Informazione
Il seguente resoconto del viaggio di solidarietà di Non Bombe ma solo Caramelle - Onlus a Kragujevac si può scaricare nella versione completa (formato Word, corredata di fotografie) al link:
Anche le precedenti relazioni di Zastava Trieste / Non Bombe ma solo Caramelle - Onlus si possono scaricare alla URL:
https://www.cnj.it/solidarieta.htm#nonbombe
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Anche le precedenti relazioni di Zastava Trieste / Non Bombe ma solo Caramelle - Onlus si possono scaricare alla URL:
https://www.cnj.it/solidarieta.htm#nonbombe
===
Inizio messaggio inoltrato:
Da: Non Bombe Ma Solo Caramelle Onlus <gilberto.vlaic @ elettra.trieste.it>Data: 20 maggio 2012 15.59.24 GMT+02.00Oggetto: Da NBMSC ONLUS: i nostri progettiTrieste, 20 maggio 2012
Care amiche, cari amici solidali,
vi mandiamo la prima parte della relazione del viaggio che abbiamo compiuto a Kragujevac per la consegna degli affidi a distanza alla fine di marzo.
Vi preghiamo di scusarci per questo estremo ritardo non dovuto a cattiva volonta’ ma come associazione abbiamo avuto molte scadenze urgenti da risolvere, che ci hanno portato via molto tempo.
A brevissimo manderemo anche la seconda parte, quella che contiene l’analisi della situazione economica della Serbia ed in particolare di Kragujevac; per quanto riguarda la situazione della Fiat Auto Serbia avevamo gia’ inviato una relazione completa il 15 aprile scorso [vedi: https://www.cnj.it/documentazione/EconomiaLavoro/NBMSC2012_FAS_KG.pdf ] ...
ONLUS Non Bombe ma Solo Caramelle
DI RITORNO DA KRAGUJEVAC
Viaggio del 29 marzo – 1 aprile 2012
Introduzione
Vi inviamo la relazione del viaggio svolto un mese e mezzo fa a Kragujevac per la consegna delle adozioni a distanza che fanno capo alla ONLUS Non Bombe ma solo Caramelle e al Coordinamento Nazionale RSU CGIL.
Come sempre questi viaggi servono anche a verificare lo stato dei numerosi progetti che sono stati portati a termine e per la messa in cantiere di nuovi progetti.
Come sempre in questa relazione saranno presenti alcune fotografie per illustrare questi progetti; ne metteremo molte altre in piu’ per ogni singolo progetto sul nostro sito
che ha recentemente registrato un notevolissimo incremento di visitatori, in corrispondenza della lunga relazione che abbiamo messo in linea sulla situazione della Fiat Auto Serbia il 15 aprile scorso; ci auguriamo che alcuni dei lettori della nostra pagina facebook si uniranno prima o poi alla vasta rete solidale che si e’ creata in tutti questi anni di attivita’.
Tutte le nostre informazioni vengono pubblicate regolarmente sui due siti che seguono; altri siti di tanto in tanto riportano le relazioni dei nostri viaggi oppure le schede informative che periodicamente inviamo.
Sul sito del coordinamento RSU trovate tutte le notizie sulle nostre iniziative a partire dal 1999
I nostri resoconti sono presenti anche sul sito del Coordinamento Nazionale per la Jugoslavia, sul fondo della pagina all'indirizzo:
2. Cronaca del viaggio; i progetti in corso
Giovedi’ 29 marzo 2012; il viaggio, l’arrivo al Sindacato e il primo incontro per un possibile progetto.
Come sempre partenza da Trieste verso le 8 e 30 del mattino.
Battiamo tutti i nostri record per quanto riguarda la partecipazione al viaggio. Si tratta della delegazione piu’ numerosa degli ultimi anni, infatti siamo in 12: Gianandrea e Lorena da Pordenone, Alessandra, Beatrice e Giandomenico da Conegliano, Claudia, Gilberto, Olga e Vladan da Trieste, Stefano da Fiumicello, Denis e Stefania da Udine. Partiamo usando il solito pulmino che ci presta ormai da tempi immemorabili la Associazione di Solidarieta’ Internazionale Triestina, l’auto di uno di noi mentre Denis e Stefania hanno deciso di affrontare questo lungo viaggio in moto.
Viaggiamo in assoluta tranquillita’ con tempo bello e con passaggi veloci alle varie frontiere; il traffico e’ pressoche’ assente in autostrada (se si eccettuano i dintorni di Lubiana e l’attraversamento di Belgrado) ed e’ ben piu’ scarso del solito; a sud di Zagabria i camion sono quasi inesistenti, a dimostrazione che in queste regioni nel cuore dell’Europa la crisi economica colpisce duramente.
Prima delle 19 finalmente arriviamo a Kragujevac e incontriamo i nostri amici del sindacato nella loro sede. L’atmostera e’ come sempre festosa, ma si sente la tensione dovuta alla liquidazione della Zastava Automobili, avvenuta il 5 gennaio 2011, con la conseguente perdita del posto di lavoro per quasi 1600 lavoratori, tra cui tre delle persone (su cinque) che lavorano per il Sindacato e che si occupano dell’ufficio adozioni.
E’ chiaro che senza di loro la nostra campagna di solidarieta’ in piedi da quasi 13 anni, sarebbe destinata a finire molto presto, tra l’altro in una fase come questa, in cui il modesto ma concreto aiuto che periodicamente portiamo diventa ancor piu’ indispensabile.
Vi ricordo che a questo proposito tutte le associazioni italiane che intervengono a Kragujevac (una decina) hanno deciso di creare un apposito fondo, SENZA toccare il denaro destinato agli affidi, che integra almeno in parte il sussidio di disoccupazione per queste tre persone (Rajka, Dragan e Delko) permettendo quindi di continuare l’attivita’ dell’ufficio.
Prepariamo tutte le buste con gli affidi che saranno consegnati durante l’assemblea pubblica di sabato 19 marzo, organizziamo gli appuntamenti che avremo nei due giorni successivi ed infine consegnamo le tre buste con i contributi per l’ufficio adozioni, per le quali ci viene rilasciata una regolare ricevuta.
A cena abbiamo il primo degli incontri previsti; si tratta del Dr. Ranko Golijanin, Direttore della Clinica Odontoiatrica dell’Ospedale di Kragujevac. E’ un grosso centro sanitario, che serve tutta la regione della Sumadija; ha 170 dipendenti, di cui 60 medici. Svolgono circa 5000 – 6000 interventi al mese.
Abbiamo gia’ sostenuto questo centro alla fine del 2010, fornendo 4 letti ospedalieri (gia’ usati ma in ottimo stato) per la realizzazione di un reparto di Hospital Day per i casi interventi piu’ complessi. I letti ci erano stati regalati dalla Casa di Riposo di San Giorgio di Nogaro.
La formazione professionale di questi medici e’ senz’altro di buon livello, ma la strumentazione su cui possono contare e’ assolutamente obsoleta. Il Dr. Goljanin ci chiede di fare da tramite tra il suo Centro e la ONLUS Cooperazione Odontoiatrica Internazionale, con la quale negli ultimi anni abbiamo realizzato a Kragujevac progetti importanti in campo sanitario sociale, impiantando sei studi dentistici: quattro al Centro Medico della Zastava, uno alla Scuola Politecnica e uno alla Scuola Infermiere; quelli presenti nelle due Scuole funzionano proprio grazie a personale proveniente dal Centro del Dr. Goljanin. Gli obbiettivi della futura collaborazione potrebbero riguardare processi di formazione di giovani medici serbi in Italia e soprattutto la fornitura di attrezzature dentistiche dismesse da ambulatori italiani.
Venerdi’ 30 marzo 2012; verifica dei progetti
Inizia una lunghissima giornata; non abbiamo mai avuto un tale numero di incontri da fare; siamo anche costretti ad annullare una visita al centro 21 ottobre per ragazzi Down, che e’ stato il primo impegantivo progetto che abbiamo realizzato a Kragujevac nel 2005.
La fabbrica DES
Il primo incontro e’ in una officina metalmeccanica, con 85 dipendenti, 50 dei quali sono invalidi psichici o fisici.
E’ una impresa di proprieta’ pubblica, si chiama DES, ed e’ sottoposta alla legislazione sul lavoro nelle officine protette; le mansioni che svolgono i singoli lavoratori dovrebbero essere strettamente relazionate al loro stato di salute.
I locali della fabbrica sono di proprieta’ pubblica (come risulta dalla visura catastale di cui ci e’ stata consegnata copia).
Non hanno una produzione qualificante sulla quale appoggiarsi, hanno una gamma di prodotti piuttosto semplici: tavoli, sedie, scaffalature metalliche, giochi per parchi e asili, prodotti per agricoltura. Lo Stato dovrebbe pagare meta’ degli stipendi (ma non e’ quasi mai regolare), e il resto deve essere trovato attraverso il loro lavoro. Devono stare, come si dice oggi, stare sul mercato.
I loro clienti sono soprattutto aziende pubbliche.
I lavoratori percepiscono i contributi per la pensione e il salario minimo stabilito per legge, che a marzo scorso era di 17900 dinari, mese, piu’ indennita’ mensa e trasporti, per circa 22000 dinari al mese (poco piu’ di 200 euro); inoltre sono in arretrato di cinque mensilita’ dal 2010, per le quali non esiste alcuna soluzione economica prevedibile.
La fabbrica ha tre reparti, in capannoni distinti:
uno di meccanica; benche’ con attrezzature vecchissime, non e’ molto diverso da qualsiasi officina;
uno di trattamenti chimici e uno di verniciatura.
Questi due ultimi reparti sono in condizioni veramente pesanti e molto pericolosi per la salute dei lavoratori.Ne abbiamo parlato con il sindacato Samostalni; il problema e’ ben presente anche alla Medicina del Lavoro della citta’, ma l’unica alternativa adesso potrebbe essere la chiusura della fabbrica.
Chiederemo alle delegazioni sindacali italiane che nel prossimo futuro andranno a Kragujevac di visitare questa fabbrica, per vedere se si riescono a suggerire soluzioni praticabili per un intervento di protezione della salute dei lavoratori.
Per quanto riguarda i pasti i lavoratori si portano qualcosa da casa, ma non hanno una mensa e mangiano direttamente sul posto di lavoro.
Hanno un locale dismesso di circa 50 metri quadrati che vorrebbero attrezzare a sala mensa, con trenta posti a sedere, e ci chiedono di aiutarli acquistando i materiali necessari; il lavoro per la realizzazione sarebbe volontario, ad esclusione dell’intervento di un elettricista per poter avere poi il certificato di conformita’.
Anche i tavoli e le sedie sarebbero realizzati con lavoro volontario in officina.
Il preventivo totale e’ di circa 460.000 dinari, pari a circa 4200 euro. La cifra non e’ ancora perfettamente definita perche’ ci sono due opzioni ancora in discussione.
Alcune delle associazioni italiane che intervengono a Kragujevac hanno gia’ accettato di prendere parte a questo nuovo progetto.
[FOTO: Due viste del locale della futura mensa / L’officina / Il capannone con i bagni galvanici]
L’appuntamento successivo e’ alla Scuola Primaria Dragisa Mihajlovic, nel quartiere di Male Pcelice (Le Piccole Api); ci ricevono il direttore e tutte le insegnanti
Pressoche’ tutte le scuole in Serbia soffrono di gravi carenze strutturali (pavimenti, bagni, pareti, infissi, impianti elettrici e di riscaldamento) per la totale mancanza di opere di manutenzione significative da decenni. Gli arredi scolastici sono in brutte condizioni quasi dappertutto.
La scuola Dragisa Mihajlovic ha circa 150 alunni su quattro classi con doppi turni mattino-pomeriggio ed una classe di preparatoria (dai 5 ai 6 anni) con 25 bambini.
Ha una superficie di circa 600 metri quadrati. Le aule a disposizione sono sei, di cui quattro per la scuola primaria, una per la classe preparatoria ed una aula informatica attrezzata assai bene, dono di Telekom Serbia.
All’inizio di novembre 2011 la direzione e gli insegnanti della scuola ci avevano fatto pervenire tramite l’ufficio adozioni del Sindacato Samostalni una richiesta di collaborazione per lavori urgenti, che consistevano in:
sostituzione di 4 lavagne; quelle presenti sono fortemente usurate
rifacimento dei pavimenti di tre aule
rifacimento dei bagni
realizzazione dell’impianto di riscaldamento per sostituire le stufe a carbone che esistono nelle varie aule, che sono certamente pericolose non solo per gli scarichi ma anche perche’ sono sistemate molto vicino ai banchi.
L’associazione Mir Sada di Lecco (con la quale collaboriamo da alcuni anni) aveva vistato la scuola a meta’ di novembre e inviato una prima relazione sommaria sulle proprie impressioni.
Impossibile ricostruire l’impianto di riscaldamento, per due motivi: manca un progetto termoidraulico completo e la spesa sarebbe superiore ai 20-25 mila euro, al di la’ delle possibilita’ delle nostre associazioni.
Per quanto riguardava il resto invece l’impressione era che gli interventi sono necessari, benche’ piuttosto onerosi.
Dopo l’arrivo alla fine di novembre di preventivi assai dettagliati (e di decine e decine di foto) e’ risultato che i lavori relativi ai punti 2 e 3 non erano poi cosi’ costosi come si pensava; in totale si tratta di 9920 euro, per la ricostruzione di 180 metri quadrati di pavimenti e dei bagni. Questo e’ dovuto al fatto che il Sindacato acquistera’ direttamente i materiali necessari da grossisti e fara’ eseguire i lavori ad alcuni artigiani (senza passare attraverso una impresa edile) mentre i genitori degli alunni forniranno lavoro volontario per la posa in opera dei pavimenti.
Durante questa nostra visita consegnamo quindi al Sindacato la somma di 7550 euro che provengono dalle varie associazioni che partecipano insieme a noi ai progetti a Kragujevac
ABC Roma 700 euro
ALJ Bologna 500 euro
Ass. Zastava Brescia 2000 euro
Non bombe ma solo Caramelle 4000 euro
Un ponte per... Roma 350 euro
a cui va aggiunta la Associazione Mir Sada di Lecco che si prende in carico l’acquisto delle lavagne per 350 euro.
Come vedete mancano ancora 2370 euro che saranno consegnati a breve, alla fine di maggio.
I lavori sono cominciati due settimane dopo la nostra visita (verso meta’ aprile) e al momento in cui scriviamo questa relazione sono pressoche’ finiti.
[FOTO: Il riscaldamento / Lo stato dei bagni / Dettagli dei pavimenti attuali]
E poi, sempre a Male Pcelice, ci aspettano all’Ospedale psichiatrico di Kragujevac.
Abbiamo gia’ scritto con molto dettaglio su questo ospedale nella relazione di viaggio di luglio 2011, quando lo avevamo visitato per la prima volta.
E’ il piu’ grande della Serbia, con circa utenti, dai 18 ai 90 anni
Dipende dal Ministero del Lavoro e delle Politiche Sociali; e’ stato aperto nel 1972.
Si occupa di adulti con disturbi nello sviluppo mentale e di malati mentali di livello alto e medio-alto.
Il personale complessivo e’ di 308 unita’, tra cui 7 medici e 47 infermieri.
L’ospedale e’ costituito da vari padiglioni, all’interno di un parco tenuto piuttosto bene.
Possiede un campo sportivo, una biblioteca molto curata, una grande palestra per fisioterapia, e numerosi laboratori per terapie basate su attivita’ manuali.
A luglio 2011 avevamo inviato a questo ospedale 35 letti ospedalieri e altrettanti comodini, tutti in ottime condizioni, che ci erano stati regalati la casa di riposo Giovanni Chiaba' di San Giorgio di Nogaro, che li doveva dismettere per modifiche delle normative sugli arredi ospedalieri. Con questi letti l’ospedale di Kragujevac aveva arredato un reparto appena ristrutturato.
Mancavano i materassi che l’ospedale non poteva acquistare per carenza di fondi; avevamo deciso di acquistarli con fondi della nostra ONLUS quando a febbraio scorso ci era arrivata dall’International Centre for Theoretical Physics di Trieste l’offerta di 60 materassi in ottime condizioni, provenienti dai dormitori dei studenti, e che dovevano essere cambiati, anche in questo caso perche’ non piu’ rispondenti alle normative di legge.
35 di questi materassi sono arrivati a Male Pcelice alla fine di febbraio, gli altri sono stati mandati in un orfanotrofio in Romania.
Visitiamo insieme alla Direttrice Suzana Perovic il reparto dove sono stati installati questi letti: le stanze sono affollatissime, ma molto pulite, cosi come tutti i locali che visitiamo.
Nel corridoio della direzione e’ esposta la bandiera della Pace che avevamo lasciato durante la nostra precedente visita.
[FOTO: Una delle stanze]
La mattina termina con un’altra visita importante, al Centro medico della Zastava.
Si tratta di una grossa struttura sanitaria, con 290 dipendenti in totale, a cui fanno riferimento tutti i lavoratori, e le loro famiglie, del gruppo Zastava e della Fiat Auto Serbia, per un totale di circa 40.000 persone.
Vi avevamo informati attraverso la nostra pagina Facebook (con vari documenti messi in rete a inizio marzo) che a circa 2000 lavoratori del gruppo Zastava (con i familiari si arriva a piu’ di 6000 persone) a marzo non erano stati pagati i contributi sanitari, per cui queste persone non avevano piu' la (gia' scarsa) assistenza sanitaria pubblica e erano quindi costretti a pagarsi integralmente medici e medicine.
Successivamente dopo uno sciopero molto duro, il pagamento dei contributi era stato ripristinato, almeno per tre mesi; dunque a giugno prossimo saremo da capo...
Per sostenere in modo concreto questi lavoratori e su specifica richiesta del loro Sindacato Samostalni avevamo deciso di portare in questo viaggio molti piu’ medicinali del solito.
Ci siamo messi in contatto con una ONLUS di Grottaferrata, Le Medicine, che nel giro di tre giorni ci ha spedito circa 100 chili di medicinali, mirati alle patologie piu’ frequenti.
Vi consigliamo di visitare la loro pagina http://www.lemedicine.org
E cosi’ siamo ora qui, a incontrare i delegati sindacali del Centro medico e il dottor Vukosavljevic, che gestisce da sempre i medicinali che portiamo, e che li distribuisce (ovviamente in modo gratuito) ai lavoratori che ne hanno bisogno.
E’ la prima volta che lo incontro, e fa veramente impressione vedere come lavora; riporta a mano su dei registri il nome di CIASCUNA scatola di farmaci che portiamo (sono centinaia per ogni viaggio) e poi a fianco nome e indirizzo della persona a cui viene consegnata, e fa firmare questo registro.
Ecco le foto che accompagnano questa straordinaria consegna.
[FOTO: Le medicine a Trieste, appena arrivate da Grottaferrata / Le medicine sul nostro furgone a Kragujevac / E finalmente nell’ufficio del dottor Vukosavljevic! / I registri del dottor Vukosavljevic]
Incontriamo poi la Direttrice del centro medico, che conosciamo da molti anni, perche’ qui abbiamo sviluppato parecchi progetti, in collaborazione con la ONG Cooperazione Odontoiatrica Internazionale (quattro poltrone dentistiche portate qui dall’Italia) e con la Misericordia della Bassa Friulana di San Giorgio di Nogaro, che nel 2006 dono’ a questo Centro una ambulanza che doveva essere dismessa, e che e’ ancora in funzione.
La Direttrice delle difficolta’ di reperire i finanziamenti per mantenere attivo il centro, della incertezza per il futuro, della strumentazione obsoleta. Insieme ai delegati sindacali del centro visitiamo poi il reparto di fisioterapia, dove ci vengono illustrate le necessita’ piu’ urgenti per renderlo piu’ efficiente.
Da parte nostra non possiamo promettere niente, ma e’ certo che al nostro ritorno in Italia faremo il possibile per trovare qualche soluzione a questi problemi.
L’appuntamento successivo e’ al Centro per anziani della citta’.
In questo casa di riposo e’ stato stato portato a termine un bellissimo progetto da parte del Sindacato Pensionati SPI-CGIL di Brescia e della ONLUS Zastava Brescia per la Solidarieta’ Internazionale che hanno voluto costruire un centro di accoglienza diurno, particolarmente dedicato alle persone senza fissa dimora e con estreme necessita’ personali; e’ stata costruita anche una sala per fisioterapia.
La nostra ONLUS non ha partecipato al progetto, ma il direttore del centro ci ha invitato lo stesso a visitare la struttura, che e’ veramente grande e ben tenuta.
Questo progetto ha avuto un percorso travagliato, perche’ oltre al finanziamento delle associazioni bresciane erano stati messi a bilancio fondi comunali e anche un contributo ministeriale, che non arrivavano mai. E finalmente, a pochi mesi dalle elezioni (chissa’ perche’...) i fondi si sono sbloccati e i lavori hanno ripreso, celerissimi in modo tale da poter essere inaugurati in pompa magna da ministri e assessori il 16 aprile scorso, con le elezioni municipali e politiche del 6 maggio alle porte...
Durante la nostra visita diciamo molto chiaramente al DIrettore (il quale, poveretto, non ne ha colpa) che non e’ intenzione di nessuna delle associazioni italiane fare la campagna elettorale per questi personaggi; comunque questa e’ una contraddizione reale, di cui siamo coscienti e che ci irrita moltissimo: il personaggio politico di turno cerchera’ sempre di utilizzare per i propri scopi personali ed elettorali cio’ che facciamo.
Visitiamo comunque con grande piacere questa nuova struttura, che si inserisce perfettamente nella logica degli interventi realizzati a Kragujevac, tesi a dare dignita’ e a sostenere i bisogni delle categorie piu’ deboli e svantaggiate della citta’.
[FOTO: Due viste del centro di accoglienza diurno]
Ulteriore tappa presso la sede della Associazione Malati di Distrofia Muscolare.
Questa associazione ha 148 membri di cui circa la meta’ bambini, sono persone invalide, quasi tutte disoccupate, molte di loro ormai legate alla carrozzina e che necessitano di aiuto di altre persone anche per le necessita’ piu’ semplici. Spesso sono persone molto povere e ai margini della societa’.
Recentemente hanno subito un furto nella loro sede, gli sono stati rubati un televisore (letteralmente strappato dal muro dove era avvitato) ed il computer che avevano in ufficio. Si sono rivolti al Sindacato per vedere se era possibile ricevere un aiuto economico per poter ricomprare le cose rubate.
C’e’ un momento di imbarazzo al nostro ingresso, non ci conosciamo ancora, ma si stempera subito quando Rajko, il segretario del Sindacato Samostalni, spiega bene chi siamo e come e perche’ interveniamo a Kragujevac.
Scoppia un fragoroso applauso e scorrono molte lacrime quando illustriamo una grande sorpresa, che avevamo tenuta accuratamente nascosta: nel nostro viaggio di ottobre porteremo con noi un pullmino dotato di rampa per il trasporto di due carrozzine, dono della Misericordia della Bassa Friulana di San Giorgio di Nogaro; non e’ un furgone nuovo, e’ stato immatricolato nel 2004, ma e’ in ottime condizioni e i volontari della Misericordia verranno con noi per questa consegna.
E’ il terzo mezzo speciale che questa associazione porta a Kragujevac: dapprima nell’estate del 2006 un’ambulanza per il Centro medico della Zastava, poi un altro pullmino per trasposto invalidi, che era stato regalato all’associazione malati di sclerosi multipla di Kragujevac, nel luglio del 2008.
E oltre questi mezzi la Misericordia ha molto sostenuto i ‘’nostri’’ lavoratori e le loro famiglie con numerosi interventi, dagli affidi a distanza, al vestiario, ai computer, a grandi quantita’ di pannoloni.
[FOTO: Due foto dell’incontro / Il pullmino]
Concludiamo questo giorno infinito con una rapida visita al centro collettivo per profughi a Trmbas, che avevamo visto per la prima volta esattamente un anno fa.
Tutti i lavori che abbiamo svolto sono finiti ed e’ stata apposta una grande targa che ricorda tutte le associazioni che hanno partecipato a questo progetto veramente impegnativo.
Abbiamo gia’ scritto moltissimo su questo campo nelle nostre precedenti relazioni, e pubblicato molte foto, specie nella nostra pagina facebook; ricordiamo in breve in che cosa e’ consistito il nostro intervento.
Si tratta di un ex villaggio turistico, di proprieta’ pubblica, utilizzato fino al 1990 come colonia per gli studenti di Kragujevac; e’ situato in un bosco a circa 5 chilometri dalla citta’ nel piccolo villaggio di Trmbas.
E’ costituito da 10 edifici in legno a due piani, e tre edifici in muratura che contengono i servizi igienici comuni, un deposito viveri e un locale cucina-refettorio.
Dal 1991 fino ad ora e’ stato usato come campo per profughi, dapprima per quelli provenienti dalla Croazia e poi dal 1999 per quelli del Kosovo; attualmente e’ occupato da circa 60 famiglie (poco meno di 300 persone).
Il campo soffre di un grande degrado umano che dipende in gran parte dalla assoluta mancanza di prospettive per il futuro della gente che vi abita; il nostro ruolo e’ stato quello di recuperare le baracche in cui questa gente vive (erano in totale abbandono da molti anni) e di impegnare il Comune ad una pulizia radicale del campo, all’epoca soffocato dai rifiuti.
E poi successivamente ci eravamo anche impegnatii nel recupero edilizio deella scuola primaria adiacente al campo, che e’ frequentata dai figli di questi profughi, dando una nuova dignita’ anche a questi piccoli.
Dopo che avevamo iniziato ad occuparci del campo, avevamo presentato alla Chiesa Valdese una domanda di contributo (a valere sui loro fondi dell’8 per mille), e a settembre del 2011 avevamo ricevuto la comunicazione che il nostro progetto era stato integralmente approvato e che la Tavola rimborsava tutte le spese sostenute; con questo denaro potremo portare avanti nuovi progetti...
[FOTO: La targa apposta all’ingresso del campo]
Sabato 31 marzo 2012
E’ la giornata della consegna degli affidi a distanza e degli ultimi incontri.
Il primo e’ con Jelena Trifunovic, l’instancabile direttrice del Centro per ragazzi Down 21 Ottobre, che e’ stato il nostro primo progetto importante a Kragujevac, e che funziona ormai da sette anni in maniera eccellente, per la dedizione e la caparbieta’ di Jelena, delle operatrici che lavorano con lei e dei genitori di questi sfortunati ragazzi.
Le consegnamo un regalo di 300 euro, che proviene da un gruppo di lavoratori del gruppo bancario ICCREA di Roma, che gestisce anche dall’inizio della campagna di solidarieta’ dieci affidi a distanza.
C’e’ poi un lungo incontro con Zoran Markovic, segretario del Sindacato Samostanli per la Fiat Auto Serbia, che ci illustra la situazione attuale della fabbrica auto e le prospettive future.
Abbiamo gia’ pubblicato la trascrizione di questo incontro nella nostra pagina Facebook il 16 aprile, e lo abbiamo anche spedito a tutti gli indirizzi della nostra lista di posta elettronica.
Comunque possiamo riassumere cosi’ questo incontro: i piani della Fiat sono bellissimi, dal cielo non cascano piu’ i missili della NATO che hanno distrutto la Zastava ma scende lieve la manna, il futuro dei lavoratori e’ radioso, peccato che venga sempre tutto spostato sempre all’anno successivo...
Quasi 30% degli abitanti di Kragujevac sono senza lavoro e resteranno per sempre ai margini della sopravvivenza e nessuna vaghissima (e sempre rimandata) promessa di ingresso nella comunità europea riuscirà a tramutare in condizioni di vita dignitose le loro speranze. E tutto questo in un paese europeo che poteva aspirare ad un futuro normale, prima di essere distrutto dai bombardamenti dei civilissimi Paesi aderenti alla NATO. tra cui, non dimentichiamolo mai, l’Italia.
Accompagnati dall’amarezza di queste realtà ci avviamo all’ incontro con le nostre famiglie: eccole qui, come sempre serie e composte, ci scrutano in silenzio, ci ringraziano, ci stringono la mano, ci abbracciano, ci manifestano la loro gratitudine e la loro stima.
C’e una grande novita’ rispetto alle assemblee degli ultimi tre-quatto anni.
Prima di descriverla sono d’obbligo due spiegazioni.
All’inizio dell’anno 2012 avevamo ricevuto dalla associazione Mato Grosso di Chiarano (in provincia di Treviso) una generosa sottoscrizione di 7000 euro da destinare agli affidi.
Abbiamo sempre sottoposto a verifica la situazione dei ragazzi in affido, in funzione dell’eta’, del fatto che vadano o meno a scuola, di chi lavora in famiglia, se sono o meno presenti malattie gravi, in modo da poter concentrare le disponibilita’ economiche sulle situazioni con bisogni maggiori.
Cosi’ abbiamo chiuso alcuni affidi e in accordo con le famiglie italiane adottanti ne abbiamo aperti altri.
In questa maniera possiamo aprire 24 nuovi affidi, tutti bambini piccoli al di sotto dei dieci anni che ci guardano un po’ meravigliati e un po’ sospettosi, e due studentesse universitarie.
Come sempre qualcuno di noi passa con dei grandi vassoi di caramelle, cosi’ da mettere subito a loro agio questi piccoli.
Mi ritorna sempre in mente, in queste occasioni, la frase che disse a me e a Riccardo dell’associazione di Brescia, durante il nostro primo viaggio a Kragujevac, un lavoratore in cassa integrazione della Zastava, quando andammo a trovarlo a casa, se cosi’ si poteva chiamare la baracca in cartongesso dove abitava con moglie e due figli, in mezzo ad un lago di fango: noi vi ringraziamo per gli aiuti che ci portate, ma quello che non riusciremo mai a dimenticare e’ che voi venite da tanto lontano per portarci solidarieta’ e amicizia.
Qui termina il nostro viaggio tra i nostri amici lavoratori serbi nel cuore dell’Europa civile...
Il giorno dopo rientriamo in Italia, e inizieremo a preparare il prossimo viaggio con la stessa determinazione, convinzione e testardaggine con cui abbiamo preparato tutti i precedenti.
Grazie a tutte/i voi per il sostegno che date a questa campagna solidale.
Trieste, 19 maggio 2012
[FOTO: Vi salutano i bambini del campo di Trmbas]
Non bombe ma solo caramelle – ONLUS
Sede legale: Via dello Scoglio 173 I-34127 Trieste
Codice Fiscale 90019350488
Tel. 040579049 Cell. 3396587490 e-mail vlaic@...
Coordinate bancarie: Banca di Credito Cooperativo del Carso, Filiale di Basovizza,
Via Gruden 23, I-34149 Basovizza-Trieste
Codice IBAN IT18E0892802202010000021816
intestato a ‘’Non bombe ma solo caramelle –ONLUS’’
Since graveyard humor is a Serbian specialty, it seems appropriate that Serbs just played a little joke on everybody by electing a former undertaker as President.
In the May 20 runoff, affable former funeral home manager Tomislav Nikolic won slightly over 50% of valid votes cast against the incumbent, Boris Tadic, who had spent his eight years in office doing everything possible to please the Western powers that have in return done all they could to keep Serbia alone and humiliated. Constantly compared to Nazi Germany, Serbs have been subjected to a sleazy imitation of the Nuremberg war crimes tribunal, but no Marshall Plan billions to revive the economy. Conditions are increasingly desperate.
More than half the electorate, perhaps considering the election itself a joke, did not bother to vote. Nikolic promised change, but there is no sign that he has either a plan or the means to bring it about. Earlier in the month, parliamentary elections were tainted by evidence of massive ballot rigging in favor of the ruling coalition. Even before the presidential runoff, the Socialist Party leader made a deal to form a coalition with Tadic’s Democratic Party – the coalition favored by Western embassies. So Nikolic may find himself only a figurehead, with the government run by a prime minister from the same old Tadic majority.
Still, voters at least get a chance from time to time to say “no”, and saying “no” to Tadic brought a fleeting illusion of freedom.
For Western media and politicians, Serbia serves only one purpose: to be the bad example of “nationalism” that enhances the virtuous anti-nationalism of the EU and NATO. In an era when in EU countries a mere disparaging remark against any ethnic or religious group may lead to lawsuits for “incitement to racial hatred”, the Serbs are there to allow cartoonists, editorialists and film-makers to stigmatize the pariah group to their heart’s content. Serbia’s most prized export to Europe is its “genocidal war criminals”, sent to The Hague to feed Europe’s pride in its humanitarian values. So the best thing Serbia could do for Western media was to elect “an extreme nationalist” – well, not exactly – only a “former extreme nationalist”, or “a former ultranationalist”, or “a former strident nationalist”. In The Guardian, Ian Traynor fretted that “Serbia’s hopes of fast-track integration into Europe suffered a severe setback” with the defeat of the endlessly accommodating Tadic.
This “fast track” is another sour joke. After eight years of giving in to EU pressure, all Tadic got this spring was grudging permission for Serbia to become an “official candidate” to join the EU. To join when? Only when Serbia makes some more “reforms” and above all, when Belgrade accepts the “independence” of Kosovo, stolen from Serbia by NATO bombing in 1999 and handed over to Albanian gangsters with friends in Washington.
That is something no Serbian government dares to do. At least not openly. Like Tadic, Nikolic has promised to pursue two mutually exclusive policy aims: EU membership, and refusal to recognize that the historic Serb province of Kosovo is now an “independent State”.
The election of Nikolic probably shows that enthusiasm for joining the EU is waning, which would make sense considering the current crisis of the euro zone. But even a sinking ship may look like salvation to a drowning man.
Ever since the 1999 NATO war, Serbia has been a semi-occupied country, surrounded by NATO. Its politicians must seek approval of Western embassies and pro-Western media. Many have been groomed in the United States. Nikolic is an exception, but to compensate, he has turned to former U.S. Ambassador William Montgomery for advice on how to improve his image in the West.
As a “former extreme nationalist”, Nikolic may be called upon by EU gatekeepers to do even more (if such is possible) to prove his conversion to “Western values”. He started off with the rather astonishing statement that he was eager to meet Angela Merkel, his “best ally in Europe” – astonishing since everyone knows that Germany and Austria, as Serbia’s historic enemies (Sarajevo 1914) were first to sponsor Croatian and Slovenian secession from Yugoslavia and have vigorously pursued their century-old vendetta against Serbs ever since.
Nikolic has modified his former vow to pursue closer relations with Russia into a suggestion that Serbia must “have friends all over the world”. The “former extreme nationalist”, who left the Serbian Radical Party to form his own Progressive Party, does not appear to be the man to defy Serbia’s Western tormentors.
“Take Him to The Hague!”
Since only “former extreme nationalists” are left in Serbia, whatever happened to the real thing? Whatever happened to Vojislav Seselj?
Nikolic’s political mentor, the lawyer and Serbian Radical Party leader Vojislav Seselj, has been in prison in the Netherlands for over nine years, as his trial for belonging to an alleged “joint criminal enterprise” gets nowhere.
On February 24, 2003, learning that the Prosecutor’s office of the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) had issued a secret indictment against him, Seselj booked his own regular flight to the Netherlands to give himself up before the indictment could be issued. He announced boldly that he was “convinced that I’m capable of winning against The Hague tribunal and refuting these Western allegations against the Serbian people.” A farewell rally was held in Belgrade.
He has been in the ICTY prison in the Netherlands ever since.
The ICTY chief Prosecutor at that time, Ms. Carla Del Ponte, wrote in her memoirs “The Hunt” that the indictment was issued at the request of the authorities in Belgrade. At a meeting on February 17, 2003, Zoran Djindjic, who owed his position as Serbian Prime Minister to support from NATO powers, and was assassinated shortly thereafter, allegedly told her: “As far as Vojislav Seselj is concerned, we have only one request –take him away, never to bring him back again!”
The reason for getting Seselj out of Serbia was obvious. He was a popular politician who had lost elections to Milosevic, but with Milosevic out of the way, he might be a formidable opponent for the pro-Western politicians sponsored by the NATO powers. Or so they might worry.
The Seselj case illustrates an original purpose of the Hague tribunal, as described by one of its designers, Michael Scharf, a State Department adviser who took part in the creation of the ICTY. In an August 2004 Washington Post column, Scharf recalled: "In creating the Yugoslavia tribunal statute, the U.N. Security Council set three objectives: first, to educate the Serbian people, who were long misled by Milosevic’s propaganda, about the acts of aggression, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by his regime; second, to facilitate national reconciliation by pinning prime responsibility on Milosevic and other top leaders and disclosing the ways in which the Milosevic regime had induced ordinary Serbs to commit atrocities; and third, to promote political catharsis while enabling Serbia’s newly elected leaders to distance themselves from the repressive policies of the past."
To put it in slightly different terms, the purpose of the Tribunal was to oblige the Serbian people to accept the NATO version of events in their country.
Already in 1992, U.S. Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger called for a war crimes tribunal as an instrument to force the Serbian people to see things our way: While “waiting for the people of Serbia, if not their leaders, to come to their senses, we must make them understand that their country will remain alone, friendless, and condemned to economic ruin and exclusion from the family of civilized nations for as long as they pursue the suicidal dream of a Greater Serbia. They need, especially, to understand that a second Nuremberg awaits the practitioners of ethnic cleansing, and that the judgment, and opprobrium, of history awaits the people in whose name their crimes were committed.”
In reality, the Tribunal, precisely because it intervened in a complex civil war against the Serb side, has never been credible among most Serbs, but instead has served to strengthen the NATO countries’ own view of the conflict as caused solely by Serbian nationalism. The enemies of the Serbs, nationalist leaders of the Albanians, Bosnian Muslims or Croats, use the Western anti-Serb bias for their own purposes, first of all to portray themselves as pure innocent victims with no responsibility for the mayhem that tore Yugoslavia apart. That version is far too simplistic to convince Serbs who are aware of the complexities, even when they admit that crimes were indeed committed by Serbs during the bloody conflicts. Far from fostering reconciliation, the Tribunal has cemented divisions and made eventual reconciliation all but impossible.
Seselj, however, is a special case. There is no evidence that he ever took part in combat, much less in war crimes, or that he exercised any command responsibility. He joined a national unity government briefly during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999, but for the rest of the time was an often bitter and vehement political opponent of President Slobodan Milosevic.
As a witness at the Milosevic trial in The Hague, Seselj surprised the prosecution by insisting that he, Seselj, was the real champion of “Greater Serbia”, while Milosevic was always opposed to the concept and instead wanted to preserve multi-ethnic Yugoslavia. Milosevic died in his cell before the end of his trial.
In short, Seselj is spending years on trial for what he said, not for what he did.
The Crime of the “Rusty Spoons”
Some twenty years ago, Seselj became notorious in Western media for having allegedly boasted of “tearing out the eyes of Croats with rusty spoons”. This was one of the main horror stories that built the reputation of Serbs as genocidal maniacs.
Vojislav Seselj was never one to be concerned with political correctness. He gained a certain prominence in the early 1980s as one of Yugoslavia’s best-known political prisoners. Internationally known intellectuals of the Praxis group rallied to his defense on grounds of free speech, even though they disagreed with him on just about all major questions, as they tended to be reformist Marxists and Seselj was strongly anti-communist. But even his adversaries acknowledged his courage and intelligence.
Under Milosevic, political prisoners were released, and in the early 1990s Seselj became leader of the Serbian Radical Party, a revival of Serbia’s main historic political party from Serbia’s democratic heyday in the early 1900s, before World War I and the creation of Yugoslavia at the Versailles conference. As Yugoslavia began to break up under the pressure of Croatian and Slovenian secessionism, Seselj became the leading champion of Serb nationalism, meaning roughly the idea that if Yugoslavia were to break up into its component nations, Serbia should revert to the nation it could have been as a victor in World War I before the creation of Yugoslavia, World War II, and the Communist division of Yugoslav territory – in short, “Greater Serbia”. Milosevic never endorsed this idea.
In 1991, conflict was brewing between ethnic Serbs and nationalist Croats in regions of Croatia with a large Serb population. Some Serbs fled to Serbia, fearful of a return of the Nazi-backed Ustasha movement that massacred Serbs after Nazi Germany invaded and broke up Yugoslavia in 1941. While the conflict aroused Serb fears of Ustasha, it also aroused Croat fears of Chetniks – the name for Serb guerrillas in wars against the Ottoman Empire or against the Nazi occupation.
That year, Seselj was guest on a satirical television show called Minimaxovision that made fun of the accusations against Serbs. “So you Chetniks are slaughtering people again?” Seselj was asked. He replied deadpan: “of course, only we have changed our methodology. Now, instead of knives we use shoe horns. And rusty ones at that, so that it cannot be established whether the victim died because of butchering or from tetanus.” The talk show participants laughed at the absurdity of using shoe horns. This was graveyard humor in a tradition understood perhaps in Belgrade, but not everywhere.
Urged on by their Croat friends, Western reporters took the whole thing seriously. The tasteless joke became a testimony to the fact that Seselj had boasted that his men slaughtered Croats with rusty spoons (the word kasika means both spoon and shoe horn in Serbian).
Since then, Seselj has explained repeatedly that he was joking. But the story lives on. The May 22 report on Nikolic’s election in the International Herald Tribune included a background reference to Vojislav Seselj who “said he would like to gouge out the eyes of Croats with a rusty spoon. He is now in The Hague for war crimes.”
An unmentioned aspect of this story is that in a paradoxical way it echoes the Italian author Curzio Malaparte, who wrote in “Kaputt”, his autobiographical account of Italy’s role in World War II, that when he visited the Leader of the fascist Independent State of Croatia, Ustasha chief Ante Pavelic, he was shown a basket of what looked like oysters and was told they were “human eyes… gouged from Serbs”.
Personally, I have never been able to take Malaparte’s story literally, and tend to think that it, too, is an illustration of a certain Balkan humor.
The simplistic belief that the Yugoslav wars of disintegration were caused solely by evil Serbs, imitating Hitler, is necessary to justify NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in order to “save the Kosovars”. This myth must be upheld as precedent for further “humanitarian intervention” whenever the United States and NATO decide to overthrow another recalcitrant government somewhere. Until NATO goes broke, or Western citizens wake up and oppose endless war, the Serbs have no chance of achieving truth or justice. They can only console themselves with graveyard humor.
Oggetto: Syrien: USA torpedieren friedliche Lösung
Data: 01 giugno 2012 18.56.04 GMT+02.00
Wie schon in den 90-er Jahren in Jugoslawien betreiben die USA in Syrien eine Politik der Torpedierung aller Friedensbemühungen (siehe Artikel unten). Vordergründig zeigt man sich sehr besorgt über die Entwicklung in diesem multi-ethnischen Staat. Wie damals Milosevic, steht nun Assad - beides Repräsentanten einer nicht voll auf die USA ausgerichteten Politik - auf der Abschussliste der Amerikaner. Während man bei G.W.Bush wenigstens wusste woran man war, betreibt Obama, wie vorher Clinton, eine perfid-geheuchelte Aggressionspolitik gegen jegliche Überreste aus der Entkolonialisierungspolitik des 20-Jh. Nicht dass ein offener Faschismus einem getarnten vorzuziehen ist, die Konturen wären jedoch für jedermann erkennbar. Die kritische westliche Öffentlichkeit ist leider so eingelullt, dass die von den gleichgeschalteten Medien servierten Gräuel-Geschichten immer wieder akzeptiert werden (sonst hätte z.B. der Tagesanzeiger nicht so eine hohe Auflage). Ob sich der Westen diesmal eine Ignorierung der klaren Positionen Russlands und Chinas leisten kann wird sich zeigen.
K.Trümpy, ICDSM Schweiz
USA torpedieren friedliche Lösung
Hans Springstein
Der Doppelanschlag in Damaskus vom 10. Mai mit etwa 70 Toten gilt gemeinhin als Zeichen dafür, daß Kofi Annans Friedensplan und jeglicher Versuch einer friedlichen Lösung des syrischen Konfliktes zum Scheitern verurteilt sind. Das überrascht nicht.
DeutschlandRadio Kultur sendete einen Tag später in der Reihe »Ortszeit« einen interessanten Beitrag zum Thema »Wer steckt hinter dem Anschlag von Damaskus?« Der libanesische Ex-General Hisham Jaber sagte in dem Radio-Beitrag, daß die Täter keine Amateure aus der Opposition gewesen sein können. Dazu seien nur gut ausgebildete Profis fähig. Und er fügte hinzu: »Ich spreche nicht von Al-Qaida.« Aber es gebe eine ganze Reihe von Gruppen mit ähnlichen Motiven und Zielen und mit »800 bis 1.000 Leuten in Syrien«. »Die kommen aus Libyen, Jemen, Nordlibanon und Irak« und haben keine Verbindungen zur syrischen Opposition. Jaber bezeichnete Behauptungen, der syrische Geheimdienst stecke hinter den mehrfachen Bombenanschlägen seit Dezember 2011, um sie der Opposition in die Schuhe zu schieben, als »abwegig«. Die syrische Regierung habe kein Interesse daran zu zeigen, daß sie die Kontrolle über Damaskus verliere. Ihr nutzten diese Anschläge nicht: »Nein, das Regime hat keinerlei Interesse an solchen Operationen.« Jaber befürchtet ein Zunahme derartiger Anschläge. Der Annan-Plan für eine friedliche Lösung könne praktisch abgeschrieben werden.
Wer kein Interesse an dem Friedensplan des ehemaligen UN-Generalsekretärs hat, zeigte sich schon Tage zuvor. Am 4. Mai meldete AP, daß die US-Regierung den Versuch Annans, den Frieden in Syrien wiederherzustellen, für gescheitert erklärt. Jay Carney, Sprecher des US-Präsidenten Barack Obama, sagte laut Agenturmeldung, die Gewalt in Syrien müsse nun auf andere Weise gestoppt werden. Die Verantwortung dafür trage das Regime des Präsidenten Baschar al-Assad. AP erinnerte daran, daß die US-Regierung dem Annan-Plan von Anfang an skeptisch gegenüber gestanden hatte.
Dazu paßte dann der Bericht der Washington Post vom 16. Mai: Die bewaffneten syrischen »Rebellen« erhalten mit Hilfe der USA neue und bessere Waffen. Das geschehe über Saudi-Arabien und Katar. Diese Partner Washingtons hatten schon im April, kurz nachdem Kofi Annan seinen Friedensplan vorgestellt hatte, erklärt, daß sie die bewaffneten »Rebellen« mit 100 Millionen Dollar unterstützen werden. Die USA hätten Kontakt zu jenen, die sie mit Waffen versorgen lassen, schrieb das Blatt. Die Lieferungen stärkten die Positionen der »Rebellen« gegenüber der syrischen Armee, die seit einiger Zeit die Lage unter Kontrolle zu haben schien. Die Obama-Administration habe sogar mit syrischen Kurden über die Möglichkeit einer zweiten Front gegen die syrische Armee gesprochen, schrieb Washington Post. Inzwischen bereite das Pentagon auch mögliche Luftschläge gegen die syrische Luftverteidigung vor.
Beleg für die Einmischung der USA in den syrischen Konflikt ist auch die AP-Meldung vom 26. April über einen Besuch von syrischen »Rebellen« im Kosovo, um von der UCK zu lernen und sich von der Terrortruppe beraten zu lassen. »We are here to learn«, sagte der Exilsyrer Ammar Abdulhamid der Nachrichtenagentur in Pristina. Wer ihn nach Kosovo schickte, stand nicht dabei, nur daß Abdulhamid seit 2005 in den USA lebt. Daß es nicht nur ums Lernen und Beraten gehen könnte, zeigte eine Meldung von RIA Novosti vom 14. Mai: »Das Kosovo will nach Angaben des russischen Außenministeriums Kämpfer für die syrische Opposition ausbilden. Dabei könnten die Trainingslager der ehemaligen paramilitärischen Organisation UCK in Anspruch genommen werden.«
Im Kosovo läuft seit dem NATO-Krieg gegen Jugoslawien 1999 nichts ohne die USA und die führenden EU-Staaten. Die USA wollen dem selbsternannten unabhängigen Staat nun auch helfen, Mitglied der EU und der NATO zu werden, erklärte US-Außenministerin Hillary Clinton am 5. April in Washington. Ihr Gesprächspartner an diesem Tag war der ehemalige UCK-Terrorist und jetzige Kosovo-»Premierminister« Hashim Thaci. Auf die Rolle des Kosovo in der US-Strategie machte eine Woche später der Publizist F. William Engdahl auf der Website GlobalResearch.ca aufmerksam: »Das Kosovo ist zwar ein winziges Ländchen, gehört aber wegen seiner geopolitischen Bedeutung zu den strategisch wichtigsten Positionen in ganz Europa; von dort aus kann das US-Militär die Ölströme und die politischen Entwicklungen vom ölreichen Mittleren Osten bis nach Rußland und Westeuropa kontrollieren.« (zitiert nach der deutschen Übersetzung auf www.luftpost-kl.de)
Zu erinnern ist in diesem Zusammenhang daran, daß die USA 1998 die UCK von der terroristischen Vereinigung, als welche sie bis dahin galt, zu einer Vereinigung von »Freiheitskämpfern« werden ließ und diese zu unterstützen begann. Alles deutet darauf hin, daß der Aufenthalt der syrischen »Rebellen« im Kosovo und die zugesagte Unterstützung durch die UCK kein Zufall oder nur ein solidarischer Akt unter »Freiheitskämpfern« sind. RIA Novosti hatte im Februar Leonid Iwaschow, Präsident der Moskauer Akademie für geopolitische Probleme, zitiert: »Die USA wollten ihre Ziele ›mit fremden Händen‹ erreichen ... Hierfür würden sie die innersyrischen Kräfte, vor allem die Opposition, ausnutzen.« Damit diese Hände ihren Job richtig machen, werden sie vorher ins Kosovo geschickt.
Während die Obama-Administration heuchelt, sie würde Annans Friedensplan unterstützen, fördert sie aktiv jene, die kein Interesse an einer friedlichen Lösung haben. Deshalb sei daran erinnert, was in Annans Sechs-Punkte-Plan steht: »Der vereinbarte Waffenstillstand soll durch die Vereinten Nationen überwacht werden. Zum Schutz der Zivilbevölkerung und zur Stabilisierung des Landes sollen alle Beteiligten die bewaffnete Gewalt in jeglicher Form beenden. Die Armee soll Truppenbewegungen beenden, den Einsatz schwerer Waffen in Wohnvierteln einstellen und mit der Verlegung der Soldaten zurück in die Kasernen beginnen.« Während die UNO-Beobachter in Syrien unterwegs sind, ignoriert die US-Regierung die UNO und alle Bemühungen für eine friedliche Lösung. Verwunderlich ist das nicht, hatte doch Obama Anfang März erklärt, die Tage des syrischen Präsidenten Assad seien gezählt: »Das ist keine Frage des Ob, sondern des Wann.«
Ossietzky, 11/2012
(italiano / francais / english)
Kosovo Serbs still targets of NATO fire
1) February 25: Kosovo Serbs Caught in Crossfire from Three Points
2) Fine marzo: Arresti di serbi e di albanesi kosovari
3) 5 aprile: Scritte intimidatorie ed aggressioni contro i serbi-kosovari
4) April 5: Remains of Serbs murdered in Kosovo handed over
5) 10 avril: Nouvelles tensions à Mitrovica
6) 12 maggio: Bruciano i boschi in Metochia
7) May 23: Homes of Serb returnees set on fire
8) Forming of the Kosovo government's Administrative Office for the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica is a provocation
9) NATO Fires On Serb Protesters, Four Injured
10) Russian Ambassador Aleksandr Konuzin warns about "Greater Albania" project
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Source of most texts in English language is the Stop NATO e-mail list.
Home page with archives and search engine:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato/messages
Website and articles:
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com
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http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato/messages
Website and articles:
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com
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Kosovo Serbs Caught in Crossfire from Three Points 75% reject the institutions of the so-called Republic of Kosovo By Pyotr Iskenderov | |
Global Research, February 25, 2012 | |
The debates over Serbia's bid for the status of a EU candidate, which are due to open in Brussels in March, will likely provoke a new round of destabilization in the Serbian districts of the province. The February 14-15 referendum in four Serbian communities in northern Kosovo confirmed the obvious: their populations continue to overwhelmingly reject the Albanian ethnic rule. A total of 99.74% of those who attended the poll in which the turnout reached 75% replied “No” to the question whether they accepted the institutions of the so-called Republic of Kosovo headquartered in Pristina. The official Belgrade was clearly allergic to the initiative spinning off in northern Kosovo as president B. Tadic charged that the referendum organized by the leaders of the Serbian municipalities of Kosovo was harming both Serbia and the Serbian communities in the province. No doubt, Belgrade's already permanent pressure on the Kosovo Serbs will peak if the EU Council which is so far divided over Serbia's aspirations manages to hammer out a compromise and Belgrade is allowed to buy the official EU candidate status at the cost of new concessions on Kosovo. According to Kosovo Serbian leader Marko Jaksic, the unprecedented turnout at the northern Kosovo referendum meant that the Serbs defied Belgrade's call to refrain from getting involved. ”The people felt that not showing up would have been a form of betrayal”, explained Jaksic who also stressed that for Tadic the vote came as a political slap in the face for acknowledging an ever-widening array of Kosovo statehood attributes like passports, driver licenses, college transcripts, etc. and that the Kosovo Serbs who cast the ballots made it clear how they felt about Tadic's increasingly connecting to Pristina. Kosovska Mitrovica mayor Krstimir Pantic expressed the same view when he said that, given the outcome of the referendum, those at the helm in Belgrade along with the Kosovo Albanians and the international community have to realize with utmost clarity the extent of the determination across the Serbian community of northern Kosovo not to bow to Pristina. “We are defending Serbia in Kosovo”, said Pantic. The geopolitical implications of the referendum in northern Kosovo may prove far-reaching. One gets a distinct impression that the Kosovo Serbs are in the process of switching to a completely independent role in the Balkan politics, challenging Pristina, Brussels or, if necessary, Belgrade. The recent referendum was not the first Serbian attempt to place their resistance to Albanian separatism into a legislative framework. In May, 2008, three months since the unilateral proclamation of Kosovo independence, north Kosovo Serbs voted in favor of establishing the Assembly of the Community of Municipalities of the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija based on the constitution of Serbia. Until some time ago, the Assembly had been politically supported by Belgrade. The parameters of the situation began to drift in the fall of 2011 when the Kosovo Serbs resorted to force to prevent the agreements, which Belgrade and Pristina sealed without taking their position into account, from being put into practice, while the European Commission dished out the first ever more or less positive assessment of Serbia's application for the EU membership. When the December EU summit shifted its further review to March, 2012,Belgrade was left to face the dilemma of choosing between some sort of an urgent accord with Pristina or a collapse of its plan to sneak into the EU. Moreover, Germany, which, as a relatively healthy economy, emerged as an informal leader of the crisis-ridden Europe, demanded that Serbia not only drop its objections to Kosovo's participation in international forums under its own flag but also assist the Albanian administration of the province in erasing all forms of Serbian self-government in the northern part of Kosovo. Judging by the scarce information displayed, at the moment Belgrade remains undecided over the de fact ultimatum issued by Brussels and Berlin, and there are indications that cracks appeared in Serbia's ruling coalition over handling the problem. In the run-up to the referendum KFOR commander Gen. Erhard Drews bluntly warned in an interview to Focus that Albanian nationalists would possibly be led to target the Serbian minorities in isolated enclaves outside of northern Kosovo in response but, seriously speaking, no radicals in the province would dare to commit outrageous acts unless blessed by the EU and NATO. The latter may be the reason why Kosovo Albanian top commentator Adrian Collaku slammed the Pristina administration as “impotent”, saying that "this referendum reconfirms for the umpteenth time that Kosovo cannot establish control over all its territory". The paradox, therefore, is that the biggest threat to the Serbian statehood in Kosovo currently emanates from Belgrade and the Kosovo Serbs locked in the Belgrade-Pristina-Brussels geopolitical triangle can only rely on themselves. A somewhat predictable twist in Serbian politics was observed just days ago when, in a clear attempt to blackmail the EU, the first deputy premier and internal affairs minister of Serbia Ivica Dacic took to citing Russia in the context of the republic's Eurointegration hopes. The point made by the Serbian official was that Europe would make a huge mistake if it turns down the Serbian bid for a candidate status next March since under the scenario “it would be normal to expect that a political faction directed more toward Russia would come into power”. The statement unequivocally signals a sense of crisis within the ruling coalition. It should be borne in mind considering Tadic's standing that in 2008 the West lent him a hand to derail the formation of a patriotic coalition in Serbia, but these days much more pressing problems can push Serbian affairs to a fairly low line on the EU and NATO agendas. Symptomatically, a fresh statement released by Lithuanian foreign ministry spokeswoman Margarita Butkiene contained a biting remark that Belgrade failed to comply in full with any of the preconditions set forth by the December EU summit, though up to date Lithuania, in contrast to Germany, Austria, or Finland, was not seen in the camp opposing the admission of Serbia to the EU. Overall, Belgrade with its current geopolitical course increasingly steers Serbia into dire straits, and chances are that in the next elections Serbian voters would deliver to the poling booths immensely soberer views on how to shape the future of their own statehood. | |
=== 2 ===
ARRESTI IN KOSOVO
Da www.glassrbije.org
Coper: Belgrado e Pristina sono responsabili
30. 03. 2012. - Reagendo agli arresti in Kosovo, il mediatore europeo nelle trattative tra Belgrado e Pristina Robert Coper ha invitato entrambe le parti a dimostrare responsabilità, ed ha avvertito che i probemi politici non possono essere risolti con gli arresti. L’Unione europea si augura che entrambe le parti adempieranno agli obblighi assunti nel corso delle trattative. L’Unione europea ritiene che i problemi politici devono essere risolti con dialogo e negozi e non con le azioni che hanno leggi come pretesto, ha valutato Coper. Il suo comunicato è stato diffuso dopo il recente arresto di un gruppo di serbi in Kosovo. Le autorità kosovare li hanno acusati di aver messo a repentaglio la sicurezza nella regione. In seguito al valico amministrativo Konculj sono stati arrestati due albanesi kosovari. Il Ministro dell’Interno della Serbia Ivica Dacic ha detto che loro sono accusati di traffico di stupefacienti e di spionaggio.
Coper: Belgrado e Pristina sono responsabili
30. 03. 2012. - Reagendo agli arresti in Kosovo, il mediatore europeo nelle trattative tra Belgrado e Pristina Robert Coper ha invitato entrambe le parti a dimostrare responsabilità, ed ha avvertito che i probemi politici non possono essere risolti con gli arresti. L’Unione europea si augura che entrambe le parti adempieranno agli obblighi assunti nel corso delle trattative. L’Unione europea ritiene che i problemi politici devono essere risolti con dialogo e negozi e non con le azioni che hanno leggi come pretesto, ha valutato Coper. Il suo comunicato è stato diffuso dopo il recente arresto di un gruppo di serbi in Kosovo. Le autorità kosovare li hanno acusati di aver messo a repentaglio la sicurezza nella regione. In seguito al valico amministrativo Konculj sono stati arrestati due albanesi kosovari. Il Ministro dell’Interno della Serbia Ivica Dacic ha detto che loro sono accusati di traffico di stupefacienti e di spionaggio.
Dacic: I serbi arrestati in Kosovo devono essere liberati
30. 03. 2012. - Il vice premier e il Ministro dell’Interno della Serbia Ivica Dacic ha dichiarato che saranno continuate le pressioni sulla comunità internazionale, affinché siano liberati due serbi che sono stati arrestati in Kosovo. Dacic ha ripetuto che ognuno che non rispetterà l’ordine guridico della Serbia sarà arrestato. I serbi che sono stati arrestati in Kosovo non hanno commesso nessun reato. Il loro arresto ha aperto una brutta pagina della storia, nella quale ognuno ha la paura di poter essere arrestato, ha detto Dacic. Egli ha criticato la comunità internazionale, perché nessuno dei suoi rappresentante ha reagito quando ai serbi arrestati è stato imposto il fermo. Dall’altra parte, quando sono stati arrestati due albanesi contro i quali sono stati spiccati mandati di cattura, l’intera comunità internazionale e le organizzazioni non governative hanno reagito subito, ha dichiarato Ivica Dacic.
Le parole offensive e la scritta UCK sulla chiesa serba
05. 04. 2012. - Le parole offensive e la scritta UCK sono state scritte sulla chiesa dei Santi apostoli Pietro e Paolo nel villaggio Brod nel comune di Strpce, nel Kosovo meridionale, ha riportato la radio serba KIM di Caglavica. Non si sa quando queste parole sono state scritte, perché la popolazione serba ha abbandonato il villaggio molto tempo fa. I serbi visitano la chiesa soltanto in occasione delle importanti festività religiose. Nell’anno passato, alla vigilia dela festa della chiesa il 12 luglio, è stata ricostruita la fontana che si trovava nel cortile. Alcuni giorni dopo gli albanesi l’hanno distrutta, ha riportato la radio serba KIM di Caglavica.
Cvetkovic chiede che subito siano avviate le indagini
05. 04. 2012. - Il premier serbo Mirko Cvetkovic ha inviato una nota di protesta all’alto rappresentante dell’Unione europea per la politica estera e la sicurezza Catherine Asthon e i capi dell’Unmik e l’Eulex Farid Zarif e Xavier de Marnack, perché la delegazione dell’esecutivo serbo è stata aggredita in pieno centro a Pristina. Cvetkovic ha chiesto ai capi delle missioni internazionali in Kosovo di avviare subito le indagini che scopriranno i colpevoli e accerteranno i motivi dell’aggressione. Il premier serbo ha sottolineato che quell’attacco è un altro tentativo degli estremisti albanei di incutere timore nella popolazione serba, bloccare il dialogo tra Belgrado e Pristina e impedire l’implementazione degli accordi che sono stati raggiunti finora. Nel comunicato dell’esecutivo serbo è stato precisato che un gruppo di estremisti albanesi ieri pomeriggio in pieno centro a Pristina ha gettato sassi contro due automobili nei quali si trovavano membri della delegazione serba, uno dei quali è stato ferito. La delegazione serba è arrivata in Kosovo per discutere la realizzazione degli accordi che sono stati ottenuti durante le trattative che si conducono a Bruxelles.
Gracanica: un gruppo di albanesi ha aggredito i serbi
05. 04. 2012. - Il comandante della stazione della polizia serba a Gracanica in Kosovo Bratislav Trajkovic ha confermato che nel centro di Gracanica ieri si sono scontrati due gruppi di tifosi serbi e albanesi. Le camere a circuito chiuso che si trovano in tutta Gracanica hanno registrato che un gruppo di albanesi è sceso dal pullman che si è fermato a causa dell’incidente, dopo di che ha aggredito un gruppo di serbi, ha precisato Trajkovic. La polizia ha fermato il pullman nel vicino villaggio di Ajvalija. Tutti i tifosi albanesi sono però scappati. Due tifosi che sono stati fermati dalla polizia sono stati rilasciati presto in libertà. Le fonti serbe hanno comunicato che nello scontro due serbi sono stati feriti e che oggi pomeriggio sono stati rilasciati dall’ospedale di Gracanica nel quale sono stati ricoverati.
=== 4 ===
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/crimes-article.php?yyyy=2012&mm=04&dd=05&nav_id=79627
Tanjug News Agency - April 5, 2012
Remains of Serbs murdered in Kosovo handed over
MERDARE: The remains of four Serbs, kidnapped and murdered in 1999 by ethnic Albanian terrorists, have been handed over to their families on Thursday.
The handover took place at Merdare, on the administrative line between Kosovo and central Serbia.
The identities of the victims were determined through DNA analyses.
The families said that their loved ones would be laid to rest tomorrow in towns in central Serbia.
According to current data of the Serbian government, more than 2,000 Serbs, Montenegrins and other non-Albanians have either been kidnapped or are listed as otherwise missing in Kosovo and Metohija.
=== 5 ===
B92
Kosovo : nouvelles tensions à Mitrovica
Traduit par Jacqueline Dérens
Mise en ligne : mardi 10 avril 2012
Dimanche, un attentat qui a coûté la vie à un Albanais, lundi, plusieurs centaines de Serbes qui se sont rassemblés dans le quartier des Trois Tours pour empêcher l’érection d’un poste de la police du Kosovo (KPS), la situation se tend dangereusement à Mitrovica.
Lundi 9 avril après midi des policiers de la police du Kosovo ont transporté trois postes mobiles de police de la partie sud de la ville, peuplée majoritairement d’Albanais pour les mettre devant chacune des tours et y mettre des fonctionnaires de la police du Kosovo.
Les policiers de la KPS ont réussi à ériger un seul poste avant que des habitants arrivent et fassent voler les vitres en éclats. Les deux autres postes ont été ramenés au sud de la ville.
Alors que des Serbes se rassemblaient au nord de la ville, les Albanais faisaient de même au sud dans la direction du village de Suvi Do où un Serbe avait été attaqué et blessé la nuit précédente.
Selon l’agence de presse Beta, la situation était tendue mais aucun incident grave n’était à déplorer. Vers 14 heures, heure locale, les habitants rassemblés des deux côtés de la ville ont commencé à se disperser sans incident.
La veille, un Albanais avait été tué et deux de ses enfants blessés par l’explosion d’une bombe placée devant les fenêtres de leur appartement par des inconnus. En représailles, semble-t-il, une Serbe de 66 ans a été attaqué quelques heures plus tard par trois individus non identifiés.
Samuel Zogbar, le représentant de l’Union européenne (UE) au Kosovo, a lancé un appel au calme alors qu’Eulex, la Kfor, et la KPS examinaient les lieux de l’attentat.
=== 6 ===
da www.glassrbije.org
Bruciano i boschi in Metochia
12. 05. 2012. - Da due giorni ormai un grande incendio sta devastando i boschi serbi nei pressi del borgo Osojane, nel comune Istok. Finora sono andati distrutti, secondo la valutazione degli abitanti, 150 ettari di bosco, e la fiamma ha raggiunto anche alcuni frutteti e case nei dintorni, recando gravi danni. Servizio di Vukomir Petric.
Gli abitanti del borgo sono convinti che l’incendio sia doloso, perché, evidenziano, hanno visto un gruppo di albanesi passare di lì poco prima dell’incendio. Mihailo Smigic, che ha perso 20 ettari di bosco, la casa e il frutteto, fa sapere di aver riconosciuto e anche parlato con alcuni dei piromani. “Non c’è dubbio che sia un opera degli albanesi, li ho visti. Vivo a Osojane come rimpatriato, avevo intenzione di tornare nella mia casa, ma mi hanno distrutto tutto. Ho chiamato subito la polizia e i vigili del fuco, però sono arrivati in ritardo e non è rimasto più niente. Sono convinto che questo sia un messaggio che non devo tornare sulla mia tenuta, distante solo un paio di chilometri dal centro di Osojane, ma io non voglio lasciare il Kosovo e Metochia”, è deciso Smigic. Solo un paio di anni fa il grande complesso di boschi di Osojane è bruciato completamente nell’incendio.
Il comandante della Polizia kosovara per la regione Istok, Hasan Ceku, ha confermato che il caso è stato denunciato e che la polizia ha le informazioni sugli autori. Lui ha fatto sapere che l’inchiesta è in corso.
La rapina di bestiame, macchinari e altro, la distruzione della semina e dei boschi, negli ultimi anno sono i problemi più gravi dei serbi in Metochia. L’agricoltura, grazie all’aiuto del governo serbo, si è sviluppata molto ed è diventata il pilastro principale della sopravvivenza dei serbi nella provincia meridionale, ma qualcuno sta provando a riportare le cose com’erano prima, quando i serbi dipendevano esclusivamente dalle donazioni e si poneva la questione della loro sopravvivenza. Anche oggi, soprattutto dopo gli incendi dolosi e le rapine, molti si domandano se i serbi avranno mai una vita tranquilla e pacifica nella provincia, ma evidenziano, allo stesso tempo, che rimarranno nei loro focolari.
Bruciano i boschi in Metochia
12. 05. 2012. - Da due giorni ormai un grande incendio sta devastando i boschi serbi nei pressi del borgo Osojane, nel comune Istok. Finora sono andati distrutti, secondo la valutazione degli abitanti, 150 ettari di bosco, e la fiamma ha raggiunto anche alcuni frutteti e case nei dintorni, recando gravi danni. Servizio di Vukomir Petric.
Gli abitanti del borgo sono convinti che l’incendio sia doloso, perché, evidenziano, hanno visto un gruppo di albanesi passare di lì poco prima dell’incendio. Mihailo Smigic, che ha perso 20 ettari di bosco, la casa e il frutteto, fa sapere di aver riconosciuto e anche parlato con alcuni dei piromani. “Non c’è dubbio che sia un opera degli albanesi, li ho visti. Vivo a Osojane come rimpatriato, avevo intenzione di tornare nella mia casa, ma mi hanno distrutto tutto. Ho chiamato subito la polizia e i vigili del fuco, però sono arrivati in ritardo e non è rimasto più niente. Sono convinto che questo sia un messaggio che non devo tornare sulla mia tenuta, distante solo un paio di chilometri dal centro di Osojane, ma io non voglio lasciare il Kosovo e Metochia”, è deciso Smigic. Solo un paio di anni fa il grande complesso di boschi di Osojane è bruciato completamente nell’incendio.
Il comandante della Polizia kosovara per la regione Istok, Hasan Ceku, ha confermato che il caso è stato denunciato e che la polizia ha le informazioni sugli autori. Lui ha fatto sapere che l’inchiesta è in corso.
La rapina di bestiame, macchinari e altro, la distruzione della semina e dei boschi, negli ultimi anno sono i problemi più gravi dei serbi in Metochia. L’agricoltura, grazie all’aiuto del governo serbo, si è sviluppata molto ed è diventata il pilastro principale della sopravvivenza dei serbi nella provincia meridionale, ma qualcuno sta provando a riportare le cose com’erano prima, quando i serbi dipendevano esclusivamente dalle donazioni e si poneva la questione della loro sopravvivenza. Anche oggi, soprattutto dopo gli incendi dolosi e le rapine, molti si domandano se i serbi avranno mai una vita tranquilla e pacifica nella provincia, ma evidenziano, allo stesso tempo, che rimarranno nei loro focolari.
=== 7 ===
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/crimes-article.php?yyyy=2012&mm=05&dd=23&nav_id=80394
Tanjug News Agency - May 23, 2012
Kosovo: Homes of Serb returnees set on fire
PEČ: Two houses belonging to Serb returnees were burnt down in the village of Drenovac in Kosovo and Metohija, late on Tuesday.
The village is located south of the Ibar River, where Serbs live in isolated enclaves.
Nenad Stašić, who lives in the village, told Tanjug news agency that around midnight fire damaged the houses of Milovan Radosavljević and Arso Stepić, but that no one was inside at that time.
Firefighters arrived around 01:00, but the fire had already destroyed Radosavljević's house, whereas the second home was damaged to a lesser degree, he said.
Stašić also said that Serb returnees from the village believe that the houses were set on fire "in order to send a clear message to Serbs that they do not belong in Metohija".
"Last week it was agreed that another 12 houses for Kosovo Serb returnees will be built. This is the message for those people as well that they are not welcome here," the villager said.
Last year, first seven Serb families returned to Drenovac, five of which live in the village permanently.
Kosovo police (KPS) was expected to send "special units to the scene", according to Tanjug. Their role would be to conduct an investigation and determine the cause of the fire.
Ministry for Kosovo condemns attacks on Serbs
The Ministry for Kosovo condemned on Wednesday the burning of the homes of Serb returnees in the village of Drenovac in Kosovo and called on EULEX to find the perpetrators.
"We call on all relevant international factors in the province to use their authority to compel the so-called Priština institutions and Kosovo Albanian officials to truly ensure the safety of Kosovo Serbs south of the Ibar, instead of pompously announcing their plan for northern Kosovo, and suppress Albanian extremism instead of encouraging it," says the release.
The ministry notes it has warned representatives of the international community on several occasions about the constant attacks and the difficult position of Serb returnees in Kosovo, and about the deteriorating situation in Klina in particular.
"The ministry is calling on KFOR to strengthen its presence in returnee villages near Klina and protect Serb lives and property from Albanian extremists. The burning of houses in the village of Drenovac, and other unresolved attacks on returnees reflect Pristina's position and treatment of Serb returnees and IDPs," says the release.
Tanjug News Agency - May 23, 2012
Kosovo: Homes of Serb returnees set on fire
PEČ: Two houses belonging to Serb returnees were burnt down in the village of Drenovac in Kosovo and Metohija, late on Tuesday.
The village is located south of the Ibar River, where Serbs live in isolated enclaves.
Nenad Stašić, who lives in the village, told Tanjug news agency that around midnight fire damaged the houses of Milovan Radosavljević and Arso Stepić, but that no one was inside at that time.
Firefighters arrived around 01:00, but the fire had already destroyed Radosavljević's house, whereas the second home was damaged to a lesser degree, he said.
Stašić also said that Serb returnees from the village believe that the houses were set on fire "in order to send a clear message to Serbs that they do not belong in Metohija".
"Last week it was agreed that another 12 houses for Kosovo Serb returnees will be built. This is the message for those people as well that they are not welcome here," the villager said.
Last year, first seven Serb families returned to Drenovac, five of which live in the village permanently.
Kosovo police (KPS) was expected to send "special units to the scene", according to Tanjug. Their role would be to conduct an investigation and determine the cause of the fire.
Ministry for Kosovo condemns attacks on Serbs
The Ministry for Kosovo condemned on Wednesday the burning of the homes of Serb returnees in the village of Drenovac in Kosovo and called on EULEX to find the perpetrators.
"We call on all relevant international factors in the province to use their authority to compel the so-called Priština institutions and Kosovo Albanian officials to truly ensure the safety of Kosovo Serbs south of the Ibar, instead of pompously announcing their plan for northern Kosovo, and suppress Albanian extremism instead of encouraging it," says the release.
The ministry notes it has warned representatives of the international community on several occasions about the constant attacks and the difficult position of Serb returnees in Kosovo, and about the deteriorating situation in Klina in particular.
"The ministry is calling on KFOR to strengthen its presence in returnee villages near Klina and protect Serb lives and property from Albanian extremists. The burning of houses in the village of Drenovac, and other unresolved attacks on returnees reflect Pristina's position and treatment of Serb returnees and IDPs," says the release.
=== 8 ===
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2012&mm=05&dd=24&nav_id=80412
Beta News Agency - May 24, 2012
New provocation from Priština, state secretary says
PRIŠTINA: Forming of the Kosovo government's Administrative Office for the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica is a provocation, Oliver Ivanović has stated.
“There will not be some special reaction from the Serbian government, especially not in this situation, besides condemnation and qualification of the act as a flagrant provocation that is not aimed at calming down the situation but at upsetting the Serbian population and creating a situation in which incidents will be possible,” he said.
The Serbian Ministry for Kosovo state secretary stressed that the Serbs would not accept such offices and that their founding was an attempt to change the situation in the field ahead of the dialogue which is “more than certain”.
“Such offices will not be accepted by Serbs because they have their local self-government which is functioning solidly. The self-government has its flaws, this could of course be better, but some local self-government imposed by Priština or some international circles certainly will not improve the situation,” Ivanović explained.
According to him, the forming of the office cannot change the position of northern Kosovo Serbs or the position of the future Serbian government in the negotiations with Priština.
The Kosovo government decided on Wednesday to form the Administrative Office for northern Kosovska Mitrovica that will provide service to citizens and coordinate investments in this part of Kosovo.
The Office will include seven directorates and have 55 employees.
Serbs are the majority population in the north and reject both the authority of the government in Priština, and the unilateral declaration of independence made by ethnic Albanians in early 2008.
=== 9 ===
Kosovo: NATO Fires On Serb Protesters
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http://en.rian.ru/world/20120601/173790147.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti - June 1, 2012
Four Injured as Kosovo Serbs Clash with NATO Troops
Moscow: Three Serbs and one KFOR soldier were injured in clashes in northern Kosovo on Friday.
According to Serbia’s RTS TV channel, the three Serbs were injured when KFOR troops fired rubber bullets. One Serb has been hospitalized in serious condition. Local authorities said there was reason to believe KFOR troops had fired live bullets.
Hundreds of Serbs clashed with KFOR troops in armoured vehicles near a barricade outside the town of Zvecan in a Serb-dominated northern area of Kosovo, pelting them with stones.
Kosovo’s ethnic Serb enclave in the north of Kosovo barricaded the main roads after the authorities in Pristina installed customs officers at the Jarinje and Brnjak border crossings with Serbia. Serbia does not recognize Kosovo as a sovereign country.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20120601/173790147.html
Russian Information Agency Novosti - June 1, 2012
Four Injured as Kosovo Serbs Clash with NATO Troops
Moscow: Three Serbs and one KFOR soldier were injured in clashes in northern Kosovo on Friday.
According to Serbia’s RTS TV channel, the three Serbs were injured when KFOR troops fired rubber bullets. One Serb has been hospitalized in serious condition. Local authorities said there was reason to believe KFOR troops had fired live bullets.
Hundreds of Serbs clashed with KFOR troops in armoured vehicles near a barricade outside the town of Zvecan in a Serb-dominated northern area of Kosovo, pelting them with stones.
Kosovo’s ethnic Serb enclave in the north of Kosovo barricaded the main roads after the authorities in Pristina installed customs officers at the Jarinje and Brnjak border crossings with Serbia. Serbia does not recognize Kosovo as a sovereign country.
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http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2012&mm=06&dd=01&nav_id=80536
B92/Beta News Agency/Tanjug News Agency - June 1, 2012
Serbs clash with KFOR in northern Kosovo
ZVEČAN: KFOR troops removed all barricades near Zvečan, including the concrete barricade in the village of Dudin Krš on Friday.
At least three persons were injured when northern Kosovo Serbs clashed with KFOR at the barricade in the village of Rudare.
KFOR troops threw teargas at Serbs who were trying to get to the barricade in the village of Dudin Krš.
KFOR helicopters are flying over the area and a KFOR transporter is parked at a bridge in Malo Rudare.
Kosovska Mitrovica and Zvečan local self-government representatives Krstmir Pantić and Dragiša Milović were among the large number of citizens who gathered at the scene.
Pantić told B92 that he was worried about the fact that KFOR troops were using live ammunition and that there was a large number of injured Serbs.
“We have managed to transport three young men to the Kosovska Mitrovica Health Center in an ambulance, however, another three young men who are injured are left behind KFOR lines and they do not allow the ambulance to get to the scene and help the injured,” he said.
Other injured people were treated at the scene.
According to him, KFOR started shooting at Serbs without any reason or warning.
He said that there were around 1,000 people near the barricade and that KFOR would start shooting as soon as they saw someone approaching the barricade.
“They even ignored UNMIK representatives’ warning to allow ambulance to go through,” Pantić explained.
Beta news agency has learnt that three injured men were admitted to the Kosovska Mitrovica hospital. One of them was discharged after he had received the medical help.
KFOR Spokesman Uwe Nowitzki told Tanjug that one of their soldiers was wounded during today's operation of removing the barricade near Rudare.
“The soldier was evacuated and his condition is stable,” Nowitzki said.
...
“We will not let the situation to further escalate and we will use adequate force if needed,” the KFOR spokesman concluded.
The citizens announced earlier on Friday that they would prevent KFOR from removing the barricades.
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http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2012&mm=06&dd=01&nav_id=80542
B92/Beta News Agency - June 1, 2012
President, PM hold emergency meeting on Kosovo
BELGRADE: Serbia’s President Tomislav Nikolić, outgoing Prime Minister Mirko Cvetković and several ministers held an emergency meeting on incidents in Kosovo on Friday.
Beta news agency has learned that Defense Minister Dragan Šutanovac, Justice Minister Snežana Malović and Minister for Kosovo Goran Bogdanović attended the meeting with the president and the PM.
They left the Serbian Presidency headquarters a little after 12:30 CET but did not give any statements to the media.
KFOR started removing barricades near Zvečan on Friday morning. At least three Serbs and one KFOR soldier were injured in the incident that broke out.
The NATO troops removed the barricades in the villages of Rudare and Dudin Krš and blocked all roads leading to the barricades.
The roadblocks were put up by the citizens after last year's attempt by the Kosovo Albanian government in Priština to take over two administrative checkpoints in the north.
Serbs are the majority population north of the Ibar River and reject the authority of the government in Priština, as well as the unilateral declaration of independence made over four years ago by Kosovo's ethnic Albanians.
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http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2012&mm=06&dd=01&nav_id=80541
Tanjug News Agency - June 1, 2012
Minister urges KFOR to refrain from violence
BELGRADE: Serbia's Minister for Kosovo Goran Bogdanović called on KFOR on Friday to refrain from using force.
He also urged KFOR to adhere strictly to its mandate and on the Serbs to stay calm and ignore provocations.
Commenting on an incident near Rudare, northern Kosovo, where there was gunfire and four people were injured, Bogdanović appealed to all sides to refrain from violence.
"It is very important to reduce tension as soon as possible, normalize the situation and solve all problems through dialogue, and not force," he told Tanjug.
“Right now, everyone has to understand that the situation is very volatile,” Bogdanović stressed.
"That is why I call on KFOR, but also on the Serbs in the north, to keep in mind that fact and for each side to show maximum restraint when it comes to taking risky actions. Any escalation of conflict can lead us into a spiral of violence with unimaginable consequences," the minister concluded.
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2012&mm=06&dd=01&nav_id=80536
B92/Beta News Agency/Tanjug News Agency - June 1, 2012
Serbs clash with KFOR in northern Kosovo
ZVEČAN: KFOR troops removed all barricades near Zvečan, including the concrete barricade in the village of Dudin Krš on Friday.
At least three persons were injured when northern Kosovo Serbs clashed with KFOR at the barricade in the village of Rudare.
KFOR troops threw teargas at Serbs who were trying to get to the barricade in the village of Dudin Krš.
KFOR helicopters are flying over the area and a KFOR transporter is parked at a bridge in Malo Rudare.
Kosovska Mitrovica and Zvečan local self-government representatives Krstmir Pantić and Dragiša Milović were among the large number of citizens who gathered at the scene.
Pantić told B92 that he was worried about the fact that KFOR troops were using live ammunition and that there was a large number of injured Serbs.
“We have managed to transport three young men to the Kosovska Mitrovica Health Center in an ambulance, however, another three young men who are injured are left behind KFOR lines and they do not allow the ambulance to get to the scene and help the injured,” he said.
Other injured people were treated at the scene.
According to him, KFOR started shooting at Serbs without any reason or warning.
He said that there were around 1,000 people near the barricade and that KFOR would start shooting as soon as they saw someone approaching the barricade.
“They even ignored UNMIK representatives’ warning to allow ambulance to go through,” Pantić explained.
Beta news agency has learnt that three injured men were admitted to the Kosovska Mitrovica hospital. One of them was discharged after he had received the medical help.
KFOR Spokesman Uwe Nowitzki told Tanjug that one of their soldiers was wounded during today's operation of removing the barricade near Rudare.
“The soldier was evacuated and his condition is stable,” Nowitzki said.
...
“We will not let the situation to further escalate and we will use adequate force if needed,” the KFOR spokesman concluded.
The citizens announced earlier on Friday that they would prevent KFOR from removing the barricades.
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http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2012&mm=06&dd=01&nav_id=80542
B92/Beta News Agency - June 1, 2012
President, PM hold emergency meeting on Kosovo
BELGRADE: Serbia’s President Tomislav Nikolić, outgoing Prime Minister Mirko Cvetković and several ministers held an emergency meeting on incidents in Kosovo on Friday.
Beta news agency has learned that Defense Minister Dragan Šutanovac, Justice Minister Snežana Malović and Minister for Kosovo Goran Bogdanović attended the meeting with the president and the PM.
They left the Serbian Presidency headquarters a little after 12:30 CET but did not give any statements to the media.
KFOR started removing barricades near Zvečan on Friday morning. At least three Serbs and one KFOR soldier were injured in the incident that broke out.
The NATO troops removed the barricades in the villages of Rudare and Dudin Krš and blocked all roads leading to the barricades.
The roadblocks were put up by the citizens after last year's attempt by the Kosovo Albanian government in Priština to take over two administrative checkpoints in the north.
Serbs are the majority population north of the Ibar River and reject the authority of the government in Priština, as well as the unilateral declaration of independence made over four years ago by Kosovo's ethnic Albanians.
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http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2012&mm=06&dd=01&nav_id=80541
Tanjug News Agency - June 1, 2012
Minister urges KFOR to refrain from violence
BELGRADE: Serbia's Minister for Kosovo Goran Bogdanović called on KFOR on Friday to refrain from using force.
He also urged KFOR to adhere strictly to its mandate and on the Serbs to stay calm and ignore provocations.
Commenting on an incident near Rudare, northern Kosovo, where there was gunfire and four people were injured, Bogdanović appealed to all sides to refrain from violence.
"It is very important to reduce tension as soon as possible, normalize the situation and solve all problems through dialogue, and not force," he told Tanjug.
“Right now, everyone has to understand that the situation is very volatile,” Bogdanović stressed.
"That is why I call on KFOR, but also on the Serbs in the north, to keep in mind that fact and for each side to show maximum restraint when it comes to taking risky actions. Any escalation of conflict can lead us into a spiral of violence with unimaginable consequences," the minister concluded.
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http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_06_01/76719706/
Voice of Russia - June 1, 2012
KFOR opens fire on Serbs in Northern Kosovo
http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_06_01/76719706/
Voice of Russia - June 1, 2012
KFOR opens fire on Serbs in Northern Kosovo
John Robles
There are reports in the Serbian press and other press that US KFOR troops have opened fire on unarmed Serbs in Northern Kosovo and there are wounded.
The reports are as follows and are being sent to me by my Serbian sources, apparently US KFOR attempted to remove a barricade on a bridge and opened fire on Serb protestors. According to reports by the local Serbian KIM Radio inured civilians are being taken to Kosovska Mitrovica Hospital
According to Reuters at least five Kosovo Serbs and one NATO soldier were wounded in the armed clashes which occurred after NATO (KFOR) forces tried to remove road barricades.
NATO forces fired tear gas and opened fire on Serbian protesters, however, it is not clear if these were just warning shots. There are hundreds of Serbs gathered at the barricades in near Zvecan where the Serbs are the majority.
According to a report in Serbian media a NATO spokesperson in Kosovo, Uwe Nowitzki stated that "If needed KFOR will respond defensively."
A more detailed report transmitted by the Serbian daily Kurir states that all of the roadblocks that lead to Zvecan including the large concrete barricade in Dudino are in rubble and were removed by KFOR this morning. According to the people gathered in Dudino Karst, KFOR used heavy machinery to remove the barricades. Kosovo Serbs have also set up a concrete barricade on the road to the southern Kosovo Mitrovica to prevent the passage of special units of the Kosovo police, The infamous "Rosa" SWAT units.
The Serbian Daily Kurir reports that the Zvecan situation remains extremely tense and that there are a large number of citizens on the bridge that leads to the barricades in Rudare. KFOR is on the other side of the bridge and has set up barbed wire and heavy equipment is not allowing citizens across the bridge. The whole village of Rudare is under a lockdown and citizens are afraid to leave their homes and helicopters constantly fly over the area and drop "infrared bait" to block possible missile attacks from the ground.
There are reports in the Serbian press and other press that US KFOR troops have opened fire on unarmed Serbs in Northern Kosovo and there are wounded.
The reports are as follows and are being sent to me by my Serbian sources, apparently US KFOR attempted to remove a barricade on a bridge and opened fire on Serb protestors. According to reports by the local Serbian KIM Radio inured civilians are being taken to Kosovska Mitrovica Hospital
According to Reuters at least five Kosovo Serbs and one NATO soldier were wounded in the armed clashes which occurred after NATO (KFOR) forces tried to remove road barricades.
NATO forces fired tear gas and opened fire on Serbian protesters, however, it is not clear if these were just warning shots. There are hundreds of Serbs gathered at the barricades in near Zvecan where the Serbs are the majority.
According to a report in Serbian media a NATO spokesperson in Kosovo, Uwe Nowitzki stated that "If needed KFOR will respond defensively."
A more detailed report transmitted by the Serbian daily Kurir states that all of the roadblocks that lead to Zvecan including the large concrete barricade in Dudino are in rubble and were removed by KFOR this morning. According to the people gathered in Dudino Karst, KFOR used heavy machinery to remove the barricades. Kosovo Serbs have also set up a concrete barricade on the road to the southern Kosovo Mitrovica to prevent the passage of special units of the Kosovo police, The infamous "Rosa" SWAT units.
The Serbian Daily Kurir reports that the Zvecan situation remains extremely tense and that there are a large number of citizens on the bridge that leads to the barricades in Rudare. KFOR is on the other side of the bridge and has set up barbed wire and heavy equipment is not allowing citizens across the bridge. The whole village of Rudare is under a lockdown and citizens are afraid to leave their homes and helicopters constantly fly over the area and drop "infrared bait" to block possible missile attacks from the ground.
12:42 – KIM Radio cites the Director of the Kosovska Mitrovica Hospital, Milan Jakovljevic, as saying that injured Serbs from Zvecan are still being brought to the hospital. Some have been released and at least 3 are undergoing treatment.
12:40 - Negotiations are currently underway between American KFOR officers and the mayors of Zvecan and Zubin Potok reports KiM radio.
12:12 - The commander of the police station in Gracanica, Bratislav Trajkovic told KIM Radio that the situation in his part of Kosovo is currently calm.
12:08 - The Government of Kosovo has promised to release a statement sometime today regarding the developments in Northern Kosovo but has so far not done so.
12:03 - Kosovo Interior Minister Bajram Rexhepi does not want to comment on developments in the north. KIM Radio said briefly that the information should be sought from KFOR.
11:57 - KFOR broke through the barricade in Malom Rudaru and continued advancing toward the barricade in Velikom Rudaru reports Beta.
11:56 – The Minister for Kosovo and Metohija Goran Bogdanovic called on KFOR to refrain from the use of force and strictly adheres to and operate within its mandate, and asked the Serbs to remain calm and not to fall for provocations.
11:38 - KFOR spokesperson Uwe Nowicki confirmed to Tanjug that during the action of removing the barricades around Rudaru (Miners) one KFOR soldier was injured.
10:49 - An American KFOR officer talked to the mayor of Zvecan, Dragisa Milovic and of Zubin Potok, Slavisa Ristic, and the hospital director Milena Cvetkovic after which the mayors appealed to citizens not to throw stones, because otherwise KFOR would open fire. State Secretary for Kosovo and Metohija Oliver Ivanovic said he did not understand what started the current KFOR action reports (B92).
10:27 - KFOR used tear gas on Serbs gathered around the barricades in place Dudin Kres, KIM Radio has learned.
10:25 - Three injured Serbs from Zvecan were taken to Kosovska Mitrovica Hospital with one of them in serious condition. One has a bullet wound in the thigh and is undergoing surgery KIM Radioreports citing the Head of the Hospital, Milan Jakovljevic.
10:17 - KFOR announced that this morning began an operation to remove the roadblocks in the vicinity of Malo and Veliki Rudaru with the aim of improving freedom of movement. "From 8:40 pm KFOR conducted an operation to remove the roadblocks in the vicinity of the Rudarus. This activity aims to encourage free movement, not only for KFOR, but also international organizations and all citizens of Kosovo", said a statement submitted to KIM Radio by KFOR.
10:14 - KFOR helicopters are constantly flying over the area above the conflict, and at the end of the bridge to the village of Rudaru a transporter is blocking the road. On the Zvecan side of the bridge a large number of citizens have were gathered along with representatives of the local government in Kosovska Mitrovica and Zvecan, Krstimir Pantic and Dragisa Milovic.
Members of American KFOR did not allow injured to be taken to the emergency room of Kosovska Mitrovica according to reports. Witnesses, the media and Mayor Milović said KFOR Lieutenant Joseph Lynch did not allow the passage of injured to the emergency room or the passing of local government representatives.
09:56 – A KIM Radio reporter said he saw injured being taken away from the scene by car. Other sources say that at least three people were admitted to the hospital in Kosovska Mitrovica.
09:41 – KFOR has placed a roadblock on the bridge between Zvecan and Rudaru.
09:25 - Armoured machinery of KFOR removes a concrete barricade on the bridge in Rudaru. Prior to removing the roadblocks tear gas was fired at about 500 citizens gathered around the bridge reports a KiM radio reporter from the scene who also said they used rubber bullets and live ammunition.
09:10 - The incident began when the KFOR soldiers attempted to remove the barricade near Rudaru and Zvecan.
Reports from independent (VOR) sources, local media, Serbian KIM Radio, and Reuters were used in this report.
---
12:40 - Negotiations are currently underway between American KFOR officers and the mayors of Zvecan and Zubin Potok reports KiM radio.
12:12 - The commander of the police station in Gracanica, Bratislav Trajkovic told KIM Radio that the situation in his part of Kosovo is currently calm.
12:08 - The Government of Kosovo has promised to release a statement sometime today regarding the developments in Northern Kosovo but has so far not done so.
12:03 - Kosovo Interior Minister Bajram Rexhepi does not want to comment on developments in the north. KIM Radio said briefly that the information should be sought from KFOR.
11:57 - KFOR broke through the barricade in Malom Rudaru and continued advancing toward the barricade in Velikom Rudaru reports Beta.
11:56 – The Minister for Kosovo and Metohija Goran Bogdanovic called on KFOR to refrain from the use of force and strictly adheres to and operate within its mandate, and asked the Serbs to remain calm and not to fall for provocations.
11:38 - KFOR spokesperson Uwe Nowicki confirmed to Tanjug that during the action of removing the barricades around Rudaru (Miners) one KFOR soldier was injured.
10:49 - An American KFOR officer talked to the mayor of Zvecan, Dragisa Milovic and of Zubin Potok, Slavisa Ristic, and the hospital director Milena Cvetkovic after which the mayors appealed to citizens not to throw stones, because otherwise KFOR would open fire. State Secretary for Kosovo and Metohija Oliver Ivanovic said he did not understand what started the current KFOR action reports (B92).
10:27 - KFOR used tear gas on Serbs gathered around the barricades in place Dudin Kres, KIM Radio has learned.
10:25 - Three injured Serbs from Zvecan were taken to Kosovska Mitrovica Hospital with one of them in serious condition. One has a bullet wound in the thigh and is undergoing surgery KIM Radioreports citing the Head of the Hospital, Milan Jakovljevic.
10:17 - KFOR announced that this morning began an operation to remove the roadblocks in the vicinity of Malo and Veliki Rudaru with the aim of improving freedom of movement. "From 8:40 pm KFOR conducted an operation to remove the roadblocks in the vicinity of the Rudarus. This activity aims to encourage free movement, not only for KFOR, but also international organizations and all citizens of Kosovo", said a statement submitted to KIM Radio by KFOR.
10:14 - KFOR helicopters are constantly flying over the area above the conflict, and at the end of the bridge to the village of Rudaru a transporter is blocking the road. On the Zvecan side of the bridge a large number of citizens have were gathered along with representatives of the local government in Kosovska Mitrovica and Zvecan, Krstimir Pantic and Dragisa Milovic.
Members of American KFOR did not allow injured to be taken to the emergency room of Kosovska Mitrovica according to reports. Witnesses, the media and Mayor Milović said KFOR Lieutenant Joseph Lynch did not allow the passage of injured to the emergency room or the passing of local government representatives.
09:56 – A KIM Radio reporter said he saw injured being taken away from the scene by car. Other sources say that at least three people were admitted to the hospital in Kosovska Mitrovica.
09:41 – KFOR has placed a roadblock on the bridge between Zvecan and Rudaru.
09:25 - Armoured machinery of KFOR removes a concrete barricade on the bridge in Rudaru. Prior to removing the roadblocks tear gas was fired at about 500 citizens gathered around the bridge reports a KiM radio reporter from the scene who also said they used rubber bullets and live ammunition.
09:10 - The incident began when the KFOR soldiers attempted to remove the barricade near Rudaru and Zvecan.
Reports from independent (VOR) sources, local media, Serbian KIM Radio, and Reuters were used in this report.
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http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2012&mm=06&dd=01&nav_id=80545
Beta News Agency - June 1, 2012
KFOR operation “aimed at pressuring Nikolić”
BELGRADE: Faculty of Political Sciences professor Predrag Simić says KFOR’s operation in northern Kosovo is aimed at exerting pressure on President Tomislav Nikolić.
He said that the Friday operation was “absolutely connected” with Nikolić’s oath-taking.
According to him, the KFOR operation “represents some sort of pressure that should determine Nikolić and the future Serbian government’s bad starting position”.
“I think this is a baptism of fire of the new president but also a message from Belgrade that things have gone too far and that the new president and the government, once it has been formed, will have to start dealing with Kosovo where the situation will be significantly different than the one which was left by the previous government and the previous president,” Simić told Beta news agency.
He assessed that tensions had been rising since the election campaign started in Serbia, adding that the situation culminated today.
“It depends on Belgrade how the situation will develop. KFOR and Priština have made their moves and let us hope that the new president and the future government are ready for the challenges, like they claimed in their campaigns,“ Simić concluded.
Four northern Kosovo Serbs were wounded in clashes with KFOR on Friday, after KFOR troops started removing barricades near Zvečan.
Nikolić, Prime Minister Mirko Cvetković and several ministers held an emergency meeting over the latest incidents in Kosovo on Friday.
=== 10 ===
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2012&mm=06&dd=01&nav_id=80549
Beta News Agency/Tanjug News Agency - June 1, 2012
Russian envoy warns about "Greater Albania" project
BELGRADE: Russian Ambassador Aleksandr Konuzin says his country is concerned about the existence of a project to establish a so-called Greater Albania.
"It's a very dangerous project for the entire Southeastern Europe region, and it would represent a precedent," the top Russian diplomat in Serbia said late on Thursday, adding that his country will "strongly oppose attempts to form a Greater Albania."
Taking part in a panel discussion in Belgrade dedicated to Russo-Serbian relations, Konuzin noted that Russia supported all reconciliation efforts of the peoples of the former Yugoslavia, noting that Serbia has been conducting a balanced policy in that respect.
The ambassador stressed that Russia was also a firm supporter of the positions held by Serbs in the Serb Republic (RS), in Bosnia, and noted that Russia was one of the signatories of the Dayton Peace Accords "which it was not satisfied with, but which must be respected".
"The goal of the so-called Butmir Process is to form a centralized state out of Bosnia-Herzegovina. We have nothing against that, but only if all peoples in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbs included, agree to it," Konuzin said, underlining that "international law must be respected".
Speaking about the relations between Serbia and Russia, the diplomat noted that they reached a high level, and that regardless of the composition of a future government in Belgrade, that cannot change.
He ruled out the possibility that a government could take over in Serbia that would have a negative influence on the ties between the two countries.
Konuzin also revealed that Russia supported Serbia as a militarily neutral country, "and statements from Belgrade on that subject".
As for Kosovo, Russia will support any Serbian policy toward the province, he stated.
Commenting on the February referendum in northern Kosovo - when local Serbs near unanimously rejected the ethnic Albanian authorities in Priština - the ambassador quoted Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's statement that "the position of the Serbs who live in Kosovo must not be ignored".
Focusing on economic issues, Konuzin noted that trade between Serbia and Russia reached USD 3.5bn last year, and that effort should be made to make that trade "even more intensive - until it returns to the pre-economic crisis level of over USD 4bn".
"I expect that works on the Serbian part of the South Stream pipeline will begin late next year, and we're also considering building a new heating plant in Pančevo, and possibly in Belgrade and Niš and well," he noted.
He further stressed that Russia was very interested in the development of infrastructure in Serbia, especially in the energy sector, but also in building a modern railroad system, adding that this also applied to all other former Yugoslav republics.
"The money is there, we have the funds - help yourselves! But, projects are needed for that," said Konuzin, and added that he was puzzled that it took "so much time" for Serbia to come up with its projects.
The ambassador explained that the money to fund most Serbian projects would be transferred in the fall, and that he on Monday handed over a harmonized draft agreement on this subject to the Serbian government.
"If Serbia has an interest in building nuclear power plants here, we will help you with that as well," the diplomat said, adding that the same applied to new hydro power plants in Serbia.
Finally, Konuzin touched on the nature of the relations between the two nations, saying that Russia was close to many other countries with which it shared its culture, religion and script - but that it nurtured "closest, even intimate ties" only with Serbia.
