UN police clash with ethnic Albanians in Kosovo

RELIEF WEB (SWITZERLAND)

 

Source: Agence France-Presse (AFP)

Date: 25 May 2006

 

PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro, May 25, 2006 (AFP) - United Nations police clashed on Thursday with ethnic Albanians who blocked a road preventing two Serbian lawyers from entering a Kosovo village, the UN mission said in a statement.

 

The police were trying to escort the two lawyers, members an unnamed defence team accredited to the UN war crimes tribunal, to the southern village of Mala Krusa.

 

During the 1998-99 Kosovo war, Serbian forces killed more than 100 men in the area in what were believed to be reprisal attacks for the support locals gave to the ethnic Albanian rebels of the Kosovo Liberation Army.

 

It is estimated that about 80 percent of the male population of Mala Krusa and its hamlets was killed, leaving many women destitute.

 

The village is mentioned in several indictments before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), notably the one against the late Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic.

 

The former Yugoslav dictator died in March before his trial had ended.

 

On Thursday, the villagers blocked the road in front of the convoy and failed to disperse despite police calls for them to do so, said the statement.

 

"The citizens responded by throwing rocks at the police and the convoy. Three police officers and one language assistant were injured," it added.

 

Police then used tear gas to disperse the protestors, mostly women, "resulting in injuries to a number of citizens who received medical treatment from an ambulance at the scene".

 

Agron Limani, the village head, told reporters the incident occurred because "the villagers thought the UN police were trying to ensure the return of Serbs to the village".

 

"Many woman and children were wounded," said Limani.

 

Local media reported that around 50 villagers had been injured or suffered from tear gas inhalation.

 

The head of the UN mission in Kosovo, Soren Jessen-Petersen, strongly condemned the incident, saying he was "outraged and disappointed".

 

"It is important for the people of Kosovo to understand that their quest for justice can only be achieved through the course of justice, not by extra-judicial means," he said.

 

Kosovo, a southern province of Serbia with a largely ethnic Albanian population, has been run by the United Nations since 1999, when NATO air strikes ended a crackdown by Serbian forces against Albanian separatists.

 

Ethnic tensions remained high seven years after the end of the war, raising fears of fresh violence during talks on Kosovo's future.

 

Ethnic Albanians, who represent around 90 percent of Kosovo's two million inhabitants, are demanding independence from Serbia but Belgrade has said it is only prepared to offer substantial autonomy.

Kosovo Albanians attack U.N.-escorted Serb lawyers

Reuters, Thu 25 May 2006 11:52 AM ET

 

(Updates with U.N. statement, details)

 

PRISTINA, Serbia and Montenegro, May 25 (Reuters) - U.N. police in Kosovo fired tear gas to disperse a crowd of ethnic Albanians who stoned a United Nations convoy escorting Serb defence lawyers in the west of the province on Thursday.

 

Three U.N. police officers and one translator were wounded when villagers blocked a road and lobbed stones at vehicles escorting two Serb members of a defence team accredited to the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, a U.N. statement said.

 

"Police then had to clear the crowd, unfortunately resulting in injuries to a number of citizens who received medical treatment from an ambulance at the scene," it said.

 

The stoning of Serb convoys in Kosovo is not uncommon.

 

The province, legally part of Serbia, has been run by the U.N. since 1999, when NATO bombs drove out Serb forces accused of ethnic cleansing in a two-year war with separatist guerrillas.

 

An estimated 10,000 ethnic Albanians died and another 800,000 fled into neighbouring Macedonia and Albania.

 

U.N. prosecutors in The Hague say Serb police killed 100 men in the village of Mala Krusa two days into the 78-day NATO bombing campaign.

 

The case is included in the indictment against former Serbian president Milan Milutinovic, whose trial begins in July.

 

The U.N. governor in Kosovo, Soren Jessen-Petersen, said he was "outraged and disappointed" by the incident.

 

"It is important for the people of Kosovo to understand that their quest for justice can only be achieved through the course of justice, not by extra-judicial means," he said.

 

Signs of reconciliation in Kosovo are rare. Around half the Serb population fled a wave of revenge attacks after the war and the 100,000 who stayed live on the margins of society, targeted by sporadic violence.

 

After seven years of U.N.-imposed limbo, the major powers are pushing for a solution to Kosovo's final status in direct Serb-Albanian talks that began in February in Vienna.

 

The 90-percent ethnic Albanian majority is pushing for independence, but is under pressure to improve the security and rights of Serbs.

 

The U.N. mission says ethnically motivated crime in 2006 is down compared with previous years.

Serbs unhappy with mediator's efforts on Kosovo

Reuters, Thu May 25, 2006 12:37 PM ET By Matt Robinson

 

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia has told the major powers guiding policy on Kosovo it is unhappy with the efforts of U.N. chief mediator Martti Ahtisaari to negotiate a deal on its southern breakaway province, diplomats say.

 

"Serbia has expressed dissatisfaction with the way it's going and with the people running it," a senior Western official in Kosovo told Reuters on Thursday.

 

Kosovo daily Zeri reported on Thursday that Belgrade had written to the Contact Group of major powers asking them to sideline Ahtisaari's U.N. team in Vienna and chair direct talks that would be held in the Macedonian lakeside town of Ohrid.

 

"It's half true," the western official said of the story, confirming the Contact Group -- the United States, Britain, Russia, Italy, Germany and France -- had received a letter expressing serious concern with Ahtisaari, former Finnish president.

 

Serbia is already reeling from the loss of the tiny Adriatic republic of Montenegro which voted in a referendum on Sunday to end a 90-year-union, one of the last acts in the break-up of the former Yugoslavia.

 

Diplomats expect Kosovo to be granted independence.

 

The western official in Kosovo said Belgrade's aim was to "delay the inevitable, be it by changing direction, venue,

 

facilitators."

 

Legally part of Serbia, Kosovo has been run by the United Nations since 1999, when NATO bombs drove out Serb forces accused of ethnic cleansing in a two-year war with ethnic Albanian separatist guerrillas.

 

Serbs consider it their religious heartland, but 90 percent of the people are ethnic Albanians demanding independence.

 

U.S. ambassador to Belgrade Michael Polt declined to comment on the report but told Reuters that Washington had "full confidence" in Ahtisaari's approach.

 

"We are firmly committed that that's the way it must stay," he said. "Our encouragement to our Serb friends is: work with Ahtisaari to find practical solutions to practical problems and don't get hung up on procedural issues or over your categorical status positions."

 

"IF ONLY"

 

Diplomats want to secure the rights and security of the remaining 100,000 Serbs, a ghettoized minority, before independence. They say Serb leaders are aware of the direction Kosovo is heading but are ill-prepared to face it.

 

Appointed by the U.N. Security Council, Ahtisaari opened direct talks between Serbia and the Kosovo Albanians in February. They are currently tackling Serb rights, local government reform and protection for Kosovo's rich Serb Orthodox religious heritage. Talks on actual status could begin in July.

 

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica met Ahtisaari in Belgrade on Monday and said he wanted to hold face-to-face talks on status.

 

Ahtisaari's team is undecided whether to hold direct talks on status, or shuttle between capitals. Belgrade fears the latter mode would limit its room for maneuver.

 

U.N. officials accuse Serbia of being uncooperative, making unrealistic demands and blocking efforts to integrate the Serbs.

 

The Contact Group is "disappointed" with the level of engagement by Belgrade, the western official said.

 

"If only they could engage in reasonable dialogue. A little more enlightened self-interest would go along way."

 

The Contact Group says it wants a deal this year. It says the solution must be acceptable to the majority of the people, nearly all of whom who reject a return to Serb rule.

 

Foreign diplomats are concerned at a possible nationalist backlash in Serbia with possible snap elections looming. But they see little option other than to amputate Kosovo and place it under European Union and NATO supervision for years to come.

 

(Additional reporting by Douglas Hamilton)

Kosovo to be independent in months: ex-NATO general

AFP, May 25, 2006

 

The former US general who commanded NATO's 1999 air war against Serbia predicted its southern province of Kosovo would become independent within months.

 

Wesley Clark told Kosovo Albanian leaders in Pristina he had confidence in their "strong, positive and visionary proposals" to find a solution for Kosovo, which has been run by the United Nations and NATO since 1999.

 

"I am confident that this issue will be solved very soon, and probably in few months, Kosovo will become independent and will respect the rights of all citizens," said Clark.

 

"I believe that Kosovo will be welcomed into the family of the nations and that there will be many opportunities for the citizens of this country to prosper, raise big families and make their dreams come true."

 

Clark, who is on a three-day visit to the disputed province, met Kosovo's President Fatmir Sejdiu and Prime Minister Agim Ceku, who said Clark was a great friend of Kosovo, who stood by it in its most difficult times.

 

"He is and will always be honored by the people of Kosovo," he said.

 

Clark commanded the 1999 NATO air strikes that drove Serbian forces loyal to former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic out of Kosovo because of their brutal crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists.

Kosovo Serb convoy stoned, UN fires tear gas

Reuters, 25 May 2006 11:28:27 GMT

 

PRISTINA, Serbia and Montenegro, May 25 (Reuters) - United Nations police in Kosovo fired tear gas to disperse a crowd of ethnic Albanians who stoned a convoy of Serbs in the west of the U.N.-run province on Thursday, police said.

 

A Kosovo Albanian police spokesman said two U.N. personnel were lightly wounded in the incident in the ethnic Albanian village of Mala Krusa, near Prizren.

 

"A U.N. police convoy taking Serbs there was stopped and stoned. Police fired tear gas," said spokesman Fatmir Gjurgjeala. Two U.N. vehicles were also damaged.

 

Witnesses said the main Prizren-Djakovica road was closed and several villagers had been taken to hospital for treatment for the effects of tear gas.

 

The stoning of Serb convoys in Kosovo is not uncommon.

 

The province, legally part of Serbia, has been run by the United Nations since 1999, when NATO bombs drove out Serb forces accused of ethnic cleansing in a two-year war with separatist guerrillas.

 

An estimated 10,000 ethnic Albanians died and another 800,000 fled into neighbouring Macedonia and Albania.

 

Signs of reconciliation are rare. Around half the Serb population fled a wave of revenge attacks after the war and the 100,000 who stayed live on the margins of society, targeted by sporadic violence.

 

Mala Krusa suffered badly during the war. Ethnic Albanians say Serb police killed 100 men from the village two days into the 78-day NATO bombing campaign.

 

After seven years of U.N.-imposed limbo, the major powers are pushing for a solution to Kosovo's final status in direct Serb-Albanian talks that began in February in Vienna.

 

The 90-percent ethnic Albanian majority is pushing for independence, but is under pressure to improve the security and rights of Serbs.

 

The U.N. mission says ethnically motivated crime in 2006 is down compared with previous years.

Ethnic Albanians, Serbs reach consensus on culture, religion

XINHUA (CHINA),  2006-05-24 11:59:58

 

VIENNA, May 23 (Xinhua) -- The fifth round of talks on the future status of Kosovo ended here on Tuesday with consensus between the ethnic Albanian and Serbian representatives on the protection of the Serbian cultural and religious objects in Serbia's southern province of Kosovo.

 

It is the first consensus that the two sides have reached since the UN-mediated negotiations on the status of Kosovo started last November.

 

The Serbian delegation presented a catalog designating 40 Serb cultural and religious heritage sites which it wants protected.

 

The two sides reached consensus that special protection zones around the Serb heritage sites would be set up.

 

The Serbian delegates said this round of talks was successful, and the consensus between the two sides provided a common basis for the protection of Serbian cultural and religious heritage in Kosovo.

 

Although it was hoped that the two sides would work on the more political elements, so as to reach consensus on critical issues as soon as possible, the process and results of this round should have been satisfying to all involved, the UN-appointed mediator Albert Rohan told a press conference after the meeting.

 

After the Kosovo war ended in June 1999, the province became a UN protectorate under UN Security Council Resolution 1244.

 

The UN-mediated negotiations on the status of Kosovo started last November, with four previous rounds having failed to reach any formal agreement.

 

The two sides will meet again in Vienna on May 31 for their sixth round of talks, focusing on economic issues. Enditem

Who Will Protect Kosovo's Christians?

ACTON INSTITUTE (USA), May 24, 2006 Commentary by John Couretas

 

      Ruins of the Devic Monastery of St. Joanikije , (c. 1440), looted and vandalized, and the marble tomb of the saint desecrated. June 1999. Source: Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Raska and Prizren.

 

This week, Montenegro voted to end its union with Serbia, the last remaining alliance of the former Yugoslav federation. News accounts of the vote frequently add matter-of-factly that Kosovo, the Serb province placed under the administration of the United Nations in 1999, is next in line to gain its independence and probably by the end of the year.

 

But anyone who cares about religious freedom, the rights of minorities, and the rule of law should be highly skeptical of an independent Kosovo. Since 1999, when a NATO bombing campaign drove out Serb military forces fighting an Albanian separatist movement, the Orthodox Christian minority in Kosovo has been under intense pressure from Albanian Muslim extremists.

 

In a Feb. 18 letter to President George Bush, the Serbian Orthodox bishop Artemije of Kosovo and Metohija - the ranking church official in the region - said that granting the province independence would hand terrorists "a significant victory" in Europe.

 

"Detaching Kosovo from democratic Serbia would mean a virtual sentence of extinction for my people in the province - the larger part of my diocese - who continue to face unremitting violence from jihad terrorist and criminal elements that dominate the Albanian Muslim leadership," the bishop said.

 

Dozens of churches, monasteries and shrines have been destroyed or damaged since 1999 in Kosovo, the cradle of Orthodox Christianity in Serbia. The Serbian Orthodox Church lists nearly 150 attacks on holy places, which often involve desecration of altars, vandalism of icons and the ripping of crosses from Church rooftops. A March 2004 rampage by Albanian Muslim paramilitary forces resulted in 19 Serb deaths and the torching and demolition of holy sites, some dating to the 14th century.

 

All this happened despite the presence of UN peacekeeping forces. According to news reports posted by the American Council for Kosovo, Albanian separatists are opposing the expansion of military protection of Christian holy sites by UN forces. A main concern of Christians is the fate of the Visoki Decani Monastery - Kosovo's only UNESCO World Heritage Site.

 

Direct talks, under the auspices of the UN, are now underway. Serbia is resisting pressure from Western powers to amputate Kosovo, where the UN says Albanians outnumber Serbs and others 9-1. One of the thornier issues is the possible return of non-Albanians who have fled the province since 1999. Some estimates put their number as high as 250,000.

 

Western diplomats and Albanian independence groups are promising that a new independent Kosovo would allow the Serb minority to live in peace and enable the province - one of the poorest regions in Europe - to rebuild its economy.

 

The Alliance for a New Kosovo, a pro-independence group with former U.S. State Department and elected officials on its advisory board, has been lobbying for a split from Serbia. William Ryerson, a former U.S. ambassador to Albania who is one of the group's advisers, wrote recently that Serbia had "lost any moral claim" to rule Kosovo following "its campaign of ethnic cleansing" in the 1990s. He predicted that an independent Kosovo, linked economically to the rest of Europe, would "much more likely be a source of stability in the Balkans than one denied that status."

 

If that is to happen, the province will first have to clean up its act. For years, the region has been a center of activity for criminal gangs. "Kosovo has become a black hole of corruption and organized crime, including trafficking in drugs, weapons and slaves," Bishop Artemije told President Bush. "All too often, these things happen under the noses of NATO soldiers, who fear to confront these criminals directly."

 

Journalist Srdja Trifkovic, writing on Serbianna.com, said an independent Kosovo would lead to a "criminal state not seen since the defunct Taliban regime in Afghanistan" and right on Europe's southern border. Although the international community understandably desires "closure" on Kosovo some seven years after the UN assumed control, an outcome that separates the province from Serbia would "make a mockery" of some the United States' most important security concerns, he said.

 

"It would be hard to find another example of a place where governments professing the war on international terrorism as their first priority are helping a Muslim terrorist movement with a strong jihadist element to detach what is universally recognized as a part of another sovereign state and consigning the remaining Christian element to extinction," Trifkovic said.

 

Given the record of Christian persecution in Kosovo while under the supervision and protection of the UN, what could be expected from an independent province administered by Albanian Muslim politicians and security forces?

 

As Bishop Artemije told President Bush in his letter, the only decrease in violence against Serbian Christians has come about because there are fewer of them in the province, and fewer churches, monasteries and cemeteries now to be demolished. He pleaded with Bush to work toward a Kosovo solution that "provides for the human dignity and respect for all people, whether Albanian or Serb or Roma or Turk, whether Muslim or Christian." An independent Kosovo, he added, "is neither inevitable nor desirable."

 

Christians who are troubled by the persecution of their Church should pay heed to the bishop's warning. Without adequate legal protection and security, the Christian minority and the centuries-old legacy of the faith in Kosovo may soon become a mere memory.

 

John Couretas is director of communications for the Acton Institute.

Kosovo Albanians to open office in EU

UPI, May 24, 2006

PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro, May 24 (UPI) -- Kosovo's Prime Minister Agim Ceku has said his government will open an office at the European Union in Brussels.

Following talks with Soren Jessen-Petersen, head of the U.N. civil mission in Kosovo, Ceku said establishing an office in Brussels would facilitate Kosovo's work in addressing demands for EU integration, the Internet news agency KosovaLive reported.

Jessen-Petersen said Ceku will attend a session of the U.N. Security Council, which is to debate future standards for Serbia's Kosovo province, whose population of 1.8 million is 90 percent ethnic-Albanian.

Since February, Serbs and ethnic-Albanians have been meeting in Austria to decide who will govern Kosovo, once U.N. and NATO personnel leave the province.

Ceku and a majority of ethnic-Albanians advocate independence from Belgrade, while the Serb minority of 100,000 wishes full autonomy for their enclaves in Kosovo.

NATO aircraft crashes in Kosovo, two pilots survive

Associated Press, May 24, 2006 4:41 PM

PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro-A NATO military airplane crashed in Kosovo late Wednesday, but two pilots onboard survived, NATO-led peacekeepers and police said.

The small military aircraft crashed in the village of Mazgit, some 8 kilometers (5 miles) north of the province's capital, Pristina, and the main airport nearby, said Col. Pio Sabetta, a spokesman for the NATO-led peacekeeping force, knows as KFOR.

Situation in Kosovo still far from normal

KiM Info Newsletter 25-05-06

KIM Info-service, May 25, 2006

The following is a compilation of the 31 incidents and crimes that occurred in Kosovo and Metohija only between May 1 to May 11, 2006. This report was compiled with information from UNMIK police, the UNMIK civil administration, military liaison personnel and KFOR. So many incidents of this kind show that the security situation in Kosovo Province is still far from normal and that the non-Albanian population has many reasons to feel unsafe in the present circumstances despite all attempts of some international and Kosovo officials to say that the situation is rapidly improving.

INCIDENTS IN KOSOVO MAY 1-11, 2006

On May 1 two Kosovo Albanians were arrested in Pristina for threatening and assaulting a Kosovo Serb and Kosovo Albanian man for unknown reasons. On the same day a Kosovo Serb man reported that two unknown juveniles threw stones at him in Prizren at about 8:50 p.m. In the early morning on the same day a Kosovo Serb man fired three shots from his legally owned hunting gun at two unknown persons who broke into his cattle shed located in the village of Osojane and stole a cow. The thieves allegedly shot him twice before escaping. Finally, on May 1 an unknown person or persons stole two electrical boilers from a Kosovo Roma house located in the ethnically mixed part of Vucitrn. In another location a Kosovo Serb man reported that an unknown person or persons broke a window on his shop in the village of Priluzje.

On May 2 a Kosovo Serb woman reported that an unknown person or persons stole construction materials from her house, which is under reconstruction, in the ethnically mixed village of Podgorce. A Croatian priest of the Catholic Church reported that an unknown person or persons broke into the church and stole 14 icons in the ethnically mixed village of Letnica. Kosovo Serb monks and workers in Decani reported to a KFOR patrol that they were allegedly insulted by Kosovo Albanian passers-by. The incidents occurred after lifting restrictions on movement near Visoki Decani Monastery during the day. Finally, on this day a Kosovo Ashkali man reported that an unknown person or persons burglarized and stole several items from his garage, located in the ethnically mixed part of Mitrovica.

On May 3 an unknown person or persons broke into the stable of a Kosovo Serb man living in the village of Paralovo near Gnjilane and stole two cows. On the same day a Kosovo Serb woman reported that an unknown person or persons broke into her unoccupied house and damaged several items without stealing anything. Also on May 3 a Kosovo Serb man reported that an unknown person or persons stole two cows from his stable in the ethnically mixed village of Suvi Do.

On May 4 a police patrol reported that an unknown person or persons broke into an Orthodox church in Podujevo and damaged two windows. Nothing was reported stolen. An unknown person or persons damaged the fence and stole a monument from the Orthodox cemetery located in the ethnically mixed village of Ajvalija. On the same day an unknown person stabbed a Croatian man, a member of a musical group from Croatia, who sustained minor injury. Finally, n two separate locations, two Kosovo Serb men reported that two unknown Kosovo Albanian families occupied their apartments in Prizren located in the predominantly Kosovo Albanian part of town.

On May 5 a Kosovo Serb water supply company employee reported that an unknown person threw an unidentified explosive device at the company premises in the ethnically mixed area of Suvi Do. On May 6 a Kosovo Serb priest reported that while he was traveling with his family, two unknown persons fired three shots at his car with unknown weapons and fled the scene. A bullet penetrated the vehicle but no injury was reported. Two spent cartridges were found on the scene.

On May 8 in the ethnically mixed village of Mogila an unknown person or persons threw stones at two passing vehicles driven by Kosovo Serb men, one of them a member of the Kosovo Protection Corps. On May 9 another Kosovo Serb man reported that his car was stoned in the same area. Also on May 8 a Kosovo Bosnian [sic] woman reported that a known Kosovo Albanian man insulted and assaulted her for unknown reasons. A Kosovo Albanian family illegally re-occupied an apartment belonging to a Kosovo Serb man.

On May 9 a Bosnian male from central Serbia reported that two unknown juveniles threw stones at his truck as he was driving through a Kosovo Albanian area near Srbica and broke his windshield. On the same day several juveniles believed to be Kosovo Albanian schoolchildren threw stones at a bus with Kosovo Serb passengers in the Kosovo Albanian village of Rudnik, breaking several of the windows. A Kosovo Roma man reported that an unknown person or persons stole two lambs from his house yard in the ethnically mixed village of Vidanje. A Kosovo Serb woman reported that an unknown person or persons stole an electric water pump from her well in the ethnically mixed village of Strezovce.

On May 10 two masked men armed with an AK-47 rifle and a pistol, one of them wearing a camouflage uniform, introduced themselves as members of the banned Albanian National army to two Kosovo Albanian security guards and entered a local warehouse. The perpetrators located a truck with Serbian license plates parked inside the premises and demanded money from the Bosnian driver. After the victim refused to open the door, one of the perpetrators fired a single rifle shot at the truck cabin and then both fled the scene. The victim sustained a slight leg injury.

On the same day a Kosovo Serb man reported that an unknown person or persons had vandalized a vehicle belonging to the Kosovo Missing Persons Association parked in the street. A Kosovo Bosnian [sic] man reported in Pristina he was threatened by a Kosovo Albanian man over a property dispute. An unknown person threw a hand grenade through a window of a Kosovo Serb returnee house that was momentarily uninhabited in the ethnically mixed village of Smac. Significant damage to the interior of the house resulted.

In the Pec area Kosovo Roma children found a hand grenade nearby their house. In another location in the Decani area an unidentified explosive device was found. Finally, on May 10 a Kosovo Serb man reported that an unknown person or persons had forced his way into his unoccupied house and installed a new lock.

On May 11 at 3:30 a.m. in Grabovac near Zvecan two Kosovo Serb men suffered injuries by firearm during an armed robberyat the fuel station Gradina. Further information from police says that two masked persons armed with automatic rifles came in a vehicle from the north and fired several shots at the two young Kosovo Serb security guards, robbing them of 200 euros.

U.N. says ethnically motivated crime in Kosovo going down

Associated Press, May 24, 2006 7:21 AM

 

PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro-The United Nations mission in Kosovo said Wednesday that ethnically motivated crime is going down in this disputed province.

 

Soren Jessen-Petersen, the U.N.'s top official in Kosovo, "called on all concerned to refrain from propagating misinformation on the security situation in Kosovo, particularly with respect to the Kosovo Serb community," according to a U.N. statement.

 

"I have noted with concern periodic statements from certain quarters that risk creating a climate of fear and insecurity among the Kosovo Serbs," Jessen-Petersen said, most likely referring to Belgrade officials.

 

The United Nations has been trying to bring Kosovo's bitterly divided communities, ethnic Albanians and Serbs, closer since it took over the province's administration in 1999.

 

Crime statistics for the first quarter of 2006 reveal a marked decline in potentially ethnically motivated crimes, the U.N. said. There were 19 such incidents from January to March, compared to 72 during the first three months of 2005, the statement said.

 

This year's incidents included 12 involving Kosovo Serb victims, six involving ethnic Albanians and one involving a Kosovo Croatian victim, it said.

 

"Whereas we always deplore any attack on any citizen, statements of misleading nature are not helpful and are in fact contrary to the interests of the Kosovo Serbs," Jessen-Petersen said.

 

"This kind of misinformation not only erodes their confidence level, but has a cascading negative impact on interethnic relations."

 

Although nearly seven years have passed since the end of the war, the ethnic groups remain divided, with Kosovo Serbs mainly living in isolated enclaves fearing attacks by ethnic Albanians.

 

Talks to determine Kosovo's future are underway in Austria. Western envoys hope that some form of solution will be found by the end of 2006, which should primarily ensure the well-being of minorities, particularly Serbs.

US envoy Wisner urges Kosovo leaders to protect minority rights

SOUTHEAST EUROPEAN TIMES (USA), 24/05/2006 By Blerta Foniqi in Pristina

 

US Special Envoy for Kosovo Frank Wisner made an official visit to the province Monday. He reiterated the US stance that the final status should be solved within the year.

 

During his visit this week to Pristina, US Special Envoy for Kosovo Frank Wisner called for Kosovo's status to be resolved by the end of 2006. "The United States' view is that the solution on status should be reached within this year," Wisner said after arriving in the capital Monday (22 May).

 

Wisner also appealed to the province's leaders to ensure the protection of minorities in Kosovo and received promises from President Fatmir Sejdiu that the provisional government is committed to doing so.

 

"We promised him that our commitment towards minority rights and this issue should be addressed according to acceptable international standards," Sejdiu said.

 

The US envoy visited the village of Bablak, near the city of Stimlje, which is populated mostly by Serb returnees. He spoke with the Serb families, who told him that they need jobs. "I have one son, but none of us are working. We sowed some potatoes and tomatoes [for food]," said Ljubisha, a 65-year-old resident of a reconstructed home in the village.

 

Wisner said he was impressed by what has been done in the village. "More can be done, but only with a stronger economy. And you will have a stronger economy only when Kosovo has its political status clarified," he said.

 

While in Pristina, the US envoy also met with opposition leader Hashim Thaci, who welcomed Washington's stance on developments in the negotiations process.

 

"I am confident that if we will continue with the current commitment of implementation of standards, and be as affirmative as possible in guaranteeing the communities' rights and in guaranteeing Kosovo Serbs' rights, the trust towards Kosovar policy will increase more and more," Thaci said. Serb leader Oliver Ivanovic, as well as representatives of other ethnic communities, also met with Wisner. During their talks, Ivanovic called for separating efforts to reach an agreement on decentralisation in Kosovo from the process of determining final status.

 

"If the decentralisation process is separated from the status process, then we will have a better local administration and Serbs will have more peace," Ivanovic said. The fifth round of direct negotiations between the delegations from Belgrade and Pristina kicked off Tuesday in Vienna.

18 firms put up for sale in Kosovo's privatization bid

Associated Press, May 24, 2006 4:15 AM

 

PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro-Kosovo's authorities put up for sale patches of agricultural land, warehouses, shops and a cinema as part of privatization efforts aimed at reviving the province's economy.

 

The Kosova Trust Agency, the U.N. entity responsible for privatizing the province's enterprises, launched the 16th round of privatization Tuesday, hoping to create 30 new companies when the sales are completed, a statement from the agency said.

 

The companies were once owned by workers and managers under a system set up during communist-era Yugoslavia, and are now considered inefficient and dilapidated after years of neglect.

 

Privatization is among the most sensitive issues in Kosovo, as it is still unclear whether the province will become independent or remain part of Serbia.

 

Kosovo was placed under U.N. administration in 1999 following NATO air strikes that ended a Serb crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians.

 

Serbia's authorities, which want to maintain some control over Kosovo, have fiercely opposed the privatizations, while Kosovo's ethnic Albanian authorities are eager to sell hundreds of such assets, in hopes of opening investment opportunities and creating jobs.

Serbs, ethnic Albanians agree on protection of Serb religious sites in Kosovo

Associated Press, May 23, 2006 12:31 PM

 

VIENNA, Austria-Ethnic Albanian and Serbian officials agreed Tuesday on basic elements on how to protect Kosovo's cultural and religious sites, particularly in parts of the province dominated by ethnic Albanians.

 

"There are a number of conceptual differences, but there was a far-reaching agreement on the protection of religious sites," said Albert Rohan, a Austrian diplomat and a U.N.-appointed mediator for the talks.

 

He said both delegations agreed on the issue of "physical protection" of Serbian Orthodox religious sites in the province and on protection zones that would be guarded by international peacekeepers.

 

Serbs consider Kosovo to be the cradle of their civilization, and key Serbian religious and historical sites are located there, and are currently being guarded by NATO peacekeepers.

 

In March 2004, the holy sites were targeted in anti-Serb riots that left more than 30 medieval churches and monasteries damaged or destroyed. That year, UNESCO designated the Visoki Decani monastery, the largest and the best preserved medieval monastery in the province, a World Heritage site.

 

"Every destroyed religious site must be rebuilt ... with experts from UNESCO and the EU," Rohan said.

 

Under the tentative deal, Serbian Orthodox dioceses in Kosovo would have the right to maintain special ties with the Patriarchate in Belgrade, to enjoy tax privileges, freedom of movement and the right to run other affairs.

 

"We've found some agreeable points at least on practical matters ... but this is just the first meeting about this issue," said Leon Kojen, a key Serbian negotiator.

 

Serbs negotiators have also tried to link the protection of Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries with the autonomy of Serbian minority in the province, something ethnic Albanian side opposed.

 

"We were opposed to the proposal about linking cultural heritage with the decentralization issue," said Ylber Hysa, a Kosovo Albanian negotiator.

 

Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations and patrolled by international peacekeepers since a 1999 NATO air war halted a crackdown by Serb forces on separatist ethnic Albanians. About 100,000 Serbs remain in Kosovo, living mostly in enclaves protected by peacekeepers. More than 200,000 Serbs and other non-Albanians fled after the war, fearing reprisals by ethnic Albanians, and only a trickle have returned.

 

Three top Serbian Orthodox bishops, including Bishop Artemije, who is responsible for a diocese in central Kosovo, were also participating in the talks.

 

Rohan said a Serbian proposal for restitution of church property confiscated by communists after World War II had also failed.

 

Tuesday's meeting follows four rounds of largely deadlocked discussions on reforming Kosovo's local government and allowing the province's Serb minority to run their own affairs in areas in where they form a majority.

 

Rohan said the deadlock was the result of "lack of political will on both sides."

 

"We urged the Serbian prime minister and Kosovo side for a bit of flexibility," he said.

 

The discussions are part of a United Nations-led effort aimed at steering the two sides toward settling the province's status by the end of the year. U.N. mediators led by former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari are expected to call in July for direct talks on the province's future.

 

Kosovo remains formally part of Serbia, but its ethnic Albanian majority wants independence, while Serbs want Belgrade to retain control.

 

Rohan said the next round of talks on economic issues would be held in Vienna on May 31.

Macedonia - Kosovo - Serbia Axis: a Hidden Crisis

 AXIS INFORMATION AND ANALYSIS, 3.05.2006 By Can Karpat, AIA Balkan Section

 

Albanian Party in Macedonia promotes the "Almakos" project, a Benelux-like trade union, which would unite Albania, Macedonia and Kosovo. Serbian Radical Party already announced the opening of a branch in Macedonia. The Macedonian Orthodox Church and Serbian Orthodox Church are still far from making peace. And now the Macedonian government decided to negotiate the border issue with Pristina - despite Belgrade. Will Skopje risk its good relations with Belgrade for the sake of upcoming elections...

 

Electoral cacophony in Macedonia

 

The electoral heat has already embraced Macedonia. Albanian Party for Democratic Prosperity (PDP) promotes the "Almakos" project, a sort of Balkan Benelux, which will unite Albania, Macedonia and, if independent, Kosovo. Almakos is an acronym formed from the first syllables of these countries' names.

 

In the framework of the border dispute and Kosovo negotiations, Almakos raises doubts whether the project in question is as innocent as it seems. PDP President Abdulhadi Vejseli assures that this is supposed to be just a trade union: "We have promoted the idea for the creating of a trade union between Albania, Macedonia and Kosovo. This is a union for education, culture and science between the three countries because the investments in a union comprising 8 or 10 million are much more palpable for the foreign investors than a country of 2 million, and that is why it is good for this idea of ours to be debated by those who know how to analyse and think properly".

 

The Almakos project will be the central point of PDP's electoral campaign. Some Macedonian analysts see behind the Almakos Union a hidden "Greater Albania" scheme. However the fact that the other two Albanian parties in Macedonia, Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) and Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA) reject the idea weakens this claim. It is known that the autonomist DPA and the moderate PDP are bitter rivals. DPA considers the Almakos proposal as PDP's "pre-election marketing". According to the Macedonian Institute for Sociologic, Juridical Research's poll conducted in April, PDP is one of the last options for many voters in July elections. Almakos is just a political propaganda tool for PDP.

 

PDP is not the one, which contributes to the general electoral cacophony in Macedonia. After the visit of Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Ceku to Skopje, Macedonian Prime Minister Vlado Buckovski stated the "administrative border" between Macedonia and Kosovo must be confirmed as a "state border" by experts from both sides at a more appropriate moment. However Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski stressed that there is nothing to negotiate, for the northern border of Macedonia is already a "state border" and recognised as such by the international community.

 

Buckovski's Social Democratic Alliance of Macedonia (SDSM) is one of the favourites in the upcoming elections. Obviously SDSM winks at the Albanian minority in Macedonia, which makes up no less than 19.2 of the population. It is known that neither Kosovo Albanians nor Macedonian Albanians are satisfied with the Serbia-Macedonia border demarcation agreement of 2001. It is also true that many Macedonians still consider the northern border as a potential threat for country's stability. If Buckovski can fix the border, this will be a precious point for his party.

 

This picture gives the impression that the Macedonian government favours Pristina rather than Belgrade. Belgrade highly disapproves that Skopje discusses the border issue with Pristina. While Crvenkovski himself warns that Macedonia should keep the balance right with both Serbia and Kosovo, Buckovski's ambiguous handling of the situation may play into the hands of Macedonian nationalists, who are sceptical towards the Kosovo question and Albanians in general.

 

Macedonian Quislings?

 

Amongst the "three wolves" of the Macedonian question, namely Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia, Macedonia is at the best terms with the latter. The two countries have good diplomatic and economic relations.

 

Yet, there is one problem, which comes up to the surface every now and then: the question of the Macedonian Orthodox Church. In 1959, in order to underscore the Macedonian ethnic individuality, Belgrade forced the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC) to accept the existence of a Macedonian Orthodox Church (MOC). In 1967, MOC declared itself autocephalous and separated from SOC. Until the end of communism, MOC enjoyed a more favoured position than any other churches in Yugoslavia. Yet immediately after the collapse of communism, SOC, arguing that it had been forced by anti-canonical methods (communist pressure) to accept MOC, entered in a bitter conflict with the latter. MOC's self-proclaimed autocephaly is not officially recognised by other Orthodox churches still today.

 

Is it just a question of church? Is MOC really schismatic, or do other Orthodox Churches use religion as a political tool? After all, there is still a big debate over the authenticity of the Macedonian nationality. Many Macedonians consider the non-recognition of their church as the non-recognition of their nation. Macedonia's quest for independence and security has long been linked to the cause of an independent church. Archbishopric of Ohrid, SOC's embattled autonomous branch in Macedonia, is often seen as "house of Serbian conspiracy". Archbishop Jovan was sentenced to 18-month of imprisonment in July 2005 on charges of "inciting national, racial and religious hatred, schism and intolerance". After spending 220 days in the central prison of Idrizovo in Skopje, he was released in March this year. Archbishop Jovan was a bishop of MOC before he quitted in 2002 to join the Serbs, who appointed him as Archbishop of Ohrid under the tutelage of the Patriarchate of Pec (SOC's centre in Pec, Kosovo). Because he is not a Serb, but a Macedonian, the Macedonian side has always regarded him as a "Serbian Quisling".

 

There are some 35.000 Serbs living in Macedonia, mainly in the northern region of the country (2002 est.). The Serbian Orthodox community and their church are refused registration. Archbishop Jovan insists that the Macedonian religious law must be changed. Although all of its clergy are Macedonians, the Archbishopric has little support from the Orthodox Macedonians, which largely prefers MOC.

 

Last April, Serbian Radical Party (SRS) announced the opening of a branch in Macedonia. Radical Party of Serbs in Macedonia tries to obtain registration. Some link the Radicals' drive for registration with the church rows between SOC and MOC. According to Dragan Nikolic, a publisher, "The [Serb] Orthodox Ohrid Archdiocese and the emerging Radical party are part of the same project, only with actors wearing different clothes", adding that "the establishment of a [SRS] branch in another country objectively means they do not recognise this country. If nothing else, it means they have aspirations towards Macedonia".

 

As early as 1991, SRS leader Vojislav Seselj declared that "Macedonia has always been the Serb territory. Macedonians, Muslims and Montenegrins are fictitious nations". Is then another Quisling on the way?

 

There are many ethnic Serbian parties in Macedonia. The main Serbian party is Ivan Stoiljkovic's Democratic Party of Serbs (DPS), which is also part of the ruling coalition. Local Serbs, though, are not satisfied with DPS' work. The small size of the Serbian minority and their difficult relations with the Albanian minority put the former in a difficult position. Yet, Macedonia's Serbs had never a history of rebellion against the Macedonian government, except for the period of the Kosovo War when the Serbs accused the government of being pro-Albanian. That is why Ferid Muhic, professor of philosophy at Skopje University warns that "parties that held fascistic or hard-line racist ideologies could always find ways to stir up confrontation and uproar. At a time when the decision on the final status of Kosovo is approaching, one cannot rule out this scenario".

 

Macedonian Radicals freely admit regular contacts with SRS and do not hide the fact that they have organised rallies of Serbs from Macedonia in Serbia in support of Vojislav Seselj, Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic.

 

For a minority, which makes up only 1.78 percent of a country's population, the current number of ethnic-based Serbian parties is already too much. Yet, in the current context of upcoming elections in Macedonia, border dispute, religious question and Kosovo negotiations, any radicalisation of the Serbian electorate in Macedonia can play into the hands of the Radicals in Serbia proper. According to a recent poll, support for SRS is as high as 38 percent in Serbia. By introducing a branch into a neighbouring country, does SRS try to prepare the future "domino effect" in case Kosovo becomes independent?

Serbs, ethnic Albanians meet to discuss protection of Serb religious sites in Kosovo

Associated Press, May 23, 2006 4:36 AM

 

VIENNA, Austria-Ethnic Albanian and Serbian officials met for the fifth time in Vienna on Tuesday to discuss the protection and survival of Kosovo's cultural and religious sites, particularly in parts of the province dominated by ethnic Albanians.

 

The talks also were focusing on the legal status of the Serbian Orthodox Church's dioceses in the province.

 

"We want religious autonomy for Kosovo Serbs and special ties of the Serbian Orthodox Church's (dioceses) with Belgrade," said Leon Kojen, a Serb negotiator, ahead of the talks. Serbs consider Kosovo to be the cradle of their civilization, and key Serbian religious and historical sites are located there, and are currently being guarded by NATO peacekeepers.

 

Ylber Hysa, who leads the ethnic Albanian delegation to the Vienna talks, pledged a "partnership approach."

 

"We want to see churches and all historical sites protected," he said.

 

In March 2004, the holy sites were targeted in anti-Serb riots that left more than 30 medieval churches and monasteries damaged or destroyed. That year, UNESCO designated the Visoki Decani monastery, the largest and the best preserved medieval monastery in the province, a World Heritage site.

 

Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations and patrolled by international peacekeepers since a 1999 NATO air war halted a crackdown by Serb forces on separatist ethnic Albanians. About 100,000 Serbs remain in Kosovo, living mostly in enclaves protected by peacekeepers. More than 200,000 Serbs and other non-Albanians fled after the war, fearing reprisals by ethnic Albanians, and only a trickle have returned.

 

Three top Serbian Orthodox bishops, including Bishop Artemije, who is responsible for a diocese in central Kosovo, were also participating in the talks.

 

Another Serbian negotiator, Dusan Batakovic, said his delegation also would demand the restitution of church property confiscated by communists after World War II, in accordance with Serbian laws.

 

Tuesday's meeting follows four rounds of largely deadlocked discussions on reforming Kosovo's local government and allowing the province's Serb minority to run their own affairs in areas in where they form a majority.

 

Batakovic accused Kosovo's Albanians of "offering nothing more than empty words."

 

"We are not receiving any guarantees that our people in the province will be protected," he said.

 

The discussions are part of a United Nations-led effort aimed at steering the two sides toward settling the province's status by the end of the year. U.N. mediators led by Former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari are expected to call in July for direct talks on the province's future.

 

Kosovo remains formally part of Serbia, but its ethnic Albanian majority wants independence, while Serbs want Belgrade to retain control.

Kosovo veterans' leader rejects changes to law on protection of war values

BBC Monitoring, May 22, 2006

Text of report in English by independent internet news agency KosovaLive

Prishtina [Pristina], 19 May: The Kosova [Kosovo] Liberation Army [UCK] war associations said during a meeting with the minister of labour and social welfare, Ibrahim Selmanaj, that they will not allow amendment to the law on status and rights of war veterans approved by the parliament.

The head of the UCK War Veterans' Associations [ShVL], Sherif Krasniqi, said that the changes damage substantially Kosova's political cause and the status.

He called on Minister Ibrahim Selmanaj and other institutions to be united in rejection of changes of terminology, "because it is not changed just the terminology, but also the policy for resolving the status".

Minister Selmanaj stressed importance of the law approved by the parliament, adding that it has harmonized the policy of the government and opposition institutional recognition of war values.

Source: KosovaLive website, Pristina, in English 19 May 06