October 28, 2003

ERP KIM Newsletter 28-10-03

ATTACKS ON KOSOVO SERBS CONTINUE - PREVIOUS CASES STILL UNRESOLVED BY UNMIK POLICE

When will the murderers of innocent Serb children in Gorazdevac be arrested?
Bogdan Bukumiric (17) one of four Serb children wounded in the massacre of August 13 was visited by the new UNMIK chief Hari Holkeri at the Belgrade VMA Medical Center. In the last six months UNMIK police has failed to bring to justice perpetrators of the massacres in Obilic, Gorazdevac and other incidents in which Kosovo Serbs were targeted.

CONTENTS:

KOSOVO SERB FARMERS UNDER FIRE
Seven Serbs from the village of Banje in the municipality of Srbica were shot at from submachine guns as they set out with two tractors to harvest apples from their property near the village of Radisevo, which is inhabited exclusively by ethnic Albanians.

TWO EXTREMIST ATTACKS ON SERB HOUSES IN OBILIC
On Saturday (October 25) unknown person threw a hand grenade on the home of Dragan Arsic, a Kosovo Serb who lives in the Cerska street in Obilic. No one was injured in the attack and the house suffered minor material damage. Three hours after the bomb attack unknown attackers opened machine gun fire on the neighboring Serb house of Vidosav Stolic.

KOSOVO ALBANIANS ATTACKED KFOR - ONE FRENCH SOLDIER WOUNDED
A group of Kosovo Albanians attacked thirty French KFOR soldiers in north Kosovo, near Srbica, on Saturday evening while they were in their regular mission of terrain surveillance Chris Thompson, KFOR press officer, confirmed to BETA Agency today.

KOFI ANAN CONCERNED WITH VIOLENCE AGAINST KOSOVO SERBS
 United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned the Security Council that the security problems for the minority Serbs was a matter of serious concern and that there was more to be done so as to ensure adequate levels of political participation by minorities in municipal affairs.

SERBIAN POLICE UNCOVER ALBANIAN ARMS CACHE IN SOUTHERN SERBIA
Serbian police said Sunday they had discovered an arms cache in south Serbia belonging to "Albanian terrorist groups" operating in the region. Police said the haul included around 30 automatic weapons, grenade launchers, hand grenades and ammunition.

HOLKERI SURPRISED AT KOSOVO POLITICIANS
In the interview, extensive excerpts from which are carried by Kosovo electronic media on Sunday, Holkeri said that Kosovo leaders give greater priority to differences and deep divisions among the Kosovo factions than they do to taking responsibility for improving the living conditions of the people.

AFP: SOLANA BLASTS KOSOVO PM OVER DIALOGUE
SOLANA: "It is very, very important to construct trust, water the flower of trust every day, several times, and not to create a drama of every event that takes place."

SERBIAN JUSTICE MINISTER ADDRESSES AN OPEN LETTER TO HARI HOLKERI
Serbian Justice Minister Vladan Batic addressed an open letter to UNMIK chief Harri Holkeri, suggesting that Agim Ceku be immediately dismissed from the position of the head of the Kosovo Protection Corpus (KPC), that Ceku, Hashim Thaci and Ramush Haradinai be forbidden to leave Kosovo until documentation submitted by Serbian judiciary organs has been examined, and that the above-mentioned individuals be handed over to Serbia or tried before the judicial organs of Kosovo.

KCC CALLS FOR UNMIK'S INVESTIGATION AGAINST AGIM CEKU
The Coordinating Centre for Kosovo-Metohija said in a statement on Monday that it expected UNMIK to launch an investigation against the commander of the Kosovo Protection Corpse, Agim Ceku, who had been released from Slovenian custody at the request by UNMIK Chief Harri Holkeri.

More News Available on our:

KOSOVO DAILY NEWS LIST (KDN)
KDN Archive

This newsletter is available on our ERP KIM Web-site:
http://www.kosovo.net/erpkiminfo.html

KOSOVO SERB FARMERS UNDER FIRE
Seven Serbs from the village of Banje in the municipality of Srbica were shot at from submachine guns as they set out with two tractors to harvest apples from their property near the village of Radisevo, which is inhabited exclusively by ethnic Albanians.

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Beta News Agency, Belgrade
October 27, 2003


SRBICA - Seven Serbs from the village of Banje in the municipality of Srbica were shot at from submachine guns as they set out with two tractors to harvest apples from their property near the village of Radisevo, which is inhabited exclusively by ethnic Albanians.

Village spokesman Milutin Kovacevic advised today that they were under fire at from several directions for over an hour and that they were extremely lucky that no one was hurt or killed.

The Serbs sought sanctuary in the nearby woods. Individual shots continued even after Danish KFOR troops rushed to their assistance and provided an escort so they could return home, said Kovacevic.

Banje and the neighboring village of Suvo Grlo are the only two villages in the municipality of Srbica where Serbs are still living, completely cut off from their surroundings and subject to frequent attacks by their Albanian neighbors.

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TWO EXTREMIST ATTACKS ON SERB HOUSES IN OBILIC
On Saturday (October 25) unknown person threw a hand grenade on the home of Dragan Arsic, a Kosovo Serb who lives in the Cerska street in Obilic. No one was injured in the attack and the house suffered minor material damage. Three hours after the bomb attack unknown attackers opened machine gun fire on the neighboring Serb house of Vidosav Stolic.

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ERP KIM, other Serb media
Oct 27, 2003

On Saturday (October 25) unknown person threw a hand grenade on the home of Dragan Arsic, a Kosovo Serb who lives in the Cerska street in Obilic. No one was injured in the attack and the house suffered minor material damage. This is the third bomb attack on the home of Arsic family in the last few months. The house is situated a few hundred meters away from the home of Stolic family which was massacred in May 2003.

Three hours after the bomb attack unknown attackers opened machine gun fire on the neighboring Serb house of Vidosav Stolic. No one was injured in the attack but thirty holes remained on the front facade and the entrance door. At the time of the attack in the house were Vidosav (62), his wife Slavica (60) and her sister in law. Their children were evacuated to central Serbia after the murder of their relatives, in the other Stolic family house.

Novica Stolic, a relative of Vidosav, explained that due to recurrent power restrictions and mismanagement in the neighboring Obilic Power Plant, now run and administered exclusively by ethnic Albanians, there appeared a rumor that Serb engineers and workers who were expelled in summer 1999 would be called back to work. Stolic and other Obilic Serbs believe that these latest attacks are the message to the Serbs who would like to return to their homes.

As in all similar cases perpetrators of these attacks have not been identified by the police. After the incidents all 300 remaining Serbs from Obilic town gathered and staged a protest requesting better protection by UN Mission and KFOR. Since the end of the conflict in 1999. ethnic Albanians introduced the new name of the town - Kastriot which they try to impose as official name of the city like in many other instances throughout Kosovo Province.

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ETHNIC ALBANIANS ATTACKED KFOR SOLDIERS - ONE KFOR SOLDIER WOUNDED 
 
A group of Kosovo Albanians attacked thirty French KFOR soldiers in north Kosovo, near Srbica, on Saturday evening while they were in their regular mission of terrain surveillance Chris Thompson, KFOR press officer, confirmed to BETA Agency today.

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BETA , ERPKIM Info, other media
October 27, 2003

A group of Kosovo Albanians attacked thirty French KFOR soldiers in north Kosovo, near Srbica, on Saturday evening while they were in their regular mission of terrain surveillance Chris Thompson, KFOR press officer, confirmed to BETA Agency today. He said that the KFOR soldiers were attacked and that one soldier sustained light injuries. According to Thompson, the investigation is ongoing.

UNMIK police issued a statement in which it  was confirmed that the attackers had axes, while at least six of them had guns and one of them a hunting rifle, writes Belgrade daily POLITIKA. According to this report four KFOR soldiers were forced into their vehicle and others were threatened by guns and axes. The French KFOR press officer explained that the French patrol stopped near the house of the former "rebel commander" Bashkim Jashari during one of their regular patrols in the neighborhood of Jashari mahala, near Srbica (Skenderaj in Albanian). Suddenly a group of people from the house approached them, began to threaten soldiers to leave immediately. "They were provoking us", said Murat Jashari, Bashkim's relative in his statement to the Kosovo Television (RTK)

According to other innofficial sources a group of Albanians opened fire on French soldiers while they were patrolling the area.

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UN SECRETARY-GENERAL CONCERNED WITH VIOLENCE AGAINST KOSOVO SERBS
ERP KIM info service subarticle

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http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/news/2003-10/27/331634.html

SERBIAN GOVERNMENT

New York, Oct 27, 2003 -

In a report on UNMIK's activities, delivered to the UN Security Council, Annan said that the security situation in Kosovo was marred by a number of serious incidents involving minorities, and that violence targeting minorities was unacceptable. He went on to say that Kosovo leaders should follow their condemnation of the attacks with concrete steps.

He said that despite setbacks resulting from recent violent incidents involving Kosovo Serb victims, the overall rate of returns continued to accelerate.

Annan called on representatives of Belgrade and Pristina to continue the dialogue launched on Oct 14 in Vienna and to undertake concrete actions aimed at improving the daily lives of the resident.
 

FULL REPORT OF THE UN SEC-GEN IS AVAILABLE ON RELIEF-WEB:

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SERBIAN POLICE UNCOVER ARMS CACHE BELONGING TO "ALBANIAN TERRORISTS:
Serbian police said Sunday they had discovered an arms cache in south Serbia belonging to "Albanian terrorist groups" operating in the region. Police said the haul included around 30 automatic weapons, grenade launchers, hand grenades and ammunition.

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http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/db/Qserbia-montenegro.R5yd_DOQ.html

AGENCE FRANCE PRESE
Sunday, 26-Oct-2003 12:40PM

BELGRADE, Oct 26 (AFP) - Serbian police said Sunday they had discovered an arms cache in south Serbia belonging to "Albanian terrorist groups" operating in the region.

Police said the haul included around 30 automatic weapons, grenade launchers, hand grenades and ammunition.

The discovery came as part of a crackdown on the activities of "Albanian terrorist groups" in southern Serbia, the police said.

The weaponry was found close to the village of Veliki Trnovac, near the town of Bujanovac, where it had been hidden since demilitarisation in 2001 by the Albanian extremist group, the "liberation army of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac," police said.

Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac, adjoining Kosovo, lie in a region with a large Albanian population and were the scene of clashes from 2000 to 2001 between Serb forces and the self-proclaimed liberation army, which later disbanded to become the "Albanian national army," since dubbed a terrorist organisation by the United Nations.

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HOLKERI SURPRISED AT KOSOVO POLITICIANS
In the interview, extensive excerpts from which are carried by Kosovo electronic media on Sunday, Holkeri said that Kosovo leaders give greater priority to differences and deep divisions among the Kosovo factions than they do to taking responsibility for improving the living conditions of the people.

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Kosovo at Glance, Belgrade
Belgrade, Oct 27, 2003


UNMIK chief Harri Holkeri said in an interview for the Finnish STT news agency that he was disappointed in Kosovo leaders for showing no inclination to assume responsibility for the day-to-day living conditions of the people.

In the interview, extensive excerpts from which are carried by Kosovo electronic media on Sunday, Holkeri said that Kosovo leaders give greater priority to differences and deep divisions among the Kosovo factions than they do to taking responsibility for improving the living conditions of the people.

Tensions between parties are much more important than dealing with day-to-day problems, the UNMIK chief is quoted as saying. He expressed surprise at this kind of behavior by Kosovo leaders, adding that he found it hard to understand that the politicians are refusing to negotiate to protect the interests of the people.

Holkeri to Make First Report to
UN Security Council on Thursday

The Koha Ditore newspaper writes on Sunday that UNMIK chief Harri Holkeri will make on Thursday his first report to the UN Security Council since taking over as Kosovo civilian administrator three months ago.

This will be a regular report on the situation in Kosovo made periodically by the special representative of the UN Secretary General (SRSG).

According to Koha Ditore, the report is expected to differ from similar reports made by special representatives in the past in that it will be more pessimistic about the predictions for the current developments in Kosovo.

Harri Holkeri is quoted as saying in this connection that he means to be as realistic as possible.

Annan Reports to UN Security Council on UNMIK Performance

In his report made to the UN Security Council on the performance of the UN Mission to Kosovo (UNMIK), UN Secretary General Kofi Annan urged Pristina and Belgrade to continue, after their first meeting in Vienna and the establishment of contacts, to work together for improving the day-to-day living conditions of the people of Kosovo.

Welcoming the establishment of official contacts between Pristina and Belgrade, Kofi Annan urged the two sides to make the maximum effort to ensure that their talks should be fruitful and lead to palpable improvements in day-to-day living conditions.

The Secretary General said in his report that he felt encouraged by the increased concentration of the provisional institutions of Kosovo self-government on the passage of policy and legislation that address the urgent needs of the Kosovo population. He welcomed also signals indicating an increase in cooperation between UNMIK and the Kosovo institutions.

As one of his greatest concerns, Annan quoted the need for securing an adequate level of political participation by the minorities in dealing with the communities' problems. He said that keeping in place parallel structures supported by Belgrade was an obstacle to the consolidation of multiethnic institutions and to a full integration of Kosovo Serbs in these institutions. The UN Secretary General recommended shutting down these institutions and establishing cooperation between the minorities and the provisional institutions of Kosovo self-government.

As a special reason for concern in connection with the situation in Kosovo, Kofi Annan quoted the security situation, which has become disrupted in recent months by a number of serious incidents targeting the minorities. According to Annan, violence that targets the minorities is unacceptable and must be strongly condemned.

Kosovo leaders, whose condemnation of these incidents is welcome, must go from words to deeds in order to make sure that such violence should not recur in the future.

Despite a setback caused by the latest spate of violence against Serbs, the general level of refugee return to Kosovo continues to improve, according to the UN Secretary General.

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SOLANA BLASTS KOSOVO PRIME MINISTER OVER DIALOGUE
SOLANA: "It is very, very important to construct trust, water the flower of trust every day, several times, and not to create a drama of every event that takes place."

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http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/bu/Qkosovo-serbia-eu.RCh3_DOO.html

AGENCE FRANCE ORESSE
Friday, 24-Oct-2003 5:50AM

PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro, Oct 24 (AFP) - European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana delivered a stern message Friday to Kosovo Prime Minister Bajram Rexhepi about the need for dialogue with Serbia.

On his first trip to Pristina since Rexhepi refused to attend landmark talks with Serbian leaders in Vienna earlier this month, Solana said the Kosovar Albanian leader had no choice but to build trust with Belgrade.

"One of the responsibilities he has is to participate in an active manner, in a constructive manner, in the dialogue," Solana said at a news conference.

The first meeting between Kosovar Albanian and Serbian officials since the 1998-99 war went ahead in the Austrian capital on October 14 despite Rexhepi's last-minute withdrawal.

Ignoring strong pressure from the United Nations and the European Union, the prime minister said he could not attend because the Kosovo parliament had failed to endorse the meeting.

The meeting did not deal with the central question of Kosovo's possible independence from Serbia, and little was achieved except for an agreement to hold further talks on practical issues such as transport and energy.

But UN diplomats involved in Kosovo's post-war administration said the talks had immense symbolic value, if only to illustrate that dialogue is possible between the two bitterly divided communities.

Solana said he believed Rexhepi would not try to stall the next round of technical meetings expected next month.

"I do not consider it a possibility that he'll say no," Solana said.

"It is very, very important to construct trust, water the flower of trust every day, several times, and not to create a drama of every event that takes place."

Solana met the province's UN administrator, Harri Holkeri, earlier Friday and is due to meet local officials in the afternoon.

Kosovo is still technically part of Serbia but its ethnic Albanian majority demands independence.

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AGIM CEKU
Former UCK military leader evades Interpol arrest warrant and
 escapes justice thanks to UNMIK's intervention

SERBIAN JUSTICE MINISTER REQUESTS UNMIK'S MEASURES AGAINST KOSOVO ALBANIAN WAR CRIMINALS

Serbian Justice Minister Vladan Batic addressed an open letter to UNMIK chief Harri Holkeri, suggesting that Agim Ceku be immediately dismissed from the position of the head of the Kosovo Protection Corpus (KPC), that Ceku, Hashim Thaci and Ramush Haradinai be forbidden to leave Kosovo until documentation submitted by Serbian judiciary organs has been examined, and that the above-mentioned individuals be handed over to Serbia or tried before the judicial organs of Kosovo.

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http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/news/2003-10/27/331644.html

SERBIAN GOVERNMENT

Batic addresses an open letter to Holkeri

Belgrade, Oct 27, 2003 - Serbian Justice Minister Vladan Batic addressed an open letter to UNMIK chief Harri Holkeri, suggesting that Agim Ceku be immediately dismissed from the position of the head of the Kosovo Protection Corpus (KPC), that Ceku, Hashim Thaci and Ramush Haradinai be forbidden to leave Kosovo until documentation submitted by Serbian judiciary organs has been examined, and that the above-mentioned individuals be handed over to Serbia or tried before the judicial organs of Kosovo.

Challenging the statements Holkeri made in a letter to Slovene authorities on the occasion of the recent arrest of Agim Ceku in Ljubljana, Batic said that the ignoring of the Serbian legal system must not be a position of the UN civil administrator, reminding Mr. Holkeri that the Serbian Justice Ministry has so far addressed former UNMIK head Michael Steiner and head of UNMIK's justice department Clint Williamson three times, requesting that Ceku, Thaci and Haradinai be handed over to Serbia's authorities.

Batic stressed that the Serbian Ministry of Justice also forwarded to the UNMIK the decisions of the Pristina District Court on the launching of investigation against Ceku and Thaci for the criminal act of genocide. The Ministry also sent a valid verdict of the same court dating from July 1997, sentencing Thaci to ten years of prison for terrorism, together with a decision of the Pec District Court against Ramush Haradinai for a criminal act of terrorism.

Batic said that the Ministry submitted these documents to the UNMIK at its own will, together with a notification that local and Interpol arrest warrants were issued against the above-mentioned individuals. However, after Thaci's arrest by Hungarian authorities and Ceku's arrest in Slovenia, Steiner and Holkeri exerted pressure on the authorities of these countries to release them, instead of handing them over to Serbian judiciary organs.

Batic reminded Holkeri in the letter that Ceku took part in the killing of several dozens of Serbian civilians in Madacki dzep in Croatia while he was an officer in the Croatian Defence Council (HVO). Before he was appointed head of the KPC, Ceku was the commander of the terrorist Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).

The Serbian Minister highlighted that Ceku, Thaci and Haradinai are leaders of terrorists who, following the establishment of the KPC, have carried out more than 7,000 terrorist attacks, killing more than 1,200 people, wounding 1,350, kidnapping 1,500, expelling 340,000, burning and taking away 107,000 houses and pulling down hundreds of churches and monasteries.

Minister Batic reminded Holkeri that these, and many other pieces of evidence have been submitted to the Hague tribunal which is investigating crimes of ethnic Albanians against Serbs in Kosovo, and stressed that the Ministry is willing to offer UNMIK additional proof against Ceku, Thaci and Haradinai.

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COORDINATION CENTER CALLS ON UNMIK TO LAUNCH INVESTIGATION AGAINST AGIM CEKU
The Coordinating Centre for Kosovo-Metohija said in a statement on Monday that it expected UNMIK to launch an investigation against the commander of the Kosovo Protection Corpse, Agim Ceku, who had been released from Slovenian custody at the request by UNMIK Chief Harri Holkeri.

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http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/news/2003-10/27/331632.html

SERBIAN GOVERNMENT

Coordinating Centre calls on UNMIK to launch investigation against Agim Ceku

Belgrade, Oct 27, 2003 - The Coordinating Centre for Kosovo-Metohija said in a statement on Monday that it expected UNMIK to launch an investigation against the commander of the Kosovo Protection Corpse, Agim Ceku, who had been released from Slovenian custody at the request by UNMIK Chief Harri Holkeri.

Ceku was detained in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on October 22, following an Interpol arrest warrant. He was released the next day at the request by UN Administrator in Kosovo Harri Holkeri.

The Coordinating Centre's expectations are based on Holkeri's claim that all crimes committed in Kosovo-Metohija are under the jurisdiction of UNMIK's judiciary.

The Coordinating Centre wishes to inform the public as well as UNMIK that Serbia's judiciary and Ministry of Justice are in possession of evidence concerning the crimes committed against Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija, reads the statement.

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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

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