Bishop Teodosije requests NATO protection
in light of new incidnets in Kosovo

Supreme Commander of SHAPE visits Visoki Decani Monastery with COMKFOR and COMTFW

Latest News: New incidents in Mitrovica and Istok

Bishop Teodosije told the Supreme Commander of SHAPE, General Schuwirth, and the KFOR generals, that KFOR would have to remain in Kosovo and Metohija without reduction in strength and prevent all further violence, especially against members of the Serb community and other minorities. It is especially important to provide long-term protection for the holy shrines of the Serbian Orthodox Church, said Bishop Teodosije, in order to prevent what has survived the previous years from destruction in a new wave of violence.

 
Senior guests in front of Decani church (from left to right: Colonel Monaco, General Santo, Bishop Teodosije, General Schuwirth, General Kater and Protosingel Sava) click on photo to enlarge

KIM Info Service
September 23, 2006

The Supreme Commander of the Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), German general Reiner Schuwirth, visited Visoki Decani Monastery on Saturday and stayed for an hour-long conversation with Bishop Teodosije of Lipljan, the Vicar Bishop in Kosovo and the Abbot of the Monastery. General Schuwirth was accompanied to Decani by the KFOR commander-in-chief, German general Roland Kather, and the commander of the Italian KFOR contingent, Italian general Vincenzo Santo and his officers.

After a tour of the church and familiarizing General Schuwirth with the history of the monastery, Bishop Teodosije spoke with the high military commanders regarding the security situation in Kosovo and Metohija. The Bishop thanked the generals for all efforts by KFOR to ensure safety for all the citizens of Kosovo and Metohija but also expressed his concern due to the recent series of incidents, especially the recent attack in Klina in which four members of the Serbian Pavlovic family were wounded in a bomb-attack.

In Bishop Teodosije's opinion KFOR would have to remain in Kosovo and Metohija without reduction in strength and prevent all further violence, especially against members of the Serb community and other minorities. It is especially important to provide long-term protection for the holy shrines of the Serbian Orthodox Church, said Bishop Teodosije, in order to prevent what has survived the previous years from destruction in a new wave of violence. He emphasized that the process of restoration of Serb holy shrines destroyed in the March 2004 violence is under way and that buildings currently undergoing restoration, especially in the Prizren area and in Pristina, need to be adequately protected from possible new attacks and looting.

At the end of the conversation with NATO generals Bishop Teodosije explained that Serb returnees, particularly in the Western part of the province must remain under NATO protection because, obviously, there are extremist ethnic Albanian forces on the ground which are trying to intimidate them and sent back to exile. "Security for all citizens is a test for all in Kosovo" bishop said expressing his hope that people of good will will prevail and that further escalation of ethnically motivated violence would decerease.

 
Bishop Teodosije with General Rainer Schuwirth
click on photo to enlarge

Generals Schuwirth, Kather and Santo assured Bishop Teodosije that KFOR would continue to invest all possible efforts to ensure security and prevent any sort of escalation of violence. KFOR commander-in-chief general Kather emphasized that KFOR is presently undertaking comprehensive measures to isolate the perpetrators of the latest attacks and that he has clearly indicated that further violence will not be tolerated. KFOR has increased the number of patrols, and comprehensive security-military operations to stop the growth of violence are under way, said the KFOR commander.

 
General Schuwirth and his associates are welcomed in the monastery courtyard
click on photo to enlarge

Rounds shot at Serb returnees near Istok

INTERNATIONAL PRESS CENTER
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA

September 25, 2006

Istok, Kosovo and Metohija - Shortly after 7:00 p.m. last night unknown attackers opened gunfire on the Serb returnee house of Aleksa Ljusic in the hamlet of Ljug near Istok. At the time of the attack, there were 13 Serbs in the house waiting to move into their rebuilt homes. Fortunately, no one was hurt.

"The attacker came to a mere 30 meters from the house, firing first single shots and then rounds from an automatic weapon at us," Rados Vulic, coordinator for Istok municipality, told the International Press Center in Kosovska Mitrovica.

This attack has caused anxiety among Serb returnees in Istok who are waiting to return to their ancestral homes from which they were expelled by Albanian extremists in 1999. In May 2006 construction of 50 houses began in the hamlet of Ljug, home to more than 1,000 Serbs prior to 1999. More than 3,000 Serbs lived in the town of Istok itself until 1999.

Group of Albanians attack Serbs on Mitrovica Bridge, Bridge closed again

Radio Television Serbia, Belgrade
Tuesday, September 26, 2006 00:20

On Monday at approximately 10:00 p.m. in the immediate vicinity of the main bridge over the Ibar River in the northern part of Mitrovica a clash occurred between several Albanians and [Serb] Aleksandar Curic (41), who was lightly wounded.

The incident occurred after UNMIK representatives opened the bridge over the Ibar, which has been closed since August 26 following a bomb attack on the Dolce Vita Cafe in which nine persons, most of them Serbs, were wounded.

Regional UNMIK police chief Gary Smith (sp?) confirmed that the Ibar Bridge, which separates Kosovska Mitrovica into a southern part inhabited by Albanians and a northern part inhabited by a Serb majority population, will be completely closed for traffic until Tuesday morning.

Regional UNMIK police spokesman Larry Miller told Tanjug that several ethnic Albanians have been arrested following that incident. He said that a group of Albanian boys [decaci] were verbally harassing the victim but that everything ended well thanks to a quick response by UNMIK police, preventing a more serious incident. After the incident some one hundred Serbs gathered near the bridge but soon dispersed.

Rade Negojevic, the spokesman of the Coordinating Center's International Press Center in Kosovska Mitrovica, told Tanjug that at about 6:00 p.m.

today attorney Boban Savic [a Serb] was also attacked by ethnic Albanians in the Bosnjacka Mahala quarter of northern Mitrovica. Luckily, Savic was not hurt.

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