LOCAL PRESS

Dacic: Serbia respects UN principles and goals (Tanjug)

The Republic of Serbia attaches special importance to the work of the UN as the most important international organisation in the foundation of which it took part and organisation whose goals it fully respects, Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic said on the occasion of the celebration of the Day of the UN in Serbia. The UN has an irreplaceable role as a universal international organisation committed to preservation of peace and stability in the world, and development of human kind as a whole, Dacic said in the welcoming speech. He especially underscored that he is grateful for cooperation and support the UN team and UN agencies offered to Serbia after the catastrophic floods in May, and expressed gratitude to the UN Mission in Kosovo and Metohija. Serbia attaches special importance to the UNMIK presence and status-neutral actions in KiM in keeping with Resolution 1244, as well as the contribution of all UN agencies, bodies and programmes, especially in the context of the dialogue conducted between Belgrade and Pristina with EU as the mediator, Dacic said. He expressed the satisfaction that the conference on participation of regional countries in UN peacekeeping missions recently held in Belgrade and expressed gratitude to UN Secretary General’s Representative for Serbia and Head of the UN Belgrade Office Peter Due for launching the initiative and recognised Serbia’s willingness to promote peace and contribute to peace in the region. Dacic stated that the Western Balkans as the former zone of peacekeeping operations has turned into a region that exports stability, as demonstrated by the region’s participation in numerous peacekeeping missions worldwide. The government of the Republic of Serbia is cooperating with around 20 specialised UN agencies and organisations on many development and political processes and activities relevant to the entire region, Dacic underscored. He noted that Serbia and UN began their consultations on defining the new partnership framework for the period from 2016 to 2020.
As a member of the UN Economic and Social Council as of 2014, Serbia is actively participating in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals and formulation of the global development agenda through defining new development goals and sub-goals for the period from 2015 to 20130, Dacic explained. Serbia and the UN are attaching special attention to the strengthening of regional cooperation, search for a solution to the issue of refugees and IDPs, improvement of the position of vulnerable groups and alleviation of consequences of climate changes, Dacic said and added that the UN elected Serbia as one of the six countries to participate in the consultations on the contribution to development. The Serbian foreign minister noted that the world is facing serious threats and challenges which call for special multilateral engagement and efficient UN actions, including the Ebola virus epidemics, security crisis in Ukraine and spreading of the international terrorism in Syria and Iraq where the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant poses a major danger.
Dacic: Kosovo’s membership in IOC does not solve problems (Radio Serbia/Tanjug)

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic has assessed that the decision to conditionally admit Kosovo into the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is not good, because it does not solve problems but even creates new ones. The problem is there are not clear rules about who has the right of becoming a member of the IOC, and we believe it is someone who had the legitimacy, in the sense of being a member of the UN, Dacic said. He has pointed that UEFA’s decision to register the abandoned football match between Serbia and Albania with 3:0 for Serbia, but also to punish the Serbian selection by deducting three points in the qualifiers for the European Championship, means a loss to all of the participants. It would have been better if the decision was to play a new match, Dacic said.

Unofficial results of elections for national minority councils (B92)

According to first unofficial estimates of the CeSID agency, the list led by Sulejman Ugljanin has won the election for the Bosniak National Council.The preliminary results will be announced on Monday, while the final results will be known on Thursday at the latest.

The leader of the “For Bosniaks, Sandzak, and Mufti” list, Jahja Ferhatovic last night accused Ugljanin and his list, “For Bosniak Unity”, of manipulating the election process, and at the same time declared victory and demanded that the voting in the town of Tutin be annuled. B92 reporter said last night that Ugljanin’s list had won 55 percent of the votes, while Ferhatovic’s list won 44.5 percent. The difference is 3,000 votes, so the final result will be known after the voting is repeated in three polling stations. Preliminary data shows that the turnout for the Bosniak National Council was 37 percent. Elections for national councils of national minorities were held in Serbia on Sunday. Voters were choosing their councils in direct elections in 881 polling stations. There were 456,444 eligible voters that have been registered on the special electoral roll. The national electoral commission approved 82 electoral lists for 17 national councils of the national minorities that met the requirement for choosing their members in direct elections, and registered 313 elector applications for today’s vote for the national councils of Macedonians, Croats and Montenegrins that will choose their councils through electoral assemblies. 32,775 voters have registered for voting through electoral assemblies, and 97 electors have been verified for the Montenegrin electoral assembly, 132 for the Croat and 84 for the Macedonian one. The Roma national minority has the largest number of lists in direct elections – 10, followed by the Bunjevci with nine, and the Romanians and Rusyns – seven each.
Members of the Albanian, Greek, Slovak, Ukrainian minorities have five electoral lists each, and the Hungarian, German, Ashkali, Bulgarian and Vlach minorities have four electoral lists each for the national minority councils. The Egyptians have three electoral lists, the Bosniaks, Slovenians, and Czechs living in Serbia two slates each.

Miscevic: Accepting Kosovo in UN is not condition for opening Chapter 35 (Dnevnik)

The Head of the Serbian negotiating team with the EU Tanja Miscevic has resolutely rejected the speculation that accepting a seat in the UN for Kosovo is a prerequisite for opening the Chapter 35 in the negotiations with the EU. The only mutual obligation of Belgrade and Pristina is to not impede each other’s path to the EU, Miscevic reminded. “Serbia can hardly ensure or prevent membership of anyone in the UN. It is known that the approval of all five permanent members of the UN Security Council is necessary for this, and Kosovo doesn’t have the approval of two of them, Russia and China,” said Miscevic.

Janjic: Attacks on Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija never stop (Radio Belgrade)

Attacks on Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija have been mounted continuously for 15 years now, said the head of the Serbian Orthodox monastery of Visoki Decani, father Sava Janjic, who pointed out that the perpetrators remained unpunished. He told Radio Belgrade that incidents in Kosovo and Metohija were happening all the time, that Serbs were victims of persecution, that their property and houses were being destroyed and set on fire, which results from the general atmosphere after the 1990s which lays the blame on Serbs. He said that mass violence against Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija was still threatening as there are many political issues that have not been resolved there and the European prospects of the Western Balkans is still under a question mark. That may lead to additional turbulences and pave the way for religious fundamentalism, believes father Sava.

OSCE: Serbia respects rights of all citizens (RTS)

The Head of the OSCE Mission in Serbia, Ambassador Peter Burkhard, welcomed the elections for national minority councils as an additional sign of respect and support of Serbia for the rights of its citizens. Active participation of representatives of 20 national minorities in the elections, including the southern and south-west Serbia is quite encouraging, Burkhard said. According to an OSCE release, national minority councils should focus on issues related to culture, use of mother tongue, education and the media and they have an important role in the promotion of their specific ethnic and cultural identity. The degree of integration of national minorities into social and socio-economic processes is one of the indicators of democratization and diversity of the society, he noted. Burkhard also said that Serbia has once more showed its commitment to the OSCE values. At the same time, he also voiced regret over the irregularities recorded at some polling stations which prevented a certain number of voters from realizing their voting rights. The OSCE mission will continue supporting the work of national minority councils in keeping with the laws of the Republic of Serbia, Burkhard said.

REGIONAL PRESS

Official: Izetbegovic, Covic and Ivanic members of the B&H Presidency (Fena)

The B&H Central Election Commission announced today the obtained results of the general elections held on 12 October, according to which Bakir Izetbegovic, Dragan Covic and Mladen Ivanic will be members of the state Presidency in the next four years. The Bosniak member of the B&H Presidency Bakir Izetbegovic, candidate of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA), won 247,235 votes of the total of 997,532 valid votes. The Croat members of the B&H Presidency Dragan Covic, candidate of the HDZ B&H, won 128,053 votes of the total of 997,532 valid votes. The Bosniak and Croat member were on the same ballot and there had been 83,375 invalid ballots, out of which 44,599 were empty. The Serb member of the B&H Presidency Mladen Ivanic, candidate of the Alliance for Change, won 318,196 votes of the total of 653,188 valid votes.

Pan-European Union conference ends in Sarajevo: Strong support to B&H European path (Oslobodjenje)

Pan-European Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) today at the conference “Bosnia and Herzegovina at the turning point – new approach to Euro-Atlantic integrations” adopted a declaration of eight points by which strong support is given to B&H’s European path, the Anadolu Agency reports. “Today the members of the Pan-European Union, from several European countries, after long discussions adopted the text of a declaration of eight points, which we will distribute to government representatives in B&H and the EU. A united position that the only path for B&H is toward the EU was given, and we expect B&H’s accession to the EU as soon as possible. Of course, it is not realistic to expect this sometime soon, but we want our governments to seriously launch reforms and resolve Sejdic-Finci and make a decision to establish a coordination mechanism toward the EU. Those are the two main conditions,” said the Pan-European of B&H Vanja Gavran. He pointed out that it was concluded that stronger mediation by the international community is needed in B&H. “The role of the international community, more precisely the EU, must be in the sense of mediation. It is difficult to expect that the EU will change, B&H must change. Our politicians have the stance that the EU should change, but we must accept that the problem is in us,” said Gavran, adding that today it was reported that the Dayton Accord is one of the main obstacles for B&H on its path to the EU. “The country is dysfunctional and it is clear that the Dayton Accord’s time has run out, and therefore it must experience reform. In order for the country to be self-sustaining, it needs less administration,” stressed Gavran. The conference participants reported that the Dayton Accord had exhausted its possibilities and it is deepening the crisis in the country, potentiating differences, and preventing recognition of common values.

In the end, the conference participants gave great support to the civil sector, and to young people in B&H.

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

Serbs Urge US to Support Return to Kosovo (BIRN, by Marija Ristic, 27 October 2014)

Kosovo Serb refugees called for US embassy in Pristina to protect their rights, claiming they are forbidden to return to their houses in Kosovo.

The Association of Expelled Serbs from the Kosovo town of Djakovica wrote an open letter to the US ambassador to Pristina on Sunday, urging the US embassy to help ensure their right to return to Kosovo.

“You are aware that for 16 years we were not allowed to us to visit our homes, villages and the graves of our ancestors,” the association said in its letter to US ambassador Tracey Jacobson.

“In the name of the internally displaced Serbs, we ask you to receive our delegation which wants to familiarise you with our rights,” it added.

The association last week also called on the Serbian government office for Kosovo to help them return to their homes and to rebuild their destroyed houses.

“We don’t have the possibility of returning or even of visiting the graves of our ancestors, as the EU and KFOR [NATO’s Kosovo force] cannot guarantee our safety,” said Djokica Stanojevic, the president of the association.

Stanojevic said that similar letters will be sent to other embassies in Pristina on Monday.

Djakovica was a site of heavy fighting between Yugoslav forces and the Kosovo Liberation Army during the war, and in 1999, the  majority of Kosovo Albanians were expelled, while many civilians were killed.

The Hague Tribunal has convicted six senior Serb officials of crimes against Kosovo Albanians in Djakovica – Nikola Sainovic, Dragoljub Ojdanic, Nebojsa Pavkovic, Sreten Lukic, Vladimir Lazarevic and Vlastimir Djordjevic.

Following the signing of Kumanovo agreement which ended the conflict, all Kosovo Serbs were expelled from the area and their homes burned. Many of Serbs who were killed in the period after July 1999 are still listed as missing.

Some 150,000 Kosovo Serbs fled Kosovo after the war. According to UN data, some 90,000 people who fled are still living in Serbia, 6,600 in Montenegro, around 1,000 in Macedonia and some 130 in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Serbian parliament approves revised 2014 budget, pension, wage cuts (Reuters, 27 October 2014)

BELGRADE – Serbia’s parliament on Sunday backed a revised 2014 budget, raising the deficit target and approving cuts to pensions and public sector wages as of November 1.

Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said the austerity budget was needed to secure International Monetary Fund financing, with the government hoping to reach a loan deal before the new year to reassure investors and cut borrowing costs.

However, the government could face protests, with school teachers in several towns already staging a one-day strike last Wednesday to denounce the proposed cuts, Serbian media reported.

Public sector salaries over 25,000 Serbian dinars (165.14 pounds) per month will be slashed by 10 percent and pensions above 25,000 dinars will be cut progressively. Those receiving less — accounting for some 60 percent of pensioners — will not be hit.

The revised budget sees the deficit coming in at 5.7 percent of national output this year from a previous target of 4.6 percent, highlighting Serbia’s deteriorating economy.

This does not include below-the-line items, such as bank guarantees to state-owned firms, that are used in IMF standards. The broader figure, known as the consolidated budget deficit, may hit 8.3 percent, against a previous target of 7.1 percent, says Serbia’s top economic advisory body, the Fiscal Council.

Serbia’s economy is expected to contract 1 percent this year, while national debt is forecast to rise to 73 percent of gross domestic product in 2014.

In an address to parliament on Friday, Vucic said more savings would be included in the 2015 budget, which is expected to be approved by parliament by December.

“We are asking for patience for at least another year and a half,” he said. “We are saving to .. lower our debt and boost growth in Serbia.”

The new budget was approved by 189 deputies in the 250-seat parliament, with just 200 lawmakers taking part in the vote.

Opposition parties criticised the ruling coalition for cutting pensions and public wages and urged instead that it slash subsidies to loss-making companies, which amount to some 750 million euros 591.24 million pounds) a year.

Formal loan negotiations with the IMF had been due in the summer, but were postponed following devastating floods in May and delays to the government’s spending plans.

The Fiscal Council, which had suggested wage and pension cuts of at least 15 percent, is due to give its assessment of the revised budget on Monday.

(Reporting by Ivana Sekularac; Editing by Crispian Balmer)

Serbia and South Stream – Walking the Tightrope (Natural Gas Europe, 27 October 2014)

Although it is in Serbia’s interest that the South Stream gas pipeline is built, the government in Belgrade faces the fine balance between the interest of providing energy security and the need to harmonize with the policy of the EU, which it is looking to join.

When Russian President Vladimir Putin during a recent visit to Belgrade said that his state could not develop a project like South Stream on its own, some thought that was a also a message to the Serbian authorities, who had gone from fervent proponents of the pipeline’s construction to a much more moderate position after numerous warnings from the EU.

“South Stream cannot be realized unilaterally, but rather only if it involves two parties. We cannot build a project worth several billion dollars on our own, if our partners are weighing whether that project is necessary,” said Putin after meeting with Serbian officials in Belgrade. The Russian president added that the problems regarding the construction of the pipeline had increased due to political issues, and that politics is now harming the economy.

That notion is also clearly visible in the case of Serbia, which is completely dependent on Russian gas imports and to which South Stream would bring significant energy stability, with plentiful earnings from the pipeline’s construction and gas transit. However, Belgrade now has to balance between Brussels, which is asking that the building of the pipeline be harmonized with European regulations, and pressure from Moscow, which wants its project to be carried out as soon as possible.

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic has also attempted to explain the complexity of Serbia’s position. “I think that Serbia has a better agreement on South Stream than some European countries, it is a good agreement for us, but we have some obligations of our own and, of course, the construction of South Stream is not up to us but rather to an agreement between the EU and Russia,” Vucic said at a press conference with EU Delegation to Serbia chief Michael Davenport after the European Commission’s report on Serbia’s progress toward EU membership. “For [the pipeline] to start in Serbia and end in Serbia makes no sense at all,” added Vucic.

The construction of South Stream’s leg in Serbia, where only the first pipe was symbolically welded, ended up in the European Commission’s progress report on Serbia unveiled on October 8. In the energy section, Belgrade is asked to harmonize its regulations with European ones prior to building the pipeline. There is also the request that Belgrade gradually harmonize its foreign policy with the EU, which is particularly important as Serbia has not joined Brussels’ sanctions against Russia.

Mahmut Busatlija, Associate of the Belgrade Economics Institute, told Natural Gas Europe that Serbia was “only collateral damage” of the relationship between the U.S. and the EU on one side and Russia on the other. “Serbia will lose a great deal if South Stream is not built. The question is even raised as to stable gas supplies during the winter, if there is a gas crisis between Russia and Ukraine. The government in Kiev cannot resolve the matter of gas supply soon and it is nearly certain that it will reach for some of the quantities being transported through its territory to the EU,” said Busatlija.

The Russian president confirmed that theory during his visit to Belgrade. “If Ukraine ends up stealing gas like it did in 2008,” Russia will be forced to reduce deliveries of the fuel by that same amount, said Putin.

Busatlija agrees with the remark that ”politics is now harming the economy.” “Russian Gazprom is not the sole owner of South Stream, it is also owned by an Italian and a French company. Europe needs that Russian gas and it has to come from somewhere. Serbia needs that same gas, especially during the winter. However, despite its needs, Belgrade is now forced to balance between Brussels and Moscow, which should resolve the dispute over the pipeline as soon as possible,” he said.

But Serbia is, at least declaratively, not giving up on South Stream. Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Zorana Mihajlovic said conditions had been created for the issuing of construction permits on certain sections of the pipeline. “With regard to the construction of the South Stream pipeline, Serbia is not the problem, rather the key is the relationship between Russia and the EU. For us it is important that construction begin as soon as possible, and it is even more important to secure gas stability until the moment the first deliveries of gas are made through the pipeline, because until then we will be vulnerable as a country,” said Mihajlovic.

The South Stream project, worth about 16 billion dollars, is headed by Russia’s oil giant Gazprom. The pipeline is to transmit Russian gas to Europe as of late 2015, bypassing Ukraine.

The new EU high representative, Federica Mogherini, said in early October that ”not all political conditions have been created” for the continuation of construction of South Stream, which also involves Italian Eni and French EDF.

The European Commission, which believes Gazprom’s agreements violate European rules of competitiveness, has asked Bulgaria, which the pipeline is to enter through the Black Sea, to suspend work on the construction of South Stream.

Igor Jovanovic in Belgrade

Bosnia – stabilization stalled in negative peace (TransConflict, by Dr. James Adams, 27 October 2014)

The current situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina can be safely described as extant negative peace. Structural and cultural violence are endemic. The pressing problem now is what to do when a political settlement – and stabilization and reconstruction as we know it – are not enough to break a deep-rooted protracted conflict cycle.                          

Bosnia and Herzegovina is not in a “post”-conflict situation, it is in a post-war situation. The war is over but the conflict continues. The status of Bosnia can best be described as “negative peace.” Other countries that might fall under the same status include Kosovo, Cyprus, Kashmir, North Korea, Burma, Guatemala, and Zimbabwe.

In the cases of pre-civil war Syria and Libya, national authorities held civil disorder and violence in check by internal enforcement of negative peace measures. The former East Germany and earlier Argentina and Chile likewise constitute classic examples of negative peace. The principle distinction here is between internal (state) and external (international intervention) suppression of war or violent civil disorder.

My perspective derives from my Bosnia field research, which led me to develop a framework and model for assessing stabilization operation environments. Uniquely, the assessment examines the environments in (1) structural and relational terms and (2) negative and positive peace terms. For this purpose, I adapted and departed from Johan Galtung’s principles of negative and positive peace but utilize his model of structural and cultural violence as is.

International stabilization interventions usually achieve a negative peace status, which involves the negotiation of a political settlement and cessation or suppression of overt hostilities. However, despite intense diplomatic and reconstruction efforts, negotiations often stall without creating positive peace, as the conflict-party’s negative sentiments (which precipitated the conflict requiring the intervention in the first place) are still present and remain largely unchanged. As a result, fundamental causes and conditions underlying the conflict remain inadequately addressed. My adapted version of positive peace is, in essence, a condition in which such underlying root causes and conditions, and structural and cultural violence, are being effectively addressed by local positive peace-oriented mechanisms, and stabilization assistance by outsiders is no longer needed.

Since the implementation of the Dayton Accords the reconstruction of national and local governments, social welfare institutions, and the economic sector has long been accomplished. Little progress, however, has been made in the normalization of relations between the conflict-parties, as in the continued practice of pervasive employment discrimination.

According to diplomats I interviewed in Bosnia the current highly dysfunctional and discriminatory ethno-political constitution and governmental structure, as instituted by the Dayton Accords to stop the war, was assumed at the time to be transitional by the original international negotiators. However, it was not officially designated as such due to a compromise with Serbian hardliners who preferred the Dayton-sanctioned post-war territorial status quo and segregated political arrangements. Therefore, no plan or timeline was set in place to officially facilitate a transitional process to a viable non-ethnic based constitution and governance structure. The Dayton ethno-political constitution defaulted to expedited fear-based ethno-political elections that only served to entrench hardline obstructionists in power and institutionalize structural violence. I believe that these two factors are the most fundamental flaws in the Bosnia stabilization and state-building exercise.

The current situation in Bosnia can, I think, be safely described as extant negative peace. Structural and cultural violence are endemic. Re-ignition of open hostilities (direct violence) appears to be largely held in check by the proactive presence of in-country trip-wire international political, civil, and military advisers under the European Union umbrella, and a hope of eventual inclusion in the EU. In fact, the relative progress and cautious optimism that was generally expressed by Bosnians and internationals from 2004 to 2008 appears to be moving in reverse.

Negative peace, although sometimes necessary to stop a war or to mitigate violence, inevitably erupts into renewed war or violent disorder unless methodically transitioned to a positive peace orientation. This fact alone does not forebode well for Bosnia, Euro-NATO circumstances, or neighboring regions. Something has to give, and sooner or later it will.

The pressing problem now is what to do when a political settlement—and stabilization and reconstruction as we know it, all essentially accomplished in Bosnia—are not enough to break a deep-rooted protracted conflict cycle. As one interviewee told me, “A mistaken assumption is that Dayton was a reconciliation process. “

Fundamentally then, sustainable peace—of the positive kind—is the ultimate challenge and desired end-state, and the future of conflict discussion.

Dr. James Adams, a Vietnam veteran and professional field officer, has served in peace and stability operations with the United Nations, the International Organization for Migration, USAID, and NGOs in Africa, Kosovo, and Afghanistan. He holds an MS & PhD from the George Mason University School for Conflict Analysis & Resolution.

Macedonia PM Won’t Call FBI into Terror Case (BIRN, by Sinisa Jakov Marusic, 27 October 2014)

The Macedonian prime minister said it was not his decision whether to ask the US FBI to oversee a possible new probe of the controversial terrorism convictions of six Albanians.

Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski said on Sunday that only the country’s appeals court could make the decision whether to ask the Federal Bureau of Investigation to become involved in any investigation of the disputed convictions in the multiple murder case that sparked ethnic unrest in Macedonia.

Gruevski said the appeals court must decide because the defence is contesting the terrorism convictions of the six ethnic Albanians.

“This is the job of the court, in this case of the appeals court. Only it can decide whether to invite someone else, and the party that will be called will have to decide whether it accepts,” he told media.

The call for FBI to become involved came from Gruevski’s government partner, the ethnic Albanian junior ruling party, the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI.

Earlier this month DUI said FBI’s involvement in a possible renewed investigation would instil much-needed public trust in the ethnically-charged case which sparked mass protests after the six Albanians were jailed for life for the murder of five ethnic Macedonians.

After the DUI leadership said it had raised the idea at meetings with US representatives, experts pointed out that for such a move to be even considered, the government and not a political party should file such a request to Washington.

“A single political party cannot act on behalf of the entire government… the DUI must have a legal department and must know that such a thing is impossible,” Vladimir Pivovoarov, a professor at the Skopje Faculty of Security, told BIRN.

Government spokesperson Aleksandar Gjorgiev has confirmed that the issue has been raised between the coalition partners, Gruevski’s VMRO DPMNE and the DUI, but gave no further information.

Confirmation that the DUI has been raising the issue came from the US embassy in Skopje as well. But “the embassy has not received a formal request from the government for this kind of support”, it told BIRN.

DUI has demanded a “transparent retrial” immediately after the convictions of the six Albanian Muslims for the 2012 killings that raised ethnic tensions.

Alil Demiri, Afrim Ismailovic, Agim Ismailovic, Fejzi Aziri, Haki Aziri and Sami Ljuta were found guilty of terrorism in connection with the killings. Two of the men who were convicted, Demiri and Afrim Ismailovic, are serving prison sentences in Kosovo for other offences and were tried in absentia.

The verdicts provoked regular protests by Albanians in front of the court who insisted the case was staged by the government led by Nikola Gruevski and was unjustly portraying Albanians as radicals and terrorists. Smaller protests were held in other Macedonian towns and in neighbouring Kosovo and Albania.

One of the protests in Skopje ended in mass violence when several thousand people charged the court and were later pushed back by heavily-armed riot police.

In 2001, armed conflict between ethnic Albanian insurgents and the security forces erupted in Macedonia. It ended the same year with the signing of a peace deal that increased Albanian rights. Ethnic Albanians make up a quarter of Macedonia’s 2.1 million population.

The FBI investigates large-scale crime cases but also serves as an intelligence service, and has already been involved in investigations in several countries in the Balkans.

* * *

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.