February 16, 2007

KiM Info Newsletter 16-02-07

Serbian Parliament rejects Ahtisaari plan, February 15
BELGRADE, VIENNA -- The Serbian Parliament adopted a resolution rejecting the plan by overwhelming majority last night;

Serbian Parliament Building in Belgrade

The document rejects all provisions from UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari’s proposal which infringe on Serbia's sovereignty and territorial integrity as an internationally recognized state.

The resolution extends the mandate of the Belgrade negotiating team for the continuation of talks on Kosovo's status, due to begin on February 21 in Vienna, and provides a framework for the team to follow.

As many as 225 deputies voted in favor of the Resolution, 15 against and no abstentions. All deputies of the coalition gathered around the Liberal Party of Serbia cast their vote against the Resolution.

Riza Halimi, representing the Coalition of PreĹĄevo Valley Albanians as the sole Albanian deputy in the Parliament, took part in the debate voicing disagreement with the Resolution. He left the room during the vote.

Following the adoption of the Resolution, Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica said that the Parliament’s Resolution on Kosovo was more than clear in its statement against the violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia.

“The text of the Resolution explicitly calls for the compliance with the UN Charter and the international law. The basic principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity that apply to the whole world must apply to Serbia”, Koštunica said.

“We will go to Vienna to explain that Serbia is ready for every sensible compromise and agreement with everyone who respects principles that the international order is based on”, the Serbian PM confirmed.

According to the the AP, the new parliament's rejection of  the plan dooms hopes of a compromise between Serbian and Albanian officials at a final round of negotiations scheduled to take place in Vienna. The AP adds that a resolution to the dispute over Kosovo's final status will probably have to be imposed by the UN Security Council.

Yesterday's Parliament session on Kosovo, Belgrade Feb 15
Radical party members in the left side wear white shirts with the image of Vojislav Seselj 

FULL TEXT OF THE RESOLUTION OF THE PARLIAMENT:

Resolution following UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari’s "Comprehensive Proposal for the Kosovo Status Settlement" and continuation of negotiations on the future status of Kosovo-Metohija

Reaffirming the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia, that in its Preamble states that “the Province of Kosovo-Metohija is an integral part of the territory of Serbia, that it has the status of a substantial autonomy within the sovereign state of Serbia and that from such status of the Province of Kosovo and Metohija follow constitutional obligations of all state bodies to uphold and protect the state interests of Serbia in Kosovo-Metohija in all internal and foreign political relations”,

Bearing in mind Article 8 of the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia stating that “the territory of the Republic of Serbia is inseparable and indivisible” and that “the border of the Republic of Serbia is inviolable”, as well as Article 182 which states that “substantial autonomy of the Autonomous province of Kosovo-Metohija shall be regulated by a special law which shall be adopted in accordance with the proceedings envisaged for amending the Constitution”,

Considering the main principles and norms of international law, and particularly the Charter of the United Nations, the 1975 Helsinki Final Act of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) as well as other documents of international organisations in which state sovereignty and territorial integrity are set as foundations of modern international order,

Recalling that the UN Security Council’s Resolution No. 1244 (1999), with guarantees to sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), established the position of Kosovo-Metohija as substantial autonomy within the FRY, whose international successor is the Republic of Serbia,

Assured that the issue of the future status of Kosovo-Metohija must be based on main principles and norms of international law, and vying for a peaceful, all-encompassing and durable solution through negotiations,

Bearing in mind that UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for the future status of Kosovo-Metohija Martti Ahtisaari delivered his "Comprehensive Proposal for the Kosovo Status Settlement" to the Serbian state authorities which disrespects sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Serbia in relation to Kosovo-Metohija, and at the same time proposes that Kosovo-Metohija be given a series of rights and prerogatives that belong only to sovereign states,

Reconfirming the Resolution of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia adopted on November 25, 2005 on the mandate for political talks on the future status of Kosovo-Metohija, and particularly the paragraph stating that “the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia would proclaim any imposed solution of the Kosovo-Metohija future status illegitimate, illegal and void,”

Having confirmed the platform of the state negotiating team for talks on the future status of Kosovo-Metohija from January 5, 2006, basic stances stated in the speeches of the President of Serbia Boris Tadic and Prime Minister of Serbia Vojislav Kostunica delivered at Vienna talks on July 24, 2006, as well as the contents of the documents presented by the state negotiating team in the course of 2006 at the talks in Vienna (regarding decentralisation in the province and establishing new municipalities with Serbian majority, protection of the Serbian Orthodox Church, its churches and monasteries, its property and the Serbian cultural heritage in the province, economic and other issues),

The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia hereby adopts the following:

The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia concludes that the Proposal of UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari breaches the fundamental principles of international law since it does not take into consideration the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Serbia in relation to Kosovo-Metohija. In this Proposal, Kosovo-Metohija is beyond any doubt and against international law given the attributes of a sovereign state, thus illegally laying the foundations for the creation of an independent state on the territory of Serbia.

The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia therefore rejects all articles in the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy's Proposal which breach the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Serbia as an internationally recognised state. The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia warns that this questions the possibility of coming to a compromise solution reached through agreement which would represent the basic goal of talks on Kosovo-Metohija's future status.

The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia once more emphasises that only through negotiations held under the auspices of the United Nations, without pressure and artificially imposed deadlines can a mutually acceptable and long-term solution be reached which will be in line with international law and democratic values built into the foundations of contemporary states and their mutual relations.

Considering this essential commitment, the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia hereby renews the mandate of the state negotiating team and places it under obligation so that at the upcoming talks in Vienna on the future status of Kosovo-Metohija it will represent The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia's policy, adopted in parliament's previous Resolution and hereby confirmed anew, which includes the defence of Serbia's sovereignty and territorial integrity, protection of the rights and interests of the Serbian people and the Serbian Orthodox Church in the province, preservation of the entire Serbian religious and cultural heritage in Kosovo-Metohija, as well as the interests of non-ethnic Albanian communities.

The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia particularly demands that in the course of the upcoming talks the Serbian state negotiating team presents Serbia's position regarding the whole of UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy's Proposal by formulating, in line with this Resolution, its concrete proposals and resolutions, as well as to submit a report to Serbia parliament immediately upon their return from the talks. The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia will then decide on the further course of negotiations.

Advocating a compromise, consensual solution to the future status of Kosovo-Metohija, the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia emphasises that imposed independence of the province will have unforeseeable negative consequences. Such an outcome will have far-reaching consequences on the stability of the region, impede the European perspective of the entire Western Balkans and present an extremely dangerous precedent for resolving minority issues and territorial disputes throughout Europe and the world. The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia therefore calls upon all states, international organisations and other international elements to oppose the imperilment of Serbia's sovereignty and territorial integrity and reject any imposed solution to the future status of Kosovo-Metohija.”

Leading members of the Serbian Negotiating Team
Prime Minister Kostunica, Prof. Samardzic, Prof. Batakovic, Prof Koen and President Boris Tadic
during the Parliament session, Belgrade Feb 15

Ahtisaari “not surprised” with the Resolution

Source: B92, Beta, AP, February 15 

The UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari said he was not surprised to see the Serbian parliament reject his Kosovo status proposal.

In an interview with The Associated Press a day after Serbia's parliament overwhelmingly rejected his plan, Martti Ahtisaari conceded that the rival sides “are rather stuck” on Kosovo's future status. “It's highly unlikely that we can move on that issue,” he told the agency.

Ahtisaari – the former Finnish president, who has mediated an end to crises in Africa and Asia – also called on pro-independence activists to refrain from violence like the bloodshed that marred a rally in the provincial capital, Priština, where two demonstrators were killed and two others critically injured last week.

“I hope that those who have been planning this will think carefully about what they really want,” Ahtisaari told the AP in his office in Vienna. “I hope the people use the right to demonstrate peacefully, but leave the stones and stone-throwing outside the demonstrations.”

Ahtisaari said he still holds out hope that the rival sides will be able to reach agreement on other, more technical aspects of his 58-page proposal in negotiations set to resume next week in Vienna. “This is a chance for them to make their points,” he said.

But the envoy said he was not surprised at Serbia's fierce opposition to his plan.

“I don't think anybody expected the Serbian parliament to say, 'We welcome the independence of Kosovo,'” he said. 

Resolution on Kosovo adopted by large majority of votes, Belgrade 15 Feb

 
Russian media: Lavrov talks veto

16 February 2007 Source: B92, AP, DPA 
MOSCOW, PRIŠTINA -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Friday that Kosovo’s independence would have "the most negative consequences".

The Associated Press quotes Russian media in its report, dubbing Lavrov’s statement as “some of the strongest language yet on an issue that has deepened Moscow's disagreements with the West”.

Lavrov reiterated a warning issued in September that Russia could use its veto power in the UN Security Council if it disagreed with a proposal by UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari, according to remarks reported by the RIA-Novosti news agency.

The Kosovo status plan must be approved by the UN Security Council to take effect.

"There exists a fairly insistent idea among our Western partners to swiftly propose a resolution that would approve Ahtisaari's plan," RIA-Novosti quoted Lavrov as saying.

He said Russia would only consider such a resolution if the Serbian and Kosovo leaderships agreed on the plan or an amended version.

"As regards Kosovo we are convinced that providing that granting this territory independence will have the most negative consequences for the region and for Europe as a whole," the agency quoted Lavrov as saying. "Our Western partners are convinced of the opposite."

Lavrov apparently did not say what potential consequences he had in mind. Putin has warned the West that granting Kosovo independence would serve as precedent for other nations with similar cases, including pro-Russian breakaway provinces in the ex-Soviet republics of Georgia and Moldova whose sovereignty claims are dismissed by the United States and Europe.

Ceku confident Russia won't use veto

Earlier, Kosovo prime minister Agim Ceku was reported as saying he believed Russia would not block Kosovo status decision once the proposal reaches the UN Security Council.

“This (status) process has been initiated to succeed and not to fail. The stakeholders involved in this process, the US and others within the Contact Group, will not allow the process to fail,” Kosovo’s prime minister said.

The Contact Group comprises Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia and the United States. Ceku's remarks are a response to the sentiment in Belgrade that Russia, which holds the right of veto within the UN Security Council and is historically an ally of Serbia, would block any status proposal which foresees independence for the province.

Russian officials stated earlier in the year that the status solution must be acceptable for both Belgrade and PriĹĄtina.

Priština “doesn't see any space for further compromises with Belgrade,” according to the delegation's spokesperson Skender Hyseni.

Belgrade rejected Ahtisaari's plan, claiming that it violates international laws and Serbia's territorial integrity.

PriĹĄtina, on the other hand, greeted the proposal as a confirmation that Kosovo is well on its way to becoming independent.

Jankovic: Serbia will not accept independence for Kosovo-Metohija

Belgrade, Feb 15, 2007, Serbian Government – Advisor to the Serbian Prime Minister Vladeta Jankovic said today that Serbia cannot and will not accept any concessions or compensations in exchange for accepting an independent Kosovo-Metohija, and added that the battle for keeping the province within the borders of Serbia is not lost.

In a statement to the news agency Tanjug, Jankovic stressed that Serbia will not accept an independent Kosovo-Metohija, nor will give consent to the plan proposed by UN Special Envoy Marti Ahtisaari, particularly not in the form in which it was presented.

He said that the Resolution which Serbian parliament adopted last night with a huge majority will act as a convincing message to the international community that Ahtisaari’s plan for Kosovo is unacceptable.

According to Jankovic, this document also presents the grounds for negotiations in Vienna and determines a precise framework within which the state negotiating team will be authorised to conduct further negotiations.

Jankovic said that this is a suitable moment for Serbia to strengthen diplomatic activity and the battle for Kosovo-Metohija is far from being lost.

He explained that naturally now diplomatic activity should be directed, above all, towards the UN, where the draft proposal must be ultimately brought for consideration.

The Security Council, as well as the UN General Assembly, are obliged to protect foundations of international order, that is, the crucial principles of their Charter, including the principle on inviolability of sovereignty and territorial integrity of internationally recognised states, such as Serbia, Jankovic underlined.

That is pointed out in the Resolution adopted by parliament, in which Serbia urges all states, international organisations and other international factors to confront the violation of sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Serbia and refuse any imposed solution for the future status of Kosovo-Metohija.

Our arguments in favour of a compromising, just and sustainable solution, advocated by Serbia through its proposal on substantial autonomy for the province, should be presented over again, and perhaps with stronger emphasis, to the OSCE, Council of Europe, European parliament, party international organisations, such as the European People's Party, Socialist or Liberal International, and finally to the International Court of Justice in the Hague, Jankovic added.

He pointed out that Serbia's diplomatic, international-legal and political activity must be conducted not only through regular diplomatic ways, but through parallel, semi-official and unofficial channels, through which an influence is made on the political public in other countries.

That is a serious job for the next government, but until the future Foreign Ministry starts operating with full capacities, the present Ministry and advisory teams at the cabinets of the Prime Minister and the President of the Republic must work on it, Jankovic explained.

Top Russian diplomat criticizes Ahtisaari plan

15 February 2007 Source: B92, AP 
Moscow -- A top Russian diplomat on Thursday criticized the plan saying it fails to protect Serbs' interests.

Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko, Russia's special envoy for Kosovo, said that UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari's plan for the breakaway Serbian province needs more work.

"We have serious doubts about the plan's ability to become a good foundation of the negotiations if it contains provisions leading to Kosovo's sovereignty and independence of Kosovo," he was quoted by ITAR-Tass as saying.

Serbia's new parliament on Wednesday overwhelmingly rejected Ahtisaari's plan, which envisages internationally supervised self-rule for Kosovo, including a flag, anthem, army, constitution and the right to join international organizations. The plan would also give minority Serbs more control over their own local governance. Ahtisaari's proposal must be approved by the UN Security Council to take effect.

Asked whether Russia could veto Ahtisaari's plan at the council, he said Moscow was trying to encourage further talks.

Using "the veto right wasn't a goal in itself," he was quoted as saying. "We must help create favorable conditions for talks." Botsan-Kharchenko said Ahtisaari's plan could lead to the division of Kosovo. "Kosovo's Serbs won't accept such decision, they will isolate themselves," he said.

Ahtisaari, who met NATO envoys in Brussels, said he was prepared to listen to both sides' views on his near-independence plan for Kosovo in talks set to open in Vienna on February 21.

“If the parties can come up with ideas that both can support, I am prepared to entertain them,” Ahtisaari told reporters at a joint news briefing with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. But the UN envoy warned Belgrade and Priština not to table “totally opposing ideas” and said the new and final round of talks - expected to last until March 10 – “cannot be an eternal process.”

“I will have to draw the conclusions at some stage and say this is it,” said Ahtisaari. Ahtisaari insisted that the talks in Vienna, to be held in three rounds, would be the last before the plan for Kososo is presented to the United Nations Security Council.

The first round of discussions is set to be held from February 21 to 23, the second from February 27 to March 2 and the last one on March 10.

The UN envoy said he wanted to “thoroughly” study the plan with the two sides and provide clarifications. NATO chief Scheffer said the 26-nation alliance was strongly behind Ahtisaari's proposals and also backed his timetable for future action.

Scheffer insisted that the 16,000 strong NATO-led KFOR force in Kosovo would not tolerate any form of violence in the territory.

“There can never be a solution in Kosovo on the basis of violence,” said Scheffer, adding: “There can never be a partition scenario”.
 

Kosovo in a Bind
Serbian Parliament Rejects UN Plan

KOMERSANT, Moscow 15 Feb 2007

The Serbian parliament has rejected the plan for Kosovo drawn up by UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari. The parliament's decision renders the Serbian-Albanian talks scheduled take place in Vienna next week pointless and means that Kosovo's fate now lies with the United Nations, where Belgrade's only hope is Russia's veto.

The Serbian parliament's resolution on Kosovo, which was adopted late on Wednesday night, is Belgrade's answer to the plan that Martti Ahtisaari presented to the Serbian leadership on February 2. According to Mr.Ahtisaari's plan, Kosovo would not become fully independent, but in practice it would gain the rights of an independent state. The province would have a flag, national anthem, and constitution, and it would have the right to make treaties with other nations and even join international organizations. In effect, the management of Kosovo would be transferred to the hands of the European Union.

The resolution was introduced by the government of the moderate nationalist Vojislav Kostunica, which has effectively taken the reins of power after the country's recent parliamentary elections. Although debate in parliament over the document lasted for more than seven hours, there was no real difference of opinion, a fact that was borne out by the tally of votes: of the 250 deputies, 225 voted for the resolution rejecting Mr. Ahtisaari's plan.

Even the fiercest political opponents displayed surprising unanimity on the issue. Serbian President Boris Tadic, the leader of the Democratic Party, declared that "the plan opens the door for independence for Kosovo" and thus "contradicts the UN Charter and the Serbian Constitution." Prime Minister Kostunica's opinion was even more severe:

he called the plan "an attempt to tear off 15 percent of Serbia's territory." Finally, a cross was planted over the discussion by Tomislav Nikolic, the leader of the ultranationalists, who said, "no one can create a new state on Serbian territory without the consent of Serbia itself."

The only votes against the resolution came from deputies representing the Liberal Democratic Party, which is led by Cedomir Jovanovic, a close ally of assassinated prime minister Zoran Djindjic. Mr. Jovanovic called the government's resolution "a one-way ticket" and the beginning of "a confrontation between Belgrade and the entire world." However,

the voices of the scant few who opposed junking the Ahtisaari plan with no further discussion were ignored.In the resolution, the Serbian parliament refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the basic principle of Mr. Ahtisaari's plan, saying that it "violates the fundamental principles of international law and does not respect Serbia's territorial integrity." The deputies warned that independence for Kosovo "could destabilize the situation in the region and serve as a dangerous precedent in the resolution of questions concerning national minorities and territorial disputes around the world." The parliament called on all nations and international organizations "to rebuff threats to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia by rejecting any binding resolution on Kosovo's future status."

After the adoption of such a resolution, Serbia's participation in future talks concerning Kosovo (the next round is scheduled for February 21 inVienna) has in essence become pointless. Now all that remains for Martti Ahtisaari is to declare the discussion of

his plan closed and to present the plan to the UN Security Council, which will make the final decision on Kosovo's status.

That is presumably part of Belgrade's strategy as drawn up by Serbian nationalists. In declining to participate in the battle for changes to the Kosovo plan, Serbia is effectively transferring that responsibility to Moscow. It is now becoming clear that from the outset Belgrade has pinned all its hopes in the matter of Kosovo on Russia's veto in the UN Security Council.

However, the harshly-worded resolution from the Serbian parliament, which effectively shuts Belgrade out of the negotiations, appears not to be any cause for joy in Moscow. Yesterday the Russian foreign minister's special representative for the Balkans, Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko, who talks to the press extremely rarely, made a curious statement. In answer to the question of whether Russia would exercise its veto power in the discussion of the

Ahtisaari plan in the UN Security Council, he said, "the right to veto is not an end in itself. Our goal is the process of negotiations. The sides should decide for themselves, and we should create the conditions for negotiations to take place."

Such a statement from the chief Russian negotiator in the Balkans can be considered a reaction of sorts to the recent resolution adopted by the Serbian parliament, and from it at least two conclusions can be drawn:Russia has no burning desire to exercise its veto over Kosovo and, to put it mildly, does not welcome Belgrade's decision to exclude itself from the negotiations.

Gennady Sysoyev

NATO urges Serbia to cooperate

15 February 2007 Source: B92, Reuters, RFE 
PRIŠTINA -- Jaap de Hoop Scheffer appealed to Serbia on Thursday to engage constructively in a process determining Kosovo’s status.

The Alliance's secretary-general's call came after Serbia's parliament rejected a plan unveiled on February 2 by UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari setting Kosovo on the path to statehood.

"This decision will only strengthen my call to all parties, including Serbia, to work on the basis of the Ahtisaari proposals in a constructive way, because there really is no alternative,"  he told journalists in PriĹĄtina.

Scheffer said he would be visiting Serbia soon to press the point. He gave no date.

"The world is watching very carefully what kind of messages come from Kosovo, how mature the Kosovo institutions, the Kosovo citizens are to shape their own future. You'll be heard, you'll be seen, you'll be watched," de Hoop Scheffer also said, during his visit to PriĹĄtina which came after weekend clashes between police and protesters left two demonstrators dead.

Two two victims were among thousands protesting against a UN plan for the province which many Albanians say falls short of their demand of full independence.  Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Ceku said police used "excessive force." 

The UN administrator for Kosovo fired the UN police chief and Interior Minister Fatmir Rexhepi resigned in the wake of the clashes.

Kosovo Serbs meet Belgrade officials

16 February 2007 | 14:53 | Source: Beta 
BELGRADE -- A delegation of Kosovo Serbs is in Belgrade today for talks on the upcoming Vienna negotiations.

The delegation was formed during the recent mass protest rallies in Kosovska Mitrovica and Ĺ trpce.

“We will ask for a constructive and responsible treatment of Kosovo, we will seek speedy formation of the new government, we will point to the need to strengthen the negotiating team personnel-wise, and will insist that our Vienna talks team stands firm on Ahtisaari’s proposal, which is unacceptable in its entirety,” Northern Kosovo Serb National Council chairman Milan Ivanović said.

According to him, the delegation will insist that all the sections of Ahtisaari’s plan that grant Kosovo statehood attributes must be “strategically changed”.

“Any form of trading when it comes to Kosovo is unacceptable”, Ivanović said.

He added that the delegation will also demand that the Belgrade authorities increase investment in the province, in order to insure the return of the internally displaced Kosovo Serbs.

According to Ivanović, the Kosovo Serb delegation will first meet with G17 Plus officials, followed by meetings with the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS), the Democratic Party (DS), Serb Radical Party (SRS) and the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS).

A violent response

Feb 15th 2007
From The Economist

Obstacles to Kosovo's independence may yet trigger more violent protests

NOBODY said it would be easy, and taut nerves are starting to fray. On February 10th two Albanians protesting against restrictions on Kosovo's proposed independence were killed, apparently by rubber bullets fired by police in Pristina. Kosovo's interior minister quit; the United Nations police commissioner was fired. The violent protest only confirms warnings from diplomats that any delays in resolving Kosovo's final status could be fatal.

Kosovo is the last issue to be settled after Yugoslavia's collapse in the 1990s. Unlike other parts of the old country that have since won independence, it was a province of Serbia and not one of the Yugoslav Federation's republics. So Serbia can claim that independence for Kosovo violates its territorial integrity. But 90% of Kosovo's 2m people are ethnic Albanians who would rather go back to war than have anything to do with Serbia.
Since 1999 jurisdiction over Kosovo has been in the hands of the UN. On February 2nd Martti Ahtisaari, a former Finnish president asked by the UN to come up with ideas for Kosovo's future, unveiled his plan. Although it does not use the word “independence”, it describes a future independent Kosovo. Serbs and other minorities would have a high

level of protection, and a big European Union mission would succeed the present UN one. The NATO-led peacekeeping force would stay.Since the election on January 21st Serbia has had a caretaker government, but it and the prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica, have rejected the Ahtisaari plan. This week the new parliament did the same. Mr Kostunica's spokesmen try to provoke Western guilt by suggesting that Serbia's loss of Kosovo would be like Czechoslovakia's loss of German-populated Sudetenland to Hitler after Munich in 1938. Yet the EU has endorsed the Ahtisaari plan.It is not surprising that Kosovo's Serbs are protesting. They hope that Russia, Serbia's friend, will veto the plan when it comes before the UN Security Council, which could begin talking about it in the spring. Harder to explain was the Albanian demonstration, led by Albin Kurti, whose Self-Determination movement wants independence immediately without more talks with Serbia. He argues that plans to give Serbian areas autonomy are akin to partition, which will lead to war.
In the past few months Russia has hardened its public position against Kosovo's independence. “If we imagine a situation in which Kosovo achieves independence,” said Sergei Ivanov, Russia's defence minister, recently, “then other people, people living in regions not recognised, will ask us, ‘are we not as good as them?’”

This is music to Mr Kostunica's ears. But, whatever Russia says, nothing can stop Kosovo's march to independence. The Serbs and the Kosovo Albanians will convene for more fruitless meetings in Vienna next week, after which Mr Ahtisaari will send his plan to the UN. A new Security Council resolution would then be required to replace the current UN mission in Kosovo with an EU-led one. If Russia refuses to agree, far from saving Kosovo for Serbia, it risks tipping the region back into chaos. Kosovo will declare independence anyway, and many countries (including America and Britain) will recognise it. There will be no extra protection for Serbs, and no follow-on mission to the UN. If so, the two Albanians who died on February 10th may be only the first victims of a new round of violence.

Witness in Haradinaj case murdered

16 February 2007 | 16:56 | Source: B92
 
BELGRADE, THE HAGUE -- B92 has unofficially learned that one of only a handful of witnesses in the case against Ramush Hardinaj has been murdered.

The Hague Tribunal could not officially confirm the news, adding that it was looking into the matter. The trial of the former KLA commander was scheduled to start on March 3.

Chief Procecutor Carla Del Ponte’s team has on several occasions pointed to troubles it encountered attempting to secure witness testimonies that would confirm Haradinaj’s involvement in the 1999 crimes he is set to be tried for.

B92 has also learned that the Prosecution has to date managed to obtain less than ten witnesses in the process. 

Four Buses With Protesters From Macedonia

Lajm in Albanian, 15 Feb 07 Pristina, Kosovo Albanian daily

Citizens from Albania, Macedonia and the Presheva Valley participated in the protest of on the 10th of February in Pristina organized by the “Self-Determination” movement. “We invited them”, stated Glauk Konjufca for Lajm, the activist of the movement.

He recommended the UNMIK deputy chief, Steven Schook to read the books of the history of Albanians. “All the Albanians wherever they are have the right to participate in the demonstration because the fate of Kosova is connected to their fate. I’m not guilty that the American cowboy does not know the history of Albanians” On Tuesday the UNMIK deputy chief, Steven Schook stated that he has received information that buses filled with people have entered Kosovo from the neighbor countries, on 10th of February. The chief of the British office in Prishtina, David Blunt has also stated that some of the buses with protestors have come from Macedonia and the southern Serbia.

Despite the statements of Schook and the former commissioner of the police, Stephan Curtis that every issue will be investigated regarding the events of the 10th of February, the deputy commissioner for crimes of the UNMIK police, Trygve Kallennberg stated on Wednesday that the police will investigate only those who caused the incident. Alternately, UNMIK police, according to KPS spokesperson Veton Elshani KPS will investigate if there is anything from the customs offices which contributes towards the investigation of the event. A senior police official stated to the newspaper in condition of anonymity that four buses with citizens-protestors entered Kosovo from Macedonia on Saturday, at the border point in Hani Elezi (Djeneral Jankovic).

“Some buses came from Albania by passing through Macedonia and afterwards continued to Pristina”. According to this source, the activists of “Mjaft” (Enough) movement have mainly came from Albania while citizens without any distinctive signs of any organization or group came from Macedonia. Some days before the protest, Glauk Konjufca stayed in Macedonia and invited the Albanians to come to Pristina. “Yes I was there. I invited them and I did this publicly”, he stated for Lajm. The association of war veterans of the National Liberation Army, whose leader is Fazli Veliu gave them moral support. Fazli Veliu participated in the protest on Saturday and held a speech. On the 10th of February, Veliuwas seen on the TV channels bleeding from the forehead, injured from the fight with the police. The buses which came from Macedonia to Kosovo did not checked in at the Pristina Bus Station. “There were normal lines as usual”, stated the director of the station, Elez Gashi.

February 5, 2007
http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,464291,00.html

THE FUTURE OF KOSOVO
How High Is the Price for Peace?

By Renate Flottau and Walter Mayr

A Kosovo Albanian seen behind an Albanian flag at a market in the regional capital Pristina.

As the decision over the future of Kosovo approaches, tensions are growing in the western portion of the province. A return to violence is a distinct possibility. Meanwhile, a presumed war criminal remains in power with the blessing of the international community.

No decision has been reached yet, and Kosovo is still part of Serbia. But history is already being rewritten in the villages of Kosovo Polje and Metohija, where ethnic Albanians are building heroes' memorials to fallen brothers -- pilgrimage sites for post-independence Kosovo.
 
Glodjane, a tiny village at the base of the Prokletije or Cursed Mountains, is that kind of a place. More and more dead Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) fighters are being reburied in the heroes' cemetery there. A museum designed to resemble a Kulla -- a traditional Albanian stone house with deep-set windows -- towers over graves adorned with plastic flowers. Behind the museum, two additional stone towers are being constructed to honor the Haradinaj clan.

Three of the family's sons are already buried in the hallowed ground. A fourth son was recently released after serving a prison sentence for manslaughter. A fifth son, former Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, has been summoned to appear before the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague.
 
In and around Glodjane, where Kosovo borders Albania and Montenegro to the west and where Albanian freedom fighters are based, conflicts with the authorities -- and the kind of deadly toll the Haradinajs have suffered -- are considered badges of honor. This is especially true of those who died fighting the Serbs, long the heavy-handed rulers of Kosovo's majority ethnic Albanian population.

The Haradinaj house has had the air of a rebel fort from the beginnings of the guerilla war against Belgrade's forces in 1997. The family's farmhouse stands on the outskirts of Glodjane, where its four whitewashed walls present a defiant front against the outside world. The coat of arms of the KLA, established in the mid-1990s, is emblazoned over the front door.

After calling out several times, we are greeted by an adolescent boy standing in the hallway. He leads us through the inner courtyard to the living room, to a roaring fire under the Albanian flag, adorned with its twin black eagles. Plum brandy and cigarettes are served, and then the master of the house appears.

There are only a few Serbian areas left in Kosovo

Hilmi Haradinaj is a white-haired patriarch in his early seventies. He asks us to excuse the "poor circumstances" in which he lives. The war against the Serbs, he says, has destroyed much of his estate, leaving him with only five cows, a handful of sheep and this house. Then he discusses Kosovo's imminent independence and the hope that the years of violence will soon come to an end. He nods quietly and his son refills our glasses.

Nowadays Hilmi Haradinaj performs his host duties with a mixture of traditional politeness and professional coolness. Haradinaj's quiet life on the farm ended when his son, Ramush, a former bouncer in a Swiss nightclub, rose to prominence as the commander of the KLA and then became Kosovo's prime minister in 2004. In the process the Haradinaj farm developed into a stage of sorts for secret diplomacy in Kosovo.

In the early days, when the war was still raging, it could easily happen that a retired German military officer turned Kosovo war observer would be greeted with a Kalashnikov jammed into his belly during a surprise visit to the Haradinaj homestead. But in March 2005, when high-ranking United Nations and NATO representatives met in Kosovo, the farmhouse was turned into a banquet hall where the officials could meet with Haradinaj to discuss bringing peace to the region.

On that evening, the Western representatives were already aware of the charges brought against Haradinaj by Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte at the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague. According to the indictment, Ramush Haradinaj, a.k.a. "Smajl", was accused of 37 counts of crimes against humanity, including murder, kidnapping and torture, during the Kosovo war in 1998.

The indictment also stated that his brothers, Daut, Frasher and Shkelzen, were among the members of the "criminal organization" headed by Haradinaj, and that the family home in Glodjane was periodically used as a command center to plan and commit the crimes. Thirty-two corpses of Serbs, gypsies and Albanians, some severely mutilated, were found near the farm. So far Haradinaj has denied all accusations.

SĂśren Jessen-Petersen, the former UN administrator, long viewed the presumed war criminal as a "close partner and friend" who "sacrificed and contributed so much to a better future for Kosovo." He was eventually replaced, but there has been no fundamental change in course. When he returned from The Hague in June 2005, where the case against him was temporarily suspended, Haradinaj -- with the blessing of the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) -- simply picked up where he left off.

Today he obtains UNMIK's approval for his public appearances, is chairman of the small governing party, the AAK, and sips whisky and smokes Cohiba cigars with hand-picked guests at his ostentatious mansion in the diplomatic district on Dragodan Hill in the Kosovo capital of Pristina. At a ceremony to honor the Kosovo Protection Corps (TMK), the most prominent seat, between representatives from Washington and London, was reserved for Haradinaj.

Despite the indictment, it is entirely possible that Haradinaj's level-headedness in the past two years helped keep the situation under control in the province. The price, though, has been high. The international community, with UN Resolution 1244, obligated itself to protect human rights and respect for the law in Kosovo. It is hard to see how continued cooperation with Haradinaj is consistent with that obligation.

It gets worse. A report by the UN police force in Kosovo has linked Haradinaj to the cocaine trade. And according to a 2005 analysis by Germany's foreign intelligence service, the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), Haradinaj and his associates play a key role in "a broad spectrum of criminal, political and military activities that significantly affect the security situation throughout Kosovo. The group, which counts about 100 members, is involved in drug and weapons smuggling, as well as illegal trading in dutiable items."

If the BND analysis is correct, Haradinaj has apparently made himself a major player in one of Kosovo's key industries. According to experts, the €700 million budget of this province, 90 percent of which is populated by ethnic Albanians, pales in comparison to the revenues earned in the drug trade in Kosovo.

Indeed, aside from the drug trade, there isn't much else to do in Kosovo. It has minimal economic growth, over 40 percent unemployment, and a growing number of young people in a region with little manufacturing. And Kosovo's population has almost tripled within the last century. The result is that exports make up barely 6 percent of the volume of foreign trade; aside from a bit of scrap metal, little of value leaves the province.

For many young people, the proposal for a Kosovo with limited independence -- presented by UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari in Belgrade and Pristina on Friday -- doesn't go far enough. The dissatisfaction with the region's de-facto rulers from the West, represented since 1999 by a string of envoys from the UN, NATO, the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and the European Union, is deep seated.

"Wish you were not here," reads a sticker Albin Kurti, a self-proclaimed popular leader and head of the "Self-Determination" movement, has been handing out for some time. The message Kurti and his group seek to convey is that they want Kosovo's secret masters -- the Land Rover-driving international contingent of administrative officials with padded expense accounts, the academics who come here to satisfy their curiosity about Kosovo's ethnic groups and the veteran technocrats with lengthy international resumes who come to foist their solutions on the province -- to disappear as quickly as possible.

People like the seven Irish businessmen who came to Kosovo on a €10 million contract to clean up the books of a local power plant are simply no longer as welcome. It has become too obvious that the protectorate in Kosovo primarily serves those in the seats of power.

"The UNMIK people openly admit that they use the double salaries they earn here to buy apartments in London," says opposition leader Kurti. "And people like Haradinaj are also making money on the status quo. UNMIK protects them so that they keep the people under control, meanwhile allowing them to continue making their fortunes."

Kosovo has yet to develop a civilian elite, says former Prime Minister Bujar Bukoshi, now in exile. Three former rebel leaders from the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), party bosses Haradinaj and Hashim Thaçi, as well as Prime Minister Agim Çeku, are the key players on the province's political stage. The Democratic League of Kosovo, formerly the strongest party, has broken apart into two camps. The party's internal differences have become so contentious that finger pointing among its members recently escalated into an all-out brawl in parliament. Bukoshi derisively referred to the incident as "a painstaking process of democratization with fists and chair legs."

He too favors immediate independence for Kosovo, at least in principle, says the former prime minister, but adds that no one will be served by a new republic headed by thugs and drug dealers. "I don't want an independent Kosovo ruled by scoundrels like Haradinaj," says Bukoshi. "One needs European people for a European country."

The UN's final decision over Kosovo's future will ultimately depend on what happens in Haradinaj's native region in the western portion of the province. The Serbs reverently refer to the area as Metohija, or the Land of Monasteries, while the Albanians call it Dukagjini, after a freedom fighter from the Middle Ages. But whatever name one attaches to the region, it represents the nucleus of the Kosovo conflict, a place where the pride and wild customs of Albanian mountain tribes collide with the cultural traditions and sense of mission felt by the area's Serb population. "Your soul is in our body," the Albanians say to the Serbs, meaning that while the Serbs may have their monasteries, the Albanians have their young people.

Because of its proximity to Albania and the large sums of money family members who have emigrated send home to their families, money and weapons abound in the area surrounding the small city of Dečani. To this day an impressive contingent of KLA veterans in the region stands ready for its next mission. According to a report by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, "the groups in Dečani could easily muster a substantial force to either attack UNMIK or respond to Serbian intervention in northern Kosovo."

"Making predictions is difficult," says Nazmi Selmanaj, the mayor of Dečani, "but if the UN fails to meet our expectations I cannot rule out anything." He is one of the power players who will play an important role in the region if Ramush Haradinaj is forced to pack his bags and head for The Hague in February, as has been announced. Like the Haradinajs, Selmanaj comes from Glodjane and has the necessary connections to those in power. His brother, a cabinet minister in Pristina, made headlines shortly before Christmas when he dismissed an advisor who had been arrested in connection with the seizure of antitank weapons, machine guns and ammunition.

Although everyone is conjuring up peace these days, the real tone is being set behind the scenes.

That was the case at a ceremony to commemorate the death of Yusuf Gervalla, the poet and champion of the Albanian cause who was murdered in 1982 and whose legacy the KLA veterans invoke. The cultural center in Dečani is packed when a thin young man in a dark suit walks up to the microphone.

The announcer barely has a chance to introduce the evening's featured speaker as "the former commander of the heroic Jusuf Gervalla Brigade, General Daut Haradinaj," before Ramush Haradinaj's younger brother begins his speech. He mentions milestones on the road to independence for Kosovo and says: "We are closer to this goal today than ever before."

The audience applauds. The fact that Daut Haradinaj, released in March 2006 after serving a prison sentence for manslaughter but now in mortal danger because of an ongoing feud with a rival clan, is appearing publicly once again is seen as a sign of self-confidence. Many also see his appearance as a sign of his willingness to fill the breach if his brother Ramush is sentenced at his upcoming trial in The Hague.

When the event ends Haradinaj jumps into a waiting car in front of the center and is taken to a secret restaurant. At the restaurant, Besiana-F, he meets Ali Ahmeti, the leader of the 2001 Albanian uprising in Macedonia. Ahmeti and his equally famous uncle, Fazli Veliu -- both of whom are on a US terrorism watch list and have been banned from entering the United States since May 2003 -- have crossed the border into Kosovo to join in the day's celebration.
Upon leaving the restaurant Ahmeti and Haradinaj embrace briefly. Then they climb into SUVs with darkened windows. As a decoy, their bodyguards drive a black Mercedes S-600, followed by a truck with two gun barrels protruding from a load of cabbages on its bed.

While the UN continues to wrestle over Kosovan independence, radical forces in and around Dečani are already a few steps ahead. "We are all Albanians. Enver Hoxha was our president," protestors chanted last year at a demonstration in front of the city hall to commemorate the former Stalinist Albanian dictator's 98th birthday. Then they dispatched a congratulatory telegram to Hoxha's widow in Tirana.

Do such events reflect confused dreams of a Greater Albania or are they a coolly calculated provocation? Everyone in Dečani -- including the international administrators -- knows that the Hoxha commemorative ceremony was organized by the same KLA veteran leaders who routinely stage protest marches whenever one of the Haradinajs is in trouble or someone wants to intimidate the orthodox monks in the monastery on the outskirts of Dečani.

But for the international administrators this is no reason to take the agitator himself to task. After all, they still have Ramush. The commanding NATO general simply reaches for the phone and calls Ramush personally whenever there is an incident -- as when seven rocket-propelled grenades landed on the monastery grounds in 2004. Ramush also knows how best to deal with protestors, such as those who blocked the access road to the monastery in April 2006. He simply reaches for the phone, chastises the agitators -- his former compatriots from their days on the front -- and the case is resolved.

For some time now, the monks at Dečani's almost 700-year-old Orthodox monastery haven't dared set foot in the city without an escort. "I am very concerned, almost more so than during the war," says Father Sava, the deputy abbot. "We would like to be part of the new society, but we don't know what it will look like. Everything here is resolved through family channels. The law means nothing."

An eerie silence hangs over the monastery grounds on this evening. As always, Italian armed personnel carriers are in position in front of the monastery, which has been declared a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site. While Father Sava sits in the monastery library and talks about the future, church bells ring to announce Thursday prayers.

At precisely seven o'clock, the abbot, standing in the flickering candlelight in the church's central space beneath 14th-century icons, opens the coffin of King Stefan, the founder of the monastery, who died in 1331. The smell of incense fills the air, and the hand of the dead king protrudes visibly from beneath a thick layer of gold brocade in the coffin. The hand is long and delicate, and a gold ring on one of the fingers contrasts sharply with the brown, almost leathery skin. Before the war even Albanians came to the church at the Decani Monastery to see the Medieval king's miraculously preserved hand. Nowadays the Serbs are the only ones who come to visit their reliquary -- 28 monks, four old refugee women and a few laborers wait in the shadows between the church's stone walls.

According to the monastery's abbot, one Albanian has inquired several times recently about visiting the monastery -- Ramush Haradinaj. But, the abbot adds, he felt compelled to deny Haradinaj's request. "That step would be too early," he says. "Haradinaj still has The Hague ahead of him."

Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan