Main Stories 17 April 2008

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  • Russia is also againstSerbia’s elections in Kosovo (Dailies)
  • CoE proposes a visit by Thaçi to Strasbourg (Koha Ditore)
  • “Vetëvendosje”, protest on 9 May against Serbia’s elections in Kosovo (Dailies)
  • Rossin – Gallucci conflict treated as an internal issue (Zëri)
  • We are not afraid of Russia (Express)
  • Indictment for 21 Serbs that destroyed border crossing points in the North (dailies)
  • Sejdiu proposes reforming LDK (dailies)
  • No evidence for organ trafficking by KLA in Kosovo (Koha Ditore)

Kosovo Media Highlights

Russia is also againstSerbia’s elections in Kosovo (Dailies)

The six countries of the Contact Group including Russia are against the municipal elections of Serbia, which are to take place in Kosovo on 11 May, and support the same line as UNMIK on this matter. A UNMIK officer said yesterday that UNMIK administration was supported by diplomatic representatives in Pristina from U.S., UK, France, Germany, Italy and Russia, dailies read.

“It would be interesting to see if Serbia decides to oppose the will of all international players, not only those of from the European Union, UN, and Contact Group, because they all said clearly that Serbia’s local elections should not take place in Kosovo,” dailies quoted UNMIK spokesperson, Alexander Ivanko as saying.

Papers also quote Ivanko who said that the letter that was sent to UNMIK by Serbia’s Minister for Kosovo, Slobodan Samardzic, regarding Serbia’s elections, contains lots of pseudo-arguments, where some of them are not valid, and besides that the letter is very long, therefore it will undergo a detailed analysis.

CoE proposes a visit by Thaçi to Strasbourg (Koha Ditore)

Council of Europe representatives said on Wednesday that the independence of Kosovo is a reality and in this light have proposed that Kosovo PM Hashim Thaçi makes a visit to the CoE seat in Strasbourg, Koha Ditore reports. Representative of the European democratic and liberal parties, Lord Russell Johnston, said independence of Kosovo cannot be undone. “My group supports independence of Kosovo and wish the new state of Kosovo well,” Lord Johnston said.

There was a general feeling in the Council of Europe during its Parliamentary Assembly meeting that recognition of Kosovo’s independence is an issue that the member states have to decide individually.

“Vetëvendosje”, protest on 9 May against Serbia’s elections in Kosovo (Dailies)

The leader of “Vetëvendosja”, Albin Kurti called on Kosovo citizens to join the demonstration that will be organized by “Vetëvendosja”, on 9 May, against the holding of Serbia’s elections in Kosovo.

“Kosovo is very valuable to be left in the hands of our politicians, who 9 years ago signed a document foreseeing Kosovo deputies in the Serbia’s Parliament,” papers quoted Kurti as saying. According to him, Kosovo’s Prime MinisterHashim Thaçi is the person who gave the green light to holding Serbia’s election in Kosovo.

Rossin – Gallucci conflict treated as an internal issue (Zëri)

The conflict between UNMIK Deputy Chief Lary Rossin and Mitrovica Regional Administrator Gerard Gallucci is continuing and officials from this administration classified it as an “internal issue” of the mission.

It seems like the official communication between UNMIK Headquarters and the Office in Mitrovica has been paralyzed since also UNMIK Chief is supporting Lary Rossin against Gallucci’s acts, writes Zëri. After one month that the conflict has started UNMIK officials say that they hope that Rücker will solve this issue.

“I know that the term is very popular in the Balkan, but we call this an internal issue, and as the SRSG has already said, he will try to solve this as soon as possible. We will not give any more details on this,” UNMIK’s spokesperson Alexander Ivanko is quoted as saying.

We are not afraid of Russia (Express)

There are possibilities that Ukraine will increase the number of the countries that recognized independence of Kosovo, but for the time being this country is analysing the situation, the paper reads.

U.S. President George W. Bush, a day before his visit to Ukraine prior to the NATO summit that was held in Bucharest, expressed his hope that Ukraine will recognize independence of Kosovo.

“We are surrounded by countries that have territorial problems, we are analyzing if Kosovo is a unique case or not. Once we do that we will make our decision”, said Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. On the question made by a Kosovo journalist, if Ukraine is afraid of Russia to recognize Kosovo’s independence, Tymoshenko said that her party did confirm that they are not afraid of Russians.

Indictment for 21 Serbs that destroyed border crossing points in the North (dailies)

The Directorate for Serious Crimes of KPS has filed an indictment in the UNMIK Special Prosecution against 21 Serbs from Kosovo and Serbia, which are suspected to have destroyed the border crossing points in Leposavic and Zubin Potok.

According to the Police, investigators are still looking for facts, while the number of the accused ones is expected to grow.

“After intensive investigative work, identifying the suspects and gathering facts and proofs to file the case in the prosecution, the investigators from the KPS Directorate for Serious Crimes have filed indictments against 21 suspects, Kosovo Serb citizens, seven from the gate 1 and fourteen from gate 31,” reads a KPS press release.

No evidence for organ trafficking by KLA in Kosovo (Koha Ditore)

UN ICTY prosecutors in The Hague said they did not find any evidence to suggest that Kosovo Albanians were involved in trafficking of organs of Serbs during 1998-1999. Olga Karvan from ICTY said the investigators conducted preliminary investigations in a suspected site in the northern Albania but that they found no evidence to continue their inquiry.

Sejdiu proposes reforming LDK (dailies)

Kosovo President and leader of LDK, Fatmir Sejdiu, presented to the party a document on reforming the LDK and how to win the next elections. Sejdiu gave one week for the membership to review the document and give feedback.

Principal Deputy Leader of LDK, Eqrem Kryeziu, did not reveal what the document contains in more detail but said that as soon as the plan is approved it will be made public.

LDK in its presidency meeting also decided to nominate Valton Beqiri to the post of Minister of Culture.

Kosovo Press Headlines

Koha Ditore

Front page

  • Debellde inhabitants protect property and flag
  • Del Ponte’s accusations are only crap
  • Russia is also against Serbia’s elections in Kosovo
  • Vetëvendosje against Serbian elections in Kosovo
  • Information of corruption does not stop
  • 12 shops burned at Pristina Green Market
  • The Serb and the Albanian fight in the north, they get treated separately

Other headlines

  • Prosecution: There is no evidence on organ trafficking by KLA in Kosovo (2)
  • Vujanovic: Montenegro does not rush to decide on Kosovo (2)
  • Ukraine continues consultations about its stance on Kosovo (2)
  • Russian orthodox church against Kosovo’s independence, warns of war (2)
  • Council of Europe proposes Thaçi’s visit to Strasbourg (4)
  • Sejdiu presents theses for “recapturing of the political scene” (5)
  • Criminal charges for 21 Serbs that destroyed border points in the north (7)
  • Firing of arms in Kosovo-Serbia border (7)
  • Marihuana’s mini-lab discovered, two persons arrested (7)
  • Del Ponte’s hand! (10)

Zëri

Front page

  • UNMIK: The entire international community is against local Serbian elections in Kosovo
  • Sejdiu offers a document on LDK reformation
  • Editorial: Reaction to Serb initiatives
  • Request for indictment with names of 21 suspects goes to the Special Prosecution
  • Bush and Ban Ki-moon discuss Kosovo on the phone
  • Rossin-Gallucci conflict treated as an internal UNMIK issue
  • Melihate Tërmkolli: LDK should hold new elections
  • Thaçi: Battle against corruption is a patriotic deed as well

Other headlines

  • Chisov against the deployment with force of EULEX in entire Kosovo (2)
  • EU: The agreement with Serbia remains as it was initialed (2)
  • ORA demands cooperation with Social-Democrats and UNIKOMB (5)
  • Assembly reviews some draft laws from the area of culture (5)
  • Vetëvendosje calls for demonstrations on 9 May against Serbian elections in Kosovo (5)
  • Vujanovic: We will not rush to declare on Kosovo (6)
  • Kosovo ay be admitted to the IMF (6)
  • Polish neo-Nazis invite Serbs to kill UN police officers in Kosovo (6)
  • European Commission has helped Kosovo with concrete projects (7)
  • KFOR, UNMIK police and Serbian police inter-border group met (10)

Kosova Sot

Front page

  • Adnan Merovci, managing director in PTK
  • Editorial: Next provocation
  • Between fires
  • Valton Beqiri Minister
  • Indictment against 21 Serbs for burning customs points

Other headlines

  • Thaçi: You are touching promises (2)
  • Kosovo, a hot topic (4)
  • The Hague: There is no evidence for Del Ponte’s comments (4)
  • Bush and Ban Ki-moon discuss Kosovo on the phone (4)
  • Politics, involved in corruption (5)
  • No immunity for the corrupted ones (5)

Epoka e Re

Front page

  • Government battles, corruption and crime
  • A failed government
  • LDK makes the decision:Valton Beqiri, Minister of Culture…
  • Protest
  • LDK leadership, causer of crisis
  • Avni Dervishi, Kosovo’s undeclared ambassador

Other headlines

  • Khalilzad: Kosovo and Georgia, two completely opposite cases (2)
  • Tymoshenko: Ukraine has not yet made the decision on recognition of Kosovo’s independence (2)
  • Davis: Council of Europe cooperates with KFOR and UNMIK (2)
  • Alekseyev: Kosovo’s issue to return to the field of justice (2)
  • Vujanovic: We do not rush in recognizing Kosovo’s independence (2)
  • The Hague finds no evidence on Serb organs trafficking by KLA (2)
  • Hartman: Del Ponte’s accusations, irresponsible and non-dignitary (2)
  • Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, split over Kosovo (3)
  • Georgian peacekeepers withdrawn from Kosovo (3)
  • All against Serbian elections in Kosovo, Rossin does not leave Kosovo (9)
  • 21 indictments for burning customs points, including accusations for terrorism (9)

Express

Front page

  • LDK plan
  • KEK for sale
  • It will not be easy
  • Aunt Nekibe
  • All against Serbian elections

Other headlines

  • Editorial: A manual for the LDK (2)
  • ISG’s second meeting (3)
  • EU annulled the meeting (3)
  • Tymoshenko: We are not afraid of Russians (3)
  • The text of European Union-Serbia agreement will not change (5)
  • 21 indictments for disorders in Mitrovica (6)
  • [Protest] On 9 May (7)
Lajm

Front page

  • Prime Minister’s wise calculation
  • The auditor does not get audited
  • Under the fevers of changes
  • Demonstration against Serbian elections in Kosovo
  • Serious Minister
  • Arsonists of the north in the court house
  • LDK leadership is the causer of the crisis

Other headlines

  • Contact Group is also against elections (2)
  • Ukraine has not yet decided on recognition (2)
  • Bush and Ban Ki-moon for a stable Kosovo (3)
  • Rusia against EULEX, continues its pressure on EU (3)
  • Fight against corruption, a patriotic deed (4)
  • Internal problem remains unsolved (5)
  • Hartman: Del Ponte’s book is propaganda (5)
Bota Sot

Front page

  • We have made Kosovo’s independent state together
  • LDK proposes Valton Beqiri for Minister of Culture
  • Corruption – cancer for society, danger for institutions
  • UNMIK is still waiting for instructions from the UN
  • Russian pressure is having an impact for Kosovo’s independence not to be recognized by Arabic countries
  • Countries that recognized Kosovo’s independence control 60% of the package in IMF and WB
  • Kosovo among hot topics of the session

Other headlines

  • Serb police shot with firearms in the direction of inhabitants (4)
  • Hartman: Del Ponte’s accusations, irresponsible and non-dignitary (9)
  • Criminal charges against 21 people (13)
InfoPress

Front page

  • An uncompromised fight against corruption
  • Sejdiu does not leave the chair
  • Contact Group against Serbian elections
  • Kosovo heats up the debate in the Council of Europe
  • Irresponsible accusations
  • Misused expert!
  • LDK cannot make a deal

Other headlines

  • Bush and Ban Ki-moon discussed Kosovo (2)
  • Valton Beqiri Minister of Culture (3)
  • Vetëvendosje announces protests (4)
  • Refugees from Kosovo should not be expelled (4)
  • 21 accusations (5)

Belgrade Media Highlights

  • Ivanko: UNMIK against local elections in Kosovo (RTS/Tanjug)
  • Strasbourg: Deep divisions regarding Kosovo (RTS/Beta)
  • Kosachov: Proof of KLA bestialities hidden on purpose (Tanjug)
  • Kostunica again asks the EU for additional guarantees (RTS/Beta)
  • Kramarenko: Kosovo different from East Timor and Eritrea (Tanjug)
  • Ivanovic: KPS wishes for destabilization in northern Kosovo (Beta)

Ivanko: UNMIK against local elections in Kosovo (RTS/Tanjug)

In a response to official Belgrade, UNMIK will repeat that the organization of the local elections in the province is unacceptable, as it would represent the violation of UNSCR 1244, stated UNMIK spokesperson Aleksandr Ivanko. He said that UN officials had a meeting with Contact Group representatives, where they were acquainted with Belgrade’s request for Kosovo Serbs to elect their local representatives on 11 May, as well as with UNMIK’s assessment that it is impossible, according to the regulations of UNSCR 1244.

Strasbourg: Deep divisions regarding Kosovo (RTS/Beta)

CoE Secretary General Terry Davis said in Strasbourg that the Balkan region has not been destabilized after the declaration of Kosovo’s independence. “Nothing was done with the intention of destabilizing the Balkans,” Davis told a news conference, when asked whether the Balkans had become destabilized after Kosovo’s declaration of independence, Greece blocking FRYOM’s invitation to join NATO, and the calling of early elections in Serbia and FRYOM. Asked who the CoE will address if one of the conventions signed with Serbia is violated in Kosovo, Davis replied that this depended on the nature of the violation, but that when it came to Kosovo, the CoE “continues to cooperate with UNMIK, and through it with KFOR, based on UNSCR 1244.”
MPs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the CoE (PACE) have expressed differing stances regarding the consequences of the unilateral proclamation of Kosovo’s independence. The head of the Serbian delegation Milos Aligrudic has stressed that Serbia will never recognize independence of the province, as it is an absolutely illegal act, in discord with all important principles and norms of international law. Aligrudic pointed that it is a dangerous precedent that is jeopardizing the security and democratization processes in the region. Member of the Serbian delegation Dragoljub Micunovic especially underlined the fact that a violent disintegration of the Balkans is in opposition to the spirit of European integrations, as well as that nobody could explain to Serbs in B&H how come they do not have the right to self-determination, if the Albanians have got it as a national minority.

The head of the Russian delegation in the PACE Konstantin Kosachov has condemned the conduct of western governments that have supported the flagrant breach of international law. He criticized the position of certain MP groups in the Parliamentary Assembly, saying that their disregard for the fact that support to Albanians secessionists must lead to destabilization of many European countries is incomprehensible. Cypriot MP Andros Cyprianu has warned that the proclamation and recognition of Kosovo’s independence is violating the UN Charter and the whole system of international relations set after WWII, for which the countries that support that independence are bearing responsibility.

Kosachov: Proof of KLA bestialities hidden on purpose (Tanjug)

It is no coincidence that the claims of former ICTY chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte about the bestial crimes of KLA leaders have gone public only after the unilateral proclamation of Kosovo’s independence, stated Kosachov. He pointed that the facts of monstrous trade in body organs of Kosovo Serbs were known for years, but have been hidden on purpose. Some international factors needed to enable at any price the proclamation of independence to Kosovo secessionists, i.e. to protect current high provincial officials from the responsibility for the horrible bestialities done during the conflict in the province, underlined Kosachov.

Kostunica again asks the EU for additional guarantees (RTS/Beta)

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica has once again asked the EU for the additional guarantees to enable the signing of the SAA, and he stated that only one sentence needs to be added to the document, confirming that Kosovo is an inalienable part of Serbia. The EU needs to show that it respects Serbia as a state, and then the SAA will be widely accepted in Serbia, Kostunica emphasized. He pointed that so far the US and NATO have been exercising the policy of force and exerted strong pressure on the EU to sign the agreement with Serbia, which they would interpret as Serbia’s recognition of Kosovo’s independence.

The SAA with Serbia will be signed in the exact form in which it was initialed and no changes will be made, EU officials in Brussels told Beta. This means, the officials pointed out, that the text is to keep Article 135, which states that Kosovo is under temporary UN administration, based on UNSCR 1244, and that signing the SAA does not predetermine the province’s status. Asked whether Kosovo’s unilateral independence, declared in the meantime, does change matters, as also claimed by the Serbian prime minister, the EU sources replied that the UN have confirmed that UNMIK remains the only administration in Kosovo, in line with UNSCR 1244.

Kramarenko: Kosovo different from East Timor and Eritrea (Tanjug)

Unilateral proclamation of Kosovo’s independence and self-willing exclusion of the Kosovo issue from the competency of the UN SC testifies to double standards in the activities of the US and several European countries, stated the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Aleksandr Kramarenko. He recalled that Eritrea and East Timor have become independent state in full accordance with international law, with the accord of the states to which they had belonged, after negotiations with their authorities and with the approval of the UN SC. Precisely these founding principles were harshly violated in the case of Kosovo, for which there are SC decisions with the request for a political resolution of the conflict, with the preservation of sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states in the region, said Kramarenko.

Ivanovic: KPS wishes for destabilization in northern Kosovo (Beta)