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June 25,
2003
ERP KIM Newsletter
25-06-03
COUNCIL OF EUROPE
PROPOSES SPECIAL AUTONOMY FOR KOSOVO WITHIN SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO
CONTENTS:
 COUNCIL
OF EUROPE - SPECIAL AUTONOMY FOR KOSOVO WITHIN SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO
KOSOVO:
THREE PEOPLE BEATEN UP - HOUSE SET ON FIRE
SERBS
PROTECT HOSPITAL
ITALIAN
CARABINIERI TO PROTECT SERBS IN OBILIC
POOR
SAFETY CONDITIONS IN KOSOVO-METOHIJA: COVIC - SERBS DO NOT HAVE ELEMENTARY
LIVING CONDITIONS
THREE
KOSOVO SERB BODIES IDENTIFIED - 60 MORE BODIES EXHUMED AT DRAGODAN
DELEGATION
OF THE SERB-AMERICAN CONGRESS BRIEF
US ADMINISTRATION AND CONGRESSMEN ON KOSOVO PROBLEMS
MACEDONIA:
'OBVIOUS MISHAP' - ETHNIC ALBANIAN SLAVER ESCAPES PRISON
MACEDONIA
MINISTER DESCRIBES TWIN BLASTS IN SKOPJE AS "TERRORIST ACT"
More News
Available on our:
KOSOVO DAILY
NEWS LIST (KDN)
KDN Archive
This newsletter is available on our
ERP KIM Web-site:
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COUNCIL OF
EUROPE - SPECIAL AUTONOMY FOR KOSOVO WITHIN SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO
TOP
Beta
News Agency, Belgrade
June 24, 2003
 STRASBOURG,
June 23 - The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe proposed
today that Kosovo be given the status of special autonomy with guarantees
by the international community that this would not bring into question the
territorial integrity and sovereignty of the state union of Serbia and
Montenegro.
Such a status would enable respect for minority rights within both Serbia
and Kosovo, states the resolution adopted on the second day of the session
of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe assessed that under
the circumstances of the new situation in Serbia and Montenegro this
solution would be "possible and recommended," considering the existence of
numerous examples of special autonomy in Europe.
The Council of Europe proposal was presented in the resolution called
"Positive experiences of autonomous regions as a source of inspiration in
resolving conflicts in Europe" in the section entitled "Kosovo within the
Federation of Serbia and Montenegro."
The Commission for Political Affairs, which submitted the draft
resolution, indicated that interethnic problems can be resolved by giving
autonomy to minorities.
"Numerous European states have been successful in reducing internal
tensions or are in the process of doing so by creating cultural or
territorial autonomy, thus taking advantage of a wide selection of
concrete measures whose purpose is the resolution of internal conflicts,"
states the resolution.
In the resolution the Parliamentary Assembly recommends that the Council
of Ministers create a "legal instrument" at the European level to be based
on the draft European charter on regional autonomy.
The creation of a "legal instrument", it emphasizes, would enable citizens
confronted with interethnic conflicts to discover constitutional and
legislative solutions preserving the sovereignty and territorial integrity
of the state with simultaneous respect for the rights of minorities.
RELATED LINK:
COUNCIL OF EUROPE - PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY
POSITIVE EXPERIENCE OF AUTONOMOUS REGIONS AS A SOURCE OF INSPIRATION FOR
CONFLICT RESOLUTION IN EUROPE (June 3, 2003)
TOP
THREE
PEOPLE BEATEN UP - HOUSE SET ON FIRE
TOP
Vecernje
Novosti daily, Belgrade
June 23, 2003
Dragan Damjanovic
LIPLJAN - Two attacks on Serbs in as many days have resulted in more fear
being sown among their remaining compatriots in the municipality of
Lipljan and confirmed suspicions that the terror of Albanian separatists
in the Province is far from waning.
(Serb) Momi Jeftic was on his way to Kosovo Polje to inspect his
house in the village of Magura, which was being watched for him by his
adopted brother, (Albanian) Nezir Larli. En route they were met by a group
of Albanians, who used their cars to block their vehicle and pulled Jeftic
out of the car. After punching him repeatedly, the Albanians forced Jeftic
to walk back to Kosovo Polje. Jeftic recognized the brother of his own
adopted brother among his attackers and understood that this was his
"final warning" not to return to the home of his forefathers.
On Monday afternoon a group of Albanians beat up Zivka Matic of
Rabovce near Lipljan. She was admitted to the hospital in Gracanica while
UNMIK police failed to arrest her attackers because, according to them,
they were minors. At almost the same time Mirko Janackovic was
beaten up while on his way to Kosovska Vitina. We were unable to find out
more about what happened to him.
Two nights ago in Obilic the home of the refugee family of Pecelj
was set on fire. Thanks to the rapid intervention of UNMIK firefighters
one part of the house was saved while the rest was reduced to ashes.
Residents of northern Kosovo and Metohija were also disturbed by an
incident in the train going from Kosovo Polje to Kosovska Mitrovica.
Policemen from the train took a married couple, Sinisa and Stanka
Jeremic, to the nearby Zvecan police station because they were
convinced that they knew a Serb man who stoned an Albanian at the Vucitrn
train station.
Serbs blocked the train and road toward Raska for half an hour in protest,
stating that this was clearly a provocation since there has not been a
resident of Vucitrn of Serb or Montenegrin nationality for more than four
years. An official statement from the appropriate UN institutions
regarding these incidents is expected.
TOP
SERBS PROTECT HOSPITAL
KOSOVO POLJE
- UNMIK has withdrawn security forces from the Kosovo Polje hospital and
health center and left the Serbs to fend for themselves against Albanian
extremists still seeking to take over the hospital.
TOP
Vecernje
Novosti daily, Belgrade
June 23, 2003
D.D.
KOSOVO POLJE - UNMIK has withdrawn security forces from the Kosovo Polje
hospital and health center and left the Serbs to fend for themselves
against Albanian extremists still seeking to take over the hospital.
As a result in the past two days there have been repeated provocations
from vehicles passing on the nearby main road from Pristina to Pec, as
well by stone-throwing minors. When the unarmed Serbs and medical staff
appealed to police for necessary protection, one of them was told: "Let
the Russian who turned over the hospital to you protect you."
"Everything that has happened has made us even more determined to protect
the hospital, the health center and St. Sava School. We have 300-500
patients per day visiting the health center and the hospital for medical
assistance and right now there are almost 50 patients resident in the
hospital," said Boro Velickovic, the representative of the crisis
headquarters and director of the medical school in Gracanica.
Nebojsa Covic, the head of the Coordinating Center for Kosovo and
Metohija, and his associates visited the several hundred remaining medical
staff yesterday. He emphasized that the Coordinating Center would do
everything possible to ensure that these buildings in Kosovo Polje and the
remaining Serbs in the town and surrounding villages are protected, and
that their survival here depends on the protection of the hospital and the
school.
TOP
ITALIAN
CARABINIERI TO PROTECT SERBS IN OBILIC
ERP KIM info service subarticle
TOP
Pristina, 24
Jun (Tanjug)
Kosovo-Metohija
coordinating center President Nebojsa Covic conferred with KFOR commander,
Italian General Fabio Mini in Pristina late Monday, who promised Italian
carabinieri of that local peacekeeping force would protect Serbs in
Obilic.
Covic insisted, together with political representatives of Obilic Serbs,
on greater safety and freedom of movement for the Serb community in this
town in central Kosovo and Metohija, where ethnic Albanian terrorists
murdered a Serb family of three 20 days ago.
TOP
POOR
SAFETY CONDITIONS IN KOSOVO-METOHIJA: COVIC
TOP
SERBIAN
GOVERNMENT
June 24, 2003
Pristina, June 23, 2003 - Coordinating Centre for Kosovo-Metohija head
Nebojsa Covic said following a visit to Serb enclaves in Kosovo that
safety conditions in the province are still poor and urged the
international community to take more steps to provide for the return of
displaced Serbs.
The situation in the province has deteriorated further after a number of
recent incidents, such as the Pecelj family's house in Obilic being set on
fire, ethnic Albanians attacking Zivka Pelic from the village of Rabovce
and UNMIK police clashing with Serbian doctors in Kosovo Polje, said
Covic.
Serbs are still deprived of the freedom of movement in the province, said
Covic, adding that the main culprit for the poor safety conditions there
is UNMIK head Michael Steiner.
KFOR Commander General Fabio Mini promised that Italian KFOR troops will
protect local Serbs in Obilic, set up check points and increase the number
of patrols, said Covic.
Covic
Visited Kosovo Polje - Serbs do not have elementary living rights
June 24, 2003
The Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and the Chief of the Government's
Coordination Team for Kosovo Nebojsa Covic assessed on Monday in Kosovo
Polje that the Serbs do not have the elementary living rights and that the
situation is on the brink of Fascism.
"We must not allow that during the talking of multi-ethnicity further
ethnic cleansing of the Serbian community is being carried out", said
Covic, calling all employees as well as the citizens to defend the Health
center and the school ."On that depends whether you are going to live here
or not", said Covic after the meeting with the Health center management
and the crisis headquarters of Kosovo Polje. He publicly invited the
chiefs of the international offices in Pristina, representing the
so-called Five, to make the contact with the Serbian national community
and not to believe in the false reports.
TOP
KOSOVO SERBS
PROPORTIONALLY AFFECTED MORE DURING THE INTERNATIONALLY GRANTED PEACE THAN
KOSOVO ALBANIANS DURING THE WAR
One of burrial sites at
Dragodan (near Pristina) with bodies of Serbs killed by UCK after the end
of the war. Hundreds of Serb bodies were temporarily burried by local
authoritiesin several locations around Kosovo during the second half of
1999. to be exhumed and identified later. Serb human rights organizations
have evidence for at least 847 killed and 1154 missing Serbs since June
12, 1999 and the deployment of KFOR/UNMIK. More than one third of pre-war
Serb population (240.000) fleed Kosovo in front of KLA terror which was
more or less tolerated by peacekeepers. Almost ten
times smaller than the Albanian community Kosovo Serbs were proportionally
affected more after the war, in the KFOR/UNMIK presence, than Kosovo
Albanians during the war period under the MIlosevic regime.
THREE KOSVOO SERB BODIES IDENTIFIED
TOP
SRNA News
Agency
June 24, 2003
PRIZREN -- Thursday -- The remains of three Kosovo-Serbs have been
identified after being exhumed from shallow graves on the Suva Reka (dry
river) road near the village of Dulja in Prizren.
The bodies have been idenitified as those of Dejan Jezdic, a former
Yugoslav Army officer from Vranje, Stanko Saranovic, kidnapped in Pristina
in 1999, and Zvezdan Mojsic, abducted from a bus-stop in Djakovica in
1999.
Vujadin Otasevic, representative of the Coordination Centre for Kosovo and
Southern Serbia, confirmed that the bodies are soon to be returned to
their families at the Merdare administrative border crossing.
60 BODIES
EXHUMED AT DRAGODAN CEMETERY, INCLUDING EIGHT BABIES
"Almost all the
bodies were buried after the deployment of KFOR in Kosovo in 1999; some
were even buried here in the year 2000," he said, adding that based on the
fact that they were buried in caskets and a few other indicators, for now
it was presumed that these had been Serbs.
Beta News Agency, Belgrade
June 24, 2003
KURSUMLIJA - Pathologist Slavisa Dobricanin told Beta news agency today
that Serb and UNMIK forensic experts have completed exhumations at the
Pristina cemetery of Dragodan after finding 60 bodies.
Dobricanin, who is the head of the Coordinating Center of Kosovo and
Metohija's Bureau for Exhumation and Identification, said that the bodies
were transferred to the Orahovac center where the autopsies will be
conducted.
"We worked in the field protected by police units, which was necessary due
to the Albanian settlements near the cemetery," he said.
The exhumation yielded the bodies of eight babies, as well as several bags
containing two to three bodies each buried in a mass grave. Some of the
bodies are missing body parts such as hands and feet; in some cases, the
heads were missing. We were able to immediately determine by inspection
that there were signs of violence such as broken bones, suggesting that
the victims were murdered, added Dobricanin.
"Almost all the bodies were buried after the deployment of KFOR in Kosovo
in 1999; some were even buried here in the year 2000," he said, adding
that based on the fact that they were buried in caskets and a few other
indicators, for now it was presumed that these had been Serbs.
Exhumations at the Dragodan 2 site were completed while an additional 140
bodies are still waiting to be exhumed from Dragodan 1, said Dobricanin.
The expert team for exhumations had found three more bodies today in Suva
Reka, said Dobricanin, and added that the exhumation of bodies will
continue in both the Orthodox cemetery in Djakovica and in Prizren.
At the same time by the end of the week several of the bodies identified
in the Orahovac center are expected to be turned over to relatives.
SIXTY BODIES OF PEOPLE BELIEVED BO BE SERBS EXHUMED BY PATHOLOGIST
TEAM OF THE BELGRADE COORDINATION CENTER IN KOSOVO
Radio
Yugoslavia:
June 24, 2003
UNMIK
pathologists and experts from Serbia finished the exhumation at the
Dragodan 2 cemetery in Pristina, during which exhumation 60 bodies of
people believed to be Serbs were found, the head of the Bureau for
Exhumation and Identification of the Coordination Centre for Kosmet,
pathologist Slavisa Dobricanin, said. He said that traces of violence had
been established on the majority of bodies and that bodies had been buried
after the deployment of KFOR in Kosmet in 1999.
TOP
DELEGATION
OF THE SERB-AMERICAN CONGRESS BRIEFS REPRESENTATIVES OF THE US
ADMINISTRATION AND CONGRESS ON KOSOVO PROBLEMS
TOP
INET,
Belgrade
June 24, 2003
21:40
Representatives of the Serbian-American Congress have met yesterday in
Washington with representatives of the US administration, members of the
Congress and Balkan experts to discuss relations between governments of
the USA and Serbia-Montenegro. The problem of Kosovo-Metohija, cooperation
with the Hague tribunal, Serbia-Montenegro economy, corruption and crime
in the country and possibilities for improvement of relations between USA
and Serbia-Montenegro were on the agenda.
The Serbian-American Congress is an organization consisting of the
Congress of Serbian Unity, Serbian National Alliance and Serbian National
Renewal.
TOP
MACEDONIA:
'OBVIOUS MISHAP' - ETHNIC ALBANIAN SLAVER ESCAPES PRISON
TOP
REALITY
MACEDONIA
Web posted June 23, 2003
Source: A1 TV
Background: Ali Ahmeti, the amnestied Albanian terrorist turned favorite
politician of Great Powers, basically admitted in an interview for MSNBC
that money comming from sex slavery financed his "human rights" war,
confirming numerous reports about the connections of Albanian mafia with
Albanian nationalist militants.
From the report by Vasko Popetrevski
http://www.a1.com.mk/vesti/vest.asp?VestID=21399
There has been obvious mishaps in the transport procedure of Dilaver
Bojku, AKA Leku, from the Struga to Ohrid prison, including not
implementing all necessary meaures, remarked Deputy Minister of Justice
Meri Mladenovska-Gjorgjievska, after she talked to the management of the
prison and the officers who escorted the "boss pimp."
"The claim that Bojku wasn't handcuffed is true, although it should have
been necessary. This is not a major violation of the regulations, but
considering the identity of the convict, the wardens should have assumed
what could happen and should have taken more serious measures to secure
him," said Mladenovska-Gjorgjievska.
The Ministry of Justice has not made a decision about the disciplinary
measures for the resposnible officers, including wether Dragan Petreski
will continue working as the prison manager. The Ministry of Interior also
conducts a parallel investigation on the responsibility of prison
employees for the Friday debacle.
When asked if Dilaver Bojku's escape was well organized, the Deputy
Minister did not reply directly, but repeated the testimony of the prison
employees, which leads to such a conclusion.
"About hundred meters from the prison van, a black car appeared. Bojku
entered the car and dissapeared," said Mladenovska-Gjorgjievska.
Mladenovska-Gjorgjievska designated the whole case of Dilaver Bojku - Leku
as "specific" - starting from the proceedings to the judgement. She
considers his 6-months-only sentence [for pimping] as "debatable."
"Judiciary which considers itself an anarchy does not mean independence,
but turns into the other extreme of what it should be. If the judiciary
branch does not fulfill it's profesional and expert obligations, all
efforts by the executive and legislative parts of the Goverment are in
vain," said Mladenovska Gjorgjievska.
From the report by Nina Kepevska
http://www.a1.com.mk/vesti/vest.asp?VestID=21398
Dilaver Bojku, AKA Leku, is still at large. The Ministry of Internal
Affairs issued a national warant for his arrest, and intensified the
police controls around Struga region, especially his village of Veleshta,
and at the border crossings.
The investigation of the escape continues. The manager of Struga prison
could not be reached for comments.
Following details about the event surfaced: Leku was accompanied by the
prisoner Veljanovski who was standing at the prison gate just prior to the
incident. The warden Gjore Pejchinovski and his assistants accompanied the
Albanian slaver [whose involvement in human trafficking was proven in a
court of law]. When one of the officers wanted to open the van which was
supposed to transport Bojku to Ohrid prison, the mafiozo used his arms to
push his gards and run to a black car parked about 100 meters from the
prison.
All this confirms the suspicions that the whole action was planned in
advance. The news of Leku's escape didn't stir the local public too much.
People of struga consider the whole thing a set-up. They are not
surprised, since during his stay in the minimum-security prison facility
in Struga, Bojku would often spend his time in the city pubs during the
day, and go to prison only to get a good night's rest.
TOP
MACEDONIA
MINISTER DESCRIBES TWIN BLASTS AS "TERRORIST" ACT
TOP
Monday,
23-Jun-2003 10:39AM
SKOPJE, June 23 (AFP) - Macedonian Interior Minister Hari Kostov on Monday
described twin explosions in the captial Skopje as "classic terrorist act"
perpetrated by a group linked to other attacks in the Balkan country.
Kostov did not offer further details about the group blamed for the two
blasts which went off simultaneously late on Sunday, injuring one woman
and blowing out windows on neighboring buildings and cars.
One device was planted in a garbage bin, while the other was placed in
front of the post office.
Two years after the signing of a peace pact, tensions persist between the
Macedonian authorities and ethnic Albanians, who staged a seven-month
uprising in 2001 to press for civil and political rights.
TOP
ERP KIM
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