Kosovo News and Views: June 2006

Empire's False Concern

ANTIWAR (USA), Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Balkan Express by Nebojsa Malic

Just when one thinks the Empire is not capable of any further hypocrisy, word comes from Brussels that the mandarins of the EUSSR are "a little worried" about Serbia.

Come again? After 15 years of demonizing the Serbs, blaming them for every incident of violence in the Balkans, bombing them in two countries and overseeing their ethnic cleansing from three, replacing the government of Serbia with a quisling regime, then treating the quislings like dirt, the Empire is a little worried the Serbs might feel a bit resentful? Such piercing insight has not been seen in Washington and Brussels since the Iraq war was predicted to be a "cakewalk."

"Losing" Serbia

The observation was first made by Douglas Hamilton of Reuters, in an analysis dated June 15, titled "Serbia On the Ropes Has the West a Little Worried." Addressing the aftermath of Montenegro's secession, Hamilton says, "Setbacks and dashed hopes are part of the daily news diet here, but the past six weeks were exceptional even by Serbian standards." Between the loss of Montenegro and the oft-announced impending independence of occupied Kosovo, there are fears Serbs are becoming hostile to the West.

Not satisfied with stating the obvious, Hamilton backs it up with patent falsehoods: "The U.S. and EU do not want Serbia reverting to chauvinism. They want it embedded in the West, not on the ropes, or at bay, or off the reservation in a region known for radical solutions."

Hamilton's "analysis" was followed up three days later by Daniel Dombey and Neil MacDonald of the Financial Times, who wrote that "European Union diplomats also fear Russian backing for hardliners in Serbia who question the need - or the inevitability - of a 'European future' for southeastern Europe." And what better way to underscore the supposed benefits of that need and inevitability, then through the fact that "the world's big powers intend to resolve [Kosovo's] 'final status' and largely favor independence for the ethnic Albanian majority."

From what Hamilton, Dombey, and MacDonald are saying, clearly any resentment for the West in Serbia is a result of Russian meddling and irrational Serbian hatred of goodness, and is in no way, shape, or form related to U.S. and EU policies in Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, and Kosovo.

Reaping What You Sow

The consensus in both Washington and the European capitals for the past 15 years or so has been that Serbia was to blame for all the Balkan conflicts and instability. As a result, both the U.S. and the EU have supported every other nationalist movement in the region that sought to achieve its goals at Serb expense.

Slovenian separatists pitched their 1991 secession as an escape from "Communist Serbia," even though it was the rest of Yugoslavia they scorned as well. Franjo Tudjman's regime in Croatia was able to blatantly violate UN resolutions and an armistice it signed, destroying the Serb community in that country almost completely during the 1995 military operation directly backed by the U.S. In Bosnia, Islamic fundamentalist Alija Izetbegovic was able to secure international support for his usurpation of the government and declaration of independence that started a civil war with Serb and Croat communities; through sleight of hand, over 60 percent of Bosnia's inhabitants (Serbs, Croats, Jews) were declared interlopers, and the Muslim population became "Bosnians," somehow entitled to all of the land and the right to self-determination while others had neither. In Macedonia, which also seceded in 1992 but - unlike Izetbegovic's regime - honored its treaty with Belgrade about the withdrawal of the old Yugoslav military and thus avoided war, a small contingent of UN peacekeepers was deployed for years to prevent war, right on the border with Serbia. When the war finally came, it was across the Albanian border.

In 1997, Washington and Brussels got another "ally" in the region when the former Communist apparatchik Milo Djukanovic decided it was far more profitable to side with the Empire than with Belgrade. His campaign for Montenegrin independence, in the course of which the ethnic identity, history, and culture of Montenegro's people has been systematically distorted, falsified, and denied, received enthusiastic support and lavish funding from the West.

After almost a decade of tacit support for Albanian separatists in the Serbian province of Kosovo, in 1998 the U.S. and some European capitals backed a terrorist movement that sought to achieve Kosovo's separation by force - the KLA. An orchestrated diplomatic and media campaign of demonization described Serbia's anti-terrorism campaign as "genocidal" and resulted in a blatantly illegal NATO invasion in 1999. The subsequent occupation of Kosovo, technically by the UN but in practice by NATO, has seen systematic violence against the lives, property, and culture of non-Albanians, Serbs in particular. Despite being in complete control of the province, neither NATO nor the UN have shown any inclination to stop, condemn, or reverse the consequences of this violence, the result of which is a 90-percent-plus Albanian majority that "democratically" demands independence and treats the remaining Serbs like the kaffirs of apartheid South Africa. Furthermore, Washington and Brussels have also backed armed Albanian groups in Macedonia and inner Serbia (Presevo valley), despite their terrorist tactics.

Evidence clearly shows that the collapse of Yugoslavia in the 1990s and afterwards was not a consequence of some imaginary "Serbian aggression," but a pattern of Imperial aggression seeking to "balkanize" the region through the creation of compliant mini-states.

Kosovo, Again

Any people, anywhere in the world, facing this set of circumstances would be hostile to the Empire several times over. In fact, there are nations that ferociously hate the United States over far less. The Serbs do not, however - not yet, anyway.

What characterizes both the Financial Times and Reuters analysis is a distinct cognitive dissonance - the utter and total inability to make the obvious causal connection between U.S./EU policy in the region and Serb sentiment.

A good illustration of the absurd universe inhabited by the Western press is Nicholas Wood of the New York Times, who wrote on June 12 that the occupied Serb province of Kosovo was likely to become independent soon: "Diplomats who represent the United States and Britain in the talks say they believe that the only solution Kosovo's ethnic Albanians will accept is independence."

Wood also repeats the figure of 10,000 supposedly killed in Kosovo, specifically referring to them as "mostly ethnic Albanian civilians." He also refers to the Bosnian Serb Republic as "the area seized by Bosnian Serb forces during the 1992-1995 war," and sees nothing incongruous with reporting that Kosovo Albanians are protesting the "separatist" moves of Kosovo Serbs, who are trying to organize local defenses against daily terror attacks committed by Albanians.

Yes, clearly, the Serbs are the separatists in Kosovo.

Here's the truly mind-boggling part. Reuters' Hamilton quotes former U.S. ambassador to Serbia William Montgomery, who says the events in Montenegro made the Serbs "less cooperative, more negative, and more aggressive . at the very time the West needs their cooperation on Kosovo, whose 90-percent ethnic Albanian majority is expected to get independence this year with or without Serb approval."

If "the West" doesn't care about Serb approval, why would it need Serb cooperation?! And if such cooperation was really needed, why did the West support the separation of Montenegro, knowing what sort of reaction it would produce in Serbia? Why has it continued to browbeat Serbia on every occasion, demanding ever more and offering absolutely nothing? Surely, this is the worst experiment in persuasion, well, ever.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

That Serbia today is weak, confused, and angry, Brussels and Washington have only themselves to blame. A decade of sanctions, threats, aggression, occupation, humiliation, extortion, and false promises would have tested anyone's patience. For a decade, everything was said to be Slobodan Milosevic's fault; but in 2000, Milosevic was deposed, and Serbia's subsequent rulers have been downright sycophantic toward the Empire ever since. But if anything, Serbia has been kicked around even more, and the demonization of Serbs in the Western mainstream has gotten even worse. The brief hope in the aftermath of 9/11 that America's awakening to the danger of Islamic terrorism would help change some of its Balkan policies was crushed shortly thereafter. No matter how many demands of the "international community" the government in Belgrade fulfills, often at the expense of its own sovereignty and laws, all it ever gets is more demands, and comparisons with either Wilhelmine or Nazi Germany. For a nation that has suffered greatly at the hands of both, it is the paramount insult to go along with its grave injuries.

Contrary to propaganda, Serbia has always sought a relationship with the West. Milosevic tried to deal with the West as an equal partner in an international system governed by law, not realizing that such an attitude marked him as "uppity" in the New World (dis)Order. His successors tried a groveling approach, to no greater effect. The appeals of Kostunica and Tadic for "partnership" and "reciprocity" fall on deaf ears in Washington and Brussels, who expect nothing short of unquestioned obedience.

This expectation will not change, despite the "concerns" in Brussels. Pressure will continue to force Serbia to accept the separation of Kosovo, assume responsibility for the 1990s wars, and obey any demands of the Hague Inquisition. No government in Belgrade can survive this sort of policy for long; the fact that Kostunica has done so illustrates his remarkable political dexterity, but without any actual achievements beyond staying in power, he will be doomed come next election. Both Brussels and Washington are keenly aware of this.

The question, then, is why the continued flogging of Serbia, if it's bound to bring the Radicals to power? And the only logical answer is that to the Empire, it makes absolutely no difference whether the government in Belgrade is "tyrannical" or "democratic," "ultranationalist" or "pro-Western." To those who desire to "solve the Serbian question" by crushing Serbia, both sycophancy and defiance will be treated with equal hatred and contempt.

Once the people of Serbia understand they have nothing to gain by crawling before the Empire, and nothing to lose by resisting its dictates, they will see the clarity of the choice facing them. Standing against the Empire does not mean "going against the whole world." Bowing to it does.

Orthodox cemetery in Staro Gracko near Lipljan desecrated

KIM Info Newsletter 21-06-06

Radio KIM, Caglavica, June 20, 2006
www.kimradio.net

Unknown persons have destroyed 16 gravestones at the Orthodox cemetery in Staro Gracko near Lipljan, KIM Radio has learned.

Staro Gracko representative Zoran Cirkovic told KIM Radio that farmers from the village noticed the destroyed gravestones this morning. "We will request a meeting with KFOR representatives where we will ask them to tell us whether they are finally going to start providing us with protection or to tell us that there is no life for us here and that we must leave," said Cirkovic.

Kosovo Police Service deputy spokesman Ranko Stanojevic confirmed that the incident occurred but could not provide any further details. Members of the KPS are currently on the scene and they are not allowing anyone to enter the cemetery.

KIM Radio has learned from a source present at the KPS investigation that 16 gravestones have been destroyed, and that the graves of the Stojanovic, Lalic, Djordjevic and Sabic families have suffered the most damage and desecration.

The representative of the Serb community in Lipljan municipality, Borivoje Vignjevic, confirmed for KIM Radio that the gravestones in Staro Gracko have been destroyed. "It is impossible to say what the exact number is at this time but it is estimated that at least 15 gravestones have been destroyed. These were for the most part gravestones that were placed after the murder of the fourteen harvesters in Staro Gracko."

Two days before Memorial Saturday, on June 8, locals found a landmine in the cemetery in Staro Gracko which was removed by members of KFOR. It is assumed that the landmine was planted before Memorial Saturday so that it would explode when the family members of the deceased came to visit the graves of their loved ones.

Staro Gracko is the Serb village where Albanian extremists massacred 14 Serb harvesters on July 23, 1999. The perpetrators still have not been found. The Serb village is completely encircled by Albanian villages.

Serbian Orthodox Church authorities strongly condemned the vandalism on the Serbian Orthodox cemetery in Staro Gracko. After 1999 and the beginning of the UN Mission in Kosovo hundreds of Serbian Cemeteries throughout the Province have been desecrated or turned into garbage lots. Thousands of crosses were broken or smashed into pieces. On several locations the bones of the dead were scattered out.

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Families of kidnapped Serbs from Kosovo protest in Gracanica

KIM Radio, Caglavica, June 20, 2006
www.kimradio.net

The families of kidnapped and murdered persons from Kosovo and Metohija protested today in the center of Gracanica, demanding that the international community and Serbian authorities shed light on the fate of their loved ones. Today's protest was held in commemoration of the day eight years ago when 10 Serb workers were kidnapped from the strip mine of Belacevac near Obilic. The protesters carried signs saying "We are looking for our loved ones" and photographs of the missing members of their families.

The president of the Association of Kidnapped and Missing Persons from Kosovo and Metohija, Simo Spasic, demanded that international representatives in Kosovo end their silence and tell them what happened to the Serbs who were abducted, urging them not to hide the fact that they were killed from the families but to turn over their bodies. Spasic also demanded that the perpetrators of those crimes be found and brought to justice.

The protest gathering in Gracanica was attended by several dozen people and took place without incident. Security was provided by members of the Kosovo Police Service.

Serb returnee killed in central Kosovo

Associated Press, Tuesday, June 20, 2006 2:54 PM

PRISTINA, Serbia-A Serb returnee was found shot dead inside his house in a central Kosovo town Tuesday, police and Serb officials said.

The 68 year-old Serb, identified as Dragan Popovic, was discovered by police after the officers received a report of a body found in a house in the town of Klina, 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of Kosovo's capital, Pristina, Kosovo's police said in a statement.

Police and Serbian sources told the Associated Press that Popovic was shot in the neck and discovered dead by his neighbor early Tuesday in his house.

He was last seen late Monday returning to his home from a shop. Nothing was touched in the house, the Serb officials said.

An investigating team from the main police headquarters, consisting of local and U.N. police officers, were dispatched to the scene to conduct an investigation. Police have no suspects and have not yet established a motive for the apparent killing.

Several Serbs have returned to Klina recently, after fleeing the aftermath of the province's 1998-1999 war fearing attacks by ethnic Albanian extremists seeking to revenge for thousands of dead following Serb forces crackdown in Kosovo.

Though Kosovo's leadership has invited Serbs to come back to their original homes in the province, some ethnic Albanians remain hostile to their return.

Separately, vandals damaged sixteen graveside monuments in the Serb village of Staro Gracko, 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of the province's capital, Pristina, police said.

A Serb government-run center in Kosovo, quoting local Serb representatives, said a group got into the cemetery early Tuesday and vandalized the monuments, leaving behind broken crosses, benches and pots for flowers and candles.

Kosovo has been run by a United Nations mission since 1999, when a NATO air war halted Serb forces' crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians.

U.N.-brokered talks are under way to determine whether Kosovo will become an independent state, as the ethnic Albanians demand, or remain attached to Serbia, as the province's minority Serbs insist.

Council for Human Rights from Pristina is justifying attacks on Christian sites

KiM Info Newsletter 20-06-06

KIM Info-service, Decani, June 19, 2006. god

Bishop Teodosije of Lipljan strongly condemned the statement by the Council for Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms (CPHRF) from Pristina which claims that there had been no attack on the church of the Holy Virgin Mary (Theotokos) in Obilic after March riots 2004. The statement published yesterday by the CPHRF claims that the news on the vandalism in the Obilic church are "not true" and that "this was one more attempt by Serbian media to create atmosphere of fear, hatred and intolerance in Kosovo".

Bishop Teodosije, who is the member of the Reconstruction and Implementation Commission led by the CoE gave the following statement for the media regarding the CPHRF statement:

"The most recent attack on the Serbian Orthodox church of the Holy Virgin (Theotokos) in Obilic really happened and we have confirmation for this and testimonies of several persons who saw the church after the attack and made photos on which crosses on lateral domes are not visible any more. Also additional damage is visible on the tin roof and the metal gutter. These photos have already been published by the KIM Info-service and other media. According to KIM Radio journalists they could still see the ladder which the attackers used to vandalize the church and take away the crosses. Serb representative from Obilic Mr. Mirce Jakovljevic confirmed the incident and called for concrete actions to prevent further attacks on Serbian property in Obilic municipality.

I am the SOC member of the Reconstruction and Implementation Commission (RIC) which is coordinating the process of reconstruction of Serbian Orthodox sites damaged in March riots 2004. The church in Obilic is on the list of these sites (by mistake it is attributed on the list to Archangel Michael). The RIC is in possession of many photos of this church. In autumn 2005. repairs were made on the church in RIC organization by TRIOKORP company. The supervisors of the works were Zoran Garic and Nijazi Haliti, both members of the RIC. It was planned that the church yard should also be fenced and quite logically there were no plans for placing the new crosses because they were never removed during. A series of photos made after the riots in March 2004, and particularly in autumn 2005 show very clearly that the crosses on lateral domes were in place until this most recent attack. Therefore the statements that the crosses were allegedly taken away and destroyed in March riots 2004 and that there has been no attacks on the church recently are simply untrue.

The press release by the Council for protection of human rights and freedoms from Pristina in which it is said that there have been no attacks on this church since the March riots 2004 is a scandalous attempt to justify the violence against Christian sites in Kosovo. In fact, it is exactly this statement that contributes to "creation of atmosphere of hatred and intolerance". Instead to impartially get involved in documenting human rights abuses and struggling against ethnically and religiously motivated violence the Council is regrettably blatantly justifying attacks such as this one in Obilic and additionally compromises its reputation and name. Therefore the Church expects a public apology from the Council for this preposterous claim. At the same time we expect from international and Kosovo institutions not only verbal condemnations of this vandalism (because this will hardly change anything) but to do their best to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice.

I am taking this opportunity, with regret I must admit, to say that the last year's attacks on the Church of the Holy Virgin of Ljevis in Prizren have not only remained at large and unpunished but the alleged KPS investigation dismissed the entire case with a totally unconvincing explanation that 150 square meters of the lead roof from this 14th century Cathedral were removed "by children". From well informed international sources, which shared the information with us under the request of anonymity, the theft of the lead roof in Prizren was organized by a local company which has "powerful protectors" among some Kosovo authorities and that the stolen lead was immediately after sold in Albania. Such irresponsible behavior of local institutions and the KPS in Prizren is hardly contributing to the better future of Kosovo".

Bishop Teodosije announced that he would inform the RIC personally with this latest attack on the church in Obilic and ask what UNMIK and Kosovo institutions may do in order to prevent further destruction of Serbian Orthodox sites in Kosovo.

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Council for protection of human rights from Pristina - The church is not vandalized

PRISTINA, June 19, 2006. (Beta News Agency)

The Council for protection of human rights and freedoms from Pristina (CPHRF) advised today that the information on vandalizing of the Orthodox church in Obilic "are not true".

In the statement of the Council in which the last week's attack on two British tourists in the village of Babaloc (Decani Municipality) is condemned, it is said that the news on the attack on the Orthodox church in Obilic "is a part of the false information campaign of Serbian media".

"The false information by media in Serbian language, which were hastily and without confirmation of the true situation carried in public are one more attempt of these media to create an atmosphere of fear, hatred and intolerance in Kosovo, particularly in settlements inhabited by Serbian population", it is said in the statement.

It is further said in the CPHRF statement that "this is not the first time that the public is falsely informed by inventing attacks and alleged damage, or by prejudicing suspicious cases and their motives".

The Council emphasized that the Orthodox church in Obilic was damaged during the March riots in 2004 and that "after that no vandalism has occurred".

EU Assistance to Kosovo passes €1 billion mark

RELIEF WEB (SWITZERLAND)

Source: European Union (EU)

Date: 16 Jun 2006

Pristina, Kosovo – The European Agency for Reconstruction has now contracted more than €1 billion in EU assistance projects to support reconstruction and development in Kosovo. The Agency, set up by the EU in 2000 to manage its assistance programme, has contracted 93 per cent and spent 87 per cent of its cumulative portfolio of 1.07 billion in EU funds for Kosovo for 2000-05.

"This is a significant achievement in delivering EU assistance efficiently, and I believe our efforts have made a considerable difference in the day-to-day lives of the people of Kosovo," said Thierry Bernard-Guele, head of the Agency's Pristina office. "Anyone who remembers Kosovo in 1999 knows how far it has come," he added.

The European Union responded quickly to the crisis in mid-1999 to help Kosovo get back on its feet. The European Commission's Kosovo Task Force was deployed virtually on the heels of the NATO-led Kosovo Force, in an effort to quickly stabilise the still-volatile situation.

When a few months later the European Council decided to set up the European Agency for Reconstruction, the focus of the work was on much needed physical reconstruction of Kosovo's infrastructure ruined by years of neglect and damaged during the conflict.

The Agency managed to provide housing for 120,000 vulnerable people, improved the water supply for 800,000 people, repaired kilometres of roads and bridges and helped dozens of municipalities fix their infrastructure. The EU funded the rehabilitation of coalmines and refurbished Kosovo's main power plant. Crucial work was also done on improving the environment.

"As soon as you leave the airport, you travel on one of our roads; you pass town halls that have been efurbished, the new government building, the university campus, and many more such examples, which are all part of the EU's contribution," said Thierry Bernard-Guele.

The focus of the Agency's work in Kosovo has shifted from physical infrastructure projects to the less visible, but equally important, effort to help Kosovo establish a modern, democratic society. Today the EU funds technical assistance programmes for various public institutions from government ministries to courts and auditing bodies.

"The commitment and hard work of the government and people receiving assistance contributes to the successful implementation of EU projects," Bernard-Guele said.

The European Agency for Reconstruction is currently managing more than €150 million in ongoing projects for Kosovo to build the capacity of Kosovo's Provisional Institutions of Self-Government (PISG) to develop EU compatible policies and strategies, enhance economic development and the rule of law, and support the further transfer of responsibilities from UNMIK to Kosovo's institutions.

Church vandalised in Obilic

Beta news agency, Belgrade, June 19, 2006

OBILIC -- Unknown vandals demolished a church in the centre of Obilic, Kosovo and Metohija Radio reported.

According to reports, four crosses were removed from the church and taken, as was the chimney on the right side of the church and part of the roofing.

Municipal Coordinator in Obilic Mirce Jakovljevic said that this is yet another attack on everything that is Serbian in Obilic. Jakovljevic said that the church vandalism is yet another argument that proves that the international community cannot and does not have the power to stop such acts.

"This is further evidence that Serbs need new municipalities in order to stay here. If this does not happen, then villages such as Obilic will be ethnically clean very soon. We are questioning whether KFOR is prepared to secure safety and security for us and our children." Jakovljevic said.

No one from the Kosovo Police Service was willing to comment on the incident. This same church in Obilic was set on fire on March 18, 2004.

Kosovo Serbs Recruit Former Soldiers for Defense

DEFENSE NEWS (USA), Posted 06/20/06 12:10 By BRANISLAV KRSTIC, REUTERS, MITROVICA, SERBIA

Serbs in northern Kosovo have recruited hundreds of former Yugoslav army soldiers to defend them from attacks by ethnic Albanians pushing for independence for the province, Serb officials said on June 20.

It is the latest sign of resistance among the Serb minority in the United Nations-run province to the drive for independence by the two million ethnic Albanian majority. U.N.-led talks look likely to give Kosovo some form of independence before year-end.

Officials in the north, home to 50,000 Serbs, said 385 former Yugoslav reservists had been employed by municipalities to "organize defense in the event of extremist violence."

"We have been forced into such a move because of police ineffectiveness, and the cover-up of crimes and their perpetrators," Zvecan mayor Dragisa Milovic told Reuters. Officially, the "Civil Defence Service" will not be armed.

The north, adjacent to central Serbia, cut ties last month with Albanian authorities in the capital -- a move some analysts said was a precursor to a Serb bid to partition the province.

The Serb police and army, then the Yugoslav army under late strongman Slobodan Milosevic, were forced from Kosovo in 1999 when NATO bombed to halt the killing and ethnic cleansing of Albanian civilians in a two-year war with separatist guerrillas.

Around half the Serb population fled a wave of revenge attacks. The 100,000 who stayed live on the margins of society.

Kosovo's outgoing U.N. governor, Soren Jessen-Petersen, will tell the U.N. Security Council on June 20 that Kosovo Albanian leaders have made strides in improving the rights and security of the remaining Serbs -- something U.N. and Western diplomats say is key to clinching independence.

The Serbs say this is a lie and blame a recent spate of violence on Albanians bent on driving them out.

Jessen-Petersen, in a report seen in advance by Reuters, will say the rate of ethnically-motivated crime is falling.

Direct talks on Kosovo's fate began in February in Vienna under U.N. mediation. The crunch issue of status should be on the table in late July, with Western powers determined to end seven years of limbo in Kosovo by the end of the year.

Diplomats say the West favors independence, but fear a bid by Serbs in the north to partition Kosovo, a move seen certain to spark Albanian retaliation and force thousands to flee.

The U.N. has contingency plans for the exodus of 50,000 Serbs if Kosovo splits from Serbia. The 17,000-strong NATO peace force said this month it would bolster mobile units in the north by reopening a military base there.

Troubling storm clouds linger over the Balkans

THE DAILY STAR (LEBANON), Tuesday, June 20, 2006

COMMENTARY By Jiri Dienstbier

Serbia's long tragedy looks like it is coming to an end. The former Yugoslav president, Slobodan Milosevic, is dead. A few weeks ago Montenegro voted for independence, and an independent Kosovo, too, is inching closer.

The wars of the Yugoslav succession have not only been a trial for the peoples of that disintegrated country; they also raised huge questions about the exercise of international justice. Do international tribunals of the sort Milosevic faced before his death promote or postpone serious self-reflection and reconciliation in damaged societies? Do they strengthen or undermine the political stability needed to rebuild wrecked communities and shattered economies?

The evidence on these questions is mixed. Indeed, the record of the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), based in The Hague, may be instructive in judging the credibility of the strategy of using such trials as part of the effort to end civil and other wars. In 13 years, the ICTY, with 1,200 employees, spent roughly $1.25 billion to convict only a few dozen war criminals. Moreover, whereas members of all ethnic groups committed crimes, in its first years the ICTY indicted and prosecuted far more Serbs than others, fueling a perception, even among opponents of Milosevic's regime, that the tribunal was political and anti-Serbian.

We may regret that Milosevic's own trial ended without a conclusion. But a conviction only of Milosevic, however justified, without parallel penalties for his Croat, Bosnian Muslim, and Kosovo-Albanian counterparts would hardly have contributed to serious self-reflection within the post-Yugoslav nations.

To be sure, the arrest of General Ante Gotovina, adored by many Croats as a hero, but responsible for the brutal expulsion of a quarter-million Serbs from Croatia and northwest Bosnia - the biggest ethnic cleansing in Europe since World War II - improves the ICTY's standing. But Milosevic's Croatian and Bosnian Muslim counterparts, Franjo Tudjman and Alija Izetbegovic, respectively, remained unindicted when they died. So, too, the main commanders of the Kosovo Liberation Army. Ramush Haradinaj, the prime minister of Kosovo, was accused but later released from detention.

I have always been convinced that Milosevic should have been put on trial in Belgrade. After all, Milosevic's critics and political rivals such as the journalist Slavko Curuvija and Milosevic's former mentor, Ivan Stambolic, were assassinated by Serbian police agents, who also tried three times to murder opposition leader Vuk Draskovic. There was, moreover, ample evidence of corruption among Milosevic's inner circle, including members of his immediate family.

Holding the trial in Belgrade might have served better to catalyze a sober examination of the past. The atmosphere was certainly favorable. The majority of Serbs hold Milosevic responsible for the decline of their society. Even before his fall, the opposition controlled most big Serbian cities, and in 2000 Milosevic lost the election that he called to shore up his authority. The relatively small turnout at his funeral confirmed that only a minority of Serbs considers him a national hero. http://www.dailystar.com.lb

Meanwhile, with the exception of Slovenia, the democratic transformation in the post-Yugoslav region remains uneasy. Wars, ethnic cleansing, embargoes, and sanctions created not only psychological traumas, but also black markets, smuggling, large-scale corruption, and de facto rule by mafias. The bombing of Serbia by NATO in 1999 heavily damaged its economy, with serious consequences for neighboring countries.

The definitive end of what remains of Yugoslavia may - at least today - pose no danger of war, but the Muslim Sandjak region will now be divided by state boundaries, and Albanian extremists, with their dreams of a Greater Albania, believe their influence in a separate Montenegro will be reinforced now that there has been a "yes" vote on independence. Most Serbs and Croats in Bosnia believe that the best solution to the problems of that sad country would be to join the territories that they inhabit with their "mother" countries.

Then there is the unresolved status of Kosovo, where the Albanian majority demands independence, and extremists threaten to fight for it. As one Kosovo Liberation Army commander warned: "If we kill one KFOR soldier a day, these cowards will leave." With independence, the extremists would gain a territorial base from which to undermine Macedonia, southern Montenegro, and southern Serbia, jeopardizing stability in the entire region.

Serbia is offering Kosovo the formula "less than independence, more than autonomy." It demands security guarantees for the Serbian minority and cultural monuments, as well as control of the borders with Albania and Macedonia to stop traffic in arms, drugs, and women, and to prevent the use of Kosovo by Albanian extremists.

Any resolution of Kosovo's status is problematic, but the international community should not repeat old mistakes. In 1991, the principle that only a politically negotiated division of Yugoslavia would be recognized was abandoned. Now, as then, a change of boundaries without the consent of all concerned parties would not only violate international law, but could also lead to violence.

The international community must not be gulled into thinking that war-crimes trials marginalize, rather than mobilize, extremists and nationalists. Pressure on Croatia and Serbia to arrest and hand over suspects - a condition of European Union accession negotiations - has yielded several extraditions and may result in more. But further trials alone are unlikely to bring about the long-term settlements that the region's fragile states need in order to ensure stability and democratic development. The people of the Balkans should feel that the EU offers them political and economic support. They deserve it.

Jiri Dienstbier was foreign minister of Czechoslovakia and special rapporteur of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in the Balkans.

NATO's future commander in Kosovo visits the disputed province

Associated Press, Tuesday, June 20, 2006 5:45 AM

PRISTINA, Serbia-NATO's next commander in Kosovo toured the disputed province where the alliance's troops have been deployed since the end of a 1998-99 war between separatist ethnic Albanians and Serb government forces, a NATO official said Tuesday.

Germany's Maj. Gen. Roland Kather spent a week in Kosovo to review the security and political situation and held discussions with officials from NATO and the United Nations, as well as with local leaders, said Col. Pio Sabetta, spokesman for the peacekeeping force known as KFOR.

Kather is to take over command of KFOR's 17,000 peacekeepers at a ceremony on Sept. 1, when he will replace the current commander, Italy's Lt. Gen. Giuseppe Valotto, who led the force for nearly a year.

Kosovo has been administered by the U.N. since a 1999 NATO air war halted the crackdown by Serb forces on ethnic Albanian rebels.

Talks to determine Kosovo's future, whether it becomes an independent state as the ethnic Albanians demand, or remains attached to Serbia as the province's minority Serbs insist, are under way and are aimed at steering the two sides toward settling the province's status by the end of the year.

The alliance's peacekeepers are in charge of the overall security of the province.

Serb cemetery desecrated in Kosovo

Associated Press, Tuesday, June 20, 2006 9:37 AM

PRISTINA, Serbia-Vandals have damaged tombstones in a Serb cemetery in central Kosovo, police and a Serb government center said Tuesday.

Sixteen graveside monuments were damaged in the Serb village of Staro Gracko, 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of the province's capital, Pristina, said police spokesman Veton Elshani.

Police were at the scene investigating. Elshani said it was not clear when the damage was done.

But a Serb government-run center in Kosovo, quoting local Serb representatives, said a group got into the cemetery early Tuesday and vandalized the monuments, leaving behind broken crosses, benches and pots for flowers and candles.

Kosovo has been run by a United Nations mission since 1999, when a NATO air war halted Serb forces' crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians.

U.N.-brokered talks will determine whether Kosovo will become an independent state, as the ethnic Albanians demand, or remain attached to Serbia, as the province's minority Serbs insist.

Another Serbian Orthodox church in Kosovo damaged in attack

KiM Info Newsletter 19-06-06

KIM Info-service, Obilic, June 19, 2006

Unknown attackers took away four large crosses from the lateral domes, a metal gutter from the right side of the chuch and damaged a part of the lead roof. Although the church which is situated in the town center of Obilic (8 km from the Provincial capital Pristina), is surrounded by two rounds of concertina barbed wire unknown attackers under the cover of dark crossed over the wire using a wooden plank and climbed the church by a ladder. The door of the church was also broken and left open by attackers.

The church of the Birth of the Mother of God (Theotokos) was built in 1998 and was damaged during the March riots in 2004 when ethnic Albanian mob burned barrels with tar inside the church and seriously damaged the interior of the church. The church was placed on the list of Serbian Orthodox Sites which had to be reconstruced using the funds provided by the Kosovo Government budget. In October last year the Reconstruction and implementation Commision (RIC) led by Council of Europe expert Emma Carmichael (UK)completed some minor repairs on the church which KFOR soldiers secured by two rounds of concertina barbed wire.

The Serbian representative in the Obilic Municipality Mr. Mirce Jakovljevic said that this is one more attack on Serbian property in Obilic. This town suffered particularly during the March riots in 2004 when Albanian mob burned dozens of Serb homes and the school. Only some of former Serb residents have since then returned to their reconstructed homes in fear of new Albanian attacks. This latest attack, said Mr. Jakovljevic is an additional discouragement for the return of the Serbian community to Obilic and gives impression that the interantional authorities, not to mention Kosovo police, are unable to prevent ethnically and religiously motivated attacks on beleaguered Serbian minority.

Bishop Artemije, the Serbian Orthodox Bishop of Kosovo strongly condemned today this latest in the series of hundreds post-war attacks on Serbian Orthodox churches in Kosovo. Regrettably, Bishop said, last year's attack on Cathedral of the Holy Virgin of Ljevis and this church in Obilic clearly demonstrate that Christian sites are constantlly beeing targeted despite promises by internaitonal authorities and Kosovo Government. While on one hand the Serbian Orthodox sites are being promissed "protected zones" around their religous sites attacks on Christian shrines continue, said the Bishop.

Bishop Teodosije, the auxiliary bishop of the Diocese, also strongly condemned this attack expressing his serious concern for continuation of the reconstruction of holy sites. Bishop Teodosije as a representative of the Serbian Orthodox Church in RIC requested that remaining Orthodox churches and monasteries in Kosovo are properly protected from attacks because, as he said, if this camapaign against Christian sites continues there will be no churches left in Kosovo soon.

Local Kosovo police has not come out yet with an official statement nor there have still been any official condemnations of this vandal act by Kosovo and international authorities.

NOTE: The church in Obilic is mentioned on some of lists of damaged Serbian Orthodox sites as the Church of St. Archangel Michael. In fact this is a chuch consecrated in honor of the Birth of Theotokos (Mother of God). The architect of the church is Prof. Ljubisa Folic

Kosovo: Terror on rise ahead of Security Council meeting, Serbs warn

ADN KRONOS INTERNATIONAL (ITALY), Jun-19-06 15:10

Belgrade, 19 June (AKI) - Ahead of a United Nations Security Council session on Kosovo, local Serbs warned on Monday of growing "ethnic Albanian terrorism" in the province which has been under UN administration since 1999. The warnings came the same day as Kosovan police told the SRNA news agency they had found a powerful explosive device on a road some 2.5 kilometres from the Kosovan capital, Pristina, near the building housing offices of a number of international organisations and a Serb police office.

Security for Serbs and other non-Albanians has worsened in the last few months as the international community neared a decision on the final status of the province whose overwhelmingly ethnic Albanian majority demands independence, Milan Ivanovic, a Kosovo Serb leader, told a press conference in the Serbian capital, Belgrade.

In the northern district of Kosovska Mitrovica alone, there have been 70 incidents directed against Serbs, including several murders and woundings, as well as bombings, said Ivanovic, ascribing these to "Albanian terrorism."

Ivanovic accused the departing UN chief in Kosovo, Soren Jessen Petersen, of lobbying for the Albanian cause and of misinforming UN secretary general Kofi Annan on the situation in the province.

Petersen, a Danish diplomat who leaves his post this month, will submit his final report to the UN Security Council - the UN's top decision-making body - on Tuesday. Serbian officials, who oppose Kosovo's independence, suspect that Petersen will present what they see as a false picture of the situation in the province in order to enhance the case for independence. Annan has already submitted his report to the Security Council, saying that the situation in Kosovo has improved, Ivanovic told reporters. Annan's report was based on a "false report by Jessen Petersen," said Ivanovic.

Another Kosovo Serb leader, Marko Jaksic, said two-thirds of Kosovan Serbs have left the province since 1999, with just 100,000 having remained in the province, living in isolated enclaves without basic security and freedom of movement. Serbs and other non-Albanians in Kosovo live in conditions that are "ten times worse than those of Albanians during the rule of (late Serbian president) Slobodan Milosevic," Jaksic said.

Serbian Orthodox Church Kosovo bishop Artemije pointed out that 150 Orthodox churches have been damaged and destroyed since 1999, and the "Serbian church heritage in Kosovo has been endangered to the point of destroying all traces."

The influential German daily Die Welt also criticised Petersen in an article on Monday, saying he has become increasingly aggressive in supporting the ethnic Albanian cause before his departure at the end of June.

Belgrade has disputed Petersen's claim that great progress has been made in the Kosovo in last two years, saying that barely 10,000 Serbs of the 230,000 who have fled the province since 1999 have returned there. In a strongly worded letter to Jessen Petersen earlier this month, the Serbian government's coordinator for Kosovo, Sanda Raskovic Ivic, told him the province is a 'black hole' for Serb human rights and that Serbs there risk annihilation.

Since the continuing talks on Kosovo's final status started last October, more than 180 ethnically motivated incidents against Serbs have taken place. Some 3,000 Serbs and other non-Albanians have been killed or listed as missing since UN took control of the province.

Serb bishop accuses Kosovo Albanians of vandalizing church

Associated Press, Monday, June 19, 2006 12:58 PM

BELGRADE, Serbia-A Serbian Orthodox Church bishop on Monday blamed ethnic Albanian extremists in Kosovo for recent vandalism at a church, saying their aim was to erase Serbian culture from the disputed province.

Bishop Artemije spoke in the Kosovo town of Obilic, where thieves last week made off with four golden crosses from atop domes, as well as parts of the roof, and ornate windows and doors from the Presveta Bogorodica (Holy Virgin) temple.

"The latest act of vandalism by (ethnic) Albanians shows that the extremists ... are resolved to completely wipe out everything Serbian in Kosovo," Artemije said, according to the Beta news agency.

Kosovo police said they were investigating the Obilic incident but had found no suspects.

The province has been a U.N. protectorate since 1999, when NATO bombing forced Serbia to halt its crackdown on the ethnic Albanian separatists and relinquish control over the territory.

"Since KFOR troops (NATO-led peacekeepers) arrived in Kosovo in 1999, 150 Orthodox temples have been vandalized or demolished by Kosovo Albanians. The fate of Serbian heritage in Kosovo is very much under threat," Bishop Artemije was quoted as saying.

A permanent solution for Kosovo is being negotiated in U.N.-sponsored talks, with Serbs pledging not to give up their historic heartland and the province's ethnic Albanian majority demanding independence.

Protection of the mostly medieval Serb churches and monasteries is a key issue at the negotiations, overseen by the six-nation Contact Group, the United States, Britain, Germany, Russia, France and Italy.

Serbian official warns of wider 'domino effect' if Kosovo gets independence

Associated Press, Sunday, June 18, 2006 9:22 AM

BELGRADE, Serbia-A Serbian government official said Sunday that granting independence to the breakaway province of Kosovo would amount to "opening a Pandora box" because it could encourage separatist movements across the world.

The government in Belgrade would agree to autonomy for the province "broader than anything seen in Europe," Sanda Raskovic-Ivic, Serbia's point person for relations with the troubled province whose status is being negotiated internationally, was quoted as telling the state Tanjug news agency.

But if the current talks, held under the auspices of the United Nations, the United States, Britain, Germany, France, Russia and Italy, eventually allow a full secession of Kosovo, "it will cause a domino effect destabilizing the entire Balkans and other parts of Europe," Raskovic-Ivic was quoted as saying.

Kosovo's ethnic Albanians took up arms in 1998 to secede from Serbia, triggering a brutal government crackdown which led to NATO military intervention in 1999 that eventually forced Serbia to hand over authority of Kosovo to a temporary U.N. administration and NATO peacekeepers.

The de facto protectorate status will likely be replaced this year with a lasting solution for the province, which Serbs vow never to give up completely.

"If you support an ethnic group to break up a country and create own state, then you open a Pandora box and it becomes very hard to explain why other (separatist) groups should not do the same," Raskovic-Ivic was quoted as saying, without naming any specific groups.

Kosovo's population of about 2 million is 90 percent ethnic Albanian. Some 100,000 Serbs remain in the province after about 200,000 of them fled in 1999.

Several meetings between Serbian and ethnic Albanian officials, held in Austria under U.N. mediation, have not produced a breakthrough.

The discussions so far focused on protection of Serbs and other remaining minorities in Kosovo against occasional ethnic Albanian attacks, but Kosovo's future status will be on the agenda when the meetings resume in July, Raskovic-Ivic said, according to the news report.

Also, the U.N. Security Council will review security in Kosovo later this month and "should not allow a bargaining with human rights and territories of sovereign states," she was quoted as saying.

Kosovo Albanians say that nothing less than full independence would satisfy their community. Raskovic-Ivic called this "a 19th century concept ... which has become meaningless because nations concede sovereignty by joining the European Union", a goal proclaimed by both Serbs and ethnic Albanians, the report said.

Under discussion are also ancient Serb monasteries and churches in Kosovo, dating back to the Middle Ages when the province was Serbia's heartland. Whatever the outcome of the talks, a number of foreign peacekeeping troops would remain to guard the heritage which was targeted in violent attacks, the official said, according to the report.

Kosovo: UN refugee agency remains concerned at persecution risk for minorities

UNITED NATIONS NEWS CENTRE (USA)

16 June 2006 - While removing two Roma communities from the list of people considered at risk in Kosovo, the United Nations refugee agency remains concerned for more than 400,000 Serbs, other Roma and Albanians who could face persecution if they returned to places where they are a minority in the multi-ethnic Serbian province.

"The fragile security environment and serious limitations these people face in exercising their fundamental human rights shows they should continue to be considered at risk of persecution and should continue to benefit from international protection in countries of asylum," UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesman Ron Redmond told a news briefing in Geneva.

"Return of these minorities should be strictly voluntary, based on fully informed individual decisions," he added of UNHCR's latest position paper aimed at guiding states and others making decisions about whether people from Kosovo should continue to receive international protection in an asylum country.

The Ashkaelia and Egyptian Roma communities were taken off the list thanks to positive developments within the inter-ethnic environment, but the paper says their returns should still be approached in a phased manner due to the limited absorption capacity of Kosovo, where Albanians outnumber Serbs and others by 9 to 1.

There are still more than 200,000 refugees and persons of concern to UNHCR from Kosovo in western European and other countries, with an equal number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Serbia, and some 18,000 persons of concern in neighbouring Montenegro.

The report notes that although the overall security situation in Kosovo has progressively improved over the past year, it remains fragile and unpredictable. Minorities continue to suffer from ethnically motivated or criminal incidents. Many incidents remain unreported as the victims often fear reprisals from perpetrators.

Serbs and Roma continue to face serious obstacles in accessing essential services in health, education, justice and public administration. Discrimination as well as low representation of minorities in the administrative structures further discourages minorities from exercising their basic rights.

The UN has administered Kosovo ever since North Atlantic Treaty Alliance (NATO) forces drove out Yugoslav troops in 1999 amid grave rights abuses in ethnic fighting. Talks are now underway to determine its future status and the return of Serb refugees is seen as a crucial factor in reaching a decision. Independence and autonomy are among options that have been mentioned. Serbia rejects independence.

Kosovo's president, PM to meet US Sec Rice during visit to US next week

Associated Press, Friday, June 16, 2006 12:14 PM

PRISTINA, Serbia-Kosovo's top leaders travel to Washington next week to hold talks with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the president's office said Friday.

President Fatmir Sejdiu and Prime Minister Agim Ceku are to meet Rice on Monday, said Muhamet Hamiti, the president's adviser.

Sejdiu will visit the United States for the first time since he was elected in February, succeeding Kosovo's late President Ibrahim Rugova, who died of lung cancer earlier this year.

During his trip, Sejdiu will meet other officials in the State Department and the White House, the statement said. Ceku is also scheduled to attend a regular U.N. Security Council meeting on the province on June 20.

Kosovo, formally a province of Serbia, has been administered by the United Nations since NATO's 1999 air war forced Serb forces to end a crackdown on separatist ethnic Albanians and relinquish control over the region.

Talks to determine Kosovo's future, whether it becomes an independent state or remains attached to Serbia, are under way and are aimed at steering the two sides toward settling the province's status by the end of the year.

Ethnic Albanians in Kosovo insist on full independence, while the minority Serbs and Belgrade want the province to remain within Serbia.

The negotiation process is led by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari and the United States have appointed an envoy in the process.

Another Serb municipality in northern Kosovo introduces emergency measures

BBC Monitoring Europe (Political) - June 14, 2006, Wednesday

Text of report by Serbia-Montenegrin radio Kontakt Plus on 13 June

[Announcer] Leposavic municipal deputies decided today [13 June] to introduce emergency measures in this northern Kosovo municipality and to cut all ties with Kosovo interim institutions. Zeljko Tvrdisic reports.

[Tvrdisic] This is the third municipality in northern Kosovo, following Zvecan and Zubin Potok, which decided to cut ties with the Kosovo government due to, as it was stated, alarmingly-worsened security situation in this part of Kosovo. Besides the decision that Serbs refuse to receive salaries and all other dues from Kosovo institutions, the deputies also supported a general petition from last week's rally in Zvecan, that they get self-organized for security reasons. It was also mentioned that the Leposavic municipality was prepared, if the previous petition is not met, to take part in employing and financing 999 Serb policemen. The measure passed by the Leposavic deputies stepped took immediate effect and shall be implemented until perpetrators of numerous crimes have been found, i.e. until the security situation in northern Kosovo has stabilized.

Source: Kontakt Plus, Kosovska Mitrovica, in Serbian 1500 gmt 13 Jun 06

Kosovo Serbs report 70 incidents to UN envoy

BBC Monitoring Europe (Political) - June 11, 2006

Excerpt from report by Serbian independent news agency FoNet

Kosovska Mitrovica, 11 June: UN envoy for Kosovo status talks Marti Ahtisaari has held talks in Kosovska Mitrovica with representatives of the Serb National Council [SNV] of northern Kosovo who warned him that democratic standards are not being achieved in Kosovo despite UNMIK [UN mission in Kosovo] claims to the contrary.

SNV chairman Milan Ivanovic told a news conference that Ahtisaari was informed about 70 ethnically-motivated incidents which had recently taken place in the Mitrovica region.

Ivanovic said that the Finnish diplomat was warned that representatives of Kosovo institutions were trying to conceal the background to crimes against Kosovo Serbs.

"We told Ahtisaari in no uncertain terms that an independent Kosovo is unacceptable for the Serbs and that it would lead to ethnic cleansing of the Serb community," Ivanovic said. [Passage omitted]

Source: FoNet news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 1443 11 Jun 06

Lights out for Serbs in Lipljan

Beta news agency, Belgrade, June 16, 2006 14:22

LIPLJAN -- Local administrations in Lipljan have turned off electricity for houses in the Serbian section of the city and nearby villages.

Lipljan Municipal Coordination Centre Director Nikola Zivkovic said that Albanian officials in Lipljan were ordered by officials in Kosovska Mitrovica to turn off electricity and water supplies for the Serbian homes, and are waiting for further instructions to arrive from Pristina.

The Serbian homes in Lipljan and the surrounding villages have been without electricity since yesterday afternoon, and the turning off of water is ongoing, Zivkovic said. He said that the communal services company in Lipljan is asking the Serbian households to pay in between 15 and 150 euros a month for water, depending on the amount of consumption.

The administration of the three municipalities in the northern part of Kosovo, where a majority of Serbs live, decided recently to break all ties with the temporary Kosovo institutions until the cases of recent armed attacks on Serbs in the region are solved. Recently one Serb was killed in such an attack and several were wounded.

Ongoing Kosovo Tensions Put More Than People at Risk

ABC NEWS (USA), June 16, 2006 By MONICA ELLENA

Centuries-Old Churches in Jeopardy from Albanian-Serb Conflicts

June 15, 2006 - - A picturesque valley in the western province of Kosovo is home to the largest and most urgently preserved monastery in Serbia. The 14th century Visoki Decani monastery has not only survived the passage of time but also the ravages of war. Even though around half the Serb population fled a wave of revenge attacks after the war, the 100,000 who stayed are still targeted by sporadic violence. Stoning of police and attacks on individuals are not uncommon.

In 1998, Slobodan Milosevic, who was president at the time, led troops against Albanian forces in an effort to reclaim parts of Kosovo. The following year, NATO airstrikes in Kosovo ended the war when the United Nations intervened, offering a treaty between the two sides.

But ongoing tensions and violence between Kosovo's Serbian and Albanian populations don't simply affect the people who live there -- there's also a real physical threat to that region's centuries-old churches and monasteries.

If you wish to admire the Visoki Decani monastery, you must first pass a heavily armored military checkpoint and a thick 600-year-old wall. Inside lies the pearl of the Serbian Orthodox Church, such an important symbol of an endangered cultural heritage that its protection is at the top of the agenda of the latest diplomatic effort in the Balkans.

Seven years after that NATO intervention, ethnic Albanians and Serbian officials met a few days ago in Vienna to discuss the protection of the region's religious sites thus far guaranteed by international peacekeepers.

Nestled at the foot of the Prokletije Mountains in western Kosovo, on meadows that shepherds roam with their flocks, the Visoki Decani monastery seems centuries removed from modern politics. The mostly young monks lead a life that has changed little since medieval times, with one exception.

Father Sava juggles his mobile phone with his computer hooked up to the Internet, surrounded by piles of newspapers -- essential tools for this outspoken activist, who has been telling the outside world about his church and the plight of minority Serbs in the UN-governed former Yugoslav province.

"Living in a medieval setting does not mean accepting a medieval mentality. The Internet enables us to speak from the pulpit of a keyboard," said Father Sava, whose use of modern technology earned him the nickname "cybermonk," he told me the first time I met him in July 2000.

Six years later, not much has changed. While sipping coffee under the wooden porch with two Serbs who the monastery is hosting because they cannot return to their homes due to the ongoing still-ethnic tensions with the Albanians. Father Sava regrets the slow progress in building a truly multiethnic, respectful Kosovo.

"The monastery is a thorn in the eye for some people, he explains. "Symbolically, it is very important as a Christian monument, which proves that Serbs have been living here for centuries, and Kosovo has always been multiethnic, not monoethnic."

Life in Kosovo has been a struggle for Serbs since June 1999, when NATO air bombing halted Belgrade's repression against independence-seeking ethnic Albanians. Since then, this region has been a United Nations protectorate.

With the region still formally part of Serbia, negotiations aimed at resolving its status began in February. Ethnic Albanians say they will settle for nothing less than complete independence. And Serbs won't surrender land they consider the cradle of their civilization.

For them, Kosovo is "Metohija," the land of monasteries. The deadlocked region of fertile plains and snowcapped mountains is dotted with religious buildings, many of which are more than 400 years old.

In 2004, UNESCO listed Visoki Decani on the World Heritage List, citing its frescoes as "one of the most valued examples of the so-called Palaeologan renaissance in Byzantine painting" and "a valuable record of the life in the 14th century."

"Serbian Orthodox heritage in Kosovo is probably one of the most important parts of Serbian heritage in general. It is part of the Serbian identity," says Father Sava. But it's an identity in danger: Since 1999, more than 100 churches have been the target of Albanian extremists. The continual violence culminated in March 2004, when holy sites were targeted.

The city of Prizren, the jewel of the short-lived Serbian empire of the 14th century, suffered the worst damage, with four medieval buildings badly harmed.

The church of Bogorodica Ljeviska, completed by King Milutin in 1307, was burned down by a mob. Slobodan Curcic, professor of art and architecture at Princeton University and UNESCO consultant, considered it "one of the finest examples of late Byzantine architecture anywhere. For Curcic, "the destruction of these monuments are in fact acts against Byzantine cultural heritage."

At the meeting held in Vienna on the protection of this precious heritage, Ylber Hysa, a Kosovo Albanian negotiator, said that Kosovo's capital city, Pristina, is offering "full recognition of the rule and the status of the church in Kosovo." The ethnic Albanian-dominated government, Hysa added, is committed to "provid[ing] legal guarantees, physical protection, along with benefits like tax exemption, and creation of special zones."

For the moment, though, the international military presence seems to be essential. "We need long-term security, says Father Sava, as the monastery is not only Serb, it's part of a Christian heritage that belongs to the whole of Europe."

An important sign of reconciliation and recognition arrived when Fatmir Sejdiu -- the Kosovo Albanian president who took office last February after the death of independence-icon Ibrahim Rugova -- visited the Visoki Decani monastery to mark the Orthodox Easter, the first icebreaking gesture since the end of the conflict seven years ago.

Yet much remains to be done. "The problem," Father Sava reflects, "is that there is a very ethnic-based approach in Kosovo, where the Serbs are neglected, with a lack of responsibility in ensuring that Serbs should live like normal citizens. I wish we had a leadership that would take care of the citizens of Kosovo as a whole."