Peace Negotiations Watch- Volume V, Number 17, July 26, 2006

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Kosovo has been administered by the UN and NATO since the end of NATO's 78-day bombingcampaign.Kosovo independence could lead to secession of Serb-populated northIsmet Hajdari, Agence France Presse, 7/23/06As Kosovo status talks were to resume at the highest level on Monday, Serbs in the north of theprovince warned this region along the border with Serbia proper would secede if independencewas granted to Pristina. "Northern Kosovo will never be Albanian and it will never be a part ofan independent Kosovo," warned Momir Kasalovic, a representative of the Serbian governmentin this region. "If there is no choice and independent Kosovo becomes a reality, we will doeverything possible to keep this region," he insisted.Kosovo, legally still a province of Serbia, has been run by the UN and NATO since mid-1999,when the alliance's air war drove out forces loyal to former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevicover a crackdown against the separatist ethnic Albanian majority. The UN-sponsored talks onKosovo's future status began in February, but have produced no concrete results so far. Aftereight rounds of talks, the UN special envoy for Kosovo, Martti Ahtisaari, invited leaders ofSerbia and Kosovo for the first high-level meeting in Vienna.The ethnic Albanian majority, which makes about 90 percent of the province's population, ispushing for independence, a demand the Serbian government and Kosovo Serbs firmly opposes."Albanians want too much even though this territory has always been Serbia. Living with them isimpossible, as it was before," said Vlada Zdravkovic, a refugee from the capital Pristina.Zdravkovic, who fled his hometown in 1999, fearing reprisals from ethnic Albanian hardliners,nowadays works as a taxi driver in Zvecan, populated mostly by the Serbs. "People here losttheir will to live with Albanians -- there is no trust between us, after so many bad things havehappened," said Zdravkovic, failing to hide his belief that the northern region should be linkedwith Serbia proper.Seven years after the war, the UN Mission in Kosovo has failed to enforce its mandate in theSerb-dominated north and sever Belgrade's influence. The Ibar River, which runs through thevolatile and ethnically-divided town of Kosovska Mitrovica, separates and marks the boundarybetween the biggest Serb-populated area in Kosovo with about 60,000 inhabitants and some twomillion ethnic Albanians in the rest of the province. Four northern municipalities are wedgeddeeply into Serbia and Belgrade has implemented policies designed to integrate this area andhinder all conections with the rest of Kosovo.Education, health care, social security, justice and other institutions in the north are sponsored bythe Serbian government. Phone and power companies are linked with the Serbian ones, andSerbia's official currency the dinar functions here, with many civil servants being paid byBelgrade. Many cars have no licence plates at all, rather then to use Kosovo number plates.Kosovo Albanian newspapers can not be found in the north. All these visible signs, combinedwith an absolute political loyalty among the Serbs to Belgrade, makes UN authority here almostinvisible.
In June, Serbs in the north proclaimed a "state of emergency", cutting off their relations withKosovo institutions, a move considered to be a first step towards the partition of the province.The decision, strongly opposed by the Kosovo Albanian and UN authorities, came after a seriesof armed attacks against the Serbs, including the murder of a young Serb man. The Serb leaderscalled upon their citizens not to support Kosovo police, but Kasalovic insisted they only "advisedpeople to be careful" and denied any supervision from Belgrade for such measures.But even some Serbs do not believe that Belgrade is not involved in the political life in the north."The north is better controlled by the Serbian authorities then the very centre of Belgrade. Youcan pass there unnoticed by the intelligence services, but not here. No way," a local Serbjournalist said.A prominent think-tank, the International Crisis Group, estimated in its 2005 report that Serbia"has retained northern Mitrovica as a brake on UN and Albanian control of Kosovo and a card toplay on final status." Fearing possible risks of a unilateral Serb move towards partition ifindependence is granted to Kosovo, the UN mission has increased security in the north, whileNATO-led peacekeepers reopened their base in Leposavic, near the border with Serbia proper.But for Branislav Pantovic, there seems to be no other option than to prevent Kosovoindependence even by force. "I will be the first one to prevent anyone who tries to proclaimindependence here," warned Pantovic, a restaurant owner.LiberiaFormer Liberian President Charles Taylor appears in court for pretrial hearingMiker Corder, Associated Press, 7/21/06Former Liberian President Charles Taylor complained Friday about "Eurocentric" prison foodand limited access to telephones at his first appearance before a war crimes tribunal since beingflown to the Netherlands for trial. The former warlord faces 11 charges of war crimes and crimesagainst humanity for allegedly overseeing the murder, rape and mutilation of thousands of peopleduring Sierra Leone's bloody 10-year civil war, many hacked to death with machetes. He haspleaded not guilty, and faces a life sentence if convicted.Taylor, wearing a gray double-breasted suit and tie and looking relaxed, sat flanked by two U.N.guards in a courtroom of the International Criminal Court that is being rented by the SpecialCourt for Sierra Leone. The U.S.-trained economist listened intently to lawyers discussing thecase, but did not speak during the 50-minute hearing aimed at paving the way for his trial. Hisattorney, Karim Asad Ahmad Khan, complained about poor food in the "draconian" U.N. cellblock where Taylor is being held. It was not clear what food Taylor gets in the Hague prison, buttraditional Dutch meals include meat, potatoes and at least one vegetable. Khan only describedthe fare as "Eurocentric."
Page 2: Breakaway region's fate in limbo as
Page 7: CongoUN condemns irregularities in
Page 11 and 12: Traffic between the two countries w
Page 13 and 14: Ivory CoastUN official: Ivory Coast
Page 15: Kashmir," said Farooq, who has been
Page 19 and 20: The Maoists declared a ceasefire Ap
Page 21 and 22: SomaliaEthiopia Enters Somalia to B
Page 23 and 24: early Friday. "Nine big trucks arri
Page 25: implementing it, and there remain t

Peace Negotiations Watch- Volume V, Number 17, July 26, 2006

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?