LOCAL PRESS

Dacic: Opening of chapters depends primarily on Germany (Politika/Tanjug)

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic expressed the belief that the report of the European Commission on Serbia’s progress will be positive. He told the press conference that his belief is that the negotiating Chapters 32 and 35 will be opened by the end of the year, but it depends primarily on Germany. “The Germans have agreed that Chapter 35 might be opened, but it entails the implementation of the list of things agreed with the Brussels agreement, which in turn requires cooperation of the Pristina side,” Dacic emphasized, adding that Serbia is now paying the price for the fact that Pristina is unable to attain an agreement on forming the government. In comment to the statement of the new European Commissioner for Neighbors Johannes Hahn, who said that the five EU members that had not recognized Kosovo “have made certain progress on that matter”, the Serbian Foreign Minister has said that those countries have plenty of problems, but entire Europe and the world will have problems due to accepting the principle of unilateral declaration of independence. “They have opened a Pandora’s box that cannot be closed so easily,” Dacic warned. He pointed to the difference between the recent Scottish referendum on independence, called following an agreement with the London government, and the announced referendum in Catalonia, which will not have Madrid’s consent. “This should not depend on whether Moscow, Berlin, Washington or Brussels like you, but on whether it is in line with principles. It is for that reason that we are against unilaterally declared independence,” Dacic said. He expressed confidence that – for their own sake – countries that have the same problem in their own territories will not recognize Kosovo’s independence. Kosovo has been recognized by a relatively large number of countries, but, in terms of population figures, they are an overwhelming minority, he noted. He has added that he believes Spain will not change its position on Kosovo, but some smaller countries may buckle under pressure. Announcing foreign affairs events scheduled for October, Dacic said that Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz would be in Serbia on 8 October and a regional roundtable on the participation of the Western Balkan countries in peacekeeping operations would be held on 20 and 21 October. “Serbia is among the top 10 countries in Europe by the number of participants in multinational peacekeeping operations in the world,” said Dacic. Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama will visit Belgrade on 22 October, and a regional conference of the ministers of foreign affairs and economies of the Western Balkan countries, with a Gymnich formula participation of representatives from Pristina, should be held on 23 October, Dacic said. He said that he would attend an OSCE conference in Finland on 9 October. After it takes over the OSCE chairmanship in 2015, Serbia will have to make difficult decisions and prove it can lead such an organization.

Serbia leader in peacekeeping missions (Beta/B92)

The Head of UNOB in Belgrade Peter Due has stated that Serbia has become a regional leader in terms of its active participation in peacekeeping operations. The statement by the Defense Ministry states that Defense Minister Bratislav Gasic and the Representative of the Head of the UN Office in Belgrade discussed the participation of the Serbian Army in multinational operations as well as the upcoming regional meeting of countries contributing with peacekeeping forces to the United Nations. Due thanked Gasic for the important contributions to peacekeeping operations, with over 200 Serbian Army members, the recent decision to deploy additional Serbian peacekeepers to the Central African Republic, as well as for the decision for soon engagement of peacekeeping forces to Mali. Gasic said that the cooperation of the Defense Ministry with the UN is very important for continuation of the process of reforms and progress of our country in the process of European integration. The Defense Minister stressed the importance of the presence of UNMIK as well as KFOR in Kosovo and Metohija, stressing that the international forces are the main guarantor of security. He thanked for the assistance and rapid involvement of the UN in solving problems resulting from the floods in Serbia, with the hope that this cooperation will continue. The two interlocutors discussed the current presence and future perspectives of further involvement of the Serbian Army in Multinational Operations of the UN and EU.

Kosovo President to visit Belgrade! (Blic)

Brussels is working on Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga or Foreign Minister Enver Hoxhaj to visit officially Belgrade. “At issue is the arrival of Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga to Belgrade in October. This visit would be an epochal shift in the Belgrade-Pristina relations and a strong message of stabilization of the region and Serbia’s role in this process,” Blic was told by a source close to the outgoing EU Enlargement Commission Stefan Fule. The organizers have a problem with the constitutional crisis in Kosovo because of which the new government has not been formed, so only Kosovo president’s cabinet is in full capacity. Blic was told there are also discussions for Kosovo Foreign Minister Enver Hoxhaj or economy minister to visit since the gathering would be devoted to infrastructural and economic projects in the region proposed by Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic at the end of August in Berlin. Blic was explained that a visit of some of the Kosovo high officials is planned as a continuation of the visit by Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama that is scheduled for 22 October. The following day, 23 October, there should be a meeting of the leaders of Western Balkan countries in Belgrade within which there are plans for the arrival of some of the Kosovo officials. The meeting of the regional leaders in Belgrade should be a continuation of their summit in Berlin, when they gathered at the invitation of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic announced then that the next meeting of the prime ministers, foreign and economy ministers of the regional countries would be held on 22 and 23 October in Belgrade, but didn’t specify the names of the participants. However, no Kosovo official has ever participated in summits that were held in Belgrade. Up until three years ago, Serbia has blocked any participation of Kosovo officials at such gatherings or hasn’t appeared at them. However, it is all uncertain. Apart from the visit of the Albanian prime minister to Serbia, the first one after 68 years, the shocking news of a possible visit of some of top Kosovo officials was not confirmed to Blic by numerous sources close to the Kosovo and Serbian governments. Still, Brussels believes that they are one step from achieving this. Vucic announced in Berlin that Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama would visit Belgrade, noting that the talks with Rama in Belgrade would be “full of concrete matters”. Vucic recalled at the time that this would be the first visit of an Albanian prime minister to Belgrade after 68 years. Angela Merkel was especially surprised by this information.

Fule requesting opening of chapters (Novosti)

It is high time for the EU to send Serbia a positive signal in the form of the final opening of at least first of 35 negotiating chapters. This recommendation will be part of the upcoming report of the outgoing EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule that will be presented on Wednesday. “As far as we are concerned, we are completely prepared when it comes to Chapter 32 that refers to financial control, as well as Chapter 35 that refers to Kosovo in our case,” the Head of the negotiating team Tanja Miscevic told Novosti. Theoretically, this could occur at the end of October when the heads of EU states or governments are meeting at the Brussels summit. However, German MPs are hindering since they have their special interpretation, through the famous seven points, of the December conclusions by the European leaders, where it was requested to open first Chapters 23 and 24 that refer to the judiciary and human rights, justice, freedom and safety. However, the Germans insist that nothing else can be launched before these two chapters, including the third, Chapter 35. That practically means that there will be no opening of chapters until Pristina forms the government and returns to the negotiating table, along with further progress in this process. According to Novosti’s sources in the Italian EU Presidency, there is a positive atmosphere around most of the other member-states to send a symbolic positive message to Belgrade as soon as possible.

REGIONAL PRESS

Halilovic: I’d arrest Dodik and wouldn’t let Vucic and Nikolic set foot in B&H (Politika’s Sarajevo correspondent)

Candidate for the Bosniak member of the tripartite Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) and the leader of the Bosnian Patriotic Party (BPS) Sefer Halilovic, as a guest at a Sarajevo television station, said that if he was elected, “then Dodik (President of B&H’s Serb Republic) would be immediately arrested for all of his ramblings,” and the President of Serbia Tomislav Nikolic, whom Halilovic calls a “Cetnik Duke”, and the Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, wouldn’t be allowed to enter B&H until they apologize for all the crimes committed by their allies. “If they are in power, we cannot be safe. Do not tell me that Vucic has changed overnight and that Nikolic is now a gentleman” said Halilovic. He also said that he would dispatch the EUFOR international forces in B&H to guard the Drina River and Una River, and he’d abolish Armed Forces of B&H and introduce a compulsory military conscription.

Halilovic used this opportunity to send a message to the current international High Representative Valentin Inzko “if you are not going to use your power, then you should pack your bags and leave.” His final statement was that if he gets elected for the Presidency of B&H “Kosovo would immediately be recognized.”

Axe attack results in jailing of SP candidate for B&H House of Representatives and takes him off the electoral list (Nezavisne novine/Dnevni Avaz)

The Central Election Commission (CEC) of B&H decided today that Mr. Dalibor Trapara is to be removed from the list of candidates of the Socialist Party (SP) for B&H House of Representatives in the Electoral Unit 3B, and fined 1.000 KM (local currency), while his party will also be fined 5.000 KM. The CEC found that Trapara and SP are responsible for violations of the Election Law of B&H. CEC had earlier received a complaint from the main Serb Republic’s main opposition party, the Serb Democratic Party (SDS), against Trapara, who is a member of the Serbian Radical Party (SRS), led by Dr. Vojislav Seselj, and a candidate on the SP for a delegate in the Parliamentary Assembly of B&H, who attacked, with an axe, a booth stand of SDS in East Sarajevo on 30 September. Trapara had, in fact, first verbally, and then physically, attacked the booth stands of SDS in East Sarajevo, and the volunteers who were sharing promotional material. As confirmed by Danka Tesic, a spokesman for the Public Security of East Sarajevo, the case was reported to the Serb Republic Police, who arrested Trapara after the intervention, but by the order of the Prosecutor, released him on the same day.

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

Albania PM to Visit Serbia After 68 Years (Associated Press, 3 October 2014)

Albania’s foreign minister says Prime Minister Edi Rama will visit Belgrade later this month in the first visit to Serbia by an Albanian premier in 68 years.

Ditmir Bushati said Friday that the situation of the ethnic Albanian minority in the southern Serbian province of Presevo and the recognition of Kosovo’s independence would be part of the talks in the Oct. 22 visit.

Belgrade has not recognized the 2008 independence of Kosovo, formerly a province of Serbia but with an ethnic Albanian majority population.

The last time an Albanian head of state visited Belgrade was in 1946, when late communist dictator Enver Hoxha met with Yugoslavia’s then-leader, Josip Broz Tito, after World War II. The former allies’ relations soured in 1949.

Now both countries aim to join the European Union.

Arrival of Russian cossacks sparks fears in Bosnia (The Guardian, by Julian Borger, 3 October 2014)

Cossack group led by man who commanded unit in Crimea is taking part in re-enactments a day before key election

There is growing concern in Sarajevo over the arrival in the Serb-run half of Bosnia of a band of Russian cossacks, after it emerged that the group’s leader had commanded a cossack unit in Crimea.

According to Bosnian border authorities, 144 Russians have crossed into the country over the past week, and on Thursday some of them appeared in Banja Luka, the main town in Republika Srpska (RS – the Serb entity within the Bosnian state), dressed in traditional cossack costumes, complete with large black sheepskin hats. According to the Serb authorities, they had come to take part in a joint Russian-Serb commemoration of their alliance in the first world war. However, media reports in Sarajevo published photographs that appeared to show that the leader of the cossack troupe, Nikolai Djakonov, had led an armed cossack unit participating in the takeover of Crimea.

The arrival of the cossacks has come at a nervous time in Bosnian politics as the country approaches elections on 12 October. The RS leader, Milorad Dodik, has declared that if he wins he will declare the Serb territory’s independence from Bosnia, which would trigger an international crisis over the divided country, which fought a bloody war in 1992-95 costing the lives of 100,000 people. Russian volunteers, including self-styled cossacks, fought on the Serb side and were in Visegrad, on the river Drina, scene of mass killings of the local Muslim population, although there were no indictments issued against any of them by the subsequent war crimes tribunal in The Hague. One of the volunteers in Visegrad, a military intelligence officer known as Igor Girkin and Igor Strelkov, later became a leading figure in the separatist movement in eastern Ukraine. He has also taken part in re-enactments of first world war battles.

The first world war re-enactment in which Djakonov’s cossacks are due to participate is scheduled for 11 October, the day before the election, which Dodik is tipped to win.

However, few observers believe he will carry out his threat to declare Bosnian Serb independence, a threat he has made many times before.

“Dodik has no interest in an independent RS (if he truly believes in it). Serbia has no interest and will not support it, Russia is far away … and it would be an end to the RS as we know it,” Sead Numanovic, a veteran Sarajevo journalist, said. “The bottom line – even if there are a thousand cossacks, what is the point?”

Four days after the Bosnia vote, the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, is expected in Belgrade, in next-door Serbia, where he will watch a military parade.

Afzal Khan MEP appointed Bosnia shadow-rapporteur (The Nation, 6 October 2014)

Recently elected MEP for the North West, Afzal Khan, was appointed Shadow-Rapporteur by the Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament to be a spokesperson for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The appointment comes after discussions were held during a Foreign Affairs meeting about the future of Bosnia. Gianni Pittella, the Leader of the Socialist and Democrats Group, of which Afzal Khan is a member, stated that: Here in Srebrenica the wounds of war are still raw, as twenty years after the biggest genocide in European history after the Second World War, justice has not been done. It is unacceptable that people believed responsible for the massacre at Srebrenica are still at liberty today, without being held to account for what happened.

In Bosnia we cannot accept half-truths. Without justice there is no reconciliation. Afzal’s new position is held with the aim of helping Bosnia achieve a clear prospect for reform and progress.

He stated: The only way forward for Bosnia is integration into the EU. After years of devastation, it is vital that we help the people of Bosnia rebuild their country so that it can flourish once again. As its new Shadow-Rapporteur, I am determined to see that its people see justice, development and peace. ’

Macedonia Albanians Propose End to Census Logjam (BIRN, by Sinisa Jakov Marusic, 6 October 2014)

Macedonia’s junior ruling party has proposed its own way to end the vexed dispute in the country over a national headcount

Macedonia’s main ethnic Albanian party has proposed its own solution to the country’s longlasting dispute over a census.

In a reply to Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski’s initiative on the census from earlier this year, the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI – which is Gruevski’s junior partner in government – proposes creating separate graphs for residents of Macedonia and for people who work abroad but come home at least once a year.

“This will prevent discrimination [in the census] against many Albanians who work abroad. If we reach an agreement about this, I believe we will have a headcount in a foreseeable time,” a source close to the DUI leadership told Balkan Insight under condition of anonymity.

One of the main disputes during the failed census in 2011 was over whether the headcount should include people who had been absent from the country for over one year.

Ethnic Albanians, who have left the country to work abroad in disproportionately large numbers, wanted them included in the headcount.

However, the rules of the EU statistics arm, Eurostat, advised against it, and Macedonia’s main ruling party, VMRO DPMNE, also did not budge.

“Macedonia is a specific case and we must respect the fact that we have a large diaspora,” the DUI source told BIRN.

The source explained that the proposal for two separate graphs would not hamper the practical aspect of the census in helping devise future development policies, because “only the graph concerning residents would be used for those”.

In July, VMRO DPMNE said its leader, Gruevski, was launching a fresh push for a census, sending a proposal on ways to end the dispute to his coalition partners in the DUI.

Gruevski then proposed that instead of going from door to door and using paper forms, the census would be carried out by using software that would cross-reference people’s personal data contained in various state registers.

This would yield sufficient data on living and deceased persons, their age, gender and education, similar to a proper field survey, the party maintained.

The last attempt to hold a census in October 2011 ended in fiasco, and it was scrapped shortly after it began due to ethnic disputes.

Albanian parties claimed the Macedonian majority on the census commission had arranged the criteria in order to underestimate the number of Albanians in the country.

Macedonian parties for their part argued that the census was being falsified in Albanian-dominated areas in order to exaggerate the true number of Albanians.

The government annulled the census after the commission tendered its collective resignation. It has not budgeted for a new headcount since.

As a result of the delays, Macedonians have no clear picture of demographic trends in their country.

In January, a coalition of NGOs and population experts launched a campaign, called “Census Now”, saying that Macedonia’s regional, education, economic, infrastructure and transport plans must not be held hostage to the political elites and their quarrels.The last completed census, back in 2002, said 64 per cent of the population was Macedonian and 25 per cent ethnic Albanian. Roma, Turks, Serbs and other minorities made up the rest.

Op-Talk: The International Criminal Court v. the Bosnian Serb (New York Times, by Anna Altman, 3 October 2014)

Radovan Karadzic, the President of the breakaway Bosnian Serb Republic from 1992 to 1995, was arrested in 2008 and brought before the International Criminal Tribunal of the former Yugoslavia. Mr. Karadzic was indicted for war crimes, including genocide, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.

Mr. Karadzic chose to forgo a lawyer during his trial and, this week, he gave his closing statement.

It was incendiary. The Guardian reports that Mr. Karadzic denied that any officially sanctioned ethnic cleansing campaign had taken place, called himself “a true friend to Muslims” and claimed that he had no knowledge of the massacre of some 8,000 men and boys near the town of Srebenica. Mike Corder of the A.P., however, writes that Mr. Karadzic acknowledges that as wartime leader of the breakaway Serb republic, he “bears moral responsibility for any crimes committed by citizens and forces.”

From the very beginning, Mr. Karadzic has shown nothing but contempt for the court. He has dismissed the court as a “politically inspired western creation,” called his prosecutors “liars,” claimed there was a conspiracy against him, and did not appear for the first day of his trial.

Mr. Karadzic’s behavior did not directly undermine the court’s authority, but it’s done little to bolster it against growing criticism. As Ed Vulliamy writes in The Guardian, the ICTY began its existence in 1993 as a lean organization with lofty intentions. But over twenty years, the court has calcified into a sclerotic bureaucracy that still hopes to deliver justice decades after the events in question. What’s more, it’s most important aim — to “deter mass murderers of the future” — has failed to hit its mark. Instead, Mr. Vulliamy writes, “President Assad of Syria shows no sign of such quaking in his shoes.”

Mr. Vulliamy and others question some of the court’s decisions. The Economist writes that, in 2013, the ICTY acquitted Serbia’s head of the secret police. This came on the tail of several convictions that had been overturned either in appeal or in a retrial. These decisions were criticized for voiding a precedent whereby, as The New York Times reported, “the crime of aiding and abetting required only knowledge that assistance was being used to commit serious crimes” rather than intention to commit the crime or the presence of the individual.

Mr. Vulliamy questions, too, whether the tribunal courts have achieved any reconciliation. In Bosnia, a country that still runs according to the byzantine agreement that ended the fighting, he argues that it resolutely has not. Andrew Wallis, writing for Al Jazeera America, argues that the U.N.-sponsored court in Rwanda has likewise done little to punish criminals or promote reconciliation in that country.

More generally, the International Criminal Court — set up in 2002 to avoid the need for smaller tribunals — has not lived up to its stated ideals. The Economist expressed high hopes for the court when it was at the start of its prosecutions of Liberian ex-President Charles Taylor in 2009, but since then, opinion of the court has gone downhill. Mr. Vulliamy argues that the court has been inconsistent in choosing who to prosecute. Despite Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s plea that Tony Blair be tried for war crimes for his role in the Iraq war, “So far, the ICC has failed to indict a single person who is white.” “Why Charles Taylor and not Blair, Bush or the Israeli bomber command that targeted schools in Lebanon and civilian shelters in Gaza?” Mr. Vulliamy asks.

The court has not even always been able to follow through on its cases: Thomas Escritt writes in The Globe and Mail that the case against Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, for his role in his country’s inter-tribal violence in 2007, collapsed last month because Kenyan officials refused to comply with its obligations to the court. Mr. Escritt writes, “the development raises questions over whether it will ever be able to hold to account the powerful, prosecuting alleged perpetrators behind the most serious crimes.” The outcome is an embarrassment for the court, writes Eugene Kontorovich for the Washington Post. In addition, several other of the court’s targets, including Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir, wanted for genocide, remain at large.

When justice is served, it is too long in coming, argues Justine Drennan at Foreign Policy. Mr. Karadzic expects his verdict in mid-2015, some twenty years after the end of the war, and the trial of his top general, Ratko Mladic, may continue into 2016. The International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda has only just concluded proceedings. Finally, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia was only set up in 2006, 28 years after the Khmer Rouge committed its atrocities. The ECCC announced last week that it would proceed with a final trial.

Ms. Drennan points out that these courts were established in “a period of excessive optimism about the post-Cold War U.N.’s ability to fix things.” Much of that optimism has since dissipated, and whether the courts’ decisions will leave a lasting impact remains to be seen.

* * *

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.