May 09, 2006

KiM Info Newsletter 09-05-06

Bus with Serb returnees stoned in Kosovo

No one was hurt but a large number of windows on the bus have been shattered and thee are dents on the bus from the impact of the stones. The UN bus provides regular transportation twice a week for Serb returnees from Osojane to northern Mitrovica where they can shop, visit a physician or carry out other needs.

www.rts.co.yu

Radio Television Serbia, Belgrade
Tuesday, May 9, 2006 14:04

Returnees to the villages in the Osojane Valley in Istok municipality and villages on the territory of Klina municipality are constantly being targeted by Albanians who are thus trying to prevent an increasing numbers of Serbs from returning to Metohija.

This morning near the village of Rudnik on the road from Osojane to Kosovska Mitrovica a UN bus was stoned while transporting some 60 passengers among them women and children.

No one was hurt but a large number of windows on the bus have been shattered and thee are dents on the bus from the impact of the stones. The UN bus provides regular transportation twice a week for Serb returnees from Osojane to northern Mitrovica where they can shop, visit a physician or carry out other needs.

In the returnee villages of Suvi Lukavac, Tucep and Osojane in the past month unknown perpetrators have stolen four tractors and seven cows from Serbian households.

The most recent theft occurred two days ago. Unknown persons in a black Mercedes first poisoned the guard dogs in the village of Suvi Lukavac, then the next night stole the tractor of the returnee family of Milorad Dubic.

In the village of Bica, Klina municipality, a tractor was stolen yesterday from Serb returnees and the electrical meters were removed from four returnee houses.

The most dangerous attack on Serb returnees occurred on the eve of the Paschal holidays when attackers opened fire with the intent of stealing livestock.

The Coordinating Center warns that returnees to these villages are completely undefended and that after each on the scene investigation conducted by Kosovo police there are no results, i.e. not one perpetrator has so far been found or brought to justice.

Nine UN policemen hurt in Friday demonstrations in Pristina

Radio Television Serbia, Belgrade
Monday, May 8, 2006 19:31

Nine policemen were lightly injured in demonstrations organized Friday in Pristina by the movement Self-determination, which advocates an independent Kosovo, UNMIK advised.

Demonstrators attacked the policemen when they attempted to enter a building from which sirens could be heard.

During the demonstration 22 demonstrators were arrested, nine of whom were indicted and detained; the other 13 were released and it has been said that civil charges against them will be pressed.

The nine detainees have been charged under the Kosovo criminal code for three violations: incitation of general danger or fear in public, association for the purpose of obstructing an official performing his duty, and attack on policemen.

The 13 people who have been released are believed not to have played a key role in the attack on the policemen. The police also confiscated the sirens.

UNMIK police commissioner Kai Vittrup has ordered an internal investigation following accusations of improper behavior by one policeman from the central police station in Pristina during the arrest of the 22 demonstrators.

According to UNMIK police sources, on May 5 at 11:00 a.m. the demonstrators activated alarm sirens that created confusion, and sirens were also activated by activists of the movement across the road from UNMIK headquarters.

The activists also threw flyers through the windows making fun of the details of the evacuation plan drafted by UNMIK, the Coordinating Center's International Press Center advised.

The members of the movement Self-determination led by Albin Kurti oppose the resolution of Kosovo's status through negotiations and advocate the principle of self-determination.

 NATO to protect decisions on Kosovo future

BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro, May 8 (UPI) -- NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Monday the alliance will protect U.N.-supported decisions on Kosovo's future.

Addressing Balkan states' reporters in Brussels, Scheffer said NATO forces stationed in Serbia's southern Kosovo province will confront anyone who would violate peace and resist solutions of the future status of the 90 percent ethnic-Albanian province, the Belgrade Beta news agency reported.

Scheffer said the failure to arrest war-crime fugitive Gen. Ratko Mladic hampers Serbia-Montenegro's approach to NATO's Partnership for Peace program and the European Union.

Scheffer said Marti Ahtisaari, U.N. mediator in the current Kosovo talks between Serbs and ethnic-Albanians, will decide when NATO's security role in the province will be considered.

Kosovo is formally part of Serbia but the province has been under U.N.

administration and NATO protection since 1999, when NATO air attacks stopped reported Serbian action against ethnic-Albanian separatists.

St. George's Day celebrated in the monastery of Pillars of St. George near Novi Pazar

Bishops Artemije and Teodosije serve Holy Hierarchal Liturgy on the feast of St. George in the presence of several hundred faithful from throughout Serbia

NOVI PAZAR, May 6, 2006 (Tanjug news agency, Belgrade)

The monastery of the Pillars of St. George (Djurdjevi Stupovi) near Novi Pazar celebrated its patronal feast, the Holy Great-Martyr George, today with Bishops Artemije of Raska and Prizren and Teodosije of Lipljan serving Holy Hierarchal Liturgy and in the presence of several hundred faithful from throughout Serbia.

The Pillars of St. George is the endowment of Stefan Nemanja and one of the oldest Serb holy shrines. In terms of its age and significance, and its spiritual, cultural and historical value, the monastery is one of the pillars and supports of the Serbian people throughout the centuries.

This endowment of Serbian kings and rulers was devastated numerous times throughout its eight hundred year history. The liturgical bells rang for the last time in 1689 when the monks left the monastery in the Great Migration of the Serbs fleeing Turkish violence.

After lying in ruins for three centuries and decades of restoration and conservation work, the monastery only recently regained its spiritual and liturgical glory. The monks who recently took up residence at the Pillars of St. George have succeeded in renewing the monastery's living quarters but the most important part of the work on the rebuilding of the church still remains to be done.

The monastery brotherhood invites all philanthropists to join in the "Raising of the Pillars" [fundraising] campaign.