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February 13, 2004
ERP KiM Newsletter
13-02-04
Kosovo Serbs alarmed with reduction of KFOR
troops
Local Serbs have most confidence
in KFOR protection
For many Serb returnees and
monastic communities KFOR protection is the only guarantee of security
particularly in zones of increased security risk. Their withdrawal and
handing over of protection and escorts to Albanian dominated Kosovo
police or largely inadequately trained UNMIK police would finally
destroy these last places of refuge and worship which have survived so
far amidst the ethnic Albanian expansion and violence (KFOR troops
guarding monastery at Budisavci, nr. Klina)
EDITORIAL
by Fr. Sava Janjic
Wrong
steps in wrong time
If KFOR continues with
the present practice of further reduction of troops on expense of
security of the local population, primarily Serbs but also other
vulnerable minorities it will be very hard to expect some promising
results from the process of returns this year. Hardly any displaced Serb
family would decide to return to an area in which security depends now
on those who expelled them five years ago or on UNMIK police which is
incapable of bringing to justice perpetrators of at least one major
ethnically motivated crime after the conflict.
ERP KIM Info-service
Gracanica, February 12, 2004
 The
recent decisions of KFOR to continue reduction of deployed forces in the
restive UN administered Serbian province has created uneasiness and
serious concerns among the local Serbian population and the Serbian
Orthodox Church.
The year 2004 has already
been called a year of intensified returns and it is well known that so
far KFOR has played an important role in creating the atmosphere of
security for the beleaguered Serbian community which still lives
deprived of its most elementary human and religious rights. "KFOR's
contribution to the returnee projects, particularly in the Italian area
of responsibility (Osojane, Bica, Belo Polje) is very precious, not to
mention the protection of our most valuable holy sites which would
be turned into rubble by Albanian extremists without KFOR's protection",
says Bishop Artemije, the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo.
"However, the recent decisions to remove KFOR check points in Velika
Hoca and several Serb villages in Central Kosovo has already produced
counter effects - several Serb families have already decided to leave
Kosovo discouraged by the absence of effective protection. The others
are announcing that they would leave if such measures continue", added
the Bishop.
Avoiding of
responsibility
For the Serbian Orthodox
Church the most striking example of the new KFOR's policy is the case of
the Holy Archangels Monastery which still remains under the guard of
German KFOR although the monks remain practically unable to freely visit
their congregation because the KFOR denies them escorts. Handing over
escorts to UNMIK or (even worse) to Kosovo police in the situation when
even KFOR military vehicles were damaged by Kosovo Albanian crowd
(incident in Djakovica on Jan 21) is completely illogical and looks more
like an attempt to avoid responsibility than to switch to a more
efficient method of protection. Would UNMIK police cars with a bunch of
policemen from Jordan or Pakistan give better protection to Christian
priests than highly trained NATO soldiers when they want to visit their
isolated communities and ruined holy sites? Of course not, because even
KFOR often refuses escorts to risky areas in order to avoid possible
conflicts with Albanian extremists. In practical terms the new decision
of German KFOR means that the Holy Archangels brothers can only remain
in their monastery without possibility of providing their pastoral
services to the people, especially the returnees. No need to say that
this untimely measure, which is seen by monks as punitive will have very
negative consequences for the religious rights of the Serb Orthodox
community in Prizren area.
Not the "lack of cooks"
but of elementary human solidarity
"We are particularly
offended by the behavior of some German officers and soldiers who behave
towards us like an occupation force and not as peacekeepers", says Abbot
Herman of the Holy Archangels monastery. "We definitely do not depend on
their food and we can provide our supplies ourselves, but so far it has
been a matter of elementary human solidarity and kindness that their
soldiers who keep guard at the St. George's church in Prizren share
their food rations with our priest who cannot normally buy food in town.
We ourselves have always offered to their soldiers food and drink
whenever they would visit our monastery and so far have had quite
friendly relations with the previous contingents of German KFOR.
However, their latest decision that the soldiers at St. George's must
throw away the remaining food into garbage rather than to share it with
our priest is definitely not a consequence of their "lack of food or
cooks" as they officially told me. In fact, this is basic lack of human
solidarity which is so important for the peacekeeping forces. They are
here to help and win the confidence of the local population and not to
evoke the painful memories from the past century", says Fr. Herman.
With KFOR Serb families
will leave too
The situation is especially
alarming in the villages of Miroca and Slatina near Vucitrn, north from
Pristina, because the local Serbs had to leave their homes after the
Greek KFOR had been withdrawn by the decision of the KFOR Headquarters.
According to the news coming from Serbs in the neighboring village of
Gojbulja it is very possible that in a short period only a few Serb
families would remain in their homes. Local Serbs are afraid for their
children, particularly after the massacre of Serb children in
Gorazdevac, near Pec, which still remains unsolved case. Many of them
cannot understand how they can have confidence Kosovo police after more
than four years of unrestrained ethnic Albanian violence in which 2000
Serbs have been kidnapped or killed and more than 100 churches
destroyed. The role of UNMIK and Kosovo police has become only
registration of crimes. Every investigation so far has been a failure
and the atmosphere of impunity only encourages further ethnic cleansing
of Serb people from their homes.
In one of his latest
communiqués Kosovo's ombudsperson Mr. Marek Antoni Nowicki (Poland)
expressed his serious concern after KFOR left some Serb villages in
central Kosovo without immediate protection. The Serbs there according
to Nowicki are left in precarious situation because they even lack
telephone lines to call the police in case of danger. On the other hand
the most of Kosovo Albanian policemen who are now expected to protect
the Serbs were the members of the former UCK and so far there has been
many cases of official abuses against the local Serbs. UNMIK police
itself is a mish-mash ranging from highly professional Italian
Carabinieri who are trained to cope with organized crime and terrorism,
nonchalant U.S. sheriffs from Texas or Arizona, to completely
incompetent and poorly trained policemen from African or Asian
countries, many of whom do not even speak elementary English. Those
policeman who would really like to do their job very soon learn that the
best job to do in Kosovo is to leave everything as it is and stay alive.
Those rare ones who want to help Serbs to resolve their everyday
problems usually become targets of Albanian hatred or are labeled as
biased by their colleagues.
Reduction of KFOR troops
a threat to returns
If KFOR continues with the
present practice of further reduction of troops on expense of security
of the local population, not only Serbs but also other vulnerable
minorities, it will be very hard to expect some promising results from
the process of returns this year. Hardly any displaced Serb family would
decide to return to an area in which security depends now on those who
expelled them five years ago or on UNMIK police which is incapable of
bringing to justice perpetrators of at least one major ethnically
motivated crime after the conflict.
In short, KFOR's policy of
handing over responsibility over vulnerable ethnic and religious
communities in areas of increased security risk to Kosovo police will
create a new wave of refugees and will seriously obstruct the
implementation of UNMIK's standards in Kosovo. Particularly sensitive is
the issue of protection of Serb patrimonial sites because the UNSC RES
1244 envisaged "the Serb personnel" presence at the sites which were
eventually taken under the protection of KFOR. In case that KFOR
withdraws from the holy sites and leaves the monastic communities at the
mercy of Albanian extremists NATO led peacekeepers would inevitably find
themselves in the role of active collaborators in the process of ethnic
cleansing which they came to prevent. This would also destabilize the
already unstable security situation in the region.
CONTENTS:
 Kurir daily: KFOR abandons Serbs
Serbs from the Kosovo villages of Miroca and Slatina have left their
centuries-old homes in fear for their very lives after members of Greek
KFOR left these villages about two weeks ago and the Kosovo Police
Service assumed policing duties.
Serb house in Vitina
set on fire - no casualties
Locals say this is the third
arson attempt against the Piric house, the only remaining Serb home in
Milosa Obilica Street in Vitina.
Coalition POVRATAK objects to Standards
implementation plan
Serbian Coalition Povratak
(Return) deputies in the Kosovo parliament have adopted a document
containing objections to the Kosovo standards implementation plan, which
they plan to forward to international community officials in the
province.
Covic says Belgrade ready for Kosovo dialogue
"I'm happy to hear
they are eager to resume the dialogue, since after wasting much time
we're finally going to start resolving the everyday problems facing the
citizens of Kosovo," said Covic.
News from Kosovo and
Metohija, February 10-11
Report from the
JUNGE WELT, Berlin, about the latest measures of German KFOR against the
brotherhood of the Holy Archangels monastery in Prizren
Moderne
Christenverfolgung - Bundeswehr entzieht serbischen Moenchen Shutz vor
albanischen Terroiristen
Wenn die KFOR die Serben nicht mehr
mit Lebensmitteln, Elektrizität und Eskorten unterstützt, sind sie
albanischen Gewalttätern auf Gedeih und Verderb ausgeliefert. Diese
haben seit Stationierung der KFOR im Juni 1999 30 Kirchen und Klöster
allein im deutschen Sektor zerstört, 100 im gesamten Kosovo, darunter
viele unersetzliche Baudenkmäler mit Fresken aus dem frühen Mittelalter.
»Keiner der Täter ist je vor Gericht gebracht worden, und es gibt nicht
einmal einen Beweis, daß überhaupt Ermittlungen angestellt wurden«,
kritisiert die Diözese.
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
KFOR
abandons Serbs
Serbs from the Kosovo villages of
Miroca and Slatina have left their centuries-old homes in fear for their
very lives after members of Greek KFOR left these villages about two
weeks ago and the Kosovo Police Service assumed policing duties.
TOP
Kurir daily, Belgrade
February 11, 2004
KFOR abandons Serbs
Belgrade - Serbs from the Kosovo villages of Miroca and Slatina have
left their centuries-old homes in fear for their very lives after
members of Greek KFOR left these villages about two weeks ago and the
Kosovo Police Service assumed policing duties.
"The Serbs have moved to Gojbulja, a larger Serb village in Vucitrn
municipality," Milovan Popovic, the municipal coordinator for Vucitrn in
the Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija, told "Kurir". He added
that the Serbs in the village of Grace have decided to stay in their
homes despite the departure of KFOR.
KFOR has announced that it will be withdrawing from Gojbulja, too,
which, according to Popovic, has strongly discouraged the Serbs and left
them in a state of apathy and hopelessness.
"These people have nowhere to go. For some of them, living in a
collective refugee center may be a worse fate than staying here and
being killed," said Popovic, adding that an attempt was made to set a
Serb house in Slatina on fire the very first day after KFOR's departure.
"UNMIK remains deaf to all pleas and the Coordinating Center's abilities
are limited; hence we can expect an even worse situation for the
remaining Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija," said Popovic. (M.L.)
TOP
Serb house in Vitina set on fire, no casualties
Locals say this is the third
arson attempt against the Piric house, the only remaining Serb home in
Milosa Obilica Street in Vitina.
TOP
Beta News Agency, Belgrade
February 11, 2004
Serb house in Vitina set on fire, no casualties
VITINA - A fire broke out in the house of Mita Miric of Vitina this
evening. The fire resulted in significant material damage but there were
no casualites, local residents told "Beta" news agency;.
Thanks to rapid response by firefighters, the fire was localized.
According to local residents, unknown persons set the fire to the house,
which was inhabited at the time by Piric's sister, Trajka Piric.
Locals say this is the third arson attempt against the Piric house, the
only remaining Serb home in Milosa Obilica Street in Vitina.
TOP
Coalition Povratak objects to standards implementation plan
Serbian Coalition Povratak (Return)
deputies in the Kosovo parliament have adopted a document containing
objections to the Kosovo standards implementation plan, which they plan
to forward to international community officials in the province.
TOP
Serbian Government
Kosovska Mitrovica, February 12, 2004
Serbian Coalition Povratak (Return) deputies in the Kosovo parliament
have adopted a document containing objections to the Kosovo standards
implementation plan, which they plan to forward to international
community officials in the province.
The coalition officials said they hope that the objections will be
incorporated in the standards implementation plan which has not year
been completed.
The document will be forwarded to UNMIK head Harri Holkeri, as well as
the Contact Group ambassadors to Serbia-Montenegro and the heads of
their offices in Pristina, Coalition Povratak said in a statement.
The Kosovo standards document has no clear relation to the UN Security
Council Resolution 1244 and only vaguely stipulates the right to return
of all refugees and displaced persons, the statement said. At the same
time, the document envisages less minority rights than the
Constitutional Framework for Kosovo-Metohija, the statement added.
The document has also failed to address the problem of public and
commercial debts in the province and to guarantee the protection of
ownership rights in the process of privatisation and the transformation
of the Kosovo Protection Corps, the statement said.
Serb political leaders in Kosovo have not been included in the drawing
up of UNMIK's Kosovo standards document. The UN Security Council has
invited them to take part in the preparation of the standards
implementation plan.
TOP
Covic says
Belgrade ready for Kosovo dialogue
"I'm happy to hear they are eager to
resume the dialogue, since after wasting much time we're finally going
to start resolving the everyday problems facing the citizens of Kosovo,"
said Covic.
TOP
FoNet News Agency, Belgrade
February 11, 2004
BELGRADE -- Wednesday - Belgrade is ready to resume dialogue with the
authorities in Kosovo, regardless of the change of government in Serbia,
the head of Belgrade's Coordination Centre for the province said today.
Nebojsa Covic welcomed recent statements from Kosovo Albanian leaders
that they are prepared to attend talks with the Serbian authorities.
"I'm happy to hear they are eager to resume the dialogue, since after
wasting much time we're finally going to start resolving the everyday
problems facing the citizens of Kosovo," said Covic. He emphasised that
the outgoing Serbian government, and the Coordination Centre, are
continuing to function as normal.
TOP
News from
Kosovo and Metohija, 10-11 Feb
TOP
I*Net News, Belgrade
KOSOVO AND METOHIJA NEWS
Monday 11 February 2004
23:00 The Kosovo government rejects talks on technical issues with the
Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija led by Serbian deputy prime
minister Nebojsa Covic, stated Kosovo provisional government
spokesperson Mimosa Kusari.
19:20 Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija head Nebojsa Covic
said that Belgrade is ready to continue dialogue with Pristina,
emphasizing that this is why it is important that "the state is
functioning".
19:00 UNMIK spokesperson Isabella Karlowicz stated in Pristina that
dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina officials will resume regardless
of the political situation in Serbia.
13:20 Since the end of the war to the present day "thousands of Serbs
have been murdered, and those Orthodox who remain live in ghettos
segregated from the mainstream of society" stated Joseph Grieboski, the
president of the Institute on Religion and Public Policy, at a
congressional debate on global religious rights. Grieboski said that
five years after the NATO intervention against the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia, Orthodox Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija "have become
second-citizens in their own country, deprived of their basic human
rights".
12:40 UNMIK chief Harri Holkeri stated that the plan for implementation
of standards for Kosovo and Metohija may be finalized and presented to
the UN Security Council "in three to four weeks". In an interview for
the BBC in London, where he met with representatives of the British
government on the implementation of the standards for Kosovo, Holkeri
was not ready to provide concrete dates for continuing talks between
Belgrade and Pristina on standards because, in his words, "there is
always the danger of fueling speculation".
Tuesday 10 February 2004
23:20 Vladimir Bozovic, the head of the sector for judicial issues and
human rights in the Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija, stated
that it would be completely normal for the Serb side to be represented
in working groups from Kosovo and Metohija in dialogue between Belgrade
and Pristina. Speaking at a press conference, Bozovic said that the
international community is advocating multiethnicity and that he hopes
that the working groups from Kosovo and Metohija will also include
Serbs. He emphasized that any other approach would be discriminatory
toward the Serb community.
22:40 The U.S. falsely justified the bombing of Serbia by citing mass
expulsion of the population and genocide in Kosovo, claims Bo Pellnas,
Swedish analyst, retired general, Balkan peace negotiator, and former
OSCE representative in Belgrade. In the Stockholm daily "Dagens Nyheter",
Pellnas offers a new Swedish perspective on events that preceded NATO
air attacks on Serbia in 1999.
14:00 Former ethnic Albanian rebel leader Shefqet Musliu has denied
charges including kidnapping and unlawful possession of weapons at the
start of his trial in eastern Kosovo. Musliu, who led a guerrilla
insurgency in southern Serbia in early 2001, claimed his trial was
politically motivated. "With this trial the international community is
trying to cover up its failure in implementing the Konculj agreement,
which ended the conflict between Albanian guerrillas and Serbian
security forces," he said.
13:40 Kosovo government spokesperson Mimosa Kusari has said that the
provincial government is ready for a resumption of the Belgrade-Pristina
talks, announcing that the resumption of talks might be postponed
because "there is still no partner for the talks". "Since a Belgrade
government has not been formed, I think that the dialogue will be
postponed, perhaps even until sometime after March," Kusari said. She
added that the Kosovo side was ready for the dialogue on defined issues
and that working groups for the return of displaced persons, and
transportation and communication, would be formed soon.
TOP
http://www.jungewelt.de/2004/02-09/005.php
KOSOVO:
Moderne Christenverfolgung:
Bundeswehr entzieht serbichen Moenchen Shutz vor albanischen Terroristen
Wenn die KFOR die Serben nicht mehr
mit Lebensmitteln, Elektrizität und Eskorten unterstützt, sind sie
albanischen Gewalttätern auf Gedeih und Verderb ausgeliefert. Diese
haben seit Stationierung der KFOR im Juni 1999 30 Kirchen und Klöster
allein im deutschen Sektor zerstört, 100 im gesamten Kosovo, darunter
viele unersetzliche Baudenkmäler mit Fresken aus dem frühen Mittelalter.
»Keiner der Täter ist je vor Gericht gebracht worden, und es gibt nicht
einmal einen Beweis, daß überhaupt Ermittlungen angestellt wurden«,
kritisiert die Diözese.
TOP
Junge Welt: 09.02.2004
Jürgen Elsässer
»Ich bin entsetzt über die Behandlung meiner Mönche. Dieses Verhalten
seitens des deutschen Militärkontingents wird zur vollständigen
Vertreibung der serbischen Kirche aus einer Region führen, in der sie
jahrhundertelang überlebt hat, selbst unter türkischer Herrschaft«,
protestierte Bischof Artemije, der höchste Würdenträger der
serbisch-orthodoxen Kirche im Kosovo, Anfang Februar.
Die aktuelle Verschlechterung des Verhältnisses zwischen Besatzungsmacht
und Gläubigen geht auf einen Überfall von 30 albanischen Gewalttätern am
21. Januar auf orthodoxe Mönche in Djakovica zurück, die ein
ARD-Fernsehteam und eine KFOR-Eskorte begleitet hatte. Die Diozöse
informierte daraufhin die Presse, Belgrader Zeitungen berichteten
ausführlich. Die deutschen Militärs, die nach der Beschädigung ihrer
Fahrzeuge bei der Attacke allen Grund gehabt hätten, die albanischen
Täter mit Nachdruck zu verfolgen, wandten seltsamerweise ihren Zorn
gegen die serbischen Opfer. Als erstes verweigerten sie dem gerade
angegriffenen Kloster Djakovica die weitere Verwendung ihres
Stromgenerators – mitten im Winter eine beinahe tödliche Maßnahme. Als
zweites stoppten sie die Lebensmittellieferungen an den letzten
serbischen Priester, der im Bischofssitz in Prizren, der Hauptstadt der
deutschen Zone, die Stellung hält. Drittens wurden alle Militäreskorten
gestrichen, die bisher Reisen der Gläubigen innerhalb Kosovos geschützt
hatten. »Die Mönche werden nur deswegen bestraft, weil sie die Wahrheit
über den Vorfall in Djakovica veröffentlichten. Die deutsche KFOR wollte
alles verschleiern«, protestierte Bischof Artemije.
Wenn die KFOR die Serben nicht mehr mit Lebensmitteln, Elektrizität und
Eskorten unterstützt, sind sie albanischen Gewalttätern auf Gedeih und
Verderb ausgeliefert. Diese haben seit Stationierung der KFOR im Juni
1999 30 Kirchen und Klöster allein im deutschen Sektor zerstört, 100 im
gesamten Kosovo, darunter viele unersetzliche Baudenkmäler mit Fresken
aus dem frühen Mittelalter. »Keiner der Täter ist je vor Gericht
gebracht worden, und es gibt nicht einmal einen Beweis, daß überhaupt
Ermittlungen angestellt wurden«, kritisiert die Diözese. Orahovac und
Prizren sind die letzten Stützpunkte der Orthodoxie in der deutschen
Zone. In Prizren, wo vor dem NATO-Einmarsch 20000 Serben lebten, sind
gerade noch 60 übrig. Insgesamt sind seit Juni 1999 zwischen 200000 (Angaben
des Roten Kreuzes) und 360000 (serbische Regierungsangaben)
Nicht-Albaner aus dem Kosovo geflüchtet oder vertrieben worden, 80 000
bis 120 000 sollen noch in der Provinz leben. Die Bevölkerungszahl der
albanischen Mehrheit wird mit knapp zwei Millionen angegeben. »In den
letzten vier Jahren sind trotz des KFOR- Protektorats 2 500 Serben und
andere Nicht-Albaner ums Leben gekommen«, klagte der serbische
Ministerpräsident Zoran Zivkovic, ein durchaus NATO-freundlicher
Politiker, beim Staatsbesuch in Berlin Ende November 2003.
Bei einer Visite im Kloster Prizren Ende Januar erklärte Hauptmann Maik
Stiehlers, Sprecher der deutsche KFOR-Kommandantur, daß die Geistlichen
eben mit Überfällen rechnen müßten, da »Serben hier viele Albaner
getötet haben«. Insbesondere kritisierte er Bischof Artemije, da dieser
»immer auf der UN-Resolution 1244 besteht und darauf, daß das Kosovo ein
Teil Serbiens ist«. Die genannte UN-Resolution is die völkerrechtliche
Grundlage für die Stationierung der KFOR im Kosovo und legt als deren
Auftrag unter anderem die »Gewährleistung der öffentlichen Sicherheit
und Ordnung« (Artikel 9d) fest.
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 2004, ERP KIM Info-Service
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