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Crusader's Cross |
le 27 octobre AD 2005/AM 7514
KiM Info Newsletter 28-10-05
The question of status is open
(BetaWeek, Belgrade)
A decision by the U.N. Security Council to allow talks on Kosovo's status
to begin was expected by the authorities in Belgrade, but it certainly didn't make them too happy. Preferring the status quo
at this point, Serbian Premier Vojislav Kostunica's government insisted over the past few months that the international standards
for Kosovo were not implemented, leaving the Serb minority in the province unprotected. Belgrade wanted to postpone the talks
based on the assumption that once they begin, it will be impossible to ignore the Albanian decisive demands for independence.
Speaking
before the Security Council, Kostunica argued that Kosovo had to stay an integral part of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro,
and that substantial autonomy would be the best solution for the province. Such an approach came as no surprise whatsoever,
since it was clear that Belgrade would not accept readily any attack on the sovereignty of the common state. Kostunica was
listened to with understanding, there were no significant objections to his words, but there were no promises that things
will develop his way either. His appearance was hailed at home, particularly among nationalists and ultranationalists, who
believe that Serbia should refuse the Albanian demands at all costs.
The Serbian Premier is aware that talks on substantial autonomy for Kosovo within Serbia and Montenegro are hardly
feasible on the ground, and that Albanian aspirations have to be satisfied, at least to some extent. To all appearances, Kostunica
has no intention of offering new, alternative solutions in the course of the talks, which might accommodate Pristina. The
point is that the Serbian ruling coalition, which has realized that Belgrade can no longer have a main say in Kosovo, will
find it politically more convenient if a formula for partially meeting Albanian demands, rather than endorsed in collaboration
with the Serbian authorities.
Apart from the principle that a sovereign, internationally recognized state cannot willingly
renounce sovereignty over part of its territory, Kostunica's approach is motivated by internal reasons, too. Any government
that would voluntarily support an independent Kosovo had better prepare for strong public pressure and severe criticism from
nationalists. They would certainly sway the voters, since the authorities in Belgrade, established after the demise of Slobodan
Milosevic's regime, never tried to explain to them that the situation in the province had changed irreversibly the moment
NATO troops entered Kosovo in 1999 and Kosovo got its provisional institutions.
The options
The
Serbian authorities are not yet clear what exactly they could do if Kosovo remained within Serbia and Montenegro, i.e., what
models of governance could they employ. The platform Kostunica offered in New York is valid theoretically, but it has no practical
value.
Serbia is adamant that Kosovo should remain a province within its borders, but it has shown no sign of readiness
to develop a new state organization in which Albanians and Kosovo would be treated as equals, not even in terms of the official
stance involving the "more than autonomy, less than independence" principle. Belgrade is still torn apart between fear that
Albanians might be able to decide on Serbia's destiny one day and the desire to keep its sovereignty in Kosovo.
Serbia and Montenegro was designed as a loose union of the two republics, in which their own authorities, and not
the state union's, have a decisive role. The Constitutional Charter defines Kosovo as Serbia's province, but its status differs
from the status of the other province, Vojvodina.
The Charter says that if Montenegro withdrew from the state union,
Kosovo would be treated under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1244. The U.N. resolution doesn't define Kosovo as an integral
part of Serbia, but of Serbia and Montenegro. The talks will not go below the minimum prescribed by the resolution, which
allowed international peacekeepers to enter the province.
One of the open possibilities is to recompose the state union
to give Kosovo the status of its third, equal member. In theory, Belgrade might find the model acceptable, but in practice
it would be very difficult to apply. This formula implies that the Serbian authorities would have to come to terms with the
fact that an Albanian could be a premier or a president of the joint state, and that Kosovo would be able to veto decisions
concerning the state. This truth would be hard to swallow not only for the nationalist bloc, but also for certain political
groups considered to be liberal. Besides, Montenegro desires independence, and it is certainly not interested in negotiating
the expansion of the existing state.
At the same time, the Albanian side wants independence and nothing but independence
and it is not interested in taking part in the Serbia- Montenegro decision-making process. The Security Council conclusions
on the beginning of Kosovo's future-status talks have been welcomed by Kosovo Albanian politicians, but some of them criticized
the part from the presidential statement "reconfirming the framework of U.N. Resolution 1244," defining Kosovo as an integral
part of Serbia and Montenegro.
The talks
Since the two sides' positions are diametrically opposed, the talks will have to
begin with so-called shuttle diplomacy. The international negotiating team will be headquartered in Vienna, wherefrom members
of the team will travel to Pristina, Belgrade, Moscow, New York, Brussels and other international centres, seeking the best
solution for the province. The shuttle diplomacy as a mode of negotiations is yet another defeat Belgrade has suffered along
the way, as it has been insisting on direct talks.
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan is expected to appoint his envoy
for the talks by the end of the week. He said this might be Finnish diplomat Marti Ahtisaari, a choice criticized by Belgrade.
The international team for the talks, which are expected to begin by the end of November, might also include a former secretary
general of the Austrian foreign ministry, Albert Rohan, who would represent the European Union, and Vladimir Chizhov as Russia's
representative.
U.S. Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns has recently confirmed that he could be appointed
a U.S. envoy for the talks. After the shuttle-diplomacy stage, direct talks are expected. If the international negotiators
fail to produce tangible results, they might suggest a final solution and, having notified Pristina and Belgrade, offer it
to the Security Council for adoption. This option would mean that Pristina and Belgrade would be forced to accept it. It is
also certain that the international forces in Kosovo would stay there after the talks were over.
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Gunmen fire on Kosovo Serb police car, no injuries
REUTERS 26 Oct 2005 21:26:33 GMT
PRISTINA, Serbia and Montenegro, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Gunmen
opened fire on a vehicle carrying four Kosovo Serb police officers on Wednesday in the latest such attack in a southern pocket
of the United Nations-run province, police sources said.
No one was injured in the night-time shooting near the town of Kacanik, just north of the border with Macedonia.
It
was the third attack in the area targeting Serb members of the police force in the past two months, raising fears of an organised
campaign of violence as the majority Albanian province enters negotiations on its future.
"The car was hit but no one
was injured," a police source told Reuters. "There were three male Serb officers and one female in the car," he said.
There
are several hundred Serbs within Kosovo's 7,000-strong police service, which is supervised by a U.N. police force.
Legally
part of Serbia, Kosovo has been run by the United Nations since 1999, when NATO bombing drove out Serbian forces accused of
killing 10,000 Albanian civilians and expelling 800,000 more in a war against separatist guerrillas.
The U.N. Security
Council launched negotiations on Monday on its "final status". Kosovo's 2 million ethnic Albanians, 90 percent of the population,
demand independence, something Serbia and the 100,000 Serbs in the province reject.
U.N. officials and members of the
NATO-led peace force in Kosovo have warned of an upsurge in violence as the province enters talks, viewed with bitterness
by many Albanians who resent the prospect of negotiating with Belgrade.
Serbia Counting On China Veto To Stop Kosovo Independence
BELGRADE, Oct 27, 2005 (DJCS via Comtex)
Serbia is counting on China's veto in the U.N. Security Council to prevent Kosovo's independence, Serbia-Montenegro's foreign
minister said Thursday.
Vuk Draskovic said that after talks with senior Chinese officials in Beijing earlier this week, "I got assurances that
Serbia's territorial integrity" will be respected in any negotiated solution for independence-seeking Kosovo.
Monday, the U.N. Security Council decided to launch talks between Serbian and ethnic Albanian officials on Kosovo's future,
clearing the way for tough negotiations on the status of the ethnically divided province.
Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders are demanding full independence, while its Serb minority and Belgrade officials want it
to remain within Serbia-Montenegro.
Draskovic said that he told senior Chinese officials that Kosovo is Serbia's Taiwan. Although Taiwan is self-governing,
Beijing insists the island that broke away amid civil war in 1949 still is part of China.
"I expressed hope that the U.N. Security Council, and China as its permanent member, won't allow that force defeats law,"
Draskovic said.
"The senior Chinese officials stressed their firm and principal stand that international borders cannot change and that
any other solution would violate the U.N. Charter and international law," Draskovic said.
A negotiated solution on Kosovo's final status is expected to go through a vote in the U.N. Security Council. China is
one of the Council's five permanent members with veto power over all resolutions considered by the body.
Meanwhile, Sandra Raskovic-Ivic, a Serbian government official charged with Kosovo, said no Serbian official would agree
to "any form" of independence for Kosovo during the U.N.-mediated negotiations.
Although Kosovo formally remains part of Serbia, the U.N. has administered the tense province since NATO's 1999 air war
against the former Yugoslavia that forced ex-President Slobodan Milosevic to end a violent crackdown on rebel Kosovo Albanians.
NATO holds anti-riot drill as Kosovo talks near
ASSOCIATED PRESS Released : Oct 27, 2005 9:12 AM
PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro-NATO-led peacekeepers
in Kosovo deployed from helicopters and used armored vehicles to confront mock demonstrators in an anti-riot drill on Thursday
as talks on the province's future status near.
The soldiers, wearing helmets and carrying shields, used armored vehicles
and barbed wire to circle a building under mock assault by a crowd throwing bottles of water and shouting anti-U.N. and NATO
slogans.
Several helicopters flew in additional troops and hovered above Camp Vrelo, a military base where the exercise
was held.
The drill was a second show of force this month by peacekeepers readying for possible violence from extremists
who could try to disrupt upcoming talks on whether Kosovo should become independent or remain part of Serbia.
The United
Nations approved talks to resolve the province's status earlier this week.
NATO's commander in Kosovo, Lt. Gen. Giuseppe
Valotto, led the drill, dubbed Balkan Hawk II. He said his forces stood ready to confront potential disturbances.
"We
will react immediately because we are ready," Valotto said. "All the rehearsals we are doing is just to show the population
they can believe in us."
NATO-led peacekeepers and U.N. administrators in Kosovo were challenged by riots in March
2004 when mobs of ethnic Albanians attacked Serbs and their property in two days of violence that left 19 people dead and
more than 900 injured.
The authorities were criticized by human rights groups for failing to anticipate that violence
and protect Serbs and their property in the rampage.
Kosovo has been administered by the U.N. and patrolled by NATO
since mid-1999. The province is bitterly divided between ethnic Albanians seeking independence and its Serb minority, which
wants the province to remain within Serbia's borders.
In an incident highlighting the tensions, unknown assailants opened fire on a Kosovo police vehicle carrying four
Serb officers in the southern part of the province late Wednesday, police said. No one was injured.
The peacekeepers
held a similar drill earlier this month, intervening against mock crowds attacking a U.N. building. The exercises are part
of a larger rehearsal project, called "Determined Effort 2005," which started in mid-September and involves 1,500 troops.
There
are some 17,500 NATO-led peacekeepers, known as KFOR, in Kosovo.
Help on the way for Kosovo Serbs
B92, Belgrade October 26, 2005
BELGRADE -- Wednesday - The Kosovo Coordination Centre and eleven
Serbian ministries have developed an agreement for providing aid to Kosovo Serbs.
At a meeting held today, the coordination
centre and the ministries developed a cooperation agreement with the goal of actively offering help to the Serbian population
in Kosovo. Meetings for this purpose will be held every two weeks, according to centre president Sanda Raskovic-Ivic.
The
Science and Natural Resources Ministry will reserve money from next year's budget to offer scholarships to students from Kosovo
who are interested in participating in science related activities and protecting natural resources in the northern section
of the province.
The Finance Ministry will in 2006, provide sixty million dinars (about 705,000 euros) for wages and
jobs at Radio Television Pristina, whose station is located in Zvecana.
The Religion Ministry will provide funds for
priests and monks, as well as offer scholarships to the Seminary University, and continue the restoration of churches and
monasteries in the region.
The Health and Education Ministries will offer help to the regional health centres while the Labour Ministry will
focus its attention on improving the unemployment rate and other social questions that are of the ministry's concern.
War crimes trial of six former ethnic Albanian rebels begins in Kosovo
Associated Press Released : Oct 26, 2005 12:10 PM
PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro-The trial of six
former rebels charged with committing war crimes against fellow ethnic Albanians during Kosovo's 1998-99 war opened Wednesday
a week after a witness in the case was murdered.
Former rebel fighter Selim Krasniqi and four associates sat before
a panel of three international judges in the district court of Gnjilane, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) east of the province's
capital, Pristina. One suspect remains at large.
The five former rebels pleaded not guilty to charges such as illegal
imprisonment, torture and killing of seven fellow ethnic Albanians who allegedly collaborated with Serb authorities in mid-1998
in the central Kosovo village of Drenovac.
Krasniqi, the most senior former fighter in the group, was arrested early
last year by U.N. special police units and NATO-led peacekeepers. At the time, he was serving as regional commander of the
Kosovo Protection Corps, a civil emergency unit created after the disbanding of the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army.
The
start of the trial was adjourned several times and a witness in the case was shot to death in a market in central Kosovo.
Police said they have identified the suspects in that shooting, but the two men still remain at large.
The identities
of most of the prosecution witnesses in the case are withheld for fear of retribution against them, according to the indictment.
The war in 1998-1999 pitted ethnic Albanian rebels against Serb forces loyal to the former Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic, and ended in mid-1999 after NATO air strikes forced the Serb military to pull out of Kosovo, leaving United Nations
and NATO in control.
The U.N. appoints international judges and prosecutors in sensitive cases, and U.N.-run courts
have tried several former ethnic Albanian rebels for war crimes allegedly committed against Serbs and fellow ethnic Albanians
suspected of collaborating with the Serb regime.
Veteran associations have protested against the trials, calling them
politically charged.
Separately, the Netherlands-based U.N. war crimes court has charged six ethnic Albanian rebels,
including Kosovo's former prime minister Ramush Haradinaj, who faces 36 counts for his wartime role.
Serb police held for killing 48 members of one family
Independent, UK By Vesna Peric Zimonjic in Belgrade Published: 27 October 2005
Nine Serbian
policemen have been arrested for killing 48 ethnic Albanian civilians in 1999 in the town of Suva Reka in Kosovo.
The
bodies of the victims, all members of one family, were found in a mass grave at the police compound of Batajnica near the
Serbian capital, Belgrade, in 2001. The grave contained the remains of more than 1,000 bodies of ethnic Albanians.
"As
far as we know, 48 people were killed in Suva Reka," a spokesman for the war crimes prosecution office, Bruno Vekaric, said.
"Fourteen were below the age of 15, one was a pregnant woman aged 24 and one was a very old woman," he added.
The killings
of members of the Berisha family happened on 26 March 1999, in a pizzeria in Suva Reka, two days after Nato air raids against
Serbia began.
According to the testimony of a survivor, Vjollca Berisha, Serb policemen rounded up people there, allegedly searching
for weapons. Then they fired into the crowd with automatic rifles.
Mrs Berisha's two children, aged seven months and
two years, died in the massacre. She and her remaining son survived, pretending to be dead.
The arrests of the nine
policemen yesterday are the first since the gruesome discovery of the remains more than 180 miles (300km) from Kosovo.
The
executions of possibly around 10,000 ethnic Albanian civilians, the transporting of bodies and clandestine burials in Serbia
in 1999 was one of the best-kept secrets of the regime of the former leader Slobodan Milosevic. Freezer trucks were used in
the operations, aimed at covering up the atrocities against non-Serbs in the rebellious southern province.
Milosevic
loyalists have hampered judicial efforts to deal with war crimes. This was confirmed by the fact that six of those detained
were on active duty until their arrest.
Nine Serbian policemen have been arrested for killing 48 ethnic Albanian civilians
in 1999 in the town of Suva Reka in Kosovo.
The bodies of the victims, all members of one family, were found in a mass
grave at the police compound of Batajnica near the Serbian capital, Belgrade, in 2001. The grave contained the remains of
more than 1,000 bodies of ethnic Albanians.
"As far as we know, 48 people were killed in Suva Reka," a spokesman for
the war crimes prosecution office, Bruno Vekaric, said. "Fourteen were below the age of 15, one was a pregnant woman aged
24 and one was a very old woman," he added.
The killings of members of the Berisha family happened on 26 March 1999,
in a pizzeria in Suva Reka, two days after Nato air raids against Serbia began.
According to the testimony of a survivor, Vjollca Berisha, Serb policemen rounded up people there, allegedly searching
for weapons. Then they fired into the crowd with automatic rifles.
Mrs Berisha's two children, aged seven months and
two years, died in the massacre. She and her remaining son survived, pretending to be dead.
The arrests of the nine
policemen yesterday are the first since the gruesome discovery of the remains more than 180 miles (300km) from Kosovo.
The
executions of possibly around 10,000 ethnic Albanian civilians, the transporting of bodies and clandestine burials in Serbia
in 1999 was one of the best-kept secrets of the regime of the former leader Slobodan Milosevic. Freezer trucks were used in
the operations, aimed at covering up the atrocities against non-Serbs in the rebellious southern province.
Milosevic
loyalists have hampered judicial efforts to deal with war crimes. This was confirmed by the fact that six of those detained
were on active duty until their arrest.
They Killed Women And Children And Shamed The Nation
27 Oct (Blic daily, Belgrade)
Investigation against six active policemen and three former members of Serbia Home Ministry began in Belgrade yesterday
because of suspicion that in March 1999 they killed 48 Albanians of Suva Reka and committed a war crime against civilians.
This practically means opening of the case of mass graves in Batajnica in which 980 killed Kosovo Albanians were buried during
NATO air strikes.
The request for investigation was submitted on October 3. The suspects were taken before the investigation
judge yesterday and he ruled one-month detention to them. The names of the arrested individuals were not announced.
Spokesman of the Prosecution, Bruno Vekaric said yesterday that of 48 killed civilians from Suva Reka, 14 were younger
than 15 years of age, including two babies. Among the killed civilians there were one 24-years old pregnant woman and one
woman of 100 years of age.
'Blic' hinted investigation against nine-member group of active and former policemen publishing
in its Sunday issue text from Internet site of the Balkans Investigation Net, BIRN.
Some of the suspects occupied very
responsible positions at the moment of arrest.
The mass murder in Suva Reka took place on March 26, 1999, when according
to official data, 48 members of the Berisha family were killed. Killed civilians were put into two trucks and driven to the
barracks in Prizren that Yugoslav Army left because of NATO air strikes. Several days later they were buried on one military
polygon. At the order from Belgrade, two weeks later the bodies were excavated and transported to a shooting-practice facility
of the Special Anti-terrorist Unit in Batajnica, near Belgrade.
So far about 200 witnesses have given their statements.
Majority of them is Serbs who as members of the police or army units were in Kosovo at that time. About 50 Albanians also
gave their statements as witnesses.
According to information that 'Blic' got, there are many indications confirming
the doubt that police general Vlastimir Djordjevic, former chief-of-staff of State Security had key role in removal of bodies
of the killed Albanians. There are also many indications that he personally ordered transport of the bodies to Batajnica.
It was he who found the trucks and drivers for that job.
It is believed that Djordjevic was also the one who determined
the locations for the mass graves as well as the policemen who were digging the holes and throwing the dead bodies in them.
In a statement by Serbia Home Ministry of May 2001 it is said that burial of killed Albanians at secret locations in Serbia
had been agreed in the cabinet of Slobodan Milosevic. Apart from Milosevic, individuals also present at that meeting were
Vlajko Stojiljkovic /then police minister/, Rade Markovic /then chief-of-staff of State Security/, Vlastimir Djordjevic and
others.
At the time of appearing of 'mass graves' affair, Djordjevic flee the country and is believed to be hiding in Russia.
As
'Blic' finds out the competent bodies are intensively working on collecting of documents regarding killing of 100 Albanians
in Meja, 70 in Zahac and other locations near Djakovica, Pec, Prizren and Orahovac.
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