Kosovo blackmail may mean Balkans violence -Tadic

BELGRADE, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Serbian President Boris Tadic warned on Friday that Kosovo Albanians have imposed "the worst sort of tyranny of the majority" on Kosovo Serbs and must not be allowed to blackmail their way to independence from Serbia.

A compromise on Kosovo's future status was vital to stability in the Balkans, he wrote in the Wall Street Journal Europe, as the United Nations awaited a report from a special envoy on whether status talks should begin this year.

"Failure could plunge southeastern Europe back into the violence and instability of the recent past," Tadic warned, without saying what he would regard as failure.

Kosovo has been a United Nations protectorate since mid-1999, when Serbian autocrat Slobodan Milosevic finally bowed to three months of bombing by NATO and withdrew his forces from the southern province.

An estimated 10,000 Kosovo Albanians were killed by Serbian troops and police in 1998 and 1999 during a guerrilla insurgency by the Kosovo Liberation Army. When Serb forces pulled out, some 180,000 Serb civilians fled with them but 100,000 remain.

The bodies of murdered Albanians are still being returned from mass graves in Serbia, where they were hidden in a bid to cover up war crimes.

The 90 percent Albanian majority wants full independence. Serbia says it must retain sovereignty but would offer very wide autonomy to Kosovo, provided democratic standards are met and the rights of minorities fully guaranteed.

ACCEPTED TOOLS OF POLITICS

Talks mediated by the U.N. are expected to be launched before the end of the year, aiming at a decision in 2006.

Many Kosovo Serbs live in isolated enclaves under the protection of the 17,000-strong NATO led peacekeeping force KFOR and United Nations police.
Most are unemployed.

It is a place, according to Tadic, where "organised church burnings and drive-by shootings are accepted tools of politics".

"Kosovo's Serbs, Roma, Turks and other non-Albanians live in conditions worse than those in which Kosovo's Albanians lived during the era of Slobodan Milosevic," he wrote. "In fact, they live in the most abysmal conditions of anyone in Europe."

The Albanians say they were treated like second-class citizens in Yugoslavia with the best jobs and most powerful positions reserved for Serbs.

There is no support among them for a return to rule from Serbia, and they have the sympathy of Western powers who believe Serbia forfeited its moral right to govern the province with its brutal handling of the 1998 revolt.

But since 1999, acts of violent revenge against Serbs and a strain of extremism apparently bent on driving them out of Kosovo have tarnished the Albanian cause.

Rushing to grant Kosovo independence, wrote Tadic, would be to "succumb to the blackmail of those who argue that violence will follow if their demands are not met".

Protect Serbian and other non-Albanian population

Serbian Press Agency SRNA
25-09-2005 12:52:36

Gnjilane  - The Serb National Council of North Kosovo and the Serb National Council of Kosovo and Metohija have concluded, at a meeting held today in Silovo near Gnjilane, that due to the exceptionally serious security situation they will request that the international community and state officials prepare a separate strategy for the protection of the Serbian and other non-Albanian population in Kosovo and Metohija.

An appeal was sent from the meeting of the two National Councils to Kai Eide, the UN secretary-general's special envoy for the assessment of standards, to prepare an objective and unbiased report on the situation in Kosovo and Metohija, and to ask UN secretary-general Kofi Annan to rescind all decrees, laws and other legal acts contrary to the UN Security Council's Resolution 1244 on Kosovo.

The members of the two National Councils unanimously adopted the Plan on decentralization of local government in Kosovo prepared by the expert teams of both Councils, which they say are completely compatible with the plan of the Serbian Government.

They emphasized that the adopted plan does not divide Kosovo but strengthens the Serbian community.

The plan foresees 38.2 percent of the total territory of Kosovo and Metohija having a Serb majority population. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to ensure the return of 25 percent of 250,000 displaced Serbs.

They emphasized that the return of 25 percent of displaced Serbs should not be a problem for the international community if it is truly serious about creating a multiethnic and democratic society in Kosovo and Metohija.

Participants in the meeting of the two National Councils stated and confirmed by acclamation in their conclusion that no one from the Serb List for Kosovo and Metohija can make the claim they represent the Kosovo Serbs any longer, and that their future statements can only be made on behalf of themselves as individuals, not as Serb representatives.

Delegates from all Serb settlements took part in the work of the session.
Milan Ivanovic, Marko Jaksic and Nebojsa Jovic were present from the north of Kosovo.

Serbia fears Kosovo pogrom, rejects independence

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Serbia said on Thursday that minority Serbs in the breakaway province of Kosovo faced a threat of "pogroms" and warned the United Nations against granting the Albanian majority's demand for independence.

Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic told the U.N. General Assembly some 200,000 Serbs and other minorities had been expelled from Kosovo since NATO waged an air war in 1999 to end Serbian repression in the territory.

The Albanians who make up 90 percent of Kosovo's population are demanding total independence from Belgrade.

"For months now, Albanian extremists are issuing open threats of pogrom against the remaining Serbs, Montenegrins and non-Albanians, unless their ultimatum on the proclamation of Kosovo as an independent state is met," he declared. "No one in present-day Europe is so tragically unprotected.

"The standards set for Kosovo are not even close to being fulfilled,"
Draskovic said. "Are we therefore going to abandon the 'standards before status' policy?"

He was referring to a U.N. review of democracy and human rights standards in the province, which is nearing completion. A satisfactory report is a precondition for opening talks on Kosovo's final status later this year.

Draskovic said Serbia was willing to compromise on a status for Kosovo that was more than limited autonomy and less than full independence, but the Kosovo Albanians had not budged an inch from their insistence on independence.

"An independent state of Kosovo is not a guaranteed right but an extreme demand," he said.

Albania called on Wednesday for "conditional independence" for its ethnic kin in the neighboring territory under European Union supervision, saying that would allow time to satisfy the international community that the Serb minority was properly protected.

Belgrade "for compromise" on Kosovo

B92, Belgrade

NEW YORK, BELGRADE -- Friday - Belgrade is for compromise on the issue of the final status of Kosovo, Vuk Draskovic said today.

The federal foreign minister told the UN General Assembly that Belgrade is absolutely for compromise on the province's future status and that the Serbian authorities have taken the maximum step forward in that direction, unlike the Kosovo Albanians who continue to demand only independence, and have not changed their position since before 1999.

"This compromise means that there is no unlimited autonomy or independence for Kosovo because it's not possible for one side to get everything and the other to lose everything.  Serbia-Montenegro is demanding a European degree of protection of the rights of national minorities in Kosovo, protection of the churches and monasteries and European status of the existing state borders with Macedonia and Albania.

"Nothing more, but nothing less, neither according to the UN Charter, nor according to the Security Council's Resolution 1244," said Draskovic.

Destruction and torching of non-Albanian property

Serbian Press Agency SRNA
24-09-2005 15:35:33

Kosovska Vitina -On Friday evening unknown perpetrators in the municipality of Kosovska Vitina destroyed a Serbian house in the village of Zitinje and set fire to a farm building in the Croatian village of Letnica.

The house of Slobodan Stanovic in Zitinje was blown up and completely destroyed at approximately 10:00 p.m.

The Stankovic house was one of 29 houses intended for the return of displaced persons and built at the expense of the Kosovo provisional government.

Prior to 1999 there were approximately 1,000 Serbs living in Zitinje.
According to the plan of the Kosovo government and its ministry for returns, some 300 Serbs were expected to return before the end of the year.

Sources in the Kosovo Police Service confirmed that a farm building on the farm of Toni Markovic in Letnica was torched.

Significant material damage has been done and members of the Kosovo police have launched an investigation.

Serbian, Kosovo culture ministers discuss rebuilding cultural sites in province

Serbian Press Agency SRNA
Sep 23, 2005 2:09 PM

BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro-The culture minister of Serbia and his counterpart from Kosovo held talks Friday in Belgrade on preserving and restoring the troubled province's cultural heritage.

The two sides recently have stepped up contacts before U.N.-mandated negotiations on Kosovo's final status, expected later this year.

The meeting Friday focused on Serbian cultural heritage, particularly the Orthodox churches and monasteries destroyed by rioting ethnic Albanian mobs in March 2004, according to a statement issued after the talks.

Serbian Culture Minister Dragan Kojadinovic pledged Serbia's cooperation in the reconstruction of Serb religious sites, which remain gutted despite promises of speedy repair by Kosovo's interim ethnic Albanian government.

Reconstruction work is to start in October, the Kosovo culture minister, Astrit Haracia, was quoted as saying.

The two officials also agreed to form working groups to deal with the return of documents and cultural objects from Serbia to Kosovo, the statement said.

Ethnic Albanian authorities in Kosovo say that 676 archaeological and 571 ethnological artifacts were taken to Serbia before the Serbs pulled out of the province after the 1998-99 war.

Kosovo's U.N. administration is to participate in the return process, along with international culture organizations, the statement said.

The March 2004 rioting represented the worst violence after the 1999 NATO air war ended Serbia's crackdown on ethnic Albanians seeking independence.
Nineteen people were killed and about 900 injured in the rioting, which also left 800 Serbian homes and 29 Serbian Orthodox churches destroyed. About 4,000 Serbs fled the province.

Haracia has said that his visit to Belgrade, the third attempt to bring the two sides to a table to discuss culture, was "significant" for regional stability.

Since the war the province has been run by a U.N. mission, pending resolution of Kosovo's final status. Kosovo officially remains part of Serbia-Montenegro, the union that replaced Yugoslavia. The province's majority ethnic Albanians want full independence, but the Serb minority insists Kosovo remain part of Serbia-Montenegro.

Work on restoration of destroyed churches to begin on October 10

Serbian Press Agency SRNA
23-09-2005 20:42:23

Belgrade - Minister of culture in the Kosovo provisional government Astrit Haracija announced today that work on the restoration of Orthodox churches destroyed in March 2004 will begin October 10 based with contracts for the first 11 tenders, and that another 19 tenders have been issued.

During talks in Belgrade with Serbian minister of culture Dragan Kojadinovic, Haracija explained that the Commission for Implementation of Renewal, which is headed by an expert from the Council of Europe and includes Albanian and Serbian members, unanimously chose the contracts for the first 11 tenders approved by the Serbian Orthodox Church.

According to a written statement from the Serbian Ministry of Culture, Haracija emphasized that Kosovo provisional institutions will be able to give 1.5 million euros in the next fiscal year in addition to the already earmarked 4.2 million euros.

He called on the government in Belgrade to continue successful cooperation in this process in order to ensure that all damaged churches are renewed.

Minister Kojadinovic welcomed the progress achieved on this issue and promised full cooperation in this process.

Kojadinovic and Haracija agreed to appoint coordinators for culture who will form work groups in the areas of return of documents, return of artifacts, issues related to archeology, general cultural exchanges of artists and all other issues related to culture.

"These coordinators will form technical work groups and will be responsible to the ministers and they will be tasked with issues whenever necessary at the ministerial level," adds the statement.

Kojadinovic invited film makers from Kosovo and Metohija to take part in the Festival of Documentary Film, which will be held in Belgrade from November
29 to December 3 under the auspices of the Goethe Institute.

Kojadinovic has accepted the invitation to hold the next meeting in Pristina.

Will classes begin for Serbian children?

Serbian Press Agency SRNA
23-09-2005 10:56:52

Kosovo Polje - The Council of Aca Marovic Primary School from Kosovo Polje and Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija municipal administrator Sladjana Denic today asked for an answer from the appropriate institutions in Serbia to the question whether on Monday, September 26, classes in Serbian are to begin for 138 students in the St. Sava Educational Center in the village of Bresje near Kosovo Polje.

In a letter to Serbian education minister Slobodan Vuksanovic, prime minister Vojislav Kostunica, president Boris Tadic and Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija president Sanda Raskovic-Ivic, they also asked the question whether classes would be organized in basements and private houses in accordance with the position of representatives of the Ministry of Education at a meeting in Gracanica a few days ago.

At a gathering of parents and students of the two primary and one secondary school housed in the St. Sava building, representatives of the Serbian Ministry of Education promised to inform the school directors and respective school boards by today where and how classes would be organized if the decree of the civil administrator of Kosovo proclaiming the educational center a multiethnic institution remains in effect.

"The parents have decided not to send their children to St. Sava School as long as there are Albanian students attending classes there and the highest representatives of Serbian state institutions, the Coordinating Center and the Ministry of Education are aware of this," said Denic.

Because of "the undefined policy and position of the Ministry of Education with respect to the beginning of Serbian language classes in Aca Marovic and Vuk Karadzic schools in the St. Sava building, most parents have already asked for transfer papers in order to enroll their children in other primary schools in central Kosovo," she added.

Today is the 22nd day of the 2005/06 school year but no child of Serbian nationality has yet entered the classroom even though instructors, professors, teachers and directors are at work every day.

The parents have made their decision because they do not want their children attending classes in the same building with Albanian students who are being instructed, they emphasize, by former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army.

IDPs from Kosovo: stuck between uncertain return prospects and denial of local integration

Relief Web, Switzerland, September 23

Summary

An estimated 250,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) - mainly ethnic Serbs and Roma who fled within and out of Kosovo when Yugoslav forces withdrew in 1999 - are still unable to go back to their pre-war homes in the now UN-administered province. The overwhelming majority of IDPs live in Serbia, but smaller numbers have also found refuge in Montenegro and parts of Kosovo. An outbreak of ethnic violence in March 2004 newly displaced some 4,200 people, most of them Serbs but also Roma and Ashkaeli, and effectively put a halt to the return momentum which had slowly built up in previous years. The clashes marked a step further in the separation of communities and resulted in a serious loss of confidence in the capacity of local authorities and the international community to rebuild a multi-ethnic Kosovo.

Although most of the displaced are unlikely to be able to go back to their homes in Kosovo in the foreseeable future, little is done by the Serbian and Montenegrin authorities to facilitate integration in their current places of residence until return becomes possible, as required by the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. Living conditions and access to rights vary significantly depending on the location of displacement. In Serbia proper, IDPs usually have access to social services if they can provide adequate documentation. However, obtaining some of the necessary documents is severely complicated by burdensome administrative rules, despite recent improvements. In Montenegro, IDPs have access to health services and education but they are not considered citizens, which greatly limits access to employment and certain basic rights, including the right to vote. In Kosovo, Serb IDPs often rely on parallel administrative and legal structures maintained by the Serbian government, as restricted freedom of movement in the province prevents many of them using services provided by local authorities. Generally, the poverty of IDPs in Serbia and Montenegro has increased due to erosion of their assets, the impossibility of disposing of their properties in Kosovo and lack of employment opportunities. An estimated 54 per cent live below the poverty level. Displaced Roma face particular hardships. Often they lack proper documentation and are confronted with widespread discrimination, and most of them live in substandard conditions in informal settlements without water and electricity. Another vulnerable group are the 6,800 IDPs accommodated in collective centres along with Serb refugees from neighbouring countries.
While these centres are being closed by the government, IDPs residing there are, unlike refugees, not entitled to assistance for local integration.

The Serbian government, although obliged to ensure the right of IDPs to adequate living conditions, has been reluctant to support local integration, saying that such measures could only be envisaged when the displaced have a genuine opportunity to return to Kosovo. Consequently, the National Strategy for Resolving the Problems of Refugees and IDPs adopted in 2002 focuses on return and considers integration only for refugees.

The adoption, in 2004, of a National Strategy for Roma, and in 2005 of national action plans on specific issues which take into account the specific needs of displaced Roma are positive steps which have yet to be backed up by concrete action such as the registration of displaced Roma. The Montenegrin government has published a strategy for resolving the issues of refugees and IDPs in April 2005, but its unclear phrasing leaves doubts about the extent to which the strategy can be expected to guide a more effective response to the difficulties faced by IDPs in this Republic. In Kosovo, the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government (PISG) have made progress in implementing the "Standards for Kosovo", established by the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) to promote the transition towards a democratic and multi-ethnic province where refugees and IDPs wishing to return can do so in safety and dignity. However, crucial challenges remain in areas such as property repossession, security, employment and freedom of movement.
Progress on the implementation of the standards is a precondition for the opening of negotiations on the final status of Kosovo. The political uncertainty surrounding the status question has been a significant source of instability, with Kosovo Albanians fearing the possible return of Serb rule and Serb IDPs hesitating to go back before a final decision is made.

Donors are leaving the country, hindering economic development and return prospects. Many analysts saw the March 2004 events as a reaction of frustration in the absence of a clear perspective for the future and an attempt to establish a fait accompli through violence. In June 2005, the UN Secretary-General appointed a Special Envoy, Kai Eide, with a mandate to carry out a comprehensive review of the current situation and the conditions for launching discussions on final status. Whatever the outcome of this process, any solution will have to be made strictly conditional on full respect for the rights of all communities living in Kosovo to ensure a safe environment conducive to return. In the meantime, greater efforts are needed to improve the security situation in Kosovo, including through increased inter-ethnic dialogue and the prosecution of perpetrators of ethnic violence. It is also essential to resume systematic monitoring of the human rights situation of returnees as well as populations at risk of displacement, such as minority groups and forcibly returned refugees.
Irrespective of prospects for return, the authorities in Serbia and Montenegro (including Kosovo) should step up efforts, with the support of the international community, to fulfil their responsibility to ensure IDPs'
right to adequate living conditions, access to documents, and freedom from discrimination, in line with the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement.

Full report (pdf* format - 732 KB)

http://www.reliefweb.int/library/documents/2005/globalidp-ser-22sep.pdf

Decentralization does not mean division of the province

Serbian Press Agency SRNA
21-09-2005 16:55:24

Belgrade - Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija president Sanda Raskovic-Ivic emphasized today in a meeting with UNMIK deputy chief Lawrence Rossin in Pristina that decentralization of Kosovo and Metohija does not mean the division of the province.

She said that the division and independence of Kosovo and Metohija are not themes for discussion on the Serbian side, the Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija advised.

Speaking about the Serbian Government's plan for decentralization of Kosovo and Metohija, Raskovic-Ivic emphasized tha thte goal of this plan is the return of displaced Serbs and the staying of those Serbs living in the province.

Commenting on an incident where gathered Albanians threw eggs at the UNMIK building as a sign of protest against her visit to Kosovo and Metohija, Raskovic-Ivic expressed the hope that they were not representative of all Albanian public opinion on the territory of the province.

She emphasized that protests organized on the occasion of her visit to Kosovo can also be interpreted as a sign of fundamental unreadiness of the Albanian side for constructive talks about the future of the province.

Plan on Decentralization of Government necessary for Serb survival

Serbian Press Agency SRNA
21-09-2005 17:29:38

Pristina - Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija president Sanda Raskovic-Ivic said today that she informed the deputy administrator of Kosovo, Lawrence Rossin, that the Serbian Government's plan for decentralization of the province is necessary for the survival of Kosovo and Metohija Serbs.

''I warned that there must not be any divergences from Resolution 1244, which guarantees the right of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia. We reached tentative agreement on the need for land registration books to remain under the jurisdiction of institutions of the Republic of Serbia and we discussed the issue of the creation of St. Sava multiethnic school in Kosovo Polje,"
Raskovic-Ivic told reporters after the meeting with Rossin.

She said that she pointed out to Rossin that it is Belgrade's position to insist on a consensus among the Serbian delegation in future dialogue on the status of Kosovo.

Raskovic-Ivic condemned today's incident when a group of several dozen Albanians hurled eggs at the entrance to the UNMIK building where she was scheduled to meet with Rossin.

She assessed that this reflects the immaturity and unreadiness of the Albanians for negotiations, expressing the hope that this is not the position of the Kosovo Albanian political elite.

"When I think of Kosovo, I think of Gracanica. Kosovo and Metohija is our spiritual vertical axis. I would like to convey to you the message of the state leadership that there are two themes regarding which there is no possibility of dialogue. There will be no division and there will be no independence. We can reach an agreement on everything else," emphasized Raskovic-Ivic in her address to Serbs in Gracanica.

She expressed the conviction that Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija and all Serbs can gather around this spiritual vertical axis and that a consensual delegation  will succeed in keeping Kosovo and Metohija in future dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade - for those wishing to return to Kosovo and Metohija and for those who live there.

Sanda Raskovic-Ivic's visit to Gracanica and her travels in Kosovo and Metohija from Silovo in Gnjilane municipality in the southeast of Kosovo, by way of Pristina and Gracanica to Strpce, where she will be staying tonight, is guarded by a large number of international police.

Sovereignty for Serbia, Government for Kosovo

Serbian Press Agency SRNA
22-09-2005 09:30:45

Belgrade - Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija president Sanda Raskovic-Ivic said that the Belgrade formula "more than autonomy, less than independence" presumes a solution according to which Serbia would keep sovereignty, while Kosovo and Metohija would get executive, legislative and judicial authority.

In an interview for the Belgrade daily "Danas" she said that Serbia is guaranteed state and territorial sovereignty by UN Security Council Resolution 1244, emaphsizing that Kosovo and Metohija would remain within the borders of Serbia.

According to the formula "more than autonomy, less than independence", Serbian police would guard the border, while fiscal and customs policy would be federal, and connected with the home state.

"There is one minister of defense, one minister of foreign affairs, one seat in the UN, with the understanding that we would advocate Kosovo and Metohija's becoming a demilitarized zone in order to prevent the forming of paramilitary formations on its territory, while at the same time desensitizing the fear of the Kosovo Albanians that the Serbian Army will again return to restore order," explained Raskovic-Ivic.

According to her, the Serbian and other non-Albanian communities in Kosovo and Metohija "will get decentralization, and through it the return of certain aspects of the functioning of society, the state and the province at the local level".

This will apply to the areas of education, health and social issues, religion and preservation of cultural heritage, as well as judiciary at the municipal level and local police.

A high degree of autonomy

Serbian Press Agency SRNA
22-09-2005 14:56:53

Pristina - Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija president Sanda Raskovic-Ivic stated today in Laplje Selo near Pristina that the most that can be expected in future dialogue on the final status of Kosovo is a high degree of autonomy.

"The home state will have tasks related to defense and the ministry of foreign affairs with one seat in the UN. Additionally, the Serbian police will guard the borders, monetary, fiscal and customs policy will stay with the home state, and in the process of decentralization Serbian government institutions will be revived in Serbian settlements," emphasized Raskovic-Ivic.

She added that the Serbs would have their own police, their judge, education, health, social policy and sports.

''We are trying to separate Serbs from government institutions, from Kosovo institutions and from UNMIK, and that is why I call on and appeal to the citizens, especially Serbs in Caglavica, to stop selling their property because selling it is not the only way to save their lives," stressed Raskovic-Ivic.

She assessed that the Gracanica area is "a very strong area" with the possibility of forming a new city as a strong support for Serbs.

In connection with the delay in Kai Eide's report, she assessed that this would be very bad for the Serbs, adding that "Kai Eide is not a professional politician, and he is not the sort who will give in to pressure from the Albanians and the Contact Group".

''I expect a realistic assessment of the situation, instead of the reports that rationalized the role of the UN Mission in Kosovo," said Raskovic-Ivic.

She is scheduled to visit Strpce this afternoon before continuing to Kosovska Mitrovica, where she will be holding several meetings with representatives of local Serbs tomorrow.

Serbia Gets Sovereignty, Kosovo Gets Executive, Legislation And Judicial Authorities

Belgrade, Sep 22 (Danas) – Serbia will get sovereignty, Kosovo will get executive, legislation and judicial authorities, explains Sanda Raskovic Ivic exclusively to ‘Danas’ about the formula of Belgrade authorities “more that autonomy, less than independence”.
“Albanians get executive, legislative and judicial authority within the Serbian state. According to resolution 1244 of United Nations Security Council, sovereignty is guaranteed to the Serbian state and Kosovo  would stay within Serbian borders.

Serbian policemen would be guarding the borders, fiscal and customs policies would remain a state matter, connected to the central authorities. There is one Minister of Defense, one Minister of Foreign Affairs, one seat at the UN, with our pledge for demilitarization of Kosovo and Metohija to prevent forming of paramilitary formations in that area, in order to decrease fears of Albanians that the Serbian Army will come back to protect order”, explained Sanda Raskovic Ivic.

According to her, Serbian and all non-Albanian communities in Kosovo and Metohija will “receive decentralization, which gives back certain aspects of functioning of society, state and Province to local level”. This will cover areas of education, health care with social issues, religion and preservation of cultural heritage, as well as judicial institutions on municipal level and local police.

Mrs. Ivic noted Belgrade formula is aiming high politic, e.g. future status of Kosovo and program of Coordination Center is in complete coordination with program of Belgrade authorities and state union.

Eide claims standards have not been fulfilled

Serbian Press Agency SRNA
22-09-2005 13:20:01

Belgrade - Dusan Batakovic, advisor to the Serbian president, believes that the delay in the submission of the report of the UN Secretary General's special envoy Kai Eide on the fulfillment of standards in Kosovo and Metohija is just a warning that standards have not been fulfilled and that there is still a lot that needs to be done in this field.

The submission the report, originally expected at the end of September, has been postponed to the first half of October.

"Ambassador Eide has a comprehensive and in-depth perspective on the situation in the Province. He is an experienced diplomat who has been following the issue of Kosovo since 1993, and this gesture of postponing the submission of his report is a signal, first of all, to the international community and the Contact Group, that standards have not been fulfilled to the degree that has so far been assumed, and as expected in international circles," said Batakovic.

Eide announced today that he will be submitting the complete report on the fulfillment of standards in Kosovo and Metohija in the first half of October, not at the end of September as previously expected.

Bomb Discovered On Gorazdevac-Pec Road

Gorazdevac, 22 Sep (RTS) – On Thursday morning, a little bit after 0800 hrs, between the villages of Orashje and Brezenjika, members of the Kosovo police service (KPS) from Gorazdevac, found a bomb. The bomb was defused a little bit before 1100 hrs. There is an ongoing investigation regarding the incident. Gorazdevac residents are very concerned and upset because of this incident.

The bus which goes on regular line from Gorazdevac to Belgrade took of at 0900 hrs just according to the schedule, but took a reroute. With 1,000 Serbs, Gorazdevac is the biggest Serbian settlement in Metohija.

U.N. Kosovo report delayed for pressure

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 21 (Reuters) - A key U.N. report that could launch negotiations on the future of Kosovo has been delayed to press for improved treatment of the breakaway Serbian province's Serb minority, diplomats said on Wednesday.

They said U.N. special envoy Kai Eide told a meeting of major powers overseeing Balkans diplomacy at U.N. headquarters on Tuesday that he would take several more weeks to produce the study on democracy and civil rights standards in Kosovo, which he had been expected to present this week.

The province has been a U.N. protectorate since NATO ended the 1998-99 guerrilla war by bombing Yugoslavia to compel Serbia to withdraw its forces.

Kosovo's 90-percent Albanian majority increasingly wants independence, but Serbia is opposed.

Eide declined to set any date for completing his report. He told the Contact Group of the United States, Russia, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the European Union and the United Nations he wanted to use the drafting process to exert leverage on the Albanian government in Pristina and on Belgrade to be more cooperative, the diplomats said.

"It won't be ready for a few weeks and he won't say when to keep up pressure on the parties," a Western diplomat said.

Several members of the Contact Group told Eide they would like to see the report as soon as possible, participants said.

A delay of several weeks would come as an unwelcome surprise in Kosovo, where Albanian officials and media expected his recommendation to be made any day now and certainly before the end of September.

Kosovo's Albanian newspaper Zeri reported on Wednesday that the United Nations, United States and European Union had agreed to appoint former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari as special envoy for talks on the territory's "final status".

But U.N. officials said no decision had been taken, although they acknowledged that the veteran Finnish mediator, who recently brokered a peace deal for the Indonesian province of Aceh, was the most-mentioned name.

A statement issued by the Contact Group said that "should progress be deemed sufficient", the final status talks could begin by the end of this year.

"The Contact Group urges the leaders of Kosovo to increase their efforts to ensure the implementation of standards at all levels to ensure that commitments undertaken are translated into concrete action," the statement said.

"It also urges the Belgrade authorities to do their utmost to facilitate this process."

Officially, the United Nations says it will wait for Eide's report and only appoint a status envoy to mediate between Belgrade and Pristina if his review is positive.

Ahtisaari's office denied any official appointments had been made.

"Our view is really that the U.N. will decide on this, not the diplomatic circles," said spokeswoman Kristiina Ahovuori.

The respected Pristina daily said Ahtisaari would have three deputies from the United States, the EU and Russia.

Ahtisaari, 68, started his career in the Finnish diplomatic service then worked for the United Nations. He became president of Finland in 1994 and in early 1999 was one of the chief negotiators trying to end the Kosovo war.

Ahtisaari's most recent success was negotiating a peace accord between the Indonesian government and separatist rebels in Aceh province, ending a 30-year conflict that killed more than 12,000 people.

Finland has nominated him for the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for the Aceh talks.
He was also nominated in 2000 and 2001.

Belgrade (dpa) - Belgrade's offer of "more than autonomy, less than independence'' to its breakaway province Kosovo means it would get its own authorities - but under Serbia's sovereignty, a top official said in an interview released Thursday.

"The Albanian side in Kosovo gets executive, legislative and judicial power,'' said Sanda Raskovic-Ivic, head of Belgrade's committee in charge of Kosovo.

"Under U.N. Resolution 1244, the Serbian state is guaranteed international and territorial sovereignty,'' she said, explaining a phrase coined earlier as Belgrade's offer to the majority Kosovo Albanians.

Raskovic-Ivic said it meant that Serbia would retain control over borders, defence, foreign affairs, customs, fiscal and monetary policies. In addition, it wanted a demilitarized Kosovo.

Six years since NATO intervened ethnic fighting between Albanian rebels and Belgrade's security forces, Kosovo remains administered by the U.N. and without a clear look ahead.

The majority Albanians want quick and full independence, while Belgrade insists on sovereignty over the province and better security for the embattled Serb minority, herded into enclaves.

The problem of violence, according to the Serb proposal, would come through the demilitarization and decentralization along ethnic lines.

"The communities get decentralization, which returns some aspects of the functioning of the society, state and province to a local level,''
Raskovic-Ivic said.

In her words, education, health, social care, religion and historic legacy, local courts and police would all be run by municipalities.

Without top-level contacts since the war ended in mid-1999, the two sides communicated only through mediators or media, exchanging proposals that the other side would regularly balk at.

Serious talks on the future status of the province were due to start this year, under the condition that Kosovo authorities meet a set of standards, most of all better protection for the minorities.

The model proposed by Raskovic-Ivic has not yet been put forward formally.

Interview: Serbia's president vows not to abandon Serb community in Kosovo

Associated Press
Released : Sep 21, 2005 10:13 PM

NEW YORK-Serbia has no ambition to rule again over ethnic Albanians in its southern Kosovo province, but cannot just give up its historic territory that is still home to some 100,000 Serbs, Serbian President Boris Tadic said while on a diplomatic offensive ahead of looming talks on Kosovo's future.

Shuttling between a series of meetings in New York with U.S., European Union and Russian diplomats who will have a key role in the likely negotiations, Tadic says he is well aware of the mess left in the province by Serbia's former strongman, Slobodan Milosevic.

Milosevic's military crackdown on the ethnic Albanian separatists in 1999 led to NATO airstrikes to break the Serb assault. After thousands lost their lives -- most of them Kosovar Albanians -- the province became a U.N.-run protectorate whose final status may be resolved if a U.N. report, due in a few weeks, recommends that talks begin.

"Serbia does not want at all to arrange political relations among ethnic Albanians in Kosovo," Tadic told The Associated Press. "But we need to take care of Serbs in Kosovo," the dwindling community living in enclaves amid the occasionally hostile ethnic Albanian majority of 1.7 million.

Floating an idea of "decentralization" of Kosovo that would give the Serb enclaves some autonomy and the right to closer links with the government in Belgrade, Tadic declined to elaborate, saying only "a unique, flexible solution is needed, with considerable political creativity."

He also claimed that "Serbia has the international law on its side ... due to investments, remaining private property and Serb heritage in Kosovo, including ancient churches and monasteries."

"Serbia is a democratic country today," said Tadic, who was elected in 2004 amid Serbia's efforts to recover from the dark days under Milosevic.

Milosevic was ousted in 2000 and later extradited to the U.N. war crimes court in The Hague to answer for his role in several Balkan wars.

Milosevic's legacy, however, still haunts Serbia on many issues, including its unresolved relationship with tiny Montenegro.

The two republics used to be part of the former Yugoslavia and opted to stay together when four other republics broke away in the early 1990's. But the heavy-handed Milosevic alienated many in Montenegro, where an independence drive now persists even after Milosevic is gone.

An EU-brokered arrangement in 2003 established Serbia-Montenegro as a loose partnership of virtually sovereign republics that share only a small central administration to jointly run defense and foreign affairs.

But that deal may fall apart as early as next year as Montenegro's pro-independence leadership plans an independence referendum. This, in turn, complicates the Kosovo issue.

"There's this legal technicality," Tadic said with a sigh, explaining that a U.N. resolution, which introduced the international protectorate in Kosovo in 1999, refers to the province as geographically part of Serbia-Montenegro, not just Serbia. If Serbia and Montenegro split up, it would bolster the Kosovo Albanians' cause for their independence.

"A disintegration of Serbia-Montenegro could cause a chain reaction and destabilize a wider region," Tadic warned.

The real issue everyone should be focusing on instead, is economic development, the president said.

"Independence per se does not bring food on the table," he said, citing statistics that say that 63 percent of ethnic Albanians and 95 percent of Serbs in Kosovo are jobless.

It is particularly tough for Serbs and other non-Albanians, he added. "They lack freedom of movement, they can't even go look for jobs."

One thing the rival sides agree upon is their common desire to one day join the European Union. This would render the border issues irrelevant, but the feeble economies do not exactly propel either to membership in the bloc, Tadic acknowledged.

Serbia's particular problem is the outstanding Western demand for extradition of top war crimes suspect, Bosnian Serb wartime commander, Gen.
Ratko Mladic.

"We are working very hard on that issue," Tadic said, only reiterating that Serbian authorities are trying but cannot find the fugitive.

Extradition of Mladic has emerged as the key obstacle for Serbia's membership in NATO's Partnership for Peace program as well as for closer ties with the EU.

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