October 17, 2005

KiM Info Newsletter 17-10-05

Kosovo independence would risk regional crisis, warns Serb PM

BELGRADE, Oct 15 (AFP) - Independence for Kosovo could tip the Balkan region into crisis, Serb Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica warned Saturday, ahead of talks on the future of the UN-run province.

"We are ready to give Kosovo a good deal of autonomy. Any other option would not solve the problem, but rather cause a larger and deeper regional crisis," Kostunica told the Tanjug news agency.

Ethnic Albanians make up over 90 percent of Kosovo's population and are seeking independence, while Belgrade wants to maintain sovereignty -- if only in name -- over the territory it considers as the cradle of Serb civilisation.

"Serbia-Montenegro is a democratic country and it would be an unimaginable precedent to alter the borders and violate the sovereignty of a democratic European country, Kostunica said.

The Serb prime minister also said he was confident that the UN Security Council would not "experiment with the sovereignty and territorial integrity" of Serbia, and that "a compromise will be found" in the form of a large degree of autonomy for the province.

Kosovo is still technically a part of Serbia but it has been run by the United Nations and NATO since a 1999 bombing campaign by the military alliance ended a crackdown by forces of then Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic against Albanian separatists.

The United States Thursday called for negotiations on Kosovo's fate to begin within 30 days and warned that neither Belgrade nor Pristina should be allowed to obstruct the progress of the negotiations.

"We don't believe that any of the parties of the negotiations will have a veto over the negotiations. We don't believe that this negotiating train can be stopped. It's got to move forward ... so no vetoes," US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns said on a visit to the troubled province.

The chairman of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, said negotiations were likely to begin in November.

"I am delighted that the negotiations will most likely begin in November,"
he said after a meeting with Serbia-Montenegro Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has said that the process will begin with the appointment of a peace broker representing the United Nations in talks with authorities in Pristina and Belgrade.

NATO: Criminals Halting Traffic In Western Kosovo

PRISTINA (AP)--NATO-led peacekeepers said Monday that "criminals" were stopping cars and halting traffic in western Kosovo after local media reports revealed that masked and armed man put up checkpoints in the area.

"We have some information about some criminals who are acting" in western Kosovo, said Lt. Col. Siegfried Jooss, spokesman for the peacekeepers in that part of the province. "They tried to stop cars," he added.

Local media have reported that a group calling itself "The Army for Kosovo's Independence" is setting up checkpoints in the west of the province and threatening U.N. and Kosovo officials with death and kidnapping if they stand in the way of the province's independence.

Jooss said that NATO were "doing their best" in assisting local and U.N. police force in "countering these criminals." U.N. police refused to comment.

However, the U.N. warned its staff against nighttime travel in U.N. marked vehicles in western Kosovo, an official speaking on condition of anonymity said.

An increased number of NATO and police checkpoints have been set up in that part of the province following last week's sightings of the group, who were wearing balaclavas, carrying automatic rifles and handing out leaflets containing the threats.

The appearance of armed extremist groups at a time when this disputed U.N.-run province nears talks on its future is a worrying sign for security officials in Kosovo. There are fears that extremists group might retort to violence if they aren't happy with the outcome of the talks.

Kosovo has been administered by the U.N. and patrolled by NATO-led peacekeepers since 1999. Talks to resolve its disputed status will start by the end of the year.

Kosovo's ethnic Albanians want full independence while Serbia insists it retains some authority over the province.

Serbian secondary school student beaten up near Lipljan

Serbian Press Agency SRNA
14-10-2005 11:27:58

Lipljan - Secondary school student Dragan Kosanovic from Suvi Dol near Lipljan was beaten up two days ago on a nearby field by five Albanians, who broke one of his ribs.

Kosanovic says he reported the attack to members of KFOR, who told him "that this was not in their area of jurisdiction".

Kosanovic was attacked as he was harvesting corn in the field, which is located 300 meters from his family house in Suvi Dol.

"I heard someone approaching through the corn. Suddenly there were five Albanians in front of me. One of them hit me in the back with a pitchfork. I fell and another kicked me in the head. A third cut me across the back with a bayonet and after a few blows left me lying in a pool of blood," said Kosanovic.

He said that he somehow managed to get home and that neighbors took him to the Simonida Hospital in Gracanica, where physicians diagnosed a broken rib and injuries inflicted by a sharp weapon.

"I reported the incident to KFOR, where I was told that this was not in their area of jurisdiction and that Serbs should be more careful when they outside their villages," said Kosanovic.

Kosovo is Back - The Washington Post

Monday, October 17, 2005; Page A14

FOR YEARS the West used a convenient formula for keeping the troublesome Balkan province of Kosovo on a back burner: "standards before status." By this the United States and European governments meant that Kosovo should develop stable democratic political institutions under a United Nations administration before any decision was made on whether it should become an independent state or remain part of Serbia, from which it was liberated by a 1999 NATO military campaign. The strategy proved to be a flop: The U.N. administration failed to rebuild Kosovo's economy or create a capable judiciary and government, while a NATO-led peacekeeping force flinched from preventing the creeping partition of the province into areas controlled by the Albanian-majority population and minority Serbs.

The Bush administration has consequently embraced a new tack, which is to deal with the hard question of Kosovo's status. With Washington's encouragement, the U.N. Security Council is soon to appoint an envoy to launch negotiations with Serb and Kosovar leaders. The idea is that, if the province's future can be settled, it will be easier for it to proceed with needed reforms and reconstruction. That may be true, but tackling Kosovo successfully will require a large investment of energy and resources by the United States and key European allies, both diplomatically and in Kosovo.

The Bush administration says it is prepared to make that commitment: Undersecretary of State R. Nicholas Burns paid a high-profile visit to Serbia and Kosovo last week to hammer home the message. The administration says it is open-minded about Kosovo's final status. But the best solution is readily apparent to most Western policymakers: Since returning Kosovo to Serbian rule is unacceptable to 90 percent of its population, it must become independent, probably under some form of international supervision. Serbia opposes this solution, but Western reasoning is that persuading its leadership to let go of Kosovo is a crucial step toward ridding Serbia of its poisonous nationalism and moving it toward integration with Europe's liberal democracies.

Making this policy work in practice will require overcoming the resistance not only of Serbian hard-line nationalists but of their backers in Russia. Even tougher will be overcoming the resistance of Kosovo Albanians to making reasonable concessions to the Serb minority -- such as allowing considerable autonomy in Serb-populated areas -- while stopping and reversing the Serb minority's attempt to break off northern parts of the province and annex them to Serbia.

The United States and the European Union will both have to take some of the very steps they've tried to avoid during the last several years. Most important of these is an E.U. commitment to a relatively rapid process of accepting Kosovo, Serbia and other states in the former Yugoslavia as members, provided they fully embrace democratic institutions and give up nationalist agendas. The Bush administration, for its part, will need to support integration of Serbia and other Balkan states into NATO and promise that U.S. troops will remain in the area for a few more years to ensure security. This is not an easy time for either the United States or Europe to take on such tasks. But as the experience of the last few years demonstrates, there will never be a good time to deal with Kosovo, and the longer a solution is delayed, the harder it may be.

ICTY suspends decision on Haradinaj

THE HAGUE, Oct. 17, 2005 (BETA) – The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) suspended its earlier decision to allow political engagement to Ramush Haradinaj, accused of war crimes against civilians in Kosovo, during his pre-trial release.

Judge Carmel Agius’s Trial Chamber ruled on Oct. 14 at the request of the Prosecution, which heralded an appeal. The Prosecution asked the decision be suspended until the appellate proceedings were over.

The Trial Chamber gave Haradinaj’s counsel until Oct. 17 to respond to the Prosecution’s request.

The same chamber decided last week to allow Haradinaj to perform public political activities in Kosovo until his trial before the Hague Tribunal began.

BELGRADE, Oct. 17, 2005 (BETA) – Advisor to the Serbian premier Slobodan Samardzic expects the U.N. Security Council to “give the green light” for talks on Kosovo’s future status at its session on Oct. 24.

“U.N. special envoy Kai Eide’s report provides a basis for the beginning of the future status process,” Samardzic said in an interview with Beta.

The premier’s aide explained that regardless of Belgrade’s objections to the document, the Serbian government experienced the report “as a fair starting point” for the future status talks, within the framework of international law and with Serbia and Montenegro as an international-law subject.

Rupel: U.N. to appoint special representative on Oct. 24

PRISTINA, Oct. 17, 2005 (BETA) – OSCE chair Dimitrij Rupel announced during his visit to Pristina, on Oct. 14, that the U.N. secretary-general was expected to appoint his special representative for the Kosovo status talks at the next session of the U.N. Security Council, scheduled for Oct. 24.

The Slovenian foreign minister also said that an independent Kosovo was one of the options.

“Remember what Belgrade has said – something between autonomy and independence – so, independence has been mentioned after all,” Rupel said, and added: “We’ll see what happens.”

It is still unclear whether the Kosovo status talks should have any deadline, the OSCE chair said, explaining that Kai Eide recommended no rush whatsove in his report. On the other hand, the Albanian negotiating team wants the process to begin as soon as possible, so that their goal can be achieved next spring.

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