Today, on June 4, 2000 at the Konak of the Monastery Gracanica, a meeting was held of the Serbian National Council of Kosovo and Metohija. The meeting was attended by delegates from the districts of Kosovo, Gnjilane, Mitrovica, Brezovica and Metohija. The meeting was presided over by His Grace ARTEMIJE, Bishop of Raska and Prizren, in his capacity of the president of SNC. At the conclusion of the meeting, SNC adopted the following

The Serbian National Council of Kosovo and Metohija (hereinafter: SNC) is greatly concerned by acts of violence perpetrated against the Serbian population of Kosovo and Metohija, which violence has escalated since the end of the war, and categorically condemns its most recent escalation. In spite of continuous appeals and demands addressed to KFOR and UNMIK, requesting them to take concrete measures to improve security, which improvement was the condition for SNCs representatives to participate in the transitional administration of Kosovo in the capacity of observers, the crimes of Albanian terrorists continue with unabated intensity. In the past two months alone, twenty Serbs have been killed, forty wounded, two Orthodox churches have been blown up, Serbian houses have continued to be burned and under the pressure of Albanian extremists, the United Nations Mission has begun to confiscate the lands of our monasteries.

In view of the fact that the United Nations Mission, headed by Dr. Bernard Kouchner, has not acceded to a single request of SNC and that the security situation has gravely deteriorated, the Council has decided to send a special delegation to the UN Security Council in New York in order to demand the adoption of an emergency declaration, or an annex to Resolution 1244, which would protect the rights of the Serbs and make possible the establishment of functional self-rule in the areas where Serbs live. So far, Albanian leaders and a large part of the Albanian population in Kosovo have shown that their intention is not the creation of a democratic society but rather the creation of a quasi-state based on ethnic and religious discrimination, violence and terror against everyone and everything not Albanian. For one whole year, ever since the cessation of the war, Kosovo has been living in a state of anarchy, where organized crime, mafia, drug dealing and white slavery run rampant; where there is no law, no judicial system, no respect for basic human rights. The Serbs, who have shown good will in their readiness to cooperate with the United Nations Mission and with the Albanian leaders, have the moral right to demand concrete and binding decisions, which would safeguard the basic principles of the Declaration on Human Rights and Freedoms of Man. The Delegation will, in particular, demand that Albanian terrorism be publicly condemned and that the International Court of Law begin immediately to investigate the crimes which, for a full year, have continued to be committed before the very eyes of the democratic world. Resolution 1244 has not mandated the international community to create the rule of apartheid and to replace the repression of Milosevic by the repression carried out by Albanian extremists with the direct or indirect support of the majority of their political leaders.

After the return of SNC's delegation from New York, the Council will decide on its further participation in the bodies of transitional administration. Until then, as a sign of protest against the most recent wave of Albanian terrorism and quasi-fascist discrimination against everyone and everything Serbian, members of SNC will not attend the meetings of JIAS and KTC. In the event firm guarantees are given in writing at the highest levels in New York, SNC will continue its participation in interim administration in the capacity of observers until their demands result in concrete actions on the ground, at which time SNC will decide whether its participation in JIAS and KTC will be raised to the level of full membership.

The Serbian National Council of Kosovo and Metohija supports Resolution 1244 and demands that all its clauses be implemented. Urgent meassures must be taken to prevent further discrimination of the Serbian population and stop ethnically motivated violence.

Gracanica, June 4

PRESS REPORT:

AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

GRACANICA, Yugoslavia, June 4 (AFP) - Serb leaders in Kosovo voted Sunday
to suspend cooperation with the province's UN-backed joint administration in
protest at a recent spate of killings, a Serbian spokesman said.
The Serb National Council (SNV) decided to freeze its participation in the
Interim Administrative Council (IAC) and other joint bodies until after a
meeting of the UN Security Council next week, Father Sava Janjic said.
The SNV will send a delegation to the meeting in New York, called to review

the Security Council's resolution 1244 that ended the war in the Yugoslav
province in June 1999 and set up a UN administration here, he said.
The Serbs would call for an emergency annexe to resolution 1244 providing
for more stringent security for the province's dwindling Serbian population,
the target of widespread violence in the last year, he said.
The suspension is "not sabotage or a boycott but a manifestation of our
outrage and revolt that the violence is continuing," said Sava.
Many of the 60 or so Serb representatives had backed a complete withdrawal
from the IAC, which they joined as observers early April for a three-month
trial period, he added.
An SNV statement issued at the end of the meeting in the Serbian enclave of

Gracanica, near Pristina, said that 20 Serbs had been killed and 40 wounded in
the past two months.
The statement described the attacks as a "wave of (ethnic) Albanian
terrorism and quasi-fascist discrimination against everyone and everything
Serbian."
Resolution 1244 "has not mandated the international community to create the

rule of apartheid and to replace the oppression of (Yugoslav President
Slobodan) Milosevic by the repression carried out by (ethnic) Albanian
extremists," the statement continued.
These extremists have "the direct or indirect support of the majority of
their political leaders," it added.
Sava said the proposed annexe to the UN resolution would make it obligatory

for the UN mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and KFOR international peacekeeping
troops to "act more decisively against what we now clearly have in Kosovo,
which is organised and systematic ethnic Albanian terrorism."
The SNV on Saturday asked a visiting delegation from the European
Parliament for special anti-terrorist units to be deployed in Kosovo to crack
down on criminal elements, he added.
"We cannot any longer tolerate Kosovo being a place in Europe where extreme

ethnic discrimination exists and where people are being killed just because
they belong to other ethnic groups or religions."
UNMIK head Bernard Kouchner expressed his regret at the SNV decision but
said he understood it as a "protest and a sign of outrage at recent violence,"
which he also condemned.
Almost a quarter of a million non-Albanians have fled violence in the
province since KFOR arrived last June, while in the past week an upsurge in
ethnic strife has left eight Serbs dead in several separate attacks.
Sava reiterated that the international community should stop classing the
province's violence as revenge attacks against Serbs for Belgrade's past
repression of the ethnic Albanian majority and openly call it terrorism.
Kouchner admitted that latest violence appeared to have been concentrated
and organised within two regions of Kosovo, near Serb villages in the Pristina
region and around the southeastern town of Vitina. Security there had been
beefed up, he said.
If the Serbs' appeal was heeded the SNV leaders would resume participation
in the joint interim administration, said Sava. The SNV originally boycotted
it at its December launch, complaining it had not been properly consulted.
If there was no "clear decision" by the Security Council the SNV would not
be able to justify their further cooperation with the IAC, he added.