Informazione
Budapest 1956: l’Europa ad un passo dal conflitto nucleare. Pentimenti e ipocrisie di postcomunisti cinquanta anni dopo.
di Sergio Ricaldone
Uno dei temi (non il solo s’intende) su cui sinistra e destra hanno mostrato una significativa convergenza di giudizi storici riguarda le celebrazioni del 50° anniversario del ’56 ungherese, ossia dell’evento definito, senza tanti complimenti, “la più grande insurrezione popolare anticomunista schiacciata nel sangue dai carri sovietici”. Su questo lapidario giudizio scolpito sui marmi di Budapest si ritrovano a riflettere, con commenti variamente modulati ma convergenti (lo dico con tutto il rispetto delle loro funzioni istituzionali), da una parte Giorgio Napolitano, Fausto Bertinotti, Pietro Ingrao (e molti altri), dall’altra Gianfranco Fini, Mirko Tremaglia (e molti altri).
Mai, prima d’ora, era successo che il ceto politico, salvo pochissime eccezioni, si ritrovasse su posizioni così similari nel ripresentare le tragiche giornate di Budapest come l’apice delle infamie prodotte dal comunismo nel 20° secolo. Il tutto con il pieno sostegno della grande stampa, della TV di stato, dell’editoria, di alcune lobbies universitarie.
In un quadro così spudoratamente manicheo l’Europa e il mondo occidentale di quei giorni lontani appaiono perciò come un tranquillo giardino fiorito di nazioni libere, democratiche e pacifiche, rispettose le une delle altre, minacciate unicamente dalla follia sanguinaria dei comunisti (sovietici e non) pronti a schiacciare chiunque sotto i cingoli dei carri armati. Si evita di ricordare che tra le “nazioni libere” della moderna “santa alleanza” atlantica erano inclusi, all’epoca, due Stati fascisti, il Portogallo e la Spagna, paesi nei quali il massacro dei comunisti, con i plotoni e la garrota, continuò indisturbato e benedetto dal Vaticano fino all’uscita di scena di Franco e Salazar.
Singolare questo speculare accanimento revisionistico. Fascisti incalliti da una parte e voltagabbana ex e post dall’altra, si ritrovano a celebrare con giudizi simili il memorial day del 56 ungherese, ma con i primi più che mai orgogliosi di essere stati i più coerenti difensori dei valori e della civiltà occidentale, mentre i secondi, recitano tardivi mea culpa per i loro peccati giovanili e chiedono scusa per essersi schierati allora dalla parte sbagliata. Ma entrambi si guardano bene dal riproporre il contesto politico reale della guerra fredda dalla quale riemergono, non solo i fatti di Budapest, ma molti altri eventi che mostrano come in quegli anni terribili il sangue avesse ripreso a scorrere in molti altri angoli del pianeta situati, si badi bene, fuori dalla sfera di intervento dei cingolati sovietici ma ben dentro quella della Nato e del Pentagono. Interventi il cui obbiettivo principale, come documenta lo storico svizzero Daniele Ganser nel suo libro – Gli eserciti segreti della Nato – (Fazi editore, 2005, pag. 448), era quello di ristabilire il primato del comando politico e militare in Europa dopo che la guerra contro il nazifascismo aveva messo in crisi di consenso gli antichi centri di potere e aperto all’antagonista storico di quei poteri – il movimento operaio – spazi di agibilità politica considerati intollerabili dal grande capitale monopolistico. Il libro di Ganser ci racconta come la CIA sia diventata in quegli anni animatrice e guida di una gigantesca organizzazione eversiva, quale è stata Gladio, che da Capo Nord al Mediterraneo e da Londra alla “cortina di ferro”, ha alimentato il terrorismo, la “strategia della tensione”, i tentativi di colpi di stato, la tortura. In Inghilterra la stampa ha commentato la nascita di Gladio come “il segreto politico-militare meglio nascosto e più pericoloso dai tempi della seconda guerra mondiale.”
Negli anni a cavallo del 1956, benché la guerra si chiamasse fredda, gli Stati Uniti intervennero militarmente o indirettamente con colpi di stato e appoggi diretti alle potenze imperialiste alleate, come la Francia e l’Inghilterra, per schiacciare regimi democratici e movimenti di liberazione antimperialisti, compiendo veri e propri genocidi non solo di comunisti ma di intere popolazioni. Grecia, Filippine, Malesia, Birmania, Guatemala, Vietnam, Algeria, Nigeria, Indonesia, Libano, Cambogia, Salvador, Nicaragua, Congo belga, Angola Mozambico, Guinea Bissau, Zimbabwe, Cile... L’elenco è, ovviamente, incompleto ma la somma delle vittime – milioni di morti - massacrate dalle armi imperialiste, fasciste e golpiste, rigorosamente “made in USA”, è agghiacciante.
Non è difficile intuire che in quel contesto le pur comprensibili aspirazioni ad una maggiore libertà espressa nei loro cortei dagli studenti di Budapest, nell’ottobre del ’56, furono ben presto spazzate via dalle immagini atroci delle migliaia di comunisti massacrati come bestie e appesi per i piedi agli alberi della capitale magiara. Questo repentino passaggio dalla protesta alla “insurrezione popolare contro il regime comunista” assunse la dimensione di una vera e propria carneficina controrivoluzionaria sostenuta apertamente dalle strutture eversive esterne della Nato: aerei che dalla Germania trasportavano armi agli insorti, gruppi di emigrati fascisti ungheresi che rientravano in patria dall’Austria armati fino ai denti, grandi industriali e proprietari terrieri che, intervistati, annunciavano il ritorno in patria e la ripresa di tutte le loro antiche proprietà, i fascisti, camerati di Tremaglia, impazienti di riproporre altrove la macelleria di Budapest (a Milano e in altre città tentarono di assaltare le sedi comuniste ma furono messi in fuga a pedate), la radio della CIA, Europa libera, che lanciava furiosi appelli all’insurrezione armata a tutti i paesi dell’est. Ma giunsero anche notizie che gli operai di molte fabbriche di Budapest si erano barricati nelle officine e, benché disarmati e a prezzo di pesanti perdite, impedirono ai rivoltosi di occuparle.
Il clima che si respirava in quegli anni in questa parte di mondo definito “libero e democratico” viene descritto molto bene dal filosofo Ludovico Geymonat nel suo libro-intervista “Dialoghi sulla pace e la libertà” (Quaderni di Giano, 1992, pag. 223):
“La minaccia di utilizzare la bomba atomica contro l’Unione Sovietica fu in realtà una minaccia enorme e si volle tutta la durezza del governo sovietico per non cedere a questa minaccia. Non sarà privo di interesse ricordare che lo stesso Bertrand Russel nel 1960 partecipando ad una tavola rotonda sulle questioni nucleari con la signora Eleonora Roosvelt fu scandalizzato nell’ascoltare la moglie del Presidente americano che affermava preferire che la razza umana andasse distrutta piuttosto che pensarla “preda del comunismo”. Insomma, se per Russel poteva anche essere accettabile lo slogan provocatorio “meglio rossi che morti” va anche ricordato che vi era però chi gli ribatteva, con non minore polemica, “meglio morti che rossi”.
La suprema follia di quello slogan spiega come “la caccia alle streghe” imposta dalla paranoia anticomunista del maccartismo, sia stata per lunghi anni il filo conduttore che ha ispirato la politica interna ed estera degli Stati Uniti e della Nato. Erano gli anni in cui l’FBI di Edgar Hoover spedì i Rosemberg sulla sedia elettrica e centinaia di americani, sospetti “comunisti”, nel penitenziario di Sing Sing. Non è un caso se il grande Charlie Chaplin decise di fuggire da quel clima infernale.
Sebbene non ci siano mai state indifferenti le legittime motivazioni che accesero inizialmente la protesta degli studenti di Budapest, non possiamo non vedere come la successiva escalation insurrezionale, sicuramente non spontanea né innocente, puntasse alla separazione dell’Ungheria dall’orbita sovietica e dal Patto di Varsavia e al suo successivo arruolamento nella Nato. Un azzardato e irresponsabile tentativo di Washington di mettere con le spalle al muro l’URSS sottraendogli una postazione di rilevanza strategica in Europa centrale. Dunque, un gravissimo punto di rottura degli equilibri mondiali sanciti a Yalta dalle grandi potenze, che trasformò il conflitto interno ungherese in una minacciosa contesa tra la Nato e il Patto di Varsavia che condusse l’Europa ad un passo dal conflitto nucleare.
Qui e non altrove va ricercato il prevalente politico-strategico che provocò l’intervento sovietico. Detestabile e condannabile fin che si vuole ma inevitabile se collocato nella logica degli accordi di Yalta. La stessa Cina di Mao sostenne apertamente l’intervento militare sovietico e fu la leadership di Pechino che consigliò l’esitante Nikita Krusciov di invadere militarmente l’Ungheria. (Universale Feltrinelli: Tensioni e conflitti del mondo contemporaneo, pag. 348)
Proviamo ad immaginare cosa sarebbe successo in Italia se il PCI, anziché attenersi alla logica di Yalta avesse trasformato lo sciopero di protesta seguito all’attentato di Togliatti in un movimento insurrezionale e in una rivoluzione socialista. C’è qualcuno, sano di mente, convinto che gli americani avrebbero osservato impassibili un simile evento senza usare i loro cingolati? O non avrebbero invece fatto come in Grecia dove un tentativo del genere fu soffocato nel sangue di centinaia di migliaia di comunisti?
Che nel 1956 il mondo fosse una polveriera (nucleare) pronta ad esplodere sta scritto in tante buone letture che ci raccontano con dovizia di particolari anche per colpa di chi. Nel suo pregevole volume – Storia sociale del mondo contemporaneo – (Feltrinelli, 1982, pag. 638), Enzo Santarelli ci racconta quanto successe in quegli stessi giorni dell’ottobre ’56, duemila km. più a sud di Budapest. Il presidente egiziano Gamal Abdel Nasser, uno dei leaders nazionalisti e antimperialisti protagonista dei processi di liberazione in atto contro i vecchi imperi coloniali, aveva da poco nazionalizzato il canale di Suez, sottraendolo alla compagnia anglo-francese. Quel gesto, sicuramente audace ma moralmente e politicamente ineccepibile, scatenò un furibonda reazione imperialista. Il 29 ottobre i cingolati di Israele dilagarono in territorio egiziano, oltre la striscia di Gaza occupando il Sinai fino alla sponda orientale del canale. Due giorni dopo, il 31 ottobre, gli anglo-francesi bombardarono il Cairo, Alessandria, rasero al suolo Suez, Porto Said e Ismailia e occuparono con i paracadutisti il canale. La proditoria aggressione cessò solo quando l’Unione Sovietica e la Cina minacciarono di intervenire militarmente a fianco dell’Egitto. Quanti egiziani siano stati massacrati in quei giorni non lo sappiamo. Quel che sappiamo è che mentre si piangono le vittime di Budapest su quegli altri morti è stato calato il sipario ed Israele continua ad occupare – 50 anni dopo! – gran parte dei territori occupati con i carri armati nel ’56.
Budapest e Suez: due eventi scoppiati simultaneamente in una certa fase, forse la più pericolosa della guerra fredda. Varrebbe la pena di ridiscuterne senza bugie, opportunismi, ipocrisie e patetici sensi di colpa. Gli insegnamenti della storia non si colgono raccontando ciò che fa comodo davanti a telecamere compiacenti ma partendo da quello che molti autorevoli storici ci documentano con lucido raziocinio. Ed anche ascoltando le sincere e genuine testimonianze di chi – come Antonio Costa autore della documentata memoria che segue – quegli avvenimenti li ha vissuti in prima persona da militante del movimento operaio.
Nenni, Bertinotti e gli avvenimenti d’Ungheria del ‘56
Di Antonio Costa
Tra i regimi socialisti sorti nell’Europa dell’est sull’onda della sconfitta nazista, caratteristiche molto particolari aveva assunto quello dell’Ungheria.
La struttura sociale ungherese, all’avvento della democrazia popolare, non aveva praticamente riscontro in Europa. Vi sopravvivevano istituti e rapporti sociali di tipo feudale (ad esempio la titolarità dei pubblici uffici era ereditaria).
Un certo sviluppo industriale, che pure era avvenuto durante la seconda guerra mondiale, rimaneva un fatto marginale all’interno di una società agricola (700.000 lavoratori circa su 10 milioni di abitanti). E nell’agricoltura dominava il latifondo: 2000 proprietari possedevano il 56% della terra (e tra questi il più grande era la chiesa con il 6% della proprietà). Inoltre 500.000 contadini medi e piccoli erano padroni del 35% della terra. Poi il grosso dei piccolissimi coltivatori: 1.500.000 proprietari.
Ma la proprietà di 360.000 di questi ultimi si riduceva ad un fazzoletto di terra totalmente insufficiente al sostentamento e potevano perciò essere sommati ai 500.000 contadini senza terra. Un totale di 800.000 persone in condizioni miserabili, 1.140.000 estremamente poveri, 500.000 di condizione altalenante e infine 2.000 che vivevano nel lusso e nelle condizioni di privilegio le più sfrenate.
Le riforme sociali conseguenti all’avvento del potere socialista non potevano quindi non avere una duplice faccia: quella di un consenso largo, soprattutto nelle campagne, che avrebbe fatto sentire il suo peso nei momenti critici, una rabbiosa, disperata resistenza dei privilegiati, sommata a quella di una parte dei 500.000 contadini medi, unbitamente alla borghesia declassata e a quel centro di potere particolare che era la chiesa latifondista di Mindzenty.
Un altro fattore di pesante incidenza era la scelta, in una certa misura obbligata, di mantenere un sostanziale privilegio verso l’industria pesante a forte scapito della produzione dei beni di consumo. Vi erano alle spalle lunghi anni di guerra fredda. Era opinione diffusa che ciò fosse il preludio alla guerra calda, quindi gli investimenti militari apparivano come una scelta obbligata con ovvie, pesanti conseguenze su strutture economiche e sociali in uno stato di estrema fragilità in un paese come l’Ungheria che si avviava alla modernizzazione dopo secoli di buio clericale e borghese. E infine, su tutto, influivano scelte politiche generali riguardanti l’assetto dei paesi socialisti dell’Europa dell’est sorti dopo la seconda guerra mondiale.
Il consolidamento e lo sviluppo dei regimi di democrazia popolare richiedevano in generale, ma particolarmente in una realtà come quella ungherese, la ricerca di una via nazionale ed autonoma nell’edificazione del socialismo, capace di utilizzare il patrimonio elaborato dall’Unione Sovietica, non per trasferirlo meccanicamente nella propria realtà, ma per elaborare una soluzione originale ai problemi del paese. Invece, dopo i successi iniziali di sviluppo quantitativo dell’economia, si erano venuti accumulando errori di indirizzo politico che avevano portato ad una situazione davvero esplosiva: errori che potevano ravvisarsi in una insufficiente capacità di rendere trasparente e mobilitante la prospettiva della edificazione del socialismo con una politica capace di collegarsi alle strutture sociali, alla storia, alla tradizione nazionale del paese.
Grandi erano le difficoltà oggettive: la guerra fredda, la pressione offensiva dei gruppi imperialisti che si avvaleva di una forte emigrazione avvenuta contestualmente alla liberazione del paese, il pericolo della guerra calda con la richiamata necessità della difesa militare e l’impulso straordinario all’industria pesante, gravarono duramente, inasprendo quelle difficoltà.
Ma esse venivano affrontate applicando un modello uniforme, schemi e direttive che non si raccordavano con la realtà nazionale; difettò la capacità di elaborare un’analisi puntuale delle forze motrici della rivoluzione e di approfondire i legami con le grandi tradizioni patriottiche e nazionali. Perciò erano prevalsi metodi di direzione dall’alto che avevano impedito di trasfondere nella stessa classe operaia la chiarezza della prospettiva ed un suo coinvolgimento pieno nella elaborazione della linea politica; e ciò non poteva non avere grandi conseguenze nel rapporto Stato-masse allorché sacrifici anche pesanti si imponevano per superare un passaggio vitale nella storia della nuova Repubblica Popolare. E oltre al rapporto Stato-masse, queste condizioni avevano provocato grave nocumento alla democrazia interna di Partito, rendendo difficile il percorso di superamento delle difficoltà e degli errori, innescando una lotta interna aspra e disgregatrice - degenerata in una sterile esplosione di proteste, risentimenti, scontri di fazione – che anziché dare ai problemi una soluzione politica costruttiva, spezzava il Partito intaccando la sua egemonia tra le masse operaie e popolari, offrendo spazio e iniziativa ad altri centri di influenza e organizzazione ormai inquinati da tentazioni eversive.
Una vera sommossa nasceva dunque dal malcontento e dalle proteste popolari, deluse dai mancati aggiustamenti richiesti, ma anche confuse e disorientate al punto da non comprendere più l’esigenza di difendere comunque le basi popolari del regime come condizione per nuove conquiste sociali e civili. In quel momento, in quella ben precisa situazione storica la protesta degenerava ed assumeva il carattere di insurrezione armata contro le organizzazioni dirigenti del potere popolare e dunque, necessariamente, essa apriva le porte ad un ritorno delle forze politiche e di classe che erano state sconfitte dal regime di democrazia popolare mettendo in pericolo la fondamentale conquista che quel regime – pur tra errori e deviazioni – aveva realizzato: l’abbattimento del dominio politico ed economico delle classi capitalistiche.
Quando nei paesi socialisti la lotta politica o la protesta popolare assumono il carattere di insurrezione armata è inevitabile che si apra la strada alla provocazione e all’avventura reazionaria. Quali che fossero i sentimenti e i propositi di masse e strati di lavoratori che dagli errori e dalle colpe del passato erano stati trascinati nella sommossa, in quel momento la posta in gioco diveniva il ritorno o meno del vecchio regime capitalistico.
In quell’ora tragica si doveva sbarrare la strada a questo ritorno. In caso contrario le basi fondamentali del regime di democrazia popolare sarebbero state distrutte, non si sarebbe più parlato di sviluppo di una democrazia socialista ma di restaurazione dei vecchi rapporti di classe aprendo le porte ai piani di rivincita reazionaria più folli e pericolosi.
Non va dimenticato che proprio in quelle ore, sfruttando i tragici avvenimenti ungheresi, l’imperialismo tentava una sortita, pericolosissima per la pace mondiale, contro l’Egitto (vicenda del canale di Suez), per fortuna bloccata tempestivamente dall’intervento estremamente energico dell’Unione Sovietica.
Certo, era doloroso che il governo ungherese non fosse in grado di respingere con le sue forze la minaccia di un ritorno reazionario e dovesse pertanto richiedere l’intervento delle truppe sovietiche. Ma la realtà configurava un’alternativa netta e precisa: o difesa delle fondamenta popolari del nuovo regime o ritorno del potere latifondista. La scelta dell’intervento era dunque una scelta obbligata, anche per ridurre al minimo i danni materiali e umani che la situazione stava producendo.
Per cinquanta anni i fatti d’Ungheria sono stati il leit-motiv anticomunista di tanti, di troppi. Cinquanta anni dopo dobbiamo constatare invece che l’intervento, anzi il duplice intervento delle truppe sovietiche in Ungheria, non solo non ha impedito ma, con l’ascesa al potere di Janos Kadar, ha addirittura stimolato un processo di rinnovamento e sviluppo complesso ma chiaro e positivo: sotto la guida del comunista Kadar il nuovo regime è durato più di trent’anni e ha raggiunto obbiettivi di sviluppo economico, sociale e civile inconfutabili anche da parte occidentale. Paradossalmente ciò ha consentito che il passaggio di regime nell’89, dopo la caduta del muro, avvenisse senza traumi e violente lacerazioni. Rimane il fatto che dopo 15 anni di ritorno al capitalismo e di “normalizzazione” liberal-democratica i conti non tornano e l’Ungheria si ritrova a sua volta immersa nelle patologie tipiche provocate da un capitalismo selvaggio e corrotto: disuguaglianze, disoccupazione, povertà, precarietà sociale.
Quanto alle conseguenze nel nostro paese di quell’intervento, va, a mio avviso, totalmente rovesciato il discorso periodicamente riemergente della “occasione storica perduta”.
Il PCI espresse allora la sua solidarietà all’intervento. La maggioranza del PSI invece lo criticò. I comunisti e una forte minoranza del PSI formarono in tal modo un blocco che impedì il dilagare di una socialdemocratizzazione della sinistra di classe Quelli che rimpiangono l’occasione perduta sono costretti perciò ad ignorare il seguito della storia e cioè che il movimento operaio italiano resistendo agli inviti liquidatori dei critici dell’intervento ha saputo dar vita ad un percorso che, negli anni successivi, ha fortemente modificato le basi della società italiana realizzando conquiste economiche e sociali che hanno eliminato differenze storiche con i paesi più avanzati d’Europa, conquiste dell’ordinamento civile e democratico, peraltro messe periodicamente in discussione dalle forze conservatrici.
Ecco perché Nenni ha sbagliato nella sua radicale condanna dell’Unione Sovietica e nella conseguente rottura del Patto di Unità d’azione con il PCI.
Ecco perché Bertinotti sbaglia due volte nella rivalutazione delle posizioni di Nenni sui fatti d’Ungheria cinquanta anni dopo.
Dichiarazione finale del Seminario Internazionale
I partecipanti al Seminario Internazionale indetto dal WFDY
(Federazione Mondiale della Gioventù Democratica) delle
organizzazioni giovanili comuniste, anti-imperialiste e progressiste
(EDON, UJDL, UJCE, JCP, KNE, GUPS, YOUTH OF TKP, FGCI, YS CROATIA,
SKOJ, Norway KU, RKSM(B) C.Y POLAND) a margine del 32° Odigitis
Festival del KNE (Gioventù Comunista Greca), denunciano il barbaro
attacco al Libano e il continuo massacro in Palestina, ad opera di
Israele, in linea con il piano imperialista della Nato per il Nuovo
Medio Oriente, pianificato e promosso dagli Usa, con l’aiuto dei loro
volontari alleati. L’obiettivo di questo piano è il controllo
imperialista del Medio Oriente, una regione di enorme importanza
strategica
Questo tentativo è portato avanti in vari modi; in questa
occasione mediante bombardamenti, massacri ed embarghi criminali ai
danni del Libano e della Palestina, in altre occasioni con i così
detti mezzi della diplomazia, in nome di una pace falsa, intervenendo
per portare a termine ciò che non sono riusciti a concludere sul
campo di guerra. Contemporaneamente continuano a minacciare con ogni
mezzo stati, governi e popoli che non riconoscono come la Siria,
l’Iran, la Corea del Nord etc. Al tempo stesso, le minacce a Cuba e
al Venezuela raggiungono il punto massimo.
Gli attacchi ai diritti e le battaglie dei giovani per
l’educazione, l’impiego e una vita con i diritti si sta rafforzando.
Di fronte a questa situazione, salutiamo ed esprimiamo la nostra
incondizionata solidarietà al popolo libanese e palestinese. La
resistenza dei popoli del Medio Oriente riempie di ottimismo e
coraggio i popoli e la gioventù del mondo intero. Questa è la
dimostrazione che l’iniziativa delle masse può essere vincente a
bloccare i piani imperialisti. Esprimiamo solidarietà alla lotta dei
5 eroi cubani detenuti da 8 anni nelle carceri di Miami, imprigionati
dagli Usa. Le organizzazioni della regione del Medio Oriente che sono
oggi fra noi, hanno dato un contributo d’avanguardia e distintivo
nell’organizzazione della battaglia della gioventù nella regione, dei
giovani lavoratori, negli studenti universitari e degli studenti in
generale, a fronte di circostanze estremamente difficili.
Siamo ispirati dal sacrificio eroico dei 5 membri e quadri martiri
dell’UDYL che si sono aggiunti alla lunga lista delle oltre 1000
vittime degli attacchi al Libano e Palestina e ai più di 5000
palestinesi morti dall’inizio dell’Intifada. Sottolineiamo anche
l’importanza della resistenza in Iraq all’occupazione americana.
Le mobilitazioni di solidarietà organizzate in tutto il mondo, il
contributo delle organizzazioni giovanili comuniste, anti-
imperialiste e progressiste con il coordinamento del WFDY hanno
giocato un ruolo primario ad orientare questa battaglia sia contro la
selvaggia, imperialista ed interventista guerra sia dal punto di
vista della resistenza e della battaglia dei popoli. I giovani sono
scesi nelle strade in ogni angolo del mondo ed hanno denunciato
l’attacco al Libano ed alla Palestina, e adesso hanno preso coscienza
del fatto che l’imperialismo, che priva loro dei diritti riguardo
alla sfera dell’educazione, del lavoro a tempo indeterminato e con
ogni tipo di diritti, dei diritti democratici, è lo stesso che è
responsabile delle guerre.
Ci impegniamo a continuare con ancor più persistenza nel tentativo
che il movimento giovanile contribuisca nella battaglia affinché
Israele si ritiri da tutti i territori libanesi e palestinesi,
siriani e tutti i territori arabi, in accordo con le risoluzioni
delle Nazioni Unite, così com’era prima del 1967. È anche importante
esercitare le più forti pressioni per chiedere la liberazione di
tutti i prigionieri arabi. Le popolazioni della regione dovrebbero
scegliere il proprio futuro.
Uniamo le nostre voci e le nostre azioni in prima linea per la
mobilitazione delle organizzazioni giovanili di massa, costruendo
iniziative di solidarietà in tutto il mondo con l’aiuto e il
coordinamento del WFDY, specialmente nella regione Medio Orientale, e
naturalmente uniremo tutti i nostri sforzi per organizzare un grosso
evento internazionale per celebrare l’anniversario per i 60 anni di
nascita del Festival Mondiale della Gioventù e degli Studenti, nel
2007 in Venezuela.
Lunga vita alla solidarietà internazionale.
Lunga vita alla battaglia delle giovani generazioni e dei popoli
contro l’imperialismo.
Athene, 16/9/2006
Fonte: www.solidnet.org
Traduzione di: Francesco Maringiò
I partecipanti al Seminario Internazionale indetto dal WFDY
(Federazione Mondiale della Gioventù Democratica) delle
organizzazioni giovanili comuniste, anti-imperialiste e progressiste
(EDON, UJDL, UJCE, JCP, KNE, GUPS, YOUTH OF TKP, FGCI, YS CROATIA,
SKOJ, Norway KU, RKSM(B) C.Y POLAND) a margine del 32° Odigitis
Festival del KNE (Gioventù Comunista Greca), denunciano il barbaro
attacco al Libano e il continuo massacro in Palestina, ad opera di
Israele, in linea con il piano imperialista della Nato per il Nuovo
Medio Oriente, pianificato e promosso dagli Usa, con l’aiuto dei loro
volontari alleati. L’obiettivo di questo piano è il controllo
imperialista del Medio Oriente, una regione di enorme importanza
strategica
Questo tentativo è portato avanti in vari modi; in questa
occasione mediante bombardamenti, massacri ed embarghi criminali ai
danni del Libano e della Palestina, in altre occasioni con i così
detti mezzi della diplomazia, in nome di una pace falsa, intervenendo
per portare a termine ciò che non sono riusciti a concludere sul
campo di guerra. Contemporaneamente continuano a minacciare con ogni
mezzo stati, governi e popoli che non riconoscono come la Siria,
l’Iran, la Corea del Nord etc. Al tempo stesso, le minacce a Cuba e
al Venezuela raggiungono il punto massimo.
Gli attacchi ai diritti e le battaglie dei giovani per
l’educazione, l’impiego e una vita con i diritti si sta rafforzando.
Di fronte a questa situazione, salutiamo ed esprimiamo la nostra
incondizionata solidarietà al popolo libanese e palestinese. La
resistenza dei popoli del Medio Oriente riempie di ottimismo e
coraggio i popoli e la gioventù del mondo intero. Questa è la
dimostrazione che l’iniziativa delle masse può essere vincente a
bloccare i piani imperialisti. Esprimiamo solidarietà alla lotta dei
5 eroi cubani detenuti da 8 anni nelle carceri di Miami, imprigionati
dagli Usa. Le organizzazioni della regione del Medio Oriente che sono
oggi fra noi, hanno dato un contributo d’avanguardia e distintivo
nell’organizzazione della battaglia della gioventù nella regione, dei
giovani lavoratori, negli studenti universitari e degli studenti in
generale, a fronte di circostanze estremamente difficili.
Siamo ispirati dal sacrificio eroico dei 5 membri e quadri martiri
dell’UDYL che si sono aggiunti alla lunga lista delle oltre 1000
vittime degli attacchi al Libano e Palestina e ai più di 5000
palestinesi morti dall’inizio dell’Intifada. Sottolineiamo anche
l’importanza della resistenza in Iraq all’occupazione americana.
Le mobilitazioni di solidarietà organizzate in tutto il mondo, il
contributo delle organizzazioni giovanili comuniste, anti-
imperialiste e progressiste con il coordinamento del WFDY hanno
giocato un ruolo primario ad orientare questa battaglia sia contro la
selvaggia, imperialista ed interventista guerra sia dal punto di
vista della resistenza e della battaglia dei popoli. I giovani sono
scesi nelle strade in ogni angolo del mondo ed hanno denunciato
l’attacco al Libano ed alla Palestina, e adesso hanno preso coscienza
del fatto che l’imperialismo, che priva loro dei diritti riguardo
alla sfera dell’educazione, del lavoro a tempo indeterminato e con
ogni tipo di diritti, dei diritti democratici, è lo stesso che è
responsabile delle guerre.
Ci impegniamo a continuare con ancor più persistenza nel tentativo
che il movimento giovanile contribuisca nella battaglia affinché
Israele si ritiri da tutti i territori libanesi e palestinesi,
siriani e tutti i territori arabi, in accordo con le risoluzioni
delle Nazioni Unite, così com’era prima del 1967. È anche importante
esercitare le più forti pressioni per chiedere la liberazione di
tutti i prigionieri arabi. Le popolazioni della regione dovrebbero
scegliere il proprio futuro.
Uniamo le nostre voci e le nostre azioni in prima linea per la
mobilitazione delle organizzazioni giovanili di massa, costruendo
iniziative di solidarietà in tutto il mondo con l’aiuto e il
coordinamento del WFDY, specialmente nella regione Medio Orientale, e
naturalmente uniremo tutti i nostri sforzi per organizzare un grosso
evento internazionale per celebrare l’anniversario per i 60 anni di
nascita del Festival Mondiale della Gioventù e degli Studenti, nel
2007 in Venezuela.
Lunga vita alla solidarietà internazionale.
Lunga vita alla battaglia delle giovani generazioni e dei popoli
contro l’imperialismo.
Athene, 16/9/2006
Fonte: www.solidnet.org
Traduzione di: Francesco Maringiò
[ Traduit en français par le PTB. La première partie à lire ici :
http://www.michelcollon.info/articles.php?dateaccess=2006-09-04%2006:54:28&log=lautrehistoire
ou ici :
Extrait: "Certaines forces, en particulier autour du « parti de la gauche européenne », sont non seulement arrivées à la conclusion que la lutte armée était devenue obsolète, mais remettent même en cause la légitimité de cette forme de lutte. Outre qu’elles excluent l’usage de la force dans la lutte de classe à l’intérieur du pays, elles critiquent ouvertement les peuples qui résistent aux attaques militaires impérialistes".
De la part du Parti Communiste de Grèce, vendredi 8 septembre 2006
==================================================
Notes sur la Guerre civile grecque (1946-1949) – Quelques réflexions
Par Costas Pateras*
La camarade Aleka Papariga dans son discours lors du mémorial a fait référence aux questions qui se posent à propos de la décision du KKE de commémorer le 60ème anniversaire de la formation de l’Armée démocratique de Grèce (ADG):
« Pourquoi remuons-nous les souvenirs, pourquoi amenons-nous de nouveau cette lutte particulière dans le discours public, une lutte que certains ont baptisée une ‘guerre de bandits’ et que d’autres jugent être une guerre civile impitoyable des deux côtés ? »
Il s’agit d’abord, bien sûr, d’honorer les militants qui ont combattu dans les rangs de l’ADG : ceux qui ont été tués, emprisonnés, torturés et exilés durant la guerre civile et les années qui ont suivi. Cela afin de souligner les sacrifices que ces hommes et femmes ordinaires ont accomplis dans la lutte pour la démocratie, l’indépendance nationale et le socialisme.
Il s’agit ensuite de se souvenir de l’intervention impérialiste anglo-américaine, de leurs gouvernements fantoches, des îles-prisons telles que Makronissos, de la violence et de l’intransigeance de la classe dominante. Cela en soi est déjà suffisant, mais il en découle bien sûr différentes questions qui sont d’une importance cruciale dans le monde d’aujourd’hui.
C’est une occasion de contrer la réécriture de l’histoire, les calomnies et les mensonges qui ont caractérisé le discours majoritaire sur cette lutte (c’est-à-dire celui de la classe dominante) depuis 60 ans. Le langage de la droite est instructif. L’ADG était considérée entre autres comme « étant dirigée par l’étranger », comme une armée « bulgare », une armée de « bandits ». Cette attaque idéologique patente allait de pair avec une historiographie d’opportunistes et de sociaux-démocrates qui s’étendait, en les déformant, sur les erreurs réelles et imaginaires de l’ADG et du KKE, et qui minimisait l’importance de l’intervention impérialiste en Grèce et le niveau de violence dirigée contre le mouvement populaire. Cette approche cherche à désorienter les progressistes et à les empêcher d’essayer de rechercher un changement radical. Face à tout cela, il est urgent de réaffirmer que la lutte de l’ADG était la continuation de la lutte démocratique anti-impérialiste de l’EAM contre l’occupation fasciste, cette fois contre l’impérialisme anglo-américain et leurs collaborateurs domestiques, urgent aussi d’expliquer au peuple les véritables raisons de la guerre civile ; en particulier à la lumière de l’anti-communisme renouvelé, dont un exemple a été la motion récente passée par le Conseil de l’Europe.
L’étude des expériences et des leçons de la Guerre civile grecque - période de la lutte de classe la plus intense jusqu’à présent dans l’histoire grecque - est inestimable pour le mouvement populaire d’aujourd’hui. Les erreurs commises peuvent être convenablement analysées dans leur plein contexte historique, la vraie nature de la réaction intérieure et de l’impérialisme, les formes nécessaires de la lutte, le développement des institutions du pouvoir populaire dans les zones libérées, le travail idéologique réalisé parmi les rangs des combattants, etc.
Après les contre-révolutions en URSS et dans les pays socialistes d’Europe de l’Est, l’impérialisme est entré dans une phase nouvelle, plus agressive. Les compromis anciens ont été abandonnés, libérés de l’influence contraignante du bloc socialiste. Cela a signifié de nouvelles guerres coloniales et des attaques féroces contre les droits sociaux et démocratiques de la classe ouvrière partout dans le monde. Les peuples résistent bien sûr, que ce soit en combattant contre l’occupation au Liban, en Palestine et en Irak, en conservant des gouvernements démocratiques et anti-impérialistes comme au Venezuela ou en poursuivant leur développement socialiste comme à Cuba, ou encore par les luttes de la classe ouvrière partout dans le monde contre les restructurations. Les puissances impérialistes utilisent toutes les approches - diplomatique et militaire - nécessaires pour écraser la résistance – sans succès jusqu’ici.
Cela s’accompagne d’une bataille idéologique pour criminaliser ceux qui résistent, en les accusant de « terrorisme », et pour décourager les autres de suivre le chemin du combat. Allant même au-delà, ils parlent maintenant de la « nécessité de combattre les idées et organisations extrémistes ». Les mouvements populaires et ouvriers, les mouvements et les luttes de libération nationale sont diffamés et on invoque un « humanisme » pharisien afin de présenter leurs combattants armés comme des terroristes et des assassins patentés. Et cela alors que le terrorisme d’Etat des Etats capitalistes s’accentue tant contre leur propre classe ouvrière que contre d’autres peuples et pays, en utilisant tous les moyens, politiques, diplomatiques et militaires, menant la violence d’Etat impérialiste à des niveaux sans précédent et la dotant de nouvelles caractéristiques de classe.
La propagande bourgeoise prend constamment et de façon consistante pour cible la lutte de classe, indépendamment des formes qu’elle peut adopter, la déclarant obsolète et nuisible aux intérêts du peuple. Ce faisant, elle tente de calomnier les idées les plus hautes et nobles que l’humanité ait connues, c’est-à-dire les idées et les objectifs communistes.
On notera que, dans le même temps, abondent les arguments soutenant la « réconciliation de classe », le « dialogue social » entre les soi-disant « partenaires sociaux ». La collaboration de classe est présentée comme le moyen de faire face aux « défis modernes », comme le chemin menant au progrès social.
Un argument courant de la bourgeoisie est d’affirmer que le droit de la classe ouvrière et de ses alliés d’utiliser la violence est extrémiste. Elle dissimule le fait que la violence du mouvement populaire est utilisée défensivement contre la violence de la classe dominante, tandis qu’en même temps elle continue à masquer la violence de l’Etat bourgeois, de ses institutions et de sa machinerie. De même pour la violence à plusieurs facettes que les capitalistes exercent sur les travailleurs sur les lieux de travail. Quand des armées impérialistes occupent des pays ou envoient des escadrons de police pour réprimer les piquets de grève, comment devrait répondre le mouvement populaire ? La bourgeoisie cherche à empêcher le peuple de se poser la question de base à propos du pouvoir que Bertolt Brecht a exprimée de façon concise : « A qui appartient demain – à qui appartient le monde ? »
Sous cet aspect, les points de vue réformistes et opportunistes convergent vers l’idéologie impérialiste, chose qui est également présente dans les discussions sur la « non-violence ». Certaines forces, en particulier autour du « parti de la gauche européenne », sont non seulement arrivées à la conclusion que la lutte armée était devenue obsolète, mais remettent même en cause la légitimité de cette forme de lutte. Outre qu’elles excluent l’usage de la force dans la lutte de classe à l’intérieur du pays, elles critiquent ouvertement les peuples qui résistent aux attaques militaires impérialistes. Dans le contexte de l’agressivité renforcée de l’impérialisme aujourd’hui, appeler les mouvements à s’abstenir d’utiliser toutes les formes possibles de lutte constitue en fait un compromis avec l’impérialisme : une caractéristique de base de l’opportunisme. C’est également évident au vu de la position prise par ces forces concernant le déploiement de troupes en Afghanistan, la participation de leurs pays à la nouvelle force d’occupation de l’Onu qui sera déployée au Liban, etc.
Un argument semblable considère « la lutte armée comme un dernier recours ». Cela semble être raisonnable à première vue, mais tant l’expérience que la réalité réfutent cette thèse. Les partisans de cette proposition tendent d’une manière non dialectique à opposer le travail pacifique de masse à l’activité armée de groupes élitistes de partisans, en affirmant la supériorité morale de la non-violence. En présentant la question comme une question morale, il en découle que, s’il est possible d’organiser une manifestation avec succès, c’est alors une erreur d’effectuer également des actions armées. En fait, en période de luttes de classe intenses, toutes les formes de lutte peuvent être utilisées, de la grève à la guérilla. Les expériences des mouvements de résistance en Europe pendant la Seconde guerre mondiale illustrent cela, y compris la Guerre civile grecque. Dans ces situations, il est dangereux de tergiverser (un danger implicite de ce slogan). Le mouvement populaire n’a pas d’autre option que d’agir d’une manière décidée pour contrer la violence de la classe dominante afin d’amener une conclusion favorable.
Cette thèse alimente l’illusion quant à la possibilité que la classe bourgeoise, que ce soit dans son propre pays ou dans le cadre de l’occupation d’une autre nation, remettra allégrement le pouvoir au mouvement populaire. Il ne peut y avoir un « partage » du pouvoir, ni de « troisième » voie ou de chemin « intermédiaire » en faveur des intérêts du peuple. Du moins telle n’a pas été l’expérience des mouvements communiste et de libération nationale au XXe siècle. Certaines des conclusions de base qu’a tirées le KKE lorsqu’il a évalué d’une façon critique ses activités de 1944 à 1947 sont centrées précisément sur ces points. L’histoire de notre mouvement est jonchée d’avertissements salutaires, ainsi que de fausses espérances qui ont rapidement abouti à la désillusion, à la capitulation et à l’assimilation comme ce fut le cas des diverses tendances de centre-gauche.
En nous souvenant aujourd’hui de la lutte de l’Armée démocratique de Grèce, nous affirmons le droit des peuples de résister à l’impérialisme et de décider de leur propre avenir. La résistance héroïque du peuple libanais à l’invasion israélienne soutenue par les USA et le grand mouvement de solidarité qui s’en est suivi, ainsi que le rôle des communistes au sein de celui-ci, montre que la résistance au prétendu « Nouvel Ordre mondial » est à la fois possible et nécessaire.
Néanmoins, aussi longtemps qu’un mouvement communiste distinct n’émerge pas suffisamment fort et capable de conduire une contre-attaque stratégique, les mouvements populaires, les forces progressistes radicales qui émergent seront plus vulnérables à la confusion et à la manipulation.
Les évolutions récentes ont contredit ceux qui proclamaient la « fin de l’histoire » et « l’inévitable défaite » du marxisme-léninisme et des partis communistes. Au contraire, les faits eux-mêmes mettent en lumière le rôle indispensable des partis communistes et du socialisme comme seule alternative à la barbarie capitaliste.
*Costas Pateras, associé de la section internationale du KKE
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Neverending pogroms in Kosmet (6): Come la Transnistria
Sources of most of the following texts are:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/
------
PICCHIATO UN SERBO NEL CENTRO DI DECANI
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/b92082306.htm
SERB REPORTEDLY BEATEN UP BY TWO ALBANIANS IN KOSOVO TOWN
BBC Monitoring International Reports - August 23, 2006 Wednesday
Text of report by Belgrade-based Radio B92 on 23 August
[Newsreader] Two [Kosovo] Albanians have beaten up a 55-year old
[Serb] Vuk Danilovic in the centre of Decani while he was attended
the opening of a multiethnic camp organized by the OSCE, the [Serbian
Orthodox Church's] Raska Prizren Eparchy information office has
reported.
The attack took place yesterday, a day after the opening of the
multiethnic camp, at which 30 children from the Serb, Albanian and
Rom communities had gathered. The Eparchy said that the perpetrators
had fled the scene and that the incident was reported to the Kosovo
Police Service [KPS].
---
IL PARTITO SOCIALISTA SERBO STIGMATIZZA LE DICHIARAZIONI RAZZISTE DI
AHTISAARI
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/beta082606.htm
SOCIALIST PARTY LEADER UN ENVOY STATEMENT ON KOSOVO SHOWS ANTI-SERB
PREJUDICE
BBC Monitoring International Reports - August 26, 2006 Saturday
Text of report by Serbian news agency Beta
Ivica Dacic, chairman of the main committee of The Socialist Party of
Serbia (SPS) said that the most recent statement made by UN Envoy
Martti Ahtisaari in connection with Kosovo reflects his prejudice and
stems from his desire to "pass judgment on an entire nation".
"This is yet further confirmation that these are not negotiations but
an imposed solution and he is not a mediator but the Albanian side's
helper," Dacic told Beta Agency in connection with Ahtisaari's
statement that the policy that was conducted by Slobodan Milosevic
"has to be taken into consideration" in deciding on the status of
Kosovo.
"Besides, not even the Chernomyrdin-Ahtisaari plan for a stop to the
bombing is being respected today and Serbia must respond to that
urgently and unanimously," Dacic said.
According to him, Serbia should respond that it considers Kosovo its
unalienable part and that it is prepared to talk about the autonomy
of Kosovo within Serbia, but that it will not accept an imposed
solution.
"That is why we are demanding an urgent session of our assembly on
this issue," Dacic said, pointing out that in addition to Ahtisaari's
statements it is also necessary to hold an assembly session because
of indications that an imposed solution on the province's
independence would be attempted by the end of the year.
He said that the Serb nation in the former Yugoslavia "was actually
the greatest victim of nationalism, terrorism, and separatism".
"Today there are no more Serbs in Knin, in Pristina, and very few are
left in the Federation of Bosnia-Hercegovina, so who was it then that
carried out ethnic cleansing?" Dacic said.
He pointed out that all "government factors" today have the same view
"in connection with Kosovo", just as the SPS has had "all these
years, because that is not a party issue but a state and national
issue".
Speaking at today's news conference in response to the demands of the
coordinators of the Serbian negotiating team who asked him to clarify
his statement that the "Serbs were culpable as a nation", Ahtisaari
said that "every nation in the world has its burden for which it has
to pay".
---
NOTIZIE DI ATTIVITÀ PARAMILITARI PRESSO ISTOK
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/fonet090306.htm
Kosovo Serbs alarmed by reports of paramilitary activity
BBC Monitoring Europe (Political) - September 3, 2006 Sunday
Text of report by Serbian independent news agency FoNet
Zubin Potok, 2 September: Zubin Potok Deputy Mayor Srdjan Djurovic
today told FoNet that around thirty armed persons wearing black
uniforms had been spotted on the slopes of Mt Mokra Gora on 30 August.
"They practiced shooting in the area between Zubin Potok and Istok
municipalities and their presence, and the fact that they were not
members of Kfor [NATO-led Kosovo Force], has greatly upset the Serb
population in this part of Kosovo," Djurovic said.
Representatives of Zubin Potok municipality informed NATO southern
wing commander Admiral Harry Ulrich about the incident at a meeting
today.
"He told us that Kfor was investigating the report. The newly
appointed Kfor commander, German Gen Roland Kather, and the commander
of the Multinational Brigade North, French Gen Jean-Jacques Barthes,
also attended the meeting," Djurovic said.
---
BOMBA CONTRO CASA SERBA PRESSO KLINA
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/kp091306.htm
UN CONFIRMS BOMBING OF KOSOVO SERB HOME NEAR KLINA
BBC Monitoring International Reports - September 13, 2006 Wednesday
Text of report by Serbia-Montenegrin radio Kontakt Plus on 13 September
[Presenter] UNMIK [UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo] today
confirmed that that the Vasic family home in the village of Stupelj
near Klina had been bombed day before yesterday.
Unknown attackers tried to torch another house belonging to the Vasic
family, but failed in their intention, UNMIK police spokesman Thomas
Leigh [phonetic] said at a news conference in Pristina. Leigh said
that the International Police and the Kosovo Police Service had
launched an investigation into the incident, but that their efforts
were being hampered by the silence of the neighbours.
Leigh added that this incident should not threaten the "good
relations" between Albanians and Serbs in Klina municipality.
UNMIK spokeswoman Miriam Dessables said that UNMIK deputy chief
Steven Schook was on a visit to Klina municipality over the bombing
of the Vasic family home, and that he would discuss the problems
encountered by Serb returnees with local officials.
http://www.vor.ru/index_eng.phtml?view=news_eng&id=11937
Voice of Russia - September 13, 2006
A Serbian family house blown up in the northwest of Kosovo
A Serbian family house has been blown up in the
northwest of Kosovo, specifically, in the village of
Stupel, near the city of Klin.
The recently rebuilt house was the one of a Serbian
refugee family which has returned to the province
recently.
A neighbouring house, also of a Serb family, has been
gravely damaged.
There was no one in the houses when the explosive
device went off, so no casualties have been reported.
Kosovo Albanians, who’ve been pressing for a
withdrawal of the province from under Belgrade’s
jurisdiction, have repeatedly threatened to blow up
all houses that Serbian refugees may return to.
---
LA RUSSIA INTENZIONATA A PORRE IL VETO IN CASO DI VOTO ALL'ONU PER LA
SECESSIONE DEL KOSOVO
http://www.focus-fen.net/?id=n95647
Focus News Agency (Bulgaria)
September 11, 2006
Russia Will not Waver to Impose Veto if Decision for
Kosovo is Unacceptable for Moscow
London - Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn’t rule
out the possibility for Russia to impose a veto on the
UN Security Council decision for Kosovo if it is not
acceptable for Moscow, BETA agency announced, citing
the Financial Times.
Putin warned the West that Kosovo’s independence will
create a precedent in other problematic regions
including Abhazia and South Osetia in Georgia.
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?
cat=Politics&loid=8.0.339251872&par=0
ADN Kronos International (Italy) - September 12, 2006
KOSOVO: POSSIBLE RUSSIAN U.N. VETO ON INDEPENDENCE BUOYS SERBIA
Belgrade - Serbia's government has said it is cheered
by Russia's premier Vladimir Putin's recent comments
apparently hinting his country could veto any
"unacceptable" United Nations Security Council
resolution, such as one backing independence for the
breakaway province of Kosovo.
Serbian government spokesman Srdjan Djuric hailed
Putin's statement as a "principled stand, in harmony
with the highest principles of international law," on
the inviolability of the existing state borders.
Belgrade's press on Tuesday ran banner headlines
hailing Serbia's "Russian brothers."
Former foreign minister, Goran Svilanovic, called for
caution, however. He said the issue would never come
before the UN Security Council - the organisation's
top decision-making body - unless the decision was
first agreed upon in the so-called Contact Group for
Kosovo, which includes the United States, Great
Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia.
UN special envoy for Kosovo, Martti Ahtisaari, was due
to present a report on progress in negotiations
between Serbs and majority ethnic Albanians in Kosovo
during a meeting of the Contact Group on Monday
through Tuesday.
Elena Guskova, a Russian academic and an expert on
Balkans, told Belgrade media it was too early to say
what the Russian position on Kosovo might ultimately
be.
On one hand, Kosovo's independence would grant the
same rights to the people of the breakaway regions of
South Ossetia and Abkhazia in the former Soviet
republic of Georgia. But on the other hand, it could
boost separatist movements in Russian republics such
as Chechnya, she said.
Putin - whose country is one of the UN Security
Council's permanent five veto-wielding members, along
with Britain, France, the US and China - was quoted on
Monday by Britain's Financial Times newspaper as
saying: "If we find the solution for Kosovo
unacceptable, we will not hesitate to use our veto
right in the UN Security Council."
Putin's allegedly made the remarks last last Saturday
at a dinner with a group of American and Russian
journalists and businessmen at his residence in
Moscow. But a Russian government official neither
confirmed nor denied the statement, saying only he
couldn’t recall the word "veto" being used.
Putin reportedly said that the same yardstick should
be applied to Kosovo and the former Soviet republics.
"If a precedent is set, it will negatively reflect on
the post-Soviet region and it will be difficult to
explain to the peoples of South Ossetia and Abkhazia
why Albanians (in Kosovo) can breakaway from Serbia
and they cannot," he stated, quoted in the Financial
Times.
Ethnic Albanians in Kosovo say they will settle for
nothing less than independence, but Belgrade opposes
this, offering instead a form of wide local autonomy.
It has warned that if the province secedes from
Serbia, this would trigger a chain reaction in other
disputed regions in Europe and throughout the world.
Kosovo has been under UN control since 1999 and the
world powers, including the United States, have hinted
they are prepared to grant independence to Kosovo
ethnic Albanians, who make a 1.7 million majority
compared with just 100,000 Serbs remaining in the
province.
---
DEL PONTE: L'UCK UCCIDE I TESTIMONI
http://www.focus-fen.net/?id=n95643
Focus News Agency (Bulgaria)
September 11, 2006
Vecerne Novosti: KLA Rules Kosovo
Belgrade - The acknowledgement of the Chief Prosecutor
of the Hague Tribunal Carla Del Ponte that the Kosovo
Liberation Army (KLA) kills potential witnesses
against [its members] accused of war crimes is raising
the question for the responsibility of all who have
performed war crimes in Kosovo and will not be tried,
Vecerne Novosti reports.
The Hague Tribunal admits that is a sensitive topic
and they are not apt to talk about it.
But it acknowledges that without good witness
protection there is no way to reach the truth.
The KLA and its ex-commanders are now politicians,
state employees, leaders in the Corps for Defense of
Kosovo [Kosovo Protection Corps] and leaders of
criminal clans who have sent a clear message to their
compatriots - those who dare to speak [against] war
crimes will be liquidated.
That decision of the shadow cabinet was taken seven
years ago after the arrival of the international
[NATO] forces in Kosovo.
---
I TERRORISTI PAN-ALBANESI ATTIVI IN MONTENEGRO HANNO NAZIONALITÀ
STATUNITENSE
http://www.focus-fen.net/?id=n95668
Focus News Agency (Bulgaria)
September 11, 2006
Six US Citizens Planned Terrorist Attacks in Montenegro
Podgorica - Six US citizens together with allies from
Montenegro have planned to carry out terrorist attacks
on the territory of Malesia and Tuzi (in Montenegro)
on 10 and 11 September, the Directorate of the
Montenegrin police announced on Monday, cited by the
independent Montenegrin news portal PCNEN.
The US citizens - four of whom have been captured and
two are wanted - originate from the territory of
Malesia, Tuzi and Kosovo.
According to the chief of the criminal police in
Montenegro Ivan Masulovic, 12 people were arrested in
relation to the findings.
Masulovic added that former members of the Army for
the Liberation of Kosovo [Kosovo Liberation Army] had
also intended to participate in the terrorist attacks
and were expected to illegally enter Kosovo and
Montenegro.
Masulovic said that a small part of the weapons
intended for the attacks was found in the homes of the
detainees.
The larger part was found in a cave near Tuzi, where
the suspects were supposed to hide after the attack.
http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n95686
Focus News Agency (Bulgaria) - September 12, 2006
Montenegrin Police Order International Search of Five
Albanian Terrorist Suspects
Podgorica - The police in Montenegro announced an
international search for five Albanians, four of whom
are US citizens, who are suspected of terrorism, the
Serbian agency TANJUG informs.
It is believed they had been planning a terrorist
attack in Montenegro.
However, officials of the international police force
in Kosovo stated the request of Montenegro’s police
has not yet been handed into the authorities in
Pristina, but added that the police of the UN Mission
in Kosovo (UNMIK) will react immediately if such a
request is filed.
---
"IN SUD OSSEZIA FAREMO COME IN KOSOVO"
http://www.interfax.com/3/192426/news.aspx
Interfax - September 12, 2006
Recognition of referendums in CIS issue for
international community - Prikhodko
MOSCOW - The Kremlin recognizes the principle
of territorial integrity, Russian presidential aide
Sergei Prikhodko said, adding that real political
processes should be taken into consideration not only
in South Ossetia and Transdniestria, but also in
other similar situations.
"The territorial integrity of a state, above all of a
state with which we have close relations, is
imperative; however, the imperative should assume
real political processes not only in [South Ossetia
and Transdniestria], but also in other parts of the
world, where there are referendums and parallels can
be drawn, despite where this happens,' he said.
---
FUCILATE CONTRO I SERBI DISARMATI CHE RACCOLGONO LA LEGNA
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/fonet091406.htm
Serbs collecting wood reportedly fired upon in Kosovo
BBC Monitoring Europe (Political) - September 14, 2006 Thursday
Text of report by Serbian independent news agency FoNet
Source: FoNet news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 2030 gmt 13 Sep 06
Copyright 2006 British Broadcasting Corporation - Posted for Fair Use
only.
Kosovska Mitrovica, 13 September: Unknown persons have fired shots at
seven Serbs from Banje villages in Srbica municipality but nobody was
injured in the incident, the [Serbian] International Press Centre of
the Coordination Centre for Kosovo-Metohija [headed by Sanda Raskovic-
Ivic] has said.
Unidentified persons from the direction of Albanian-populated village
of Radesevo opened heavy fire against the Serbs who were going to the
woods to collect wood.
A statement said that the Kosovo Police Service [KPS] conducted an
investigation but in untimely manner.
"In this part of Kosovo-Metohija, Serbs own all forested land plots
which are constantly the target of stealing. Members of the Kosovo
Police Service are no longer making any efforts to protect property
of the Serbs in province," the statement said.
Five Serbs have been killed while 17 have been wounded in Banje and
Suvo Grlo village area since 1999 [arrival of NATO-led Kosovo Force].
At the end of 2000, three Serbs were killed and ten were wounded in
an attack on UNMIK [UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo]
coach, the statement recalled.
http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n95801
Unknown Attackers Shoot at Serbs in Kosovo
Focus News Agency (Bulgaria) - September 13, 2006
Kosovska Mitrovica - Unknown attackers shot at a group
of Serbs in the village of Bane, Srbica municipality.
This is what the press center of the Coordination
Center for Kosovo announced cited by RTS.
No Serbs were injured.
While they were gathering wood in the forest the Serbs
became the target of fierce firing coming from the
once mixed and now completely Albanian village of
Radesevo.
The Serbs own the land in this part of Kosovo and it
is exactly these plots that are the target of constant
pilfering on the part of the Albanians from the nearby
villages.
Since 1999 5 Serbs have been killed and 17 others have
been wounded in the territory of the Srbica
municipality.
The most serious crime was committed at the end of the
year 2000 when three Serbs were killed and ten others
were wounded during an attack against a UNMIK bus.
So far none of the perpetrators have been arrested,
RTS notes.
---
PUTIN: BASTA CON I "DUE PESI DUE MISURE"!
http://www.panarmenian.net/news/eng/?nid=19200
Putin: Recognition of Kosovo Independence May Have
Negative Impact on Conflict Settlements
PanArmenian.net - September 12, 2006
In case of declaring the independence of Kosovo
against Serbia's will, Russia will veto the decision
of the UN Security Council, Russian President Vladimir
Putin stated at a meeting with a group of scientists
from foreign countries in Moscow last week-end.
In the opinion of the Russian President, recognition
of Kosovo independence may have a negative impact on
conflict settlements in Nagorno Karabakh,
Transniestria, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
"We should think of the regional consequences of the
recognition of Kosovo independence," the Russian
President said.
http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/politics/28.html?menu=1&id_issue=11587510
Interfax - September 13, 2006
Putin calls for unified approach to Kosovo, Abkhazia,
South Ossetia
MOSCOW - The international community's approaches
toward settling the problems of Kosovo, Abkhazia, and
South Ossetia should be unified, Russian President
Vladimir Putin said at a recent meeting with Western
political analysts, the transcript of which is
available on the official presidential website.
"You cannot apply one set of standards to Kosovo and
another to Abkhazia and South Ossetia," Putin said.
"What is the difference between the situation in
Kosovo and that in Abkhazia or South Ossetia? There's
no difference at all," he said.
"Once we start manipulating public opinion or try to
do so, we will face problems," he said.
"People will feel cheated. Both in Southern Europe and
in the South Caucasus. This kind of policy cannot be
considered moral. It has no prospects," Putin said.
http://www.vor.ru/Exclusive/excl_next8300_eng.html
Voice of Russia - September 13, 2006
RUSSIA CALLS FOR A SHARED VIEW OF THE PLIGHT OF
SELF-PROCLAIMED REPUBLICS
Early ballot-casting has begun in the Transdniestrian
referendum on sovereignty.
Transdniestria is that part of Moldavia which sits on
the left bank of the Dniester River.
It has scheduled its sovereignty referendum for next
Sunday.
South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity has, in the
meantime, called a South Ossetian sovereignty
referendum for the 12th of next November.
South Ossetians are expected to cast two ballots in
two months from now – in the sovereignty referendum
and in presidential elections. Their republic means to
secede from Georgia.
Ballot-casting or no ballot-casting, it is clear what
the Transdniestrian and South Ossetian voters want for
their republics.
Transdniestria and South Ossetia have, for quite a
number of years now, been living as two sovereign
republics and seem to like it this way.
Do they really need their referendums?
An expert with the Institute of the Commonwealth of
Independent States Vladimir Zharikhin feels that there
is, on the one hand, the principle of territorial
integrity.
On the other hand, there is the right to
self-determination, and it takes a referendum to
confirm this right.
The two referendums in question have no chance to
leave an imprint on international law.
But they will surely show that the people of the two
self-proclaimed republics do seek sovereignty.
Which their governments will be likely to see as a
very serious argument.
No matter how much the West chooses to speak about the
inviolability of national borders, we have a good idea
of what happened in Montenegro. It is a public
referendum that crossed the t’s and dotted the i’s in
the divorce between Montenegro and Serbia – and that
referendum has, incidentally, been recognized by the
European democracies.
This very delicate situation has no room for rash
action.
The possibly successful result of the Kosovar efforts
to secede from Serbia will give the green light to
stepped-up efforts to win sovereignty in other parts
of this planet.
Russia urges the West to find a common denominator to
all efforts to win sovereignty.
Because, there are either no rules at all or the same
rules for every player in geopolitical games.
The latter is clearly preferable, from all points of
view.
---
IL NUOVO PROCONSOLE TEDESCO RUECKER ACCUSATO DI ESSERE APERTAMENTE
FILO-ALBANESE
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?
cat=Politics&loid=8.0.340246070&par=0
ADN Kronos International (Italy) - September 14, 2006
KOSOVO: SERBS ACCUSE LOCAL UN CHIEF OF PRO-ALBANIAN BIAS
Belgrade - Kosovo Serb leaders on Thursday accused
chief United Nations administrator, Joachim Ruecker,
of lobbying on behalf of the province's majority
ethnic Albanians - who demand independence - and of
presenting a distorted picture of the current
situation in the province which has been under United
Nations control since 1999.
The Serb reactions came after Ruecker’s report to the
UN Security Council on Wednesday, in which he said:
"The attempts to show Kosovo as a place where constant
attacks against minorities are taking place doesn’t
correspond to reality."
A Kosovo Serb leader, Milan Ivanovic, said Ruecker - a
German diplomat - was "behaving like an Albanian
lobbyist," and trying to "cover up the failure of the
UN's administration of Kosovo over the past seven
years."
He said no progress was made in providing greater
security for non-Albanian minorities and the return of
over 200,000 refugees who have fled the province since
1999.
Another Serb leader, Rada Trajkovic, told Belgrade
media that Rucker’s report was "far from reality." She
said that 1,194 Serbs and 593 members of other
minorities were killed in Kosovo since 1999, 1,300
kidnapped and missing, and more than 1,400 beaten up.
She said Kosovo was far from living under the rule of
law, and that Ruecker’s report was an attempt to
appease militant ethnic Albanians.
"Militant Albanians have succeeded in deceiving the
international community, but the fact that no major
company has invested in Kosovo clearly shows there is
no rule of law," said Trajkovic.
Serbian government coordinator for Kosovo, Sanda
Raskovic Ivic, told the UN Security Council that basic
human rights and democratic standards haven’t been met
in Kosovo, and that a rushed decision on its final
status would be counterproductive.
Similar stands were taken by Russia and China,
permanent members of the Security Council with veto
rights. Ruecker, who took up the UN post in Kosovo's
capital, Pristina, on 1 September, said that the
situation in Kosovo has significantly improved, but
that a lot still has to be done to make Kosovo a
multi-ethnic society.
"It won’t be easy," said Rucker, underlining that
majority ethnic Albanians and minority Serbs in the
province will have to live together regardless of the
outcome of the ongoing talks on Kosovo's future
status.
Echoing the stands of United States and British
ambassadors in the Security Council, Ruecker said that
it was in the best interests of both sides to make the
decision on Kosovo's status by the end of this year.
"For the good of Kosovo, this period of uncertainty
must end," he said.
Overwhelmingly Muslim ethnic Albanians, who form a 1.7
million majority compared with a tiny minority of
100,000 Serbs remaining in the province, demand
independence. This is opposed by Belgrade, which is
prepared to offer the province wide autonomy instead,
and by Kosovo Serbs.
Serbia's prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica on
Wednesday drew sharp criticism from ethnic Albanians
for controversial comments he made to the Serb
parliament on Tuesday saying that Kosovo's current
status as a part of Serbia should be enshrined in a
new constitution and voted for by Serbians.
Serb president Boris Tadic last week held talks with
top officials in the US capital, Washington in a bid
to drum up support for Serbia's position on Kosovo,
but admitted that US support for the province's
independence was "a prevailing trend."
The UN's envoy to Kosovo, Martti Ahtisaari, has
signalled the Security Council could impose a solution
on the province by the end of 2006 if ethnic Albanian
and Serb negotiators fail to reach agreement on its
status in ongoing UN brokered talks that have so far
failed to produce a breakthrough.
---
LA RUSSIA CONTRARIA AD OGNI LIMITE DI TEMPO SUI COLLOQUI PER LO STATUS
http://www.vor.ru/index_eng.phtml?view=news_eng&id=11950
RF opposed to Kosovo talks deadline
Voice of Russia - September 14, 2006
Russia is against setting a strict time limit for
talks to determine the future status of Kosovo.
As he addressed a Security Council meeting on
Wednesday the Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly
Churkin criticized interim administration in Kosovo
saying that Albanian leadership had failed to
guarantee the security of ethnic minorities in the
province.
The Albanian Deputy Foreign Minister Edith Khardzhi,
who arrived in the US on Wednesday, said the UN
Security Council resolution on Kosovo should exclude
the province’s return to the 1999 status, when it was
fully dependent on Yugoslavia.
---
SOLIDARIETÀ DALLA TRANSNISTRIA: L'OCCIDENTE INCORAGGIA LA PULIZIA ETNICA
http://www.regnum.ru/english/706198.html
Transdnestr analyst: West encourages ethnic genocide
Regnum (Russia) - September 16, 2006
Senior expert of the Transdnestr branch of Russia’s
National Strategy Council, political analyst Vladimir
Bukarsky, comments on statements of Kosovo political
analyst Ermelinda Kanush made at a news conference at
the International Press Center in Tiraspol on
September 16 that, “the international community has
certain rules of the game; and if Transdnestr wants to
be recognized, it should play under the rules.”
Particularly, Bukarsky notes:
“Missis Kanushi seems to be considering a strict
geopolitical orientation towards the USA, the European
Union and other countries of the Euro-Atlantic bloc as
‘rules of the game of the international community.’
"She gives it to understand clearly that Transdnestr’s
geopolitical orientation towards Russia is
inadmissible, if Transdnestr wants to be recognized by
‘leading world actors.’
"It is worth remembering Transdnestr President Igor
Smirnov [being] offered recognition in exchange for
giving up his orientation towards Russia.
"As for citing the mono-ethnic composure of Kosovo,
Mrs. Kanushi is certainly cunning here.
"The mono-ethnic composition of Kosovo was achieved as
early as under Turkish rule, the Hitler genocide and
the ethnic cleansing of Serbs after the NATO
occupation of the territory.
Thus, the West gives it to understand that it
encourages ethnic genocide, let it only decrease
Russia’s geopolitical influence.”
---
UN ALTRO SOSPETTO TERRORISTA PAN-ALBANESE ARRESTATO IN MONTENEGRO
http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n95945
Montenegro Police Arrest Another Terrorist Suspect
Focus News Agency (Bulgaria) - September 16, 2006
Podgorica - Yesterday the Montenegrin police arrested
M.B. from the town of Lokva, near Tuzi, who is
suspected of being a member of an organized group
planning to commit armed terrorist acts in Montenegro,
Montenegrin media inform.
A police announcement says the security forces have
found a Chinese-made semiautomatic rifle with six
cartriges, 26 detonation capsules, dynamite and
military uniforms in the home of the arrested suspect.
FOCUS News Agency informs:
Six US citizens together with allies from Montenegro
have planned to carry out terrorist attacks on the
territory of Malesia and Tuzi (in Montenegro) on 10
and 11 September, the Directorate of the Montenegrin
police announced on Monday, cited by the independent
Montenegrin news portal PCNEN.
The US citizens - four of whom have been captured and
two of whom still are wanted - originate from the
territory of Malesia, Tuzi and Kosovo.
According to the Chief of the criminal police in
Montenegro Ivan Masulovic, 12 people were arrested in
relation to the findings.
Masulovic added that former members of the Army for
Liberation of Kosovo /AOK/ have also intended to
participate in the terrorist attacks and were expected
to illegally enter Kosovo and Montenegro.
Masulovic said that a small part of the weapons,
intended for the attacks, was found in the homes of
the detainees.
The larger part was found in a cave near Tuzi, where
the suspects were supposed to hide after the attack.
---
I SERBI VENDONO LE LORO PROPRIETÀ ED ABBANDONANO LA LORO TERRA NELLA
INDIFFERENZA DELL'UNMIK
http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n95954
Serbs Selling Their Kosovo Property
Focus News Agency (Bulgaria) - September 16, 2006
Pristina - The persons resettled from Kosovo resort to
selling their property in the region more frequently,
the Serbian newspaper Glas Javnosti informs.
According to some estimates almost a third of the
resettled Serbs have already sold their property and
at least as much are planning to do it despite their
sincere wish to go back to Kosovo.
The Albanians have already built plants, motels, and
hotels in the whole of Central Kosovo – Serbian land
until recently.
The real estate sale is done despite UNMIK’s decree
which limits the sale of Serbian property at places of
strategic importance.
The sales are made without any control or limitations
whatsoever.
---
AUTOBOMBA A GNJILANE
http://www.focus-fen.net/?id=n96014
Local Self-Government Ministry Car Damaged in Gnjilane Blast
Focus News Agency (Bulgaria) - September 17, 2006
Gnjilane - A strong explosion in Gnjilane, Kosovo,
caused damage to four cars one of which belongs to the
Local Self-Government Ministry of Kosovo, RTS informs
citing Kosovo’s police forces. No people were injured
in the blast.
The spokesperson for the police Naser Ibrahimi stated
the explosion took place on Saturday at around 8.30
p.m. local time.
The motive behind the explosion is not yet clear, nor
is it clear what type of explosion caused the material
damage.
This is the second blast in Gnjilane for the last two
days. During the last explosion that took place late
on Thursday the car of Kosovo’s Interior Minister
Fatmir Rexhepi was damaged.
The police arrested two persons at the explosion site
near the building in which Minister Rexhepi resides.
However, because of lack of proof the two arrested
persons had been involved in the attack they were
released.
---
STUDENTE DESAPARECIDO A KOSOVSKA MITROVICA
http://www.focus-fen.net/?id=n95997
Serbian Student Disappears in Kosovska Mitrovica
Focus News Agency (Bulgaria) - September 17, 2006
Kosovska Mitrovica - The police in Kosovo and the
Serbian Interior Ministry are looking for Zoran
Tomovic, who was last seen in the northern part of
Kosovska Mitrovica on Wednesday evening, Tomovic’s
father announced cited by RTS.
Zoran Tomovic is a third-year student at the Legal
Faculty in Kosovska Mitrovica.
He is an immigrant from Klina, near Pec, and his
permanent address is in Budva, Montenegro.
---
REFERENDUM DEI RUSSOFONI IN TRANSNISTRIA, PARALLELISMI CON LA
SITUAZIONE DEI SERBI IN KOSMET
http://www.regnum.ru/english/706544.html
Russian MP Andrei Kokoshin: Outcomes of Transdnestr
referendum “should be taken into account by
international community”
Regnum (Russia) - September 18, 2006
“The mere fact of holding the Transdnestr referendum
is a consequence of policy carried out by Moldavia
[Moldova] and supported by several western countries
for several years,” the head of the State Duma
Committee on CIS Affairs and Relations with
Compatriots Andrei Kokoshin is quoted by a REGNUM
correspondent to state on Sep 18, commenting to the
press on the September 17 referendum on the status of
the Transdnestr Moldavian Republic.
Kokoshin pointed out that the referendum outcomes
“undoubtedly should be taken into account by the
international community.”
“Those who believe that the Kosovo issue will not
impact the situation in different parts of the world
are mistaken,” the MP stressed.
He believes that the Kosovo issue, which has recently
been included in the UN General Assembly agenda, has a
serious impact on public opinion in Transdnestr.
“At the same time,” Kokoshin observed, “many western
politicians prefer to call the Kosovo precedent a
separate special issue which should not be
extrapolated to other similar situations.”
http://www.vor.ru/Exclusive/excl_next8322_eng.html
TRANS-DNIESTER HAVE BACKED THE REGION’S INDEPENDENCE
Voice of Russia - September 18, 2006
The overwhelming majority of the voters in Moldova’s
breakaway region of Trans-Dniester have backed the
region’s independence and a plan to eventually join
Russia in last Sunday’s referendum.
Only about 3% of the voters have said yes to the
region’s union with Moldova.
The self-proclaimed republic of Trans-Dniester
declared itself to be independent from the Soviet
republic of Moldova in 1991, when they fought a bloody
civil war in the area.
All in all, there were 7 referendums in the 16-year
history of the self-proclaimed republic.
Back in December of 1991 the first referendum was held
and the region’s mainly Russian-speaking population
voted for Trans-Dniester’s independence and against
Moldova’s nationalist policy.
In return, Moldova waged a bloody conflict with
Trans-Dniester and only Russian peacekeepers managed
to stop the bloodshed.
Afterwards, Russia more than once helped
Trans-Dniester to overcome the consequences of
economic blockade when Kishinev [Chisinau] and Kiev
toughened their customs rules.
That’s why it was quite easy to predict the last
referendum’s results.
As for Moldova and Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe, they have already dismissed the
poll as illegitimate.
However,130 monitors from European and CIS countries
called Moldova’s and OSCE’s position a policy of
double standards.
The observers declared that the referendum had been
held according to international rules and some
insignificant violations could not influence the final
results.
Earlier, Russia’s Foreign Ministry Sergei Lavrov said
that it was necessary to assess the referendum with
common sense but without emotions, which may hide its
essence.
Mr.Lavrov stressed that it’s high time to return to
negotiations to settle the conflict.
People have been living in the conflict zone for more
than 10 years now and they should arrange their lives
somehow.
And holding the referendum doesn’t mean that we try to
escalate the situation in the area.
On the contrary, we draw the public attention to the
fact that the conflict poses many problems for the
Trans-Dniesterians.
Russia believes that the referendum results ought to
send a signal to the international community to
reconsider international legal norms concerning the
existing self-proclaimed republics.
It’s difficult to ignore the referendum if state
leaders pursue an honest policy without practising
double standards, which are used in Kosovo,
Montenegro, Trans-Dniester and other similar conflict
areas.
---
IL PRESIDENTE DEL PARLAMENTO ALBANESE CHIEDE DI SPACCARE IL PAESE
CONFINANTE
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?
cat=Politics&loid=8.0.341792924&par=0
KOSOVO: GRANT INDEPENDENCE, PARLIAMENTARY SPEAKER SAYS
ADN Kronos International (Italy) - September 19, 2006
Belgrade - Kosovo parliament president Kol Berisha has
warned of an ethnic Albanian rebellion if the province
is not granted independence in the near future, a
Serbian newspaper reports.
Belgrade daily Politika said in a front page article
on Tuesday that Berisha made the statement during a
visit to Slovenia on Monday.
According to Politika, Berisha said he expected that
the United Nations-brokered talks in Vienna on the
status of Kosovo status would yield no results and
that it was now up to the international community to
impose a solution, granting Kosovo independence.
Kosovo, whose majority ethnic Albanians insist on
independence, has been under UN control since 1999
when a NATO bombing campaign forced Serbian forces out
of the province.
But Belgrade opposes independence, arguing it would
trigger a chain reaction in the region. The UN has
hinted it wants to make a status decision by the end
of this year and Berisha warned that if the decision
wasn’t made in reasonable time “there could be a
rebellion”.
The Kosovo crisis erupted when ethnic Albanians, who
make a 1.7 million majority in Kosovo against some
100,000 remaining Serbs, rebelled against Belgrade
rule.
NATO intervention came as a reaction to what was
called a “humanitarian catastrophe”....
In a reaction to Berisha’s statement, Serbian Prime
Minister Vojislav Kostunica said Monday night that "no
one has the right to threaten with violence and
terror" urging the international community to "react
immediately to this most open threat so far”.
Chief UN negotiator Martti Ahtisaari is due to present
a report to the UN Security Council on the Kosovo
talks on Friday, but his spokeswoman Hua Jiang said on
Monday that Ahtisaari has already been instructed by
the so called Contact Group on Kosovo how to propose
the solution.
The Contact Group, consisting of representatives of
the United States, Great Britain, Germany, France,
Italy and Russia, is expected to propose a solution to
the Security Council, but Jiang said it was too early
to reveal what the proposal was.
http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=2118403&C=europe
UN Cautions Kosovo Albanians Over Talk of ‘Revolt’
By SHABAN BUZA - Reuters - September 20, 2006
PRISTINA, Serbia - An attack on Kosovo’s minority
Serbs triggered a sharp warning from the United
Nations to Albanian leaders on Sept. 20 to watch their
words, after one forecast a "revolt" if they are
denied independence from Serbia.
The comments by Kosovo parliament speaker Kole Berisha
outraged Serbia, which accused him of blackmail ahead
of a decision on Kosovo’s fate.
The remarks also struck a nerve with U.N. officials
trying to guide Kosovo through talks on its future
without the violent meltdown many observers have
predicted.
"If our aim of independence is not realized then
citizens’ revolts are expected in Kosovo," he said.
"We don’t want revolts, but we cannot exclude them if
our aim is not realized."
Berisha first made the statement on Monday in
Slovenia, and repeated it on his return to Kosovo late
on Tuesday.
Hours after Berisha spoke a hand grenade was lobbed
through the window of an apartment in the western town
of Klina, wounding four elderly Serbs.
They were former refugees who had returned to Kosovo
last year having fled after the 1998-99 war.
....
The last major outbreak of violence was in March 2004,
when mobs of Albanians overran Serb enclaves torching
homes.
Nineteen people died in two days of riots that caught
17,000 NATO peacekeepers off guard but effectively
drew the attention of the world back to Kosovo’s
continuing limbo.
Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica,
spearheading Serbia’s bid to keep the province,
condemned the attack.
"It is absolutely unacceptable that Serbs are killed
and Albanian separatists publicly threaten violence
and blackmail the international community," Kostunica
said in a late-night statement.
Finland’s Martti Ahtisaari, the chief U.N. mediator in
direct Serb-Albanian talks, briefs foreign ministers
of the major powers on Wednesday in New York as he
works towards a year-end deadline to propose a
solution.
Serbia last week enshrined Kosovo in the preamble of a
new constitution as forever Serbian.
Addressing a military parade at the weekend, Kostunica
said the province was and would remain "the heart of
Serbia."
But Western diplomats say Kosovo will likely win
independence, more than seven years since NATO bombs
drove out Serb forces....
The United Nations fears a rise in violence as a
decision nears, and even a bid by the mainly Serb
north to split Kosovo in two.
---
QUATTRO FERITI PER UNA BOMBA A KLINA
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/19/
AR2006091901032.html
Explosion in Kosovo wounds four Serbs
Reuters - September 19, 2006
PRISTINA, Serbia - Four elderly Serbs were wounded in
an explosion in the western Kosovo town of Klina on
Tuesday evening, police said.
A Serb official in the area told Reuters a bomb had
been thrown through the window of the victims'
apartment in the town center.
Police spokeswoman Sabrije Kamberi said the four had
been sent to hospital but their injuries were not
life-threatening.
Police said the victims were former refugees who had
returned to Klina a year ago having fled Kosovo after
the 1998-99 war.
Legally part of Serbia, the mainly ethnic Albanian
province has been run by the United Nations since
1999, when NATO bombs drove out Serb forces....
Negotiations are under way to decide the fate of the
territory. Its 90-percent Albanian majority demands
independence, but is under Western pressure to improve
the rights and security of the 100,000 remaining
Serbs.
At least half the Serb population fled a wave of
attacks after the war, and those who stayed live
mainly in isolated enclaves.
U.N. officials say the rate of attacks against Serbs
has fallen, but they fear fresh violence as a decision
nears on Kosovo's "final status."
http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n96191
Four Serbs Injured in Kosovo Grenade Blast
Focus News Agency (Bulgaria) - September 20, 2006
Pristina - Four Serbs were injured yesterday when a
grenade exploded in the western part of Kosovo, AFP
informs.
Milorad Pavlovic and three other members of his family
were injured when an unknown attacker threw a grenade
through the window of their home in the western Kosovo
town of Klina.
The lives of the four wounded persons are out of
danger, AFP notes.
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?
cat=Politics&loid=8.0.342284468&par=0
KOSOVO: SERB HOME BOMBED, FOUR WOUNDED
ADN Kronos International (Italy) - September 20, 2006
Pristina - Four Serbs were injured when an explosive
device was thrown into their apartment in the Kosovo
town of Klina Tuesday night, in the latest violence in
the province whose final status - independence or
broad autonomy within Serbia - is to be determined by
the year's end.
Kosovo police spokeswoman Sabrije Kamberi confirmed
that the four were in hospital in the nearby town of
Pec and were out of danger, but gave no details.
Serbian news agency Tanjug reported a bomb was thrown
into the apartment of Milorad Pavlovic, wounding him
and three female relatives.
Protection of minority Serbs is one of the discussion
points in UN-brokered talks ongoing in Vienna between
the Kosovo representatives and Serbs.
The Pavlovic family, like an estimated 200,000 Serbs,
fled Kosovo in 1999 when Serbian forces were pushed
out of the province by a NATO bombing campaign and
Kosovo was put under United Nations control, returned
to their home a year ago, the agency said. Another
returnee, Dragan Popovic, was killed in Klina on 19
June.
Ethnic Albanians, who outnumber the remaining Serbs in
Kosovo by 17 to one, are pressing the international
community to grant them independence, which Belgrade
opposes.
The UN is set to make a decision on Kosovo status by
the end of this year and Kosovo parliament president
Kol Berisha said this week ethnic Albanians were ready
to rebel if their demands weren’t heeded.
Serbian prime minister Vojislav Kostunica appealed to
the international community to “stop Albanian
separatists in their terrorist orgy against Serbs”.
He called on the UN chief negotiator Martti Ahtisaari
to take the necessary steps to prevent similar
incidents if the international community doesn’t want
to become “an accomplice in crimes against Serbs.
"It is absolutely unacceptable that the Serbs are
being killed and that the Albanian separatists openly
threaten violence and blackmail the international
community,” Kostunica said in a statement to Tanjug.
Ethnic tension has remained high in Kosovo.
Last Friday, Kosovo police minister Fatmir Rexhepi's
car was bombed in the town of Gnjilane.
Two days later, a powerful explosion damaged four
vehicles and shattered windows in Gnjilane without
injuring anyone, local police said. Kosovo's ethnic
Albanian government and parliament issued statements
condemning the attacks.
Clashes between Albanians and ethnic Serbs in March
2004 left 19 people dead.
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/society-article.php?
yyyy=2006&mm=09&dd=20&nav_id=36857
Four Serbs injured in Kosovo blast
Beta (Serbia) - September 20, 2006
PEC, BELGRADE - Four persons were injured last night
in Klina near Pec when an explosive device was thrown
into the home of Milorad Pavloviæ.
Kosovo Police Service says one person sustained
serious injuries, while three others were moderately
hurt, and that none of them has life-threatening
wounds.
The victims were transported to the Regional Hospital
in Peæ. Rada Pavloviæ, identified as the victim
suffering serious injuries, was later transferred to
the Priština Hospital.
Kosovo PM Agim Ceku and UNMIK Police Commissioner
arrived at the site, after which Ceku visited the
victims in hospital. Milorad Pavloviæ was the first
Serb to return to Klina. There are around 40 returnee
families in the town.
“On behalf of the Serbian government I call on Martti
Ahtisaari to immediately undertake all the necessary
actions to contain the Albanian separatists in their
terrorist rampage constantly victimizing Serbs”,
Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica said in
reaction to the Klina explosion.
He added that it was “absolutely unacceptable for
Serbs to be murdered and for Albanian separatists to
openly threaten violence and blackmail the
international community”.
---
LAVROV E TADIC SI INCONTRANO A NEW YORK
http://www.vor.ru/index_eng.phtml?view=news_eng&id=12066
Voice of Russia - September 20, 2006
Kosovo’s future status featured prominently on the
agenda of the meeting that the Russian Foreign
Minister Sergey Lavrov has had with Serbia’s President
Boris Tadic in New York
Kosovo’s future status featured prominently on the
agenda of the meeting that the Russian Foreign
Minister Sergey Lavrov has had with Serbia’s President
Boris Tadic in New York.
The parties to the talks have said they see eye-to-eye
on the issue.
According to President Tadic, the regional status
should be determined with due regard for the interests
of the Serbian and Albanian population.
Meanwhile in Kosovo four Serbs were injured in a blast
in the town Klina, west of Pristina, on Thursday in
what is the fourth attack of this kind in the past
five days.
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=10811870&PageNum=0
Kosovo status requires consent of other party - Lavrov
Itar-Tass - September 20, 2006
UNITED NATIONS - Kosovo should not be given any status
without the consent of the other party, Russian
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday.
He was speaking at a meeting with the UN
Secretary-General’s special envoy for Kosovo status
talks, Martti Ahtisaari, at the UN headquarters in New
York.
“If that happens after all, a precedent will be
created,” Lavrov said.
“The contract group is working on recommendations for
the parties concerned, and they will have the final
say. When the parties have come to terms, the UN
Security Council will be prepared to approve of the
agreements. Dictating solutions to any party would be
counter-productive, be it Kosovo, Abkhazia or South
Ossetia.”
---
LA SERBIA ACCUSAC IL "MEDIATORE" RAZZISTA AHTISAARI DI FAZIOSITÀ
http://www.makfax.com.mk/look/novina/article.tpl?
IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=2&NrArticle=37009&NrIssue=145&NrSection=20
Serbia accuses Ahtisaari for partiality
MakFax (Macedonia) - September 20, 2006
Belgrade - The UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari does
not fulfill his duty of being an objective and neutral
mediator in the negotiations over Kosovo's status.
The Serbian Government's Co-Ordination Center
announced this on Tuesday, responding to Ahtisaari's
denial of "clear threats of violence on the part of
Albanians, if their political goals" of granting
independence to Kosovo "are not met".
The reaction of the Serbian Center for Kosovo followed
a series of blasts in the province over the last
couple of days and threats voiced by the members of
Pristina's negotiating team for the "extermination of
Serbs".
"The International community has to face an enormous
responsibility for the situation when UNMIK is
incapable of preventing terrorists to plant explosives
and bombs.
"Moreover, the representatives of the negotiating team
are threatening to slaughter all the non-Albanian
population, instead of promoting a compromise
solution", the announcement of the Serbian Center for
Kosovo says.
http://www.makfax.com.mk/look/novina/article.tpl?
IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=2&NrArticle=37033&NrIssue=145&NrSection=20
Kostunica urges Ahtisaari to sanction separatists in Kosovo
MakFax (Macedonia) - September 20, 2006
Belgrade/Pristina - The Serbian government called on
Martti Ahtisaari to take all necessary measures to
halt Albanian separatists who carried out terrorist
acts against Serbs.
The move comes after the late Tuesday explosion in
Kosovo's city of Kline, which left four members of a
Serbian family injured.
"The international community should immediately stop
the violence, otherwise it will become an accomplice
to crimes against Serbs," Serbian Prime Minister
Vojislav Kostunica said.
The blast occurred late Tuesday outside a home of
Pavlovic family. They are among the first Serb
returnees in Kline.
Kosovo's Prime Minister Agim Ceku and UNMIK police
officials headed toward the explosion site.
---
I PRESIDENTE DELL'ALBANIA MOISIU RINCARA: PRIMA SQUARTIAMO LA SERBIA
E POI USIAMO "DUE PESI DUE MISURE"
http://www.focus-fen.net/?id=n96268
Albanian President: Kosovo’s Independence won’t Serve
as a Model for Solving Other Conflicts
Focus News Agency (Bulgaria) - September 21, 2006
New York - “There should be no fears that Kosovo’s
independence could serve as a model for solving other
conflicts”, Albanian President Alfred Moisiu said
during the session of the UN General Assembly in New
York, the Balkan Web reported.
He stated that each conflict should be solved
according to its historic and geographic features, and
the Kosovo issue couldn’t be used as a model, although
Russia demands that.
The Albanian President also said that the independence
of Kosovo would contribute to the regional stability.
---
LAVROV ALL'ONU RIBADISCE IL "NO" RUSSO AI "DUE PESI E DUE MISURE"
http://www.vor.ru/index_eng.phtml?view=news_eng&id=12092
Kosovo status to be defined by all parties involved
Voice of Russia - September 21, 2006
No status can be granted to the Kosovo Province
without the approval of the other side.
If this happens, a precedent will be created.
Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said as much,
speaking in the United Nations.
He says that the work is being done at the moment to
work out corresponding recommendations for the parties
concerned.
The UN Security Council is ready to adopt them. Any
forceful resolution whatever is fatal.
Russia says Serbia’s interests must be taken into
consideration in full measure during the talks on the
future Kosovo status, as Sergei Lavrov stressed.
Besides, the Kosovo Albanians leaders must observe the
rights of the national minorities.
---
TADIC ALL'ONU: LA SECESSIONE KOSOVARA RAPPRESENTEREBBE UN PRECEDENTE
PERICOLOSO
http://www.focus-fen.net/?id=n96397
Boris Tadic: Kosovo’s Independence Could Become
Dangerous Precedent
Focus News Agency (Bulgaria) - September 23, 2006
New York - The President of Serbia Boris Tadic said
after a meeting of the UN Security Council on Kosovo
talks that representatives of Belgrade could be
moderate optimists regarding Kosovo, the Serbian news
agency Mondo reported.
According to Tadic Kosovo’s independence could become
a dangerous precedent, which could lead to the
intensifying of the conflicts in many regions of the
world and to serious destabilization in the region, in
particular Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro.
---
LOBBY PAN-ALBANESE NEGLI USA FINANZIA IL TERRORISMO CONTRO IL MONTENEGRO
http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n96301
US Albanians Financed Terrorist Group Detained in Montenegro
Focus News Agency (Bulgaria) - September 22, 2006
Podgorica - The terrorist group which the Montenegrin
police arrested not long ago had been financed by the
Albanian diaspora in the USA, the aim of which was to
found a ‘Greater Albania’, the Montenegrin newspaper
Dan reads today.
Citing its sources, the newspaper points out that one
of the possible ideologists of the terrorist group is
the arrested H.M. who was born in Ostros (near the
town of Ulcinj), but is currently residing in the US.
He has written a few books in the US in which he
openly insists on founding a Greater Albania.
---
SCRITTE MURALI ANTISERBE A KLINA
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/society-article.php?
yyyy=2006&mm=09&dd=24&nav_id=36931
Unnerving graffiti in Klina
B92 (Serbia) - September 24, 2006
KLINA - Graffiti messages in Klina have recently
alarmed the Serbian population of that village.
The OSCE and the Kosovo police in Klina stated that
the walls of a number of public institutions, and one
Serbian home, which has been attacked on several
occasions, were covered today with the graffiti
messages; “Albanian national army,” and “Albanian
national unity front.”
Many of the Serbian returnees in the region are
worried, and some of the international officials in
Kosovo believe that the graffiti is linked to the
recent attacks on Serbian returnees in the region.
The presence of KFOR forces in Klina has been
increased.
...
---
ANCHE IL PREMIER DELL'ALBANIA CHIEDE DI SPACCARE IL PAESE CONFINANTE,
SCOPO ANNESSIONE
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-09/26/content_5137314.htm
Albanian PM asks for Kosovo's independence
Xinhua News Agency - September 25, 2006
TIRANA - Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha said on
Sunday that Serbia's opposition to Kosovo's
independence is "unrealistic," local media reported on
Monday.
Belgrade continues to take an unrealistic stand on
Kosovo's status, but the lack of realism should not
hamper the final solution, Berisha told reporters.
Albania has been the biggest supporter of Kosovo's
independence. Among Kosovo's 2 million people, 90 per
cent are Albanians.
However, Tirana has always said it has [no,
presuambly] territorial claims and does not intend to
change its borders.
Nearly seven months of negotiations under the auspices
of UN in Vienna have failed to bridge the gap between
the Serbs who oppose independence and the Kosovo
Albanians who insist on it.
http://www.focus-fen.net/?id=n96514
Kosovo Albanians Intend to Announce Region's
Independence Unilaterally
Focus News Agency (Bulgaria) - September 25, 2006
Tirana - If Serbia doesn’t recognize Kosovo’s
independence then the Albanians in Kosovo will
announce the region’s independence unilaterally,
ITAR-TASS informs.
This is what Albania’s Prime Minister Sali Berisha
said in Tirana today while commenting on the session
of the Contact Group for Kosovo that was held in New
York last week.
“Belgrade continues to demonstrate its lack of realism
but its stand should not hinder the final decision on
the Kosovo issue,” Mr. Berisha said.
http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-09-25-voa35.cfm
Albania's Prime Minister Urges Kosovo Independence
By Barry Wood - Voice of America News - September 25, 206
Tirana - Officials from Serbia and Albania continue to
spar over the future of Kosovo Province, as the U.N.
negotiator moves toward a possible settlement of the
issue.
In remarks to reporters Sunday, Albanian Prime
Minister Sali Berisha said Serbia's approach to the
Kosovo status negotiations has been unrealistic. He
said that with Kosovo Albanians and Serbs taking
opposite positions, the United Nations may have to
impose a solution.
Mr. Berisha said the Serbian opposition must not be
allowed to stand in the way of a settlement. The six
major powers guiding the Kosovo talks have given U.N.
negotiator Martti Ahtisaari a green light to propose
his own settlement proposal and try to resolve the
status of the Serbian province by the end of the year.
Nearly seven months of U.N. negotiations in Vienna
have failed to bridge the gap between Serbs who oppose
independence and the Kosovo Albanians who insist on
it. The U.N. has administered Kosovo since 1999 after
NATO drove out...Serbian forces....
Meanwhile, Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic has
told a Pristina newspaper that independence for Kosovo
without Serb approval could spark trouble not only in
Kosovo but in neighboring Bosnia, Montenegro and
Macedonia.
Draskovic says Kosovo is a spiritual as well as a
territorial issue for Serbs.
Although Kosovo has held an important symbolic place
for Serbs since the middle ages, the province today
has a 90-percent ethnic-Albanian population.
U.N. negotiator Ahtisaari is expected within the next
month to propose some form of conditional independence
for Kosovo with strong safeguards for the Serb
minority.
Government spokesmen in Belgrade have repeated their
complaint that Ahtisaari is biased in favor of the
Albanians and should resign his position.
Ahtisaari has said that while he has no fixed deadline
he does intend to move ahead swiftly.
He says that if Kosovo does become independent it
would not set a precedent for other nations.
Russia, a member of the six nation Contact Group, has
said that if Kosovo is permitted to secede from
Serbia, that would be a precedent that could apply
elsewhere.
---
IN GRECIA SI TEME UNA SITUAZIONE DI TIPO "PALESTINESE" IN KOSOVO
http://www.focus-fen.net/?id=n96511
Palestinian Model for Kosovo
Focus News Agency (Bulgaria) - September 25, 2006
Athens - The countdown for the solving of the ‘tricky’
issue of Kosovo’s future status has begun, an article
headed ‘Palestinian Model for Kosovo’ published in
Greek Kathimerini reads.
The tension is rising dangerously along the hot
Pristina-Belgrade axis.
The Albanians and the Serbs are ready for action as
according to the plans of the international community
the talks should finish by the end of 2006, the
article’s author comments.
The Albanians are threatening violence if Kosovo does
not receive full independence while Belgrade warns
that if that happens it would announce Kosovo as an
occupied part of Serbia.
The two countries remain staunch in their positions,
the author notes, and points out that the Albanians
are not yielding an inch from the idea of independence
and the only thing the Serbs reject is this exact
independence.
---
"AHTISAARI VATTENE"
http://www.vor.ru/index_eng.phtml?view=news_eng&id=12188
Serbia urges UN Kosovo envoy to leave the talks
Voice of Russia - September 25, 2006
Serbia’s government has urged the UN Special Envoy to
Kosovo’s status process to leave the talks.
This is what the head of the government service for
cooperation with mass media Srðan Ðuriæ said.
He says that Serbia’s leadership has no doubt that
Ahtisaari wants to organize a dialogue about the
future status of the Kosovo Province because he
decided to take the side of the Albanian separatists.
Ðuriæ also said that it is of great importance for
Serbia that in the issue concerning Kosovo’s status
Russia defends international law standards, showing
that that is its principled stand.
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?
yyyy=2006&mm=09&dd=25&nav_id=36944
Belgrade to Ahtisaari: Best step down
B92 (serbia) - September 25, 2006
BELGRADE - Ahtisaari's accusations of insufficient
cooperation prompt the Government to say it would be
fair of him to do step down.
Government’s Media Office chief Srðan Ðuriæ says UN
Special Envoy for Kosovo should step down rather than
favor the Albanian side.
“It is doubtful whether Ahtisaari will adhere to his
mandate and organize serious talks on the province’s
future, or if he will simply side with Albanian
separatists.
"Even if Ahtisaari is in such a hurry and cannot
dedicate himself to the thorough preparation of the
negotiations, he must be aware this is about our
lives, our destiny, which is of much greater
importance than someone’s hurry or anxiety. It would
be fair of him to step down, rather than side with the
separatists in front of the whole world”, Ðuriæ said.
State Kosovo team coordinator Slobodan Samardžiæ
believes someone with a different mandate and a
different style ought to take over the mediation and
the conducting of the negotiations. Only after the end
of Ahtisaari’s mandate and his can there be any
serious negotiating process, Samardžiæ believes.
...
---
FUCILATE CONTRO "RITORNANTI" SERBI
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/society-article.php?
yyyy=2006&mm=09&dd=26&nav_id=36962
Shots fired at Serbian returnees’ home
B92 (Serbia) - September 26, 2006
ISTOK - Unknown attackers fired shots at a home in
Istok in which 15 Serbian returnees live.
According to Istok Municipal Coordinator Radoš Vuliæ,
there were 15 people in the home, owned by Aleksa
Ljušiæ, at the time of the attack.
Witnesses said that they heard an unclear phone
conversation between unknown persons in the wooded
area near the home.
Returnee Miloš Nedeljkoviæ said that the shots were
fired from very close.
No one was hurt in the attack, though minor damage was
done to the home.
KFOR, UNMIK and the Kosovo Police Service were
informed of the attack and conducted an investigation
of the scene.
Nedeljkoviæ said that the returnees were shaken by the
incident and are asking for an increased presence of
police and KFOR troops in their community.
---
RESTA CHIUSO IL PONTE DI MITROVICA
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/society-article.php?
yyyy=2006&mm=09&dd=26&nav_id=36959
Kosovska Mitrovica bridge remains closed
B92 (Serbia) - September 26, 2006
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA - The bridge over the Ibar river in
Kosovska Mitrovica will remain closed after last
night’s attack on Aleksandar Æurèiæ.
UNMIK deputy chief met with Serb representatives in
town, saying the decision whether to reopen the bridge
will be postponed for until after the talks with KFOR
and representatives from the south part of the town.
Meanwhile, Kosovo police service detained eight
persons after last night’s attack by several Albanians
on Aleskandar Æurèiæ. They were interviewed and later
released.
The incident occurred when three underaged Albanians
crossed the bridge and started a brawl with a group of
people gathered on the north side of the bridge. The
verbal conflict turned into a fight, inflicting light
injuries on a Kosovo Serb.
Serb National Council chairman Milan Ivanoviæ said
that in his talks with the international community
representatives he repeated the Serb demand to keep
the bridge closed until the end of the Kosovo status
negotiations.
“They said they would decide in a few days, until then
the bridge remains closed and they take responsibility
for whatever happens, meaning whether or not the
bridge opens.”
UNMIK Police spokesman told B92 that contrary to
previous reports, UNMIK police did intervene. “They
reacted at the very start of the fight to protect the
victims from sustaining serious injuries”, Larry
Miller said.
The bridge on the Ibar river was opened yesterday,
after being closed on August 26, when a bomb was
thrown on a café in the Serb part of the town,
wounding nine people.
Due to the latest incidents around the bridge in
Kosovska Mitrovica, Serbs there will hold a protest
rally on October 2.
Fight near Kosovska Mitrovica bridge
A group of Albanians and Serbs got into a fight last
night near the bridge which separates them in Kosovska
Mitrovica.
Eyewitnesses told Beta that a group of about 15 youths
from the southern, Albanian part of the city crossed
the bridge to the Serbian part and began to provoke
Serbs to fight. A group of young men who regularly
hang out near the bridge on the northern side
confronted the group of Albanians and a fight broke
out.
According to the most recent reports, there were no
injuries in the scuffle. Eyewitnesses say that UNMIK
and Kosovo Police Service officials intervened very
quickly, separated the two groups and made them leave
the scene of the fight.
Following the fight, about one hundred Serbian
citizens of Kosovska Mitrovica gather at the north
side of the bridge and covered the path around it with
barbed wire. They are protesting and are asking for
the bridge to be closed down again, stating that this
incident shows that t<br/><br/>(Message over 64 KB, truncated)
Neverending pogroms in Kosmet (6): Come la Transnistria
Sources of most of the following texts are:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/
------
PICCHIATO UN SERBO NEL CENTRO DI DECANI
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/b92082306.htm
SERB REPORTEDLY BEATEN UP BY TWO ALBANIANS IN KOSOVO TOWN
BBC Monitoring International Reports - August 23, 2006 Wednesday
Text of report by Belgrade-based Radio B92 on 23 August
[Newsreader] Two [Kosovo] Albanians have beaten up a 55-year old
[Serb] Vuk Danilovic in the centre of Decani while he was attended
the opening of a multiethnic camp organized by the OSCE, the [Serbian
Orthodox Church's] Raska Prizren Eparchy information office has
reported.
The attack took place yesterday, a day after the opening of the
multiethnic camp, at which 30 children from the Serb, Albanian and
Rom communities had gathered. The Eparchy said that the perpetrators
had fled the scene and that the incident was reported to the Kosovo
Police Service [KPS].
---
IL PARTITO SOCIALISTA SERBO STIGMATIZZA LE DICHIARAZIONI RAZZISTE DI
AHTISAARI
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/beta082606.htm
SOCIALIST PARTY LEADER UN ENVOY STATEMENT ON KOSOVO SHOWS ANTI-SERB
PREJUDICE
BBC Monitoring International Reports - August 26, 2006 Saturday
Text of report by Serbian news agency Beta
Ivica Dacic, chairman of the main committee of The Socialist Party of
Serbia (SPS) said that the most recent statement made by UN Envoy
Martti Ahtisaari in connection with Kosovo reflects his prejudice and
stems from his desire to "pass judgment on an entire nation".
"This is yet further confirmation that these are not negotiations but
an imposed solution and he is not a mediator but the Albanian side's
helper," Dacic told Beta Agency in connection with Ahtisaari's
statement that the policy that was conducted by Slobodan Milosevic
"has to be taken into consideration" in deciding on the status of
Kosovo.
"Besides, not even the Chernomyrdin-Ahtisaari plan for a stop to the
bombing is being respected today and Serbia must respond to that
urgently and unanimously," Dacic said.
According to him, Serbia should respond that it considers Kosovo its
unalienable part and that it is prepared to talk about the autonomy
of Kosovo within Serbia, but that it will not accept an imposed
solution.
"That is why we are demanding an urgent session of our assembly on
this issue," Dacic said, pointing out that in addition to Ahtisaari's
statements it is also necessary to hold an assembly session because
of indications that an imposed solution on the province's
independence would be attempted by the end of the year.
He said that the Serb nation in the former Yugoslavia "was actually
the greatest victim of nationalism, terrorism, and separatism".
"Today there are no more Serbs in Knin, in Pristina, and very few are
left in the Federation of Bosnia-Hercegovina, so who was it then that
carried out ethnic cleansing?" Dacic said.
He pointed out that all "government factors" today have the same view
"in connection with Kosovo", just as the SPS has had "all these
years, because that is not a party issue but a state and national
issue".
Speaking at today's news conference in response to the demands of the
coordinators of the Serbian negotiating team who asked him to clarify
his statement that the "Serbs were culpable as a nation", Ahtisaari
said that "every nation in the world has its burden for which it has
to pay".
---
NOTIZIE DI ATTIVITÀ PARAMILITARI PRESSO ISTOK
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/fonet090306.htm
Kosovo Serbs alarmed by reports of paramilitary activity
BBC Monitoring Europe (Political) - September 3, 2006 Sunday
Text of report by Serbian independent news agency FoNet
Zubin Potok, 2 September: Zubin Potok Deputy Mayor Srdjan Djurovic
today told FoNet that around thirty armed persons wearing black
uniforms had been spotted on the slopes of Mt Mokra Gora on 30 August.
"They practiced shooting in the area between Zubin Potok and Istok
municipalities and their presence, and the fact that they were not
members of Kfor [NATO-led Kosovo Force], has greatly upset the Serb
population in this part of Kosovo," Djurovic said.
Representatives of Zubin Potok municipality informed NATO southern
wing commander Admiral Harry Ulrich about the incident at a meeting
today.
"He told us that Kfor was investigating the report. The newly
appointed Kfor commander, German Gen Roland Kather, and the commander
of the Multinational Brigade North, French Gen Jean-Jacques Barthes,
also attended the meeting," Djurovic said.
---
BOMBA CONTRO CASA SERBA PRESSO KLINA
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/kp091306.htm
UN CONFIRMS BOMBING OF KOSOVO SERB HOME NEAR KLINA
BBC Monitoring International Reports - September 13, 2006 Wednesday
Text of report by Serbia-Montenegrin radio Kontakt Plus on 13 September
[Presenter] UNMIK [UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo] today
confirmed that that the Vasic family home in the village of Stupelj
near Klina had been bombed day before yesterday.
Unknown attackers tried to torch another house belonging to the Vasic
family, but failed in their intention, UNMIK police spokesman Thomas
Leigh [phonetic] said at a news conference in Pristina. Leigh said
that the International Police and the Kosovo Police Service had
launched an investigation into the incident, but that their efforts
were being hampered by the silence of the neighbours.
Leigh added that this incident should not threaten the "good
relations" between Albanians and Serbs in Klina municipality.
UNMIK spokeswoman Miriam Dessables said that UNMIK deputy chief
Steven Schook was on a visit to Klina municipality over the bombing
of the Vasic family home, and that he would discuss the problems
encountered by Serb returnees with local officials.
http://www.vor.ru/index_eng.phtml?view=news_eng&id=11937
Voice of Russia - September 13, 2006
A Serbian family house blown up in the northwest of Kosovo
A Serbian family house has been blown up in the
northwest of Kosovo, specifically, in the village of
Stupel, near the city of Klin.
The recently rebuilt house was the one of a Serbian
refugee family which has returned to the province
recently.
A neighbouring house, also of a Serb family, has been
gravely damaged.
There was no one in the houses when the explosive
device went off, so no casualties have been reported.
Kosovo Albanians, who’ve been pressing for a
withdrawal of the province from under Belgrade’s
jurisdiction, have repeatedly threatened to blow up
all houses that Serbian refugees may return to.
---
LA RUSSIA INTENZIONATA A PORRE IL VETO IN CASO DI VOTO ALL'ONU PER LA
SECESSIONE DEL KOSOVO
http://www.focus-fen.net/?id=n95647
Focus News Agency (Bulgaria)
September 11, 2006
Russia Will not Waver to Impose Veto if Decision for
Kosovo is Unacceptable for Moscow
London - Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn’t rule
out the possibility for Russia to impose a veto on the
UN Security Council decision for Kosovo if it is not
acceptable for Moscow, BETA agency announced, citing
the Financial Times.
Putin warned the West that Kosovo’s independence will
create a precedent in other problematic regions
including Abhazia and South Osetia in Georgia.
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?
cat=Politics&loid=8.0.339251872&par=0
ADN Kronos International (Italy) - September 12, 2006
KOSOVO: POSSIBLE RUSSIAN U.N. VETO ON INDEPENDENCE BUOYS SERBIA
Belgrade - Serbia's government has said it is cheered
by Russia's premier Vladimir Putin's recent comments
apparently hinting his country could veto any
"unacceptable" United Nations Security Council
resolution, such as one backing independence for the
breakaway province of Kosovo.
Serbian government spokesman Srdjan Djuric hailed
Putin's statement as a "principled stand, in harmony
with the highest principles of international law," on
the inviolability of the existing state borders.
Belgrade's press on Tuesday ran banner headlines
hailing Serbia's "Russian brothers."
Former foreign minister, Goran Svilanovic, called for
caution, however. He said the issue would never come
before the UN Security Council - the organisation's
top decision-making body - unless the decision was
first agreed upon in the so-called Contact Group for
Kosovo, which includes the United States, Great
Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia.
UN special envoy for Kosovo, Martti Ahtisaari, was due
to present a report on progress in negotiations
between Serbs and majority ethnic Albanians in Kosovo
during a meeting of the Contact Group on Monday
through Tuesday.
Elena Guskova, a Russian academic and an expert on
Balkans, told Belgrade media it was too early to say
what the Russian position on Kosovo might ultimately
be.
On one hand, Kosovo's independence would grant the
same rights to the people of the breakaway regions of
South Ossetia and Abkhazia in the former Soviet
republic of Georgia. But on the other hand, it could
boost separatist movements in Russian republics such
as Chechnya, she said.
Putin - whose country is one of the UN Security
Council's permanent five veto-wielding members, along
with Britain, France, the US and China - was quoted on
Monday by Britain's Financial Times newspaper as
saying: "If we find the solution for Kosovo
unacceptable, we will not hesitate to use our veto
right in the UN Security Council."
Putin's allegedly made the remarks last last Saturday
at a dinner with a group of American and Russian
journalists and businessmen at his residence in
Moscow. But a Russian government official neither
confirmed nor denied the statement, saying only he
couldn’t recall the word "veto" being used.
Putin reportedly said that the same yardstick should
be applied to Kosovo and the former Soviet republics.
"If a precedent is set, it will negatively reflect on
the post-Soviet region and it will be difficult to
explain to the peoples of South Ossetia and Abkhazia
why Albanians (in Kosovo) can breakaway from Serbia
and they cannot," he stated, quoted in the Financial
Times.
Ethnic Albanians in Kosovo say they will settle for
nothing less than independence, but Belgrade opposes
this, offering instead a form of wide local autonomy.
It has warned that if the province secedes from
Serbia, this would trigger a chain reaction in other
disputed regions in Europe and throughout the world.
Kosovo has been under UN control since 1999 and the
world powers, including the United States, have hinted
they are prepared to grant independence to Kosovo
ethnic Albanians, who make a 1.7 million majority
compared with just 100,000 Serbs remaining in the
province.
---
DEL PONTE: L'UCK UCCIDE I TESTIMONI
http://www.focus-fen.net/?id=n95643
Focus News Agency (Bulgaria)
September 11, 2006
Vecerne Novosti: KLA Rules Kosovo
Belgrade - The acknowledgement of the Chief Prosecutor
of the Hague Tribunal Carla Del Ponte that the Kosovo
Liberation Army (KLA) kills potential witnesses
against [its members] accused of war crimes is raising
the question for the responsibility of all who have
performed war crimes in Kosovo and will not be tried,
Vecerne Novosti reports.
The Hague Tribunal admits that is a sensitive topic
and they are not apt to talk about it.
But it acknowledges that without good witness
protection there is no way to reach the truth.
The KLA and its ex-commanders are now politicians,
state employees, leaders in the Corps for Defense of
Kosovo [Kosovo Protection Corps] and leaders of
criminal clans who have sent a clear message to their
compatriots - those who dare to speak [against] war
crimes will be liquidated.
That decision of the shadow cabinet was taken seven
years ago after the arrival of the international
[NATO] forces in Kosovo.
---
I TERRORISTI PAN-ALBANESI ATTIVI IN MONTENEGRO HANNO NAZIONALITÀ
STATUNITENSE
http://www.focus-fen.net/?id=n95668
Focus News Agency (Bulgaria)
September 11, 2006
Six US Citizens Planned Terrorist Attacks in Montenegro
Podgorica - Six US citizens together with allies from
Montenegro have planned to carry out terrorist attacks
on the territory of Malesia and Tuzi (in Montenegro)
on 10 and 11 September, the Directorate of the
Montenegrin police announced on Monday, cited by the
independent Montenegrin news portal PCNEN.
The US citizens - four of whom have been captured and
two are wanted - originate from the territory of
Malesia, Tuzi and Kosovo.
According to the chief of the criminal police in
Montenegro Ivan Masulovic, 12 people were arrested in
relation to the findings.
Masulovic added that former members of the Army for
the Liberation of Kosovo [Kosovo Liberation Army] had
also intended to participate in the terrorist attacks
and were expected to illegally enter Kosovo and
Montenegro.
Masulovic said that a small part of the weapons
intended for the attacks was found in the homes of the
detainees.
The larger part was found in a cave near Tuzi, where
the suspects were supposed to hide after the attack.
http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n95686
Focus News Agency (Bulgaria) - September 12, 2006
Montenegrin Police Order International Search of Five
Albanian Terrorist Suspects
Podgorica - The police in Montenegro announced an
international search for five Albanians, four of whom
are US citizens, who are suspected of terrorism, the
Serbian agency TANJUG informs.
It is believed they had been planning a terrorist
attack in Montenegro.
However, officials of the international police force
in Kosovo stated the request of Montenegro’s police
has not yet been handed into the authorities in
Pristina, but added that the police of the UN Mission
in Kosovo (UNMIK) will react immediately if such a
request is filed.
---
"IN SUD OSSEZIA FAREMO COME IN KOSOVO"
http://www.interfax.com/3/192426/news.aspx
Interfax - September 12, 2006
Recognition of referendums in CIS issue for
international community - Prikhodko
MOSCOW - The Kremlin recognizes the principle
of territorial integrity, Russian presidential aide
Sergei Prikhodko said, adding that real political
processes should be taken into consideration not only
in South Ossetia and Transdniestria, but also in
other similar situations.
"The territorial integrity of a state, above all of a
state with which we have close relations, is
imperative; however, the imperative should assume
real political processes not only in [South Ossetia
and Transdniestria], but also in other parts of the
world, where there are referendums and parallels can
be drawn, despite where this happens,' he said.
---
FUCILATE CONTRO I SERBI DISARMATI CHE RACCOLGONO LA LEGNA
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/fonet091406.htm
Serbs collecting wood reportedly fired upon in Kosovo
BBC Monitoring Europe (Political) - September 14, 2006 Thursday
Text of report by Serbian independent news agency FoNet
Source: FoNet news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 2030 gmt 13 Sep 06
Copyright 2006 British Broadcasting Corporation - Posted for Fair Use
only.
Kosovska Mitrovica, 13 September: Unknown persons have fired shots at
seven Serbs from Banje villages in Srbica municipality but nobody was
injured in the incident, the [Serbian] International Press Centre of
the Coordination Centre for Kosovo-Metohija [headed by Sanda Raskovic-
Ivic] has said.
Unidentified persons from the direction of Albanian-populated village
of Radesevo opened heavy fire against the Serbs who were going to the
woods to collect wood.
A statement said that the Kosovo Police Service [KPS] conducted an
investigation but in untimely manner.
"In this part of Kosovo-Metohija, Serbs own all forested land plots
which are constantly the target of stealing. Members of the Kosovo
Police Service are no longer making any efforts to protect property
of the Serbs in province," the statement said.
Five Serbs have been killed while 17 have been wounded in Banje and
Suvo Grlo village area since 1999 [arrival of NATO-led Kosovo Force].
At the end of 2000, three Serbs were killed and ten were wounded in
an attack on UNMIK [UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo]
coach, the statement recalled.
http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n95801
Unknown Attackers Shoot at Serbs in Kosovo
Focus News Agency (Bulgaria) - September 13, 2006
Kosovska Mitrovica - Unknown attackers shot at a group
of Serbs in the village of Bane, Srbica municipality.
This is what the press center of the Coordination
Center for Kosovo announced cited by RTS.
No Serbs were injured.
While they were gathering wood in the forest the Serbs
became the target of fierce firing coming from the
once mixed and now completely Albanian village of
Radesevo.
The Serbs own the land in this part of Kosovo and it
is exactly these plots that are the target of constant
pilfering on the part of the Albanians from the nearby
villages.
Since 1999 5 Serbs have been killed and 17 others have
been wounded in the territory of the Srbica
municipality.
The most serious crime was committed at the end of the
year 2000 when three Serbs were killed and ten others
were wounded during an attack against a UNMIK bus.
So far none of the perpetrators have been arrested,
RTS notes.
---
PUTIN: BASTA CON I "DUE PESI DUE MISURE"!
http://www.panarmenian.net/news/eng/?nid=19200
Putin: Recognition of Kosovo Independence May Have
Negative Impact on Conflict Settlements
PanArmenian.net - September 12, 2006
In case of declaring the independence of Kosovo
against Serbia's will, Russia will veto the decision
of the UN Security Council, Russian President Vladimir
Putin stated at a meeting with a group of scientists
from foreign countries in Moscow last week-end.
In the opinion of the Russian President, recognition
of Kosovo independence may have a negative impact on
conflict settlements in Nagorno Karabakh,
Transniestria, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
"We should think of the regional consequences of the
recognition of Kosovo independence," the Russian
President said.
http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/politics/28.html?menu=1&id_issue=11587510
Interfax - September 13, 2006
Putin calls for unified approach to Kosovo, Abkhazia,
South Ossetia
MOSCOW - The international community's approaches
toward settling the problems of Kosovo, Abkhazia, and
South Ossetia should be unified, Russian President
Vladimir Putin said at a recent meeting with Western
political analysts, the transcript of which is
available on the official presidential website.
"You cannot apply one set of standards to Kosovo and
another to Abkhazia and South Ossetia," Putin said.
"What is the difference between the situation in
Kosovo and that in Abkhazia or South Ossetia? There's
no difference at all," he said.
"Once we start manipulating public opinion or try to
do so, we will face problems," he said.
"People will feel cheated. Both in Southern Europe and
in the South Caucasus. This kind of policy cannot be
considered moral. It has no prospects," Putin said.
http://www.vor.ru/Exclusive/excl_next8300_eng.html
Voice of Russia - September 13, 2006
RUSSIA CALLS FOR A SHARED VIEW OF THE PLIGHT OF
SELF-PROCLAIMED REPUBLICS
Early ballot-casting has begun in the Transdniestrian
referendum on sovereignty.
Transdniestria is that part of Moldavia which sits on
the left bank of the Dniester River.
It has scheduled its sovereignty referendum for next
Sunday.
South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity has, in the
meantime, called a South Ossetian sovereignty
referendum for the 12th of next November.
South Ossetians are expected to cast two ballots in
two months from now – in the sovereignty referendum
and in presidential elections. Their republic means to
secede from Georgia.
Ballot-casting or no ballot-casting, it is clear what
the Transdniestrian and South Ossetian voters want for
their republics.
Transdniestria and South Ossetia have, for quite a
number of years now, been living as two sovereign
republics and seem to like it this way.
Do they really need their referendums?
An expert with the Institute of the Commonwealth of
Independent States Vladimir Zharikhin feels that there
is, on the one hand, the principle of territorial
integrity.
On the other hand, there is the right to
self-determination, and it takes a referendum to
confirm this right.
The two referendums in question have no chance to
leave an imprint on international law.
But they will surely show that the people of the two
self-proclaimed republics do seek sovereignty.
Which their governments will be likely to see as a
very serious argument.
No matter how much the West chooses to speak about the
inviolability of national borders, we have a good idea
of what happened in Montenegro. It is a public
referendum that crossed the t’s and dotted the i’s in
the divorce between Montenegro and Serbia – and that
referendum has, incidentally, been recognized by the
European democracies.
This very delicate situation has no room for rash
action.
The possibly successful result of the Kosovar efforts
to secede from Serbia will give the green light to
stepped-up efforts to win sovereignty in other parts
of this planet.
Russia urges the West to find a common denominator to
all efforts to win sovereignty.
Because, there are either no rules at all or the same
rules for every player in geopolitical games.
The latter is clearly preferable, from all points of
view.
---
IL NUOVO PROCONSOLE TEDESCO RUECKER ACCUSATO DI ESSERE APERTAMENTE
FILO-ALBANESE
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?
cat=Politics&loid=8.0.340246070&par=0
ADN Kronos International (Italy) - September 14, 2006
KOSOVO: SERBS ACCUSE LOCAL UN CHIEF OF PRO-ALBANIAN BIAS
Belgrade - Kosovo Serb leaders on Thursday accused
chief United Nations administrator, Joachim Ruecker,
of lobbying on behalf of the province's majority
ethnic Albanians - who demand independence - and of
presenting a distorted picture of the current
situation in the province which has been under United
Nations control since 1999.
The Serb reactions came after Ruecker’s report to the
UN Security Council on Wednesday, in which he said:
"The attempts to show Kosovo as a place where constant
attacks against minorities are taking place doesn’t
correspond to reality."
A Kosovo Serb leader, Milan Ivanovic, said Ruecker - a
German diplomat - was "behaving like an Albanian
lobbyist," and trying to "cover up the failure of the
UN's administration of Kosovo over the past seven
years."
He said no progress was made in providing greater
security for non-Albanian minorities and the return of
over 200,000 refugees who have fled the province since
1999.
Another Serb leader, Rada Trajkovic, told Belgrade
media that Rucker’s report was "far from reality." She
said that 1,194 Serbs and 593 members of other
minorities were killed in Kosovo since 1999, 1,300
kidnapped and missing, and more than 1,400 beaten up.
She said Kosovo was far from living under the rule of
law, and that Ruecker’s report was an attempt to
appease militant ethnic Albanians.
"Militant Albanians have succeeded in deceiving the
international community, but the fact that no major
company has invested in Kosovo clearly shows there is
no rule of law," said Trajkovic.
Serbian government coordinator for Kosovo, Sanda
Raskovic Ivic, told the UN Security Council that basic
human rights and democratic standards haven’t been met
in Kosovo, and that a rushed decision on its final
status would be counterproductive.
Similar stands were taken by Russia and China,
permanent members of the Security Council with veto
rights. Ruecker, who took up the UN post in Kosovo's
capital, Pristina, on 1 September, said that the
situation in Kosovo has significantly improved, but
that a lot still has to be done to make Kosovo a
multi-ethnic society.
"It won’t be easy," said Rucker, underlining that
majority ethnic Albanians and minority Serbs in the
province will have to live together regardless of the
outcome of the ongoing talks on Kosovo's future
status.
Echoing the stands of United States and British
ambassadors in the Security Council, Ruecker said that
it was in the best interests of both sides to make the
decision on Kosovo's status by the end of this year.
"For the good of Kosovo, this period of uncertainty
must end," he said.
Overwhelmingly Muslim ethnic Albanians, who form a 1.7
million majority compared with a tiny minority of
100,000 Serbs remaining in the province, demand
independence. This is opposed by Belgrade, which is
prepared to offer the province wide autonomy instead,
and by Kosovo Serbs.
Serbia's prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica on
Wednesday drew sharp criticism from ethnic Albanians
for controversial comments he made to the Serb
parliament on Tuesday saying that Kosovo's current
status as a part of Serbia should be enshrined in a
new constitution and voted for by Serbians.
Serb president Boris Tadic last week held talks with
top officials in the US capital, Washington in a bid
to drum up support for Serbia's position on Kosovo,
but admitted that US support for the province's
independence was "a prevailing trend."
The UN's envoy to Kosovo, Martti Ahtisaari, has
signalled the Security Council could impose a solution
on the province by the end of 2006 if ethnic Albanian
and Serb negotiators fail to reach agreement on its
status in ongoing UN brokered talks that have so far
failed to produce a breakthrough.
---
LA RUSSIA CONTRARIA AD OGNI LIMITE DI TEMPO SUI COLLOQUI PER LO STATUS
http://www.vor.ru/index_eng.phtml?view=news_eng&id=11950
RF opposed to Kosovo talks deadline
Voice of Russia - September 14, 2006
Russia is against setting a strict time limit for
talks to determine the future status of Kosovo.
As he addressed a Security Council meeting on
Wednesday the Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly
Churkin criticized interim administration in Kosovo
saying that Albanian leadership had failed to
guarantee the security of ethnic minorities in the
province.
The Albanian Deputy Foreign Minister Edith Khardzhi,
who arrived in the US on Wednesday, said the UN
Security Council resolution on Kosovo should exclude
the province’s return to the 1999 status, when it was
fully dependent on Yugoslavia.
---
SOLIDARIETÀ DALLA TRANSNISTRIA: L'OCCIDENTE INCORAGGIA LA PULIZIA ETNICA
http://www.regnum.ru/english/706198.html
Transdnestr analyst: West encourages ethnic genocide
Regnum (Russia) - September 16, 2006
Senior expert of the Transdnestr branch of Russia’s
National Strategy Council, political analyst Vladimir
Bukarsky, comments on statements of Kosovo political
analyst Ermelinda Kanush made at a news conference at
the International Press Center in Tiraspol on
September 16 that, “the international community has
certain rules of the game; and if Transdnestr wants to
be recognized, it should play under the rules.”
Particularly, Bukarsky notes:
“Missis Kanushi seems to be considering a strict
geopolitical orientation towards the USA, the European
Union and other countries of the Euro-Atlantic bloc as
‘rules of the game of the international community.’
"She gives it to understand clearly that Transdnestr’s
geopolitical orientation towards Russia is
inadmissible, if Transdnestr wants to be recognized by
‘leading world actors.’
"It is worth remembering Transdnestr President Igor
Smirnov [being] offered recognition in exchange for
giving up his orientation towards Russia.
"As for citing the mono-ethnic composure of Kosovo,
Mrs. Kanushi is certainly cunning here.
"The mono-ethnic composition of Kosovo was achieved as
early as under Turkish rule, the Hitler genocide and
the ethnic cleansing of Serbs after the NATO
occupation of the territory.
Thus, the West gives it to understand that it
encourages ethnic genocide, let it only decrease
Russia’s geopolitical influence.”
---
UN ALTRO SOSPETTO TERRORISTA PAN-ALBANESE ARRESTATO IN MONTENEGRO
http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n95945
Montenegro Police Arrest Another Terrorist Suspect
Focus News Agency (Bulgaria) - September 16, 2006
Podgorica - Yesterday the Montenegrin police arrested
M.B. from the town of Lokva, near Tuzi, who is
suspected of being a member of an organized group
planning to commit armed terrorist acts in Montenegro,
Montenegrin media inform.
A police announcement says the security forces have
found a Chinese-made semiautomatic rifle with six
cartriges, 26 detonation capsules, dynamite and
military uniforms in the home of the arrested suspect.
FOCUS News Agency informs:
Six US citizens together with allies from Montenegro
have planned to carry out terrorist attacks on the
territory of Malesia and Tuzi (in Montenegro) on 10
and 11 September, the Directorate of the Montenegrin
police announced on Monday, cited by the independent
Montenegrin news portal PCNEN.
The US citizens - four of whom have been captured and
two of whom still are wanted - originate from the
territory of Malesia, Tuzi and Kosovo.
According to the Chief of the criminal police in
Montenegro Ivan Masulovic, 12 people were arrested in
relation to the findings.
Masulovic added that former members of the Army for
Liberation of Kosovo /AOK/ have also intended to
participate in the terrorist attacks and were expected
to illegally enter Kosovo and Montenegro.
Masulovic said that a small part of the weapons,
intended for the attacks, was found in the homes of
the detainees.
The larger part was found in a cave near Tuzi, where
the suspects were supposed to hide after the attack.
---
I SERBI VENDONO LE LORO PROPRIETÀ ED ABBANDONANO LA LORO TERRA NELLA
INDIFFERENZA DELL'UNMIK
http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n95954
Serbs Selling Their Kosovo Property
Focus News Agency (Bulgaria) - September 16, 2006
Pristina - The persons resettled from Kosovo resort to
selling their property in the region more frequently,
the Serbian newspaper Glas Javnosti informs.
According to some estimates almost a third of the
resettled Serbs have already sold their property and
at least as much are planning to do it despite their
sincere wish to go back to Kosovo.
The Albanians have already built plants, motels, and
hotels in the whole of Central Kosovo – Serbian land
until recently.
The real estate sale is done despite UNMIK’s decree
which limits the sale of Serbian property at places of
strategic importance.
The sales are made without any control or limitations
whatsoever.
---
AUTOBOMBA A GNJILANE
http://www.focus-fen.net/?id=n96014
Local Self-Government Ministry Car Damaged in Gnjilane Blast
Focus News Agency (Bulgaria) - September 17, 2006
Gnjilane - A strong explosion in Gnjilane, Kosovo,
caused damage to four cars one of which belongs to the
Local Self-Government Ministry of Kosovo, RTS informs
citing Kosovo’s police forces. No people were injured
in the blast.
The spokesperson for the police Naser Ibrahimi stated
the explosion took place on Saturday at around 8.30
p.m. local time.
The motive behind the explosion is not yet clear, nor
is it clear what type of explosion caused the material
damage.
This is the second blast in Gnjilane for the last two
days. During the last explosion that took place late
on Thursday the car of Kosovo’s Interior Minister
Fatmir Rexhepi was damaged.
The police arrested two persons at the explosion site
near the building in which Minister Rexhepi resides.
However, because of lack of proof the two arrested
persons had been involved in the attack they were
released.
---
STUDENTE DESAPARECIDO A KOSOVSKA MITROVICA
http://www.focus-fen.net/?id=n95997
Serbian Student Disappears in Kosovska Mitrovica
Focus News Agency (Bulgaria) - September 17, 2006
Kosovska Mitrovica - The police in Kosovo and the
Serbian Interior Ministry are looking for Zoran
Tomovic, who was last seen in the northern part of
Kosovska Mitrovica on Wednesday evening, Tomovic’s
father announced cited by RTS.
Zoran Tomovic is a third-year student at the Legal
Faculty in Kosovska Mitrovica.
He is an immigrant from Klina, near Pec, and his
permanent address is in Budva, Montenegro.
---
REFERENDUM DEI RUSSOFONI IN TRANSNISTRIA, PARALLELISMI CON LA
SITUAZIONE DEI SERBI IN KOSMET
http://www.regnum.ru/english/706544.html
Russian MP Andrei Kokoshin: Outcomes of Transdnestr
referendum “should be taken into account by
international community”
Regnum (Russia) - September 18, 2006
“The mere fact of holding the Transdnestr referendum
is a consequence of policy carried out by Moldavia
[Moldova] and supported by several western countries
for several years,” the head of the State Duma
Committee on CIS Affairs and Relations with
Compatriots Andrei Kokoshin is quoted by a REGNUM
correspondent to state on Sep 18, commenting to the
press on the September 17 referendum on the status of
the Transdnestr Moldavian Republic.
Kokoshin pointed out that the referendum outcomes
“undoubtedly should be taken into account by the
international community.”
“Those who believe that the Kosovo issue will not
impact the situation in different parts of the world
are mistaken,” the MP stressed.
He believes that the Kosovo issue, which has recently
been included in the UN General Assembly agenda, has a
serious impact on public opinion in Transdnestr.
“At the same time,” Kokoshin observed, “many western
politicians prefer to call the Kosovo precedent a
separate special issue which should not be
extrapolated to other similar situations.”
http://www.vor.ru/Exclusive/excl_next8322_eng.html
TRANS-DNIESTER HAVE BACKED THE REGION’S INDEPENDENCE
Voice of Russia - September 18, 2006
The overwhelming majority of the voters in Moldova’s
breakaway region of Trans-Dniester have backed the
region’s independence and a plan to eventually join
Russia in last Sunday’s referendum.
Only about 3% of the voters have said yes to the
region’s union with Moldova.
The self-proclaimed republic of Trans-Dniester
declared itself to be independent from the Soviet
republic of Moldova in 1991, when they fought a bloody
civil war in the area.
All in all, there were 7 referendums in the 16-year
history of the self-proclaimed republic.
Back in December of 1991 the first referendum was held
and the region’s mainly Russian-speaking population
voted for Trans-Dniester’s independence and against
Moldova’s nationalist policy.
In return, Moldova waged a bloody conflict with
Trans-Dniester and only Russian peacekeepers managed
to stop the bloodshed.
Afterwards, Russia more than once helped
Trans-Dniester to overcome the consequences of
economic blockade when Kishinev [Chisinau] and Kiev
toughened their customs rules.
That’s why it was quite easy to predict the last
referendum’s results.
As for Moldova and Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe, they have already dismissed the
poll as illegitimate.
However,130 monitors from European and CIS countries
called Moldova’s and OSCE’s position a policy of
double standards.
The observers declared that the referendum had been
held according to international rules and some
insignificant violations could not influence the final
results.
Earlier, Russia’s Foreign Ministry Sergei Lavrov said
that it was necessary to assess the referendum with
common sense but without emotions, which may hide its
essence.
Mr.Lavrov stressed that it’s high time to return to
negotiations to settle the conflict.
People have been living in the conflict zone for more
than 10 years now and they should arrange their lives
somehow.
And holding the referendum doesn’t mean that we try to
escalate the situation in the area.
On the contrary, we draw the public attention to the
fact that the conflict poses many problems for the
Trans-Dniesterians.
Russia believes that the referendum results ought to
send a signal to the international community to
reconsider international legal norms concerning the
existing self-proclaimed republics.
It’s difficult to ignore the referendum if state
leaders pursue an honest policy without practising
double standards, which are used in Kosovo,
Montenegro, Trans-Dniester and other similar conflict
areas.
---
IL PRESIDENTE DEL PARLAMENTO ALBANESE CHIEDE DI SPACCARE IL PAESE
CONFINANTE
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?
cat=Politics&loid=8.0.341792924&par=0
KOSOVO: GRANT INDEPENDENCE, PARLIAMENTARY SPEAKER SAYS
ADN Kronos International (Italy) - September 19, 2006
Belgrade - Kosovo parliament president Kol Berisha has
warned of an ethnic Albanian rebellion if the province
is not granted independence in the near future, a
Serbian newspaper reports.
Belgrade daily Politika said in a front page article
on Tuesday that Berisha made the statement during a
visit to Slovenia on Monday.
According to Politika, Berisha said he expected that
the United Nations-brokered talks in Vienna on the
status of Kosovo status would yield no results and
that it was now up to the international community to
impose a solution, granting Kosovo independence.
Kosovo, whose majority ethnic Albanians insist on
independence, has been under UN control since 1999
when a NATO bombing campaign forced Serbian forces out
of the province.
But Belgrade opposes independence, arguing it would
trigger a chain reaction in the region. The UN has
hinted it wants to make a status decision by the end
of this year and Berisha warned that if the decision
wasn’t made in reasonable time “there could be a
rebellion”.
The Kosovo crisis erupted when ethnic Albanians, who
make a 1.7 million majority in Kosovo against some
100,000 remaining Serbs, rebelled against Belgrade
rule.
NATO intervention came as a reaction to what was
called a “humanitarian catastrophe”....
In a reaction to Berisha’s statement, Serbian Prime
Minister Vojislav Kostunica said Monday night that "no
one has the right to threaten with violence and
terror" urging the international community to "react
immediately to this most open threat so far”.
Chief UN negotiator Martti Ahtisaari is due to present
a report to the UN Security Council on the Kosovo
talks on Friday, but his spokeswoman Hua Jiang said on
Monday that Ahtisaari has already been instructed by
the so called Contact Group on Kosovo how to propose
the solution.
The Contact Group, consisting of representatives of
the United States, Great Britain, Germany, France,
Italy and Russia, is expected to propose a solution to
the Security Council, but Jiang said it was too early
to reveal what the proposal was.
http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=2118403&C=europe
UN Cautions Kosovo Albanians Over Talk of ‘Revolt’
By SHABAN BUZA - Reuters - September 20, 2006
PRISTINA, Serbia - An attack on Kosovo’s minority
Serbs triggered a sharp warning from the United
Nations to Albanian leaders on Sept. 20 to watch their
words, after one forecast a "revolt" if they are
denied independence from Serbia.
The comments by Kosovo parliament speaker Kole Berisha
outraged Serbia, which accused him of blackmail ahead
of a decision on Kosovo’s fate.
The remarks also struck a nerve with U.N. officials
trying to guide Kosovo through talks on its future
without the violent meltdown many observers have
predicted.
"If our aim of independence is not realized then
citizens’ revolts are expected in Kosovo," he said.
"We don’t want revolts, but we cannot exclude them if
our aim is not realized."
Berisha first made the statement on Monday in
Slovenia, and repeated it on his return to Kosovo late
on Tuesday.
Hours after Berisha spoke a hand grenade was lobbed
through the window of an apartment in the western town
of Klina, wounding four elderly Serbs.
They were former refugees who had returned to Kosovo
last year having fled after the 1998-99 war.
....
The last major outbreak of violence was in March 2004,
when mobs of Albanians overran Serb enclaves torching
homes.
Nineteen people died in two days of riots that caught
17,000 NATO peacekeepers off guard but effectively
drew the attention of the world back to Kosovo’s
continuing limbo.
Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica,
spearheading Serbia’s bid to keep the province,
condemned the attack.
"It is absolutely unacceptable that Serbs are killed
and Albanian separatists publicly threaten violence
and blackmail the international community," Kostunica
said in a late-night statement.
Finland’s Martti Ahtisaari, the chief U.N. mediator in
direct Serb-Albanian talks, briefs foreign ministers
of the major powers on Wednesday in New York as he
works towards a year-end deadline to propose a
solution.
Serbia last week enshrined Kosovo in the preamble of a
new constitution as forever Serbian.
Addressing a military parade at the weekend, Kostunica
said the province was and would remain "the heart of
Serbia."
But Western diplomats say Kosovo will likely win
independence, more than seven years since NATO bombs
drove out Serb forces....
The United Nations fears a rise in violence as a
decision nears, and even a bid by the mainly Serb
north to split Kosovo in two.
---
QUATTRO FERITI PER UNA BOMBA A KLINA
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/19/
AR2006091901032.html
Explosion in Kosovo wounds four Serbs
Reuters - September 19, 2006
PRISTINA, Serbia - Four elderly Serbs were wounded in
an explosion in the western Kosovo town of Klina on
Tuesday evening, police said.
A Serb official in the area told Reuters a bomb had
been thrown through the window of the victims'
apartment in the town center.
Police spokeswoman Sabrije Kamberi said the four had
been sent to hospital but their injuries were not
life-threatening.
Police said the victims were former refugees who had
returned to Klina a year ago having fled Kosovo after
the 1998-99 war.
Legally part of Serbia, the mainly ethnic Albanian
province has been run by the United Nations since
1999, when NATO bombs drove out Serb forces....
Negotiations are under way to decide the fate of the
territory. Its 90-percent Albanian majority demands
independence, but is under Western pressure to improve
the rights and security of the 100,000 remaining
Serbs.
At least half the Serb population fled a wave of
attacks after the war, and those who stayed live
mainly in isolated enclaves.
U.N. officials say the rate of attacks against Serbs
has fallen, but they fear fresh violence as a decision
nears on Kosovo's "final status."
http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n96191
Four Serbs Injured in Kosovo Grenade Blast
Focus News Agency (Bulgaria) - September 20, 2006
Pristina - Four Serbs were injured yesterday when a
grenade exploded in the western part of Kosovo, AFP
informs.
Milorad Pavlovic and three other members of his family
were injured when an unknown attacker threw a grenade
through the window of their home in the western Kosovo
town of Klina.
The lives of the four wounded persons are out of
danger, AFP notes.
http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?
cat=Politics&loid=8.0.342284468&par=0
KOSOVO: SERB HOME BOMBED, FOUR WOUNDED
ADN Kronos International (Italy) - September 20, 2006
Pristina - Four Serbs were injured when an explosive
device was thrown into their apartment in the Kosovo
town of Klina Tuesday night, in the latest violence in
the province whose final status - independence or
broad autonomy within Serbia - is to be determined by
the year's end.
Kosovo police spokeswoman Sabrije Kamberi confirmed
that the four were in hospital in the nearby town of
Pec and were out of danger, but gave no details.
Serbian news agency Tanjug reported a bomb was thrown
into the apartment of Milorad Pavlovic, wounding him
and three female relatives.
Protection of minority Serbs is one of the discussion
points in UN-brokered talks ongoing in Vienna between
the Kosovo representatives and Serbs.
The Pavlovic family, like an estimated 200,000 Serbs,
fled Kosovo in 1999 when Serbian forces were pushed
out of the province by a NATO bombing campaign and
Kosovo was put under United Nations control, returned
to their home a year ago, the agency said. Another
returnee, Dragan Popovic, was killed in Klina on 19
June.
Ethnic Albanians, who outnumber the remaining Serbs in
Kosovo by 17 to one, are pressing the international
community to grant them independence, which Belgrade
opposes.
The UN is set to make a decision on Kosovo status by
the end of this year and Kosovo parliament president
Kol Berisha said this week ethnic Albanians were ready
to rebel if their demands weren’t heeded.
Serbian prime minister Vojislav Kostunica appealed to
the international community to “stop Albanian
separatists in their terrorist orgy against Serbs”.
He called on the UN chief negotiator Martti Ahtisaari
to take the necessary steps to prevent similar
incidents if the international community doesn’t want
to become “an accomplice in crimes against Serbs.
"It is absolutely unacceptable that the Serbs are
being killed and that the Albanian separatists openly
threaten violence and blackmail the international
community,” Kostunica said in a statement to Tanjug.
Ethnic tension has remained high in Kosovo.
Last Friday, Kosovo police minister Fatmir Rexhepi's
car was bombed in the town of Gnjilane.
Two days later, a powerful explosion damaged four
vehicles and shattered windows in Gnjilane without
injuring anyone, local police said. Kosovo's ethnic
Albanian government and parliament issued statements
condemning the attacks.
Clashes between Albanians and ethnic Serbs in March
2004 left 19 people dead.
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/society-article.php?
yyyy=2006&mm=09&dd=20&nav_id=36857
Four Serbs injured in Kosovo blast
Beta (Serbia) - September 20, 2006
PEC, BELGRADE - Four persons were injured last night
in Klina near Pec when an explosive device was thrown
into the home of Milorad Pavloviæ.
Kosovo Police Service says one person sustained
serious injuries, while three others were moderately
hurt, and that none of them has life-threatening
wounds.
The victims were transported to the Regional Hospital
in Peæ. Rada Pavloviæ, identified as the victim
suffering serious injuries, was later transferred to
the Priština Hospital.
Kosovo PM Agim Ceku and UNMIK Police Commissioner
arrived at the site, after which Ceku visited the
victims in hospital. Milorad Pavloviæ was the first
Serb to return to Klina. There are around 40 returnee
families in the town.
“On behalf of the Serbian government I call on Martti
Ahtisaari to immediately undertake all the necessary
actions to contain the Albanian separatists in their
terrorist rampage constantly victimizing Serbs”,
Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica said in
reaction to the Klina explosion.
He added that it was “absolutely unacceptable for
Serbs to be murdered and for Albanian separatists to
openly threaten violence and blackmail the
international community”.
---
LAVROV E TADIC SI INCONTRANO A NEW YORK
http://www.vor.ru/index_eng.phtml?view=news_eng&id=12066
Voice of Russia - September 20, 2006
Kosovo’s future status featured prominently on the
agenda of the meeting that the Russian Foreign
Minister Sergey Lavrov has had with Serbia’s President
Boris Tadic in New York
Kosovo’s future status featured prominently on the
agenda of the meeting that the Russian Foreign
Minister Sergey Lavrov has had with Serbia’s President
Boris Tadic in New York.
The parties to the talks have said they see eye-to-eye
on the issue.
According to President Tadic, the regional status
should be determined with due regard for the interests
of the Serbian and Albanian population.
Meanwhile in Kosovo four Serbs were injured in a blast
in the town Klina, west of Pristina, on Thursday in
what is the fourth attack of this kind in the past
five days.
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=10811870&PageNum=0
Kosovo status requires consent of other party - Lavrov
Itar-Tass - September 20, 2006
UNITED NATIONS - Kosovo should not be given any status
without the consent of the other party, Russian
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday.
He was speaking at a meeting with the UN
Secretary-General’s special envoy for Kosovo status
talks, Martti Ahtisaari, at the UN headquarters in New
York.
“If that happens after all, a precedent will be
created,” Lavrov said.
“The contract group is working on recommendations for
the parties concerned, and they will have the final
say. When the parties have come to terms, the UN
Security Council will be prepared to approve of the
agreements. Dictating solutions to any party would be
counter-productive, be it Kosovo, Abkhazia or South
Ossetia.”
---
LA SERBIA ACCUSAC IL "MEDIATORE" RAZZISTA AHTISAARI DI FAZIOSITÀ
http://www.makfax.com.mk/look/novina/article.tpl?
IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=2&NrArticle=37009&NrIssue=145&NrSection=20
Serbia accuses Ahtisaari for partiality
MakFax (Macedonia) - September 20, 2006
Belgrade - The UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari does
not fulfill his duty of being an objective and neutral
mediator in the negotiations over Kosovo's status.
The Serbian Government's Co-Ordination Center
announced this on Tuesday, responding to Ahtisaari's
denial of "clear threats of violence on the part of
Albanians, if their political goals" of granting
independence to Kosovo "are not met".
The reaction of the Serbian Center for Kosovo followed
a series of blasts in the province over the last
couple of days and threats voiced by the members of
Pristina's negotiating team for the "extermination of
Serbs".
"The International community has to face an enormous
responsibility for the situation when UNMIK is
incapable of preventing terrorists to plant explosives
and bombs.
"Moreover, the representatives of the negotiating team
are threatening to slaughter all the non-Albanian
population, instead of promoting a compromise
solution", the announcement of the Serbian Center for
Kosovo says.
http://www.makfax.com.mk/look/novina/article.tpl?
IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=2&NrArticle=37033&NrIssue=145&NrSection=20
Kostunica urges Ahtisaari to sanction separatists in Kosovo
MakFax (Macedonia) - September 20, 2006
Belgrade/Pristina - The Serbian government called on
Martti Ahtisaari to take all necessary measures to
halt Albanian separatists who carried out terrorist
acts against Serbs.
The move comes after the late Tuesday explosion in
Kosovo's city of Kline, which left four members of a
Serbian family injured.
"The international community should immediately stop
the violence, otherwise it will become an accomplice
to crimes against Serbs," Serbian Prime Minister
Vojislav Kostunica said.
The blast occurred late Tuesday outside a home of
Pavlovic family. They are among the first Serb
returnees in Kline.
Kosovo's Prime Minister Agim Ceku and UNMIK police
officials headed toward the explosion site.
---
I PRESIDENTE DELL'ALBANIA MOISIU RINCARA: PRIMA SQUARTIAMO LA SERBIA
E POI USIAMO "DUE PESI DUE MISURE"
http://www.focus-fen.net/?id=n96268
Albanian President: Kosovo’s Independence won’t Serve
as a Model for Solving Other Conflicts
Focus News Agency (Bulgaria) - September 21, 2006
New York - “There should be no fears that Kosovo’s
independence could serve as a model for solving other
conflicts”, Albanian President Alfred Moisiu said
during the session of the UN General Assembly in New
York, the Balkan Web reported.
He stated that each conflict should be solved
according to its historic and geographic features, and
the Kosovo issue couldn’t be used as a model, although
Russia demands that.
The Albanian President also said that the independence
of Kosovo would contribute to the regional stability.
---
LAVROV ALL'ONU RIBADISCE IL "NO" RUSSO AI "DUE PESI E DUE MISURE"
http://www.vor.ru/index_eng.phtml?view=news_eng&id=12092
Kosovo status to be defined by all parties involved
Voice of Russia - September 21, 2006
No status can be granted to the Kosovo Province
without the approval of the other side.
If this happens, a precedent will be created.
Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said as much,
speaking in the United Nations.
He says that the work is being done at the moment to
work out corresponding recommendations for the parties
concerned.
The UN Security Council is ready to adopt them. Any
forceful resolution whatever is fatal.
Russia says Serbia’s interests must be taken into
consideration in full measure during the talks on the
future Kosovo status, as Sergei Lavrov stressed.
Besides, the Kosovo Albanians leaders must observe the
rights of the national minorities.
---
TADIC ALL'ONU: LA SECESSIONE KOSOVARA RAPPRESENTEREBBE UN PRECEDENTE
PERICOLOSO
http://www.focus-fen.net/?id=n96397
Boris Tadic: Kosovo’s Independence Could Become
Dangerous Precedent
Focus News Agency (Bulgaria) - September 23, 2006
New York - The President of Serbia Boris Tadic said
after a meeting of the UN Security Council on Kosovo
talks that representatives of Belgrade could be
moderate optimists regarding Kosovo, the Serbian news
agency Mondo reported.
According to Tadic Kosovo’s independence could become
a dangerous precedent, which could lead to the
intensifying of the conflicts in many regions of the
world and to serious destabilization in the region, in
particular Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro.
---
LOBBY PAN-ALBANESE NEGLI USA FINANZIA IL TERRORISMO CONTRO IL MONTENEGRO
http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n96301
US Albanians Financed Terrorist Group Detained in Montenegro
Focus News Agency (Bulgaria) - September 22, 2006
Podgorica - The terrorist group which the Montenegrin
police arrested not long ago had been financed by the
Albanian diaspora in the USA, the aim of which was to
found a ‘Greater Albania’, the Montenegrin newspaper
Dan reads today.
Citing its sources, the newspaper points out that one
of the possible ideologists of the terrorist group is
the arrested H.M. who was born in Ostros (near the
town of Ulcinj), but is currently residing in the US.
He has written a few books in the US in which he
openly insists on founding a Greater Albania.
---
SCRITTE MURALI ANTISERBE A KLINA
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/society-article.php?
yyyy=2006&mm=09&dd=24&nav_id=36931
Unnerving graffiti in Klina
B92 (Serbia) - September 24, 2006
KLINA - Graffiti messages in Klina have recently
alarmed the Serbian population of that village.
The OSCE and the Kosovo police in Klina stated that
the walls of a number of public institutions, and one
Serbian home, which has been attacked on several
occasions, were covered today with the graffiti
messages; “Albanian national army,” and “Albanian
national unity front.”
Many of the Serbian returnees in the region are
worried, and some of the international officials in
Kosovo believe that the graffiti is linked to the
recent attacks on Serbian returnees in the region.
The presence of KFOR forces in Klina has been
increased.
...
---
ANCHE IL PREMIER DELL'ALBANIA CHIEDE DI SPACCARE IL PAESE CONFINANTE,
SCOPO ANNESSIONE
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-09/26/content_5137314.htm
Albanian PM asks for Kosovo's independence
Xinhua News Agency - September 25, 2006
TIRANA - Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha said on
Sunday that Serbia's opposition to Kosovo's
independence is "unrealistic," local media reported on
Monday.
Belgrade continues to take an unrealistic stand on
Kosovo's status, but the lack of realism should not
hamper the final solution, Berisha told reporters.
Albania has been the biggest supporter of Kosovo's
independence. Among Kosovo's 2 million people, 90 per
cent are Albanians.
However, Tirana has always said it has [no,
presuambly] territorial claims and does not intend to
change its borders.
Nearly seven months of negotiations under the auspices
of UN in Vienna have failed to bridge the gap between
the Serbs who oppose independence and the Kosovo
Albanians who insist on it.
http://www.focus-fen.net/?id=n96514
Kosovo Albanians Intend to Announce Region's
Independence Unilaterally
Focus News Agency (Bulgaria) - September 25, 2006
Tirana - If Serbia doesn’t recognize Kosovo’s
independence then the Albanians in Kosovo will
announce the region’s independence unilaterally,
ITAR-TASS informs.
This is what Albania’s Prime Minister Sali Berisha
said in Tirana today while commenting on the session
of the Contact Group for Kosovo that was held in New
York last week.
“Belgrade continues to demonstrate its lack of realism
but its stand should not hinder the final decision on
the Kosovo issue,” Mr. Berisha said.
http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-09-25-voa35.cfm
Albania's Prime Minister Urges Kosovo Independence
By Barry Wood - Voice of America News - September 25, 206
Tirana - Officials from Serbia and Albania continue to
spar over the future of Kosovo Province, as the U.N.
negotiator moves toward a possible settlement of the
issue.
In remarks to reporters Sunday, Albanian Prime
Minister Sali Berisha said Serbia's approach to the
Kosovo status negotiations has been unrealistic. He
said that with Kosovo Albanians and Serbs taking
opposite positions, the United Nations may have to
impose a solution.
Mr. Berisha said the Serbian opposition must not be
allowed to stand in the way of a settlement. The six
major powers guiding the Kosovo talks have given U.N.
negotiator Martti Ahtisaari a green light to propose
his own settlement proposal and try to resolve the
status of the Serbian province by the end of the year.
Nearly seven months of U.N. negotiations in Vienna
have failed to bridge the gap between Serbs who oppose
independence and the Kosovo Albanians who insist on
it. The U.N. has administered Kosovo since 1999 after
NATO drove out...Serbian forces....
Meanwhile, Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic has
told a Pristina newspaper that independence for Kosovo
without Serb approval could spark trouble not only in
Kosovo but in neighboring Bosnia, Montenegro and
Macedonia.
Draskovic says Kosovo is a spiritual as well as a
territorial issue for Serbs.
Although Kosovo has held an important symbolic place
for Serbs since the middle ages, the province today
has a 90-percent ethnic-Albanian population.
U.N. negotiator Ahtisaari is expected within the next
month to propose some form of conditional independence
for Kosovo with strong safeguards for the Serb
minority.
Government spokesmen in Belgrade have repeated their
complaint that Ahtisaari is biased in favor of the
Albanians and should resign his position.
Ahtisaari has said that while he has no fixed deadline
he does intend to move ahead swiftly.
He says that if Kosovo does become independent it
would not set a precedent for other nations.
Russia, a member of the six nation Contact Group, has
said that if Kosovo is permitted to secede from
Serbia, that would be a precedent that could apply
elsewhere.
---
IN GRECIA SI TEME UNA SITUAZIONE DI TIPO "PALESTINESE" IN KOSOVO
http://www.focus-fen.net/?id=n96511
Palestinian Model for Kosovo
Focus News Agency (Bulgaria) - September 25, 2006
Athens - The countdown for the solving of the ‘tricky’
issue of Kosovo’s future status has begun, an article
headed ‘Palestinian Model for Kosovo’ published in
Greek Kathimerini reads.
The tension is rising dangerously along the hot
Pristina-Belgrade axis.
The Albanians and the Serbs are ready for action as
according to the plans of the international community
the talks should finish by the end of 2006, the
article’s author comments.
The Albanians are threatening violence if Kosovo does
not receive full independence while Belgrade warns
that if that happens it would announce Kosovo as an
occupied part of Serbia.
The two countries remain staunch in their positions,
the author notes, and points out that the Albanians
are not yielding an inch from the idea of independence
and the only thing the Serbs reject is this exact
independence.
---
"AHTISAARI VATTENE"
http://www.vor.ru/index_eng.phtml?view=news_eng&id=12188
Serbia urges UN Kosovo envoy to leave the talks
Voice of Russia - September 25, 2006
Serbia’s government has urged the UN Special Envoy to
Kosovo’s status process to leave the talks.
This is what the head of the government service for
cooperation with mass media Srðan Ðuriæ said.
He says that Serbia’s leadership has no doubt that
Ahtisaari wants to organize a dialogue about the
future status of the Kosovo Province because he
decided to take the side of the Albanian separatists.
Ðuriæ also said that it is of great importance for
Serbia that in the issue concerning Kosovo’s status
Russia defends international law standards, showing
that that is its principled stand.
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?
yyyy=2006&mm=09&dd=25&nav_id=36944
Belgrade to Ahtisaari: Best step down
B92 (serbia) - September 25, 2006
BELGRADE - Ahtisaari's accusations of insufficient
cooperation prompt the Government to say it would be
fair of him to do step down.
Government’s Media Office chief Srðan Ðuriæ says UN
Special Envoy for Kosovo should step down rather than
favor the Albanian side.
“It is doubtful whether Ahtisaari will adhere to his
mandate and organize serious talks on the province’s
future, or if he will simply side with Albanian
separatists.
"Even if Ahtisaari is in such a hurry and cannot
dedicate himself to the thorough preparation of the
negotiations, he must be aware this is about our
lives, our destiny, which is of much greater
importance than someone’s hurry or anxiety. It would
be fair of him to step down, rather than side with the
separatists in front of the whole world”, Ðuriæ said.
State Kosovo team coordinator Slobodan Samardžiæ
believes someone with a different mandate and a
different style ought to take over the mediation and
the conducting of the negotiations. Only after the end
of Ahtisaari’s mandate and his can there be any
serious negotiating process, Samardžiæ believes.
...
---
FUCILATE CONTRO "RITORNANTI" SERBI
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/society-article.php?
yyyy=2006&mm=09&dd=26&nav_id=36962
Shots fired at Serbian returnees’ home
B92 (Serbia) - September 26, 2006
ISTOK - Unknown attackers fired shots at a home in
Istok in which 15 Serbian returnees live.
According to Istok Municipal Coordinator Radoš Vuliæ,
there were 15 people in the home, owned by Aleksa
Ljušiæ, at the time of the attack.
Witnesses said that they heard an unclear phone
conversation between unknown persons in the wooded
area near the home.
Returnee Miloš Nedeljkoviæ said that the shots were
fired from very close.
No one was hurt in the attack, though minor damage was
done to the home.
KFOR, UNMIK and the Kosovo Police Service were
informed of the attack and conducted an investigation
of the scene.
Nedeljkoviæ said that the returnees were shaken by the
incident and are asking for an increased presence of
police and KFOR troops in their community.
---
RESTA CHIUSO IL PONTE DI MITROVICA
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/society-article.php?
yyyy=2006&mm=09&dd=26&nav_id=36959
Kosovska Mitrovica bridge remains closed
B92 (Serbia) - September 26, 2006
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA - The bridge over the Ibar river in
Kosovska Mitrovica will remain closed after last
night’s attack on Aleksandar Æurèiæ.
UNMIK deputy chief met with Serb representatives in
town, saying the decision whether to reopen the bridge
will be postponed for until after the talks with KFOR
and representatives from the south part of the town.
Meanwhile, Kosovo police service detained eight
persons after last night’s attack by several Albanians
on Aleskandar Æurèiæ. They were interviewed and later
released.
The incident occurred when three underaged Albanians
crossed the bridge and started a brawl with a group of
people gathered on the north side of the bridge. The
verbal conflict turned into a fight, inflicting light
injuries on a Kosovo Serb.
Serb National Council chairman Milan Ivanoviæ said
that in his talks with the international community
representatives he repeated the Serb demand to keep
the bridge closed until the end of the Kosovo status
negotiations.
“They said they would decide in a few days, until then
the bridge remains closed and they take responsibility
for whatever happens, meaning whether or not the
bridge opens.”
UNMIK Police spokesman told B92 that contrary to
previous reports, UNMIK police did intervene. “They
reacted at the very start of the fight to protect the
victims from sustaining serious injuries”, Larry
Miller said.
The bridge on the Ibar river was opened yesterday,
after being closed on August 26, when a bomb was
thrown on a café in the Serb part of the town,
wounding nine people.
Due to the latest incidents around the bridge in
Kosovska Mitrovica, Serbs there will hold a protest
rally on October 2.
Fight near Kosovska Mitrovica bridge
A group of Albanians and Serbs got into a fight last
night near the bridge which separates them in Kosovska
Mitrovica.
Eyewitnesses told Beta that a group of about 15 youths
from the southern, Albanian part of the city crossed
the bridge to the Serbian part and began to provoke
Serbs to fight. A group of young men who regularly
hang out near the bridge on the northern side
confronted the group of Albanians and a fight broke
out.
According to the most recent reports, there were no
injuries in the scuffle. Eyewitnesses say that UNMIK
and Kosovo Police Service officials intervened very
quickly, separated the two groups and made them leave
the scene of the fight.
Following the fight, about one hundred Serbian
citizens of Kosovska Mitrovica gather at the north
side of the bridge and covered the path around it with
barbed wire. They are protesting and are asking for
the bridge to be closed down again, stating that this
incident shows that t<br/><br/>(Message over 64 KB, truncated)
