(francais / english)
Final solution for Kosovo Serbs
1. Final solution: ONU Prepares to Evacuate 40,000 Kosovo Serbs
L'UNHCR PIANIFICA LA ESPULSIONE DI 40MILA KOSOVARI PERCHE' DI RAZZA
("ETNIA") SERBA
2. La KFOR n'ouvrira pas ses prisons à l'UE
3. NEWS:
# KFOR won't open prisons to the EU
LE PRIGIONI DELLA NATO IN KOSOVO (KFOR) SONO OFF-LIMITS
# SERBIAN OFFICIAL WARNS BOSNIAN SERBS, CROATS MAY SEEK SAME AS KOSOVO
ALBANIANS
"IN BOSNIA FARANNO COME IN KOSOVO"
# Rampage of the mafia may delay Kosovo independence
LA MAFIA KOSOVARA E' UN PROBLEMA PERSINO PER L'OCCIDENTE
# U.N. in Kosovo hands over 11 bodies of Serb war victims to families
UNDICI CADAVERI DI DESAPARECIDOS SERBI KOSOVARI - TUTTI IDENTIFICATI -
RESTITUITI ALLE FAMIGLIE
(NB. non troverete questa notizia sui vostri quotidiani)
# Greek president slams international leaders' 'forgotten promises'
over Kosovo
IL PRESIDENTE GRECO CRITICA LA "COMUNITA' INTERNAZIONALE"
# Kosovo Serb home in Mitrovica attacked
ATTACCO CONTRO CASA DI SERBI A MITROVICA
DOPO L'ACCOLTELLAMENTO DI UN SERBO A FINE MARZO
(vedi JUGOINFO April 5, 2006 8:11:09 PM - NB. non troverete queste
notizie sui vostri quotidiani)
# Kosovo independence could destabilise Bosnia, warns Dodik
DODIK: IN BOSNIA SI FARA' COME IN KOSOVO
( LINK:
Kosovo: le potenze imperialiste preparano la soluzione finale
di Andrea Catone
https://www.cnj.it/documentazione/acatone05.htm )
=== 1 ===
UN reportedly prepared for Serb exodus from Kosovo
BBC Monitoring Europe (Political) - April 17, 2006 Monday
Excerpt from report by Bosnian Serb news agency SRNA
Podgorica, 17 April: The chairwoman of the Serb National Council for
central Kosovo, Rada Trajkovic, has said that the World Health
Organization [WHO] and UNHCR are working on a project aimed at
evacuating 40,000 Serbs who are expected to leave Kosovo-Metohija if
it becomes independent.
Trajkovic told the Podgorica-based Dan [daily] that the project was in
its final stage and that crisis headquarters were being set up to help
the refugees.
"As a doctor, I am sad that the WHO is involved in a project of ethnic
engineering, i.e. the Serb exodus from Kosovo-Metohija," Trajkovic said.
Source: SRNA news agency, Bijeljina, in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian 0648
gmt 17 Apr 06
Copyright 2006 British Broadcasting Corporation
Posted for Fair Use only.
---
http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?catid=144&newsid=86704&ch=0
Focus News Agency (Bulgaria) - April 18, 2006
Europe Prepares to Evacuate 40,000 Kosovo Serbs
Podgorica - Chair of the Serbian National Council for
Central Kosovo Rada Trajkovic revealed that the WHO
and UN Refugee Agency are preparing a project for the
evacuation of 40,000 Serbs who are expected to leave
Kosovo after it receives its independence.
The project is in its final stage and crisis
headquarters that will receive Serbs who would leave
Kosovo are being set up, the Montenegrin newspaper Dan
reads today.
Trajkovic expressed her regret that the World Health
Organization participates in a project for moving
Serbians from Kosovo.
"I am waiting for an official reaction from Belgrade
because instead of creating an environment to keep the
Serbs in Kosovo there is a project that proposes
[them] leaving it," Trajkovic noted.
=== 2 ===
La KFOR n'ouvrira pas ses prisons à l'UE, 6 avril 2006, B92 News
Strasbourg – Le Secrétaire général du Conseil européen Terry Davis a
dit que la KFOR (« Force du Kosovo », sous commandement OTAN) n'a
toujours pas autorisé l'accès du Conseil de l'UE aux prisons du Kosovo
étant sous le contrôle des forces internationales.
« Le problème n'a pas surgi maintenant, son importance a crû avec le
temps », a dit Davis à Strasbourg, affirmant que Belgrade a signé
toutes les conventions nécessaires qui donnent au Comité pour la
prévention de la torture l'autorisation de visiter toutes les prisons
et voir dans quelles conditions les prisonniers y sont détenus.
« Il y a un problème dans le cas du Kosovo, parce qu'on nous a refusé
l'accès aux prisons sous le contrôle de la KFOR et de l'OTAN. J'ai
écrit au Secrétaire général de l'OTAN il y a 18 mois, et nous perdons
doucement patience », a dit Davis.
« J'avais l'impression que l'OTAN devrait défendre la liberté, les
libertés des citoyens et les droits humains », a ajouté Davis.
« Ce cas ne peut être expliqué. L'OTAN ne veut pas approuver l'accès
aux prisons du Kosovo », a dit Davis.
Selon lui, le problème ne se trouve pas chez la MINUK (« Mission des
Nations Unies au Kosovo », responsable de la police et du secteur
civil), mais auprès des commandants de la KFOR, nommant le Kosovo « le
trou de la prévention de possibles tortures humaines dans des prisons
» en conséquence du manque de coopération de la KFOR.
SOURCE : http://fr.groups.yahoo.com/group/alerte_otan/messages
Liste gérée par des membres du Comité de Surveillance OTAN.
=== 3 ===
KFOR won't open prisons to the EU | 14:21 April 06 | B92
STRASBURG -- European Council Secretary General, Terry Davis, said
that KFOR still has not granted the EU Council the access to the
prisons in Kosovo, which are under the control of the international
forces.
"The problem did not appear just now, its importance has been growing
through time," said Davis at Strasburg, stating that Belgrade has
signed all of the necessary conventions that give the Committee for
torture prevention the go-ahead to visit all prisons and see in what
conditions the prisoners are being held.
"There is a problem in the case of Kosovo, because we have been denied
all access to the prisons under the control of KFOR and NATO. I wrote
to the NATO Secretary General 18 months ago, and we are slowly losing
our patience," said Davis.
"I was under the impression that NATO should defend liberty, freedoms
of the citizens and human rights." Davis added.
"This case cannot be explained. NATO is not willing to approve access
to the Kosovo prisons", said Davis.
According to him, the problem is not with UNMIK, but in the KFOR
commanders, calling Kosovo "the hole in the prevention of possible
human torture in prisons" as a result of KFOR's lack of cooperation.
SOURCE : http://fr.groups.yahoo.com/group/alerte_otan/messages
Liste gérée par des membres du Comité de Surveillance OTAN.
---
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/fonet040806.htm
SERBIAN OFFICIAL WARNS BOSNIAN SERBS, CROATS MAY SEEK SAME AS KOSOVO
ALBANIANS
BBC Monitoring International Reports - April 8, 2006 Saturday
Text of report by Serbian independent news agency FoNet
Belgrade, 8 April: The chairman of the Coordination Centre for
Kosovo-Metohija, Sanda Raskovic-Ivic, said today that Kosovo
independence would be in violation and in total disregard of
international law. She noted that an imposed solution for Kosovo would
open a whole series of other processes.
"If you have a violation of international law in one place, then this
can turn into a principle," Sanda Raskovic-Ivic said in a statement to
journalists, following a session of the [Serbian] Economic Team for
Kosovo-Metohija and Southern Serbia. She said that there were a great
many places in Europe and the world awaiting the outcome of the
negotiations about the final status of Kosovo.
"If this solution is imposed and if it is not in line with
international law, then there is no reason for the Albanians in
western Macedonia, northern Greece and Montenegro not to ask for the
very same thing sought by the Albanians in Kosovo-Metohija," Sanda
Raskovic-Ivic said.
She said that that the Serbs in the [Bosnian] Serb Republic, and
Croats in Herceg-Bosna could seek the same thing, because "if two
Albanian states in the Balkans are possible, then two Serb and two
Croat states are also possible".
Source: FoNet news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 1254 gmt 8 Apr 06
Copyright 2006 Financial Times Information
Global News Wire - Asia Africa Intelligence Wire
Copyright 2006 BBC Monitoring/BBC Source: Financial Times Information
Limited
Posted for Fair Use only.
---
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/st040906.htm
Rampage of the mafia may delay Kosovo independence
Sunday Times (London) - April 9, 2006, Sunday
By: Tom Walker, Pristina
KOSOVO, the former Yugoslav province, is falling into the grip of
Albanian organised crime gangs, casting a shadow over attempts by the
international community to turn it into a fully fledged independent
state by the end of this year.
Participants in talks in Vienna, sponsored by the United Nations, on
the "final status" of Kosovo, are concerned that the mafia networks
that smuggled guns into the disputed province from Albania in 1997 and
1998 are using the same channels for a burgeoning trade in illicit
petrol, cigarettes and cement. Prostitution and drugs are also popular
staples of the black economy.
The profits are ploughed into shopping centres and hotels, which are
going up as part of a building boom in the province. Petrol stations
are especially popular - there are more than 2,000 of them catering
for a population of 2m in a territory the size of Devon. Many are
believed to be part of a money laundering racket, controlled by a few
of the largest clan families, involving oil smuggled in from Montenegro.
Despite attempts by Soren Jessen-Petersen, head of the UN mission in
Kosovo, to downplay the extent of the problem, UN officials admit the
corruption extends deep into the heart of the Kosovo government.
"Crime groups have been able to operate with impunity," said Marek
Antoni Nowicki, Poland's leading human rights lawyer and the UN's
international ombudsman for Kosovo until last year.
"You have a criminal state in real power -it needs underground illegal
structures to supply it with everything to survive. These networks can
rely on the weakness of the public institutions to sanction their
operations."
On Friday the UN's internal watchdog, the Office of Internal
Oversight, accused Jessen-Petersen of turning a blind eye to
widespread fraud at Pristina airport. He protested that the accusation
was "entirely unwarranted".
Kosovo is still technically part of Serbia: Vojislav Kostunica, the
Serbian prime minister, argues that Belgrade must retain some form of
control.
The fight against corruption is complicated by the fact that the task
is shared between different bodies of varying degrees of competence.
"The aim is to keep the criminals under control," said Nowicki. "The
question is can the international community do it? It is very doubtful."
Copyright 2006 Times Newspapers Limited
---
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/ap040706.htm
U.N. in Kosovo hands over 11 bodies of Serb war victims to families
Associated Press Worldstream - April 7, 2006 Friday 11:10 AM GMT
MERDARE Serbia-Montenegro - U.N. officials in Kosovo on Friday handed
over the bodies of 11 Serb civilians killed during the 1998-99
conflict in the troubled southern province.
Dark wooden coffins carrying the bodies mostly Serbs from the Kosovo
towns of Prizren, Suva Reka and Gnjilane were brought to the boundary
crossing at Merdare, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of the
provincial capital, Pristina.
Grieving relatives, who had arrived from various Serbian towns, lit
candles and women dressed in black wailed by the tents where the
coffins were first placed before the families ferried them home for
burials.
Of the 11 bodies, five were exhumed from a mass grave in Kosovo's
southern town of Malisevo, once a stronghold of ethnic Albanian rebels
that fought with Serb forces in 1998. The rest were retrieved from
several other sites throughout the province, said Valerie Brasey, an
official from the U.N.-run office for missing persons and forensics.
All of them were previously listed as missing persons.
There are 2,398 people still listed as missing from the 1998-1999
Kosovo conflict and their fate remains one of the most sensitive and
emotionally charged issues between the two former foes. Thousands
perished during the brief war.
Representatives of the two sides have several times attempted to
establish the whereabouts of ethnic Albanians, Serbs and others who
vanished during the fighting.
The war was halted in mid-1999 after NATO launched an air war to halt
Serb forces crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists. Since then,
Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press
Posted for Fair Use only.
---
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/ap041106.htm
Greek president slams international leaders' 'forgotten promises' over
Kosovo
Associated Press Worldstream - April 11, 2006 Tuesday 2:37 PM GMT
ATHENS Greece - Greek President Karolos Papoulias on Tuesday accused
the international community of broken promises over Kosovo, saying
little had been done to improve life in the province of Serbia.
"The better life which the international community promised after the
bombing in 1999 was lost in the bureaucratic labyrinth of economic and
humanitarian aid," Papoulias said, adding that world leaders "quickly
forgot their responsibilities and promises."
Kosovo, still formally part of Serbia-Montenegro, has been under U.N.
administrative rule since mid-1999, when a NATO air war halted Serb
forces' crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians.
"Organized crime and the black economy were the real winners of the
war," said Papoulias, a former foreign minister who was elected
president by parliament for a five-year term in 2005.
Papoulias was speaking at the University of Macedonia in the northern
port city of Thessaloniki.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press
Posted for Fair Use only.
---
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/rts041506.htm
Kosovo Serb home in Mitrovica attacked
BBC Monitoring Europe (Political) - April 15, 2006 Saturday
Text of report by Serbian TV on 15 April
[Presenter] Another attack against the Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija has
taken place. Two explosive devices were thrown at a house owned by
Zorica Mitrovic in the northern, Serb-populated part of Kosovska
Mitrovica in which refugees from Istok live. Fortunately, nobody was
injured.
[Reporter] Seven members of the Bojic family, including children, were
inside the house when the attack took place.
[Male captioned as Bojic family member] They wanted to lob the other
one [explosive device] inside the room, but it bounced and fell, but
this one went off [presumably Molotov cocktail] here and set the roof
on fire, here [shows roof], these gutters and the roof, all the way
up. Then the firemen came.
[Reporter] Despite the facts, Kosovo Police Service spokesman Sami
Mehmeti said it is not known what caused the fire. This is the tenth
such attack on this Serb house in multiethnic Bosniak Mahala [district
of Kosovska Mitrovica].
Source: RTS 1 TV, Belgrade, in Serbian 1000 gmt 15 Apr 06
Copyright 2006 British Broadcasting Corporation
Posted for Fair Use only.
---
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/afp041706.htm
Kosovo independence could destabilise Bosnia, warns Dodik
Agence France Presse (English) - April 17, 2006 Monday 3:01 PM GMT
BANJA LUKA, Bosnia-Hercegovina, April 17 2006 - Bosnian Serb Prime
Minister Milorad Dodik said Monday that granting Kosovo Albanians
independence from Serbia could destabilise Bosnia.
"I am not saying that people would take up arms, but it is certain
that this decision would result in lasting dissatisfaction and
mistrust," the Bosnian Serb news agency, SRNA, quoted Dodik as saying.
Since its 1992-1995 war, Bosnia has been split into two
semi-independent entities -- the Serb-run Republika Srpska and the
Muslim-Croat Federation.
Dodik's comments were a reference to the feeling among many Bosnian
Serbs that Bosnia's borders should be allowed to change if Kosovo
becomes independent from Serbia.
Belgrade and Pristina began talks this year on the future status of
the majority ethnic Albanian province, which has been run by the
United Nations since Serb forces were forced out by NATO-led air war
in 1999.
Still technically (SIC) a part of Serbia, the international community
hopes to settle Kosovo's status by the end of this year.
Copyright 2006 Agence France Presse
Posted for Fair Use only.
Final solution for Kosovo Serbs
1. Final solution: ONU Prepares to Evacuate 40,000 Kosovo Serbs
L'UNHCR PIANIFICA LA ESPULSIONE DI 40MILA KOSOVARI PERCHE' DI RAZZA
("ETNIA") SERBA
2. La KFOR n'ouvrira pas ses prisons à l'UE
3. NEWS:
# KFOR won't open prisons to the EU
LE PRIGIONI DELLA NATO IN KOSOVO (KFOR) SONO OFF-LIMITS
# SERBIAN OFFICIAL WARNS BOSNIAN SERBS, CROATS MAY SEEK SAME AS KOSOVO
ALBANIANS
"IN BOSNIA FARANNO COME IN KOSOVO"
# Rampage of the mafia may delay Kosovo independence
LA MAFIA KOSOVARA E' UN PROBLEMA PERSINO PER L'OCCIDENTE
# U.N. in Kosovo hands over 11 bodies of Serb war victims to families
UNDICI CADAVERI DI DESAPARECIDOS SERBI KOSOVARI - TUTTI IDENTIFICATI -
RESTITUITI ALLE FAMIGLIE
(NB. non troverete questa notizia sui vostri quotidiani)
# Greek president slams international leaders' 'forgotten promises'
over Kosovo
IL PRESIDENTE GRECO CRITICA LA "COMUNITA' INTERNAZIONALE"
# Kosovo Serb home in Mitrovica attacked
ATTACCO CONTRO CASA DI SERBI A MITROVICA
DOPO L'ACCOLTELLAMENTO DI UN SERBO A FINE MARZO
(vedi JUGOINFO April 5, 2006 8:11:09 PM - NB. non troverete queste
notizie sui vostri quotidiani)
# Kosovo independence could destabilise Bosnia, warns Dodik
DODIK: IN BOSNIA SI FARA' COME IN KOSOVO
( LINK:
Kosovo: le potenze imperialiste preparano la soluzione finale
di Andrea Catone
https://www.cnj.it/documentazione/acatone05.htm )
=== 1 ===
UN reportedly prepared for Serb exodus from Kosovo
BBC Monitoring Europe (Political) - April 17, 2006 Monday
Excerpt from report by Bosnian Serb news agency SRNA
Podgorica, 17 April: The chairwoman of the Serb National Council for
central Kosovo, Rada Trajkovic, has said that the World Health
Organization [WHO] and UNHCR are working on a project aimed at
evacuating 40,000 Serbs who are expected to leave Kosovo-Metohija if
it becomes independent.
Trajkovic told the Podgorica-based Dan [daily] that the project was in
its final stage and that crisis headquarters were being set up to help
the refugees.
"As a doctor, I am sad that the WHO is involved in a project of ethnic
engineering, i.e. the Serb exodus from Kosovo-Metohija," Trajkovic said.
Source: SRNA news agency, Bijeljina, in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian 0648
gmt 17 Apr 06
Copyright 2006 British Broadcasting Corporation
Posted for Fair Use only.
---
http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?catid=144&newsid=86704&ch=0
Focus News Agency (Bulgaria) - April 18, 2006
Europe Prepares to Evacuate 40,000 Kosovo Serbs
Podgorica - Chair of the Serbian National Council for
Central Kosovo Rada Trajkovic revealed that the WHO
and UN Refugee Agency are preparing a project for the
evacuation of 40,000 Serbs who are expected to leave
Kosovo after it receives its independence.
The project is in its final stage and crisis
headquarters that will receive Serbs who would leave
Kosovo are being set up, the Montenegrin newspaper Dan
reads today.
Trajkovic expressed her regret that the World Health
Organization participates in a project for moving
Serbians from Kosovo.
"I am waiting for an official reaction from Belgrade
because instead of creating an environment to keep the
Serbs in Kosovo there is a project that proposes
[them] leaving it," Trajkovic noted.
=== 2 ===
La KFOR n'ouvrira pas ses prisons à l'UE, 6 avril 2006, B92 News
Strasbourg – Le Secrétaire général du Conseil européen Terry Davis a
dit que la KFOR (« Force du Kosovo », sous commandement OTAN) n'a
toujours pas autorisé l'accès du Conseil de l'UE aux prisons du Kosovo
étant sous le contrôle des forces internationales.
« Le problème n'a pas surgi maintenant, son importance a crû avec le
temps », a dit Davis à Strasbourg, affirmant que Belgrade a signé
toutes les conventions nécessaires qui donnent au Comité pour la
prévention de la torture l'autorisation de visiter toutes les prisons
et voir dans quelles conditions les prisonniers y sont détenus.
« Il y a un problème dans le cas du Kosovo, parce qu'on nous a refusé
l'accès aux prisons sous le contrôle de la KFOR et de l'OTAN. J'ai
écrit au Secrétaire général de l'OTAN il y a 18 mois, et nous perdons
doucement patience », a dit Davis.
« J'avais l'impression que l'OTAN devrait défendre la liberté, les
libertés des citoyens et les droits humains », a ajouté Davis.
« Ce cas ne peut être expliqué. L'OTAN ne veut pas approuver l'accès
aux prisons du Kosovo », a dit Davis.
Selon lui, le problème ne se trouve pas chez la MINUK (« Mission des
Nations Unies au Kosovo », responsable de la police et du secteur
civil), mais auprès des commandants de la KFOR, nommant le Kosovo « le
trou de la prévention de possibles tortures humaines dans des prisons
» en conséquence du manque de coopération de la KFOR.
SOURCE : http://fr.groups.yahoo.com/group/alerte_otan/messages
Liste gérée par des membres du Comité de Surveillance OTAN.
=== 3 ===
KFOR won't open prisons to the EU | 14:21 April 06 | B92
STRASBURG -- European Council Secretary General, Terry Davis, said
that KFOR still has not granted the EU Council the access to the
prisons in Kosovo, which are under the control of the international
forces.
"The problem did not appear just now, its importance has been growing
through time," said Davis at Strasburg, stating that Belgrade has
signed all of the necessary conventions that give the Committee for
torture prevention the go-ahead to visit all prisons and see in what
conditions the prisoners are being held.
"There is a problem in the case of Kosovo, because we have been denied
all access to the prisons under the control of KFOR and NATO. I wrote
to the NATO Secretary General 18 months ago, and we are slowly losing
our patience," said Davis.
"I was under the impression that NATO should defend liberty, freedoms
of the citizens and human rights." Davis added.
"This case cannot be explained. NATO is not willing to approve access
to the Kosovo prisons", said Davis.
According to him, the problem is not with UNMIK, but in the KFOR
commanders, calling Kosovo "the hole in the prevention of possible
human torture in prisons" as a result of KFOR's lack of cooperation.
SOURCE : http://fr.groups.yahoo.com/group/alerte_otan/messages
Liste gérée par des membres du Comité de Surveillance OTAN.
---
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/fonet040806.htm
SERBIAN OFFICIAL WARNS BOSNIAN SERBS, CROATS MAY SEEK SAME AS KOSOVO
ALBANIANS
BBC Monitoring International Reports - April 8, 2006 Saturday
Text of report by Serbian independent news agency FoNet
Belgrade, 8 April: The chairman of the Coordination Centre for
Kosovo-Metohija, Sanda Raskovic-Ivic, said today that Kosovo
independence would be in violation and in total disregard of
international law. She noted that an imposed solution for Kosovo would
open a whole series of other processes.
"If you have a violation of international law in one place, then this
can turn into a principle," Sanda Raskovic-Ivic said in a statement to
journalists, following a session of the [Serbian] Economic Team for
Kosovo-Metohija and Southern Serbia. She said that there were a great
many places in Europe and the world awaiting the outcome of the
negotiations about the final status of Kosovo.
"If this solution is imposed and if it is not in line with
international law, then there is no reason for the Albanians in
western Macedonia, northern Greece and Montenegro not to ask for the
very same thing sought by the Albanians in Kosovo-Metohija," Sanda
Raskovic-Ivic said.
She said that that the Serbs in the [Bosnian] Serb Republic, and
Croats in Herceg-Bosna could seek the same thing, because "if two
Albanian states in the Balkans are possible, then two Serb and two
Croat states are also possible".
Source: FoNet news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 1254 gmt 8 Apr 06
Copyright 2006 Financial Times Information
Global News Wire - Asia Africa Intelligence Wire
Copyright 2006 BBC Monitoring/BBC Source: Financial Times Information
Limited
Posted for Fair Use only.
---
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/st040906.htm
Rampage of the mafia may delay Kosovo independence
Sunday Times (London) - April 9, 2006, Sunday
By: Tom Walker, Pristina
KOSOVO, the former Yugoslav province, is falling into the grip of
Albanian organised crime gangs, casting a shadow over attempts by the
international community to turn it into a fully fledged independent
state by the end of this year.
Participants in talks in Vienna, sponsored by the United Nations, on
the "final status" of Kosovo, are concerned that the mafia networks
that smuggled guns into the disputed province from Albania in 1997 and
1998 are using the same channels for a burgeoning trade in illicit
petrol, cigarettes and cement. Prostitution and drugs are also popular
staples of the black economy.
The profits are ploughed into shopping centres and hotels, which are
going up as part of a building boom in the province. Petrol stations
are especially popular - there are more than 2,000 of them catering
for a population of 2m in a territory the size of Devon. Many are
believed to be part of a money laundering racket, controlled by a few
of the largest clan families, involving oil smuggled in from Montenegro.
Despite attempts by Soren Jessen-Petersen, head of the UN mission in
Kosovo, to downplay the extent of the problem, UN officials admit the
corruption extends deep into the heart of the Kosovo government.
"Crime groups have been able to operate with impunity," said Marek
Antoni Nowicki, Poland's leading human rights lawyer and the UN's
international ombudsman for Kosovo until last year.
"You have a criminal state in real power -it needs underground illegal
structures to supply it with everything to survive. These networks can
rely on the weakness of the public institutions to sanction their
operations."
On Friday the UN's internal watchdog, the Office of Internal
Oversight, accused Jessen-Petersen of turning a blind eye to
widespread fraud at Pristina airport. He protested that the accusation
was "entirely unwarranted".
Kosovo is still technically part of Serbia: Vojislav Kostunica, the
Serbian prime minister, argues that Belgrade must retain some form of
control.
The fight against corruption is complicated by the fact that the task
is shared between different bodies of varying degrees of competence.
"The aim is to keep the criminals under control," said Nowicki. "The
question is can the international community do it? It is very doubtful."
Copyright 2006 Times Newspapers Limited
---
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/ap040706.htm
U.N. in Kosovo hands over 11 bodies of Serb war victims to families
Associated Press Worldstream - April 7, 2006 Friday 11:10 AM GMT
MERDARE Serbia-Montenegro - U.N. officials in Kosovo on Friday handed
over the bodies of 11 Serb civilians killed during the 1998-99
conflict in the troubled southern province.
Dark wooden coffins carrying the bodies mostly Serbs from the Kosovo
towns of Prizren, Suva Reka and Gnjilane were brought to the boundary
crossing at Merdare, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of the
provincial capital, Pristina.
Grieving relatives, who had arrived from various Serbian towns, lit
candles and women dressed in black wailed by the tents where the
coffins were first placed before the families ferried them home for
burials.
Of the 11 bodies, five were exhumed from a mass grave in Kosovo's
southern town of Malisevo, once a stronghold of ethnic Albanian rebels
that fought with Serb forces in 1998. The rest were retrieved from
several other sites throughout the province, said Valerie Brasey, an
official from the U.N.-run office for missing persons and forensics.
All of them were previously listed as missing persons.
There are 2,398 people still listed as missing from the 1998-1999
Kosovo conflict and their fate remains one of the most sensitive and
emotionally charged issues between the two former foes. Thousands
perished during the brief war.
Representatives of the two sides have several times attempted to
establish the whereabouts of ethnic Albanians, Serbs and others who
vanished during the fighting.
The war was halted in mid-1999 after NATO launched an air war to halt
Serb forces crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists. Since then,
Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press
Posted for Fair Use only.
---
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/ap041106.htm
Greek president slams international leaders' 'forgotten promises' over
Kosovo
Associated Press Worldstream - April 11, 2006 Tuesday 2:37 PM GMT
ATHENS Greece - Greek President Karolos Papoulias on Tuesday accused
the international community of broken promises over Kosovo, saying
little had been done to improve life in the province of Serbia.
"The better life which the international community promised after the
bombing in 1999 was lost in the bureaucratic labyrinth of economic and
humanitarian aid," Papoulias said, adding that world leaders "quickly
forgot their responsibilities and promises."
Kosovo, still formally part of Serbia-Montenegro, has been under U.N.
administrative rule since mid-1999, when a NATO air war halted Serb
forces' crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians.
"Organized crime and the black economy were the real winners of the
war," said Papoulias, a former foreign minister who was elected
president by parliament for a five-year term in 2005.
Papoulias was speaking at the University of Macedonia in the northern
port city of Thessaloniki.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press
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http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/rts041506.htm
Kosovo Serb home in Mitrovica attacked
BBC Monitoring Europe (Political) - April 15, 2006 Saturday
Text of report by Serbian TV on 15 April
[Presenter] Another attack against the Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija has
taken place. Two explosive devices were thrown at a house owned by
Zorica Mitrovic in the northern, Serb-populated part of Kosovska
Mitrovica in which refugees from Istok live. Fortunately, nobody was
injured.
[Reporter] Seven members of the Bojic family, including children, were
inside the house when the attack took place.
[Male captioned as Bojic family member] They wanted to lob the other
one [explosive device] inside the room, but it bounced and fell, but
this one went off [presumably Molotov cocktail] here and set the roof
on fire, here [shows roof], these gutters and the roof, all the way
up. Then the firemen came.
[Reporter] Despite the facts, Kosovo Police Service spokesman Sami
Mehmeti said it is not known what caused the fire. This is the tenth
such attack on this Serb house in multiethnic Bosniak Mahala [district
of Kosovska Mitrovica].
Source: RTS 1 TV, Belgrade, in Serbian 1000 gmt 15 Apr 06
Copyright 2006 British Broadcasting Corporation
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http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/afp041706.htm
Kosovo independence could destabilise Bosnia, warns Dodik
Agence France Presse (English) - April 17, 2006 Monday 3:01 PM GMT
BANJA LUKA, Bosnia-Hercegovina, April 17 2006 - Bosnian Serb Prime
Minister Milorad Dodik said Monday that granting Kosovo Albanians
independence from Serbia could destabilise Bosnia.
"I am not saying that people would take up arms, but it is certain
that this decision would result in lasting dissatisfaction and
mistrust," the Bosnian Serb news agency, SRNA, quoted Dodik as saying.
Since its 1992-1995 war, Bosnia has been split into two
semi-independent entities -- the Serb-run Republika Srpska and the
Muslim-Croat Federation.
Dodik's comments were a reference to the feeling among many Bosnian
Serbs that Bosnia's borders should be allowed to change if Kosovo
becomes independent from Serbia.
Belgrade and Pristina began talks this year on the future status of
the majority ethnic Albanian province, which has been run by the
United Nations since Serb forces were forced out by NATO-led air war
in 1999.
Still technically (SIC) a part of Serbia, the international community
hopes to settle Kosovo's status by the end of this year.
Copyright 2006 Agence France Presse
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