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KiM Info Newsletter 03-04-07 NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer telephones Decani Monastery KIM Info Service
On behalf of Bishop Teodosije and the brotherhood of the monastery Fr. Sava thanked the Secretary General for his call and voiced the view that at this sensitive moment it is necessary for NATO to increase its presence on the ground especially near Serbian holy shrines and settlements in order to prevent similar attacks. What occurred is most probably an attack by a member or members of one of the local paramilitary extremist units whose existence the NATO alliance must not tolerate and which must be brought to justice, said Fr. Sava. Violence in the future can only be prevented if a detailed investigation is conducted and further activity prevented by extremist groups which have been operating freely here for years and which have so far launched four armed (mortar and rocket) attacks against Decani Monastery. On Monday Bishop Teodosije also received UNMIK police commissioner Richard Monk, who visited the monastery together with Kosovo Police Service general Sheremet Ahmeti and the regional commander of Kosovo police. They discussed the recent attack on the monastery and the need to conduct a professional investigation. It was said that a special international anti-terrorist unit was involved in the investigation together with the KPS, UNMIK police and KFOR in order to shed light on this case. Ways of further enhancing security not only for the monastery but for the safety of everyone in Kosovo and Metohija were also discussed. The activities of paramilitary groups were particularly discussed as a general threat to the entire region. The Italian KFOR has increased security measures around the monastery. A special group of police investigators including international experts is continuing investigation of the laster rocket attack on Decani Monastery.
Representatives of North Atlantic Council visit Visoki Decani Monastery The most recent attack on Visoki Decani Monastery has shown that paramilitary forces that attacked this monastery three previous times with mortar-grenades are still active in the field. Just since 1999 150 Orthodox Christian holy shrines have been destroyed in Kosovo and Metohija, and some 200,000 are still in exile because they do not feel free and safe to return to their homes KIM Info Service
After touring the church and learning about the history of Decani Monastery, Bishop Teodosije informed the guests of the great concern of the Serbian Orthodox Church and her faithful for their safety and future in Kosovo and Metohija. "The most recent rocket attack on Visoki Decani Monastery has shown that paramilitary forces that attacked this monastery three previous times with mortar-grenades are still active in the field. Just since 1999 150 Orthodox Christian holy shrines have been destroyed in Kosovo and Metohija, and some 200,000 are still in exile because they do not feel free and safe to return to their homes." Bishop Teodosije emphasized that the presence of NATO forces in the area is of special significance not only at this critical moment when a decision on the future status of the Province is to be made but also over the long term because an international military presence is one of the strongest guarantees that political issues cannot be resolved with violence, said the Bishop. Fr. Sava Janjic underscored that throughout the Province, and especially in its western region (Metohija), paramilitary units of the former Kosovo Liberation Army are active and in possession of large quantities of weapons, representing a great danger to both Serbs and all those Albanians who do not see their future in violence. Fr. Sava pointed out that the perpetrators of this attack must finally be found and the extremist infrastructure disbanded. Otherwise, he said, we cannot talk about any sort of stability or democratic future for Kosovo, especially not about some kind of stable status solution under the threat of violence like that which occurred in March 2004. He also mentioned that in today's Albanian press local extremists continue to issue threats, representing a serious challenge to the authority of NATO forces and the UN Mission in the region. Bishop Teodosije issued an appeal for an increasing the safety of returnees and enabling the return of all those who want to return to their homes. In recent days there has been a considerable number of attacks on returnees and in order for people to feel safe it is necessary for the Kosovo government to do far more than they are doing so that Serbs feel there is room for them here. Without the basic standards of free life and under constant pressure and threats of violence against our people and churches, the international community will find it difficult to justly resolve the question of the status of Kosovo and Metohija, emphasized the Bishop.  Representatives of North Atlantic Council (NAC) tour monastery church Photo: KIM Info Service (click on photo to enlarge) Leader of KLA veterans in Decani publishes a threatening letter against Monastery Leader of KLA war veterans: "Albanians didn't do it, Fr. Sava knows who did" KIM Info Service Decani, April 2, 2007  In a letter published today by Kosovo dailies "Kosova Sot" and "Epoka e Re" the leader of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army war veterans Abdyl Mushkolaj stated that veterans associations are convinced that the explosion near Decani Monastery and other recent explosions in Mitrovica are not the work of Albanians because it is against their best interests. Mushkolaj also observed that Fr. Sava from Decani Monastery has nothing to fear "because he knows who is responsible for the explosion near the monastery".In his letter full of accusations against the monastery which is called a cultural heritage of Albanian people Mushkolaj severely accuses the monks of having staged an explosion in order to put blame on Albanians who allegedly have never destroyed churches but only protected them. In fact Mushkolaj goes on accusing Serbs of attacking themselves and killing their own children and burning villages. Although it is hardly necessary to comment on the provocative views, keeping in mind the earlier threats and messages received by the monastery from Mushkolaj and his millitant supporters, we can only say that we hope that the police will carry out a professional investigation and that the perpetrators will find themselves behind bars. It is high time for international military forces to disband the terrorist network operating on the territory of Kosovo because this is not just in the interests of the Serb population but of all decent Albanians who want to rid themselves of the terror of such groups. This is not a first threat of Abdyl Mushkolaj who also got into conflict with Italian KFOR before. The recent rocket attack on the monastery is aa serious test for international military forces and the Kosovo police. If the perpetrators of this most recent terrorist attack are not found - and it is impossible for something like this to happen in such a small place without the most powerful clans and families knowing about it - then it will be patently clear who is behind this and the previous three attacks on the monastery. Spreading rumors about alleged invisible Serb groups that have supposedly been cruising in Kosovo for years destroying Serbian churches and murdering children and elderly people, which is what Mushkolaj and others like him are busy doing, only serve to show who is interested in covering up his own responsibility for such crimes. The international community is well aware of the infrastructure of organized crime operating through paramilitary organizations and groups in this area. Everything else is just a matter of political will: will a society where there is room for all truly be built in Kosovo or will it be a society based on violence and crimes? In any case, the most recent incident shows that it will be difficult to build any sort of stable society in Kosovo as long as the perpetrators of violence and destroyers of Christian holy shrines are freely walking in the streets and continuing to threaten others. Representatives of the monastery discussed the latest threats of the war veteran leader with the members of the North Atlantic Council expected to visit Visoki Decani Monastery (on Monday afternoon) and have also informed diplomatic representatives in Pristina about their concerns because it is not the first time Mushkolaj threatens openly in the press Decani Monastery and its monks. The statement of Abdyl Mushkolaj severely compromises the AAK (the ruling party in the Deani area and its leader Ramush Haradinaj who is currently under investigation by the International court for war crimes in former Yugoslavia in the Hague). Therefore the monastery expects a responsible reaction of the AAK leadership and Kosovo Government after the renewed public threats of the KLA veteran leader. ----------------- An excrept from the letter of Abdyl Mushkolaj, President of the KLA vetaran organization for Western Kosovo taken from UNMIK's review of the Kosovo daily press for April 2, 2007. Epoka e Re and Kosova Sot carry a letter that the Chairman of KLA War Veterans' Associations for Dukagjin. Avdyl Mushkolaj says that the associations are convinced that the explosion near the Monastery of Deçan and also other recent explosions in Mitrovica are not acts committed by Albanians because they don't serve their interests. The cultural site of Deçan Monastery presents the cultural heritage of Albanians of these thousands of years old area. This monastery was built on the property belonging to Haka Kuqi of Deçan and as such appears at the Serb church documents. It has to be noted that the monastery and the land surrounding it where now the special zoning area is located, present the richest archaeological area that originates with Pagans-Illyrians, Illyrians and until late Medieval Times, where the Serbian element began covering and destroying these traces of our century-long tradition. For this reason, we have guarded it and we have sacrificed a lot through the centuries to protect this monument from damage and destruction both from time and humans. Sava Janjic has nothing to be afraid of because he knows who committed the explosion act near the Monastery of Deçan and what are the effects aimed at achieving with this explosion.... NATO to protect Kosovo's Serb minority UPI: April 2, 2007 at 12:12 PM PRISTINA, April 2 (UPI) -- NATO's secretary-general said the alliance's troops will protect Serb religious objects in Serbia's mainly ethnic-Albanian Kosovo province, media said. NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, on a visit to the U.N.-administered territory, talked separately with leaders of Kosovo ethnic-Albanians and Serbs, and top officials of the U.N. civil administration and NATO peacekeepers' commanders, Serbia's RTS radio-television reported Monday. Scheffer assured the Serbs that NATO will undertake an investigation into the mortar shelling Friday of the Serb Orthodox monastery in western Kosovo. The monastery's wall was slightly damaged, but nobody was injured in the reported attack, which Serbs claim was carried out by ethnic-Albanian extremists. The U.N. Security Council is expected to meet Tuesday to consider a plan that would give Kosovo internationally supervised independence, to which the Serbian government in Belgrade sharply rejects. U.N. administrators and NATO peacekeepers have been stationed in Kosovo since 1999 to contain ethnic conflicts.
SERBIANNA (USA) Institute Condemns Latest Attack on Serbian Orthodox Monastery in Kosovo Washington, D.C. - The Institute on Religion and Public Policy denounces the latest attack on the Visoki Decani Serbian Orthodox Monastery in Kosovo, as yet another roadblock to peaceful coexistence of minorities in the region. Reports indicate a single mortar-grenade was launched into the Monastery the morning of March 30. The attack is the fourth of its kind on the Monastery since the deployment of NATO Peacekeepers in 1999. "This horrible act highlights that the present record of rule of law, protection of the rights of religious and ethnic minorities, and the return and resettlement of internally displaced persons by the Provisional Authority of Kosovo - all of which are indispensable for democratic governance - have been gravely unsatisfactory in the last seven years," Institute President, Joseph K. Grieboski said. The Visoki Decani Monastery is situated in the western part of the UN administered Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohia. Named in 2004 as a World Heritage Site, it is a valuable record of 14th century life and holds great religious significance in the Serbian Orthodox Church. The bombing takes place as the United Nations is considering the Ahtisaari proposal which seeks pseudo-independence for Kosovo despite the absence of a negotiated agreement. "The need to examine the record of political and social developments in the province to determine the level of preparation of Kosovo for either autonomy or independence is urgent. This incident is clear evidence that the Ahtisaari proposal is misguided," Grieboski concluded.
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NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer called Visoki Decani Monastery by telephone this morning. With the blessing of Bishop Teodosije Protosingel Sava Janjic spoke with the Secretary General, who conveyed his assurances that the NATO alliance would do everything to protect Orthodox Christian religious sites in Kosovo and that a highly professional investigation will be launched with respect to the attack on the monastery. Mr. Scheffer will visit Serb enclaves in the south of Kosovo during the course of the day, he said during the telephone conversation.
