Independent Kosovo to start regional wars

SERBIANNA (USA)
September 25, 2006 10:05 AM

PRISTINA, Serbia-Independence for Kosovo without Serbia's approval could spark war in the Balkans, the Serbian foreign minister was quoted as saying Monday, amid U.N.-brokered talks about the province's future.

Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic suggested Kosovo should have full autonomy, but be barred from holding separate membership in the United Nations and NATO.

"Kosovo's independence would produce trouble in the region, in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro and Macedonia," Draskovic told the Kosovo Albanian daily Epoka e Re.

"You know that no border in the Balkans has been changed with an agreement,"

he was quoted as saying. "Borders have always been changed with wars, and that (Kosovo's independence) would naturally bring such a trouble."

The United Nations hopes to resolve Kosovo's status by the end of the year, but talks have stalled with both sides unwilling to compromise on their demands.

Ethnic Albanians, who make up 90 percent of Kosovo's 2 million people, insist they should not be under Belgrade's authority. Serbia, as well as the Serb minority in Kosovo, say Kosovo is the heart of Serbia's ancient homeland and should remain within its borders.

"You know very well that Kosovo is not only a territorial issue, but also a spiritual one because Serb spirit and culture were born there," Draskovic was quoted as saying.

Belgrade and Serb leaders in the province worry about the safety of Kosovo's 100,000 Serbs, most of whom live in small, scattered enclaves. Few of the 200,000 Serbs who fled Kosovo during and after the 1998-99 war have returned.

Draskovic said that a solution in which "no party would win or lose" could be to give Kosovo all governing competencies that a normal country has, but without the right to representation at the U.N. and NATO because these "institutions definitely symbolize the country."

The chief U.N. envoy for Kosovo, Maarti Ahtisaari, said last week he had no "fixed deadlines" in the Kosovo status talks, though he is expected before the year's end to present the U.N. Security council with proposal for Kosovo's future.

Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Ceku appealed to Kosovo citizens to help police find the perpetrators of an explosion that injured four Serbs and of three other bombings that damaged cars, which raised ethnic tension in the province.

He added that the province was a safe place for all regardless of ethnicity or religion.

"I strongly denounce these acts as clear attempts from certain circles and individuals for Kosovo destabilization, for creating the feeling of fear and hesitation to cooperate (with government authorities)," said Ceku in his weekly speech on Radio Kosova.

Fight On Kosovska Mitrovica Bridge

Kosovska Mitrovica, 26 Sept (B92)

A group of Albanians and Serbs got into a fight on Monday night near the bridge which separates them in Kosovska Mitrovica.

Eyewitnesses told Beta that a group of about 15 youths from the southern Albanian part of the city crossed the bridge to the Serbian part and began to provoke Serbs to fight. A group of young men who regularly hang out near the bridge on the northern side confronted the group of Albanians and a fight broke out.

According to the most recent reports, there were no injuries in the scuffle. Eyewitnesses say that UNMIK and Kosovo Police Service officials intervened very quickly, separated the two groups, and made them leave the scene of the fight.

Following the fight, about one hundred Serbian citizens of Kosovska Mitrovica gathered at the north side of the bridge and covered the path around it with barbed wire. They are protesting and are asking for the bridge to be closed again, stating that this incident shows that the city is still not safe.

The bridge across the Ibar River in Kosovska Mitrovica was reopened on Monday after a one-month blockade because of a bombing incident that occurred at a café on the Serbian side of the city.

Kosovska Mitrovica Bridge Remains Closed

Kosovska Mitrovica, 26 Sep (B92)

The bridge over the Ibar River in Kosovska Mitrovica will remain closed after last night’s attack on Aleksandar Ćurčić.

Steven Schook, the UNMIK deputy chief, met with Serb representatives in this town and stated that the decision to reopen the bridge will be postponed until after the talks with KFOR and representatives from the south part of the town are done. Schook said that meeting with representatives of the Serbian National Council (SNV) was very good
Meanwhile, the Kosovo Police Service detained eight persons after last night’s attack by several Albanians on Aleskandar Ćurčić. They were interviewed and later released.
The incident occurred when three underage Albanians crossed the bridge and started a brawl with a group of people gathered on the north side of the bridge. The verbal conflict turned into a fight, inflicting light injuries on a Kosovo Serb.

Milan Ivanovic, the Serb National Council chairman, said that in his talks with the international community representatives, he repeated the Serb demand to keep the bridge closed until the end of the Kosovo status negotiations. “They said they would decide in a few days and until then the bridge remains closed and they take responsibility for whatever happens, meaning whether or not the bridge will open.”

“Monday’s developments are proof that the opening of the bridge destabilizes the situations in the northern part of the town”, said Ivanovic.

He once again retreated that keeping in mind that there is a bad safety situation in the province, and the more frequent statements about an unfavorable outcome of the talks about the Kosovo and Metohija status, on October 2nd, the Serbs will hold a protest meeting in the center of Kosovska Mitrovica.

The UNMIK Police spokesman told B92 that contrary to previous reports, the UNMIK police did intervene. “They reacted at the very start of the fight to protect the victims from sustaining serious injuries”, Larry Miller said.  

The bridge on the Ibar river was opened on Monday after being closed on August 26th, when a bomb was thrown on a café in the Serb part of the town, wounding nine people.

Fried Meets With Senior Serbian Officials

Belgrade, 26 Sept (B92) – The US Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Euro-Asia, Daniel Fried, made an official visit to Belgrade on Monday.

After meeting with Fried, the Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said that all of the arguments for the Kosovo status solution are on Serbia’s side and that Serbia will not accept a solution that will create a dangerous precedent.

Fried told Serbian President Boris Tadic that the US strongly supports Serbia on its path towards Europe and its Euro-Atlantic future, adding that it is necessary for Serbia to complete its cooperation with the Hague Tribunal as soon as possible.

Tadic reiterated that cooperation with the Hague is not only Serbia’s international obligation, but a very important question for the people of Serbia, which must be taken care of in order to complete the nation’s integration into Euro-Atlantic structures.
Serbian Foreign Affairs Minister, Vuk Draskovic, said that he and Fried agreed that a compromise in the Kosovo status solution could be reached more easily if the Kosovo Albanians would come to terms with the stance of the Contact Group that the existing borders of the Serbian state cannot be altered.

Draskovic also called for a quick and unconditional acceptance of Serbia into the Partnership for Peace, adding that Serbia and the Serbian people do not deserve to have several fugitives with Hague indictments block all prospects for the future.

Fried said that Washington wants Serbia as a strategic partner and a regional leader, which calls for a rooting-out of all ties with the Slobodan Milosevic regime.

Speaking to students at the Political Science University, Fried said that the Kosovo status solution is expected to be reached in the next several months.

“During the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, during the 1990s, Bosnian leaders stated that it is a great tragedy that their future will be determined by foreigners, who could not even pronounce the names of the Bosnian cities, that is how little they cared.” Fried said.
“They realized that nationalism was the reason for that catastrophe. The destiny of Kosovo is in the hands of the Contact Group as well, which is made up of foreign countries, but that is what it is. Whatever happens with Kosovo, the future of Serbia is still in Europe. That future is clear, but it will not be reached if nationalists begin to do what they have done in the past again. I hope and believe that the real Serbian patriots will help Serbia on its road to Europe.” Fried said.