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February 26, 2003
ERP KIM Newsletter 26-02-03
CONTENTS:
UNION OF SERB MUNICIPALITIES AND MUNICIPAL UNITS OF KOSOVO
AND METOHIJA PASSES DECLARATION ON THE SOVREIGNITY AND TERRITORIAL
INTEGRITY OF SERBIA AND THE UNION OF SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO IN KOSOVO AND
METOHIJA
TEXT OF ADOPTED DECLARATION
ADOPTED DIRECTIVES FOR FURTHER WORK
UNION OF SERB
MUNICIPALITIES AND MUNICIPAL UNITS OF KM PASSES DECLARATION ON THE
SOVREIGNITY AND TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY OF SERBIA AND THE UNION OF SERBIA
AND MONTENEGRO IN KOSOVO AND METOHIJA
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ERP KIM Info Service
Kosovska Mitrovica, February 25, 2003
The Union of Serb Municipalities and Municipal Units of Kosovo and
Metohija adopted a document called the Declaration on Sovereignty and
Territorial Integrity of Serbia and the Union of Serbia and Montenegro in
Kosovo and Metohija in Kosovska Mitrovica today.
Participants included the legally elected representatives of Serbs elected
last year and representatives of all Serb municipalities and municipal
units in Kosovo and Metohija. Also present were individual members of the
Return (Povratak) Coalition, provincial and federal delegates. The
leadership of the Union Parliament was elected at the session by unanimous
vote.
The vice president of the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) Dr. Marko
Jaksic, who was not present at the meeting today because he is in
Kraljevo recovering from injuries in a recent automobile accident, was
elected president of the Union of Serb Municipalities and Municipal Units
of Kosovo and Metohija. Also elected were three vice presidents from
northern Kosovo, central Kosovo and Kosovsko Pomoravlje, as well as a
15-member executive board and a parliamentary secretary.
Also adopted at the founding session of the Parliament were directives for
the further work of the Union of Serb Municipalities and Municipal Units
of Kosovo and Metohija, which were read by Kosovo and Metohija
parliamentary deputy Dr. Rada Trajkovic.
After the session, one of the participants of today’s meeting, the
chairman of the SNC of Northern Kosovo Dr. Milan Ivanovic, stated
for media: 'We have established that it is absolutely essential to respect
the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Serbia and
the Union of Serbia and Montenegro in this region. In the event of an
attempt to establish some kind of independent state, a second Albanian
country in the Balkans, we will certainly call on our officials to
establish effective sovereignty in all areas where Serbs are living.'
Dr. Ivanovic emphasized that the Serb side is adhering to Resolution 1244
and that it expects UNMIK to support the establishment of the Union of
Serb Municipalities and Municipal Units.
'Unlike the Albanians, who are providing destabilization of the Balkans
and the formation of a Greater Albania, we are acting in accordance with
the Resolution. Therefore UNMIK should support our unification so that our
suspended human rights can begin to be realized,' Ivanovic stated for
journalists who were present.
The representative of Pristina municipal assembly Slavisa Kostic,
who attended today’s session, told reporters that this was just the
beginning and that he was satisfied with today’s meeting.
However, in addition to the support the establishment of the Union of Serb
Municipalities of Kosovo and Metohija received from the majority of Serb
representatives, it was also possible to hear voices of dissent.
DSS representative from Pristina in the Serbian Parliament Dragan Lazic
considers the establishment of the Union of Serb Municipalities and
Municipal Units to imprudent. ' think that this is not a good thing. The
plan of the DSS and the president of our party [Dr. Vojislav Kostunica] is
that the problem of Kosovo and Metohija should be resolved as a whole.
This is to the advantage of municipalities gravitating toward the northern
part of Kosovo, that is, Leposavic, Zvecan, Northern Mitrovica and Zubin
Potok. What to say about the rest of Kosovo and Metohija when it’s a
well-known fact that only one third of the Serb national body lives in
northern Kosovo and Metohija while two thirds are in various enclaves? In
this entire complex situation there is no need to act egotistically,'
Lazic told media.
In any case today’s session is considered to be an important development
in the resolution of the Kosovo-Metohija question and the organization of
the Serb people in the Province. The reaction of international and local
Albanian circles as well as party representatives in Serbia and Montenegro
is expected in the next few days.
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TEXT OF THE ADOPTED
DECLARATION
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- Starting from the centuries-old yearning of the Serb
people to live in their own country, which began to be realized by the
First Serb Rebellion of 1804, and were finally fulfilled through victory
in the First Balkan War of 1912 and the First World War in 1918;
- Keeping in mind that the first Yugoslavia was an extension of Serbia as
an international subject, and the second Yugoslavia a founder of the UN at
the conference in San Francisco;
- Starting from the indisputable fact that according to the UN Charter and
its subsequent declarations and resolutions the right of
self-determination belongs only to colonial trans-Atlantic peoples, while
in Europe itself there were and there are no colonies;
- Starting from the likewise indisputable fact that the Albanian people
realized its right to self-determination within the framework of Albania
in 1913, and the Serb people within the frameworks of Serbia and the
former Yugoslavia, to which Serbia gave its status international legal
subject;
- Keeping in mind the pressing need to respect the sovereignty and
territorial integrity of internationally recognized countries, that of
Albania, as well as of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and now of
Serbia and Montenegro;
- Adhering to Security Council Resolution 1244 which confirmed the
sovereignty and territorial integrity of FR Yugoslavia within the
framework of internationally recognized borders;
- Starting from the right of the Serb people to respect their past, to
defend their present and to decide about their future;
The Union of Serb Municipalities and Municipal Units of Kosovo and
Metohija hereby makes this
D E C L A R A T I O N
ON THE SOVEREIGNTY AND TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY OF SERBIA AND THE UNION OF
SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO (THE FORMER FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA)
1. The Union of Serbia and Montenegro, and especially Serbia as its
member, have undeniable sovereignty and indivisible territorial integrity
within the framework of international recognized borders.
2. In the event that anyone attempts to on a part of Union of Serbia and
Montenegro, including Kosovo and Metohija establish a second Albanian
state in the Balkans, the Union of Serb Municipalities and Municipal Units
of Kosovo and Metohija will call on the Serbian Government and officials
of the Union of Serbia and Montenegro to establish effective sovereignty
in those areas where the Serb people have been living for centuries.
3. Anyone who attempts to break up the territorial integrity of the
Republic of Serbia and the Union of Serbia and Montenegro must known that
the territorial integrity of the state can be legitimately defended using
all available means.
February 25, 2003
in Kosovska Mitrovica
The Parliamanet of the Union of Serb Municipalities
and Municipal Units of Kosovo and Metohija
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ADOPTED DIRECTIVES FOR
FURTHER WORK
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THE PARLIAMENT OF THE UNION OF SERB MUNICIPALITIES
AND MUNICIPAL UNITS OF KOSOVO AND METOHIJA
at a session held on February 25, 2003 in Northern Mitrovica adopted the
following
D I R E C T I V E S
for the survival of the Serbs and the creation of conditions for
significant returns
to Kosovo and Metohija
1. Return of the Serbian army and police (under the
auspices of UN international forces)
- One of the provisions of Resolution 1244 is the return of the Serbian
army and police to Kosovo and Metohija. The best way of realizing this
provision is the return of the army and police within the framework of the
Partnership for Peace program.
- Members of the Serbian army and police would participate with members of
the United Nations and KFOR in protecting Serb areas and cultural and
historic monuments.
- Special police teams from Serbia for fighting organized crime and
terrorism would work together with international police and antiterrorist
units in Kosovo and Metohija to break up terrorist groups and cut off
organized crime activities (smuggling of drugs, weapons, tobacco,
prostitution, etc.) in the region (within the framework of the Stability
Pact for Southeast Europe program).
2. Disarming and disbanding of the Kosovo Protection
Corps (KPC)
- The KPC has lost all credibility because, despite its so-called
transformation into civil forces, it has retained its paramilitary
character and become a key factor of destabilization throughout the
region.
- Proof of this is the fact that almost all primary commanders in the KPC
are on the Black List of U.S. president George Bush and the European
Union, that some have suspended while others are already in prison.
- It is unacceptable for the KPC to be transformed into the armed forces
of Kosovo and Metohija because it has abused the international presence
and participates in ethnic cleansing and murder of Serbs. (A KPC member
who participated in the terrorist attack near Podujevo on February 16,
2001 in which 11 Serb civilians were killed and dozens more wounded
escaped from the U.S. military base Bondsteel.)
- The KPC cannot be transformed into armed forces because it actively
participates in organizing and arming Albanian paramilitary forces in the
region (Presevo Valley and Macedonia) and supports the project of
pan-Albanian unification.
- We demand that the Kosovo Protection Corps be demilitarized and
dismissed.
- We call on all members of the Serb community not to give legality and
legitimacy to this criminal organization by their participation in it.
3. Appeal to UNMIK chief and KFOR command
- Representatives of the Union of Serb Municipalities and Municipal Units
kindly request and demand that UNMIK and KFOR contribute to making Kosovo
and Metohija, total surface area 10,800 square meters, a safe place for
all citizens and that they prevent the use of the Province for logistical
support of terrorist acts in the region.
4. Decentralization and creation of functioning
self-government of the Serb people in Kosovo and Metohija – the creation
of a Serb entity
- Decentralization is the only path to solving the position of the Kosovo
and Metohija Serbs.
- An asymmetrical two-entity system is the best solution which would
provide long-term protection for the interests of the Serb community. The
Serb entity would be comprised of the municipalities, municipal units and
settlements in areas inhabited by Serbs (including their cultural and
historical monuments), while the Albanian entity would be comprised of the
rest of Kosovo and Metohija. The Serb entity would have very close ties
with structures of the Republic of Serbia (education, health, judicial
system, culture, security, etc.) and would function as an integral part of
Serbia. The Albanian entity would enjoy a high degree of substantial
autonomy and would have only mutually agreed upon ties with Serbia. Both
entities would have common offices which would concern themselves with
current problems involving infrastructure, the economy, prevention of
ethnic violence, resolving property issues, etc.
- The entities would function like regional administrative units in
European countries.
- It is urgently necessary to undertake measures toward the creation of
municipal structures in all municipalities where Serbs live.
- Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija must enjoy collective rights as a
constitutive people in addition to their rights as individuals.
5. Blue routes (corridors)
- Following announced reductions in the number of KFOR troops,
representatives of the Union of Serb Municipalities and Municipal Units
demand the definition of “blue routes” (Orahovac – Northern Mitrovica,
Strpce – Gracanica, Gracanica – Merdare, Gracanica – Kosovska Mitrovica,
etc.) in cooperation with the UN mission with the goal of realizing
freedom of movement and better communication.
6. Methods of realizing directives
- These directives would be realized exclusively through peaceful and
democratic means and in cooperation with the international community, the
European Union, Russia and China.
- These directives would create realistic conditions for the return of the
displaced Serb population, an improvement in the security situation, the
return of the displaced, and the resolution of property and legal issues
in accordance with European standards. Otherwise, Kosovo and Metohija
would continue to sink into violence and monoethnicity and the Albanians
of Kosovo and Metohija would be increasingly isolated from their closest
neighbors.
President of the Union of Municipalities and
Municipal Units of Kosovo and Metohija
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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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Copyright 2003, ERP KIM Info-Service
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