Zannier Compared Kosovo with Afghanistan (Koha Ditore)

Main Stories 8 July 2011

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· Krasniqi: Government gave up on elements of statehood (Koha)

· Zannier compared Kosovo with Afghanistan (Koha Ditore)

· Municipality fails to remove wall surrounding UNMK in Mitrovica (Koha)

· Thaçi gives to Jahjaga conclusions of dialogue with Serbia (dailies)

· Vetëvendosje: Government is recognizing Serbia within Kosovo (dailies)

· Rexhepi does not yield on Serbian documents (dailies)

· Arnal sues Capussella and Koha Ditore (Koha)

Kosovo Media Highlights

Krasniqi: Government gave up on elements of statehood (Koha Ditore)

Koha Ditore reports that the Kosovo Government has given up some elements of statehood, in order to secure agreements with Serbia last week in Brussels.This conclusion was made from the Head of Kosovo Assembly, Jakup Krasniqi, in an exclusive interview for Koha Ditore., a few moments after he read the conclusions of the EU facilitator Robert Cooper. In the interview, Krasniqi said that the national dialogue team should have not give up from the inscription “Republic of Kosovo” the same as it should have not accept that the border with Serbia to be evaluated as an “administrative boundary”. He evaluated this unacceptable also the taking of civil registry photocopies instead of the original ones, while not hiding the concern that the same thing can happen also with the cadastral registers.

Zannier compared Kosovo with Afghanistan (Koha Ditore)

Koha Ditore reports that former Head of UNMIK, Lamberto Zannier, before leaving Kosovo made a strange comparison between Kosovo and Afghanistan. In some correspondences between him and KFOR commander, Erhard Buehler, which Koha Ditore acquired from international sources, the former Head of UNMIK mentions incidents in Afghanistan as a reason to keep the security level of UNMIK staff in Kosovo. In a letter sent to the KFOR commander in connection with the wall which is around the main headquarters of UNMIK in Mitrovica, former Head of UNMIK writes that the wall is necessary because of the security of the staff of UNMIK and requests for KFOR to stop Mitrovica municipality from the action of removing of the same wall. The former Head of UNMIK tries to explain to the KFOR commander why this wall is necessary. “I have to add that this aspect has an even greater importance after the tragic incidents in Mazai-Sharif in Afghanistan, and in some other places, where peaceful protests have turned into violent protests and have caused the death of the United Nations staff”, writes the former Head of UNMIK.

The Italian diplomat, who according to the newspaper wrote the letter in his last day as SRSG, reminds KFOR commander that determing the necessary security measures for UN staff is within the competence of the UN.

KFOR commander does not hide his opinion that the fence is unnecessary. On the contrary, in his six page response to UNMIK he explains to UNMIK officials the reasons why KFOR evaluates that the wall should be removed.

The newspaper requested explanations from UNMIK about the comparison that UNMIK chief made between Kosovo and Afghanistan. According to UNMIK’s spokesperson, no such comparison was made and UNMIK does not consider that the situation in Kosovo is similar to Afghanistan.

“The existence of the wall in Mitrovica does not reflect our assessment of the security situation. In fact we have the same type of wall at our headquarters outside of Pristina. UNMIK maintains these walls to conform to security standards that apply to all UN missions. In addition similar walls exist in other locations in Kosovo in other organizations,” Head of the Department of Public Information Olivier Salgado said.

Municipality fails to remove wall surrounding UNMK in Mitrovica (Koha)

Koha Ditore reports that the municipality of Mitrovica for the time has given up on the idea of removing the wall surrounding the UNMIK building there. The intervention by KFOR and talks on Thursday between the municipal leadership and UNMIK officials has unblocked the area where the UN staff is located in Mitrovica.

Sources told the paper that KFOR commander Erhard Buhler, through a representative, has called on the municipality not to remove the walls which according to him are part of diplomatic immunity. “If the walls are removed without the consent of UNMIK then KFOR will be forced to support UNMIK because this is provided in United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244,” Buhler was reported to have said.

Koha Ditore also reports that talks between Mitrovica mayor Avni Kastrati and acting UNMIK chief Robert Sorenson reached an agreement that in 10 days UNMIK would move the walls closer to the building and in October will completely release the facility.

“We had a fruitful meeting, we understood by talking to each other about the building and the importance that the walls have for its security,” said acting SRSG Sorenson. “For more than a year, UNMIK is looking for a new facility that will meet UN requirements, because many people are inclined to attacking UN staff in the world.”

Sorenson said the UNMIK facility in Mitrovica never came under any attack but that this doesn’t mean it will never happen as was the case in Afghanistan. The media reacted immediately asking for more explanations from Sorenson about the comparison to Afghanistan, to which Sorenson replied that the situation is not the same and that he mentioned it only as an illustration.

Thaçi gives to Jahjaga conclusions of dialogue with Serbia (dailies)

Dailies report that Kosovo President, Atifete Jahjaga, welcomed on Thursday Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi. The Department of Information of the Presidency said they talked about the political situation, the coordination of actions, the visits outside the country, and the telephone call between American Vice President, Joseph Biden and President Atifete Jahjaga. During this meeting Prime Minister, Hashim Thaçi handed over to President Jahjaga conclusions of the EU facilitator Robert Cooper, for the agreement achieved during the process of the dialogue with Serbia, conducted in Brussels, says in the information.

Vetëvendosje: Government is recognizing Serbia within Kosovo (dailies)

Several dailies report that Vetëvendosje senior official Glauk Konjufca told reporters on Thursday that with the ongoing negotiations the Government of Kosovo is completely serving Serbia’s agenda to get into the European Union and to maintain its power in Kosovo through illegitimate structures.

“Negotiations with Serbia and the agreements reached violate our country’s sovereignty. These agreements are by far biased. Serbia does not recognize Kosovo, whereas the Government of Kosovo is not only recognizing Serbia as a state but it is also recognizing its presence within Kosovo,” Konjufca was quoted as saying.

Rexhepi does not yield on Serbian documents (dailies)

Several dailies report that new Serbian documents, ID cards, drivers licenses and license plates are not acceptable in Kosovo. Kosovo’s Interior Affairs Minister Bajram Rexhepi said in an interview for KiM radio station that in accordance with Kosovo laws, the police is obliged to confiscate Serbian documents. He added that police have already confiscated Serbian biometric documents because they are illegal and that such documents need to be replaced by Kosovar documents.

Rexhepi also said that by November 1st all Serb parallel institutions in Kosovo must dissolve and all registers and record books need to be transferred over to Kosovo’s jurisdiction. “There cannot be two kinds of institutions within the same territory that issue documents,” he concluded.

Arnal sues Capussella and Koha Ditore (Koha Ditore)

The paper reports that outgoing chief prosecutor of the Kosovo Special Prosecution, Isabel Arnal, has hired two local attorneys to file a private lawsuit against former ICO economic unit chief Andrea Capussella and the daily newspaper Koha Ditore. Arnal claims that Capussella has fabricated in a recent opinion piece published in Koha Ditore. Arnal sued the newspaper for publishing the opinion piece.

Kosovo Press Headlines

Koha Ditore

Front page

· Krasniqi: Government gave up on elements of statehood

· Zannier compared Kosovo to Afghanistan

· Vetëvendosje: Government is recognizing Serbia within Kosovo

· Chief prosecutor Arnal sues Capussella and Koha Ditore

· Mitrovica municipality fails to remove walls surrounding UNMIK

· Prizren municipal leaders suspected of illegally expropriating socially-owned property

Other headlines

· Thaçi gives conclusions of dialogue with Serbia to Jahjaga (3)

· Biden congratulates Kosovo on agreements with Serbia (3)

· Bajram Rexhepi does not yield on Serbian documents (3)

· Miletic accuses EULEX for inefficiency in the north (6)

Zëri

Front page

· Municipalities under Thaçi’s heel

· Conclusions of agreements are distributed

· Filipaj: Edita’s monologue

· Biometric passports in October

Other headlines

· Biden hails agreements (2)

· Dick disappointed in EULEX (2)

· Serbia calls for urgent investigations (2)

· Miletic: Life in Kosovo continues to be unsafe (2)

· Hyseni: Government lacks vision (4)

· ICO’s presence is reviewed (5)

Kosova Sot

Front page

· Conclusions of three Kosovo-Serb agreements revealed

· Editorial: Talks with Serbia

· Countryman: We would not force Kosovo into a damaging process!

· Serbia, biggest exporter of water in the Kosovo market

Other headlines

· Serbia does not dismantle parallel structures (2)

· Konjufca: Thaçi’s political concept must be smashed (3)

· Jahjaga and Krasniqi receive the conclusions (3)

· Support for Kosovo not influenced by relations with IMF (4)

· Italy in favour of visa liberalization roadmap (4)

Epoka e Re

Front page

· Here is the full content of the agreements

· Biden greets the achievement of the agreements

· Thaçi shows himself transparent

Other headlines

· Kosovo and Croatia have friendly relations (4)

· Dick Marty criticizes EULEX (2)

· Stefanovic: Pristina is changing agreements (5)

· Vetëvendosje distances from Florin (5)

· ICO office in Peja closed (7)

· Rexhepi: Police is obliged to confiscate new documents of Serbia (7)

· Policemen in the north protest against the discharge of the commanders (7)

· Kosovo receives support from the World Bank (9)

· Fences to be removed in October (10)

Express

Front page

· President silent about the agreements

Other headlines

· Hyseni: government has a lack of the vision (4)

· France welcomes the agreements (5)

· The state is being degraded (5)

· To be reviewed the ICO presence in Kosovo (6)

· Conclusions of the Chairman (6)

· Eules arrests one and releases four (7)

· World Bank supports Kosovo (10)

Bota Sot

Front page

· Thaçi hands over to President Jahjaga consclusions of the agreement Kosovo-Serbia

· “We should not break Thaçi’s teeth, but political concepts”

Other headlines

· To be reviewed the ICO presence in teh north (3)

· Biden greets the agreement of 2 July (4)

· World Bank continues to support energy projects in Kosovo (4)

· EULEX releases four of the arrested about Bllaca case (6)

· Countryman guarantees that USA will not push Kosovo towards the damage of the state (11)

Disclaimer

This media summary consists of selected local media articles for the information of UN personnel. The public distribution of this media summary is a courtesy service extended by UNMIK on the understanding that the choice of articles translated is exclusive, and the contents do not represent anything other than a selection of articles likely to be of interest to a United Nations readership. The inclusion of articles in this summary does not imply endorsement by UNMIK.