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December 03, 2003
ERP KiM Newsletter
03-12-03
As long as Kosovo
remains in the claws of extremists and their mafia there will never be
sustainable return of displaced civilians
CONTENTS:
 Answer
to the Letter of Mr. Hashim Thaci in Christian Science Monitor
Mr. Thaci, the president
of the Kosovo Democratic Party and the former leader of KLA sent a
letter to the Christian Science Monitor which was published on November
17. ERP KiM Info-Service editor Fr. Sava has sent an answer to Mr.
Thaci's letter
UN Chief demands suspension of KPC members
The UN’s chief
diplomat in Kosovo, Harri Holkeri, has requested the immediate
suspension of 12 members of the province's "Protection Corps" until an
investigation into alleged misconduct is completed, Beta news agency
reports.
Belgrade to enter NATO Programme May 2004
Serbia-Montenegro should be admitted to NATO’s Partnership for Peace in
May next year, Alliance defence ministers agreed today.
News from Kosovo and Metohija, December 01, 2003
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
Answer to letter of Mr. Hashim Thaci in Christian Science Monitor
Mr. Thaci, the president of the Kosovo
Democratic Party and the former leader of KLA sent a letter to the
Christian Science Monitor which was published on November 17. ERP KiM
Info-Service editor Fr. Sava has sent an answer to Mr. Thaci's letter
TOP
Is Kosovo ready for its
refugees?
by Fr. Sava Janjic
 The
letter of November 17, 2003 by Mr. Hashim Thaci would probably
be of great encouragement for the more than 200,000 Kosovo Serbs
who still cannot return to their home, if his words were sincere
and followed by concrete actions. However both of the two are
missing.
This year alone there have been several
Albanian extremist attacks on Serb returnees in which a dozen
innocent lives have been lost. Among the victims are two killed
and five wounded Serb children in the Serb enclave in Western
Kosovo. The Kosovo Parliament and the Government even refused
the initiative of the Serbian Church to keep a minute of silence
on their meetings in memory of these fallen victims.
Although the Kosovo Government signed a
letter inviting Serbs to come back, no Kosovo Albanian leaders
-- including Thaci -- ever undertook any concrete actions to
facilitate the returns and create even minimum security
conditions for the returnees. To call someone to return without
granting them and their family minimum safety and a dignified
life is more than an ironic act. Thaci and other Kosovo Albanian
leaders also failed to exercise influence over their local
representatives to support returns and allow the remaining Serbs
free access to hospitals, schools and other institutions. The
latest news - a group of Serb returnees near Prizren in south of
Kosovo were stoned last week by a Kosovo Albanian crowd,
which said that they would never allow their return.
Bishop Artemije is trying to reconstruct at
least one of 112 Orthodox churches destroyed by Moslem Albanian
extremists after the war has not been able to raise a single one
of these desecrated holy sites from their ashes although, in
2001 Mr. Thaci and some representatives of Kosovo Government
promised in front of the U.S. chief of Mission Mr. Menzies to
facilitate the reconstruction of churches even from the
Government's budget. This detail also shows one of many
unrealized promises.
The situation in the Kosovo Province
remains very difficult because the majority Albanian community,
led by its leaders who herald from the former extremist KLA, do
everything on the ground to prevent Serbs and other
ethnicities from returning and even force the remaining Serbs
out of the Province. Their goal is rather to create a second
Albanian state in the Balkans (besides Albania). In the context
of almost everyday attacks, recorded by the international press,
the destruction of Serb churches and cemeteries, ethnic
discrimination and lack of freedom of expression for
the Christian faith, the words of the former KLA leader sound
only like bitter irony. One of the first of Thaci's deputies,
Mr. Fatmir Limaj, is already in the Hague Criminal Court and is
suspected of organizing crimes and torture against Serbs and
moderate Albanians. Mr. Thaci himself is under Interpol arrest
warrants and due to his past, he can hardly win the confidence
of Serbs and Albanians who want to see Kosovo as a modern
multiethnic, multireligious and democratic society.
Although we, Kosovo Serbs, constantly hear
about the millions of Euros allocated for our returns and
improvement of life, only 500 returnees have returned this year
to their tiny enclaves where small homes for them have been
built. This shows that the results on the ground are in
serious contradiction to Mr. Thaci's words, which are, as most
of the Kosovo officials' statements, intended to win
international support without concrete results, or more
accurately "status before standards".
Fr. Sava Janjic
Serbian Orthodox Church
Kosovo and Metohija
* * * * *
November 17, 2003, Monday
SECTION: OPINION; Pg. 08
Letters
Kosovo readies for its refugees
 Regarding
the Nov. 5 article "For refugees from Kosovo, a long way back home ":
The tragic wars in the region of the former Yugoslavia have left a
bitter legacy of devastation and refugees. I deeply sympathize with all
the refugees who left Kosovo before, during, and after the war in 1999,
and I do want them to return to their homes. Kosovars, together with the
United Nations mission here and the rest of the international community,
are working hard to create a safe environment for their sustainable
return.
At my initiative, Kosovo Albanian political leaders, representatives of
Provisional Institutions, and the non-Serb communities addressed in June
an open letter to refugees: "We welcome your return to Kosovo. We do not
'invite' you to come back to your home because Kosovo is your home and
you have the right to live here in peace. Kosovo is your home, just as
it is our home; we want and work for you to come back and live in peace
with us as neighbors in a spirit of mutual respect."
We are most grateful to the US government for allocating $ 14 million to
support the return of refugees. This year, the Kosovo government, led by
the Democratic Party of Kosovo, which I chair, has set aside 10 million
euros from its budget to assist the returns, rebuild houses, and support
community-based projects for the returnees. Other governments should
follow this example. We can build a democratic future for our children
only by making Kosovo a safe and prosperous home for all its
inhabitants.
Hashim Thaci
Pristina, Kosovo President, Democratic Party of Kosovo
Deus videt
et judicet.....
SHORT BIOGRAPHY OF HASHIM
THACI
Hashim Thaci was born 24.04.69 in Srbica Kosovo. He studied
history at the Pristina University and lived certain time in
Switzerland and Germany. He was often seen in Albanian
nationalist emigrant circles. Thaci became a prominent student
activist of the Independent Student Union in 1991 and an ardent
supporter of Kosovo's secession and pan-Albanian unification. He
was politically close to emigrant Marxist-Leninist organization
of the "National Movement for Kosovo". In the period between
1992 and 1993 he passed through the military training course in
Albania with members of the Jashari clan preparing for the armed
actions in Kosovo. In December 1993 he participated in forming
the first HQ of KLA (UCK) together with Azem Syla, Sokol Bashota,
Xheladin Gashi, Ali Ahmeti, Xhavid Haliti, Kadri Veseli, Lach
Ibrahimi and others. In 1993 Thaci became a commander of the so
called KLA Operative zone for Malisevo and an active member of
the Drenica KLA group led by Adem Jashari. He is suspected
of taking part in a terrorist action together with Rafet Rama,
Jakup Nurim, Sami Lushtaku and Idris Kadri in which 2 Serb
policemen were killed and 5 heavily wounded on May 25, 1993 near
Glogovac. Thaci's participation in this action was later
confirmed by Rafet Rama during his trial at the Pristina court
on July 11, 1997. Another terrorist action which is ascribed to
Thaci's group occurred on the road Mitrovica-Pec, near Sipolje
when one Serb policeman was killed and another wounded in an
ambush. In March 1999 Hashim Thaci was promoted into a political
leader of the KLA and as such participated at Rambouillet
negotiations as the leader of the Kosovo Albanian team. During
the NATO bombing campaign March-June 99 he spent most of his
time in Albania coordinating KLA actions against Serb police and
army. He is suspected of having been involved in assassination
of Ahmet Krasnici, "the Defense Minister of the Repulic of
Kosovo", a member of the rival FARK paramilitary organiation
close to Ibrahim Rugova and Bujar Bukosi as well as some other
political and military rivals (see more New York Times: Chris
Hedges NYT,
Kosovo's Rebels Accused of Executions in the Ranks, June 25,
1999) After the war Hashim Thaci emerged as a political leader
of the second largest Kosovo Albanian party - Democratic party
of Kosovo. Hashim Thaci's popular Nome de guerre was the
Snake. Hashim Thaci is officially under Interpol arrest
warrants.
Belgrade Ministry of Justice, led by a renowned anti-Milosevic
dissident Vladan Batic submitted to the Hague Tribunal a large
file with proofs and testimonies about the crimes which were
committed or organized under Thaci's command or knowledge. For
the time being only his closest aide Fatmir Limaj, who was
running a camp for torturing Serb, Roma and other civilians has
been indicted and is at Scheweningen prison in the Hague at the
moment.
Source: Ministry of Justice, Belgrade, various independent media
sources.
More about KLA
and its activities:
/kla2.html |
Hashim
Taci, a former KLA warlord as a new "democratic leader"
Nationalist myths of ethnically pure land of Albanians and fanning
hatred against Serbs and other non-majority groups remain
the strongest tool of the former KLA leaders to stay in power and protect
their illegal transactions behind the smoke-screen of "democratic
institutions"
TOP
UN Chief
Demands Suspension of KPC members
The UN’s chief
diplomat in Kosovo, Harri Holkeri, has requested the immediate
suspension of 12 members of the province's "Protection Corps" until an
investigation into alleged misconduct is completed, Beta news agency
reports.
TOP
BETA News
Agency, Belgrade
Pristina, December 02, 2003
PRISTINA -- Tuesday – The UN’s chief diplomat in Kosovo, Harri Holkeri,
has requested the immediate suspension of 12 members of the province's
"Protection Corps" until an investigation into alleged misconduct is
completed, Beta news agency reports.
Corps commander Agim Ceku is reported to have met with Holkeri twice in
the last 24 hours to discuss the move. The United Nations mission,
UNMIK, has refused to name the 12 officers or say why there are under
investigation.
The Kosovo Protection Corps was set up by UNMIK in 1999 from the
disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army. Several of its members have already
been suspended over links with ethnic Albanian guerrillas opposed to the
current situation in the province.
Ceku has objected to the proposed suspensions, and announced further
talks with Holkeri tomorrow. The UNMIK chief has already discussed the
move with Kosovo Prime Minister Bajram Rexhepi.
The investigation was launched during Michael Steiner’s tenure as UNMIK
chief.
TOP
Belgrade to Enter NATO Programme in May 2004
Serbia-Montenegro should be admitted to NATO’s Partnership for Peace in
May next year, Alliance defence ministers agreed today.
BETA News
Agency, Belgrade
Brussels, December 02, 2003
TOP
BRUSSELS -- Tuesday – Serbia-Montenegro should be admitted to NATO’s
Partnership for Peace in May next year, Alliance defence ministers
agreed today.
Beta news agency reports that both Serbia-Montenegro and Bosnia-Hercegovina
could be granted membership of the programme – which is seen as a
stepping-stone to full membership of NATO – at the Alliance summit in
Istanbul in May 2004.
The foreign ministers of both countries have been invited to a meeting
in Brussels on Thursday and Friday.
Alliance defence ministers agreed that both countries “should be given a
bit more time” before being admitted, particularly in light of the
fragile political situation in Serbia, Beta reports.
TOP
News from Kosovo and Metohija, 01 Nov
TOP
www.inet.co.yu
I*Net News, Belgrade
Monday 01 December 2003
21:20 NATO defense ministers decided today in Brussels to decrease the
number of SFOR soldiers in Bosnia from 12,000 to 7,000 "due to positive
development of conditions in Bosnia", while KFOR troops in
Kosovo-Metohija will remain at the present level of 17,000 soldiers.
21:00 Kosovo president Ibrahim Rugova ruled out the possibility of the
terrorist organization al-Qa'ida or other Islamist terrorist groups
operating in the province, assessing that these rumors were being spread
in order to destabilize Kosovo.
20:40 Unidentified individuals planted a bomb in the northern, Serbian
part of Kosovska Mitrovica in the vicinity of a power sub-station, only
some fifty meters from a student dormitory in the town in the north of
Kosovo and Metohija.
20:20 UNMIK and KFOR members built a concrete wall along the former
Yugoslav People's Army building in Pristina housing the offices of UN
administrator Harri Holkeri and the headquarters of the international
administration in Kosovo and Metohija due to the danger of terrorist
attacks.
20:00 UNMIK chief Harri Holkeri announced today in Kosovo as well there
should be a public apology and acceptance of responsibility for what
transpired.
19:40 Kosovo premier Bajram Rexhepi expressed optimism today regarding
the meeting of set standards by mid-2005 when talks regarding the final
status of Kosovo are expected to begin.
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
Additional information on
our Diocese and the life of the Kosovo Serb Community may be found at:
http://www.kosovo.net
Copyright 2003, ERP KIM Info-Service
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