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September 06, 2003
ERP KIM Newsletter
23-09-03
BUS WITH SERB CHILDREN
FROM GORAZDEVAC STONED NEAR KLINA
Delegation of Serb
children and their teachers from Gorazdevac
visited their friends
wounded in the attack of Albanian extremists
On their way back Serb
convoy with children was stoned
CONTENTS:
 CONVOY
OF SERB CHILDREN FROM GORAZDEVAC STONED
During the stoning the windows on one of the buses were smashed but
there were no injuries among the children.
ALBANIANS SHOOT AROUND GORAZDEVAC
- KFOR SEARCHES SERBIAN HOMES
"Instead of looking for the
murderers on the Albanian side, they are coming to the village everyday,
and are pressuring twenty year old Boshko Bogicevic, who was wounded that
same day at the river, into giving a statement regarding the incident,"
stated Dakic.
POLITIKA: UNMIK
IS MANIPULATING NUMBER OF SERB RETURNEES
"Whenever we ask the international
representatives for an exact number and names of the returnees which came
back to the province, we constantly receive over exaggeration, and often
they simply give up on this task. So for example UNHCR and UNMIK were
saying that 60 Serbs returned to the village of Klokot in Kosovska Vitina.
But when we asked them to give us the names they simply did not want to
talk about it. Truth is that only 8 Serbs returned to Klokot," stated
Milorad Todorovic, the coordinator for returns
COVIC CALLS FOR
DIALOGUE WITHOUT POLITICIZATION
"Those who want
this must realize that it is most important that the dialogue begin as
soon as possible, that it be constructive, and that we must come together
to a resolution of various problems," he said
INET - FLASH NEWS FROM KOSOVO AND METOHIJA, 20-21
SEP
PERPETRATORS OF GORAZDEVAC MASSACRE STILL NOT
ARRESTED - DAY 40
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KIM Web-site:
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CONVOY OF SERB
CHILDREN FROM GORAZDEVAC STONED IN RUDNIK
During the stoning the windows on one of the buses were
smashed but there were no injuries among the children.
TOP
Beta News
Agency, Belgrade
September 22, 2003
PEC - A convoy of
buses returning Serb children to their home in Gorazdevac after a visit to
Belgrade was stoned today in the village of Rudnik near Srbica, on the
Kosovska Mitrovica-Pec road, Serb sources in Kosovo
informed.
During the stoning the windows on one of the buses were
smashed but there were no injuries among the children.
After a
short stop, the convoy with some 150 children from Gorazdevac continued on
the road toward Pec.
Police have launched an
investigation.
The children of Gorazdevac spent several days in
Belgrade their wounded peers and touring the attractions of the Serbia and
Montenegro capital.
Yesterday the children were received by Serbian
premier Zoran Zivkovic.
Serbian Premier Zoran
Zivkovic received a group of Serb children
from Gorazdevac in Belgrade
this weekend
SERBIAN ORTHODOX
DIOCESE STRONGLY CONDEMNS STONING OF THE SERB BUS
Albanian extremists systematically target Serbian
children
ERPKIM
Info-Service
Gracanica, September 23, 2003
Serbian Orthodox
Diocese for Kosovo and Metohija most strongly condemns yesterday's stoning
of the bus with Serb children from Gorazdevac. The reiterated attack
on already traumatized children, many of whom survived the massacre on the
river on August 13, demonstrates that Kosovo Albanian extremists and their
sympatizers among their ordinary people systematically target Serbian
children as the weakest part of Serb population.
Such acts of
intolerance show utmost lack of basic moral criteria in the society and
should be unanimously condemned by all communities of the Province. At the
same time this is one reason more for KFOR to reinforce protection of Serb
children and other civilians who apparently are not safe even when they
travel in escorted convoys.
TOP
ALBANIANS SHOOT
AROUND GORAZDEVAC, KFOR SEARCHES SERBIAN HOUSES
"Instead of looking for the
murderers on the Albanian side, they are coming to the village everyday,
and are pressuring twenty year old Boshko Bogicevic, who was wounded that
same day at the river, into giving a statement regarding the incident,"
stated Dakic.
TOP
FREE SERBIA
Gracanica,
September 20
On Saturday,
Milisav Dakic, the father of Panta Dakic, the boy killed by Albanian
extremists on 13th of August stated for Tanjug news agency that Albanians
are continuing to shoot around Gorazdevac, and instead of increasing the
security measures, KFOR and UNMIK police are every day coming to the
village and are announcing searches of Serbian houses.
"Instead of
looking for the murderers on the Albanian side, they are coming to the
village everyday, and are pressuring twenty year old Boshko Bogicevic, who
was wounded that same day at the river, into giving a statement regarding
the incident," stated Dakic.
He also
stated that on Friday morning three Albanians were shooting near the
village, and that his cousin Rade Dugandzic, saw them and came back to
village all frightened, adding that because of this incident parents did
not let their children to go to school.
According to Dakic, KFOR is
passing through the village every day and is warning the locals that the
amnesty for surrendering weapons will last till the end of the month, and
that after that they will start searching houses.
In Gorazdevac,
there are 150 children, who are less then 7 years old, and 250 children,
which attend basic school or one of the three high schools.
TOP
UNMIK IS
MANIPULATING NUMBERS OF SERB RETURNEES
"Whenever we ask the
international representatives for an exact number and names of the
returnees which came back to the province, we constantly receive over
exaggeration, and often they simply give up on this task. So for example
UNHCR and UNMIK were saying that 60 Serbs returned to the village of
Klokot in Kosovska Vitina. But when we asked them to give us the names
they simply did not want to talk about it. Truth is that only 8 Serbs
returned to Klokot," stated Milorad Todorovic, the coordinator for
returns
TOP
POLITIKA,
Belgrade daily
Kosovska Mitrovica, 20 September 2003
The latest
report of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and displaced
persons (UNHCR), states that by June first of 2003, 7,531 persons which
left escaped to the Central Serbia and Montenegro have returned to
Serbia’s southern province. Report also states that of these people 4,115
are Serbians, 1,179 are Ashkalis, 734 are Romas, 358 Bosniaks, 109 Gorans,
and 426 are Albanians. According to this report most of the Serbian
returned three years ago. This organizations state that back then 1,826
Serbians returned to the province! It is added that 966 Serbs returned in
2002 while in 2001, 679 Serbs returned to their houses, and that in the
first half of 2003 646 Serbs have returned to their houses!
UNHCR
states that the data is based on information, which are monthly received
from the field, and as it is added are received from "different and very
trustworthy sources". What is obvious is that none of the reports have the
names of the persons that have returned in Kosovo and Metohija.
According to Milorad Todorovic, the coordinator for return, in the
Kosovo temporary government, "the returnees in Kosovo are just numbers for
the UNHCR". As Todorovic stated official Serbian sources are saying that
so far 850 Serbs have returned to the villages of Osojane, Bica, Grabac,
Dolac, and Belo Polje, all of them in Metohija, around thirty of them have
returned to Novake near Prizren, and only a dozen of them have returned to
Kosovo Pomoravlje and central Kosovo. Most of the Serbs returned to the
village of Osojane, where it is stated that around 300 of them returned.
Todorovic added that the rest of the villages in which there was any
return still do not have ambulances and schools while the returnees are
living only from the humanitarian help.
"Whenever we ask the
international representatives for an exact number and names of the
returnees which came back to the province, we constantly receive over
exaggeration, and often they simply give up on this task. So for example
UNHCR and UNMIK were saying that 60 Serbs returned to the village of
Klokot in Kosovska Vitina. But when we asked them to give us the names
they simply did not want to talk about it. Truth is that only 8 Serbs
returned to Klokot," stated Milorad Todorovic.
He also states that
the international community has no interest in returning the Serbs because
it is quiet obvious that they are protégées of only the Albanians.
Although year 2003 was proclaimed as a key year for the return of the
dispersed nothing came out of this. Process of return was being also sowed
down by the politics of the ex UNMIK chief Michael
Steiner.
Todorovic reminds that biggest organized return happened
this summer when 30 Serbs returned in the village of Belo Polje near Pec.
According to the UNMIK program for return, it was planed that this year
Serbs were to return to 24 locations in 9 municipalities, most of which
were in the region of Metohija. But everything remained just dead letter
on a peace of paper. This is also due to the fact that there is no unified
data on the number of exiled from the province territory. UNHCR has
information that since June of 1999, when the province became UN
protectorate, 238,000 citizens have been exiled out of which 180,000 were
Serbs. On the other hand official Belgrade, that is the Coordination
Center for Kosovo and Metohija, has a number of 300,000 exiled out of
which 218,000 are Serbs.
Serbian representatives in Kosovo are
pointing that if the return of the refugees continues with this pace, and
having in mind that so far not even one percent of the Serbian refugees
have returned, that then the rest of the Serbian families will return to
the province in the next 2 centuries!
Donated money planed for the
return of the Serbs for this year, which come to around 37 million Euros,
are enough for the return of only around 4,700 refugee Serbs. 3.5 million
euros are the money needed just for the building of 90 houses for the 450
Serbs from the villages near Pec.
TOP
COVIC CALLS
FOR DIALOGUE WITHOUT POLITICIZATION
"Those who want this must realize
that it is most important that the dialogue begin as soon as possible,
that it be constructive, and that we must come together to a resolution of
various problems," he said.
TOP
B92, Belgrade
Belgrade, 20 September 2003
Deputy
Serbian Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic said today that Belgrade does not
want to politicize the situation in Kosovo ahead of its dialogue with
Pristina.
"Those who want this must realize that it is most
important that the dialogue begin as soon as possible, that it be
constructive, and that we must come together to a resolution of various
problems," he said.
Covic, who heads Belgrade’s Kosovo
Coordination Center, declined to comment on calls from Albanian parties
for south Serbian representatives to be included in the dialogue, but said
that the delegation would be composed of officials and political
consultants.
Asked whether he ruled out negotiations with possible
Hague Tribunal indicted from the Albanian side, Covic replied that nobody
could impose rules on the make-up of the delegations.
However, he
said, it would not be helpful if someone from the delegation were to be
indicted by The Hague in the months after the dialogue.
He
described the first phase of the dialogue as being a process of building
trust for the negotiations.
TOP
INET - KOSOVO AND
METOHIJA FLASH NEWS,
20-21 SEP
TOP
www.inet.co.yu
I*Net News,
Belgrade
KOSOVO AND METOHIJA NEWS
Sunday 21 September
2003
23:40 The head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriarch
Pavle, served vespers service today in the Congregational Church in the
presence of 150 children from Gorazdevac, who are spending this weekend in
Belgrade.
20:20 UNMIK chief Harri Holkeri stated that the beginning
of dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade will be "in a matter of days,
not weeks." Holkeri, who is to participate in a meeting of the Contact
Group in New York this coming Tuesday and Wednesday, stated that he will
ask the Contact Group to accept his suggestions in connection with
procedural issues concerning the dialogue.
19:20 The director of
the Balkan Initiative at the U.S. Institute for Peace in Washington,
Daniel Serwer, the assessed that representatives of the Albanians in
Kosovo and Metohija are still not ready for the beginning of dialogue with
the government in Belgrade and that they need more time in both the
technical and the political sense. "It is difficult to be prepared for
talks when one does not know with whom he will talk, what will be the
format of the talks and what is on the agenda. The international community
has not made these matters clear," Server told the BBC. Server has
recently held a series of lectures for ministers and political advisors in
the Kosovo provisional government in preparation for the forthcoming
dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade on the future status of the
southern Serbian province. [sic]
18:20 During his meeting today
with the children from the Metohija village of Gorazdevac who are on a
three-day visit to Belgrade, Serbian premier Zoran Zivkovic promised that
the Serbian government and everyone who is responsible for taking care of
the state and its citizens will do everything possible to realize what the
children of Gorazdevac expect them to do. Zivkovic met with the pupils of
Gorazdevac in the Children's Cultural Center in Belgrade, where a special
program was prepared for them, and presented them with gifts on behalf of
the government.
18:00 Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija
head Nebojsa Covic stated that he spoke with UNMIK chief Harri Holkeri and
that he believes that his proposals for the beginning of dialogue are fair
and constructive because they do not favor any side. "He will present his
views to the Contact Groups and, of course, I expect that the Contact
Group will support what needs to occur, and that is dialogue. If people
don't talk or conduct dialogue, then I don't see how they can solve
problems. We have seen the methods used when there are no talks; we have
seen what occurred when there was no dialogue. I expect that the initial
meeting or dialogue will also be attended by senior officials of the EU
and NATO, for example, Mr. Solana and Mr. Robertson. That would be
beneficial," said Covic.
17:20 His Holiness the Serbian Patriarch
Kyr Pavle served holy archierchal liturgy today, on the feast day of the
Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God (Mala Gospojina), in Rainovac
Monastery in the Belgrade municipality of Grocka, with the assistance of
several priests and deacons of the Diocese of Belgrade and
Karlovac.
17:00 Serbia and Montenegro president Svetozar Marovic is
traveling to New York where he will head the state delegation at the 58th
session of the United Nations General Assembly next week. In New York
Marovic will meet with state and UN officials, and is also expected to
meet with U.S. state secretary Colin Powell and UNMIK chief Harri
Holkeri.
12:00 Approximately 150 school-age children from
Gorazdevac are on a three-day visit to Belgrade. This is an attempt to
assist the children in overcoming their psychological trauma resulting
from the massacre of their peers by Albanian terrorists. Upon their
arrival to Belgrade, they first visited their wounded friends still
undergoing treatment in Belgrade hospital. The school year in Gorazdevac
began with a requiem service for the children who were murdered by
Albanian terrorists while bathing in the river.
11:00 The date and
place where negotiations between Serbs and Kosovo Albanians will take
place will probably be known after September 23. Unconfirmed reports
suggest that the most probable venue for holding the meetings will be
Vienna, not Brussels as initially thought.
Saturday 20
September 2003
21:00 Former US president Bill Clinton
called on Kosovo residents to accept reconciliation and renounce revenge
and hatred. Reconciliation is the only possibility of building a stable
and prosperous Kosovo, said Clinton after receiving a honorary doctorate
from the University of Pristina.
20:40 Serbian deputy premier
Nebojsa Covic stated that Belgrade does not want to politicize the
situation prior to beginning dialogue with the ethnic
Albanians.
20:20 Representatives of the Return Coalition (Povratak)
took part in a breakfast meeting with UNMIK chief Harri Holkeri prior to
his departure to New York for a meeting with members of the Contact Group
where a decision on the place and time for the beginning of dialogue
between Belgrade and Pristina is expected to be made.
20:00 During
his meeting in Pristina with Kosovo officials and representatives of
leading parties, UNMIK chief Harri Holkeri failed to reach an agreement
regarding the beginning of dialogue with the Belgrade government;
consequently, the date and the place where the talks will be held will
probably be determined at the Contact Group meeting in New York on
September 22 and 23, it was advised in Pristina.
19:40 Serbian
deputy premier and Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija head
Nebojsa Covic who will head the Serbian team in talks on Kosovo with the
ethnic Albanians, stated in Belgrade that he is prepared to talk about
every topic with the exception of the future status of the
Province.
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 main focus of the
Info-Service is the life of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Serbian
community in the Province of Kosovo and Metohija. ERP KIM Info Service
works in cooperation with www.serbian-translation.com
as well as the Kosovo Daily
News (KDN) News List
Disclaimer:
The views
expressed by the authors of newspaper articles or other texts which are
not official communiqués or news reports by the Diocese are their own and
do not necessarily represent the views of the Serbian Orthodox
Church
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