Serbs refuse Kosovo's independence, recall deadly riots

GRACANICA, Serbia (AFP) - Kosovo Serbs said on Saturday they would not accept any division of the province from Serbia as they marked the third anniversary of rioting that killed 19 people and displaced thousands.

Church bells rang throughout the mainly ethnic-Albanian province's Serb enclaves exactly at midday.

"Today, when Kosovo's fate is being decided by the world powers, we will not agree to the partition of Kosovo from Serbia," Bishop Artemije, a leading Serb Orthodox leader in the province, said in a speech in Gracanica.

"Whatever they decide and undertake we have to remain determined," he said.

Death to Serbs was written by Albanian extremists on one
of the burned churches. Kosovo Serbs hardly see their future in
Kosovo as long as atmosphere of ethnic discrimination prevails
Prizren, 2004

Candles were also lit at an Orthodox church in Gracanica, 8 kilometres southeast of the provincial capital Pristina, where several hundred people gathered to pay tribute to eight Serbs who were killed during the 2004 riots.

The UN Security Council will be asked in the coming weeks to consider a plan put forward by UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari following the failure of year-long talks between Serbia and Kosovo Albanians.

The plan, which Ahtisaari revised after a final round of talks that ended deadlocked last week, would grant Kosovo self-rule, its own flag and anthem and membership of international organisations.

According to Albanian-language Kosovo media, the proposals sent to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon contain a previously unseen annex that recommends granting Kosovo independence with international monitoring.

"Martti Ahtisaari is very clear in his main recommendation: monitored independence for Kosovo is the most realistic and best solution for Kosovo and the region," the daily Zeri quoted a western diplomat who has seen the text as saying.

Bishop Teodosije and his monks serve a commemoration service
to March 2004 riots victims, Decani March 17, 2007

During the three days of violence in the UN-run province in March 2004, villages populated by Kosovo's minority Serbs came under attack by ethnic Albanian extremists.

Along with the eight Serbs, 11 ethnic Albanians were killed. More than 900 were injured, including foreign police and peacekeepers.

The NATO-led mission in Kosovo was sharply criticised for failing to stop the rampage, in which 4,000 people, mainly Serbs, were expelled from their homes.

Dozens of Serb Orthodox churches, monasteries and other religious sites, some dating back centuries, were also destroyed or damaged.

The southern Serbian province of Kosovo has been controlled by the UN and NATO since June 1999 following a NATO air war which forced troops loyal to late Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic to withdraw and end a crackdown against ethnic Albanians.

In a statement to reporters at Pristina airport, before flying to New York to attend a UN meeting on Kosovo on Monday, president Fatmir Sejdiu said "it is very important for us to remember this (the March riots) as a bad event and story which will never be repeated."

Commemoration service to March 2004 victims at Gracanica Monastery
March 17, 2007

"President Ahtisaari proposed a monitored independence for Kosovo. It is very important for us that the fields in which the international monitoring will be concentrating have to do with security and rule of the law," he added.

Russia favors fresh talks on Kosovo

17 March 2007 | 14:57 -> 16:48 | Source: Beta 
MOSCOW, BELGRADE -- Russia won’t automatically veto a draft Kosovo resolution at the UN Security Council, Russian FM Sergei Lavrov says.

 

Sergei Lavrov: Fresh talks with a new mediator (FoNet)

 
UN special Kosovo envoy submitted his proposal for the future status of Kosovo to the United Nations, which envisaged a sort of “supervised independence” for Kosovo.

“Russia believes his move is premature and more talks were needed to settle the final status of Kosovo,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said today.

“At this stage, given the nature of Ahtisaari’s proposal, it is necessary to continue the negotiations,” Lavrov said adding that in case  Martti Ahtisaari believed he had done all he could in the sense, another person who could carry on with the talks would likely be found.

Lavrov repeated that the solution should be acceptable to both Belgrade and Priština, and signaled for the first time that Russia would not automatically veto a proposal at the UN Security Council if it did not have Serbian backing.

"We cannot be more Serbian than the Serbs themselves, and we cannot announce that under any circumstances, we would block a solution that does not suit both sides. Everything will depend on their positions," Lavrov explained.

Outgoing Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica said that Serbian government “supported Russia’s initiative to resume negotiations on Kosovo’s final status.”

According to him, Ahtisaari’s decision to end the talks at this stage and forward his proposal to the UN was wide of the mark.

“That’s why Serbia backs Russia’s initiative to launch fresh negotiations with the new mediator, based on the UN Resolution 1244. Serbia will participate constructively and assume its share of responsibility in finding a just compromise,” Koštunica concluded. 

Belgrade Media Report, March 17 2007,

(UNMIK Media Monitoring team)

Three years after March riots 2004 the main organizers have not
been brought to justice although the leading NATO and EU officials
qualified riots as organized act of ethnic violence

Kostunica pointed out that there is an increasing number of threats that are addressed to Belgrade, and which say that the ethnic Albanian separatists would yet again resort to mass terror should Serbia reject Ahtisaari’s plan. “We are not only threatened with violence, but the responsibility for the violence taken by the ethnic Albanian separatists is in advance being shifted to their victims, because they do not want to succumb to the terrorists’ demands,” stressed the Prime Minister.

Kostunica also said that at the UN Security Council session scheduled for 19 March, Serbia will categorically demand that, in line with explicit provisions of Resolution 1244, the safety of Serbs and other non-Albanians in Kosovo be guaranteed. He stressed that Serbia will particularly demand that any form of violence on the part of K-Albanian terrorists should be prevented and most severely punished.

Tadic Calls on International Institutions to Ensure Peace (B92)

Serbian President Boris Tadic has called upon all relevant international institutions to ensure peace and security for all people in Kosovo and to bring the masterminds and perpetrators of the March 2004 pogrom against the K-Serbs to justice. On the third anniversary of the March pogrom, Tadic underlined that the UN and progressive forces in the world must not succumb to extremist blackmail and must take the international law and the importance of the principle of inviolability of state borders into consideration when deciding on the future status of the province. We must all fight for these principles and for a joint European future, where no one is persecuted and where criminals must be in prisons and not in political life, said Tadic.

Serbian Government Convinced that UN SC Won’t Violate UN Charter (Tanjug)

Serbian Government spokesman Srdjan Djuric stated that Belgrade is convinced that the UN Security Council will not breach the UN Charter and bring a decision to violate Serbia’s territorial integrity and seize a significant part of its territory. Djuric told Tanjug that among Security Council members, there are countries with a responsible attitude and the power to protect fundamental principles on which peace and stability in the world are based.

We are sure that those states will prevent the setting of a dangerous precedent, which will establish that it is possible to redraw borders of sovereign states and snatch parts of their territories. This has already raised concerns in a number of countries, Djuric said.

He added that UNSG Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari made a serious mistake by making a hasty decision to cut short negotiations on the future status of Kosovo and completely aligned himself with the Albanian side. It is obvious that Ahtisaari did not manage, or perhaps it was not his intention at all, to enable a dialogue that would lead the two sides to a compromise. Therefore, it was inevitable that he would not be successful in his task. Djuric said that Serbia should use the coming period to start a new negotiating process, which would be properly conducted and lead to a compromise.

An old Serb woman Stana Kaliskic was beaten by Albanian rioters in March 2004
Most of victims were elderlly and unprotected Serbs in Kosovo. 4000 Serbs and
Roma were expelled from their homes which were then burned. 34 Orthodox
sites were damaged or destroyed, among them two monasteries

Masterminds of March Pogrom still not Brought to Justice, Says Popovic (RTS)

Head of the Serbian Government Economic Team for Kosovo and southern Serbia Nenad Popovic said on the occasion of the third anniversary of March pogrom against the Kosovo Serbs, that the aggression against them is a big warning and an obligation for all participants in the negotiations on the future status of Kosovo to address this issue wisely and responsibly. According to him, it is frustrating that neither masterminds nor direct perpetrators of the March pogrom have been brought to justice. This worrying fact speaks volumes about the crisis of institutions in Kosovo and non-existence of the rule of law in the province, Popovic stressed.

He said that today, three years after this crime, the security of the Serb community in Kosovo is very poor and added that they still have no freedom of movement. Especially worrying is the latest information about the re-emergence of organized paramilitary groups in black uniforms terrorizing the people of Kosovo. It has also been noticed that there are many members of the allegedly disbanded UCK among them. This additionally confirms the thesis that an independent Kosovo advocated by representatives of Kosovo Albanians would be a source of a long-term instability in the region.

Substantial autonomy for Kosovo within the Republic of Serbia, proposed by the Serbian state negotiating team at the Vienna talks would be the best and the only solution, which could offer a solid basis for building a politically and economically sustainable Kosovo society in the future, because an independent Kosovo would be economically unsustainable, Popovic concluded.

Ban Ki-moon Pledges full Support to Ahtisaari's Proposal (Radio Belgrade 1/Tanjug)

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has pledged his full support to the document on Kosovo’s status that he received from his Deputy Special Envoy Albert Rohan and which envisages the independence of the province under an international supervision, confirmed UN diplomats to Tanjug. The agency reports that the UN Security Council session on Ahtisaari’s proposal will be held on 3 or 4 April, during the British chairmanship of this body.

Sanda Raskovic-Ivic to Attend UNSC Session on Kosovo (RTS)

President of the Coordination Center for Kosovo Sanda Raskovic-Ivic said that she would convey a message at the Security Council session on 19 March that Serbia is ready to continue the negotiations on Kosovo’s future status. “I will convey the message of our readiness to resume the negotiations in order to bridge the gap between the proposal of UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari and the concept of a substantial self-government for the province,” said the Head of the CCK. Raskovic-Ivic has announced that she would wish to prove to the UN Security Council members that neither UNMIK nor Kosovo institutions are implementing standards and that there are no basic conditions for life of non-Albanian communities in the province.

Dourlot Expects UNSC Decision in the 2nd Quarter of this Year (Tanjug)

The decision of the UN Security Council on the future status of Kosovo is expected in the second quarter of this year, said UNOSEK’s spokesman Remi Dourlot. He confirmed that the Deputy Special Envoy Albert Rohan had submitted two documents to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. One is the comprehensive proposal for the future status of Kosovo, the second is a letter for the UN Secretary-General, in which Martti Ahtisaari explains his proposal. He refused to comment on the statements of western officials that Ahtisaari had proposed a supervised independence for Kosovo. Dourlot said that Ahtisaari’s office hopes that the plan would be discussed by the UN Security Council in April.