Kosovo-news 24-May-2007

U.S.-EU resolution on Kosovo ready
24 May 2007 09:35 Source: B92, Tanjug NEW YORK, VIENNA, BRUSSELS

The United States will officially submit its draft Kosovo resolution to the UN Security Council by the end of the week.Tanjug news agency has learnt from its sources in the UN that the draft resolution sponsored by the U.S. and EU member states does not explicitly mention the notion of independence, but it suggests the nullification of all previously adopted resolutions regarding Kosovo, which will make room for the implementation of Ahtisaari’s plan of supervised independence for the province.Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated Wednesday in Vienna he was against any imposed solution for Kosovo, stressing that the fundamental principles of the international law, first of all on the territorial integrity principle, had to be respected“The principles of international law can be changed, if someone wishes so, but still they must meet the interests of both sides in the Serbian province of Kosovo,” Putin said at a joint press conference with Austrian President Heinz Fischer.Putin also said that the future status of Kosovo had to be settled by means of a direct agreement between Belgrade and Priština in line with the UN resolution 1244 which said that that Kosovo is an integral part of Serbia.U.S. President George Bush and NATO secretary-general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer voiced support for a UN resolution based on UN Special Kosovo Envoy Martti Ahtisaari’s plan.However, if that resolution was not adopted, KFOR troops would remain in Kosovo on the basis of UN resolution 1244, NATO spokesperson James Appathurai said in Brussels.He added that NATO nevertheless expected to see the adoption of the resolution in the UN Security Council, but was prepared for all options. Wednesday, May. 23, 2007Will Russia Block Kosovo Independence?By Yuri Zarakhovich/Moscow"We agreed to seek a solution that will satisfy all parties," said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on recent talks between President Vladimir Putin and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Kosovo. Except, added Lavrov, "No such solution is immediately in sight."The Serbian province of Kosovo, whose 2 million people are predominantly ethnic Albanians and want independence, has been administered as a U.N. protectorate since NATO's 78-day bombing campaign forced Serbian withdrawal in 1999. Now, U.N.'s special envoy Marti Ahtisaari has proposed de facto independence under European Union supervision for Kosovo, with a view to subsequently integrating both it and Serbia into the EU. Ahtisaari's plan is backed by the U.S. and NATO countries, but Russia strongly objects to what it describes as a dangerous precedent for separatists elsewhere. And as an historical ally of Serbia, Russia cannot turn down Belgrade's pleas of help, particularly at a time when Putin is promoting an image of himself as a strident defender of Russia and its allies against the designs of NATO. In the year of Russia's parliamentary and presidential elections — however token those may be — Putin wants Russians to feel proud of Moscow's growing readiness to challenge the U.S. and bully the EU, which is increasingly dependent on Russian fuel supplies.Still, the grim reality for Russia, summed up by Secretary Rice to Echo Moskvi Radio station during her recent visit, is that "Kosovo will never again be part of Serbia. It's not possible." And Russia does not have sufficient leverage to change that reality — although it can use its U.N. Security Council veto to freeze the process, once the Ahtisaari plan is put to vote. Off the record, Russian officials indicate that this is, indeed, what Russia will most likely do, for the lack of other options.The separatism theme is played differently by Moscow in different contexts: Russia brutally burns out separatism in Chechnya, but it endorses the efforts of Abkhazia and South Ossetia to break away from pro-NATO Georgia, as well as those of Moldova's breakaway region of Trans-Dniestria. Russia uses these separatist entities to turn up heat on Georgia and Moldova, and the separatist movements in all three demand Russian recognition, and subsequent incorporation into Russia. Hence, Moscow's headache: Should it go along with the Ahtisaari plan, it must insist that the same approach be applied to Russian allies, lest it loses face both with them and with its own increasingly nationalist population. But should Russia derail the Ahtisaari plan on grounds of opposing separatism, it has to find a better rationale to encourage its own separatist clientele.The issue also has implications for the image of the protagonists in the Islamic world: Helping Muslim Albanians win independence may help the Western powers repair their image in the Muslim world, whereas resisting the Albanians' secession will cause a lot of bad blood in the Muslim world for Russia. Another factor is Serbia's own unreliability. Over centuries, Serbia always asked for Russia's protection first, and ended up siding with the West second, leaving Russia with a lot of egg on the face and in a lot of trouble for all its pains. Even with the current rise of Serbian nationalism, piqued by the West's position on Kosovo, Belgrade is more likely to cut a deal with the West and opt for the EU's patronage rather than for Moscow's.Serbia certainly has reasons to be piqued. Despite the NATO countries pledging even handedness, they appear oblivious to the fact that the tables in Kosovo have been turned since 1999. U.N. Security Council Resolution 1244 on Kosovo, demanded to guarantee the safe and free return of all refugees and displaced persons to their homes. But since 1999, the Albanians have forced out some 200,000 Serbs, who cannot freely return. NATO peacekeepers always are not always able to calm down clashes between Albanians and the few Serbian enclaves still remaining in Kosovo. Though Kosovo will never again be a part of Serbia, the U.S. might be too hasty seeking to have both peoples integrated into the EU before they have learned how to co-exist. Helping develop functioning — and inevitably cooperative — economies in Serbia and Kosovo might prove a necessary pre-requisite. It takes time. In this respect, the likelihood of a desperate Russian veto may be a blessing in disguise for the region.
source: The Time

UK hopes for UN resolution on Kosovo
Associated PressWednesday, May 23, 2007 (Pristina, Serbia)

A senior British diplomat said on Wednesday that there were no deadlines for a UN resolution on Kosovo's future, but expressed hope a decision will be taken within weeks at the UN Security Council that remains divided over the issue.Mark Lyall Grant, the political director of Britain's Foreign Office, urged patience among Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority who are pressing for independence for the Serbian province, which has been under UN administration since mid-1999.''We hope it will be possible to pass a resolution in the next few weeks in New York,'' said Grant. ''There is no deadline. It is more important to get the right outcome than it is to get a speedy outcome,'' he added.The EU and US circulated a draft UN resolution earlier this month endorsing supervised independence for Kosovo despite strong objections from Russia.Russia, a traditional ally of Serbia, which wants to keep control of the province, has warned against putting the plan to a vote, and said it might use its veto to block it. Western leaders have warned that delaying the vote could provoke violence.

Positions on Kosovo at UN Security Council still widely differingUnitedNations
May 24 (Itar-Tass)

Members of the UN Security Council still do not show any signs of bridging their differences on the Kosovo problem, a diplomat on the Russian delegation told Itar-Tass Wednesday.He recalled that members of a Kosovo contact group, which includes Russia, Britain, Germany, Italy, the U.S., and France, had met in New York Tuesday.“We had another round of discussions of a draft resolution submitted by the U.S. and European Union delegations earlier this month,” the diplomat said.“The differences are not getting narrower and all the problematic provisions the Russian delegation pointed out in that document are still there,” he said.“Russia continues believing that the draft doesn’t offer an acceptable basis for UN Security Council’s decisions on Kosovo,” the diplomat indicated.He did not rule out that the Security Council may discuss Kosovo some time next week.The three-page draft resolution that was co-authored by the U.S., the EU countries having seats on the Security Council at the moment and Germany was submitted May 11.It proposes, among other things, to abandon actions under the Security Council’s resolution 1244 adopted in 1999, to consider Kosovo as a unique case that does not set an international precedent and to grant the much-suffered province of Serbia independence as stipulated by the Martti Ahtisaari plan. Serbs in Kosovo Fear Looming Decision by Emily HarrisEmily Harris, NPRSasha Radosavljevic owns the a café in North Mitrovica, a Serb controlled part of Kosovo that is threatening to not recognize independence for Kosovo, should a decision be made to give the province sovereignty.Emily Harris, NPRMilorad Radivojevic places flowers near the vandalized gravestone of a relative buried in the town of Svinjare. He has been unable to return to his village since an ethnic Albanian mob burned and looted Serb property there in 2004.

Morning Edition, May 23, 2007 ·
This is the second piece in a two-part series.

As the United Nations Security Council ponders a proposal to launch Kosovo as a sovereign nation, dividing it from Serbia, ethnic Serbs express concerns about their futures.

Many Serbs who still live in Kosovo fear that a decision either way about the country's sovereignty — independence or no independence — will force them to leave because of violence or discrimination.Some in this ethnic community have discussed seceding from Kosovo and aligning with Serbia.The small town of Svinjare, in Kosovo, acts as an example of how life has changed.Eight years ago, both ethnic Serbs and Albanians lived in the town. Now stray dogs guard a knot of empty Serbian homes.Milorad Radivoiovich lives in a four room, one story house. It was built by the Kosovo government to replace his home that was burned three years ago by a rampaging crowd of ethnic Albanians during a flare up of violence."They put almost in the same place, connection for a sink and for a stove," Radivoiovich says. "This is a bathroom before, and now is a bathroom. But there's no bath. It was stolen."The proposal for Kosovo's supervised self rule the United Nations is now considering includes detailed guarantees of security and rights for ethnic Serbs. Radivoiovich says it is like wolves caring for sheep."Don't you know how many guarantees we have had by now? A lot of a lot of. And our pockets are full of promises," Radivoiovich says.The place most Serbs feel most secure in Kosovo is not far from here, in the north part of the town of Mitrovica.The main bridge separating the north from the rest of Kosovo is still watched by United Nations and Kosovo police. Cars in the north use Serbian, not Kosovo, license plates. Cell phones use different country codes north and south of the bridge.Money to support Serbs and this double system comes from Belgrade – much through one local Serb politician, Marko Yakshich. He is confident Russia will block the proposal for graduated independence for Kosovo. And if Kosovo simply declares itself independent, Yakshich says Serbs here won't go along."If that happens then Serbs in Kosovo, not only in the north, but Kosovo-wide, are going to declare that this is illegal and not obligatory for us," Yakshich says.He says, if necessary, Serbs in Kosovo would ask Belgrade for political support, and the ask the Serbian military for protection. But there are different voices within the Serb community here."I am not for independence," says Petar Miltic, a politician and former journalist. It's very unpleasant. But I know that will happen. And it's better to prepare people."Miltic is clearly a maverick here – so radical he's banned smoking in his office. He goes out on a limb to say publicly that Serbs should work with Albanians to secure their rights in Kosovo. But he finds that Serbs here are so obsessed and uncertain about independence they can't focus on problems Miltic believes they could affect, like unemployment, or unreliable electricity and water."They're afraid Albanians will try … ethnical cleaning in Kosovo, and they are afraid about that," Miltic says. "So if you speak about water, they will say, oh, give me a break, don't speak about water, we don't know what will happen tomorrow."At the Dolche Vita café in North Mitrovica, Lubisha Radosavlevich predicts a mass exodus of Serbs from an independent Kosovo. He says he'd let his kids decide whether the family would leave."Personally, I will never leave this place," says one of his sons, Sasha Radosavlevich, who owns the café. Most Kosovo Serbs have no where to go in Serbia, he says. His café is right next to the river that separates the north from the rest of Kosovo. That will stay a dividing line, he says, and that's not a bad thing."I'm not a nationalist but I see the reality," Sasha Radosavlevich says. "There is no possibility for us to live together. Probably, yes, to live one next to the other, but not together at the moment."For now Sasha Radosavlevich does business with Albanians. Most goods are cheaper coming through Kosovo than Serbia. In fact, he says, every morning he meets an Albanian friend from grade school to buy oranges for fresh squeezed juice sold at his café.

Kosovo to honor Bill Clinton with statue By Fatos Bytyci
Wed May 23, 9:03 AM ET Kosovo

Albanians plan to honor their "savior" Bill Clinton by erecting a statue of the former United States president in the capital of Serbia's breakaway province.The three-meter (10-foot) tall monument is still under construction in a studio in Podujevo north of Pristina."He is our savior. He saved us from extermination," sculptor Izeir Mustafa told Reuters. "I was thrilled by the work because I know what he did for us."Kosovo has been under U.N. administration since 1999 after 78 days of NATO bombing ousted Serb troops who had killed some 10,000 ethnic Albanians in an 18-month counter-insurgency war against Albanian separatist guerrillas.Ninety percent of Kosovo's 2 million people are ethnic Albanians. They expect to get their own state in the coming months with U.S. and European Union support, despite the opposition of Serbia and its main ally, Russia.Clinton, as leader of the NATO alliance, is seen as the man who decided to bomb Serbia to force the late strongman Slobodan Milosevic to withdraw his forces from Kosovo, effectively handing victory to the Kosovo Liberation Army.Pristina already has a road named after him, graced by a 12-metre (25 foot) tall mural of the former president. Pristina municipal authorities say they expect to erect the statue somewhere along Clinton Boulevard later this summer.Mustafa has several more days to work before he bronzes the sculpture of Clinton, after which he will turn his attention to another soon-to-be former Western leader. . "I definitely will do a statue of (British Prime Minister) Tony Blair," he said. "He saved us as well.

"WorldQ&A:

The State of Kosovoby Emily HarrisEnlarge Lindsay Mangum, NPRKosovo, in yellow, surrounded by its Balkan neighbors. Click to view a larger map of the region.NPR.org, May 18, 2007 · The United Nations Security Council is discussing a proposal to set the province of Kosovo clearly on the path to independence from Serbia.

Here's some background on the situation:

Where is Kosovo?
Kosovo is in southern Europe. It is a landlocked area a bit smaller than Connecticut — north of Macedonia, east of Albania, south of Serbia, and west of Bulgaria. It's at nearly the same latitude as the "ankle" of Italy.

What is Kosovo's legal status?
Kosovo is technically still a part of Serbia, which was the dominant republic in the former Yugoslavia. But since 1999, Kosovo has been run by a U.N. mission and protected by NATO troops. When Yugoslavia existed as a country, Kosovo was — for part of that time — an autonomous area within Serbia. The U.N. Security Council is currently considering a new resolution that would lead to Kosovo becoming an independent country.

What led to the current situation?
In 1999, NATO bombed Serbia in order to stop what the organization called a "campaign of terror" against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, carried out by the then Yugoslav military and irregular Serb paramilitary groups. At the end of the bombing, the Security Council approved Resolution 1244, which gave a U.N. mission the responsibility to administer Kosovo, while developing elements of a local provisional government, until a final political solution could be arranged for Kosovo.The antagonism between Serbs and Albanians has roots that date back to the Middle Ages. These tensions have flared into violence in varying degrees since then, including in the years just prior to the 1999 bombing.Why has it not been resolved until now?There was no deadline to resolve Kosovo's legal status in the Security Council resolution that set up the U.N.-run government there. Several issues have come up in the past that delayed it. There were doubts that the provisional local government was ready, for various reasons, to take on the responsibility of governing — particularly in terms of ensuring the rights of Serbs in Kosovo. (A "multi-ethnic" Kosovo has been the stated aim of the United Nations and the other key group involved in Kosovo's fate – the so-called "Contact Group," which is made up of the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and Russia.)Now the United States and many European nations are pushing hard for the United Nations to spell out Kosovo's future by the end of June. The countries back a proposal, put together by a U.N.-appointed envoy, which would lead to Kosovo's independence. Russia is resisting this option, which is making a resolution more difficult than Western diplomats had anticipated.

What is the proposal for Kosovo that is backed by the United States?
It's called the Ahtisaari plan. The plan is named after the U.N. special envoy Martti Ahtisaari, a former president of Finland, who attempted for more than a year to negotiate a settlement between the Serbian government and the Kosovo provisional government. The two sides have opposite end goals: Kosovo refuses to be in any way a part of Serbia again, and Serbia refuses to accept Kosovo as an independent country. Ahtisaari put together his own recommendations, which have become the basis for the proposal in front of the Security Council now.The Ahtisaari plan sets up local authorities in Kosovo to take on significantly more power and responsibility than they have under the U.N. mission. European Union oversight would replace that of the United Nations and would be less sweeping. Ahtisaari's proposal would allow Kosovo its own security force, flag and the right to apply for membership in international organizations. It doesn't use the word "independence" in referring to Kosovo's future, but does builds in a review of the situation. It is, however, expected that "supervised" independence would be followed fairly rapidly by full independence for Kosovo.

What parts of the proposal does Russia object to and why?
Russia's major public objection is that the United Nations doesn't have the right to carve up sovereign states and warns this will set a bad precedent. Moscow refers frequently to U.N .Security Council resolution 1244, which mentions the U.N. "commitment" to the "sovereignty and territorial integrity" of Yugoslavia. In addition, Moscow backs Serbia in saying that Serbs in Kosovo have not, and cannot be, adequately protected, and says further talks should be held between Serbia and Kosovo.The United States and the Kosovo government reject the idea of more talks, and the U.N. envoy says the possibilities for discussion are exhausted. The United States also argues Kosovo is a unique case and should not be seen as setting a precedent for other independent minded or "breakaway" regions around the world. The situation in Kosovo is being watched closely by people elsewhere around the world who have been seeking their own states, including the Kurds in northern Iraq and the Basques in Spain. A number of such conflicts directly involve Russia, including in Chechnya, Transdniestr, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Why is this important to the United States?
The United States got involved militarily against the Serbs in Kosovo in 1999 after sitting out similarly horrible wars in Bosnia and Croatia. The U.S.-led NATO bombardment set the stage for U.N. governance of Kosovo — and for the current question of its future status. In the U.S. view, the only possible path to stability in the Balkans region is for Kosovo to become independent.

What are the chances of more violence in this area?
It is unclear. U.S. officials are openly warning of an increased potential for violence if Kosovo's status is not resolved soon. Ethnic Albanians are impatient for independence and, if it is delayed, it's possible that fringe elements, perhaps former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army, could take out their frustrations either on the U.N. government there — there have been some attacks on U.N. cars recently — or perhaps on Serbs. Some Albanian politicians in Kosovo disagree, arguing that more violence would only hurt Kosovo's efforts at winning independence, so violence would only be orchestrated by people or groups which would prefer Kosovo not become independent. Serbs, meanwhile, say they fear "show-who's-boss" attacks if Kosovo is set on a path toward independence, or being targeted if the independence plan is delayed.