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December 23, 2003
ERP KiM Newsletter
23-12-03
UNMIK gives green
light to Serbian Parliamentary elections in Kosovo despite Kosovo
Albanian counter-declaration
"Denial of
democratic rights will not be tolerated", it is said in UNMIK's
press release issued as a reaction to the declaration of the Kosovo
Albanian parliamentarians on Monday. Leading Albanian parties tried to
prevent elections on the entire territory of Serbia, including its
southern Province of Kosovo and Metohija.
Toys for Christmas
A Kosovo Serb child receives a teddy bear from an
Italian Carabiniere in the village of Gornja Brnjica in northern Kosovo
on Sunday, Dec. 21, 2003. Italian Carabinieri delivered gifts to this
Serb community that was donated by the Charivaris Diocese in Genova,
Italy. (Fonet)
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Kurir daily, Belgrade, December 23, 2003
Serb pupils
and students in worst situation in Europe
Kosovska
Mitrovica: Serb pupils in Kosovo and Metohija have the most
restricted resources in studing space and equipment in
Europe.
Since the
arrival of UNMIK and KFOR in June 1999 (Kosovo) Albanians
expelled Serb pupils and teachers from more than 300
schools. At the same time more than 10.000 Serb students
were expelled from Pristina University and the high schools
in Gnjilane, Urosevac, Pec and Prizren. |
CONTENTS:
 "Povratak" Coalition Deputies leave Kosovo
Parliament Session
On
Monday, representatives of the Serbian coalition "Povratak" left the
Kosovo parliament session, because during this session it was decided
that without any discussion this institution adopts a declaration on not
recognizing the elections for Serbian parliament, on the territory of
Kosovo and Metohija.
Covic:
There will be elections in Kosovo
Nebojsa Covic, the
chief of the Coordination center for Kosovo and Metohija, stated that
Serbian parliament elections would be conducted in Kosovo, "regardless
of decisions reached by some temporary Kosovo parliaments".
UNMIK gives nod to voting in Kosovo
Eligible Kosovo voters have the right
to take part in the Serbian parliamentary elections on December 28, the
United Nations mission in Kosovo said today. "It is a customary and
internationally recognised practice that voters with voting rights take
part in elections regardless of whether they reside in a region
administered by the authorities organising the election," said UNMIK in
a statement forwarded to media in Serbia.
Meeting between Albanians and UNMIK
On Monday, the return of a group of Kosovo Serbs to Klina should be
one of the subjects about which representatives of UNMIK, the
municipality officials and the Albanian political party from Klina and
the delegations of returnees in Pec will discuss.
Serb bodies returned to families
According to information from the Bureau for Exhumation and
Identification, 271 bodies have so far been exhumed in Kosovo of which
72 have been returned to Serbian families.
Leader of insurgency in Macedonia surrenders
A former leader of an ethnic Albanian insurgency in Macedonia has
surrendered in Kosovo, a statement from the international peacekeeping
force, KFOR, said last night.
Draskovic:
Monarchy is key to European integration
Political analysts
say Draskovic's party is a possible junior coalition partner to the
conservative Democratic Party of Serbia of ex-Yugoslav President
Vojislav Kostunica, which is expected to play a key role in the next
government.
INET Flash News from Kosovo and Metohija, December
21-22, 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
"Povratak"
Coalition deputies leave Kosovo Parliament session
On
Monday, representatives of the Serbian coalition "Povratak" left the
Kosovo parliament session, because during this session it was decided
that without any discussion this institution adopts a declaration on not
recognizing the elections for Serbian parliament, on the territory of
Kosovo and Metohija.
TOP
Free Serbia,
December 22, 2003
On Monday,
representatives of the Serbian coalition "Povratak" left the Kosovo
parliament session, because during this session it was decided that
without any discussion this institution adopts a declaration on not
recognizing the elections for Serbian parliament, on the territory of
Kosovo and Metohija.
Initiative for adopting such declaration was proposed by Sabri Hamiti,
the chief of the parliamentary group of the Kosovo Democratic Union (KDU).
Parliament representatives from the Democratic Party of Kosovo (DPK) and
the Alliance for Kosovo Future (AKF) expressed almost identical
requests. Hamiti expressed dissatisfaction over the fact that certain
members of Kosovo parliament and Kosovo government are participating in
the Serbian parliament elections.
Hamiti asked that parliament "ban holding of elections for Serbian
parliament, on Kosovo territory". Ismailj Kurteshi, the chief of the DPK
and Bujar Dugolli, the chief of the AKF parliament club, expressed
similar requests.
Dragisa Krstovic, the chief of the "Povratak" coalition parliament
group, stated that Kosovo parliament has no authority to go into
parliament elections in Serbia, and in them being conducted in Kosovo
and Metohija. Krstovic pointed that those issues are under the
jurisdiction of the international administration and added that this
administration did not say that Serbian parliament elections couldn’t be
held on Kosovo.
After this, Nexhat Daci, the president of Kosovo parliament, stated that
the parliament presiding body adopted declaration on this subject and
that "parliamentarians will have the chance to listen to the declaration
without the right for a discussion on it". Daci also added that Kosovo
parliament presiding body adopted this declaration on a request made by
Hashim Thaci’s DPK.
After this move "Povratak" coalition representatives left the
extraordinary session of parliament. During this session of Kosovo
parliament, representatives are to adopt next years Kosovo budget.
TOP
Covic: There will be elections in Kosovo
Nebojsa Covic, the chief of the Coordination center for Kosovo and
Metohija, stated that Serbian parliament elections would be conducted in
Kosovo, "regardless of decisions reached by some temporary Kosovo
parliaments".
TOP
B92, Belgrade
December 22, 2003
Nebojsa Covic,
the chief of the Coordination center for Kosovo and Metohija, stated
that Serbian parliament elections would be conducted in Kosovo,
"regardless of decisions reached by some temporary Kosovo parliaments".
"They adopt decisions, and the UNMIK chief abolishes them," stated Covic
during a press conference in Belgrade.
He evaluated that by banning the holding of Serbian parliament elections
in Kosovo the Kosovo parliament was intended to provoke the Serbian
general public.
TOP
UNMIK gives nod to voting in Kosovo
Eligible
Kosovo voters have the right to take part in the Serbian parliamentary
elections on December 28, the United Nations mission in Kosovo said
today. "It is a customary and internationally recognised practice that
voters with voting rights take part in elections regardless of whether
they reside in a region administered by the authorities organising the
election," said UNMIK in a statement forwarded to media in Serbia.
TOP
Beta
News Agency, Belgrade
December 22, 2003
PRISTINA -- Monday – Eligible Kosovo voters have the right to take part
in the Serbian parliamentary elections on December 28, the United
Nations mission in Kosovo said today.
"It is a customary and internationally recognised practice that voters
with voting rights take part in elections regardless of whether they
reside in a region administered by the authorities organising the
election," said UNMIK in a statement forwarded to media in Serbia.
The international administration was responding to a request from the
Kosovo Assembly demanding that Serbian elections be banned in the
province.
"Any action aimed at preventing voting means denying a fundamental
democratic right," said UNMIK in its statement, emphasising that the
denial of democratic rights would not be tolerated.
======================================
UNMIK reacts to Kosovo Assembly Declaration
Radio Kosovo,
December 22,
Pristina - On Monday through a press release the UNMIK administration
reacted to the declaration of the Kosovo Assembly related to the
Serbia’s elections in the territory of Kosovo.
The press release states that it is a usual and internationally
respected practice that the voters participate elections there where it
is possible, regardless of the fact if they live or not in the area
administered by the authority organizing the elections.
TOP
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Not enough money
for Serb returns
Blic daily, Belgrade
December 23, 2003
Pristina - The most important contribution for the return of
Serbs to Kosovo and Metohija has been given by the German
Government which financed building of 250 houses for Serb
returnees in Osojane, Suvi Do, Lukavac, Bicha and other
locations in the Province. The chief of the German office in
Pristina Peter Randorff said that so far approximately 10
million euro have been invested, but the results are
nevertheless modest because very few Serbs returned. However,
the financial support will continue.
America promised that this year
14.5 million euro will be invested (for the returns) and Italy
agreed to give 3.5 million euro. Kosovo Government also promised
concrete assistance. Very important role in organizing of the
returns has the Coordination Center for Kosovo and Metohija,
said Randorff. |
Meeting
between Albanians and UNMIK
On
Monday, the return of a group of Kosovo Serbs to Klina should be one of
the subjects about which representatives of UNMIK, the municipality
officials and the Albanian political party from Klina and the
delegations of returnees in Pec will discuss.
TOP
Danas daily,
Belgrade
December 22, 2003
On Monday, the
return of a group of Kosovo Serbs to Klina should be one of the subjects
about which representatives of UNMIK, the municipality officials and the
Albanian political party from Klina and the delegations of returnees in
Pec will discuss.
According to Marko Nedeljkovic, one of the returnees that is going to
attend the meeting in Pec, the group of Serbs that wants to return to
Klina have received the ownership documents, but there is a problem with
a part of property which according to false market agreements was
transferred to Kosovo Albanians.
We posses all documentations regarding the false market agreements. We
are waiting on KFOR, UNMIK and Habitat to solve the issue of our return
to Klina. At the end of the last week we received UNMIK licenses. Now we
are waiting the issue regarding the false ownership papers to be solved.
The greatest problem is that so far there are not security conditions
for returning in Klina. The authorities in charge cannot tell us by when
we can return to our houses in the town – stated Marko Nedeljkovic for
Danas.
Nedeljkovic said that in the past month, Ramo Manaj, the president of
the municipality, has not visited the returnees, because "it is only
organized return is acceptable".
Nenad Radosavljevic and Marko Todorovic, Serbian members in the interim
Kosovo government, are visiting us. The members of the Coordination
center were coming only in the beginning. UNHCR claims that until we
return to Klina we don’t get the status of returnees, says Nedeljkovic.
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PM Rexhepi and
Minister Todorovic Discuss Return of Serbs to Kosovo
Pristina, 22 Dec (Tanjug) - Kosovo PM Bairam Rexhepi met on
Monday with co-minister for return in the Kosovo Government
Milorad Todorovic to discuss the return of a group of about
30 Serbs to Klina, who have been waiting for one month now
for ethnic Albanians to move out of their houses in that
town in the south of the Province.
"Premier Rexhepi has promised all the financial and
political support to speed up the return of a group of about
30 Serbs to Klina, pointing out that money was not an issue
because the government of Kosovo has in its budget funds
earmarked for return," Todorovic told Tanjug.
|
TOP
Serb bodies returned to families
According
to information from the Bureau for Exhumation and Identification, 271
bodies have so far been exhumed in Kosovo of which 72 have been returned
to Serbian families.
TOP
FoNet News
Agency
December 22, 2003
MERDARE -- Monday - The exhumed remains of four Serbs murdered in Kosovo
were today handed over to their families at the Merdare border crossing.
Serb pathologist Slavisa Dobricanin told media that all four had been
shot in the back of their heads.
According to information from the Bureau for Exhumation and
Identification, 271 bodies have so far been exhumed in Kosovo of which
72 have been returned to Serbian families.
TOP
Leader of insurgency in Macedonia surrenders
A former
leader of an ethnic Albanian insurgency in Macedonia has surrendered in
Kosovo, a statement from the international peacekeeping force, KFOR,
said last night.
TOP
Beta News
Agency, Belgrade
Urosevac, December 23, 2003
UROSEVAC -- Tuesday – A former leader of an ethnic Albanian insurgency
in Macedonia has surrendered in Kosovo, a statement from the
international peacekeeping force, KFOR, said last night.
Xhemail Hisseni, the former commander of the National Liberation Army,
is being held at the US base "Bondsteel" near Urosevac.
Hisseni was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment by a court in
Kumanovo, northern Macedonia, for trying to blow up a railway line.
The KFOR statement said he would be handed over to United Nations police
in the province.
TOP
Serbian Elections
Draskovic: Monarchy is key to European integration
Political analysts say Draskovic's party is a possible junior coalition
partner to the conservative Democratic Party of Serbia of ex-Yugoslav
President Vojislav Kostunica, which is expected to play a key role in
the next government.
TOP
Reuters,
December 22
BELGRADE -- Monday – Serbia should restore the monarchy abolished by
Tito's communists six decades ago to drive home the message it wants to
join "the family of European democracies", a veteran opposition
politician said today.
Vuk Draskovic, whose Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) is expected to enter
parliament in a December 28 general election, told Reuters he wanted the
son of Yugoslavia's last king to ascend the throne to help strengthen
democracy in Serbia.
"I'm afraid that parliamentary monarchy is the safest way to have
democratic rule in Serbia today," said the bearded and charismatic
former author, a leading opponent of ex-Yugoslav strongman Slobodan
Milosevic during much of the 1990s.
Political analysts say his party is a possible junior coalition partner
to the conservative Democratic Party of Serbia of ex-Yugoslav President
Vojislav Kostunica, which is expected to play a key role in the next
government.
Draskovic's SPO and its New Serbia election ally have made their call
for Crown Prince Aleksandar Karadjordjevic to become king one day a key
feature of their campaign. Most other parties either seem lukewarm to
the idea or reject it outright.
Born in exile, Aleksandar is the son of late King Petar who fled to
Britain on the eve of Nazi Germany's invasion in 1941. Petar was too
young too rule but his father Aleksandar introduced a royal dictatorship
in Yugoslavia and ruled with a heavy hand until his assassination in
1934.
Crown Prince Aleksandar and his wife only returned after the reformers
who ousted Milosevic in 2000 abolished communist-era decrees that
stripped the royal family of citizenship and property.
Draskovic said he expected parliament to back the idea, predicting his
party would become one of its largest although surveys give it support
of less than 10 percent.
The monarchy was part of Serbia's tradition but a future king would not
have an active political role, Draskovic said.
He would be "a link with the world, a symbol of friendship and
reconciliation with neighbours", akin to surviving monarchies in western
Europe, which are all democratic and prosperous states, Draskovic said.
"Establishing such a monarchy would be a clear signal to Brussels and
Washington that Serbia is firmly on the road leading to the family of
European democracies," he added.
In comments likely to please the West, Draskovic ruled out a government
coalition with the Radical Party, led by firebrand Vojislav Seselj from
his cell at The Hague war crimes tribunal.
"We cannot go with those who see the democratic West as a traditional
enemy of the Serbs but say that Saddam Hussein (is a friend)," Draskovic
said. "We cannot go with those who want...the end of relations with
neighbours."
TOP
INET:
Flash news from Kosovo and Metohija 21-22 December 2003
INET news
TOP
Monday 22
December 2003
21:20 UNMIK and the Kosovo government have advised that they oppose the
cantonization of the Province and its division into Serbian and Albanian
entities.
21:00 Kosovo citizens with the right to vote have the right to
participate in elections being organized on December 28 by the Serbian
government, UNMIK advised this evening.
20:40 Kosovo premier Bajram Rexhepi has promised he will do everything
possible to convince the Albanian residents of Klina to accept the
return of 26 Serb heads of household in the urban part of Klina who have
been waiting for more than one month in the Serb village of Bicha to
return their homes, stated Kosovo repatriation minister Goran Bogdanovic.
20:20 Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija head Nebojsa Covic
stated that Serbian parliamentary elections will be held in Kosovo
"regardless of any decisions on the part of Kosovo's provisional
parliament".
20:00 Serb Return Coalition (Povratak) whip in the Kosovo parliament
Dragisa Krstovic said that the Kosovo parliament does not have
jurisdiction or authority to concern itself with elections in Serbia
held on the territory of Kosovo and Metohija, and that this is a job for
OSCE and other international subjects.
19:40 At an extraordinary session held in the absence of Serb MPs the
provisional Kosovo parliament adopted a declaration assessing that
holding Serbian parliamentary elections on the territory of Kosovo is
unacceptable and unconstitutional.
12:40 In Kosovo there is no confirmation yet that one of the three
leaders of the disbanded [sic] Kosovo Liberation Army will be traveling
to The Hague before the end of the year as stated by Serbian justice
minister Vladan Batic, stated UNMIK spokesperson Mechild Heneka (sp?)
12:20 Serbian interior minister and president of the Serbian Liberals
Dusan Mihajlovic stated last night in Novi Sad that his political party
has no intention of changing its policy of refusing to extradite
policemen and soldiers to the Hague tribunal "solely because they were
in Kosovo and Metohija during the war".
12:00 The return of a group of Kosovo Serbs who have been waiting more
than a month in the Serb village of Bicha to return their homes in Klina
is expected to be one of the topics of discussion at a meeting in Pec
today between UNMIK representatives, local officials, Albanian political
parties and a delegation of returnees.
11:40 If it comes to power, the Serbian Radical Party will prevent the
secession of Kosovo from Serbia in 2005, stated Serbian Radical Party
secretary general Aleksandar Vucic.
Sunday 21 December 2003
21:00 The secretary general of the Serbian Radical Party Aleksandar
Vucic said today at a pre-election rally in Kosovska Mitrovica that if
the Radicals win in the elections, Serbia will invest ten times more in
Serbian settlements in Kosovo.
20:40 Pope John Paul II received Kosovo president Ibrahim Rugova for a
private audience. The Vatican has not communicated the content of their
discussion, advised Associated Press.
TOP
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Artemije.
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as well as the Kosovo Daily
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Copyright 2003, ERP KIM Info-Service
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