News from Kosovo - Serbian Media Selection, March 31
ERP KIM Info-Service, Gracanica, March 31, 2004
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Covic: Multiple KPC units have moved from their barracks to the mountains
Beta News Agency, Belgrade
March 31, 2004
BELGRADE - Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija head Nebojsa Covic advised today that units of the the Kosovo Protection Corps have left their barracks and deployed on mountainsides throughout Kosovo.
Covic said that his information came from sources close to international intelligence agencies in Kosovo, adding that the redeployment of the KPC units occurred yesterday.
"From the Adem Jashari barracks, the former "Kosovski Junaci" (Kosovo Heroes) barracks of the Yugoslav Army, in Pristina two KPC units have been transferred to the region of Mt. Cicavica. One unit has been deployed in the area of the village of Zilivode near Vucitrn, also on the same mountain," said Covic.
According to the same source, the KPC guard brigade is located on Mt. Grmija near Pristina, a KPC unit from Prizren is deployed on the border toward Macedonia in the area of Kosovska Vitina, from Pec to the region of the village of Glodjane in Decani municpality, and from Gnjilane in the region of Kosovska Kamenica, toward the municipalities in the south of central Serbia, said Covic.
"It is obvious that neither UNMIK or KFOR can manage or control the KPC which is actually the repackaged terrorist organization of the Kosovo Liberation Army," assessed Covic.
He repeated that Belgrade officials on several occasions have pointed out that the KPC is "a great factor of instability, violence, terrorism and ethnic cleansing in the area of Kosovo and Metohija".
Covic said that attempts to dilute the situation in Kosovo after everything that occurred there mid-month is extremely dangerous and he believes that the government in Belgrade "must take care as it is now completely clear that some organizations are attempting to depict ethnic cleansing like a normal traffic accident".
"This cannot be permitted," said Covic.
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B92 version, March 31, 2004
Covic claims former guerrillas being deployed in Kosovo | 13:55 | Beta
BELGRADE -- Wednesday - Members of the Kosovo Protection Corps have left their barracks and been deployed on mountainsides throughout Kosovo, the Serbian government's coordinator for the province claimed today in Belgrade.
Nebojsa Covic said he had obtained the information from sources close to international intelligence agencies in the UN-governed province, adding that the deployment began yesterday.
The Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC) was created by the UN as a civil emergency unit, absorbing former guerrilla fighters from the disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army.
Covic said it was "obvious that neither UNMIK nor KFOR can manage or control the KPC, which, in fact, is a repackaged terrorist organisation of the Kosovo Liberation Army."
Covic: Presentation of plan for implementation of standards is "theatre"
Beta News Agency, Belgrade
March 31, 2004
BELGRADE - Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija head Nebojsa Covic repeated today that standards cannot be implemented in the province until effective demilitarization and disbanding of the Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC) is carried out.
Commening on today's presentation of the plan for implementation of standards, Covic said "what kind of standards are we talking about after five years and who can now guaranteed that the ethnic cleansing of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija will not be repeated".
"What (Harri) Holkeri and Bajram Rexhepi did today is theatre and nothing can be expected to come of it. It's the path to the independence of Kosovo and Metohija, and we must not be accessories to it."
Commenting on the latest moves of the international community after the violence in Kosovo, Covic said that the international officials "like Javier Solana, upon visiting parts of Kosovo and Metohija where the ethnic cleansing of Serbs occurred can be shocked by the sight of it and yet the very next day the European Union can issue a communique regarding what happened without color, smell or taste".
"The same thing happened yesterday during the visit to Kosovo and Metohija and Belgrade of U.S. undersecretary Marc Grossman. They are trying to function according to the principle that nothing has changed," said Covic.
He emphasized that "nothing can be the same in Kosovo and Metohija as it was prior to March 17".
"Whoever doesn't understand this and thinks that Belgrade should now make some sort of concessions should be told that we don't have any more room for any kind of concessions, nor will anyone give us any kind of concessions."
"For a long time we were preoccuppied with ourselves and we did not see the real situation in Kosovo and Metohija," said Covic.
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B92 version, March 31, 2004
Covic dismisses UN Kosovo plan as "theatre" | 15:29 | Beta
BELGRADE -- Wednesday - Serbia's Kosovo coordinator has dismissed a plan presented for the implementation of the UN's standards for Kosovo as "theatre".
"What Holkeri and Bajram Rexhepi did today is theatre, and nothing can be expected to come of it," said Nebojsa Covic, referring to a press conference held by United Nations governor Harri Holkeri and the Kosovo prime minister.
"That's the path to an independent Kosovo and we cannot participate in it," he told Beta news agency.
Covic repeated a claim that the standards of democracy and minority rights cannot be met until the Kosovo Protection Corps, a civil emergency force created from the disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army, is demilitarised and disbanded.
"Who can now guarantee that there will not be a repeat of the ethnic cleansing of Serbs in Kosovo," he added.
Shaqir Shaqiri, former LAPBM member, arrested
Beta News Agency, Belgrade
March 31, 2004
PRISTINA - KFOR in Kosovo has arrested Shaqir Shaqiri, the former spokesman of the demilitarized Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac (LAPMB), Pristina Albanian language electronic media reported.
During the armed conflict in southern Serbia Shaqiri was the commander of the part of the LAPMB for the Presevo area, and after the end of the clashes in southern Serbia lived in Gnjilane.
He was one of the local commanders of the disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), and after June 1999 he was appointed to the position of deputy commander of the sixth zone of the Kosovo Protection Corps.
Shaqiri was also involved in the armed clashes in Macedonia, and responsibile for sending arms to members of the National Liberation Army (NLA), writes on the Macedonian sites in Skoplje.
According to the same source, Shaqiri, together with Ramush Haradinaj, Agim Cheku, Murat Jashari and Shefket Musliu, participated in a meeting in Gnjilane in May 2000 when the armed conflict in southern Serbia and Macedonia was being prepared
He organized, it is said, a series of blackmailings, kidnappings and murders in the Presevo and Gnjilane region.
Since June 2001 Shaqiri has been on the blacklist of U.S. president George Bush, and one month later he was placed on a list of personas non grata by the European Union.
In the violence by Albanian extremists in Gnjilane which broke out two weeks ago, one Serb man was killed, several were wounded and hundreds were expelled from their homes. After the Serbs fled Gnjilane, some one hundred Serb homes were torched.
B92 version, March 31, 2004
Former guerrilla commander arrested in Kosovo | 12:56 | Beta
PRISTINA -- Wednesday - NATO peacekeepers in Kosovo have arrested a former south Serbia guerrilla commander named on a US black-list, Pristina media report.
Sacir Saciri commanded the Presevo unit of the Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac, but moved to Kosovo after a NATO-brokered peace deal in southern Serbia. He was also a local commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army, and subsequently deputy local commander of the UN-created Kosovo Protection Corps.
Saciri was named on a black-list issued by the Bush administration in Washington in June 2001. A month later he was declared persona non grata by the European Union.
Ivanovic: Danger that violence will reoccur
Beta News Agency, Belgrade
March 30, 2004
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA - Kosovo parliament deputy speaker Oliver Ivanovic stated today that Kosovo Serb leaders have warned representatives of the offices of member countries of the European Union in Pristina that clashes may reoccur if they are not called by their true name, and organizers and perpetrators are not punished.
"We warned that if the clashes are not called by their true name, and organizers and perpetrators are not punished, there is a danger that violence will break out again, jeopardizing the future of Kosovo and the multiethnic concept in the province," said Ivanovic.
"Our assessment is that the EU has not clearly condemned the clashes, that is, that it has not chosen the right term in its condemnation of events that occurred on March 17-18. They should have used the term ethnic cleansing and that expression must not be relativized," said Ivanovic.
"The majority of representatives of the offices of member countries of the European Union concur with the assessment that what occurred in Kosovo on March 17-18 was ethnic cleansing... During the meeting, these representatives expressed the view that they did not pay enough attention to everything that the Serb community has been saying," said Ivanovic.
Their assessment, Ivanovic said, was that institutions have shown themselves to be week and insufficiently mature to prevent clashes, as well as that their is a possibility that there was insufficient political will to stop such a process.
The also informed of the biography of the EU special envoy for Kosovo, Fernando Gentilini, who has been appointed by EU high representative Javier Solana as his personal representative in Pristina. This demonstrates the great interest of the EU for this position and assuming of greater responsibility for the future of the province, assessed Ivanovic.
During the meeting, he said, there was some discussion regarding decentralization which, Ivanovic said, was not the exclusive request of the Serbs but a request for the establishment of a more functional and responsible system of local self-government to address the needs of the citizens.
We pointed out that decentralization would provide greater security for the Serbs and better access to provisional institutions, said Ivanovic.
Also present at the meeting with representatives of the offices of the member countries of the European Union in Pristina, in addition to Ivanovic, were Return Coalition (Povratak) whip in the Kosovo parliament Dragisa Krstovic and Kosovo government repatriation coordinator Milorad Todorovic.
UNMIK: Dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina postponed
Beta News Agency, Belgrade
March 30, 2004
PRISTINA - Judging from all appearances dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina will not continue on April 1 as announced earlier, UNMIK officials and the Kosovo government advised today.
Dialogue was supposed to have continued at the level of task groups on the issue of energy.
The head of the UNMIK information office Hua Jang (sp?) stated today in Pristina that a date has not been fixed and that it still not known when dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade will continue.
"Dialogue with Belgrade should continue because that is one of the standards that must be met," said Jang.
"We have not received any call or received any information regarding the continuation of dialogue scheduled for April 1. Taking that into account, I do not believe that dialogue will continue on that date,"
said the Kosovo government coordinator in the task group for energy Pranveraa Dobruna (sp?)
Dialogue with Belgrade, which began on March 4 in Pristina on the second anniversary of the constituting of central Kosovo institutions was assessed as an important step in meeting one of eight standards recommended by the international community, said Dobruna.
Despite a "constructive beginning", the recent wave of violence in Kosovo has made the continuation of the process far more difficult, said Dobruna.
So far meetings have been held in Pristina of the task groups for energy and missing persons, while dialogue of the task groups for telecommunications and the return of displaced persons have not been held at all.
Ivanovic: New Riots Possible, If Perpetrators Are Not Punished And Ethnic Cleansing Is Admitted
Kosovska Mitrovica, 30 Mar (Free Serbia) – On Tuesday, Oliver Ivanovic, the member of the Presidency of Kosovo Assembly, stated that the leaders of the Kosovo Serbs have warned the representatives of the offices of the countries members of EU in Pristina that the riots could happen again unless the perpetrators are not called by the real name, and the organizers and the attackers are not punished.
“We warned them that, unless the riots are called by real name, and the organizers and the attackers are not punished, there is an opportunity of new riots which would jeopardize the future of Kosovo and the multiethnic concept in the province”, stated Ivanovic.
“Our evaluation is that EU has not condemned the riots clearly, it has not chosen the right word regarding the developments that happened on 17 and 18 March. The term “ethnic cleansing” should have been used and that expression should not be marginalized”, said Ivanovic.
“Majority of the representatives of the offices members of EU have agreed with the evaluation that in Kosovo on 17 and 18 March ethnic cleansing happened …During the meeting the representatives of the offices of EU have expressed the stance that they have not followed with enough attention everything that the Serbian community has pointed out”, said Ivanovic.
“Their estimation is”, said Ivanovic, “that the institution have expressed weakness and not enough preparedness to prevent the riots, as well as that there is a possibility that there has not been enough political will to stop the process”.
“They have introduced us with the biography of the special envoy for Kosovo, Fernando Gentilini, who the high representative of EU, Javier Solana, has appointed as a personal envoy in Pristina. This points out that the EU is very interested in undertaking greater responsibilities for the future of the province, evaluated Ivanovic.
US Said Ready To Discuss Kosovo “Decentralization”
Belgrade, 30 Mar (B92) - Senior US diplomat Marc Grossman has informed the authorities in Belgrade of Washington’s readiness to continue dialogue on decentralization in Kosovo, according to a statement released following talks between Grossman and the foreign and defense ministers of Serbia-Montenegro.
Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica has urged extensive decentralization in the province, after an earlier call for “cantonization” met with a frosty reception in Brussels.
According to the statement, the US undersecretary for political affairs stressed the constructive stance of the Serbia-Montenegro Council of Ministers and the Serbian Government in calming the situation in the province, and expressed satisfaction with the good cooperation between the authorities in Belgrade and NATO’s Southeast Europe commander Gregory Johnson.
Defense Minister Boris Tadic and Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic expressed Belgrade’s willingness to partner the US, European Union and NATO in identifying those behind the recent wave of violence and finding mechanisms to provide security for Serbs and other non-Albanians. (Beta)
Nowicki: Right Time For Decentralization Of Kosovo
Pristina, 30 Mar (Free Serbia) – Marek Nowicki, the ombudsman for Kosovo and Metohija, evaluated that now, when the issue “how to reorganize the position of the Serbian community” in Kosovo become actual, “probably is the time to return “ to the decentralization, as “one of the options or maybe the right political option”.
“The approach of many basic things has to be changed. For a long time decentralization has been one of the things that is on the daily agenda. The Security Council of EU has been working on it for months and after that has presented a proposal how the decentralization should be implemented. I think that at the moment when the plan was presented, the work done by the SC of EU did not get serious political attention. Probably now is the right time to return to that subject as a one of the options or maybe the right political option”, said Nowicki in the interview for Radio Deutsche Welle.
Confirming that one of the possible steps for solving of the situation in Kosovo, which has been considering by Europe and USA, is a way that the decentralization would happen, Nowicki added, that according to him, it is very difficult to consider such an issue as decentralization “without a clear vision in which direction the issue about the final status of the province would go”. During the interview he presented his opinion that “in the upcoming weeks we would get a clear picture about the issue regarding the most important process, it is going to be accelerated or not”.
Nowicki also expressed belief that the latest attacks on the Serbs and their religious objects in Kosovo were well organized, and he especially criticized the international structures in the province because they did not know what happens on the terrain.
“It is hard to explain to myself that we have been hearing voices and statements in which we are expressing great surprises that this thing happened”, said Nowicki and added: “My question is, I am talking about the international community, why do we have the informative structures, why we have different informative services and what they have been doing so they could not reveal in time what was going to happen”.
SUMMARY OF SOME NEWS FROM SERBIAN MEDIA:
Kostunica-Grossman meeting (Vecernje Novosti)
Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica agreed in talks with Grossman that decentralization of Kosovo would enable the safety of Serbs and other non-Albanians and the protection of human rights according to European standards. Kostunica emphasized that it is therefore necessary to ensure additional institutional guarantees for the Serb community in Kosovo, the Serbian government’s office for cooperation with the media announced.
Grossman meets SaM leaders (Balkan)
Marc Grossman has strongly condemned violence in Kosovo and Metohija, stressing that this must not be repeated and the culprits of violence must be arrested, as well as that attacks on Serbs had seriously pushed back everything that was achieved in Kosovo and Metohija. NATO’s south wing Commander Gregory Johnson and Grossman agreed that their priority was the protection of Serbs. He stated that UNMIK Head Harri Holkeri would publish by mid next week the standard implementation plan and stressed they would soon start reconstructing the destroyed property and cultural monuments of Serbs.
Grossman and Covic on the situation in Kosovo (Glas)
The US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Marc Grossman met with the President of the CCK Nebojsa Covic. Covic urged for separation in the province, stressing that the events on March 17th have clearly shown that the concept of multiethnic Kosovo was just an illusion. Covic added that the Kosovo Serbs have already participated twice in the elections, have been extremely cooperative and instead of being rewarded for all this, they are ethnically cleansed from Kosovo. "I do not believe in a multiethnic Kosovo, I do not believe in the 'Standards', at least not until security for all Kosovo citizens is ensured, until they are separated and decentralization is implemented," said Covic. Grossman said that giving up on the "standards before status" policy would mean that the entire solution-finding concept would be brought into question, i.e. that the violence would win.
Marovic-Grossman meeting (Vecernje Novosti)
SaM President Svetozar Marovic has underlined in talks with Marc Grossman that the state union’s institutions are close to a rational and resolute stance for the daily life in Kosovo to be, first of all, peaceful and safe for all, and thanked for the resolute engagement of the American troops during the escalation of clashes in Kosovo, as well as the irreplaceable role by the US in the entire stabilization process in Kosovo, Marovic’s cabinet announced.
Contact Group representatives for Kosovo’s decentralization (Balkan)
The representatives of the Contact Group countries have stated in talks with SaM Parliament Speaker Zoran Sami that it is necessary to work on the concept of decentralization and establishment of an efficient structure of local authority in Kosovo and Metohija, in order to create conditions for a multi-ethnic life in the province. The political directors of the Italian and German Foreign Ministries, Gianpiero Massalo and Michael Schaefer respectively, as well as the German Ambassador Kurt Leonberger and French Ambassador Igue Pernet, have condemned the violence against the Serb population in the latest events, SaM Parliament announced. Serbian Parliament Speaker and Acting Serbian President Predrag Markovic has stressed in talks with the Contact Group representatives that SaM wishes to be EU’s partner and the best signal of integration would be our country’s admission into the Partnership for Peace Program.
They burned houses so to make them according to “standards” (Blic)
I don’t believe in a multi-ethnic Kosovo anymore. That is an illusion, and I say that because the reality is such. The standard implementation plan and the timing of limiting the construction of the destroyed is a new illusion. It envisages oblivion. What of the earlier things? What of the destroyed and with over 200000 expelled since 1999, Nebojsa Covic told Blic. Commenting the statement made by Marc Grossman that the abandoning of the standards before status policy would mean that violence won, Covic said that this wasn’t true: That means that Albanians and Albanian terrorist groups have razed Serb houses so that now houses would be made for Serbs, but this time according to “standards.” The Advisor for returns in the cabinet of UNMIK head Nenad Radosavljevic says that he doesn’t oppose the story on standards, but asks, “whether it is possible for someone to talk about standards on the grounds of burned houses, seized property and expelled people.” The main document on standards that doesn’t have limitations, specified number and deadline for the return of IDPs, cannot be amended with annexes with a deadline for the reconstruction of the destroyed on 31 December, said Radosavljevic.
Boris Tadic: UNMIK to be blamed (Glas)
Boris Tadic has stated that the work of UNMIK Head Harri Holkeri on standard implementation for Kosovo and Metohija is being carefully observed, having in mind his insufficient activity in the previous period and direct responsibility for threatening safety of the Serb population in the past days. He stressed that UNMIK’s role should be differed from the one by KFOR, and gave as an example that, on the first day when the crisis erupted in Kosovo, UNMIK police was responsible for the safety of Serbs, and that on the second day, with KFOR’s intervention, the standard of the safety forces’ behavior completely changed. Asked whether he intends to go to Kosovo and Metohija, Tadic said he proposed to KFOR Commander Kammerhoff, with whom he met on Monday, that they hold a second meeting in Kosovo and Metohija, but that UNMIK decides on this. “I want to go to Kosovo and Metohija and I am constantly requesting this from UNMIK. I understand that international institutions have a problem with my stay there because I am the defense minister, and that this could, supposedly, provoke extreme Albanians. I personally don’t want to take care of this. My role is to take care of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija because they are most endangered,” said Tadic, and stressed that, after talks with the officials of NATO, the international community and KFOR “it is totally clear that Serbs today are endangered in Kosovo and that the mission of UNMIK and KFOR, which protected Albanians at first, has essentially changed and that they are now protecting Serbs.”
Artemije travels to US (Danas)
Raska-Prizren Bishop Artemije has traveled to the US, where he should discuss with US administration representatives the latest tragic events in Kosovo and Metohija. He should testify, together with SaM Ambassador to the US Ivan Vujacic, before the US Senate on the recent wave of Albanian violence against Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, American sources confirmed.
Oliver Ivanovic’s statement (Politika/Beta)
Unless the latest surge of terror and ethnic cleansing in Kosovo is named properly, with organizers and perpetrators punished, there is a danger of new conflicts that would jeopardize peace in the province and the region, Kosovo Serb leaders warned in talks with representatives of offices of the EU member states in Pristina. “Our assessment is that the EU has not clearly condemned the conflicts, i.e. that it didn’t choose the adequate term during the condemnation of the events that occurred on 17 and 18 March. They should have used the term ethnic cleansing, and that term should not be relativized,” said Oliver Ivanovic. “Most of the EU representatives agreed with the assessment that the ethnic cleansing of Serbs took place in Kosovo on March 17 and 18 and that they haven’t paid with enough attention everything pointed out by the Serb community,” said Ivanovic.