LOCAL PRESS

Vucic: Difficult talks with Pristina ahead (RTS)
Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic told a press conference that the next month will be difficult for Serbia. “Difficult talks with Pristina are ahead and all four topics that will be discussed will be disastrous and cardinally difficult for us. Whatever we do in Brussels on 23 June I will always be guilty. Whether I go or not to Srebrenica, again, I will be guilty, but I will be guided by Serbia’s interests in all cases,” said Vucic. He said that talks in Macedonia failed last night, that EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn cancelled his visit to B&H. “Things in the Western Balkans are becoming complicated, there are big internal problems in Kosovo, this also exists in Macedonia, there are growing frictions in B&H. Croatia wishes to celebrate 5 August when we will be crying,” said Vucic. He said that he would have liked if someone has asked Serbia something about the resolution on Srebrenica, but wasn’t and that is why he cannot and will not comment this document. “But, this circle that is being made is very, very difficult for us, and unfortunately, a bit dangerous,” said Vucic. Asked whether he would go to Srebrenica on 11 July, the Prime Minister responded that he needed a little more time to decide.

Mihajlovic: Every crime has a name, victims and perpetrator (RTS)

The Head of the Office for Media Relations Milivoje Mihajlovic has told the morning broadcast of Radio and Television of Serbia (RTS) that the arrest of the former commander of the Muslim army in Srebrenica Naser Oric is a result of regional cooperation, that all crimes are personalized and that this is one of the procedures to reach the truth. Mihajlovic says that the arrest is cooperation of the entire region with international police services. He recalls that at issue is a person suspected of crime that was arrested after the Serbian warrant. Serbia’s policy is that all crimes are personalized and that every crime has a name, victims and perpetrators, stressed Mihajlovic. “Until the court delivers its opinion, nobody should be condemned, but this is one of the procedures to reach the truth,” said Mihajlovic.

Serbian Prosecution without comment (Politika)

Politika tried to get a comment from the War Crimes Prosecution in regard to the new on the arrest of Naser Oric in Bern. “We will not comment. We are working,” Deputy War Crime Prosecutor Bruno Vekaric told Politika last night.

Djuric condemns attack on KoSSev portal (Tanjug/Radio Serbia)

The Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric fiercely condemned the attack on the premises of the KoSSev information portal in northern Kosovska Mitrovica. Djuric said that the attack once more proves that there are certain individuals in Kosovo and Metohija who prefer an atmosphere of lynch to rule of law and freedom of expression. He noted that attacks on the media and reporters constitute the most drastic form of anti-civilizational behavior and such incidents can bring benefits only to those who want destabilization of the situation in the province and a return to some past times. I expect the investigative bodies to take a most serious attitude in the case of the attack and bring responsible individuals to justice, Djuric said as reported by the Office for Kosovo and Metohija.

Area code, then chapters (Novosti)

If the next round of the dialogue passes without tangible results, the EU ramp for opening the first chapters in the membership negotiations will remain down for Serbia until further notice. The delegations from Belgrade and Pristina will have the last chance next week to complete agreements on telecommunications, energy at the technical level, as well as to commence talks on the Union of Serb Municipalities (ZSO), so Aleksandar Vucic and Isa Mustafa could sign the final agreement on 23 June at the round at the prime minister level. According to Novosti, energy is scheduled for 18 June. “Vucic and Mustafa are expected to resolve the area code for Kosovo, the status of the Serbian mobile operator, the issue of the Valac sub-station and the formation of a company for power distribution behind which the Serbian Power Industry will stand, the abolishment of insurance at the crossings and whether Serbia has enough judges and prosecutors who will work in the Kosovo system,” says analyst Dusan Janjic. However, these topics turned out to be the most difficult ones in the past course of the dialogue, so, for example, the big question is where will they find the “middle” in resolving the area code when Belgrade offers that it requests an area code for the territory of Kosovo from the International Telecommunication Union, while Pristina requests that this is done by Austria. Even if all open topics are completed on 23 June, due to the work calendar of the Brussels administration, Belgrade could hope for the opening of chapters in the fall at the earliest.

Russians will veto if Belgrade requests (Danas)

The draft resolution on Srebrenica, prepared by Great Britain on the occasion of marking the 20^th anniversary of genocide, could be adopted in the UN Security Council even against Russia’s will, but it would be blocked if the Russians impose a veto, state Danas’ sources who used to be high diplomatic representatives in the UN. They stress that Serbia needs to voice opposition to the proposed document in order to get Moscow’s support. “The Russians will not try to be bigger Serbs than the Serbs themselves. Serbia’s discontent should be the precondition for their veto in the UN, so, they will want to hear Serbia’s stance first. Serbia should insist on honoring all victims of war, and not to classify victims, because humanity requires the respect of all those who died on all sides. If all victims are not honored, this will be politicization of genocide by the West,” Danas’ sources opine. Certain Serbian diplomats with whom Danas talked ascertain that, despite the claims that the announced resolution will not pose an attack on the Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik, it is “interesting” that such a document is being prepared at a time when there are aspirations towards centralization of authorities in B&H, which would mean the undermining of the principles of the “Dayton B&H”. According to them, the resolution can also represent a form of pressure on Serbia, especially in view of the resumption of the process of resolving the Kosovo issue. On the occasion of increasingly frequent allegations of pressures on Serbia for Kosovo to be admitted in the United Nations, representatives of diplomatic circles who are versed in the preparation processes in the UN, say that first there needs to be a recommendation of the Security Council, after which the proposal on membership is forwarded to the General Assembly. “Before the Security Council examines this issue, it would be necessary for Serbia, as the parent state, to give consent that Kosovo can be admitted in the UN. To illustrate, when Bangladesh separated from Pakistan several decades ago, it couldn’t become a UN member state because Pakistan opposed this, even though it was recognized by more states than Kosovo. Only when Pakistan received compensation from the U.S. it gave a green light for Bangladesh’s membership in this world organization. That is why the West, headed by Germany, so fiercely insists on full normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina. The West seeks for Kosovo to become a UN member in the future by applying Ischinger’s formula. East Germany received a seat in the UN this way, while West Germany was in return given the possibility of re-unification with East Germany. But, in case of Serbia this would mean that Belgrade definitely is giving up Kosovo as a province because Kosovo Albanians will never accept re-unification,” Danas’ diplomatic sources conclude.

Patriotic bloc of Kosovo and Metohija: New deceptions and lies of Aleksandar Vucic (New Serbian Political Thought)

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic’s invitation to businessmen to invest in the region of Kosovo and Metohija is the ultimate form of political hypocrisy having in mind the past “impact” of this government in separating Kosovo and Metohija from Serbia. The very statement is aimed at Vucic telling Serbian citizens that he didn’t sell the southern Serbian province regardless of having signed the Brussels agreement and over which the conviction – that it is precisely the current Prime Minister who is the main culprit for the creation of another Albanian state in the Balkans – is increasingly maturing in the Serbian public. The invitation is hypocritical because the Prime Minister is not controlling business and economic developments in the southern Serbian province, while he himself made sure that classic customs is established between Serbia proper and Kosovo, whereby Serbia is also economically bordering with Kosovo.

After all, two shirt factories in Zvecan and Zubin Potok have closed down, after only three months of operation, even though the then head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Aleksandar Vulin represented, in a thundering voice, this as a great success of the Progressive government. Both factories were closed down over high customs duties that prevail between Serbia proper and Kosovo. Even the things that the Serbian Prime Minister was opening in Kosovo and Metohija, but have nothing to do with the economy, are not working. A classic example is the maternity in Pasjane near Gnjilane that the Prime Minister opened several months ago, but to this day not a single woman has given birth in it. The maternity is not working because, according to Doctor Zoran Sarac, member of the main board of the Serbian Progressive Party, the maternity doesn’t have water. Logic says how one opens a maternity without having basics, i.e. water, for future mothers and babies. The Prime Minister also unveiled the monument to King Milutin who was in the light of the day for only 24 hours, and now is again languishing in the basement of the municipal building in Gracanica. All this says that the policy of this government towards Kosovo and Metohija is not sincere. Because of the opening of various chapters for the sake of the alleged EU membership, it is disbanding its institutions in the southern Serbian province such as the judiciary, civil defense etc. The stories about the Union of Serb Municipalities will be another hoax of the current regime because separatists in Pristina will never change the constitution so the Union of Serb Municipalities could receive the third level of government. Admittedly, it can be formed, but with the level of jurisdiction of fishing association, because Pristina is that much prepared to offer the Serbian side.

REGIONAL PRESS

EC urges all Macedonian parties to find a lasting political compromise (Republika)

After a marathon, 12 hours long round of talks which lasted past midnight, ­ leaders of the four largest parties in Macedonia failed to reach a deal on Wednesday on the implementation of the agreement that was brokered by the European Commission last week. The path forward following the failure of the talks is unclear. The Commission, in its press release, informed that it will now consider how it can best contribute to the political process. “The talks were open and detailed, but did not lead to a final agreement yet. The European Union urges all parties ­ in the interest of their country and its citizens to find a lasting political compromise without any delay and come forward with concrete proposals to this end, building on the agreement already reached in Skopje on 2 June. The reform commitments contained therein, to which all party leaders committed must be implemented as a matter of urgency. This is essential for the country to make any progress on the Euro­-Atlantic path. The European Commission will now consider how to best contribute to the political process in the country and remains ready to facilitate discussions”, the press release informs. Commissioner Johannes Hahn announced that there is no agreement and expressed his disappointment. Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski was the only one of the four leaders to give a statement to the press after the talks collapsed. He said that the opposition SDSM party leader Zoran Zaev came to Brussels determined to prevent a deal from being reached. The reason for this, Gruevski added, is that a crucial part of the deal agreed a week earlier in Skopje was to hold early elections by April 2016, and SDSM are looking for a way to avoid the political crisis being resolved with yet another of their electoral defeats. “We negotiated for over 12 hours, and my final impression is that Mr. Zaev didn’t want us to reach an agreement and he came determined to stop one from happening. The reason for this is that he is afraid of having elections. He realizes that he will suffer a disastrous defeat, possibly the heaviest SDSM have suffered in their history. He came here wanting to avoid a deal and to avoid having elections”, Gruevski said following the meeting.

Savcic: Oric trial needs to be finalized (Srna)

The President of the RS War Veterans’ Organization Milomir Savcic has hailed the arrest of former commander of the so-called Army of B&H in Srebrenica Naser Oric, emphasizing that finalization of this trial process in Serbia would be done in the interests of justice and reconciliation. “There is lots of physical evidence, statements of witnesses and victims’ families demanding the prosecution of Oric to finally see that the justice is served,” Savcic told Srna.
He has stated that the records show that until January 1993, 1,300 Serbs were murdered in Podrinje, from Skelani to Zvornik, where 28^th Division of the so-called the Army of B&H operated under the command of Oric. Savcic has appealed to all witnesses of countless crimes committed by Oric to respond freely in order to testify and speak the truth about the crimes committed against Serbs in Podrinje. He says that if Interpol red arrest warrant issued by Serbia was not respected, Serbia would then have to pose a question how much it is appreciated in Europe. “Reputation of Serbia in Europe is heavily tested through Oric case. It will be fine if Oric gets extradited to Serbia and if Serbia initiates the trial process and proceeds it in accordance with its own legislation. Otherwise, this will be a very ugly message to Serbia and Serbs,” concluded Savcic.

Kojic: Extradite Oric to Serbia (Srna)

The Head of the Research Centre of War, War Crimes and Tracing Missing Persons Milorad Kojic expects that the former commander of the Bosnian Army units in Srebrenica Naser Oric will be extradited to Serbia in order to initiate the trial process and announce the verdict. “It is obvious that we cannot expect from the judicial institutions in B&H that the case “Naser Oric” will ever get a court epilogue,” Kojic told Srna. Kojic reminded that the District Prosecutor’s Office in Trebinje had this case in 2009 and that it was only a matter of time when an indictment would be filed. He noted that even Oric’s lawyer, Vasvija Vidovic, demanded the Hague Tribunal to declare itself in connection with proceedings conducted, given the fact that The Hague Tribunal acquitted Oric. According to him, the Hague Tribunal gave a clear opinion that Oric was not prosecuted in The Hague on that particular basis and that there were elements for prosecuting Oric before the District Prosecutor’s Office in Bijeljina for war crimes. “After that, the case was suddenly taken over by the B&H Prosecutor’s Office and has been kept closed in a drawer since 2009. Should keeping the case closed in the drawer surprise us since Oric was hosted by Bakir Izetbegovic in his office last year, after Serbia had issued an arrest warrant? Bakir Izetbegovic stated then that Oric would not be extradited to Serbia and would not be prosecuted before the B&H Court and the B&H Prosecutor’s Office,” said Kojic. He says that it is quite clear out of the above mentioned who controls the functioning of the B&H Court and the B&H Prosecutor’s Office and who is their mentor when it comes to the war crimes.

No one brought to justice 23 years after crime against Serbs (Srna)

The president of the Zvornik Association of Military War Invalids Dragislav Mijanovic proposed that representatives of the executive and legislative authorities in the RS and B&H, and especially the B&H Court, be asked why 23 years after the crime against 32 Serb civilians and soldiers in Cemerno no court proceedings have been launched against the perpetrators. Mijanovic said that autopsies showed that the victims were killed in the most brutal ways – they were slaughtered, torched, suffocated, and killed with blunt objects, which was not enough to launch proceedings against perpetrators. “Key witnesses, who are aging, live in hope that justice will be served. A significant number of witnesses moved out to foreign countries and cut off all ties with this area, but did not lose hope that criminals, who live as free men, will be brought to justice. Moral and personal responsibility towards the victims do not allow us to keep quiet,” Mijanovic said. The 23^rd anniversary of the massacre of 32 Serbian soldiers and civilians, committed on June 10, 1992 by soldiers of the so-called Army of B&H, was marked with a memorial service, the lighting of candles and the laying of flowers at a memorial in Cemerno, Ilijas Municipality. The RS Ministry of Internal Affairs on March 8, 2007 filed supplemented criminal charges supported by evidence and names of 15 Bosniaks suspected of this crime.

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

Kosovo No State, Serbian President Tells Jahjaga (BIRN, by Una Hajdari, Igor Jovanovic, 11 June 2015)

Serbia’s President has told his Kosovo counterpart that she is not the head of a state – drawing a testy response from Pristina that bodes ill for the success of EU-led talks between them.

Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic has told the President of Kosovo, Atifete Jahjaga, that she should not consider herself a state president since Kosovo “will never be a state”, according to well-founded reports in the Belgrade media. The Belgrade daily Vecernje novosti reported on June 9 that Nikolic had told Jahjaga that the Kosovo Albanians had not fulfilled their agreements with Serbia and should change that as soon as possible. They should also not “imagine they have some kind of a state, which is not recognized by the half of the world”, he added. The row reportedly took place during a regional meeting of leaders in Montenegro on June 8. An advisor to the Serbian President, Ivan Mrkic, confirmed the incident, telling the daily paper on June 9 that Nikolic had addressed the Kosovo President over clashes that took place in Macedonia in May when armed Kosovo Albanians engaged in shootouts with the Macedonian police in the town of Kumanovo. “The President told her that she should have at least said ‘sorry’ because Albanian terrorists brutally killed police officers in Kumanovo, and then they held a funeral in Pristina [for the terrorists], practically with state honours,” Mrkic said. The Kosovo President’s office reacted to Nikolic’s statement on June 10, stating that Nikolic appeared frustrated that Kosovo now “has equal treatment at all regional meetings. “While he spoke about Kosovo as a non-existent state…President Jahjaga was sitting at the same table with other colleagues from the region and Austrian President Heinz Fischer… to discuss regional cooperation and strategic plans,” Jahjaga’s office stated. Pristina analyst Belul Beqaj said the exchange of barbs could “complicate the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia” led by the EU. “Situations like this complicate the dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia because they create animosities amongst the population,” Beqaj told BIRN. He said President Nikolic was “playing the role of guardian of Serbian nationalism before the Albanians, representing all those who continue to have problems with Kosovo’s [independent] status. “Statements like these will never stop coming from either side. The worrying element is that there still exist spheres of the population in Kosovo and Serbia who need to be fed by this rhetoric. As long as they exist, then there is little point in organizing regional meetings. Citizens will only be happy when they hear inflammatory rhetoric,” he added. Nikolic recently declared he had launched a new “platform” for Serbia’s relations with Kosovo, although the document has not been publicly released. According to the Serbian press, Nikolic proposes broad autonomy for Kosovo within Serbia – a position completely at variance with the position of the Kosovo government and most EU states, which recognised Kosovo years ago. Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said the government would discuss the document but admitted that Serbia could face the rift with Western countries that had recognized Kosovo as a state over the document. The EU is keen for Serbia to move forward in “normalising” relations with Kosovo, rather than going back over the old issue of its independence in 2008. European Parliament Rapporteur for Serbia David McAllister said in Belgrade on June 8 that the next round of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue in Brussels on June 23 would be crucial for both sides as regards their EU integration process. “Both Belgrade and Pristina should take additional steps toward the normalization of ties for to demonstrate commitment and credibility,” McAllister said.

Macedonian leaders fail to reach final deal to end crisis (Reuters, 11June 2015)

Macedonian political leaders failed to reach a final agreement to resolve the country’s political crisis in marathon talks in Brussels on June 10, the European Union said. The EU brokered a deal on June 2 for early elections in Macedonia, potentially ending months of political turmoil triggered by damaging wiretap disclosures against the government, although few details of the deal were made public. The political impasse over allegations of widespread government abuse of power had raised fears of instability in a country that flirted with civil war in 2001. EU enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn invited the leaders of Macedonia’s four main political parties to Brussels on June 10 to try to hammer out the specifics of the agreement. But around 12 hours of talks – in which the U.S. ambassador to Macedonia, Jess Baily, also participated – failed to reach a breakthrough. “The talks were open and detailed, but did not lead to a final agreement yet,” the EU said in a statement. “The European Union urges all parties – in the interest of their country and its citizens – to find a lasting political compromise without any delay and come forward with concrete proposals to this end, building on the agreement already reached in Skopje on June 2,” it said. The EU said reform commitments agreed to on June 2 must be implemented urgently. “This is essential for the country to make any progress on the Euro-Atlantic path,” the EU said, referring to Macedonia’s bids to join the EU and NATO which have been blocked for years by a dispute with neighbouring Greece over Macedonia’s name. The EU said it remained ready to mediate in any further talks. After nine years in power, conservative Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski has been under pressure since January over wiretap disclosures released by opposition leader Zoran Zaev and which the West says have raised serious questions about democracy in the ex-Yugoslav republic. Zaev says the wiretaps were collected illegally by the government, targeting 20,000 political figures, journalists and judges, foes and allies alike. They appear to expose tight government control over the media, courts and the conduct of elections. The government says the tapes were made by a foreign spy service working with Zaev to bring down the government. Zaev has been charged with “violence” against the state. On June 2, Hahn said the Macedonian political leaders had agreed to “a kind of transitional period” and early elections no later than the end of April 2016.

Bosnian Serbs Refuse Reform Program Demanded by EU (Reuters, 10 June 2015)

SARAJEVO — Bosnian Serb leaders refused on Wednesday to sign a reform agenda demanded by the European Union as part of a drive to speed up Bosnia’s joining the bloc, prompting the EU enlargement commissioner to cancel a visit to Sarajevo. The European Union launched a new strategy for Bosnia in December, focusing on economic and social reforms and not on difficult political issues, in an effort to revive the Balkan country’s stalled bid for a membership. A written commitment by rival Muslim Bosniak, Serb and Croat leaders has paved the way for EU to put in force this month a long-stalled Stabilization and Association Agreement [SAA] with Bosnia. Bosnia lags behind its ex-Yugoslav peers on the long road to joining the 28-nation EU. It has struggled to overcome ethnic divisions that still linger, almost 20 years since the end of a 1992-95 war in which some 100,000 people died. Its development has been stifled by a highly decentralized post-war system of government that divided power along ethnic lines and spawned huge networks of political patronage. The governments at all levels of Bosnia’s complex system were expected to sign a draft reform agenda by Wednesday, and then seal it with EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn on Thursday. But the Bosnian Serbs rejected the reform program, complaining they were not directly involved in drafting it. In a statement announcing the cancellation of his visit, Hahn urged the government of the autonomous Serb Republic to follow in steps of the central government and the government of the Bosniak-Croat Federation, which signed the agenda. “The country faces serious socio-economic challenges which require swift and bold decisions and actions putting the interest, stability and prosperity of the country and its citizens beyond party interests,” Hahn said in a statement. A big chunk of the reforms demanded by the EU relate to economic and financial issues. They will be the topic of talks about a possible new arrangement with the International Monetary Fund, which begun on Wednesday. Bosnia’s two regions desperately need IMF cash to plug in their widening budget deficits. “The EU is ready to support this reform agenda with substantial funds. However, these can obviously only be committed in case the reform agenda is properly adopted and implemented,” said Hahn.

Bosnian Serb MPs reject Srebrenica genocide resolution (Reuters, 10 June 2015)

SARAJEVO – Bosnian Serb lawmakers voted out a resolution that described the 1995 Srebrenica massacre as a genocide on Wednesday, saying the motion was an attack on their community and would destabilise the country. Bosnian Serb forces swept into a U.N.-designated “safe haven” toward the end of the Bosnian War and took 8,000 Muslim men and boys who were executed in the days that followed. The U.N. tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague has ruled that the massacre — the worst mass killing on European soil since World War Two — constituted genocide, a term that the Bosnian Serbs still dispute and Serbia studiously avoids. Bosnian Serb President Milorad Dodik said the resolution, proposed by Muslim Bosniak lawmakers to commemorate victims of Srebrenica and all other crimes committed during Bosnia’s 1992-95 war, was directed against Serbs. “It does not mark a step towards ethnic reconciliation but may rather further destabilise relations in the country,” he added. The motion, which had been proposed than taken off the parliamentary agenda several times before Wednesday, came a day after Britain angered Serbs by saying it was drafting a resolution at the U.N. Security Council to mark next month’s 20th anniversary of the massacre. Earlier this week, Dodik again disputed the number of Muslims killed in Srebrenica, prompting an association of the massacre survivors to file criminal charges against him on Wednesday on charges of inciting ethnic and religious hatred. “I will keep telling that genocide was not committed there. It was a grave atrocity,” Dodik said. Almost 20 years after the war ended, Bosnia remains a fragile state reliant on external aid, its economy hobbled by a complex and unwieldy power-sharing system and tensions between its two constituent regions.

(Reporting by Maja Zuvela; Editing by Daria Sito-Sucic and Andrew Heavens)

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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.