LOCAL PRESS
Milivoje Mihajlovic: We expect decision that Ivanovic can defend himself with freedom (RTS, 20.08.2014)
Director of the Serbian Government’s Office for Media Relations Milivoje Mihajlovic said today that judges should decide that Oliver Ivanovic, whose appearance and preliminary hearing is expected on 26 August , should have the freedom to be a liberty while defending himself from the charges.
Commenting on the possibility of disallowing Ivanovic to defend himself freely, despite the guarantees of the Government of Serbia that Ivanovic will appear at the trial, Mihajlovic said it is up to the Court, which will decide on the matter.
The Director pointed out some explanations, which appeared recently in Pristina press, that by the laws of Kosovo, the Serbian Government has no right to issue guarantees for the accused, but noted that this is a matter of judicial convictions and he was convinced that the judge will consider it well.
Mihajlovic said that this is primarily a political process and that at this point it is irrelevant for the Kosovo political scene whether Ivanovic is in custody or out of custody, since he was arrested in order to be removed from political life on the eve of parliamentary elections in Kosovo.
He said that the indictment is 56 pages long, and that in its first part, Ivanovic is charged for alleged commission of war crimes during the conflict in Kosovo in 1999, and added that his lawyers will have a difficult job there.
The second part of the indictment concerns a number of alleged crimes that have occurred in Kosovska Mitrovica in February 2000, Mihajlovic said, adding that there are no witnesses, and he believes that the court will soon reach the truth and also that Ivanovic is not guilty.
Mihajlovic said that the provincial executive authorities in Kosovo will not be formed without the Kosovo Serb political option, and this is not simply because the Serbs are necessary for creation of a parliamentary majority, but also because the Kosovo Albanian political scene is divided and without the Kosovo Serbs, none of the Kosovo Albanian sides can gain power.
– This time, representatives who are in the Kosovo Assembly and are on the Serbian List, and there are nine of them, can seriously contribute in such a manner that Kosovo’s policy, in some way, turns toward solving the problem of Kosovo Serbs – Mihajlovic said.
North boycotts “Brussels” (Novosti, By D. Zecevic, 19 August 2014)
Serbs from Kosovo-Metohija announced termination of the agreement with Pristina because of the last moves of EULEX. Anger was provoked due to charges filed against the current and former mayors of Zubin Potok.
Due to the most recent pressures by EULEX, including the prosecution of the families of the current and former mayor of Zubin Potok, Stevan Vulovic and Slaviša Ristic, representatives of the Serbs in the north of the province are, according to “Novosti”, thinking about the suspension of the Brussels Agreement!
According to our information, in the next few days, the mayors of all North Kosovo municipalities will meet to discuss their stance towards EULEX.
Goran Rakic, the mayor of North Kosovska Mitrovica, said that the EULEX prosecution has, on two occasions last week, brought in for interrogation the wives of Vulovica and Ristic:
– This constituters inappropriate harassment and intimidation of, not only their families, but also all North Kosovo Serbs. It is incomprehensible that the same prosecutor’s office, for the most serious crimes, including war crimes, releases Kosovo Albanian terrorists, or sentences them to mere house arrest, while against Kosovo Serbs, who have not committed any criminal acts, EULEX serves indictments and harasses their family members.
Rakic explains that after an interrogation, conducted at the police station in Zubin Potok, that the EULEX prosecution, once again, brought in for interrogation Mayor Vulovic’s wife to the South Kosovska Mitrovica on Friday.
In terms of the latest actions by EULEX, representatives of the municipality of Zubin Potok responded yesterday, and pointed out that though unfounded accusations and threats of detention to Mayor Vulovic, he was prevented from performing the functions for which he was elected through the will of the citizens. With this, as they assessed, the work of the Municipal Assembly of Zubin Potok has been seriously compromised, and therefore the implementation of the Brussels Agreement:
– With such actions of EULEX, the citizens of the municipality of Zubin Potok and the entire territory of the Serbian province of Kosovo-Metohija, have been instilled with additional fear. Therefore, we request from the international authorities, and all relevant representatives in the province of Kosovo-Metohija, to stop with the intimidation and threats and enable the smooth performance of mayoral functions by Mayor Vulovic. If there is a failure in the implementation of the Brussels Agreement, EULEX shall bear all the blame, a municipal statement says.
Also charged with organising barricades
According to “Novosti”, the EULEX indictment charges Vulovic with organizing the escape of Slobodan Sovrlic, suspected of complicity in the killing of a Kosovo policeman. Former Zubin Potok mayor Slavisa Ristic, according to the indictment, to which our newspaper had access, is charged with several criminal acts, including organizing barricades in North Kosovo.
– It is purely a political indictment, because the EULEX prosecution knows that, on that day, I was at a meeting with a representative of the EU in Kosovo-Metohija, Mr. Samuel Zbogar, in Kosovska Mitrovica – said Vulovic, who believes that the charges against his predecessor Slavisa Ristic prove that there is no rule of law in Kosovo.
KIM: One month detention determined for two Kosovo Serbs (Tanjug, 19 August 2014)
A Judge of the Court in Kosovska Mitrovica set today a one month detention for Kosovo Serbs Aleksandar Lazovic and Nebojsa Vujacic, in conjunction with the case pending against Oliver Ivanovic, an attorney Miro Delevic said.
Delevic told Tanjug that Lazovic has unexpectedly been remanded in custody for a period of one month, for allegedly influencing indictment witnesses which is, as he said, “ridiculous and absurd”.
We will be filing a complaint against this decision of the Court, Delevic said, stating that Nebojsa Vujacic’s house detention has been abolished and prison custody has been sentenced.
Vujacic has been ordered with mandatory reporting to the police station and been prohibited from approaching certain parties and witnesses, Delevic said.
The hearing was closed to the public and lasted more than seven hours.
The three accused Kosovo Serbs are associated with the case pending against the leader of Civic Initiatives SDP, Oliver Ivanovic and retired police colonel of the Serbian Ministry of Interior, Dragoljub Delibasic, who was Chief of police administration in North Kosovska Mitrovica.
Against these five defendants, the EULEX prosecutor from the Kosovo Special Prosecutor’s Office filed an indictment a week ago.
One was charged with incitement for committing war crimes in April 1999 and that together with the others, he abetted criminal acts of aggravated murder and attempts at aggravated murder in February 2000.
Three others are charged with the criminal offense of aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder, which was carried out in February 2000.
Nebojsa Vujacic, whom EULEX police arrested in mid-April in North Kosovo, is to date under house arrest, Oliver Ivanovic is on remand from the 27th of January and since the beginning of February Dragoljub Delibasic is also in custody.
Kidnapping of journalists in Kosovo without investigation (FoNet, 20.08.2014)
The Association of Journalists of Serbia (NUNS) and the Society of Journalists of Kosovo and Metohija (DNKiM) will, on Thursday, in a place where, on 21 August, 16 years ago, journalists of Radio Pristina Djuro Slavuj and Ranko Perenic were kidnaped on the Velika Hoca – Zociste road in the municipality of Orahovac, set a plaque in the Serbian and Albanian languages, reading: “Here, on 21 August 1998 journalist disappeared. We are looking for them.”
Associations had already placed plaques twice, but they were destroyed and removed by unknown persons – the first time in October 2012 and the second in September 2013, less than a month after their installation.
Djuro Slavuj and Slavko Perenic went to the monastery “Sveti Vraci” in Zociste to file a report on the return of kidnapped monks. According to information from the family they were last seen in Velika Hoca, in the morning, from where they mistakenly went to Orahovac, which at that time was under the control of the Kosovo Liberation Army.
The car in which they were travelling, a blue Zastava 128, was never found. To date, the families Perenic and Slavuj have no official information about their fate.
Struggle for the souls of Balkan Muslims is ongoing (Danas, By Jelena Tasic, 19 August 2014)
INTERVIEW: Ambassador Darko Tanasković in an interview for Danas about the radicalization of Islam in Kosovo-Metohija: Extremist, and the recent jihadist vision of Islam has programmatically “infected” KiM in recent years.
Belgrade – The proliferation of Kosovo Albanians who commit themselves to jihad is certainly a worrying symptom of the radicalization of Muslims in the Balkans, especially in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, as well as the influence locally of foreign Islamic elements, to which a significant contribution was made through continued disruption of the social, political, economic, spiritual and moral state, fueled by the armed conflicts caused by the disintegration of Yugoslavia.
The Albanian-Serbian conflict historically has always had, especially on the Kosovo Albanian side, a pronounced dimension of religious intolerance, but only the latest separatist war and its consequences, in the context of events in the immediate and wider environment, led to the extremist, and recently “jihadist” form of Islam to spread and, literally speaking systematically infect Kosovo-Metohija as part of “(pan) Islamist International”-, the leading Serbian Islamologist and Orientalist Ambassador Darko Tanaskovic, who will soon continue his diplomatic career in UNESCO said in an interview for Danas.
Can, from a religious point of view, any parallel between this what is happening now, and activities of the Kosovo Albanian paramilitary KLA, which at least from the outside was secular, although it was speculated that in its ranks were Mujahedeen, be withdrawn?
– A reliable answer to this important question can only be given by someone who knows first-hand the situation on the ground and the developmental stages. Based on what I know, I would say that for the paramilitary KLA and its extremists, including the command staff and the ideological and political routers, during the key years 1998 and 1999, an Islamist indoctrination has not been characteristic, not to a great extent, or at least not principally. I know that some foreign Mujahideen then returned from Kosovo-Metohija disappointed, realizing that there was, primarily, no real jihad going on, in the sense of a war on Allah’s path. Later, however, the situation has been gradually changing, and exporters of (pan) Islamism, from Muslim centers in the Middle East, but also from certain enclaves in the West, especially the wealthiest and best organized, Wahabi sect, sensed an opportunity, as in some other disturbed, and poor areas around the world, to more intensively conduct actions of inserting their elements and winning over local Muslims into their ideology and goals. The “Kosovo” of 2014 is far from the Kosovo-Metohija from the beginning of the nineties.
To what extent does the situation in Kosovo-Metohija being a UN protectorate, under which ethnic and religious composition of the population is completely changed, contribute?
– No matter how, for various reasons and interests, as the current situation in Kosovo-Metohija wants to be presented, it must be clear to every reasonable person that the “international protectorate” or the mafia-tribal quasi-state improvisation running on oxygen of the Atlantic and Islamist power centers, is an ideal place for the development of all sorts of evil, the “jihadist” type as well, which, for the modern Balkans, however, is essentially a new phenomenon. The Kosovo example for the umpteenth time in the last twenty years confirms merely seemingly a paradoxical phenomenon that extra-legal, rough and clumsy interventions from the “free world” — declaratively for the purpose of preventing humanitarian disaster, introduction of democracy and the affirmation of human, civil and minority rights, in environments where through “happiness” is produced lethal chaos and favor towards the emergence of extremism, particularly Islamic.
How will events in the Middle East, as well as victory of Tayyip Erdogan at the presidential elections in Turkey, affect Muslims in the Balkans, especially in the former Yugoslavia?
– Overall, the events in the Middle East objectively contribute to the frustration and radicalization of Muslims around the world, including in the former Yugoslavia, all the more so, especially among a substantial number of Muslims/Bosniaks in BiH and neighboring parts of Serbia and to some extent Montenegro, where a dissatisfaction rules regarding the status of the territorial-political configuration of the area after the breakup of Yugoslavia, to which their former leadership generously contributed, dreaming of completely different dreams of the final outcome. Since Turkey, as a regional emerging power, no matter the increased influence of Islamic and other international factors, which were formerly much less present in the local religious-political equations, is still the most influential Muslim state in the Balkans, there is no doubt that Erdogan’s victory in the presidential elections will be of importance for further movements among our Muslims. That, after all, might be concluded from the curiosity which his election campaign aroused in Muslim communities, as well as from the way in which Erdogan’s victory was welcomed. It will be interesting to see how shouting matches between the centers of power in the Islamic world in the struggle for the souls and bodies of the Balkan Muslims will be carried out. In any case, having all the internal and external circumstances in mind, it is difficult to predict in the near future a reduction in ethno-confessional distance and tension between Muslims and non-Muslims in the former Yugoslavia.
Jihadists and Islamists
– The fact that most fighters who go from Kosovo-Metohija to the Middle East battlefields certainly are “jihadists”, and how serious they are as Islamists, in terms of their broad knowledge of Islam, as a religion and culture, is extremely problematic. That would roughly be a relationship between the Bolsheviks or Maoists and Marxists – Ambassador Tanasković explains.
South Stream through Bulgaria suspended (Beta, 19.08.2014)
Bulgarian Economy and Energy Minister Vasil Štonov ordered the suspension of all activities on the South Stream, until the project meets the legal requirements of the European Commission, it was published on the website of the relevant ministry.
In a letter to the Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH), the Minister ordered the suspension of tendering and signing of contracts in connection with the South Stream project.
REGIONAL PRESS
Export to Russia: Bosnia hinders customs zone (Novosti, By A. Macanovic, 19 Aug 2014)
Very small chance that Republika Srpska and B&H can exploit the possibility of exporting more fruits to Russia, but the first step should be introduction of a free trade regime. Fruits and vegetable crops were harmed by floods.
Our fruit growers and agricultural producers have the opportunity to export to Russia, but the first step must be the introduction of a duty-free regime with Russia, as it is in Serbia, says Gordana Rokvic, Advisor of the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management for “Novosti”.
From 6 August, Russia has banned the import of agricultural products from countries that have imposed sanctions on Russia, so a fair opportunity has been created for Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina (B&), and all other countries that have not joined the sanctions, for increased exports to the vast Russian market. The Ministry of Agriculture of the Republika Srpska, says that for our producers to be in the same position as Serbia, the Council of Ministers of B&H and the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of B&H, would have to propose the establishment of a duty-free regime with Russia.
– For this reason, our producers cannot take advantage of this great opportunity. Another problem is that our fruit production and agriculture in general suffered great damage in this year’s floods, but also because of the hailstorm – Rokvic says.
She pointed out that the Ministry has taken all measures to ensure the purchase of this year’s entire crop of fruit and vegetables from local producers and the food industry is supported to purchase domestic production.
Fruit Growers from Republika Srpska welcome the possibility of exports to Russia, but many fear that “BiH might become an area for repacking of products, including fruit from the EU to Russia.” It would kill the already decimated fruit production in the Republika Srpska, as we have suffered enormous damage from floods, President of the Fruit Growers Association of Republika Srpska Dragoja Dojcinovic says for the “Novosti”.
He points out that from Srpska to Russia currently only small quantities of plums is exported, but
EXPORTS – Minor
Exports of agricultural products from B&H to Russia have been at a fairly low level so far. Last year we mainly exported fruit to this country. 889,485 kg of fruit worth 1.2 million (600,000 Euros) has been exported to Russia in 2013. For the first six months of this year we exported 105.511 kg of vegetables worth 101.149 KM (51.716 Euros).
– There is a possibility to export to Russia predetermined quantities of pears, but this, as well as other fruits, we simply do not have in sufficient quantities for Russia this year – Dojcinovic says. He recalls that the Russian counter-measures relate to a period of one year, and as one of the key measures to protect domestic production, he sees enhanced control of imports of fruit from the EU at border crossings in B&H.
– Soon we will officially ask for stricter border control – notes Dojcinovic and recalls the unfair “fight” between our fruit growers and the European ones, who have export subsidies of 22 cents per 1 kg of fruit.
– How do we fight them when our purchase price of a kilogram of apples for example is 25 to 26 cents. Because of that we are afraid that now large Austrian and Italian fruit producers will divert their shipments into our market and threaten the domestic fruit production – Dojcinovic says.
MARKET dictates IMPORTS
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management of Republika Srpska said there is no room for fear that it will come to “backfill” of the market in B&H with fruits from the EU, but that it will come to “repackaging”.
– First, our market is now fully open to products from the EU. It cannot be saturated more than it can consume. It will only lead to increased imports, which would further lead to lower prices, which is not in the interest of these manufacturers – the adviser of the Minister of Agriculture of Republika Srpska, Gordana Rokvic says.
Dodik on Inzko’s abolition of sanctions: They could have waited for 10 days before the elections, so that everything would become clear (SRNA, 19 August 2014)
The President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik, on the decision of the High Representative in BiH Valentin Inzko to abolish the remaining restrictions on 30 people today allowing them to undertake public duties, said ” A few days ago they have unblocked some funds. They could have waited for 10 days before the elections, so that all becomes clear to everyone,” Dodik told reporters in Trebinje.
After Inzko quashed still existing bans on the discharge of public duties for 30 people today, no person is any longer under sanction from the High Representative.
OHR has previously, at the beginning of this month, unblocked for the SDS 540,000 KM, which were blocked by an earlier decision of the Office of the High Representative.
INTERNATIONAL PRESS
Serbia Fighting Against Re-Export of Banned Produce to Russia (RIA Novosti, 20 August 2014)
Serbia is focusing on the fight against attempts to re-export banned food products to Russia, a representative of Serbia’s Chamber of Commerce (CCI) told RIA Novosti.
Serbia is one of the few European countries not affected by an embargo on the import of food products which Russia introduced in response to Western sanctions. The list of banned items includes beef, pork, vegetables, fruits, poultry, cheese, nuts, dairy among others.
However, there is information that dozens of manufacturers from EU countries, including Poland, are trying to circumvent the ban by putting their products on the Russian market under the guise of being Serbian.
“The fight against re-exports is raised to the top level. We have created an inter-ministerial coordination center to promptly solve the problems. We are in constant contact with the customs office to remove all questions. Dishonest suppliers will be sanctioned,” senior CCI councilor Dejan Delic said.
CCI representatives are holding regular meetings with suppliers of agricultural products to clarify the requirements of Russia’s Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Supervision (Rosselkhoznadzor) and regulations of the Customs Union on food safety.
“We are in constant contact with the Russian authorities to organize the export of quality products to Russia, and we provide in-depth information to the companies that are interested in exporting to Russia,” Delic said.
This week, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign and Domestic Trade Minister Rasim Ljajic said that due to EU sanctions and Russia’s response to them, Serbia could increase its exports of food products to Russia from $172 million in 2013 to $300 million in 2014.
Montenegro Shifts Kosovo Refugees Into Containers (BIRN, By Dusica Tomovic, 20 August 2014)
Refugees from Kosovo in Podgorica – whose camp burned down two years ago – have been re-housed in containers until permanent homes can be found for them
Around 1,500 homeless, mainly Roma refugees from Kosovo in Podgorica’s Konik camp have been moved to temporary homes in more than 100 containers, the government announced on Wednesday.
The containers are a mid-term solution for people who lost their homes and belongings when a fire broke out in the camp in July 2012. Since then, they have been living in tents and shacks.
Units of the Montenegrin army began setting up around 100 new containers on Monday and the government hopes the work will be completed in two weeks. The containers will soon be equipped with electricity, the government said.
Although the containers offer better conditions for the refugees than tents, most of the new users said they were far from satisfied with the solution.
Bejzak Nura, 68, from the Kosovo town of Pec/Peje, said the authorities had promised them permanent accommodation in apartments and houses, not containers that are barely 15 square metres in size.
“I don’t want to sound ungrateful but… we did not get any real help, most of us cannot get Montenegrin papers, and now they are putting us in second-hand cans,” Nura told BIRN on Wednesday.
He said if the situation did not improve, the only solution was to return to Kosovo because after spending 16 years in Montenegro they could not obtain citizenship or jobs.
Another refugee, Emil Gora, 34, maintained that refugees in other Montenegrin towns, such as Berane, Budva, Podgorica, had obtained permanent accommodation.
“More and more people are returning to Kosovo because they do not want to suffer in the camps,” he said. “Often we do not have electricity and water, and the sanitary conditions have been appalling since the fire,” Gora told BIRN.
The government’s Directorate for Refugee says it is doing its best. It has announced that parallel to the provision of containers for the Konik camp refugees, they will build at least 900 housing units over the next three years for the most vulnerable refugees, mostly Roma.
In June, the government, with foreign donor support, launched a programme for re-housing displaced persons worth 27 million euro.
According to government data, around 16,000 refugees from Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo live in Montenegro. Around 11,000 are from Kosovo.
Improving the status of refugees in the country, who have the status of internally displaced and displaced persons, is one of the conditions for Montenegro’s EU accession.
The Roma refugees fled Kosovo in 1999 fearing reprisal from the Kosovo Albanians who tended to view them as pro-Serbian.
Last year, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, an advisory human rights body to the Council of Europe, described conditions in the Konik camp, located on the outskirts of Podgorica, as “inhumane and hazardous”.
Balkans: The Balkan Conundrum: Kosovo and Regional Ripple Effects (ISN, By Regina Joseph, 20 August 2014)
Deep-seated ethnic and religious tensions continue to complicate Kosovo’s transition from former Yugoslav republic to fully-fledged democracy. Worse still, warns Regina Joseph, additional threats are now starting to coalesce within and around its borders that could keep the country locked into insecurity and instability for the foreseeable future.
Eight years on since the announcement of Kosovo’s independence, the Balkan enclave finds itself at critical junctures both domestically and regionally. Global attention might have turned away to the crises in Ukraine and the Middle East, but the fact that policymakers do not currently deem the topic of Kosovo critical enough does not diminish the likelihood that decisions over the next few years regarding the former Yugoslavia will yield international ripple effects. As the post-Cold War stasis between Russia, Europe and the US fragments into destabilizing and divergent political and commercial objectives, the struggles of Kosovo and other Eastern European states create vulnerabilities that may yet be exploited.
Revisiting the 90s
At the domestic level, Kosovo’s rift between its Albanian majority and Serb minority—exploited more than two decades ago by former Yugoslavian president Slobodan Milosevic —remains intact, with the specter of the brutal war of the late ‘90s still hanging heavy over this small country. In the last week of July 2014, the chief prosecutor for the European Union Special Investigative Task Force (SITF) Clint Williamson affirmed a 2011 report alleging the complicity of Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) members in such war crimes as human organ trafficking, ethnic cleansing, sexual violence and abductions. Kosovo’s Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi, the former political leader of the KLA, was not identified by name in the SITF report as one of the perpetrators among members of the now-disbanded paramilitary insurgency. However, allegations of his involvement in the 2011 report led to threats back then against anyone who participated in the report’s information-gathering process. Anticipating intimidation of the like that surrounded the release of the 2011 report, Williamson declined to provide any names in the SITF document prior to an upcoming indictment—which will take at least another year due to the necessity of establishing a special court to adjudicate these crimes against humanity. Given the sensitivities, Williamson asserted that the majority of the work will be conducted outside the country; however, some aspects of the court will remain in Kosovo.
The logistical debate over the creation of the special tribunal underlines just how far Kosovo has to go in its bid to become a mature and fully-functioning state. In the effort to cease hostilities in Kosovo, the United States and the European Union (EU) initially attempted to rapidly transform what was once a poor Yugoslavian province in into a fully-fledged democracy. As a result, several of Kosovo’s future leaders emerged from the ranks of the KLA once the miasma of war cleared. Thrust suddenly into political roles, few of these new politicians could claim experience in fashioning and adhering to democratic institutions and the rule of law, a situation which led to the criticism of US and EU stakeholders as favoring stability over justice.
Present day problems
Consequently, corruption developed through ethnic and family connections continues to characterize many facets of Kosovo’s governance. Politics in Kosovo frequently appears to be less about running the country and more about the pursuit of power and personal wealth. Transparency International’s 2013 Corruption Perceptions Index ranks Kosovo 111th out of 177 countries, placing it on a par with the likes of Ethiopia and Tanzania.
The clientelism and cronyism that permeates Kosovo’s political sphere has not only stalled the installation of effective legal structures, it has also impinged on the outcome of the recently-held elections. While these resulted in a majority victory for Hashim Thaçi’s ruling PDK party, the leaders of three opposition parties vowed to challenge the results in a bid to prevent the incumbent Prime Minister and his party from governing for a third consecutive term. This led to the LDK, NISMA and AAK parties pooling their electoral percentages in an attempt to create an ex post facto coalitional majority, a move which plunged Kosovo into an all-too-familiar period of protracted party infighting.
Unsurprisingly, this type of fractious behavior extends beyond the political sphere to the schism between Kosovo’s Albanian majority and Serb minority —a split physically embodied by the NATO-guarded barricade along the Ibar River that separates the town of Mitrovica and Kosovo itself into northern and southern enclaves inhabited by majorities of Orthodox Serbs and Muslim Albanians respectively. North Kosovo Serbs’ mistrust of Kosovo’s Albanian-led governance leads them to look instead to political and social initiatives originating from neighboring Serbia, which officially refuses to recognize Kosovo’s independence. In June 2014, the bridge barricade erected by Kosovo’s Serbs to draw a line between the northern enclave and the rest of Kosovo was ordered removed as part of the Brussels Agreement of 2013 accord brokered by Brussels between Kosovo and Serbia—an accord which requires the dismantling of all separating institutions and barriers in Kosovo. As soon as the partition was disassembled by citizens and overseen by Kosovo authorities and NATO troops, northern Kosovo Serbs, led by Serbian political party officials, unilaterally erected a new barrier consisting of potted plants and declared the alternative partition a “peace park,” thus sparking new confrontations .
Outside forces
While ethnic and cultural schisms between Kosovo’s Albanian and Serb populations have always defined the lack of cohesion among its citizens, an emerging sectarianism is now threatening to augment the grievances that trouble the country. It also links Kosovo to other regional conflicts.
Kosovo’s Albanian population has been renowned for centuries for its secularism. However, outside forces have started to undermine the stability of the constitutional secularism that Kosovo’s Muslims have traditionally supported. As a result of post-war reconstruction aid provided by Salafist charities, radical Islam has filtered into some of Kosovo’s communities. The unity of the country’s Muslim community has been tested by the rise of fundamentalist political parties such as Islamic Movement Unite (LISBA), as well as reports of Albanian Kosovar jihadists traveling to and participating in Syrian and other Middle Eastern conflicts. Indeed, the day after the release of the SITF report, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) General Philip Breedlove outlined his growing concerns over the spread of radicalized jihadist behavior among Kosovo and other Balkan citizens, saying “it is a danger to the entire region and beyond, not only for Kosovo.”
Yet the rise of political Islam in Kosovo is not the only emerging sectarian challenge. Orthodox Christianity, the principle religion followed by Kosovo’s Serbs, is also serving political agendas. The nationalism stoked by Serbian politicians in aid of rejecting Kosovo’s independence and government is often entwined with messages from revered Orthodox patriarchs who support the Serbian nationalist cause. The disturbing modern precedent for using Orthodox Christianity in the name of provoking nationalist conflict began with Slobodan Milosevic in 1989, when he invoked Serbian grievances at rallies throughout the former Yugoslavia by citing the 600-year old battle between Kosovo’s Orthodox Christian and Muslim communities.
Currently, Orthodox Christianity is being harnessed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and his supporters, not only to bolster his political plan to be seen as a nationalist hero restoring Russian greatness through conservative values, but also as a pretext for justifying his actions in Orthodox-majority societies within Crimea and Ukraine. Putin’s plan for manipulating Orthodox sentiment does not end with the conflict in Ukraine. He is also appealing to the “special relationships” Russia has with Orthodox-majority states like Serbia and Bulgaria in a bid to turn weaker European states away from the EU and towards his larger economic and political objectives.
Nowhere is this agenda more pronounced than in the energy sector. Russia’s need to preserve its market position as the largest oil and gas supplier to Europe has been challenged by EU and US sanctions and initiatives, especially with regards to pipeline projects that transit through the Balkans . The Gazprom-led South Stream pipeline proposes to bring gas to Central Europe via an overland juncture that begins in Bulgaria and transits through Serbia and Hungary
, as well as other Balkan states. The former Yugoslavian states, whose weakened economies regard EU membership as a lifeline to prosperity, are being strong-armed on both sides, forcing them to pit Western-led economic survival against an antagonistic Russia that can use energy as a blunt-force weapon.
Bulgaria announced a halt to its South Stream construction in June 2014, which was swiftly followed by a similar announcement by Serbia. These decisions were due in no small part to pressure applied by the West in response to the Ukraine crisis. However, these developments by no means alleviate the energy poverty problems facing Kosovo and its neighbors. With climate change aggravating the catastrophic floods and droughts that Serbia, Kosovo and other regional states have experienced in the last two years, their current dependence on lignite coal for their ineffective power grids remains a serious stumbling block in overcoming barriers to healthier economies as well as membership within the highly environmentally–regulated EU structure. Over the long term, if European prospects dim or take an adverse turn, some Balkan states may find cooperating with Russia over energy—and more—strategically necessary.
Accordingly, while improvements within Kosovo continue to move forward – albeit agonizingly slowly -larger threats are starting to coalesce within and beyond its borders. Unless Kosovo’s citizens and leaders can overcome their own longstanding internal disagreements to confront the greater forces that pressure the region today, their future may remain inextricably linked to conflict, poverty and regional polarization.
Ukraine Rebels Appeal to Serbs to Donate (BIRN, By Ivana Nikolic, 20 August 2014)
A Russian organization called the Kosovo Front has appealed to Serbs to donate money to the embattled pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine
“So far we have raised around 800 euro, which will be given to wounded defenders of the Donbas region [of eastern Ukraine]. We will also buy uniforms and equipment for the Slavic-Serbian ‘Jovan Sevic’ unit,” Zeljko Djurovic, a representative of Kosovo Front in Serbia, told BIRN on Tuesday.
Djurovic said around ten people from Serbia and Bosnia, as well as Serbs from Canada, Australia and Switzerland had donated money in the last two weeks. People had also offered food and clothes for the pro-Russian activists in Ukraine.
“Some people even wanted me to help them get from Serbia to Ukraine because they want to help our forces, but we don’t do that,” he added.
Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency reported last week that some Serbian volunteers are joining pro-Russian separatists in their fight against government troops in eastern Ukraine.
The agency reported that Igor Strelkov, who leads the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic defence forces, as saying that he knew some of the Serbian fighters from back when they all fought in the 1992-5 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Reacting to the report, Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic commented: “Any involvement of Serbian citizens in the Ukrainian crisis is detrimental to Serbia.”
A leader of Kosovo Front in Moscow, Aleksandar Kravchenko, has since denied that the Serbs are fighting in eastern Ukraine for cash.
“It is a lie. They are all volunteers who love Russian people,” he said.
“I met them in Donetsk and no one came for money but to help the Russians who are being killed by the Ukrainian fascists,” Kravchenko told a Serbian website on Monday.
“The Kosovo Front is a humanitarian organization and we don’t recruit people to fight with us,” Kravchenko added.
* * *
Media summaries are produced for the internal use of the United Nations Office in Belgrade, UNMIK and UNHQ. The contents do not represent anything other than a selection of articles likely to be of interest to a United Nations readership.
