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NEWSLETTER
No 13
Why
Kosovo Serbs Still Live in Isolation
A Report Based on Testimonies of Serbs
from different
parts of Kosovo and Metohija
Local
Albanians Try to get hold of
Monastery land misusing court and law
Decani Abbot
Fr. Teodosije asks protection from the institutional repression
of an Albanian court in Decani
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Decani Monastery,
August 15, 2002
Abbot Teodosije
sent yesterday a letter to the Special Representative of the
UN Secretary General (SRSG), Mr. Michael Steiner, asking his
urgent intervention and protection of the Monastery from the
institutional repression by the Decani Municipal Court and Municipal
authorities.
Visoki Decani
Monastery therefore considers the decision of the Municipal
court in Decani as overt institutional repression against the
last remaining Serb community in Decani Municipality and a provocation
to the international authorities in Kosovo and Metohija. Supporting
the right of local Kosovo courts to adjudicate land issues concerning
the property of religious communities and former socially owned
enterprises would make a dangerous precedent which would inevitably
result in legal disorder and usurpation of large tracts of Serb
owned land', said Fr. Teodosije in his letter to the SRSG. MORE
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YUGOSLAV
GOVERNMENT - DECISION OF THE MUNICIPAL COURT IN DECANI IS ILLEGAL
AND REPRESENTS AN ACT OF REPRESSION
The Government expressed serious concern that UNMIK has not reacted
to such an illegal act
Yugoslav Government
- before today's session, Aug. 15 2002
Belgrade,
15 Aug (B92) - The Yugoslav Government has condemned a ruling
by the Decani Municipal Court on disputed land adjacent to the
Decani Monastery.
The land was part of 800 hectares originally nationalized at the
end of World War Two. The Serbian Government was returning two
parcels of land amounting to 23.45 hectares to the monastery in
1997.
The Decani Court this week reversed that restitution in a ruling,
which the Federal Government today described as "a repressive
measure directed against the remaining Serbs in Kosovo".
The government also argued that the court's decision was in direct
contravention of US Security Council Resolution 1244 and expressed
serious concern that the UN Administration in the province had
not reacted to this "illegal act". |
Albanian
Extremists Clash With U.N. Police and KFOR in Decani
UN armored
vehicle in Decani town after the clash with Albanian demonstrators
in which according to local sources more than 40 demonstrators
were injured. So far the mos serious clash between the KLA supporters
and UNMIK/KFOR
Decani, August 15, 2002
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40
Persons Injured In Decani Protests
15 Aug (Free Serbia) - A clash between demonstrators and
members of KFOR and UNMIK police occurred today during
protest of Albanians, who blocked Pec-Decani road.
Special UNMIK police forces used tear gas and rubber bullets
and a mass fight between demonstrators and UNMIK police
followed. Several hundred Albanians, mostly former KLA
members, blocked at noon the main road Pec-Decani. They
demonstrated against arrest of Daut Haradinaj and ten
other former members of KLA, now activists of Kosovo Protection
Corps, as well as the issuing of indictment against president
of Alliance for Kosovo Future Ramush Haradinaj, who was,
by the way, born in Decani.
Protest went without incidents for first half an hour.
Italian KFOR soldiers secured it. In KFOR headquarters
in Pec it has been confirmed to Tanjug that someone threw
a stone at KFOR soldiers at 12.30PM. One soldier has been
slightly injured and transferred to military hospital
in Pec. Then the special squads of UNMIK police intervened
using tear gas and rubber bullets. A mass fight arouse
between demonstrators and UNMIK police officers.
Director of health center in Decani Hilmi Shehu said today
that 40 persons were injured in conflict between UNMIK
police and demonstrators who blocked major road Pec-Djakovica
today early afternoon. UNMIK speaker Andrea Angeli said
a little earlier to Beta agency that a KFOR member and
a demonstrator had been injured. UNMIK speaker said that
'a number of persons were taken into custody'. As we learn
unofficially, several demonstrators have been arrested.
They protested against arrests of Kosovo Protection Corps
members and KLA high ranked officers.
Albanian sources from Decani report that the police have
banned the demonstrations in center of Decani. They allowed
it to take place in the city park. Demonstrators did not
accept that and accused police that it provoked the incidents.
UNMIK stated that special units of Spanish KFOR intervened
because demonstrators blocked the main road. All roads
to Decani that had been blocked for few hours are unblocked
since 3PM. The situation in Decani is still tense but
a little more peaceful.
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U.S. soldier
wounded in the Albanian terrorist attack in Klokot, July 2002
Kosovo -
Between Serba and Albanian
(left)
a Serb in a traditional national dress with a sword
(right) Albanian mafioso with a kalashnykov (CLICK TO ENLARGE)
Status
of Kosovo and Metohija
Independent Kosov would be a
destabilizing
factor for the Balkans
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Kosovo:
Time for the Hard Decisions, July 29, 2002
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Proponents
of independence for Kosovo need to consider what
the
long-term consequences would be of establishing
yet another state in the
region based on the national aspirations of one
constituent ethnic
group. Several disturbing questions arise. What
would the effect of an
independent Kosovo be on Montenegro? More critically,
how could Bosnia
survive as a unitary state if Kosovo gained independence?
If Albanians
in Kosovo were eventually permitted to hold a referendum
on
independence, what justification would there be
to prevent Serbs and
Croats in Bosnia from holding referendums as well?
Over
the past three years, Kosovo has come
to pose a significant transnational crime threat,
serving as a conduit
for the trafficking of weapons, drugs, and thousands
of women from
eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union who have
been forced into
prostitution. An elected Kosovar government, especially
one headed by
Rugova, would not likely support such activities,
but probably could not
prevent them. MORE
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Some
optimists continue to hold out hope that an independent
Kosovo will not be a de facto mono-ethnic state. When
it became clear
that Vojislav Kostunica had triumphed over Milosevic
in the 2000
Yugoslav elections, a Kosovar Albanian man on the
street, quoted widely
in the international media, dismissed as irrelevant
whether or not
Kostunica was devoted to democracy and said that the
Kosovars would not
return to Yugoslavia even if the Serbs elected Vaclav
Havel, the
president of the Czech Republic, as their president.
It was illuminating
that he picked the most internationally respected
statesman from a
Slavic country as his random hypothetical democrat.
This mindset calls
into question the kind of future that Serbs would
have in an independent
Kosovo. (from
Kosovo: Time for Hard Decisions) |
IWPR:
Analysis: Kosovo Independence Ruled Out, 14. Aug. 2002
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The
other option, now presented as the EU's official
stance, is that the Balkans must not be partitioned
any further. This option prevailed after Europe
rejected Montenegro's bid for independence in March
and practically forced it to sign the Belgrade agreement,
obliging the country to remain in union with Serbia.
Those
who oppose further fragmentation - the large European
member states and joint EU institutions - fear Kosovo's
independence would encourage other partitions, especially
in Macedonia, where Albanians dominate the western
part of the state and where armed clashes broke
out a year ago.
In
addition, Nicholas Whyte, director of the Brussels-based
think tank International Crisis Group's Balkan programme,
told IWPR that Kosovo's treatment of its Serb minority
"disqualified it for independence". However,
Whyte suggested the protectorate would eventually
gain autonomy through bilateral negotiations with
Belgrade. MORE
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Children
are the hope of Kosovo and Metohija
Fr. Teodosije with a Kosovo Serb boy
FRY
Secretariat for Religions Condemns Legal Violence of the Decani
Municipal Court
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Following
the decision of the municipal court in Decani to confiscate
the land of the Monastery of Visoki Decani, returned to
the monastery by decision of the Government of the Republic
of Serbia in 1997, the Yugoslav Secretariat for Religions
hereby issues the following
PUBLIC
STATEMENT
The
decision of the municipal court in Decani annulling the
decision of the Government of the Republic of Serbia in
1997 whereby the property of the Monastery of Visoki Decani
nationalized in 1946 was returned represents the most
striking example of legal violence before the eyes of
the international community which is doing nothing to
stop decisions such as this one which send a clear message
to all displaced persons that they no longer have the
right to return, and clearly informs remaining Serbs and
Montenegrins that there can be no peaceful life in Kosovo
and Metohija and that they need to leave because neither
their personal safety nor the safety of their property
is guaranteed.
This
decision necessarily reminds us of what we thought were
times long past, times when the Communist confiscated
the property of the Church and the people alike without
reason, and then forbade those who were forced out of
Kosovo and Metohija to ever return. It is an even greater
irony that all this is happening in the presence of the
UN Mission which is tasked with establishing legal order
and facilitating the return of the displaced and the expelled
from Kosovo and Metohija.
We
appeal to all relevant international organizations, especially
to UNMIK, to annul this foolish and illegal decision of
the municipal court in Decani which serves only to achieve
the effect of further creation of negative tensions between
national and religious communities which may destabilize
the entire region, which certainly is not in the best
interests of anyone well-intentioned and wishing to establish
peace and tolerance in Kosmet (Kosovo and Metohija).
FRY
Secretariat for Religions
Belgrade, August 13, 2002
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Osojane,
One Year Later
Osojane - August 13, 2002
- A folk-dance group from Velika Hoca
entertains the guests in the Osojane school
FIRST
ANNIVERSARY OF SERB RETURNS TO THEIR HOMES CELEBRATED IN OSOJANE
METOHIJA*,
A LAND BOTH HOLY AND 'CURSED'
By Rada Loncar, Vesti, Frankfurt, Aug 15, 2002
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Osojane,
August 13, 2002 - Exactly one year after the arrival of
the first Serb returnees to Osojane village a celebration
was organized in which Serbs from different parts of Kosovo
and Metohija participated. The Holy Liturgy was served
by Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro. After the holy
service the folk-dance group from Velika Hoca displayed
the rich dance tradition of Kosovo and Metohija Serbs.
The celebration was organized under the strong protectin
of KFOR which also escorted the guests to Osojane. The
reconstruction of homes is progressing and more than half
formerly destroyed houses are now under roof.
Related
texts:
First
returnees to Osojane
Bishop
Artemije serves in Osojane church
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Metropolitan
Amfilohije communes children from Osojane
Ilustrovana
Politika
Osojane:
Creating Life Among Ruins
Service in
front of the ruined church of St. Archangel Gabriel
Osojane, August 13, 2002
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