LOCAL PRESS

Kosovo government launches initiative for formation of armed forces (Novosti)

Pristina has launched procedure for the formation of the army of Kosovo at a moment when Serb ministers had frozen participation in the government. The draft law on the transformation of security forces into armed is completed and it will be forwarded next week to the government, Kosovo Minister for Security Forces Haki Demoli said, but noted that the constitution needs to be amended and certain amendments adopted before passing this regulation. He noted that the goal is for this new formation to become a NATO member. The Chairman of the Serbian parliamentary Committee for Kosovo and Metohija Milovan Drecun tells Novosti that Pristina will try to rename the former KLA, presently the Kosovo Security Forces, into armed forces: “This move is undoubtedly a step backward in normalization of relations with Belgrade as it creates new tensions, and it is aimed at also hindering the implementation of the Brussels agreement, where the formation of the Union of Serb Municipalities is next in line. In order for the Kosovo Security Forces to be transformed into an army, the constitution needs to be amended, and Kosovo MP Sasa Milosavljevic explains this is not possible without the support of a two-third majority, including two-third of the votes of minority representatives. This means the Serb (Srpska) List has a so-called golden voice, because of which it has been speculated that the Serbs could be blackmailed to accept the formation of the army so the Union could be formed.

Drecun: Formation of armed forces in Kosovo a destabilization factor (RTS/Tanjug)

The Chairman of the Serbian parliamentary Committee for Kosovo and Metohija Milovan Drecun has stated that the formation of armed forces in the territory of Kosovo and Metohija is unacceptable for Serbia and assessed that this would pose a destabilization factor. Pristina is persistently trying to create some kind of legal framework for the formation of so-called armed forces of Kosovo, which is unacceptable for several reasons, said Drecun. He pointed out that this would provoke a new destabilization and create an additional obstacle in the continuation of the process of normalization of relations. Drecun recalled that the only presence of armed formations in Kosovo and Metohija, in accordance with Resolution 1244, is the presence of KFOR. He pointed out that KFOR officials are expected to behave in accordance with Resolution 1244 and not to offer any kind of support to the forming of so-called armed forces in Kosovo.

Stefanovic: Creation of Kosovo army is harmful (RTS)

The caucus whip of the Democratic Party (DS) Borislav Stefanovic has assessed that the creation of the Kosovo army is a harmful thing and could cause shakes in the region. “We will see whether this law will be passed. In any case, this is disturbing news that is repeated cyclically and I am under the impression that someone is constantly stirring up the subject whenever this suits the government in Pristina, wishing to raise its quasi patriotic profile and national consciousness in Kosovo,” Stefanovic told the press in the Serbian parliament. He opines that one should wait and see whether this law will be on the agenda of the Kosovo Assembly at all, saying that Serbia, except for appealing and pointing to the problem, cannot do much “except for the Deputy Prime Minister reading a report in the Security Council”.

Stefanovic: We are taking the warrant seriously (Beta)

Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic has stated that the state will take seriously Interpol’s warrant against the deputy of the Serbian Progressive Party Momir Stojanovic, suspected of war crimes. He told a press conference that the allegations of all warrants are examined very seriously, regardless of whether “it seems to us there is nothing there”. “There are several issues that we will examine when we pass decisions,” Stefanovic said in response to the question whether Serbia will proceed according to the warrant issued for Stojanovic.

Meucci: Possible opening of Gorazdevac case (Novosti, by Dragana Zecevic)

“We have so far identified some 20 suspects who might be the subject of the indictment for war crimes from 1999 against the civilian population on the territory of Djakovica municipality,” EULEX Head Gabriele Meucci reveals in his interview to Novosti. He doesn’t wish to give names, even though it was published that among the suspects is also former head of the Military Security Agency Momir Stojanovic, who is now at the helm of the Serbian parliamentary Committee for the Control of Security Services.

How strong is the evidence against general Stojanovic and why did you wait so long to issue the warrant?

“EULEX prosecutors initiated with these warrant only an investigation on the war crimes in the Djakovica municipality on 27 and 28 April 1999, which include Meje, Orize and other villages in this region.”

With what concrete offences is the prosecutor charging Stojanovic and his associates?

“Everything has been said in the EULEX statement in April 2013.” (It states that the massacre in Meja and the vicinity is considered to be the largest massive murder during the clash in Kosovo and Metohija in 1999, author’s note).

Does EULEX have legitimacy to be judicial authority in Kosovo and Metohija, after the fierce accusations by prosecutor Maria Bamieh that corruption flourishes in EULEX?

“These allegations are the subject of criminal proceedings. The mission supported a criminal investigation before these allegations had been published. I ensured that the investigative team possesses all necessary resources needed so they can complete their work, so now we need to wait for the procedure to be implemented and the ongoing investigation to be completed.”

Since the arrival of the international community, the judiciary in Kosovo has not investigated one single serious crime committed against the Serbs. What about the massacre of reapers in Staro Gracko, the mining of the Nis-Ekspres bus in Livadice, the murder of Serb boys in Gorazdevac?

“It is important for the perpetrators of these crimes to be brought to justice primarily because of the victims’ families. These cases can be always reopened if new evidence appears and EULEX will always carefully monitor this. The investigation in regard to the Nis-Ekspres bus has been suspended in order to keep the case until new evidence appears, and it can be reopened at any moment. The case of Staro Gracko is being re-examined by the prosecutor. The case of Gorazdevac was initially investigated by UNMIK, while several years have passed until the moment when we took it over. If additional evidence appears, we will not reject them.”

REGIONAL PRESS

Neither SDP nor DF wants to enter Federal government (Oslobodjenje)

Zeljko Komsic, president of the Democratic Front, reiterated on Monday evening in Mostar that his party would not enter government at the Federation level at any price. “We do not have any new demands, our demands are old. Our partners until yesterday, which does not mean in the future, must accept that in this country, principles that are applicable in every democratic country rule. Therefore, you value it as much as you have the confidence of the people,” Komsic told reporters on the eve of a roundtable discussion titled “Does B&H need a United Left?”

He added that the DF made “a huge concession in talks on forming the Council of Ministers to avoid the failure of the story of Euro-Atlantic integrations”. “Now we expect the story to continue in a normal, democratic way. How many votes you got at the elections – is the measure of everything. If Mr. Izetbegovic is prepared to relate his 300,000 voters with the 118,000 HDZ voters, that is his right, but we will not cheapen our voters in that way,” the DF leader said.

Komsic added that the DF does not need to be a member of the ruling coalition and that he is even prepared in the FB&H Parliament to vote for a minority government. When it comes to the possible entry of the SDP into the FB&H government, that party’s President Nermin Niksic at a gathering in Mostar rejected such a possibility. “The SDP several times has clearly said that we respect the electoral results. The SDP, for what it did in the last four years, received the message from B&H citizens, and we want to turn inward and resolve issues within the SDP. Those who received the citizens’ support should form a government, and we call on them to do so as soon as possible,” said Niksic.

HDZ chief dismisses accusations by Bosnian parties (Dalje)

Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) President Tomislav Karamarko on Monday rejected accusations as “frivolous reactions” by some political parties from B&H of his alleged war-mongering speech which those parties labeled as an attack on their country’s sovereignty accusing Karamarko of trying to divide the country along the ethnic lines. Karamarko believes that it was worrisome that some people considered that mentioning equality for Croats in B&H and that the Croats be allowed to exercise their rights to be war talk. “Serious politicians would simply not allow this,” Karamarko told reporters after the HDZ’s economic forum “Croatia in the EU – development policies 2015 – 2020”. The B&H is the homeland of the Croat people and Croatia cares for that country, its integrity and prosperity and that it joins the European Union one day, he said. He said that the problems in the B&H should be resolved by the peoples there but enabling the Croats to be on an equal footing (with the other two constituent peoples) was a pre-condition. “That is an issue that should have been resolved long ago. It is absurd that we are still talking about that today,” Karamarko said. He believes that politicians in B&H and Croatia should be discussing the quality of life and half a million unemployed in that country instead of denying Croats their equality. “Croats in B&H today don’t enjoy the rights that many national minorities in Croatia and around Europe have.” The Croat National Congress of B&H (HNV) on Saturday adopted a declaration in Mostar advocating the federalization of the country and Karamarko sent a letter of support which was followed by serious allegations against him by the Democratic Front – a member of the ruling coalition in that country and of the opposition Social Democratic Party of B&H.

“All this with the Albanians is a bit shady” (Jutarnji List)

Just as they arrived, the people of Kosovo are gone from the border of Hungary and Serbia, writes Croatian Jutarnji list. When a team of journalists visited Subotica, additional bus lines with buses coming from the south of Serbia to Subotica bus station haven’t been announced. “Taxi drivers are standing with nothing to do, only one of them, making sure that there is no police around starts to negotiate with a group of young Somalis. Unlike the Afghans, they are very neat, one of them on solid English explains that their goal is the West, but they do not have in mind a particular country,” reads the article. Jutarnji List reads that the taxi driver has told them that they had problems with the immigrants from Kosovo and that the police have strictly forbade them to drive them further than Palic. “Those who wanted to earn more drove them to the border, so they ended up being accomplices in assisting the illegal crossing of the state border, sentenced by a judge. The most common destination was the Vila Lira on Palic, which was rented by a Kosovo Albanian Sami Hakaj and turned into a transportation point. He surcharged them for provided accommodation and food, and then transported them across the border,” writes the daily. There was no one at the Villa, not even the staff, only the message at the doorway that a collective vacation is in effect. “All this with the Albanians is a bit shady. They had a plan, who could mobilize so many people in such a short period,” said a taxi driver. Jutarnji List points out that there are three theories about why Kosovo Albanians suddenly started to go for the EU borders. “One part of Serbian media repeated the thesis made by the politicians saying that the immigrant wave was supposed to compromise Serbia’s white list Schengen status. Others argued that the whole story suits Belgrade, which would stress that the West has given Kosovo a status of a country, from which the people are fleeing now. There is a third, perhaps more likely story represented by Laslo Torockai, Mayor of Asotalom municipality, who said that Albanians from Kosovo went to Germany to get financial aid and that’s why they are taking the children with them, after which they would be willing to return to Kosovo,” concludes the part of the text published on the Jutarnji list portal.

Croatian state visit to B&H: Territorial integrity is crucial for any form of support (Srna)

Sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of B&H are key requirements for any kind of support and institutional cooperation of the international community, i.e. the US, EU, including Croatian, towards B&H, said today in Sarajevo Croatian President Grabar-Kitarovic. “By saying that, I mean the support for the European, and Euro-Atlantic path of B&H,” said Kitarovic at a press conference after the meeting of Croatian and B&H delegation at the B&H Presidency. She expressed her desire that the B&H and all the other countries in the region, those who wish, obtain a full membership in the EU and NATO. Kitarovic reiterated that good-neighborly cooperation of Croatia with B&H absolutely respects the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of the B&H, including the full constituency of Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks, as well as equality of other peoples. Croatian President welcomed the efforts which the High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy of the EU Federica Mogherini invests in supporting B&H on its European path. Kitarovic said that she will personally support B&H in implementing the reforms, and that she will also support the strengthening of B&H’s economy within the framework of the EU projects on cross-border cooperation, which will be useful for both B&H and Croatia. Expressing the satisfaction with the visit of the Croatian President, Chairman of the B&H Presidency Mladen Ivanic said that Croatia and B&H are genuine friends and thanked the official Zagreb for the overall support for B&H. Ivanic said that he is optimistic in regard to the development of relations between B&H and Croatia, and emphasized that he expected a much better position and protection of the rights and interests of Serbs in Croatia. Responding to the reporters’ questions about the position of Croats in B&H and the conclusions of the Croatian National Congress (HNS) about the federalization of B&H, Kitarovic said that nobody should resent the President of the Croatian for being interested in the status and position of Croats in B&H. She welcomed the “patriotic attitude of the HNS towards the B&H”, stressing that the key issues in B&H, such as the establishment and functioning of government at all levels must be achieved with the consent of all three constituent peoples. Speaking about the position of Serbs in Croatia and their fundamental rights, Kitarovic concluded that “the national minorities are the wealth in Croatia”. “We will advocate for the full implementation of the constitutional legislation concerning the protection of the rights and interests of ethnic minorities, including the improvement of the position of the Serb people living in Croatia. All this should be done for the benefit of co-existence,” said Kitarovic. The first official visit President of the Croatia Kitarovic, begun with a meeting with members of the B&H Presidency Bakir Izetbegovic, Dragan Covic and Mladen Ivanic. Croatian President will meet with members of the collegium of the House of Representatives and the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of B&H Sefik Dzaferovic, Borjan Kristo, Mladen Bosic, Barisa Colak, Ognjen Tadic and Safet Softic. She also plans to talk with the Chair of the Council of Ministers Vjekoslav Bevanda.

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

Moody’s: Serbian IMF deal credit positive, “mild” recovery in 2016 (Reuters, 2 March 2015)

BELGRADE – Serbia’s three-year loan deal with the International Monetary Fund is credit positive but a mild economic recovery is seen only in 2016, ratings agency Moody’s said on Monday. The IMF last month approved a 1.2 billion euro ($1.36 billion) stand-by loan deal with Serbia, under which the EU candidate country pledged to shrink the public sector and cut subsidies to loss-making firms to cap debt of over 70 percent of national output. “In the medium term, privatization will reduce government spending, while sales of … state-owned enterprises can provide an additional source of revenue for the government, a further credit positive,” said Marco Zaninelli, Assistant Vice President and analyst in Moody’s Sovereign Risk Group.

Moody’s has a long-term rating for Serbia of B1 with stable outlook. The report also said that Serbia’s economy, which contracted 1.6 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2014 marking the third consecutive quarterly decline, will also contract in 2015 as a result of the cancellation of Russia’s South Stream gas pipeline project and planned fiscal consolidation.

“We forecast only a mild recovery in 2016,” Zanineli said.

New Tapes Leave Macedonia Minister Red-Faced (BIRN, by Goran Rizaov and Sinisa Jakov Marusic, 3 March 2015)

Finance Minister Zoran Stavreski said new recordings in which he appears to describe the Prime Minister’s economy as ‘mad’ were selective and aimed at sowing division in the cabinet.

Skopje Finance Minister Zoran Stavreski on Monday said the opposition’s latest slew of wiretapped telephone conversations were aimed at sowing discord in the ranks of the government. In new recordings that the opposition Social Democrats presented earlier on Monday, the minister is heard slating Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski’s policies as mad and irresponsible. Stavreski did not deny the authenticity of the recordings but suggested they had been “spiced up a little… to insert discord…and disagreement within the government’s economic team”. Earlier on Monday, opposition leader Zoran Zaev published covertly-recorded conversations allegedly between Stavreski and Interior Minister Gordana Jankuloska. In one, a voice attributed to Stavreski calls Prime Minister Gruevski a man “who has lost the sense of reality” when it comes to economics. “We are constantly adding new [budget] expenditures. Even the United States could not withstand this… pedestrian tracks, aqua parks, this and that… this is insane!” the voice says. “We are lunatics! We are spending on chocolate when we don’t have bread,” the same voice added. The minister yesterday said the recordings were “selective” and there was nothing wrong with healthy debate on policies. “It is not good if we all think and act the same,” he said. “There are many things on which we agreed with the Prime Minister and where we had identical opinions on certain reforms,” he added, “but those kind of recordings have never been shown to the public.” While declining to dispute the authenticity of the conversations, he denounced them for having been “obtained, created and owned illegally”. Stavreski yesterday insisted that the Macedonian economy was doing well, adding that the government always paid wages and pensions on time. “Again and again we have heard the same thesis and the same opposition accusations that the economy and the country are in collapse and bankruptcy. They have repeated that for the past nine years,” he said. “After all those attacks, the Macedonian economy is stronger and citizens gave their trust to [Gruevski’s] VMRO DPMNE [party] at each following election,” Stavreski added. The Social Democrats held their first press conference on the subject of telephone surveillance on February 9, when they declared that over 20,000 people in the country of 2 million had been wiretapped. Zaev said top government figures and as well as its opponents had been subjected to eavesdropping orchestrated by Gruevski and the secret service chief, Sasa Mijalkov. Five more press conferences have been held since then at which the opposition released further conversations. Gruevski, who has been in power since 2006, has denied the allegations, blaming the scandal on an unnamed “foreign secret service” that has been collaborating with Zaev. He has also acccused Zaev of trying to blackmail him in order to grab power. Zaev has denied collaborating with foreign spies, insisting that all the conversations that he received and has since revealed come from the domestic intelligence services.

Disputes Simmer Over Bosnian Independence Day (BIRN, by Srecko Latal, 2 March 2015)

The 23rd anniversary of the referendum on Bosnia’s independence from the former Yugoslavia again highlighted the ethnic and political divisions that still run deep in the country

People in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Bosniak-Croat Federation entity marked the country’s official Independence Day on Sunday amid continuing disagreements about the referendum to break from Yugoslavia in 1992. Many Bosnian citizens, but mostly Bosniaks and Croats, celebrate it as the day of the referendum which took place on February 29 and March 1 1992, when 63.6 per cent of Bosnia’s population turn out to vote, of which 99.7 per cent voted in favour of Bosnia’s independence from Yugoslavia. Whether the majority of Bosnian Serbs boycotted this referendum or not is still deeply disputed issue among historians and ordinary people alike. However many Bosnian Serbs also remember March 1, 1992 as the day when a Bosniak gunman attacked a Serb wedding procession in downtown Sarajevo, killing the groom’s father and wounding an Orthodox priest. The first clashes in Sarajevo broke out shortly after the referendum and killing, and the conflict quickly spread to the rest of the country. The anniversary was celebrated as an official holiday in the Bosniak and Croat-dominated Bosnia’s Federation entity, with ceremonies and processions on Sunday and a non-working day on Monday. The Serb-dominated entity of Republika Srpska ignored the event, while some of its politicians used it to underline the differences in perception of the recent history of Bosnia. “March 1st divides Bosnia and Herzegovina again,” read the title of an article published by Banja Luka daily Nezavisne Novine on Monday. Other local media reported that one Bosniak was taken for questioning by local police in the village of Kozarac in Serb-dominated entity Republika Srpska, for displaying the state flag while celebrating Independence Day. Police asked for the flag to be removed. “This is not a Bosnia and Herzegovina holiday. We have nothing against them [people in the Federation] celebrating it, but we have our own holiday, the Day of the Republic,” Republika Srpska president Milorad Dodik told media, referring to January 9, 1992, the day when Bosnian Serbs declared their autonomous republic within Bosnia. Many Bosniaks and Croats however see January 9, 1992 as the day when the renegade Bosnian Serb leadership tried to secede from the rest of Bosnia. Additional tensions were triggered on this year’s Independence Day by a meeting of the Croat Peoples’ Council, HNS – an association which includes top representatives of the most of the Croat parties in Bosnia. At their convention on Sunday, Bosnian Croat leaders adopted a declaration which stated that today’s Bosnia “has failed to fulfill Bosnian Croats’ aspirations which [were the reason why] we voted for independence” and that Bosnia’s current constitutional framework is “unacceptable” because it does not treat all three main ethnic groups equally. In statements during the convention, Bosnian Croat leaders called for federalization, which usually means creation of a separate, third Croat entity within Bosnia and Herzegovina. The declaration also said that if a new constitutional framework cannot be reached through internal consensus, the international community should hold another peace conference – ‘Dayton 2’ – to impose it. The president of the main opposition party in Croatia, Tomislav Karamarko of the Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, poured fuel on the flames when he sent a message of support for the HNS convention on Saturday. In his statement Karamarko said Croats were being treated in a worse way then minorities in some other countries. “This is a problem that has to be solved because the Croat identity is one of the foundations of the identity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The constitutional and institutional equality of all three constitutive groups is the condition for the survival of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a united state,” he said. This triggered strong reactions from Bosniak parties and some Serb politicians. The Democratic Front party issued a statement saying that the HNS and Karamarko’s statements were “warmongering”. “They are nothing but another attempt to achieve war goals through peaceful methods,” the party said. “Karamarko and his followers want to split Bosnia again,” said a statement from the leader of the Social Democratic Party, Nermin Niksic. The HNS declaration was also criticised by the main Serb parties in the country. Dragan Cuzulan from the Serb Democratic Party, SDS, said that the HNS declaration was “completely unrealistic and not implementable, and should only be perceived as testing the local and international pulse for such initiatives in future”. Meanwhile Pedja Kojovic from the opposition Nasa Stranka (Our Party) told media that the disputes and tensions showed that the country still has many problems to address, 23 years after the independence vote. “The struggle continues for a Bosnia and Herzegovina which will not be an international protectorate and in which all of its citizens will be equal in all of its territories,” Kojovic told media on Sunday.

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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.