Daily International News Clippings, March 29

Kosovo News

• Violence a 'clear setback' for Kosovo: top US diplomat (AFP)
• US official visits Kosovo in the aftermath of ethnic violence (AP)

·         EU’s Solana appoints special Kosovo troubleshooter (dpa)

Kosovo News from Belgrade Media

·         Diplomatic offensive underway in Belgrade and Pristina (B92)

·         Grossman says Kosovo violence unacceptable (Beta)

·         Kosovo PM rejects division (SRNA)

·         NATO steps up security around Prizren (Beta)

·         Kosovo ombudsman says Serbs need special status (FoNet)

·         State aid for monks in Kosovo (Beta)

Violence a 'clear setback' for Kosovo: top US diplomat

(photo AP: German KFOR soldiers now guarding the ruins of the Bishop's residence in Prizren. When they had to protect the holy sites they remained passive and allowed Albanian rioters to turn the old part of the town with all Serrbian Orthodox holy sites into ashes and expell all remaining Serb residents)

PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro, March 29 (AFP) - US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Marc Grossman said Monday the recent deadly civil unrest in Kosovo was a "clear setback" for multi-ethnic democracy in the Serbian province.

"The recent violence is clearly a setback to the vision that we had and also to the hope that we might be able to judge progress in mid-2005," Grossman said after meeting Kosovo leaders.

Grossman held talks with the top UN official in the province, Harri Holkeri, as well as Kosovo president Ibrahim Rugova and prime minister Bajram Rexhepi.

At least 28 people died in a wave of communal clashes earlier this month when ethnic Albanian mobs rampaged against the Serb minority, destroying some 30 Orthodox churches, seven villages and making 3,600 people homeless.

During his last visit in November, Grossman said Kosovo's progress toward UN-set standards of democracy and human rights would be assessed by mid-2005, after which discussion of the province's sovereign status could take place.

Grossman said the UN mission that governs the province was to present a detailed plan by the end of the week which would serve as a blueprint for achieving the set standards.

"The way to go forward here is that we all need to change the way we do bussiness," he said.

"And the way we're going to change the way we do bussiness is to follow this implementation plan which, I am glad to say, will arrive this week."

Kosovo is a southern province of Serbia which has been administered by the United Nations since 1999 when NATO intervened to force Belgrade to relinquish control and end a brutal crackdown on separatist ethnic Albanians.

The Albanian majority demands independence but the UN insists that before Kosovo's final status can be resolved the Albanian-dominated authorities here must establish a multi-ethnic democracy which protects minority rights.

In the wake of this month's riots Kosovo's leaders have called for changes in the UN's approach and have asked for more power to be transferred to local institutions.

Belgrade however has stepped up pressure for Serb self-rule in Kosovo and has reiterated its sovereignty over the province.

The rioting which raged for three days from March 17 was the worst violence the province had seen since the end of the 1998-1999 war.

Grossman is due to meet Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kosturica and other leaders in Belgrade on Tuesday.

Foreign ministry officials from France, Germany and Italy are also due to meet Kostunica later Monday to discuss the situation in Kosovo, the Tanjug news agency reported.

US official visits Kosovo in the aftermath of ethnic violence

By FISNIK ABRASHI

PRISTINA, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) _ A senior U.S. official on Monday described Kosovo's recent violence as a setback to efforts to bring peace and lasting stability to this disputed province. 

Marc Grossman, the U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs, said that the violence, which left 28 people dead and some 600 injured, overshadowed international plans to make the province calm enough to consider its political future, which has been in dispute since the end of the war in 1999.

The ethnic Albanian majority wants independence while the Serb minority here wants Kosovo to remain under the sovereignty of Serbia-Montenegro. The United Nations is administering Kosovo until the U.N. Security Council takes up discussion on Kosovo's future.

``The recent violence is clearly a setback to the vision that we had and also to the hope that we might be able to judge progress in mid-2005,'' Grossman told reporters after meetings with local and international officials here. ``The honest thing to say is that job is harder today then it was two weeks ago.''

Grossman urged the United Nations to deliver a roadmap for the province _ with specific goals toward building democratic institutions _ before its final status can be decided. The roadmap had been in the works for months and is now expected to be unveiled later this week.

``The way to go forward here is that we all need to change the way we do business,'' he said, arguing that the new roadmap would be part of that process.

Grossman's visit came as the province was recovering from the worst outbreak of ethnic violence since 1999.

The recent bout of attacks erupted March 17, when ethnic Albanians blamed Serbs for the drowning of two of their children. Ethnic Albanian mobs targeted the Serb minority in the province, burning 366 Serb homes and 41 churches or monasteries.

The rampage forced some 4,000 Serbs to flee to safety and seriously undermined Western efforts to establish a multiethnic society in the bitterly divided province. International officials have blamed the recent spate of attacks on ethnic Albanian extremists.

Kosovo has been an international protectorate since June 1999 after NATO air war ended a Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanians seeking independence. The war killed 10,000 people, most of them ethnic Albanians.

The extent of the latest violence underscored the depth of hatred between Kosovo's ethnic Albanians and Serbs. The presence of nearly 20,000 NATO-led peacekeepers was _ until the outbreak of the most recent unrest _ believed to be a strong deterrent to major violence.

EU’s Solana appoints special Kosovo troubleshooter

Brussels (dpa) - The European Union's foreign and security policy chief Javier Solana on Monday appointed a special troubleshooter to deal with renewed ethnic tensions in Kosovo.

An E.U. statement said that ``in the light of the difficult situation in Kosovo,'' Solana was appointing Italian-born Balkans expert Fernando Gentilini as his personal representative in Pristina.

Gentilini, currently head of the Balkans Office at the Italian Foreign Ministry, has broad Balkan experience and was a member of the cabinet of former Bernard Kouchner, the United Nations former special representative in Pristina.

Officials said Gentilini would work in close collaboration with the local leadership as well as with the international representatives and travel to Pristina in the course of the week.

Diplomatic offensive underway in Belgrade and Pristina

(B92)

BELGRADE/PRISTINA -- Monday – Top foreign affairs officials from France, Germany and Italy are due in Belgrade today to discuss the situation in Kosovo, while the US last night dispatched its undersecretary for political affairs, Marc Grossman, to Pristina.

The European representatives will spend two days in the Serbian capital for talks with senior political leaders, B92 learns. The three countries make up one half of the international community’s Contact Group for the former Yugoslavia, whose agreement will be essential for any resolution of the situation in Kosovo.

Grossman was joined in Pristina last night by NATO’s Southeast Europe commander, Gregory Johnson.

Johnson told reporters at the airport that he had come in search of cooperation with all Kosovo leaders. “I just want to get a guarantee that we’ll work together,” he said.

Grossman says Kosovo violence unacceptable

(Beta)

PRISTINA -- Monday – US Undersecretary for Political Affairs Marc Grossman held talks in Pristina this morning with United Nations governor Harri Holkeri.

Grossman, who arrived in Kosovo last night, said the recent wave of violence in the province was unacceptable and could not be repeated. “What comes next is to see what steps should be taken,” he told reporters after meeting Holkeri.

Grossman is due to hold talks with Kosovo Prime Minister Bajram Rexhepi, Parliament speaker Nexhat Daci and the main Serb and Albanian political leaders.

NATO’s commander for Southeast Europe, Gregory Johnson, also arrived in Pristina last night.

Kosovo PM rejects division

(SRNA)

PODGORICA -- Monday – Kosovo’s prime minister has insisted on independence as soon as possible for the UN-governed province, in comments published today in Montenegro.

“Belgrade is appealing for a return to war. The return of the army and police is an unrealistic demand which cannot even be considered,” Bajram Rexhepi told Podgorica daily Dan.

“[Serbian Prime Minister] Kostunica knows full well what is cantonisation and what’s decentralization, but he’s manipulating terminology. The division of Kosovo is the aim of the majority in Belgrade, but that proposal is unacceptable for us.”


NATO steps up security around Prizren

(Beta)

PRIZREN -- Monday – Heavily-armed NATO patrols have stepped security at all entrances to the Kosovo town of Prizren.

Members of the NATO-led peacekeeping force, KFOR, are searching everyone entering the town.

Sources say the measures have been taken after reports that former members of the ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army intend organizing a protest in the town this afternoon. Similar demonstrations have been announced in other towns in the UN-governed province.

Kosovo ombudsman says Serbs need special status

(FoNet)

PRISTINA -- Monday – Serbs in Kosovo have no future without legal guarantees of special status, Kosovo ombudsman Marek Nowicki said in comments published today.

He described the events of March 17 and 18 as attempted “ethnic cleansing”.

“There is no doubt that from the very start the attacks on against Serbs were coordinated and orchestrated,” Nowicki told Novosti.

“The Albanian leaders and Albanian community as a whole must prove to Serbs that the majority Albanian population does not stand behind these events and that there really does exist the possibility of a life together.”

State aid for monks in Kosovo

(Beta)