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April
21, 2003
ERP KIM Newsletter
21-04-03
CONTENTS:
EDITORIAL:
TRANSFER OF COMPETENCES
IN THE ATMOSPHERE OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS WOULD ONLY MAKE THINGS WORSE
IN KOSOVO
Transfer of competences to provincial and municipal institutions in the
atmosphere of systematic human rights violations and dramatically low
level of inter-ethnic tolerance will have serious consequences for the
process of returns and normal life of non-majority communities, primarily
Kosovo Serbs
INTER-ETHNIC HOSTILITY
REMAINS IN KOSOVO ALMOST 4 YEARS AFTER THE WAR,
The Pristina Serbs, grouped for
security reasons in one building in the city's Ulpiana district, have been
exposed to numerous insults, while often pelted with stones from windows
of neighboring buildings (Agence France Presse)
KOSOVO GROUP LABELED AS TERRORIST, Washington Post
Albanian National Army (ANA)
wants to unite ethnic Albanian lands in the Balkans. It said this week on
its Web site that it was behind the bomb attack, which it described as
intended to cut the railway connecting what it called Serbian-occupied
parts of Kosovo with Belgrade. Steiner said the bombing was aimed at
killing "a large number of innocent civilians and damaging public
property."
OVERLOOKING
KOSOVO CORE PROBLEMS - Washington Times - letters
However, one
little statistic explodes such a trite explanation. In 1961, when Tito's
Albanian communists ruled Kosovo, the percentage of Serbs living in Kosovo
was 27 percent, while Albanians numbered 67 percent. In 1991, the Serbian
population had been reduced to only 11 percent, while Albanians had
increased to 82 percent. This should prompt the question: Who was being
ethnically cleansed and by whom? Answering this question might have
prevented the U.S.-led NATO intervention in Kosovo that has wreaked so
much havoc.
KOSOVO SITUATION DETERIORATING, TANJUG
Describing the Kosovo state
bodies as “ethnic Albanian institutions”, Ivanovic said that Serbs could
not collaborate with the project to build an Albanian state.
More News Available on our:
KOSOVO DAILY
NEWS LIST (KDN)
KDN Archive
This newsletter is available on our
ERP KIM Web-site:
/erpkim21apr03.html
EDITORIAL:
TRANSFER OF COMPETENCES IN THE ATMOSPHERE OF HUMAN RIGHT VIOLATIONS WOULD
ONLY MAKE THINGS WORSE IN KOSOVO
Transfer of competences to provincial and municipal institutions in the
atmosphere of systematic human rights violations and dramatically low
level of inter-ethnic tolerance will have serious consequences for the
process of returns and normal life of non-majority communities, primarily
Kosovo Serbs
TOP
ERP
KIM Info-Service
April 21, 2003
Transfer of
competencies to provincial and municipal institutions in the atmosphere of
systematic human rights violations and dramatically low level of
inter-ethnic tolerance will have serious consequences for the process of
returns and normal life of non-majority communities, primarily Kosovo
Serbs.
There is nothing more normal than to give local people the right to rule
themselves, argue some internationals, overlooking the fact that there is
not "one people of Kosovo", but different ethnic communities with totally
opposed views for the future of the Province. These communities, primarily
Albanians and Serbs, are divided by a deep cultural, linguistic and
religious gap and probably have less in common than the peoples of Turkey
and Argentina.
Compared to Kosovo Albanians, who have been strongly supported by the
international community in the last years, the Kosovo Serb community is in
a much more unfavorable position. Two-thirds (230,000) of its population
are still not able to return to their homes after the war, while the large
part of the Serb-owned property is still usurped by Kosovo Albanians. The
Serb community cannot take meaningful part in local institutions, which
remain almost completely dominated by ethnic Albanians. The few Serbs who
formally sit in local municipal councils are not active participants but
only serve as a smoke-screen for non-existent multiethnicity. These Serbs
cannot even freely move outside of the municipal building and are
regularly escorted to meetings in police vehicles. Any attempt to contest
decisions negative for the Serb community is easily overruled by a
majority vote. Thus far there has been at least an UNMIK administrator who
could intervene in cases of obvious violation; but once all the
competencies at the local level are handed over to Kosovo Albanians, the
situation for local Serbs will become desperate.
According to the testimony of UNMIK representatives, most of the municipal
institutions are incredibly corrupted. Those who enjoy the protection of a
powerful clan or have enough money can get everything. Of course, this
does not apply to Serbs, who still live as pariahs in Kosovo. In
Albanian-dominated areas, Serbs do not have even free access to these
institutions because they lack freedom of movement. For them, contacting
and complaining to UNMIK staff is the only way to achieve something and
protect their vital interests. For most problems, Serbs in these areas
still ask the assistance of KFOR. It is only after certain pressure from
UNMIK and KFOR that local Albanian authorities will agree to do something
for the Serbs. Without these "protection mechanisms", Serbs will be left
completely at the mercy of local Albanian authorities, who would be glad
to see Serbs finally leave Kosovo forever.
In order to carry out the process of transferring further competencies, it
is essential first to build functioning institutions which will not be
used as a tool for violation of human rights of others and where all
representatives of national communities will be able to work freely and
responsibly. However, in the latest report of the UN Secretary General
Kofi Annan, it is said that "Kosovo still has some way to go in
establishing representative and functioning institutions" and the primary
reason for this is seen in "a tendency of local Kosovo Albanian leaders
and the Provisional Institutions to focus on symbols and image, and to
publicly promote positions contrary to UN resolutions". Kosovo Serb
leaders have warned UNMIK many times so far that Kosovo institutions are
being used as a tool for ethnic discrimination and pressure against the
remaining Serb population.
In such an atmosphere, Kosovo Serbs do not feel encouraged to accept these
institutions as their own and, quite naturally, tend to form their own
institutions in order to protect their rights. Post-war Kosovo is being
built as a completely ethnic Albanian society with flags of the Republic
of Albania all around the UN-administrated Province, with a media
intolerant of the Slavic population, and with suppression of everything
belonging to Orthodox Christian tradition and culture. Dozens of Serb
Christian cultural and religious monuments still remain in ruins and not a
single one of them has been repaired or reconstructed after they were
demolished by Albanian extremists. The reason is quite simple: they would
be probably blown up the next day after reconstruction. After two years of
Serb participation in Kosovo institutions, the Kosovo Serb deputies have
not managed to improve the life of their people. They have not even
succeeded in ensuring the right of use of their own language and script in
the institutions themselves.
Mechanisms for preventing ethnic discrimination and providing functioning
human rights protection are generally non-existent in Kosovo or they exist
only on paper. This has been confirmed many times by Kosovo Ombudsperson
Marek Antony Nowicky, who remains very pessimistic about Serb returns and
their normal integration into a generally intolerant ethnic Albanian
society. In one of his latest reports, Mr. Nowicky said: "The situation of
residents of Kosovo who are not of Albanian ethnicity remains very
difficult. Many, in particular Serbs and Roma, remain isolated in ghettos
and face great danger should they venture out of those ghettos without
armed international escorts. Their extremely restricted freedom of
movement has serious repercussions on all aspects of normal life: access
to employment, medical care, schools, and public services generally. The
provision of public utilities (electricity, water, etc.) to these ghettos
is at a much lower standard than to the rest of the population."
In reality, ordinary Kosovo Serbs cannot find any effective way to protect
their interests and the only way to make their voices heard is to appeal
to Belgrade and ask Serbian authorities to use their international
contacts to present their case. In the event that institutions are finally
handed over to "the people of Kosovo", which practically means to Kosovo
Albanians, local Serbs will find themselves in the absurd position of
having to ask for protection from those who have been systematically
violating their human rights. That is why one of the first consequences of
this process would be depopulation of Serb-inhabited areas. Kosovo would
increasingly slide towards full mono-ethnicity.
This would also be fatal discouragement for Serb returnees who naturally
do not want to return where their lives and the lives of their children
will be constantly at risk. Some UNMIK officials claim that Serbs do not
want to integrate and accept Kosovo reality, but they fail to understand
that it is impossible to integrate into a society build for one ethnic
group only and feel safe in surroundings where not one single crime
against Serbs has been fully resolved. It is absolutely absurd to expect
Serbs to send their children to Albanian schools where they will be
indoctrinated with Albanian nationalistic myths which deny Slavic and
Christian Orthodox culture. How can anybody expect young Kosovo Serbs to
return to Kosovo and work normally in an Albanian-run factory if they
would constantly be in fear of kidnapping or murder? Even in the event
that they are provided with freedom of movement, Serb returnees would
inevitably feel like foreigners in surroundings where only Albanian is
spoken, a language which the great majority of Serbs do not understand.
Kosovo Serbs are not against the transfer of competencies to fully
functional provincial and municipal institutions where strong mechanisms
for protection of human rights exist, but they cannot accept being handed
over to institutions to be used as a tool for repression. If Steiner
nevertheless remains determined to carry out this process, Kosovo Serbs
will inevitably have to organize their own parallel institutions, making
the prospects of an integrated multi-ethnic administration in Kosovo even
more remote.
D.S.
TOP
INTER-ETHNIC HOSTILITY REMAINS IN KOSOVO ALMOST FOUR YEARS AFTER THE WAR
The Pristina Serbs, grouped
for security reasons in one building in the city's Ulpiana district, have
been exposed to numerous insults, while often pelted with stones from
windows of neighboring buildings.
TOP
AGENCE
FRANCE PRESSE (AFP)
Sunday, 20-Apr-2003 7:30AM
PRISTINA, Serbia and Montenegro, April 20 (AFP) - Almost four years after
the United Nations established its mission in Kosovo, inter-ethnic
hostility is still widespread and the few Serbs remaining in the capital
Pristina are afraid to circulate freely in the city.
Surrounded by the ethnic Albanian majority, many of whom would like to see
them thrown out of Kosovo, the Serbs in Pristina are pessimistic about
their future.
Some 45,000 Serbs lived in the Kosovo capital, which was home to some 125,
000 people before the 1998-99 war in the southern Serbian province. The
war ended with the withdrawal of Belgrade forces under pressure of a NATO
bombing campaign.
Since 1999, the population of Pristina has increased to more than 500,000,
but only around 200 of them are Serbs.
The Pristina Serbs, grouped for security reasons in one building in the
city's Ulpiana district, have been exposed to numerous insults, while
often pelted with stones from windows of neighboring buildings.
"The psychological pressure is enormous. Our life is worse than in a
prison, " one of them, Jelena, told AFP.
Jelena, who refused to give her last name, said daily life has gotten
worse since members of the NATO-led peacekeeping force (KFOR), deployed
throughout the province since 1999, left the neighbourhood last October.
The removal of many checkpoints was ordered by UN administrator Michael
Steiner, who believed that the security situation has improved
sufficiently.
The checkpoints in the nearby Serb enclaves have disappeared, but KFOR has
also increased its patrols in return.
However, without the permanent presence of KFOR troops, Serbs in Ulpiana
today feel almost abandoned.
"Steiner's opinion was based on statistics that the tension between the
communities has been significantly reduced, but he is not the one living
with it every day, as we do," Milan said.
The Serb families in the neighbourhood have only one shop, poorly
supplied, without fresh vegetables and fruit. The goods are brought to the
shop by a tiny UN van coming from the Serb enclave of Gracanica, near
Pristina.
"The UN (officials) believe we can go shopping by public buses, but this
is absurd, as we would all be beaten up," Tanja said.
Serbs have also given up driving or even having private cars. There is no
access for them to the parking lot in front of their building, while their
cars in the past have often been damaged by Albanian extremists.
Around 20 Serb pupils are still escorted by KFOR soldiers to the school in
a Serb village, some 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Pristina.
The community's resources are very low. Only 15 of them are employed. They
receive financial support from Belgrade, but consider it insufficient.
Sometimes, they can find a temporary job, but for the lowest wages.
As there are no cafes in the neighbourhood, some of the Serbs gather in
the shop to talk and encourage or support each other.
In the evening, they continue their discussions by candlelight, as power
cuts are common in Kosovo. The dispensary and billiard room are then
deserted, as well as a small yard where children usually play ball.
Serbs from Pristina have refused to go to the "collective centers" in
Serbia and Montenegro where some 200,000 other Serbs now live after
fleeing their homes in Kosovo.
Those who have remained in Kosovo, some 80,000 living mostly in the
enclaves, wait and hope that the international community will finally
become interested in their fate.
"If Kosovo gets independence, as the Albanians have demanded, the Serb
enclaves in the province will create their defensive units and fight. We
will all leave Pristina to join them," Milan said.
TOP
KOSOVO GROUP LABELED AS TERRORIST
ANA wants to
unite ethnic Albanian lands in the Balkans. It said this week on its Web
site that it was behind the bomb attack, which it described as intended to
cut the railway connecting what it called Serbian-occupied parts of Kosovo
with Belgrade. Steiner said the bombing was aimed at killing "a large
number of innocent civilians and damaging public property."
TOP
THE
WASHINGTON POST
Friday, April 18, 2003; Page A17
PRISTINA, Serbia and Montenegro -- Kosovo's U.N. governor took the
unprecedented step of branding an Albanian rebel group a terrorist
organization after it said it was responsible for a bomb attack on a
railway in a Serbian part of the province.
The ruling by German diplomat Michael Steiner means that members of the
Albanian National Army (ANA) can be jailed for up to 40 years. The move
suggests that Western officials are starting to take more seriously a
group that some diplomats have dismissed as little more than a band of
criminals.
ANA wants to unite ethnic Albanian lands in the Balkans. It said this week
on its Web site that it was behind the bomb attack, which it described as
intended to cut the railway connecting what it called Serbian-occupied
parts of Kosovo with Belgrade. Steiner said the bombing was aimed at
killing "a large number of innocent civilians and damaging public
property."
U.N. police spokesman Barry Fletcher said the remains of two people were
found by a bridge damaged in Saturday night's explosion near Zvecan in
northern Kosovo.
TOP
OVERLOOKING KOSOVO'S CORE PROBLEMS
However, one
little statistic explodes such a trite explanation. In 1961, when Tito's
Albanian communists ruled Kosovo, the percentage of Serbs living in Kosovo
was 27 percent, while Albanians numbered 67 percent. In 1991, the Serbian
population had been reduced to only 11 percent, while Albanians had
increased to 82 percent. This should prompt the question: Who was being
ethnically cleansed and by whom? Answering this question might have
prevented the U.S.-led NATO intervention in Kosovo that has wreaked so
much havoc.
TOP
THE
WASHINGTON TIMES - LETTERS
Published April 19, 2003
I found it very interesting to read Helle Dale's column "Iraq isn't
Kosovo" (Op-Ed, April 9) and the extended response to it by Edward
Mortimer ("Cross-eyed on Kosovo," Letters, April 13). As the director of
communications in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General of the
United Nations, Mr. Mortimer sought to correct "a number of inaccuracies"
in Mrs. Dale's column, namely that "four years and $2.4 billion in
international aid later, Kosovo remains in a dreary, hopeless limbo."
Yet, both writers failed to identify the critical developments that led to
the unfortunate situation in Kosovo. President Clinton, in justifying the
U.S.-led NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999, declared that the goal was a
multi-ethnic Kosovo. Developments since the bombing ended provide grim
testimony and ample evidence that Mr. Clinton's goal was a forlorn hope.
The new rulers of Kosovo, the majority Albanians, have destroyed or
damaged Serbian Orthodox Churches, many dating back to the Middle Ages.
Many of their cemeteries have also been vandalized and desecrated. Serbian
Orthodox priests, nuns, men, women and children have been murdered. Wells
have been poisoned, animals killed and crops burned.
In addition, 240,000 of the minority Serbs, Roma, Jews and other
non-Albanians have been expelled from Kosovo. Few of them have been able
to return, and those who did were and are under the protection of KFOR
(NATO-Kosovo Force) or U.N. troops.
Such facts demonstrate the failure of the U.N. Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK)
to make Mr. Clinton's futile dream come true. UNMIK and NATO-KFOR seem to
blithely accept and explain these Albanian actions as "revenge" for
earlier Serb actions.
However, one little statistic explodes such a trite explanation. In 1961,
when Tito's Albanian communists ruled Kosovo, the percentage of Serbs
living in Kosovo was 27 percent, while Albanians numbered 67 percent. In
1991, the Serbian population had been reduced to only 11 percent, while
Albanians had increased to 82 percent. This should prompt the question:
Who was being ethnically cleansed and by whom? Answering this question
might have prevented the U.S.-led NATO intervention in Kosovo that has
wreaked so much havoc.
NORMAN F. NESS
Landenberg, Pa.
TOP
KOSOVO SITUATION "DETERIORATING"
Describing the Kosovo state
bodies as “ethnic Albanian institutions”, Ivanovic said that Serbs could
not collaborate with the project to build an Albanian state.
TOP
TANJUG News Agency
April 20, 2003
KRALJEVO -- Sunday – The situation in Kosovo is deteriorating, with
stepped up institutional repression through the transfer of some powers of
the UN mission to the province’s temporary institutions, Kosovo Serb
leader Milan Ivanovic said today.
Describing the Kosovo state bodies as “ethnic Albanian institutions”,
Ivanovic said that Serbs could not collaborate with the project to build
an Albanian state.
The leader of the Serb National Council of Northern Kosovo told media in
the south Serbian city of Kraljevo that the eventual goal of this project
was to unite Kosovo, with parts of Macedonia, Montenegro, northern Greece
and Albanian to form “Greater Albania”.
TOP
ERP KIM
Info-Service is the official Information Service of the Serbian Orthodox
Diocese of Raska and Prizren and works with the blessing of His Grace
Bishop Artemije.
Our Information Service is distributing news on Kosovo related issues. The
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Daily News (KDN) News List
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