

Kosovo has been run by the United Nations since the end of the NATO air war that halted Serb forces' crackdown on separatist ethnic Albanians.

 

The U.N. envoy to mediate talks on Kosovo's future, Finland's former President Martti Ahtisaari, was expected to visit Kosovo and Belgrade next week and move to Vienna, Austria, in December to start the negotiations.

Market explosion in Kosovo injures four

Reuters, 17 Nov 2005 13:49:08 GMT By Matthew Robinson

 

(Updates with injuries, details; adds byline)

 

PRISTINA, Serbia and Montenegro, Nov 17 (Reuters) - A bomb exploded under a truck at a busy market in Serbia's breakaway province of Kosovo on Thursday, injuring three Serbs and one ethnic Albanian, police said.

 

The mid-morning blast hit the mainly Serb town of Strpce in the south of the majority Albanian province, run by the United Nations since the 1998-99 war but days away from U.N.-led negotiations on its future.

 

"One person is badly wounded but it is not life-threatening," police spokesman Agim Demiri told Reuters. A police source said it appeared a device had been placed under a truck owned by an ethnic Albanian man selling wood pannelling.

 

Located at the foot of Kosovo's mountainous border with Macedonia, the Strpce region has seen an increase in attacks, mainly on Serbs, as the province nears "status talks" that Albanians hope will end in independence.

 

Legally part of Serbia, Kosovo has been run by the United Nations since 1999, when NATO bombing forced out Serb forces accused of killing 10,000 ethnic Albanians civilians in a two-year war with separatist guerrillas.

 

Kosovo Serbs, many living in isolated enclaves, have become the target of sporadic violence since the war, despite the presence of a 17,000-strong NATO-led peace force.

 

Serb leaders in Belgrade blame the latest attacks, including the drive-by killing of two Serbs near Strpce in August, on Albanian extremists pushing for independence by force.

 

U.N. envoy Martti Ahtisaari is expected to arrive in Kosovo on Monday, kicking off what could be months of shuttle diplomacy aimed at bringing the two sides closer to a deal.

 

Serbia opposes independence for land it considers the religious heartland of the Serb people. It is offering broad autonomy, but Albanians -- who account for 90 percent of Kosovo's 2 million people -- reject any return to Serb rule.

 

Analysts say sporadic bomb blasts and shootings in Kosovo, often targeting U.N. vehicles or facilities, are part of a campaign to warn the U.N. Security Council against delaying a decision on "final status" or compromising on independence.

 

Diplomats say Western powers will steer the talks towards a form of independence under continued international supervision, particularly over minority rights and security. (Additional reporting by Shaban Buza and Branislav Krstic)

Kosovo is heating up again

AXIS INFORMATION AND ANALYSIS, 16.11.2005 By Can Karpat, AIA Turkish section

 

The United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) warned the Kosovan Assembly not to undertake any initiative contrary to the negotiation process for the future of the region. Turkish Cumhuriyet analyses the situation and possible consequences of drastic moves by the local authorities in Kosovo. AIA brings a translation of the article.

 

"According to the news published in Kosovan press, the Assembly, which prepares to adopt the "resolution of independence" this Thursday, was warned by the UNMIK. The warning said that the Contact Group and the Special Representative of the United Nations General Secretary, Martti Ahtisaari, the special UN envoy for Kosovo and a former Finnish President, will oppose to the Kosovan Assembly's resolution of independence, and that also the UNMIK administration will cancel such a resolution. As to the Vetevendosje ("The Real Decision") Movement, which opposes to the determination of the final status of Kosovo through negotiations imposed by the United Nations, it keeps organising demonstrations against the UNMIK administration.

 

According to the information coming from Brussels, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, in its new resolution, asked for respect for the United Nations Security Council's resolution 1244 before the negotiations for the final status of Kosovo will start. This resolution of the United Nations Security Council, which had been adopted after the military operation led by the NATO in Kosovo in 1999, qualifies Kosovo as part of Yugoslavia.

 

In that resolution, there are also requests from other member states of NATO and their governments to apply the standards for Kosovo, to continue with the decentralisation process, to protect rights of the Serbians and other minorities and to help the Serbian refugees to return.

 

After the United Nations declared that negotiations would start in order to determine the final status of Kosovo, the Kosovan Assembly declared in turn its firm determination for independence, and then it postponed the approval of the "sovereignty and independence declaration of Kosovan state" until Thursday, the 17th of November.

 

Nevertheless, the United Nations proposes to maintain the unity of Kosovo, to grant to Serbians of the region some autonomy and to permit to the NATO Peace Forces to stay for an undetermined term in the region. Kosovo, which is administrated by the United Nations for six years, is still judicially part of Serbia-Montenegro. Of 2 million of Kosovan population, 90 per cent of which are the Albanians and the rest is consists of Serbs and other minorities. While the Serbians are demanding for Kosovo to be attached to Serbia-Montenegro, the Albanians are pleading for independence.

 

The United States Foreign Affairs Undersecretary, Nicholas Burns, who declared in mid-October about the beginning of negotiation for the final status of Kosovo, also stated that the independence of Kosovo is an option as well.

 

The Vetevendosje Movement, which has become very active recently in Kosovo, intensified its activities against the UNMIK. Recently, the members of the Movement set fire to the inscription with the name of the UNMIK on it waving over the castle in Prizren. They also put up three huge banners with inscriptions like "UNMIKolonialism" meaning "UNMIK the colonist" and signed "Vetevendosje". And before that, they changed the "UN" inscription upon the UNMIK vehicles as adding an "F" before the "U" and a "D" after "N". That modification, which gave "FUND", means the "end" in Albanian language.

 

Furthermore, the increasing number of student joining in the movement is highly significant".