October 27, 2002

Rome - Italian deputy-minister of culture and a member of Parliament Hon.Vittorio Sgarbi sent a letter to the new KFOR commander, Italian general Fabio Mini, proposing special protection of Serb Orthodox religious monuments in Kosovo.

"The situation in Kosovo and the unavoidable reduction of NATO forces in coming months are cause for grave concern for the future protection of the heritage of Serbian Orthodox culture and religion, especially of Visoki Decani Monastery and the Pec Patriarchate, which are of great significance for art history," wrote Sgarbi.

Sgarbi notes in his letter that many Orthodox religious monuments in Kosovo are already damaged, and in many cases irreparably destroyed. "I wish to draw your attention especially to the precarious situation in which two pearls in northwestern Kosovo, Visoki Decani and the Pec Patriarchate Monasteries, are found in comparison with well-guarded Gracanica Monastery," emphasized Sgarbi. He added that the recent attack on Serb pensioners in Pec clearly demonstrates the length of the path to reconciliation between the [Serb and Albanian] communities and the high degree of violence still reigning in Kosovo. Sgarbi expressed his hope that Decani Monastery and Pec Patriarchate will be equally well protected in future as they are now under the Italian military command.

New Arrests for Pec/Peje Disturbance

On 24th October two further suspects were arrested who had been identified as participants in the violent attack on Serb pensioners in Pec/Peje on 10th October.

Arrested are two K-Albanian youths who have appeared before an international prosecutor and have been released pending prosecution.

A total of five persons have now been identified and arrested by Police for their involvement in the disturbance.

Among those detained are suspects believed to be responsible for organising the attack and for the throwing of rocks and fire bombs.

DEREK CHAPPELL
Chief of Press & Public Information
Office of Press and Public Information
UNMIK Police Main HQ
Pristina
Tel. +381-38-504-604-5071/FAX 5073

SERBIAN GOVERNMENT

Kostunica, Covic call on Kosovo Serbs to take part in local elections

http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/news/2002-10/22/326398.html

October 22, 2002

Belgrade, Oct. 22, 2002 - Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica and Coordinating Centre for Kosovo-Metohija Head Nebojsa Covic met Kosovo Serb representatives in Belgrade late Monday to discuss the forthcoming provincial election.

Participants in the meeting discussed UNMIK Head Michael Steiner's statement on the steps he intends to take in the decentarlisation of Kosovo after the local provincial elections, and assessed that his statement clears the way for a certain, but insubstantial progress towards receiving guarantees for local self-government, read a statement issued by President Kostunica's office.

They also agreed that the remaining Serbs in Kosovo and the ones who were forced to leave the province should take part in the October 26 local elections, particularly in locations offering adequate security and institutional conditions. Serb participation in the local authorities in Kosovo depends on creating an appropriate concept of decentralisation, to be drawn up immediately after the elections.

The participants in the meeting reached the tough decision to call on the local Serb population to go to the polls hoping that the international community will make additional efforts of securing conditions for a massive return of displaced persons and recognition of human rights in Kosovo-Metohija, read the statement.

Belgrade, October 21, 2002
19:20

Kosovo Serb leaders announced last week that Serbs would not participate in Kosovo's local elections unless UNMIK accepted the project of decentralization of the Province. Kosovo Serbs see decentralization as the only way to protect long-term interests of the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija. Serbian Orthodox Church strongly supported the requests of the Serb political leadership and refused to support elections without precise guarantees that UNMIK will establish a system of local, regional and national self-government in Kosovo and Metohija and thus protect Kosovo Serb community from ethnic discrimination and Kosovo Albanian repression.

Yesterday (Oct 20) Kosovo Serb expert group submitted to Steiner the latest plan on decentralization which encapsulates the most important elements of the decentralization project (see above) and offers some practical suggestions for new municipal units

The latest Serb proposal on decentralization (Oct 20, 2002)

Abbot Teodosije of Visoki Decani Monastery

NEW PRESSURES ON VISOKI DECANI MONASTERY
Members of Kosovo Police Service prevent normal food procurement

Decani, October 19, 2002

In the early morning hours, Fr. Teodosije Sibalic, the abbot of Visoki Decani Monastery, who was transporting food for the monastery was stopped by members of the Kosovo Police Service and customs at the Rozaje-Kula administrative checkpoint and exposed to verbal abuse and provocations in the presence of members of Italian KFOR responsible for accompanying his vehicle from the checkpoint to the monastery. Visoki Decani Monastery and the Pec Patriarchate have been living in complete isolation for the past three years and the monks are not able to procure food nearby but are forced to travel to Montenegro and other parts of Serbia in order to meet the basic needs of the monastery. Despite the fact that the monks of Decani and sisters of the Pec Patriarchate always travel with a Italian KFOR military escort their vehicles have been stoned on numerous occasions.

Most recently upon entering the Province the monks are exposed to the verbal abuse of Albanian policemen with increasing frequency. Two weeks ago a group of policemen publicly cursed at the monks and their guests. Today a similar scene was repeated when the head customs offficial humiliated the Decani abbot, demanding that he pay duties on a packet of sardines and two bags of sugar which the monastery received from donors in Kraljevo, and threatening that they would not allow him to encroach on the territory of the Province. The entire scene was played out in front of Italian soldiers who were confused and did not know how to protect the monks from this latest form of abuse. At the same time two policemen circled around the vehicle, sardonically saying: Welcome to Kosovo!

The brotherhood of Visoki Decani Monastery expresses the strongest protest to UNMIK for abuses by the insitution of the Kosovo Police Service for the purpose of ethnic discrimination and verbal mistreatment. Such behavior by individual Albanian policemen is putting a moral stigma on the entire Kosovo Police Service because the attempt is being made to prevent normal food procurement for Serb communities lacking the basic freedom to purchase food on the territory of Kosovo and Metohija by an institution sponsored by the international community. During this pre-election time when the Serbs are making their decision whether or not to participate in local elections such actions on the part of members of Kosovo institutions cause even greater bitterness for the Serb population. Therefore, Visoki Decani Monastery most decisively appeals to official authorities in Kosovo and Metohija, as well as to the Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, to take urgent measures to prevent institutional repression directed against the Church and the Serb people in Kosovo and Metohjia.

October 17, 2002

PUBLIC STATEMENT WITH REGARD TO MR. STEINER’S COMMENTS

With regard to the comments of Mr. Steiner, the special representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Kosovo and Metohija, made following his meeting with His Holiness the Serbian Patriarch Kyr Pavle and members of the Holy Synod of Bishops, we wish to advise that Mr. Steiner was received at his own request, not, as he subsequently advised media, upon the invitation of His Holiness the Patriarch.

After listening to the presentation of Mr. Steiner regarding the necessity of participation in local elections and his plan for decentralization of North Mitrovica, His Holiness and the members of the Synod elaborated on the full complexity of the Kosovo-Metohija question, supported by examples, as well as expressing their serious concern as a result of the still undiminished endangerment not only of the human rights of Serbs and other non-Albanian population in Kosovo and Metohija, but of their fundamental right to life, security and property. The Synod emphasized the immediate need for implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1244, the return of refugees and expelled persons, the finding of kidnapped persons, and protection of property.

The Holy Synod expressed its reservation with respect to participation in elections not because they are undeserving of support but because of the danger that participation in local elections will serve, under the present state of affairs, as decoration for the domestic and international public, as the participation of the Serbs in the Kosovo Parliament has largely turned out to be. With respect to the decentralization of North Mitrovica, the Synod made it known that this plan is only acceptable if it serves as a model for decentralization throughout the Province.

It is up to the people themselves to responsibly decide regarding their participation or non-participation in the elections while the Church continues to express, as in the past, its readiness to assist both responsible representatives of the international community as well as our state and transitional provincial officials in finding the best solutions for a common life in dignity of all residents of Kosovo and Metohija.

The Commissioner for Human Rights publishes a report on the situation in Kosovo
[17 OCT 2002] Alvaro Gil-Robles has just released a report entitled ''Kosovo : the human rights situation and the fate of persons displaced from their homes''. The report was prepared in response to Recommendation 1569 (2002) of the Parliamentary Assembly on the ''Situation of refugees and internally displaced persons in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia'' and is based on the findings of two visits in the region.

KOSOVO - THE HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION, Oct 16, 2002
Full text of the report (pdf)

Robles stated in an analysis made for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, that the victims and their relatives were interrogated, and rarely were any steps undertaken to shed light on the crimes. This undermines the confidence of ethnic minorities in the protection of KFOR and UNMIK, as well as their objectivity, the report quotes. Robles pointed out the problem of missing persons was not solved and that the expelled Serbs did not return to Kosovo and Metohija.. Extracts