The clash happened overnight in a Serbian enclave in Northern Kosovo. Serbs clashed with KFOR --NATO Kosovo Force--as they tried to remove barricades set up by the Serbs. The standoff has been ongoing since Kosovo tried to send border police to the north last July.
The Serbian government is under pressure from the European Union to remove the barricades or risk the failure of its candidacy for future membership in the Union. Given the state of the European Union that might not be a huge loss for Serbia.
A more pressing issue for the Serbian government is that the opposition supports the Serbs in the enclave very strongly. The government may lose votes if it gives in to EU pressure. Even though the government is pro-Western it may be hesitant to do anything that could rouse Serb nationalists against them.
Serbia lost control of Kosovo in 1999. Formerly Kosovo was part of Serbia and before that Yugoslavia. NATO bombed Serbia for 78 days after an attempt by then leader Milosevic to expel Albanians from Kosovo. After the Albanian separatist insurgency won there was in effect a cleansing of Serbs and other non-Albanians from Kosovo except that in the north a Serbian majority enclave remains.
Kosovo declared independence unilaterally and was recognized by more than 80 countries even though the terms of independence were supposed to be negotiated with Serbia. For more see this article.
Showing posts with label Kosovo independence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kosovo independence. Show all posts
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Monday, August 25, 2008
The blowback from Kosovo
This is from antiwar.com
The U.S. recognised Kosovo when it unilaterally declared independence in the absence of any agreement with Serbia. Serbia always claimed that Kosovo was a part of its sovereign territory. This did not matter as the U.S. was able to get many countries to go along and recognise the newly minted state. At the time Russia warned that the recognition of Kosovo's independence without the agreement of Serbia would change Russia's policy with respect to Abkhazia and South Ossetia. This is the culmination of that change. Bush continually stresses that Abkhazia and South Ossetia are territories within Georgia in effect part of sovereign Georgia. In the light of Kosovo this is complete hypocrisy. While Serbia with Russian support complained about U.S. recognition of Kosovo the U.S. simply ignored Russia. Now Russia will return the favor with respect to South Ossetia and Abkazia. Of course most of the western media will treat the two cases quite differently and complain of Russian aggression.
Russian Parliament Unanimously Backs Independence for Abkhazia, South Ossetia
Posted August 25, 2008
In a move many see as retaliation for the February recognition of independence for Kosovo, both houses of Russia’s parliament voted unanimously to recognize the independence of the separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Though not legally binding, the vote urges Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to officially recognize them and establish full diplomatic relations.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry condemned the vote as a continuation of “Russian aggression” and a violation of Georgia’s sovereignty. Yesterday, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili vowed to rebuild his shattered military and reclaim the enclaves. Earlier this month, the Bush Administration reiterated its commitment to Georgia’s “territorial integrity.”
Both enclaves have enjoyed varying degrees of autonomy since 1992, and tensions with the Georgian government have led to intermittent violence. This all came to a head earlier this month, when the Georgian government launched an offensive against South Ossetia, shelling its capital city of Tskhinvali. The Russian military, along with thousands of Abkhaz and Ossetian volunteers, swept into Tskhinvali, and advanced into parts of Georgia. Though a cease-fire has been declared, Russian troops remain in and around certain strategic Georgian cities.
In February, the breakaway province of Kosovo, long part of Serbia, declared independence with United States backing. At the time, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that the move would affect Russia’s policy toward Abkhazia and South Ossetia’s long-standing independence claims.
The U.S. recognised Kosovo when it unilaterally declared independence in the absence of any agreement with Serbia. Serbia always claimed that Kosovo was a part of its sovereign territory. This did not matter as the U.S. was able to get many countries to go along and recognise the newly minted state. At the time Russia warned that the recognition of Kosovo's independence without the agreement of Serbia would change Russia's policy with respect to Abkhazia and South Ossetia. This is the culmination of that change. Bush continually stresses that Abkhazia and South Ossetia are territories within Georgia in effect part of sovereign Georgia. In the light of Kosovo this is complete hypocrisy. While Serbia with Russian support complained about U.S. recognition of Kosovo the U.S. simply ignored Russia. Now Russia will return the favor with respect to South Ossetia and Abkazia. Of course most of the western media will treat the two cases quite differently and complain of Russian aggression.
Russian Parliament Unanimously Backs Independence for Abkhazia, South Ossetia
Posted August 25, 2008
In a move many see as retaliation for the February recognition of independence for Kosovo, both houses of Russia’s parliament voted unanimously to recognize the independence of the separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Though not legally binding, the vote urges Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to officially recognize them and establish full diplomatic relations.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry condemned the vote as a continuation of “Russian aggression” and a violation of Georgia’s sovereignty. Yesterday, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili vowed to rebuild his shattered military and reclaim the enclaves. Earlier this month, the Bush Administration reiterated its commitment to Georgia’s “territorial integrity.”
Both enclaves have enjoyed varying degrees of autonomy since 1992, and tensions with the Georgian government have led to intermittent violence. This all came to a head earlier this month, when the Georgian government launched an offensive against South Ossetia, shelling its capital city of Tskhinvali. The Russian military, along with thousands of Abkhaz and Ossetian volunteers, swept into Tskhinvali, and advanced into parts of Georgia. Though a cease-fire has been declared, Russian troops remain in and around certain strategic Georgian cities.
In February, the breakaway province of Kosovo, long part of Serbia, declared independence with United States backing. At the time, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that the move would affect Russia’s policy toward Abkhazia and South Ossetia’s long-standing independence claims.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Serbian leader calls snap polls
This is from the BBC. Given that many in the West particularly the U.S. have recognised Kosovo it would not be surprising if the nationalists opposed to Western influence should triumph in these elections. Perhaps the Serbian enclaves in Kosovo may attempt to join Serbia.\
As expected from an august organisation such as the BBC the legality and issues surrounding the unliteral declaration are left undscussed. BBC is now over the pond Fox news lite with British characteristics.
Serbian leader calls snap polls
Serbian President Boris Tadic has dissolved parliament, calling snap elections for 11 May.
The move follows last week's collapse of the governing coalition led by Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica.
Ministers failed to agree on whether to suspend ties with the European Union, in protest at recognition of Kosovan independence by some EU members.
EU officials have said they hope Serbia's pro-EU parties will win the May elections.
The fresh ballot is seen as a way out of Serbia's deepening political crisis, says the BBC's Helen Fawkes in Belgrade.
Belgrade's dilemma
"The elections are a democratic way for citizens to say how Serbia should develop in years to come," President Tadic said in a statement.
Mr Kostunica, who leads the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS), says recognition of Kosovo by major EU states is illegal.
"All parties want Serbia to join the EU, but the question is how - with or without Kosovo," he said last week.
President Tadic says Belgrade will only be able to defend its right to Kosovo if it joins the EU.
He says the main difference between himself and his prime minister is not on Kosovo but Serbia's "European and economic outlook".
Kosovo's declaration of independence on 17 February came nearly a decade after Nato forces expelled Serbian forces from the majority ethnic Albanian territory.
The US and most EU states have recognised Pristina's unilateral move.
Serbia and its ally Russia say they will never accept it.
As expected from an august organisation such as the BBC the legality and issues surrounding the unliteral declaration are left undscussed. BBC is now over the pond Fox news lite with British characteristics.
Serbian leader calls snap polls
Serbian President Boris Tadic has dissolved parliament, calling snap elections for 11 May.
The move follows last week's collapse of the governing coalition led by Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica.
Ministers failed to agree on whether to suspend ties with the European Union, in protest at recognition of Kosovan independence by some EU members.
EU officials have said they hope Serbia's pro-EU parties will win the May elections.
The fresh ballot is seen as a way out of Serbia's deepening political crisis, says the BBC's Helen Fawkes in Belgrade.
Belgrade's dilemma
"The elections are a democratic way for citizens to say how Serbia should develop in years to come," President Tadic said in a statement.
Mr Kostunica, who leads the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS), says recognition of Kosovo by major EU states is illegal.
"All parties want Serbia to join the EU, but the question is how - with or without Kosovo," he said last week.
President Tadic says Belgrade will only be able to defend its right to Kosovo if it joins the EU.
He says the main difference between himself and his prime minister is not on Kosovo but Serbia's "European and economic outlook".
Kosovo's declaration of independence on 17 February came nearly a decade after Nato forces expelled Serbian forces from the majority ethnic Albanian territory.
The US and most EU states have recognised Pristina's unilateral move.
Serbia and its ally Russia say they will never accept it.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Kosovo and Greater Albania
The Greater Albania push is an aspect of Kosovo's declaration of independence that is ignored by much of the media. Imagine those seeking independence are carrying mostly Albanian flags. I noticed that there were also many U.S. flags in some demonstrations since the Kosovans are quite appreciative of the fact that the U.S. had assured them that they would recognise Kosovo.
The recognition just ignores that the U.N. recognises the "sanctity" of existing borders so that parts of a country cannot simply secede without the consent of the country as a whole. There was not even a referendum held in Kosovo. While there is little doubt the vast majority in Kosovo do not want to be part of Serbia the unilateral declaration has split the global community. Other countries that face separatist challenges such as China, Russia and Spain have not recognised the state. Canada is still sitting on the fence but in the end will no doubt go along with the U.S. U.K. Italy etc.
Operation Independence Kosovo: NATO and the New Step Toward "Greater Albania"
Sungur Savran
The celebrations by the Albanian people of Kosovo upon the declaration of an "independent and sovereign" state were aired on television extensively. Two flags were waved during these celebrations. One was the familiar U.S. flag. And the second one? This flag with a double-headed black eagle on a red background, which country might that belong to? Better not to be too rash and say that it is the flag of the newly "independent" state of Kosovo, for that would be misunderstanding the true nature of what has happened. In the newly "independent" state of Kosovo, the people celebrating on the streets were waving the flag of another country. This was the flag of Albania!
The declaration of the "independence" of Kosovo is, first and foremost, a vast step forward for one of the pet projects of the U.S. in the Balkans, the creation of a "Greater Albania." This fact is so tangible, so concrete that when Martti Ahtisaari, the Special Envoy of the United Nations (UN), in a report he submitted in spring 2007 after two years of negotiations between Kosovo and Serbia had reached a deadlock, recommended the "independence" of Kosovo, he had to qualify this by a special formula, "supervised independence." And against what would the "independence" of Kosovo be "supervised"? Why, the first precondition that Ahtisaari had to propose was to rule out unification with Albania! The mere imposition of this qualification demonstrates, beyond a shadow of doubt, that the real aspiration of the Albanians of Kosovo (and of the U.S.) is the creation of a "Greater Albania" through unification with the present state of Albania. Hence, the "independence" of Kosovo is sham independence.
And who is supposed to "supervise" the "independence" of Kosovo? The answer to this question gives us the second dimension of Kosovo's "independence." It is a well-known fact that, after the seventy four-day air strikes inflicted on the former Yugoslavia by NATO, Kosovo was delivered to the civilian rule of UNMIK (the UN Kosovo Mission) and the military control of KFOR (the Kosovo Peace Force). According to the terms of the resolution adopted by the UN after the termination of the Kosovo War, Kosovo was to remain Serbian territory, but was also to be converted into a "UN protectorate." This was a legal formula that was permeated with contradiction, since the status of "protectorate" is an entirely colonial status and to declare a territory that is under the sovereignty of an independent state (the former Yugoslavia and today's successor state of Serbia) a colonial belonging defies logic.
The "independence" granted today to Kosovo removes this contradiction, making it thereby a straightforward colony, one under multilateral rule. The initiative regarding the declaration of "independence" does not belong to Hashim Thaci, the leader of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army become prime minister in January this year, but Ahtisaari on behalf of the UN. It is a travesty to pretend that Thaci is a "hero." Imperialism has offered "independence" to the KLA on a golden platter. Today Kosovo is controlled by 17 thousand NATO troops. It is being delivered to the rule of the EU, which will be sending an additional force of 1800 to police the territory. "Independence" on the force of arms of others is sham independence!
The real historic significance of this sham independence resides in this, that the U.S. and the EU have, through the Kosovo War, forcibly wrested a part of Serbia away from the country! (It would not be futile to remind EU fanatics that, in contrast to the Iraq War of 2003 for instance, all the big EU countries were comrades in arms with the USA, and even led, the Kosovo war.) The 1999 war was fought on the declared grounds of stopping the cruel treatment and ethnic cleansing the Albanians of Kosovo were suffering at the hands of Milosevic. But the final outcome nine years later demonstrates that the real aim was to carry to its conclusion the dismemberment of Yugoslavia. "Operation independence Kosovo" is but the belated consummation of the forcible destruction of Yugoslavia in the years 1991 to 1999.
A clear understanding regarding the aims of this imperialistic policy is of paramount importance. To start with, the Balkans are the South-western tip of Eurasia, an immense region that has come up for grabs as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the other degenerated workers' states in Europe between 1989 and 1992. It was imperative for imperialism to prevent the survival of a state (Federal Yugoslavia) that had the capacity of obstructing imperialist plans in the Balkans. The dismemberment of Yugoslavia was the most violent form that capitalist restoration took in this historical period. Secondly, for the smooth implementation of EU plans to annex central and Eastern Europe, it was necessary to carve Federal Yugoslavia into mini-states and subsequently to destroy the historically strong identity of the Balkans through the imposition of the concept of "Southeast Europe." The so-called "Southeast Europe Stability Pact" (of which Turkey is such an ardent protagonist) is a product of this operation. Third, the Albanians were promoted as a special ally of the USA. Albania has today become the stronghold of reaction and pro-imperialist policies, as well as the Balkan centre of trafficking in drugs and prostitution. The project of "Greater Albania" is a U.S. initiative, developed as a counterweight to the preponderance of the Southern Slavs in the Balkans. Today Albania and Kosovo seem to embody the two heads of the eagle on the Albanian flag. Tomorrow, the eagle may become triple-headed, with the Albanians of Macedonia joining the band wagon. The "independence" of Kosovo should be situated in this overall picture.
The Albanians of Kosovo seem to be overwhelmingly in favour of secession from Serbia. Would it not be appropriate under these circumstances, it might be asked, for internationalists to support this "independence" on the basis of the right of nations to self-determination? The specific evolution of Kosovo history and the existence of a project to establish a "Greater Albania" complicate matters. Before it came under Ottoman domination in the wake of the notorious Kosovo War of 1399, Kosovo used to be the historic centre of Serbia. It was only towards the end of the 19th century that Albanians became the majority in this territory as a result of the ethnic cleansing of the Serbs under Ottoman colonial policy and the support extended by the Empire to Islamised Albanians as against the Serbs. Add to this the fact that Albanians already wield a state that neighbours the Serbian state. Under these circumstances the national question in Kosovo overlaps with that of the quest of one state to expand its territory (and population) at the expense of another. Beyond the plain and simple principle of the right of nations to self-determination, we see here a struggle for power between two sovereign states. But all these arguments pale beside the fact that the status accorded to Kosovo today has nothing to do with "independence." A new colony is born. How long the status of protectorate will last is totally unforeseeable, given the policy of imperialism in the Balkans.
That Turkey should have recognised the "independence" of Kosovo immediately, on the same day as the U.S. and the larger states of the EU, and this despite its own Kurdish question and its fears regarding the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq, has certainly nothing to do with respect for the rights of oppressed nations. The ruling classes of Turkey have made it a principle to serve the policies of imperialism, and of U.S. imperialism in particular, in the region of Eurasia, as long as these do not come into direct conflict with its own interests as in the case of the Kurdish question. The Eurasia policy of Turkey, pursued since Özal established it in 1991, has taken the form of military support to all kinds of imperialist endeavours (Somali, Afghanistan, Lebanon etc.)
During the Kosovo War, Turkish bombers poured death over the Serbian people arm in arm with the air forces of imperialist powers, three military air strips were allocated to imperialist fighter jets (but were not ultimately used because the war ended earlier than predicted), and the supposedly nationalist prime minister Ecevit declared, in the early stages of the war, that Turkey was prepared for land combat. The recognition of the "independence" of Kosovo implies that Turkey continues to play the game of imperialism and is directly connected to the agreement of 5 November 2007 between Bush and Erdogan related to the bombing of Kurdish (PKK) targets in Northern Iraq. Given the oppression of the Serbs by the Turks and the role they played under the Ottoman Empire in the forcible Islamisation of Kosovo, this policy becomes all the more shameless.
Sungur Savran is editor of the newspaper Isci Mucadelesi (Workers' Struggle) in Istanbul, Turkey (http://www.iscimucadelesi.net/).
The recognition just ignores that the U.N. recognises the "sanctity" of existing borders so that parts of a country cannot simply secede without the consent of the country as a whole. There was not even a referendum held in Kosovo. While there is little doubt the vast majority in Kosovo do not want to be part of Serbia the unilateral declaration has split the global community. Other countries that face separatist challenges such as China, Russia and Spain have not recognised the state. Canada is still sitting on the fence but in the end will no doubt go along with the U.S. U.K. Italy etc.
Operation Independence Kosovo: NATO and the New Step Toward "Greater Albania"
Sungur Savran
The celebrations by the Albanian people of Kosovo upon the declaration of an "independent and sovereign" state were aired on television extensively. Two flags were waved during these celebrations. One was the familiar U.S. flag. And the second one? This flag with a double-headed black eagle on a red background, which country might that belong to? Better not to be too rash and say that it is the flag of the newly "independent" state of Kosovo, for that would be misunderstanding the true nature of what has happened. In the newly "independent" state of Kosovo, the people celebrating on the streets were waving the flag of another country. This was the flag of Albania!
The declaration of the "independence" of Kosovo is, first and foremost, a vast step forward for one of the pet projects of the U.S. in the Balkans, the creation of a "Greater Albania." This fact is so tangible, so concrete that when Martti Ahtisaari, the Special Envoy of the United Nations (UN), in a report he submitted in spring 2007 after two years of negotiations between Kosovo and Serbia had reached a deadlock, recommended the "independence" of Kosovo, he had to qualify this by a special formula, "supervised independence." And against what would the "independence" of Kosovo be "supervised"? Why, the first precondition that Ahtisaari had to propose was to rule out unification with Albania! The mere imposition of this qualification demonstrates, beyond a shadow of doubt, that the real aspiration of the Albanians of Kosovo (and of the U.S.) is the creation of a "Greater Albania" through unification with the present state of Albania. Hence, the "independence" of Kosovo is sham independence.
And who is supposed to "supervise" the "independence" of Kosovo? The answer to this question gives us the second dimension of Kosovo's "independence." It is a well-known fact that, after the seventy four-day air strikes inflicted on the former Yugoslavia by NATO, Kosovo was delivered to the civilian rule of UNMIK (the UN Kosovo Mission) and the military control of KFOR (the Kosovo Peace Force). According to the terms of the resolution adopted by the UN after the termination of the Kosovo War, Kosovo was to remain Serbian territory, but was also to be converted into a "UN protectorate." This was a legal formula that was permeated with contradiction, since the status of "protectorate" is an entirely colonial status and to declare a territory that is under the sovereignty of an independent state (the former Yugoslavia and today's successor state of Serbia) a colonial belonging defies logic.
The "independence" granted today to Kosovo removes this contradiction, making it thereby a straightforward colony, one under multilateral rule. The initiative regarding the declaration of "independence" does not belong to Hashim Thaci, the leader of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army become prime minister in January this year, but Ahtisaari on behalf of the UN. It is a travesty to pretend that Thaci is a "hero." Imperialism has offered "independence" to the KLA on a golden platter. Today Kosovo is controlled by 17 thousand NATO troops. It is being delivered to the rule of the EU, which will be sending an additional force of 1800 to police the territory. "Independence" on the force of arms of others is sham independence!
The real historic significance of this sham independence resides in this, that the U.S. and the EU have, through the Kosovo War, forcibly wrested a part of Serbia away from the country! (It would not be futile to remind EU fanatics that, in contrast to the Iraq War of 2003 for instance, all the big EU countries were comrades in arms with the USA, and even led, the Kosovo war.) The 1999 war was fought on the declared grounds of stopping the cruel treatment and ethnic cleansing the Albanians of Kosovo were suffering at the hands of Milosevic. But the final outcome nine years later demonstrates that the real aim was to carry to its conclusion the dismemberment of Yugoslavia. "Operation independence Kosovo" is but the belated consummation of the forcible destruction of Yugoslavia in the years 1991 to 1999.
A clear understanding regarding the aims of this imperialistic policy is of paramount importance. To start with, the Balkans are the South-western tip of Eurasia, an immense region that has come up for grabs as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the other degenerated workers' states in Europe between 1989 and 1992. It was imperative for imperialism to prevent the survival of a state (Federal Yugoslavia) that had the capacity of obstructing imperialist plans in the Balkans. The dismemberment of Yugoslavia was the most violent form that capitalist restoration took in this historical period. Secondly, for the smooth implementation of EU plans to annex central and Eastern Europe, it was necessary to carve Federal Yugoslavia into mini-states and subsequently to destroy the historically strong identity of the Balkans through the imposition of the concept of "Southeast Europe." The so-called "Southeast Europe Stability Pact" (of which Turkey is such an ardent protagonist) is a product of this operation. Third, the Albanians were promoted as a special ally of the USA. Albania has today become the stronghold of reaction and pro-imperialist policies, as well as the Balkan centre of trafficking in drugs and prostitution. The project of "Greater Albania" is a U.S. initiative, developed as a counterweight to the preponderance of the Southern Slavs in the Balkans. Today Albania and Kosovo seem to embody the two heads of the eagle on the Albanian flag. Tomorrow, the eagle may become triple-headed, with the Albanians of Macedonia joining the band wagon. The "independence" of Kosovo should be situated in this overall picture.
The Albanians of Kosovo seem to be overwhelmingly in favour of secession from Serbia. Would it not be appropriate under these circumstances, it might be asked, for internationalists to support this "independence" on the basis of the right of nations to self-determination? The specific evolution of Kosovo history and the existence of a project to establish a "Greater Albania" complicate matters. Before it came under Ottoman domination in the wake of the notorious Kosovo War of 1399, Kosovo used to be the historic centre of Serbia. It was only towards the end of the 19th century that Albanians became the majority in this territory as a result of the ethnic cleansing of the Serbs under Ottoman colonial policy and the support extended by the Empire to Islamised Albanians as against the Serbs. Add to this the fact that Albanians already wield a state that neighbours the Serbian state. Under these circumstances the national question in Kosovo overlaps with that of the quest of one state to expand its territory (and population) at the expense of another. Beyond the plain and simple principle of the right of nations to self-determination, we see here a struggle for power between two sovereign states. But all these arguments pale beside the fact that the status accorded to Kosovo today has nothing to do with "independence." A new colony is born. How long the status of protectorate will last is totally unforeseeable, given the policy of imperialism in the Balkans.
That Turkey should have recognised the "independence" of Kosovo immediately, on the same day as the U.S. and the larger states of the EU, and this despite its own Kurdish question and its fears regarding the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq, has certainly nothing to do with respect for the rights of oppressed nations. The ruling classes of Turkey have made it a principle to serve the policies of imperialism, and of U.S. imperialism in particular, in the region of Eurasia, as long as these do not come into direct conflict with its own interests as in the case of the Kurdish question. The Eurasia policy of Turkey, pursued since Özal established it in 1991, has taken the form of military support to all kinds of imperialist endeavours (Somali, Afghanistan, Lebanon etc.)
During the Kosovo War, Turkish bombers poured death over the Serbian people arm in arm with the air forces of imperialist powers, three military air strips were allocated to imperialist fighter jets (but were not ultimately used because the war ended earlier than predicted), and the supposedly nationalist prime minister Ecevit declared, in the early stages of the war, that Turkey was prepared for land combat. The recognition of the "independence" of Kosovo implies that Turkey continues to play the game of imperialism and is directly connected to the agreement of 5 November 2007 between Bush and Erdogan related to the bombing of Kurdish (PKK) targets in Northern Iraq. Given the oppression of the Serbs by the Turks and the role they played under the Ottoman Empire in the forcible Islamisation of Kosovo, this policy becomes all the more shameless.
Sungur Savran is editor of the newspaper Isci Mucadelesi (Workers' Struggle) in Istanbul, Turkey (http://www.iscimucadelesi.net/).
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Serbian Enclave Vows never to secede.
This is from ABC news.
Perhaps this will lead to demands to be annexed to Serbia!
Serbian Enclave Vows Never to Secede
Time Has Stood Still in Kosovska Mitrovica, Where the Locals Still Act Like Nothing Is Going to Change
By DRAGANA JOVANOVIC
MITROVICA, Kosovo, Feb. 16, 2008—
Surrounded by working-class, Tito-era skyscrapers, a triangular dirt area sits at the center of northern Mitrovica, the main Serbian enclave in Kosovo.
In this muddy, grim and miserable setting sits a brand new beautiful bronze statue. Erected in the middle of the plain earth, it features a handsome man with mustache, wearing a coat with starry decorations. But this isn't some Serbian hero of the liberation wars of the 19th century against the Ottoman occupation.
The character, a certain Chcherbina Gregory Stepanovich (1868-1903), was a representative of the Russian tsar in Mitrovica, which at the time was the largest city of Kosovo. He spent his time hunting. One day, wandering alone in the woods, he was assassinated by "katchaks," Albanian bandits.
Two tall poles surround the statue. One flag has horizontal stripes -- the red, blue and white of Serbia. On the other pole waves a Russian flag with similar white stripes, red and blue. To make things even clearer, a banner hangs from the intersection crying: "Rusijo pomozi" (Russia, come to our help).
While the Albanians -- who make up 90 percent of the province's population and are supported by the United States -- are preparing to proclaim a unilateral declaration of independence, Russia has informed the United Nations that it would veto recognition of the new state as long as Serbia does not agree.
The United States is admired by Kosovo's ethnic Albanians for its support of their struggle to separate from Serbia. A U.S.-led NATO bombing campaign halted a Serb offensive against ethnic Albanian separatists in 1999. Kosovo is the only predominantly Muslim territory where people are completely pro-American. American flags are everywhere and the main street of the capital Pristina is called Bill Clinton Boulevard.
The United States and most European Union members, except the countries that have their own separatist problems like Spain, Cyprus and Romania, support Kosovo's independence after years of international administration.
But Russia, a traditional Serb ally, showing Orthodox Slavic solidarity with the Serbs, has objected to any unilateral declaration, fearing it would encourage other separatist movements in the region. Russia is using Kosovo for its tactical advantage, as part of a strategy to reassert itself on the international stage.
"International law is clear: Kosovo is an integral part of the territory of my country, Serbia, I would never accept its independence, or even its division," explains Velimir Krstic, a retired high school teacher, who has always lived in Mitrovica. "I do not want Serbs to be expelled from here, as they were in 1999, expelled from Pristina or Metohija ( in the western part of the province, which historically belonged to the Serbian Orthodox Church)."
It is almost impossible to find a difference of opinion within this community. Even among the more moderate like Bojan Vasic, a 24-year-old law student.
"Both sides are ethnically homogeneous too, it encourages extremism. Therefore, nationalism against nationalism," he says. "And if the United States and the Europeans rush to recognize an independent Kosovo, this will only enlarge a sense of humiliation among Serbs and their radicalization. But we will not leave."
In the spring of 1999, a U.S.-led NATO bombing campaign halted the onslaught of forced evictions and killings of up to tens of thousands of ethnic Albanians by Serbian security forces and paramilitary bands.
Belgrade authorities were forced to withdraw its forces, and NATO deployed thousands of peacekeeping troops, allowing the estimated 700,000 ethnic Albanians to return from Albania and Macedonia. NATO forces, however, failed to prevent a revenge ethnic cleansing campaign against non-Albanians led by the guerrillas of the Kosovo Liberation Army. Fleeing murders, kidnappings and arson, more than 200,000 Serbs left for Serbia. During the summer of 1999, Pristina was "cleansed" of it's 40,000 Serb inhabitants.
Only the northern part of Mitrovica (separated by the Ibar River) withstood the wave of vengeance, thanks largely to French troops who put up roadblocks on the two bridges spanning the Ibar River.
Since then, the situation has not changed. Representing nine percent of the area of the province, the enclave is home to 50,000 Mitrovica Serbs, who use Serbian money, read Serbian newspapers, use Serbian license plates and have neither the intention to flee, nor to accept authority from anywhere other than Belgrade.
Oliver Ivanovic, former Deputy Director General of the Feronikl mining company, was the main organizer of the Serbian self-defense mobilization in the summer of 1999. When asked what his reaction will be to the day when the Albanians unilaterally proclaim their independence, he replies quietly, with the calm of a former national karate champion: "I will simply ignore that statement, it's illegal under international law."
Situated in an enclave where industrial production has steadily declined since the fall of Tito's communist regime, the Serbs in Kosovska Mitrovica know that the winds of history do not blow their way. But they do not care. They are proud of their "inat," a Serbian word meaning both stubbornness and spite.
"This is the same inat that had the Serbs reject the ultimatum of Austria-Hungary in July 1914, and the dictates of Hitler in April 1941," says orthopedic surgeon Marko Jaksic, chairman of Parliament of "Municipalities of the Serb enclave of Mitrovica".
"We have lived here for centuries. Why abandon our land, under the pretext that the Americans demand it? The wind of history [will] eventually turn in our favor. As always in the Balkans, whoever wins is the one who is able to show more patience. You see, one day we will return to Kosovo as a whole," exclaims this huge supporter of Serbian Prime Minister Kostunica.
When asked if people would be ready to defend themselves against Albanian assaults (according to a UN report, there are 400,000 Kalashnikovs secretly stashed on the territory of Kosovo), the surgeon simply replies: " Belgrade will never drop us. Ultimately, Serbia ia a guarantee for our security!"
Young Serbs here, mostly condemned to unemployment and inactivity, never cross the river to the Albanian neighborhoods or to the capital of Pristina, because they are scared. In March 2004, the old Serbian Orthodox church was burned during a massive pogrom that NATO was unable to prevent.
The tombs of a Serb cemetery in southern Mitrovica were vandalized, while the Albanian cemetery north Mitrovica has remained intact (thanks to the intervention of Oliver Ivanovic).This time, Kosovo's NATO-led security force, known as KFOR, whose numbers throughout Kosovo total some 16,000, is confident it can keep the peace whatever happens in the territory.
On a hill overlooking the north of the city, not far from the communist concrete monument commemorating the resistance of Kosovo children to Nazi occupation, a sports center is under construction with funding from Belgrade. Nothing else new is being built in North Mitrovica, a city that vaguely feels that it is doomed, but does not accept it.
Copyright © 2008 ABC News Internet Ventures
Perhaps this will lead to demands to be annexed to Serbia!
Serbian Enclave Vows Never to Secede
Time Has Stood Still in Kosovska Mitrovica, Where the Locals Still Act Like Nothing Is Going to Change
By DRAGANA JOVANOVIC
MITROVICA, Kosovo, Feb. 16, 2008—
Surrounded by working-class, Tito-era skyscrapers, a triangular dirt area sits at the center of northern Mitrovica, the main Serbian enclave in Kosovo.
In this muddy, grim and miserable setting sits a brand new beautiful bronze statue. Erected in the middle of the plain earth, it features a handsome man with mustache, wearing a coat with starry decorations. But this isn't some Serbian hero of the liberation wars of the 19th century against the Ottoman occupation.
The character, a certain Chcherbina Gregory Stepanovich (1868-1903), was a representative of the Russian tsar in Mitrovica, which at the time was the largest city of Kosovo. He spent his time hunting. One day, wandering alone in the woods, he was assassinated by "katchaks," Albanian bandits.
Two tall poles surround the statue. One flag has horizontal stripes -- the red, blue and white of Serbia. On the other pole waves a Russian flag with similar white stripes, red and blue. To make things even clearer, a banner hangs from the intersection crying: "Rusijo pomozi" (Russia, come to our help).
While the Albanians -- who make up 90 percent of the province's population and are supported by the United States -- are preparing to proclaim a unilateral declaration of independence, Russia has informed the United Nations that it would veto recognition of the new state as long as Serbia does not agree.
The United States is admired by Kosovo's ethnic Albanians for its support of their struggle to separate from Serbia. A U.S.-led NATO bombing campaign halted a Serb offensive against ethnic Albanian separatists in 1999. Kosovo is the only predominantly Muslim territory where people are completely pro-American. American flags are everywhere and the main street of the capital Pristina is called Bill Clinton Boulevard.
The United States and most European Union members, except the countries that have their own separatist problems like Spain, Cyprus and Romania, support Kosovo's independence after years of international administration.
But Russia, a traditional Serb ally, showing Orthodox Slavic solidarity with the Serbs, has objected to any unilateral declaration, fearing it would encourage other separatist movements in the region. Russia is using Kosovo for its tactical advantage, as part of a strategy to reassert itself on the international stage.
"International law is clear: Kosovo is an integral part of the territory of my country, Serbia, I would never accept its independence, or even its division," explains Velimir Krstic, a retired high school teacher, who has always lived in Mitrovica. "I do not want Serbs to be expelled from here, as they were in 1999, expelled from Pristina or Metohija ( in the western part of the province, which historically belonged to the Serbian Orthodox Church)."
It is almost impossible to find a difference of opinion within this community. Even among the more moderate like Bojan Vasic, a 24-year-old law student.
"Both sides are ethnically homogeneous too, it encourages extremism. Therefore, nationalism against nationalism," he says. "And if the United States and the Europeans rush to recognize an independent Kosovo, this will only enlarge a sense of humiliation among Serbs and their radicalization. But we will not leave."
In the spring of 1999, a U.S.-led NATO bombing campaign halted the onslaught of forced evictions and killings of up to tens of thousands of ethnic Albanians by Serbian security forces and paramilitary bands.
Belgrade authorities were forced to withdraw its forces, and NATO deployed thousands of peacekeeping troops, allowing the estimated 700,000 ethnic Albanians to return from Albania and Macedonia. NATO forces, however, failed to prevent a revenge ethnic cleansing campaign against non-Albanians led by the guerrillas of the Kosovo Liberation Army. Fleeing murders, kidnappings and arson, more than 200,000 Serbs left for Serbia. During the summer of 1999, Pristina was "cleansed" of it's 40,000 Serb inhabitants.
Only the northern part of Mitrovica (separated by the Ibar River) withstood the wave of vengeance, thanks largely to French troops who put up roadblocks on the two bridges spanning the Ibar River.
Since then, the situation has not changed. Representing nine percent of the area of the province, the enclave is home to 50,000 Mitrovica Serbs, who use Serbian money, read Serbian newspapers, use Serbian license plates and have neither the intention to flee, nor to accept authority from anywhere other than Belgrade.
Oliver Ivanovic, former Deputy Director General of the Feronikl mining company, was the main organizer of the Serbian self-defense mobilization in the summer of 1999. When asked what his reaction will be to the day when the Albanians unilaterally proclaim their independence, he replies quietly, with the calm of a former national karate champion: "I will simply ignore that statement, it's illegal under international law."
Situated in an enclave where industrial production has steadily declined since the fall of Tito's communist regime, the Serbs in Kosovska Mitrovica know that the winds of history do not blow their way. But they do not care. They are proud of their "inat," a Serbian word meaning both stubbornness and spite.
"This is the same inat that had the Serbs reject the ultimatum of Austria-Hungary in July 1914, and the dictates of Hitler in April 1941," says orthopedic surgeon Marko Jaksic, chairman of Parliament of "Municipalities of the Serb enclave of Mitrovica".
"We have lived here for centuries. Why abandon our land, under the pretext that the Americans demand it? The wind of history [will] eventually turn in our favor. As always in the Balkans, whoever wins is the one who is able to show more patience. You see, one day we will return to Kosovo as a whole," exclaims this huge supporter of Serbian Prime Minister Kostunica.
When asked if people would be ready to defend themselves against Albanian assaults (according to a UN report, there are 400,000 Kalashnikovs secretly stashed on the territory of Kosovo), the surgeon simply replies: " Belgrade will never drop us. Ultimately, Serbia ia a guarantee for our security!"
Young Serbs here, mostly condemned to unemployment and inactivity, never cross the river to the Albanian neighborhoods or to the capital of Pristina, because they are scared. In March 2004, the old Serbian Orthodox church was burned during a massive pogrom that NATO was unable to prevent.
The tombs of a Serb cemetery in southern Mitrovica were vandalized, while the Albanian cemetery north Mitrovica has remained intact (thanks to the intervention of Oliver Ivanovic).This time, Kosovo's NATO-led security force, known as KFOR, whose numbers throughout Kosovo total some 16,000, is confident it can keep the peace whatever happens in the territory.
On a hill overlooking the north of the city, not far from the communist concrete monument commemorating the resistance of Kosovo children to Nazi occupation, a sports center is under construction with funding from Belgrade. Nothing else new is being built in North Mitrovica, a city that vaguely feels that it is doomed, but does not accept it.
Copyright © 2008 ABC News Internet Ventures
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Breaking point in Kosovo
While this article mentions the ethnic cleansing by Serbia there is virtually nothing about the subsequent ethnic cleansing by the Albanian Kosovans. This is from the Guardian. This is just an excerpt from the article.
Breaking point
It's a crisis that's been simmering since 1999, when Nato troops enforced an uneasy peace on Kosovo. But from Monday, the Albanian majority in this former Yugoslav province will no longer be bound by the UN-brokered truce. And the fallout could be disastrous, as Julian Borger reports
Friday December 7, 2007
The Guardian
A Kosovo Albanian stands behind the Albanian national flag at a market in Pristina Photograph: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP-Getty
Some of the potholes have been mended on the rough tar road into Kosovo from the south, but otherwise it is unchanged, winding its way through a blighted land that has been stuck in limbo for eight years. British troops came this way as part of Nato's intervention force in June 1999, when their vehicles were festooned with flowers by enthusiastic villagers - creating the dangerous expectation of a similar floral welcome in Iraq.
Article continues
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unlike Iraq, the Kosovo invasion has gone down in history as a success. It staunched the bloodletting that had seen 10,000 people die in this, the last of the 1990s Balkan wars that broke Yugoslavia into its ethnic components. But eight years later, Nato's Kosovo force (K-For) is still there patrolling the same country roads, keeping a lid on the same fundamental problem - the unwillingness of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority and Serb minority to live together under the same flag. For most of the world, the troubled province has been out of sight and out of mind in recent years, but it is about to force its way back into the headlines. On Monday, the deadline expires for UN-brokered negotiations on power-sharing between the two peoples. The expectation is that Kosovo's Albanian-led government will go on to declare independence early in the New Year. The crisis that is now gathering momentum could not only ignite ethnic antipathies in Kosovo, but also set the west and Russia at each other's throats and send ripples of instability along other ethnic fault lines through the Balkans and the Caucasus.
The epic clash was inevitable from the moment Nato troops drove into the killing fields on that hot June day to put an end to Slobodan Milosevic's final stab at ethnic cleansing, before he was ousted as president of what remained of Yugoslavia and bundled off to the Hague war crimes tribunal.
By the late 90s, Milosevic's dreams of a Greater
Breaking point
It's a crisis that's been simmering since 1999, when Nato troops enforced an uneasy peace on Kosovo. But from Monday, the Albanian majority in this former Yugoslav province will no longer be bound by the UN-brokered truce. And the fallout could be disastrous, as Julian Borger reports
Friday December 7, 2007
The Guardian
A Kosovo Albanian stands behind the Albanian national flag at a market in Pristina Photograph: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP-Getty
Some of the potholes have been mended on the rough tar road into Kosovo from the south, but otherwise it is unchanged, winding its way through a blighted land that has been stuck in limbo for eight years. British troops came this way as part of Nato's intervention force in June 1999, when their vehicles were festooned with flowers by enthusiastic villagers - creating the dangerous expectation of a similar floral welcome in Iraq.
Article continues
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unlike Iraq, the Kosovo invasion has gone down in history as a success. It staunched the bloodletting that had seen 10,000 people die in this, the last of the 1990s Balkan wars that broke Yugoslavia into its ethnic components. But eight years later, Nato's Kosovo force (K-For) is still there patrolling the same country roads, keeping a lid on the same fundamental problem - the unwillingness of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority and Serb minority to live together under the same flag. For most of the world, the troubled province has been out of sight and out of mind in recent years, but it is about to force its way back into the headlines. On Monday, the deadline expires for UN-brokered negotiations on power-sharing between the two peoples. The expectation is that Kosovo's Albanian-led government will go on to declare independence early in the New Year. The crisis that is now gathering momentum could not only ignite ethnic antipathies in Kosovo, but also set the west and Russia at each other's throats and send ripples of instability along other ethnic fault lines through the Balkans and the Caucasus.
The epic clash was inevitable from the moment Nato troops drove into the killing fields on that hot June day to put an end to Slobodan Milosevic's final stab at ethnic cleansing, before he was ousted as president of what remained of Yugoslavia and bundled off to the Hague war crimes tribunal.
By the late 90s, Milosevic's dreams of a Greater
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Bush pushes for Kosovo Independence
This will just generate more friction with Russia. Bush doesn't seem to care. Interesting that Kosovo's separatists are mainly Muslim and often associated with terrorist tactics. But they are pro-US so what the heck. I wonder if Bush is actually serious about looking at the Russian radar proposal. Somehow I doubt it.
Bush says time to grant Kosovo independence-1
17:56 | 10/ 06/ 2007
(Adds quote, details, response to radar offer in paras 3-10)
MOSCOW, June 10 (RIA Novosti) - U.S. President George W. Bush said Sunday it was time to grant Kosovo independence pursued by the Balkan region's Albanian majority.
At a news conference in Albania Bush pledged further U.S. efforts to grant the province independence from Serbia.
"Independence is the goal. That's what the people of Kosovo need to know," Bush said. "We believe Kosovo ought to be independent."
Bush said he expected Russia, which has opposed to a UN vote on Kosovo's internationally supervised sovereignty, to change its mind.
Putin reaffirmed his position on the issue in Russia Saturday while meeting with Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, who said "seizing 15% of the territory of a UN member state" would set a "severe precedent of violating international law." Serbia has been strongly opposed to independence for Kosovo, its historical and spiritual center for centuries.
Washington pushes for a UN vote this week on the plan for Kosovo drafted by envoy Martti Ahtisaari.
Kosovo, which has a population of two million, has been a UN protectorate since NATO's 78-day bombing campaign against the former Yugoslavia ended a war between Serb forces and Muslim Albanian separatists in 1999.
President Bush was welcomed as a hero in Albania in contrast to protests that accompanied him throughout his European tour this week - in Germany where he attended a Group of Eight summit, in the Czech Republic and Poland, where he discussed missile defense plans, and Italy, where he met with Pope Benedict XVI.
On Sunday, he reiterated that Russia's proposal at the G8 summit to use the radar it rents in Azerbaijan together was logical and important as it implied cooperation in missile defense. Bush said Washington was ready to discuss the initiative.
President Putin said in Germany the radar station in the South Caucasus state could be used instead of opening new facilities in Europe. He reiterated that the U.S. missile defense plans, reportedly designed to counter possible attacks from Iran and North Korea, were directed against a nonexistent threat, and would jeopardize Russia's national security.
He earlier threatened to aim Russia's nuclear weapons on Europe, if Washington deployed missile defenses on the continent.
Bush says time to grant Kosovo independence-1
17:56 | 10/ 06/ 2007
(Adds quote, details, response to radar offer in paras 3-10)
MOSCOW, June 10 (RIA Novosti) - U.S. President George W. Bush said Sunday it was time to grant Kosovo independence pursued by the Balkan region's Albanian majority.
At a news conference in Albania Bush pledged further U.S. efforts to grant the province independence from Serbia.
"Independence is the goal. That's what the people of Kosovo need to know," Bush said. "We believe Kosovo ought to be independent."
Bush said he expected Russia, which has opposed to a UN vote on Kosovo's internationally supervised sovereignty, to change its mind.
Putin reaffirmed his position on the issue in Russia Saturday while meeting with Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, who said "seizing 15% of the territory of a UN member state" would set a "severe precedent of violating international law." Serbia has been strongly opposed to independence for Kosovo, its historical and spiritual center for centuries.
Washington pushes for a UN vote this week on the plan for Kosovo drafted by envoy Martti Ahtisaari.
Kosovo, which has a population of two million, has been a UN protectorate since NATO's 78-day bombing campaign against the former Yugoslavia ended a war between Serb forces and Muslim Albanian separatists in 1999.
President Bush was welcomed as a hero in Albania in contrast to protests that accompanied him throughout his European tour this week - in Germany where he attended a Group of Eight summit, in the Czech Republic and Poland, where he discussed missile defense plans, and Italy, where he met with Pope Benedict XVI.
On Sunday, he reiterated that Russia's proposal at the G8 summit to use the radar it rents in Azerbaijan together was logical and important as it implied cooperation in missile defense. Bush said Washington was ready to discuss the initiative.
President Putin said in Germany the radar station in the South Caucasus state could be used instead of opening new facilities in Europe. He reiterated that the U.S. missile defense plans, reportedly designed to counter possible attacks from Iran and North Korea, were directed against a nonexistent threat, and would jeopardize Russia's national security.
He earlier threatened to aim Russia's nuclear weapons on Europe, if Washington deployed missile defenses on the continent.
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Serbia rejects UN Kosovo independence plan.
Most of Kosovo has been purged of Serbs and other minorities under the watchful eye of the UN mission. There are only a few Serb enclaves remaining. It is hard to see that the Serbs can keep Kosovo as part of Serbia but there could be continuing trouble if Russia vetoes the UN plan as it might well do.
UN mediator briefs Security Council on Kosovo independence
Published: Tuesday April 3, 2007
The Security Council met behind closed doors Tuesday to hear UN chief mediator Martti Ahtisaari detail his contentious plan to grant supervised independence to Kosovo.
The 15-member body also agreed to meet informally and separately later in the day with Serbian Prime Minister Vojislac Kostunica as well as Kosovo's ethnic Albanian president Fatmir Sejdiu ahead of further consultations.
Ahtisaari's recommendations for the future status of the Albanian-majority province have already been endorsed by Kosovo Albanians, the European Union and the United States.
But his plan, unveiled last week, is strongly opposed by Belgrade and Moscow, a veto-wielding, permanent council member.
The council, which must approve Kosovo's future status, will not make any decision nor adopt any resolution during Tuesday's closed-door consultations, diplomats said.
"My sense is that it is too early to speak about a resolution," Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin told reporters.
But his French counterpart Jean-Marc de La Sabliere made it clear that the Ahtisaari plan was the only viable option for Kosovo.
"We should not delay ... It would be very risky," he added. "To keep the status quo is not an option."
"What is at stake is the stability of Europe. This is the completion of the process of the breakup of the former Yugoslavia," the French envoy said.
Diplomats, however, said the discussions on Kosovo were likely to last for weeks before a decision on whether to endorse the Ahtisaari plan is made.
They added that before that happens, the council was likely to undertake a fact-finding mission to Kosovo and Belgrade as requested by the Russian delegation.
Kosovo has been administered by a UN mission since mid-1999, after a NATO bombing campaign ended the brutal crackdown by Serbian forces against the province's ethnic-Albanian majority.
Meanwhile, NATO warned on Monday that it would not tolerate any violence in Kosovo ahead of the UN consultations.
"No one should have illusions that violence or threats of violence could in any way be an element in the final solution" to the status of the ethnic Albanian majority province, said NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.
Some 10,000 ethnic Albanians died and hundreds of thousands fled Kosovo during the 1998-1999 conflict.
"Independence is the only option for a politically stable and economically viable Kosovo," Ahtisaari said in his latest report, hailed by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders who represent 90 percent of the province's two million people.
He made it clear that in the initial phase, international supervision of an independent Kosovo would be required.
Under the scheme, the province would adopt a constitution within 120 days of its new status being confirmed, by which time the mandate of the current UN mission in Kosovo would end.
General and local elections would be held within nine months of the new status being introduced.
An international civilian representative, who would be a European Union representative, would oversee the implementation of the plan while having no direct role in administering Kosovo.
He would be aided by a NATO-led military mission and an EU police force which would "monitor, mentor and advise on all areas related to the rule of law."
That international supervisory role "would come to an end only when Kosovo has implemented the measures set forth in the settlement proposal," the UN mediator added.
However, Serbia, which views Kosovo as the cradle of its civilization, remained bitterly opposed to its proposed independence.
And Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned that Ahtisaari "will fail" if he pursues his current plan for Kosovo.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UN mediator briefs Security Council on Kosovo independence
Published: Tuesday April 3, 2007
The Security Council met behind closed doors Tuesday to hear UN chief mediator Martti Ahtisaari detail his contentious plan to grant supervised independence to Kosovo.
The 15-member body also agreed to meet informally and separately later in the day with Serbian Prime Minister Vojislac Kostunica as well as Kosovo's ethnic Albanian president Fatmir Sejdiu ahead of further consultations.
Ahtisaari's recommendations for the future status of the Albanian-majority province have already been endorsed by Kosovo Albanians, the European Union and the United States.
But his plan, unveiled last week, is strongly opposed by Belgrade and Moscow, a veto-wielding, permanent council member.
The council, which must approve Kosovo's future status, will not make any decision nor adopt any resolution during Tuesday's closed-door consultations, diplomats said.
"My sense is that it is too early to speak about a resolution," Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin told reporters.
But his French counterpart Jean-Marc de La Sabliere made it clear that the Ahtisaari plan was the only viable option for Kosovo.
"We should not delay ... It would be very risky," he added. "To keep the status quo is not an option."
"What is at stake is the stability of Europe. This is the completion of the process of the breakup of the former Yugoslavia," the French envoy said.
Diplomats, however, said the discussions on Kosovo were likely to last for weeks before a decision on whether to endorse the Ahtisaari plan is made.
They added that before that happens, the council was likely to undertake a fact-finding mission to Kosovo and Belgrade as requested by the Russian delegation.
Kosovo has been administered by a UN mission since mid-1999, after a NATO bombing campaign ended the brutal crackdown by Serbian forces against the province's ethnic-Albanian majority.
Meanwhile, NATO warned on Monday that it would not tolerate any violence in Kosovo ahead of the UN consultations.
"No one should have illusions that violence or threats of violence could in any way be an element in the final solution" to the status of the ethnic Albanian majority province, said NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.
Some 10,000 ethnic Albanians died and hundreds of thousands fled Kosovo during the 1998-1999 conflict.
"Independence is the only option for a politically stable and economically viable Kosovo," Ahtisaari said in his latest report, hailed by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders who represent 90 percent of the province's two million people.
He made it clear that in the initial phase, international supervision of an independent Kosovo would be required.
Under the scheme, the province would adopt a constitution within 120 days of its new status being confirmed, by which time the mandate of the current UN mission in Kosovo would end.
General and local elections would be held within nine months of the new status being introduced.
An international civilian representative, who would be a European Union representative, would oversee the implementation of the plan while having no direct role in administering Kosovo.
He would be aided by a NATO-led military mission and an EU police force which would "monitor, mentor and advise on all areas related to the rule of law."
That international supervisory role "would come to an end only when Kosovo has implemented the measures set forth in the settlement proposal," the UN mediator added.
However, Serbia, which views Kosovo as the cradle of its civilization, remained bitterly opposed to its proposed independence.
And Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned that Ahtisaari "will fail" if he pursues his current plan for Kosovo.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Final negotiations on Kosovo
Most of the Serbs have already been purged from Albania. Serbia has already been dismembered so it will just have to suffer one more amputation. The severed limb is 90 per cent Albania already. UN supervised ethnic cleansing obviously works. I wonder what happens if Russia vetos the plan?
Serbs, Albanians open last talks on UN Kosovo plan
Reuters
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VIENNA - Serbs and Albanians began final talks today on a UN plan for Serbia’s breakaway Kosovo province, with mediator Martti Ahtisaari inviting the two fundamentally opposed sides to find something to agree on.
“We want to give the parties a chance to go through the plan,” which offers Kosovo a path to independence supervised by the European Union, Ahtisaari told reporters.
“If we can agree on something that is not there at the moment, we will seriously consider it.”
But Ahtisaari has warned against expecting the “miracle” of a compromise between the Kosovo Albanian demand for full independence and Serbia’s offer of autonomy within Serb borders, and there was no hint of conciliation from the delegates.
“We are not rejecting the entire plan. We reject only the provisions violating the territorial integrity of Serbia,” said Serbian negotiator Slobodan Samardzic.
But sovereignty is the crunch issue.
“We believe Kosovo will be independent and we will go back with that conviction,” said Veton Surroi, speaking for the Albanians who make up 90% of Kosovo’s population of 2 million.
“Belgrade has gone through the whole year talking about territory and not about people,” he added. “What we want from our people is to have patience in the last few laps of this marathon.”
Kosovo was the cause of NATO’s first “humanitarian” war in 1999 to drive out Serb forces who killed 10000 Albanians and drove out almost 1 million in a two-year conflict with rebels.
The United Nations took control, but left Kosovo’s status open. The West sees no prospect of reimposing Serb rule.
Ahtisaari says his proposal for the people of Serbia’s ancient religious heartland is a compromise between diametrically opposed demands.
Serbia insists it must retain sovereignty, while Albanian leaders have accepted the plan but want to water down provisions for a foreign overseer and self-government for the Serb minority, which have angered many Albanians.
Serbia vows to reject all elements implying the amputation of 15% of its territory, impoverished land the size of Qatar or Connecticut.
“Serbia cannot agree to its dismemberment and the loss of its sovereignty over any part of Serbian land,” Serbian presidential adviser Vuk Jeremic told Reuters on Monday.
Today’s meeting comes a year and a day since former Finnish president Ahtisaari opened direct talks between the two.
Discussions have produced little but disagreement. Ahtisaari made public his blueprint on February 2 and said he expected the UN Security Council to impose a settlement within months.
“There is no realistic alternative to the UN proposal,” his deputy, Albert Rohan, said in comments published on Monday.
“Continuation of the current situation is impossible.”
Ahtisaari hopes to wrap up talks by March 10 and send his finished plan to the Security Council later in the month.
The bargaining looks certain to continue in New York, where UN veto holder Russia has warned repeatedly it will not support an imposed solution that Serbia does not accept.
Serbia is banking on a Russian veto.
Serbs, Albanians open last talks on UN Kosovo plan
Reuters
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VIENNA - Serbs and Albanians began final talks today on a UN plan for Serbia’s breakaway Kosovo province, with mediator Martti Ahtisaari inviting the two fundamentally opposed sides to find something to agree on.
“We want to give the parties a chance to go through the plan,” which offers Kosovo a path to independence supervised by the European Union, Ahtisaari told reporters.
“If we can agree on something that is not there at the moment, we will seriously consider it.”
But Ahtisaari has warned against expecting the “miracle” of a compromise between the Kosovo Albanian demand for full independence and Serbia’s offer of autonomy within Serb borders, and there was no hint of conciliation from the delegates.
“We are not rejecting the entire plan. We reject only the provisions violating the territorial integrity of Serbia,” said Serbian negotiator Slobodan Samardzic.
But sovereignty is the crunch issue.
“We believe Kosovo will be independent and we will go back with that conviction,” said Veton Surroi, speaking for the Albanians who make up 90% of Kosovo’s population of 2 million.
“Belgrade has gone through the whole year talking about territory and not about people,” he added. “What we want from our people is to have patience in the last few laps of this marathon.”
Kosovo was the cause of NATO’s first “humanitarian” war in 1999 to drive out Serb forces who killed 10000 Albanians and drove out almost 1 million in a two-year conflict with rebels.
The United Nations took control, but left Kosovo’s status open. The West sees no prospect of reimposing Serb rule.
Ahtisaari says his proposal for the people of Serbia’s ancient religious heartland is a compromise between diametrically opposed demands.
Serbia insists it must retain sovereignty, while Albanian leaders have accepted the plan but want to water down provisions for a foreign overseer and self-government for the Serb minority, which have angered many Albanians.
Serbia vows to reject all elements implying the amputation of 15% of its territory, impoverished land the size of Qatar or Connecticut.
“Serbia cannot agree to its dismemberment and the loss of its sovereignty over any part of Serbian land,” Serbian presidential adviser Vuk Jeremic told Reuters on Monday.
Today’s meeting comes a year and a day since former Finnish president Ahtisaari opened direct talks between the two.
Discussions have produced little but disagreement. Ahtisaari made public his blueprint on February 2 and said he expected the UN Security Council to impose a settlement within months.
“There is no realistic alternative to the UN proposal,” his deputy, Albert Rohan, said in comments published on Monday.
“Continuation of the current situation is impossible.”
Ahtisaari hopes to wrap up talks by March 10 and send his finished plan to the Security Council later in the month.
The bargaining looks certain to continue in New York, where UN veto holder Russia has warned repeatedly it will not support an imposed solution that Serbia does not accept.
Serbia is banking on a Russian veto.
Friday, February 9, 2007
Kosovo Independence will bring problems: Russian Defence Minister
It remains to be seen what will happen. Unless Serbia agrees to the terms stability is unlikely I should think. Most Serbs ironically have already been purged from Kosovo and exist only in enclaves for the most part.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20070209/60462021.html
Kosovo independence will open up Pandora's box - Russia's Ivanov
14:15 | 09/ 02/ 2007
SEVILLE, February 9 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's defense minister said granting independence to the Serbian province of Kosovo may set a dangerous precedent, triggering disintegration of other states across Eurasia.
"This may spark a chain reaction and open up Pandora's box," Sergei Ivanov said during a meeting with his German counterpart, Franz Josef Jung, in advance of a Russia-NATO Council meeting in the southern Spanish city of Seville.
Earlier this month, the United Nations mediator on Kosovo's future status, Martti Ahtisaari, unveiled his Kosovo settlement plan, containing an implicit proposal to give independence to the predominantly ethnic Albanian region, which has been a UN protectorate since 1999. Belgrade has rejected the plan, saying it is willing to grant Kosovo broad autonomy, but that it will never let the province secede from Serbia.
Ivanov said: "It all depends on how we approach the principle of territorial integrity. We can approach it from the point of view of the current political situation, or take territorial integrity as an inviolable principle."
"If hypothetically we suppose Kosovo is given independence, people in other unrecognized regions will wonder, 'So why not us as well?'"
Officials in Moscow have repeatedly indicated that if Kosovo is granted sovereignty, the international community should also recognize as independent the separatist regions in the former Soviet Union, notably Georgia's Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and Moldova's Transdnestr.
However, Germany's defense minister reiterated his support for Ahtisaari's Kosovo settlement plan, saying all sides concerned should join forces to push the plan through the 15-nation UN Security Council before the end of March.
But a senior member of the lower house of Russia's parliament warned on Friday against rushing the issue.
Konstantin Kosachev, head of the State Duma international affairs committee, said that Russia, as a veto-wielding member of the Council, may block the plan if it is put to a vote hastily, without first agreeing it with the sides directly involved in the conflict.
Speaking after a meeting with Frank Wisner, the U.S. State Secretary's special representative on Kosovo, the Russian lawmaker said that according to Washington, further delays in determining the province's status will lead to economic degradation and new ethnic clashes.
But Kosachev said that the plan should not be considered by the UN Security Council until "all the sides involved in the conflict accept it."
"So long as there is no acceptance, a hasty vote on the issue at the UN Security Council will provoke Russia and possibly China to use their veto power, which will have highly negative implications both for a settlement in Kosovo, and for the global geopolitical situation as a whole," Kosachev said.
He also said that Ahtisaari's plan contradicts the guiding principles elaborated by the six-power Contact Group on Kosovo, which, along with Russia, includes the United States, Britain, France, Italy and Germany.
"One indispensable condition for making progress on Kosovo would be to achieve standards in the protection of human rights and rights of ethic minorities, with the rights situation being far from perfect," he said.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried, who is a top official responsible for U.S. policy in the region, told a news conference earlier this week that Russia has been instrumental in securing strong safeguards for the Serb community in Kosovo, a region with a 90% ethnic Albanian population.
Fried said Russia has been a productive and full-fledged member of the Contact Group right from the start, and that it has been continually pushing for safeguards of Kosovo Serbs' rights to be consolidated in the final plan for the province's status.
He said the UN envoy's plan will ensure guaranteed seats in Kosovo's parliament for Serbs and other minorities as well as the protection of Serb churches, monasteries and other religious and cultural sites in the province, seen by the Serbs as the cradle of their culture and statehood.
Fried said Ahtisaari's proposal is "a very strong plan, which will, among other things, give strong, enforceable guarantees to the Serbian community... strong guarantees to the Serbian monasteries and their lands, including protection zones to make sure that their lands are not encroached upon, and other guarantees which make a kind of mono-ethnic state or an extreme nationalistic state much more difficult, if not impossible."
The U.S. official said Washington backs Ahtisaari, who "is looking for a fair solution" in Kosovo.
"The status quo is not sustainable, and we cannot go back to the situation of 1999," he said.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20070209/60462021.html
Kosovo independence will open up Pandora's box - Russia's Ivanov
14:15 | 09/ 02/ 2007
SEVILLE, February 9 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's defense minister said granting independence to the Serbian province of Kosovo may set a dangerous precedent, triggering disintegration of other states across Eurasia.
"This may spark a chain reaction and open up Pandora's box," Sergei Ivanov said during a meeting with his German counterpart, Franz Josef Jung, in advance of a Russia-NATO Council meeting in the southern Spanish city of Seville.
Earlier this month, the United Nations mediator on Kosovo's future status, Martti Ahtisaari, unveiled his Kosovo settlement plan, containing an implicit proposal to give independence to the predominantly ethnic Albanian region, which has been a UN protectorate since 1999. Belgrade has rejected the plan, saying it is willing to grant Kosovo broad autonomy, but that it will never let the province secede from Serbia.
Ivanov said: "It all depends on how we approach the principle of territorial integrity. We can approach it from the point of view of the current political situation, or take territorial integrity as an inviolable principle."
"If hypothetically we suppose Kosovo is given independence, people in other unrecognized regions will wonder, 'So why not us as well?'"
Officials in Moscow have repeatedly indicated that if Kosovo is granted sovereignty, the international community should also recognize as independent the separatist regions in the former Soviet Union, notably Georgia's Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and Moldova's Transdnestr.
However, Germany's defense minister reiterated his support for Ahtisaari's Kosovo settlement plan, saying all sides concerned should join forces to push the plan through the 15-nation UN Security Council before the end of March.
But a senior member of the lower house of Russia's parliament warned on Friday against rushing the issue.
Konstantin Kosachev, head of the State Duma international affairs committee, said that Russia, as a veto-wielding member of the Council, may block the plan if it is put to a vote hastily, without first agreeing it with the sides directly involved in the conflict.
Speaking after a meeting with Frank Wisner, the U.S. State Secretary's special representative on Kosovo, the Russian lawmaker said that according to Washington, further delays in determining the province's status will lead to economic degradation and new ethnic clashes.
But Kosachev said that the plan should not be considered by the UN Security Council until "all the sides involved in the conflict accept it."
"So long as there is no acceptance, a hasty vote on the issue at the UN Security Council will provoke Russia and possibly China to use their veto power, which will have highly negative implications both for a settlement in Kosovo, and for the global geopolitical situation as a whole," Kosachev said.
He also said that Ahtisaari's plan contradicts the guiding principles elaborated by the six-power Contact Group on Kosovo, which, along with Russia, includes the United States, Britain, France, Italy and Germany.
"One indispensable condition for making progress on Kosovo would be to achieve standards in the protection of human rights and rights of ethic minorities, with the rights situation being far from perfect," he said.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried, who is a top official responsible for U.S. policy in the region, told a news conference earlier this week that Russia has been instrumental in securing strong safeguards for the Serb community in Kosovo, a region with a 90% ethnic Albanian population.
Fried said Russia has been a productive and full-fledged member of the Contact Group right from the start, and that it has been continually pushing for safeguards of Kosovo Serbs' rights to be consolidated in the final plan for the province's status.
He said the UN envoy's plan will ensure guaranteed seats in Kosovo's parliament for Serbs and other minorities as well as the protection of Serb churches, monasteries and other religious and cultural sites in the province, seen by the Serbs as the cradle of their culture and statehood.
Fried said Ahtisaari's proposal is "a very strong plan, which will, among other things, give strong, enforceable guarantees to the Serbian community... strong guarantees to the Serbian monasteries and their lands, including protection zones to make sure that their lands are not encroached upon, and other guarantees which make a kind of mono-ethnic state or an extreme nationalistic state much more difficult, if not impossible."
The U.S. official said Washington backs Ahtisaari, who "is looking for a fair solution" in Kosovo.
"The status quo is not sustainable, and we cannot go back to the situation of 1999," he said.
Sunday, February 4, 2007
Serbs resist independence for Kosovo
This article does not mention the reverse ethnic cleansing practiced by the Albanians after the "succesful" intervention of NATO into Serbia's attempt to drive out many Albanians. Now the UN mission still has not convinced Serbia to allow independence. Probably in the long run Serbia will have no choice. After the UN intervention most Serbs and also gypsies were driven out or in the case of Serbs into small enclaves. Interesting the Serb guards are called "thuggish"!
Serb-Albanian gap wide as others decide Kosovo's fate
February 5, 2007
Thuggish Serbians maintain a vigil on the north of the Ibar River, ready to punish ethnic Albanians who cross the unofficial boundary in Europe's unfinished war.
Kosovo, a province of Serbia, is bitterly divided between Serbian enclaves, including a big part of the north, and the rest of the territory, which is ethnic Albanian. Now, as the UN nudges Kosovo towards what it calls final status and what Belgrade calls independence, Serbs in northern Kosovo are threatening to break away.
"Northern Kosovo will secede," said moderate Serbian politician Oliver Ivanovic. Mr Ivanovic said he had warned the UN, NATO, the European Union and the US that, nearly eight years after NATO bombing drove the Serbian army and other security forces out, it was too early to settle Kosovo's status.
"Kosovo's independence will leave no space for the moderates to act," he said.
Kosovo — more than 90 per cent ethnic Albanian — has struggled since early last century to free itself from Belgrade. With the break-up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s the fight began anew, but Serbia resisted.
UN mediator Martti Ahtisaari presented his plans for Kosovo's final status to officials in Belgrade and Pristina on Friday.
Serbian President Boris Tadic rejected the plans as a prelude to independence, while Kosovo Albanians welcomed them. With the blessing of the US, they have said they will accept nothing less than independence.
Most Kosovo Serbs will never accept an independent Kosovo.
"It would create a situation like Iraq or Lebanon here in Serbia," said Milan Ivanovic, head of Kosovo's hardline Serbian National Council. "We would fight to get Kosovo back with all legitimate means."
Kosovo Albanians and their international supporters hope that a high degree of autonomy in Serbian areas with guarantees for the protection of Serbian rights and strict international oversight will persuade Serbs in the territory to accept an Albanian-led government.
"Hopefully, with independence, a local Serb leadership will emerge to address the needs of the Serbs within the Kosovo system," said Muhamet Hamiti, an adviser to Kosovo's President Fatmir Sejdiu.
Kosovo is home to the Serbian Orthodox Church's most sacred sites. "This is the spiritual centre of the Serbian church," said Sister Dobrila, a nun at the monastery of the Patriarchate of Pec, built around a Byzantine church from the 13th century that holds the tombs of Serbia's medieval archbishops.
Birds are woven into Serbian folklore. The birds are the souls of the dead from the 14th century battle of Kosovo, in which a Serbian-led Christian army sought to stop the Ottoman advance — an advance whose legacy is the nominally Muslim Albanian majority in the province today.
NEW YORK TIMES
Serb-Albanian gap wide as others decide Kosovo's fate
February 5, 2007
Thuggish Serbians maintain a vigil on the north of the Ibar River, ready to punish ethnic Albanians who cross the unofficial boundary in Europe's unfinished war.
Kosovo, a province of Serbia, is bitterly divided between Serbian enclaves, including a big part of the north, and the rest of the territory, which is ethnic Albanian. Now, as the UN nudges Kosovo towards what it calls final status and what Belgrade calls independence, Serbs in northern Kosovo are threatening to break away.
"Northern Kosovo will secede," said moderate Serbian politician Oliver Ivanovic. Mr Ivanovic said he had warned the UN, NATO, the European Union and the US that, nearly eight years after NATO bombing drove the Serbian army and other security forces out, it was too early to settle Kosovo's status.
"Kosovo's independence will leave no space for the moderates to act," he said.
Kosovo — more than 90 per cent ethnic Albanian — has struggled since early last century to free itself from Belgrade. With the break-up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s the fight began anew, but Serbia resisted.
UN mediator Martti Ahtisaari presented his plans for Kosovo's final status to officials in Belgrade and Pristina on Friday.
Serbian President Boris Tadic rejected the plans as a prelude to independence, while Kosovo Albanians welcomed them. With the blessing of the US, they have said they will accept nothing less than independence.
Most Kosovo Serbs will never accept an independent Kosovo.
"It would create a situation like Iraq or Lebanon here in Serbia," said Milan Ivanovic, head of Kosovo's hardline Serbian National Council. "We would fight to get Kosovo back with all legitimate means."
Kosovo Albanians and their international supporters hope that a high degree of autonomy in Serbian areas with guarantees for the protection of Serbian rights and strict international oversight will persuade Serbs in the territory to accept an Albanian-led government.
"Hopefully, with independence, a local Serb leadership will emerge to address the needs of the Serbs within the Kosovo system," said Muhamet Hamiti, an adviser to Kosovo's President Fatmir Sejdiu.
Kosovo is home to the Serbian Orthodox Church's most sacred sites. "This is the spiritual centre of the Serbian church," said Sister Dobrila, a nun at the monastery of the Patriarchate of Pec, built around a Byzantine church from the 13th century that holds the tombs of Serbia's medieval archbishops.
Birds are woven into Serbian folklore. The birds are the souls of the dead from the 14th century battle of Kosovo, in which a Serbian-led Christian army sought to stop the Ottoman advance — an advance whose legacy is the nominally Muslim Albanian majority in the province today.
NEW YORK TIMES
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
US will bank Tik Tok unless it sells off its US operations
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said during a CNBC interview that the Trump administration has decided that the Chinese internet app ...
