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August 21,
2003
ERP KIM Newsletter
21-08-03
KOSOVO'S BALKAN
NIGHTMARE GOES ON
Serirously wounded Serb boy - Bogdan Bukumiric (15) is recovering
Serbian Premier Zivkovic (R) and the basketball star Vlade Divac (L)
visited Bogdan
BELGRADE -- Tuesday 19. AUG --
Fifteen-year-old Bogdan Bukumiric, seriously injured during last
Wednesday's Gorazdevac attack, has regained consciousness at the Belgrade
Military Medical Academy after almost a week. Bukumiric remains in
intensive care but, according to doctor Krsto Jovanovic, the boy's brain
functions and damaged lungs are recovering. Bogdan suffered gunshot
wounds to the head, chest and abdomen while swimming in a Kosovo river.
The attack, believed to be ethnically motivated, left two young Serbs dead
and four others, including Bogdan, injured.
CONTENTS:
 SUC:
STATEMENT ON GORAZDEVAC MASSACRE
ELDERLY
SERB WOMAN ASSAULTED IN KOSOVO
ALBANIANS
STONE BUS NEAR KOSOVSKA MITROVICA - SHOTS FIRED IN GORAZDEVAC DISGRADE FOR
UNMIK
BLIC:
KOSOVO PROTECTION CORPS - MAFIA'S PRIVATE ARMY
SERBIAN
CEMETERY IN PONES SET ON FIRE
CAR
OF KOSOVO SERB RIDDLED BY BULLETS NEAR GNJILANE
DRAGAN
TONIC PASSES AWAY A WEEK AFTER KOSOVO SHOOTING
UNMIK
POLICE CHIEF QUESTIONS ALBANIAN APATHY
KILL
THY NEIGHBOR - KOSOVO'S BALKAN NIGHTMARE GOES ON
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SERBIAN UNITY CONGRES (U.S) ISSUES STATEMENT ON GORAZDEVAC MASSACRE
TOP
STATEMENT BY THE SERBIAN UNITY CONGRESS
Please contact: Steven Cupic, Interim Director
Serbian Unity Congress, Washington Office
stevenc@serbianunity.net
(T) 202-463-8643
(F) 202-463-8645
Massacre of innocent Serbian children in Gorazdevac,
Kosovo and Metohija
On the occasion of the heinous Aug. 14 massacre of innocent Serbian
children in Gorazdevac, Kosovo and Metohija, the Serbian Unity Congress
(SUC) wishes hereby express its deepest sympathy to the families of the
slain and wounded victims. The courage of the entire Gorazdevac community
to remain, against the odds, at their ancestral homes and attempt to
continue a normal daily life worthy of human beings – down to children’s
summer play – has been, to say the least, rudely tested. Their stoic and
dignified response to this terror is commendable, yet it cannot hide the
real extent of their suffering and anguish.
The SUC wishes to commend the deputy UNMIK chief in Kosovo-Metohija, who
candidly described the activities of the Albanian perpetrator as “… a
barbaric act which is even worse than terrorism.” The SUC joins UNMIK in
condemning this act, as well as the follow-up attack in Pec on a vehicle
transporting wounded to the hospital, resulting in further serious
injuries.
The SUC urges UNMIK and the world community to let this act serve as a
turning point in the approach of the UN administration on the ground in
Kosovo and Metohija. The United Nations must recognize that the approach
that has been taken for the past four years has not succeeded in bringing
about the kind of stability in the region necessary to ensure that the
most basic elements of safety for the Serbs who remain in Kosovo-Metohija
and those who wish to return home are present.
Unfortunately, four years after the end of the war, it has become clear
that act which took place last week against the Serbian children was not
an “isolated incident” committed by faceless “extremists”, but rather a
part of a systematic pattern of violent, terrorist behavior designed to do
two things: (1) frighten and intimidate the Serbs remaining in Kosovo into
leaving their homeland and (2) convincing hundreds of thousands of Serbs
and other loyalists who were driven from Kosovo after 1999 that return is
impossible.
Fr. Sava of Decani, a universally recognized champion of interethnic
reconciliation in Kosovo-Metohija, said it best:
“Such behavior is primarily the direct consequence of the activity of
Albanian institutions in the Province institutionalizing the rule of
ethnic terror and violence and proclaiming crime to be the standard of
justice and law. The glorification of terrorists as "freedom fighters" by
the Kosovo parliament, systematic discrimination against the non-Albanian
population in all spheres of life and persistent obstruction of the return
of displaced persons are just some of the most extreme activities being
directly implemented under the auspices of these new institutions created
by UNMIK. Such institutions are not only preventing the building of a
democratic society but actually systematically destroying every
possibility of common life. Through their activities such institutions
serve primarily as a smokescreen for criminals and mafiosi presently in
the roles of leading politicians who enjoy the reputation of national
heroes and saviors of the Albanian people.”
We believe that the time has come for the United Nations and its new
special representative for Kosovo, Mr. Harri Holkeri, to embark on a plan
that will respect UN Security Resolution 1244 and allow for this land to
once again be reunited with Serbia and Montenegro. Working with the world
community and the United Nations, Serbia and Montenegro can and will adopt
steps that will allow for all ethnicities to live together in peace,
without fear of mindless acts of terrorism being perpetrated against
innocent civilians.
From the tragedy of the past week, let us begin anew with a process that
will truly result in peace and freedom for all those who call
Kosovo-Metohija their home. Let the process begin that will allow for
those Serbs now living in Kosovo-Metohija to live in peace without fear of
suffering from the terrorist acts of Albanian extremists. Let the process
also begin that will allow those Serbs who have been driven out of
Kosovo-Metohija to return to their homes. And finally, let the process
begin that will allow all people who call Kosovo-Metohija their home to
live in peace with one another.
TOP
ELDERLY
SERB WOMAN ASSAULTED IN KOSOVO
TOP
FREE SERBIA
August 19, 2003
On Sunday, in Gnjilane, unknown assailants attacked 80-year old Vukosava
Ivkovic, reports a TV station from the village of Kushce near Gnjilane.
According to Jovan Simic, the main editor of this TV station, the
assailants entered the house of Vukosava Ivkovic by posing as Kosovo
Police Service (KPS) members. Vukosava lives in the street of Stojadin
Trajic. She lives by herself and is the only Serbian living in that part
of Gnjilane.
Simic also stated that the assailants physically harassed and sexually
mistreated the old lady, facts which were confirmed by the Prishtina
medical center doctors who gave her medical assistance. The assailants
attacked the old lady at the time when Gnjilane was under the usual two
hours electric power restriction.
After they left the house the old lady reported the incident to the KPS,
which assisted her and took her to the Prishtina hospital. After the
medical intervention Vukosava Ivkovic was returned to her house, which is
now being secured by KPS members, stated Simic. (Beta)
TOP
ALBANIANS
STONE BUS NEAR KOSOVSKA MITROVICA
TOP
Kosovska Mitrovica, 20 Aug (Tanjug) - A bus taking Serbs from Kosovska
Mitrovica to Suvi Dol, an enclave located three kilometers from Mitrovica,
was stoned on Wednesday by ethnic Albanians when it was passing through
the Albanian part of the village. It has been confirmed to Tanjug by
Gordana Jeftic of Suvi Dol that the incident occurred around 13.00, but
that no one was injured thanks to the bus driver who didn't lose his
presence of mind and managed to get away.
At the moment of the attack there were in the bus about a dozen Serbs who
were returning to the village.
Shots
fired in Gorazdevac, "disgrace for UNMIK"
13:46 |
B92, Belgrade, Aug 18
GORAZDEVAC/BELGRADE -- Monday -- The troubled Kosovo village of Gorazdevac
has been subjected to another attack, with unknown gunmen opening fire on
Serb villagers yesterday afternoon. There were no casualties on this
occasion.
The target of the attack is uncertain, with news agencies quoting
unofficial sources who claim that the target was Milivoje Jovanovic,
tending cattle close to a nearby Albanian-populated village, and others
claiming that children swimming in a central Gorazdevac brook were once
again targeted.
Speaking to B92, villager Ranko Manojlovic said: "They opened fire from
the direction of the Albanian village of Grabovac, but from the territory
of Gorazdevac. They fired some dozen bullets, in single shots, and we
found several bullets close to children swimming in a brook in central
Gorazdevac. Fortunately no one was injured and the local police have
visited the scene and questioned a local Albanian, a certain Jasic, who
claimed he saw two armed men in black uniforms there."
In addition to local Kosovo police, the incident is being investigated by
UNMIK police, and Oliver Ivanovic, a member of the Kosovo Assembly's
presidency, initially reacted by declaring the latest attack "a disgrace
for UNMIK".
He said: "This is provocation; this cannot be tolerated any more.
Terrorists want to show in this way that UNMIK police and KFOR cannot do a
thing to them; that they will continue their activities until Serbs move
from there".
Gorazdevac was the scene of tragedy last Wednesday when an armed attack
against swimming children left two Serb youngsters dead and four others
injured.
TOP
KOSOVO
PROTECTION CORPS - MAFIA'S PRIVATE ARMY
TOP
BLIC DAILY - Belgrade
August 20, 2003
UN Security Council at its session dealing with the actual situation in
Kosovo condemned attack in Gorazdevac and called for larger efforts in
making a multi-ethnic society in Kosovo. Serbian Deputy Prime Minister
Nebojsa Covic, who briefed the UN SC on the actual events, said that the
international community would be responsible for establishment of
mono-ethnic Albanian para-state if it fails to immediately undertake
measures that would put end to violence in Kosovo. Covic said that members
of Kosovo Protection Corpus took part in the crime in Gorazdevac. He
called for a detailed investigation that would lead to suspension of that
formation.
Speakers in Security Council insisted that extremists should not be
allowed to act against the future of the province. Great Britain
representative requested transformation of Kosovo Protection Corpus into a
civil organization for urgent actions. He, however, has not agreed with
the stance that the corpus should be suspended.
Analysts claim that Kosovo Protection Corpus is behind ANA /Albanian
National Army/ that claimed responsibility for several terrorist acts.
However, not only ANA, but a significant number of veterans of former KLA
/Kosovo Liberation Army/ and in the first place Albanian mafia. ANA and
Kosovo Protection Corpus /KPC/ are seen as private army of Albanian mafia.
KPC has been seen as nucleus of Kosovo Republic army. It already has
highly trained specialists for rapid action as per NATO methods or
instructions. It also has a strong intelligence service getting
information from foreign intelligence services and KFOR. ANA is also well
armed and quite capable to start a new war in the Balkans with its 20000
people.
Ramush Haradinaj was the most important for transformation of KLA into
KPC. Haradinaj is thought to be the most influential KLA leader, even in
front of Hashim Thaci.
Analysts also claim that KPC and ANA are no in the hands of mafia and
Islamists and make an independent institution, although UNMIK is paying
KPC. The salaries are not small, from 500 to 1,000 Euros. KPC is a good
communication between mafia and UNMIK's officials. Mafia is using UNMIK's
employees by corrupting them for prostitution. Also the incident in
Sandjak warn about direct cooperation between KPC and Bosniac 'El
Mujahedin' brigade in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
They are going to apply methods of urban terrorism in groups of 5.7
members and in formations of 20 to 50 people for action in rural areas
outside Kosovo. They intend to spread their actions on Sandjak and
Montenegro, analysts warn.
UN Police spokesman Derek Chappell claims that ANA is not a threat to
stabilization of the whole province. According to him this 'group of
extremists' does not have more than 70 members and is carrying out attacks
of smaller intensity only for the interests of those who financed it and
they are members of Albanian Diaspora.
Nebojsa Covic said that he was satisfied with the UN SC session by the
support that SC had given. He also said he was expecting concrete actions
over the time.
According to British expert for security Paul Beaver organized crime is
behind extremists in Kosovo.
Experts also say that the session of UN Security Council on Kosovo was
encouraging for Belgrade authorities, UNMIK and provisional institutions
in Kosovo.
TOP
SERBIAN
CEMETERY IN PONES SET ON FIRE
TOP
KIM RADIO
August 19, 2003
On Tuesday morning, the Serbian cemetery in the village of Ponesh, near
Gnjilane, was set on fire. The fire destroyed the tombstones and the
church chapel. The fire blaze also destroyed what little harvesting plants
the local Serbs dared to plant in the vicinity of the graveyard, reports
the KIM radio correspondent.
Recently, in this mixed Serb-Albanian village unknown vandals took down
the fences of the Serbian wells and dropped dead animal carcasses in the
water.
Ponesh Serbs are saying this is just another attempt of putting pressure
on them so that they leave their ancestral home. The incident was reported
to UNMIK police. There is an ongoing investigation regarding this
incident.
TOP
CAR
OF KOSOVO SERB RIDDLED WITH BULLETS NEAR GNJILANE
TOP
B92,
Belgrade
August 19, 2003
The car
of a Kosovo-Serb was left riddled with bullets yesterday evening after a
barrage of shots were fired from a Kalashnikov rifle in Mozgov, close to
Gnjilane.
According to Zvecan-based Television Most (bridge), car owner Stanko
Filipovic was not in the vehicle at the time and no others were injured in
the attack, which occurred at around 6pm yesterday.
The TV station added that UNMIK police units are conducting a search of
the area. (Beta)
TOP
DRAGAN
TONIC PASSES AWAY A WEEK AFTER KOSOVO SHOOTING
TOP
Belgrade, 18
Aug (B92) - Dragan Tonic, shot in the face a week ago today, died last
night in Belgrade's Clinical Centre as a result of his injuries.
Kosovo-Serb Tonic was leisurely fishing on the River Sitnica around 150
meters from the last Serb homes in the village of Skulanevo, when unknown
attackers, suspected to be from a neighboring ethnic Albanian village,
opened fire, hitting Tonic in the mouth.
Responding to the death, Skulanevo villagers have today blockaded the road
linking Prizren, Lipljan and Kosovo Polje, in the direction of the Slatina
airport. They demand that UNMIK police announce whether or not any
suspects from the neighboring village of Gavica have been arrested.
Belgrade's Coordination Centre for Kosovo confirmed Tonic's death. A
funeral is to be held tomorrow.
STATEMENT
OF THE OFFICE OF HRH CROWN PRINCE ALEXANDER II ON THE OCCASION OF DRAGAN
TONIC’S DEATH
Belgrade, 18 August 2003 - After the monstrous crime on Serbian children
from Gorazdevac when two of them were murdered, today we received the news
of passing away of Dragan Tonic who was shot in his mouth so that
everybody would realize the intention to silence the remaining Serbs in
Metohija.
HRH Crown Prince Alexander II took the news with great sadness. This is
another crime without punishment, violence of those without names on those
whose roots are in Kosovo, a shot in the conscience of those who are
trying not to hear. Expressing his condolences to the family of murdered
Mr. Tonic, the Crown Prince hopes the glass of bitterness will not be
overfilled and the blood that was shed will be enough for those who are
thirsty of it, and that those who have power will be urged to stop the
crime that has been going on for too long now.
TOP
UNMIK
POLICE CHIEF QUESTIONS ALBANIAN APATHY
TOP
FoNet News
Agency, Belgrade
August 19, 2003
PRISTINA -- Tuesday -- Stefan Feller, UNMIK Police Commissioner, has today
sent an open letter to Kosovo citizens criticising local media coverage of
the Gorazdevac attack and the distinct lack of obvious sympathy displayed
by the majority Albanian population.
Feller noted that the attack made the front pages of a number of foreign
newspapers, but that others were misinformed and reported only that an
explosion killed some people in Gorazdevac. He said that he had personally
visited the scene and that there was no talk of an explosion. He asked if
anyone requested information from the police before releasing such
incredibly manipulative facts.
He next asked Kosovo's parents if they did not sympathise with the
families of the victims "who only wish to live in peace".
He pondered, what has happened to public protests? What has happened to
spontaneous demonstrations against this kind of a crime, organized by
someone other than Kosovo Serbs? Where are the people from Gorazdevac and
other ethnic communities to express their condolences to their grieving
neighbours?
He urged those citizens wanting to play a role in building future peace
for the region to call a confidential police hotline and offer information
that could shed light on the Gorazdevac attack.
The hotline number is 034/5046046666.
TOP
KILL THY
NEIGHBOR: KOSOVO'S BALKAN NIGHTMARE GOES ON
TOP
Source:
Agence France-Presse (AFP)
Date: 19 Aug 2003
by Stephen Coates
PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro, Aug 19 (AFP) - Former British and Canadian
police officer Derek Chappell had just finished saying how peaceful Kosovo
had become when the phone rang on his desk at the United Nations police
headquarters here.
Two Serb youths had been killed in cold blood and four others injured by a
gunman, a suspected ethnic Albanian, who opened fire at them while they
were swimming in a river near the northwestern town of Gorazdevac.
Four years after international intervention stopped the 1998-99 civil war
in Kosovo, the killing goes on despite the presence of a UN
administration, an international police force and some 20,000 NATO
peacekeepers.
Now the roles are reversed and it is the Serbs who are appealing to the
United Nations to save them from Albanian bullets.
Serbian Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic has said last week's attack was
"tragic confirmation that the UN and NATO have failed" to lay the basis
for a tolerant, multi-ethnic democracy in Kosovo.
Deputy Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic, who was scheduled to address a
special sitting of the UN Security Council on Monday, went as far as to
accuse the UN-backed Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC), made up of former
ethnic-Albanian guerrillas, of supporting "terrorist" groups in the
province.
He said the so-called Albanian National Army (ANA), a shadowy militant
organisation, was a front for members of the KPC who dreamt of creating a
'Greater Albania'. The ANA emerged a year ago and has claimed
responsibility for a series of armed attacks in Kosovo, Serbia proper and
Macedonia.
But Chappell, the chief spokesman for Kosovo's UN police force (which is
seperate from the KPC), said he doubted whether the ANA posed a real
threat.
"They have been classified as a terrorist organisation but we don't
believe they can seriously threaten the stability of Kosovo," he told AFP.
He said the group was funded by the Albanian diaspora abroad and carried
out small-scale attacks to maintain the interest of its patrons.
"This is an organisation that probably has not much more than 70 members.
They don't have training camps or guerrillas that can carry out civil
war," he said.
Nevertheless, Chappell admitted that the time was ripe for inter-ethnic
violence in Kosovo ahead of the first ever dialogue between the
ethnic-Albanian authorities in Pristina and the Serbian government in
Belgrade.
Kosovo is technically still a part of Serbia, although it has been a UN
protectorate since NATO drove Serbian forces out of the province in 1999.
The Albanians, who are the majority in Kosovo, demand independence but the
Serbian government refuses to concede anything more than maximum autonomy,
saying the province is the heartland of the Serb culture and religion.
The UN insists that the "final status" question will not be resolved until
European benchmarks of human rights and democracy are achieved, which
could take many more years given the festering ethnic hatred here.
The proposed dialogue, which would avoid the status issue and tackle
matters like electricity supplies and refugees, could prompt elements
opposed to reconciliation to take drastic action, Chappell said.
"We've always said that we don't believe there are any large-scale
terrorist organisations in Kosovo but there are always people who are
capable of carrying out terrorist acts," he said.
"Kosovo is still awash with explosives, hand grenades and military weapons
and it is certainly true that there are people here who do not want
reconciliation and want to create instability.
"They wouldn't hesitate to use violence to drive the communities apart. I
think that is a very serious threat ... "
But he said the extremists' failure to generate a popular uprising against
the international police and judiciary following the recent war-crimes
conviction of an ethnic-Albanian guerrilla commander showed that most
people, whether Serb or Albanian, wanted to bury the past.
Chappell said there had been a dramatic decrease in ethnically related
murders since the immediate aftermath of the war, and the biggest
challenge facing police here now was organised crime.
TOP
Women in black - renowned Belgrade human rights organization
organizes a protest against violence in Kosovo and Metohija, Belgrade, Aug
20
ERP KIM
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Bishop Artemije.
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