Belgrade Media Update, April 24

SERBIAN GOVERNMENT

Autonomy of Serbs in the province cannot be debatable

Belgrade, April 23, 2004 - Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica talked today with representatives of the Coalition Povratak (Return) about the government's draft plan of political solution of the situation in Kosovo-Metohija.

At the meeting it was agreed that it is necessary to widely support the draft plan, which envisages autonomy for the Serb community in the province, as part of substantial autonomy for Kosovo-Metohija envisaged by the UN SC Resolution 1244.

Participants in the meeting agreed that it is important that the draft plan be unanimously adopted by the Serbian parliament, following the agreement with all political parties.

Representatives of the Coalition Povratak gave full support to the draft plan, pointing out that Kosovo Serbs hope that the expulsion of the remaining Serb and non-Albanian population will be stopped after the autonomy for Kosovo Serbs has been established, and that the conditions for the return of the displaced will be created.

Participants in the meeting stressed that the principle of autonomy is a widely accepted model and that it cannot become debatable only when Kosovo-Metohija is concerned.

Covic: UNMIK is hiding report on children's drowning

Beta News Agency, Belgrade
April 24, 2004

BELGRADE - Nebojsa Covic, the head of the Coordinating Center for Kosovo and Metohija, said today that UNMIK has prohibited the publication of a report regarding the accident involving Albanian children from the village of Zupce, which was the direct cause for violence against Serbs on March 17-19.

Covic told Radio B92 that the report removes all responsibility for the accident from the Serbs.

"The report has been hidden from the public eye and placed under embargo. The report states what in fact happened and it clearly states that it had nothing to do with Serbs and that police or soldiers, not Serbs, had some contact with the children," said Covic.

B92 states that the UN police spokesman Neeraj Singh said Covic's information was not correct because "the investigation regarding the drowning of the children is still in process" and no statements on it could be made at this time. He added that UNMIK will publish the results as soon as the investigation is completed.

Three children drowned in the Ibar River and Albanian media reported that Serbs chased them into the swollen waters, after which the wave of violence against Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija began.

Nebojsa Covic said that the resolution of the final status of Kosovo has begun and that it is the public concern of the "Group for Kosovo"

comprised of the Contact Group, the European Union and UNMIK as well as the secret concern of another group: the U.S., the EU and NATO.

"The U.S., probably, is creating the program, the EU is heading the administrative-bureaucratic apparatus that will oversee talks between Belgrade and Pristina, both public and secret. The third is there to provide what is always necessary for dealing with the disobedient: force," said Covic.

Belgrade says UN withholding report on Kosovo drownings | 19:06 | B92

BELGRADE/PRISTINA -- Saturday - Belgrade's Kosovo envoy has accused United Nations officials in Kosovo of withholding publication of a report clearing Serbs of responsibility for the deaths of three Albanian children on the eve of last month's wave of violence in the province.

"The report has been prepared, concealed from the public and had an embargo placed on it," Nebojsa Covic told B92. "That report contains exactly what happened and clearly states that it had nothing to do with Serbs and that police or soldiers, not Serbs, were in contact with the children," said the head of the Coordination Centre for Kosovo.

Violent clashes broke out in the north Kosovo town of Mitrovica on March

17 after Albanian-language media reports claimed the boys had drowned in the nearby Ibar river after being chased by Serb youths. The OSCE has since accused Kosovo media of whipping up ethnic tensions in the province during the attacks on Serbs and their property.

A UN police spokesman dismissed Covic's remarks. "The report into the drowning of the children is ongoing, and at this moment we cannot make statements on it. When it's completed we'll release the results," said Neeraj Singh.

Holkeri and Rexhepi found Office for International Cooperation of Kosovo (Vecernje Novosti/Beta)

UNMIK Head Harri Holkeri and Kosovo Premier Bajram Rexhepi have announced the opening of the Office for International Cooperation and Dialogue in Pristina. Harri Holkeri told a news conference that the move was in line with UNSCR 1244 and denied it was prompted by the March events. Holkeri has on that occasion issued the 2004/7 decree, according to which conditions of the founding and work of the Office are precisely defined. Rexhepi said that, with the opening of the Office for International Cooperation and Dialogue, the forming of the future Kosovo Foreign Ministry has also been conceived, because the office represented the core of the future ministry.

KP meet Covic (Balkan)

Nebojsa Covic has received KP AMs who visited Belgrade. They underlined that coordination of state bodies of SCG and Serbia was of special importance for their further activity in dealing with the problems of Kosovo and Metohija, especially after the violence in March, the CCK stated. In talks, they especially analyzed the international community’s activity that followed after 17 March.

Inter-parliamentarians meet Covic (Danas/Beta)

Representatives of the Inter-parliamentary Council of the Union of Independent States have assessed that what happened, and is still going on in Kosovo and Metohija is ethnic cleansing. After their visit to Kosovo, the delegation related to the Head of the CCK Nebojsa Covic that their “main impression was that ethnic cleansing happened and was still going on in Kosovo and that, instead of being realized, UNSCR 1244 was being directly breached,” the Center’s statement reads.

Chinese UN police members to arrive in Kosovo (Danas/Beta)

The first team of Chinese peace forces will arrive in Kosovo and Metohija on 26 April, the Chinese Foreign Ministry stated. The Ministry’s spokesperson Kong Chuan has stated that 12 policemen will join UNMIK, Xinhua reports. Kong said that China insisted on the respect of SCG’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, implementation of UNSCR 1244, ensuring of equal rights to all ethnic groups and support of UN peace efforts.

Draskovic for autonomy (Glas/Beta)

SCG Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic has called on the international community to urgently eradicate the consequences of the ethnic cleansing of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, which has been going on since June 1999, and to enable the return of IDPs and provide safety of lives. In talks with ambassadors of permanent members of the UNSC, Contact Group countries, the EU and the G8, Draskovic said this was only possible if Serbs were granted territorial and political autonomy within the province. He expressed SCG’s readiness to improve relations with its neighbors, and to fulfill international obligations in order to join as soon as possible the Partnership for Peace, NATO and the EU.

Media responsible for violence in Kosovo (Blic)

The media in Kosovo were broadcasting without evidence information on an alleged ethnically motivated attack on Albanian children, which was the cause of the March violence in the Province, it was assessed in the report of representatives of the OSCE office. “Although one child survived, the media did not bother to explain why and how the remaining two children had not managed to survive. Also, it was not explained whether there had been an attack by the Serbs or a dog,” the report by journalist Dardan Gashi reads. “Journalists in Kosovo played the role of those who inflicted the March violence,” Gashi wrote.

To return or to disappear (Blic)

“Time will show whether the international forces have seriously understood genocide goals of Albanian terrorists', Head of the Littoral Montenegrin Church Amfilohije said. “It is tragic for our Church and culture that Kosovo and Metohija is again in the focus of attention of the world public opinion,” Amfilohije said. “What is happening in Kosovo is a trial not only of the Serbs, but of the Albanians, Europe and the whole world. Either we all shall return or disappear,” Amfilohije said. He recalled that 150 Serbian monasteries and churches were completely or partially destroyed in the last four to five years in the presence of the most powerful military force of the world.

Collapse in Kosovo (Blic)

The International Crisis Group made a report called Collapse in Kosovo in which it requires the international community to undertake action towards stepping up security of minority communities in Kosovo, especially the Serb. Another request concerns the beginning of negotiations over the final status of the province, confirming the legal principles from UNSCR 1244. The ICG is also for a new kind of international administration in Kosovo and Metohija.

Omerovic: Kosovo and Metohija part of Serbia (Balkan/Tanjug)

Member of the Serbian Parliament Committee for inter-ethnic relations Meho Omerovic said he was advocating that this body deal with problems of inter-ethnic relations on the entire territory of Serbia, including Kosovo and Metohija. "I urge that the committee does not take a stand on the problems in Kosovo and Metohija as on problems in neighboring countries, since Kosovo and Metohija is a part and will be an integral part of Serbia and the state union of Serbia and Montenegro," Omerovic told Tanjug following a committee session.

Interview by Adem Demaçi (Politika)

British Minister for Europe Dennis MacShane has visited Pristina and official Belgrade, following which he requested Rugova to apologize to the Serb people for the events of 17 March. Do you think Rugova will do so?

“The people lost trust not only in Rugova, but also in all political representatives who are only marionettes in the hands of the West. But, such an event in Kosovo could not surprise either the Albanian people or me. Anyways, Rugova does things the way West tells him to do, and this had been demonstrated in his conducting of Kosovo and Metohija over the past three years.”

What of the return of 250,000 Serbs displaced since June 1999?

“Who told you that there had been so many Serbs in Kosovo? According to the census of 1991, and which is official data, there were 194,000 Serbs here. The return will be only possible, I repeat, once independence is proclaimed. The Albanian people will view everything else as once again an occupation by Serbia.”

Does the return of people to their homes mean occupation?!

“That is how the Albanian people see that. They are even convinced that this would be a reoccupation of the Serbian system and the return of the Milosevic regime.”

The international community is increasingly more taking the stand that the decentralization issue should be launched.

“That is out of the question. First independence, and only then the issue you mention. Haven’t we already given too much to the people who live in Serb enclaves. They have become so arrogant and strong that they even embarked upon a blockade of roads… I will say once again – first an independent Kosovo, and only then the possible stories on that topic. Can Serbia waste any more time at all, waste money on those Serb regions to whom Albanians gave all the rights.”

How do you see UNSCR 1244, which the Albanians, obviously, violate?

“Both UNSCR 1244 and the Constitutional Framework are only a “dead word on paper.” It turned out anyway, as in Rambouillet, that foreigners are “maneuvering” with UNSCR 1244,” Kosovo analyst Adem Demaçi told Politika.