Belgrade Media Update, April 14

Belgrade, 09 Apr (Vecernje Novosti) – For the Serbian Premier, Vojislav Kostunica, and for his cabinet there is no dilemma that the only solution for the survival of the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija is the institutional guaranties for their autonomy.

Serbian Government already has adopted the document about the plan for territorial autonomy of Kosovo and Metohija, which proposes new institutional guaranties for the autonomy of the Serbs and other non-Albanians within Kosovo autonomy. There is a strong decision of the Government to not step back from that. Whether the Serbs in Kosovo will get institutional guaranties instead promises, or any other solution would be without any sense.
 In the interview given for “Vecernje Novosti”, the premier Kostunica explained the stance of the Government for solving Kosovo issue.

VN:  What type of autonomy is it about?

Kostunica:  It is about double system of autonomy. Territorial autonomy is predicted only in regions where the Serbs live in compact totality and they are majority, and it is a small part of Kosovo. Personal and cultural autonomy is predicted for all Serbs that live in Kosovo. It is a complete system, which very perfectly fit into the Resolution 1244, Constitutional framework…

Nobody can make objections that we did not respect the existing legal regulations. However I have said to the international community that I think that what we have today about the standards for Kosovo and the plan for their implementation reminds of a pure utopia. There is one thing on the paper, but in reality everything is different.
VN:  Has it been determined which part of Kosovo there would be autonomy for, the territorial separation is demanded? 
Kostunica:  There is no map in this document. There have been principals established, which are very developed. The idea is – autonomy within autonomy. Rights for the Serbs and other non-Albanians, which is very important, and territorial component. Without the rights and the territorial component, there is no personal and cultural autonomy for the Serbs that live outside the compact Serbian municipalities.

SECURITY AND UNMIK|

VN:  You say that if this proposal is not adopted, any other solutions make no sense. Does the Government have in mind any other possibility – how to stop the independence of Kosovo and Metohija? Harsh stance? Only Nebojsa Covic has asked for Holkeri’s removal.

Kostunica:  All chiefs of UNMIK had a single prevalent opportunistic and bureaucratic approach. They were not well informed of the Kosovo problems, unready for any risk. Solving the Kosovo issue presents a risk on which none of these international officials was thinking. However, problems can be solved in a different way – strong stances of the Serbian Government and the Federal State to not give up from the proposed solution. We are not saying that this solution, the model in which it would be promoted, cannot be changed, but its essence can’t. Because it offers necessary additional instructions it guaranties security for the Serbs. It has been shown that there was no security for Serbs even when 17,500 KFOR soldiers were in Kosovo. Also there was no safety with 48,000 soldiers, so we can suppose that there would not be security even with 100,000 soldiers. That system of security without political solution is no good. And, political solution I see it only in territorial autonomy and temporary giving up of the claims that even tomorrow is possible a multiethnic paradise in Kosovo. It is necessary for the Serbs, non-Albanians and Albanians live next to each other, to enjoy certain rights – local self-government, security, education, culture, health…

It is the only solution and when we propose institutional guaranties for Serbs in Kosovo, we are not doing it because of the human rights, which are sacred, not even because of the property, which in the West is more sacred than the human rights, but only because of the survival of that people. Because of the right to live. That is way we will never give up. Simply, the Serbian Government has no alternative to this solution.

VN:  How do you estimate the political circumstances in Serbia – do they help you to do it or not?

Kostunica:  They are better that they used to be. However, there are institutions in Serbia and in the State community that can deal with that issue. They are completed, they function, and there is no controversy about their legality. Maybe under the influence of this incident we are seeing the forming of something that looks like a consensus for Kosovo and Metohija. Also, I think that for all that thought that the Kosovo issue could be solved by numerous papers, and by giving oath that the multiethnic paradise is about to be fulfilled, after the 17th March came to sobriety. International community has to look in the mirror and to see that after five years of its presence in Kosovo in the field of security it has not done anything. If so far it could not be covered by great amount of documents that did not bring any progress, 17th March put a full stop and clearly showed that there is no security in Kosovo and Metohija and it is all about ethnic cleansing.

VN:  A long time has past since we heard in the public about possible replacement of the chief of Coordination Center for Kosovo and Metohija. Is it going to happen?

Kostunica:  Coordination Center came about by the decision of two Government-   the Serbian Government and the previous Federal Government, and by the Law for implementation of the Constitutional regulations, until the defining of its final status, in the departments of the State Union. Faced with seriously deteriorated situation in Kosovo and Metohija and seeking an appropriate political solution, the Serbian Government at this moment is not dealing with the personnel solution in the Coordination Center.

UNSC discussed the situation in Kosovo (Danas)

The UN Security Council held an open session on the situation in Kosovo and the work of the UN Mission. A representative of the Department of UN Peace Operations, a body competent for all UN civilian and military peace missions in the world, reported on the situation in the province and the developments of the past few weeks. Nineteen people died and more than 700 Serb homes and some 30 Orthodox churches were destroyed in two days of rioting in March, while some 4000 Serbs and other non-Albanians fled their homes in the attacks.

Johnson: NATO to send delegation to Kosovo (Danas/Srna)

During the meeting with KP members, NATO’s southern Europe commander, Gregory Johnson, said that KFOR had not been completely committed to the protection of Serb cultural monuments in Kosovo, Kosovo Agriculture Minister Goran Bogdanovic told Srna. He said that NATO would send a delegation to Kosovo on April 22 to meet KFOR and Serb representatives to review the situation and discuss future plans for protection of Serbs and their cultural monuments.

Albright in Kosovo again (Blic)

Former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright, i.e. her consulting company Albright Group, has undertaken the job of the special advisor to the chairman of board of Directors of the Kosovo Internet provider Ipko Net. This company will compete for the new mobile operator in that province. As Ipko Net informed earlier, it has recently founded and joined capital with the American Western Wireless International Company of Seattle. With that company Ipko Net intends to compete for the “second mobile operator” in Kosovo.

Continuation of sale of Serb companies in Kosovo and Metohija (Blic)

The Director of the Kosovo Agency for privatization, Marie Fucci tried to deny suspicious sales in the province. She also tried to protect the real value of the companies in tenders. However, UNMIK Head Harri Holkeri prevented her in doing so. Holkeri made the decision about her dismissal. Kosovo Assembly Presidency member Oliver Ivanovic said that Fucci was working completely in line with the regulations being applied in developed European countries and that she was dismissed although nobody had any objection to her work. Despite the provisions of UNSCR 1244 by which UNMIK only has the right to manage but not to decide about the property within the state, public and social sector, KTA caused damage to the economy of Serbia of over several hundreds of millions of euros, Kosovo Minister and the only Serb representative in KTA Goran Bogdanovic told Blic.

How much is Al Qaeda present in Kosovo and Metohija (Vecernje Novosti)

Unusually strong KFOR forces have occupied the Serb village of Priluzje, beneath Cicavica, as well as all other access roads on the banks of the Laba and Sitnica Rivers. Serb sources report that they had noticed an unusually large number of armored vehicles towards some other places of the central and western part of the province as well. Many link this “KFOR move” with the threat of the so-called National Movement for the Liberation of Kosovo whose commander is Fatmir Humoli. “At issue is one of the closest associates of Ramush Haradinaj, who was tried during the Serb rule for enemy activities and organizing of demonstrations in Pristina. His party and its members, under the leadership of the increasingly influential Ramush Haradinaj, advocate a full turn in the policy of Kosovo Albanians and turning towards the Islamic world, considering that Kosovo’s independence can be gained only by force, and not by political means. Some 10 000 of his followers, which Humoli mentions, are surely the heart of a fundamentalist organization, firmly linked with Al Qaeda. It is not excluded that they will start kidnapping and killing, as in Iraq, as they had already announced,” estimates the famous Kosovo historian, professor Branislav Milutinovic, the Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy in Kosovska Mitrovica.

Boy found dead (Balkan)

KPS regional spokesperson Fatmir Djurdjijali has announced at a press conference in Prizren that a body of a 13-year-old boy was found in the Rasavica River, 25 km south of Dragas. He said the boy was killed by a strike with a hard object, most probably a stone. The spokesperson didn’t state the nationality of the boy, but explained that the body was transferred to Orahovac for autopsy and that the parents reported the disappearance of the boy a day earlier.

Austrian Balkan expert on division of Kosovo (Glas/Beta)

“UNMIK Head Harri Holkeri’s statement that the concept of a multi-ethnic Kosovo has failed could mean that the international community now cannot see any other solution except Kosovo’s ethnic cantonization,” Kristin fon Kohl told Weiner Zeitung. The Austrian expert for the Balkans Kristin fon Kohl considers that first jobs, patience, and only then dialogue are necessary for the resolution of the situation in Kosovo. According to her, Albanians are divided regarding the recent violence against Serbs. Albanian intellectuals are “embittered” over the events because they are aware that this situation suits Serbia, while “naïve or militant Kosovars think that violence will attract the attention of the West to change its stand towards the independence of the province.”

Marilina Veka, author of the book “Lost Kosovo?” for Politika (Politika)

Not even after almost five years since the arrival of KFOR and UNMIK, there is no safety in Kosovo and Metohija, or freedom of movement for Serbs and other non-Albanians. This has also been demonstrated by the escalation of violence of 17 and 18 March this year and the attack by Albanians on Serbs. “Is this peace?” asks Marilina Veka, journalist of the Italian paper Rinashita and author of the book “Lost Kosovo?” Marilina Veka was a witness, and studied carefully how UNMIK and KFOR behaved over the past five years. Our collocutor gives an example from the village of Cernica near Gnjilane. There was a KFOR checkpoint with American soldiers in the center of that mixed village. “On 27 May, 2000, one Albanian shot five-year-old boy Milos Petrovic in the head, who was playing in front of his house… A KFOR patrol arrived. A young American soldier took little Milos on his hands. Tears appeared on his face. He asked his captain: “Why are we protecting Albanians? Do you see what they are doing?” The captain just shrugged his soldiers. The young soldier aimed his gun at the captain, but didn’t shoot. Immediately after that he was sent back to America,” Marilina Veka writes. Serbs reported the name of the Albanian who killed little Milos. KFOR announced they would arrest the criminal. It was a spectacle. Helicopters flew over, armored transporters arrived. The house of the Albanian was searched. He was arrested but immediately released because, allegedly, there was no evidence against him. He is free today. “Is there are a more clear and horrible message from the murder of that innocent boy?” asks Marilina Veka.

Kosovo Becoming Hotbed Of Global Terrorism, Says Kostunica

Moscow, 12 Apr (Tanjug) - Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said in an interview to the Russian television station TVC on Monday that Kosovo and Metohija is becoming a hotbed of global terrorism and that the NATO mission in that province is at the brink of disaster.

International terrorism has moved from big cities into small towns and villages in Kosovo and Metohija. Ethnic Albanian terrorism has a clear goal - to execute ethnic cleansing, Kostunica said, adding that this terrorism differs from the terrorist actions carried out in the United States, Spain and Russia.