LOCAL PRESS

 

Kosovo: 8.000 people participated in Pristina protest that turned violent, UNMIK voiced concerns (RTS)

By using tear gas, police managed to disperse protesters, after at the end of the protest they started hurling Molotov cocktails and stones at the government building in Pristina on Saturday. The central city square is littered with stones, parts of banners, and smoke bombs used by police. Supporters of the opposition held another protest in Pristina on Saturday, demanding that the government scrap the EU-brokered deal relating to the establishment of the Community of Serb Municipalities and the agreement on border demarcation with Montenegro. The protesters also urged the government to step down. Kosovo Police Spokesman Baki Keljani said that 10 policemen, two protesters and two reporters had been injured in Saturday’s opposition protest, and that 24 protesters had been arrested. He told a news conference that Kosovo police had shown much restraint and had not responded until protesters started using Molotov cocktails, noting that police used only regular anti-riot means, Pristina media reported. Keljani dismissed the opposition’s claims that police had prevent activists from other parts from coming to the protest, and their estimates concerning the number of protesters, saying that around 8,000 people took part in the demonstrations. Basri Lenjani, head of the emergency department, said that they had admitted 11 people with injuries – seven policemen, two protesters, one passer-by and one cameraman. The United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) voiced concern on Saturday about the violence observed at the protests in Pristina’s city center. “Such acts by certain individuals have no place in a democratic society and have nothing to do with the legitimate right to peaceful protest expressed by many others,” UNMIK said in a release. UNMIK urges a return to democratic means of expressing opinions, including through the Kosovo Assembly, reads the release. The EU Office in Pristina also condemned the violence and the destruction of public property, calling for peace and restraint.

 

Stojanovic: Albanians urinated in Orthodox Church in Pristina (RTS)

Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister Branimir Stojanovic strongly condemned the desecration of the Temple of Christ the Savior in Pristina, which, as he said, was committed by a group of demonstrators during the protest on Saturday, RTS reports. Branimir Stojanovic believes that such behavior is shameful and uncivilized, but that shameful is also the fact that, as he added, the police quietly stood and watched protesters as they entered the temple. “Urinating in a sanctuary is shameful, uncivilized, vandalism,” said Stojanovic in a written statement. As he pointed out, Serbian sanctuaries in Kosovo are constantly desecrated, but that temple seems to bother someone pretty much, because it is most often targeted by vandals. Therefore, said Stojanovic, it is necessary to build a fence around the temple, as soon as possible, and prevent the perpetrators of shameful and uncivilized acts and further desecration of the temple. “The quiet observation of the demonstrators by the police, as they entered the temple and urinated is also shameful,” said Stojanovic. Recalling that the temple was desecrated many times, Stojanovic said that the perpetrators were never found, and that on Saturday everything happened before the eyes of the police. Stojanovic is therefore calling Kosovo Interior Minister to take punitive measures against police officers who, with their failure to act, enabled smooth committing of criminal offenses.

“Vandals have to be stopped,” concluded Stojanovic.

 

Dacic: Desecration of the Church is proof that Kosovo does not belong in UNESCO (Tanjug)

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said today that the desecration of the temple of Christ the Savior in Pristina, in the presence of Kosovo police, on Christmas, represents another sad proof that Serbia was right when it opposed Kosovo's entry into UNESCO.

Albanians in Kosovo are not only unable to protect Serbian cultural and religious heritage, but they systematically destroy it, without any punishments for the perpetrators, said Dacic, stated the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. That is not only incompatible with the principles of UNESCO, but it deserves the condemnation by all international factors, he added. Kosovo is the only place in Europe where the demolition, arson and desecration of Christian temples is still possible without a single word against it and without penalty, Dacic said. "On the contrary, most European states have awarded them by voting for their admission to UNESCO. The silence of the international community, evident in the case of Kosovo, means consent", concluded Dacic.

 

Serbian President on the issues of Croatia’s arming, Kosovo and Russia (Beta, B92)

Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic said on Monday he was surprised by Croatia's announced acquisition of a missile system from Norway. Nikolic made the comment during his meeting in Belgrade with Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin. The President said he found Croatia's plans curious, "considering there will be no armed conflict in the region." "We will certainly not go to war against Croatia, and a war of Serbia against NATO would be especially meaningless," the Beta agency quoted him as saying, and adding: "Serbia will not invest huge amounts of money in missiles that would be used to shoot at Croatia." He also said Serbia was grateful to Russia "for caring about her security." A statement issued by Nikolic's office said the two officials concluded that the excellent political and economic cooperation between Serbia and Russia had contributed to improved military-technical cooperation. "Serbia will not ask for concessions, although it is right to expect a lot from Russia," Nikolic said. Speaking about "the situation in Kosovo and Metohija and Euro-integrations," the President said his country is dedicated to dialogue, "but Pristina, on the one hand talks, and works on implementing independence on the other." "This is a very tricky game, to which we must be ready. It means a plan prepared in advance, and acting on it. I am in favor of first seeing what awaits in chapter 35 (of EU accession negotiations, dedicated to Kosovo) and what the 'biding' agreement with Pristina will look like. It's better to know where we stand right away, than to negotiate chapters for years, only to, in the end, come to something that we cannot accept," Nikolic said. Rogozin told him that he planned to carry out in the shortest timeframe the order of Russian President Vladimir Putin "to examine in detail, and suggest what Serbia needs." Rogozin also conveyed Putin's message that he "values highly the results of Nikolic's visit to Russia," describing relations between the two countries as "sincere and brotherly." "We must make additional efforts to improve significantly our military-technical relations," the Russian official said, offering his assurances that 1999 - when Russia was unable to help Serbia - "will never repeat." "We are monitoring the situation in the region carefully. We feel much more confident than before, and that is because our military strength has increased. I think Serbia, too, needs military strength... As for Kosovo, justice and Russia are on the side of Serbia," Rogozin said, adding: "One must arm oneself with patience and not recognize (Kosovo), something that Russia also will never do."

 

PM meets with Rogozin, says Serbia "won't be easy target" (Tanjug)

Aleksandar Vucic said in Belgrade on Monday that Serbia "will not be an easy target for anyone" and is working to strengthen its military capacities. The Serbian Prime Minister was addressing a joint news conference with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin when he said their meeting earlier in the day focused on military-technical cooperation. Vucic stressed he had a message for "some analysts" who claim the state was misleading citizens, while this reaction was based on "semi-information" they had read - and explained Serbia was "working to strengthen its own capacities." "We are increasing our manufacturing. This year you will see for the first time our mass production of Nora (artillery system), Lazar 2 and 3 (armored vehicle), that our army will use. The money is not coming from the budget, but from our state-owned companies," he said, telling "ignoramuses" that they "cannot be explaining what they do not know." The Prime Minister stressed that countries in the region have obligations under the Dayton peace agreement and other agreements when it comes to arming themselves - something that "others do not respect, and claim Serbia is nervous." "I am concerned, not nervous. The ballistic missiles and launch pads that Croatia plans to buy have the range of 300 to 350 kilometers. You can target, from Zagreb or any other town, any town in central Serbia," Vucic said, responding to reporters' questions. He also "stressed that all countries in Serbia's surroundings are NATO members, while only Serbia is militarily neutral," Tanjug reported. Vucic added he saw "no need for acquisition of offensive weapons." The Prime Minister repeated that he "pleaded with the U.S. and the Croatian friends not to arm themselves, because we in Serbia think peace and stability is something the region needs the most." Serbia, he reiterated, is in favor of "peace, full stability in the region, best relations with all its neighbors." "Serbia will never attack anyone, but must be able to protect its territory and citizens at any moment. We are keeping quiet, doing nothing faced with the threats of those others who are not giving up on acquiring very powerful offensive weapons," he has been quoted as saying. Vucic said Serbia "has not money to pay the highest price and can only secure money for small amounts of certain weapons." "The Russian side was fair and concrete by offering us better conditions than to anyone else. Months and years of discussions about that are ahead of us," he said. Asked about Russia's S-300 air defense system, Vucic said it was "too expensive" - but that the Russian side "expressed its desire to help via certain arrangements." As they exchanged gifts today, Rogozin gave Vucic a model of an S-300. Vucic thanked the Russian Federation for respecting Serbia's decision to remain neutral, and stressed that while the country was fulfilling all its obligations on the path of joining the EU, it did had not, and will not join anti-Russian sanctions. Addressing other topics, he said that a decision on whether to hold early parliamentary elections has not yet been made, adding that he personally "wants to avoid them." As for a planned referendum in the Serb entity in Bosnia, he said he "does not wish to influence Republika Srpska (RS) President Milorad Dodik not to call it by any kind of pressure, because that should be a sovereign decision of the RS, whether Serbia agrees with it or not."

 

"Vucic forced Dodik to give up on referendum" (Danas)

The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia president believes the Serbian PM has put pressure on the President of Republika Srpska (RS), the Serb entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H), Milorad Dodik. "As an interlocutor of the EU of whom there are certain expectations, Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic managed to force RS President Milorad Dodik to withdraw the threat of leaving joint B&H police and judicial authorities, and of calling a referendum before that," Sonja Biserko said. "This does not mean that Milorad Dodik will not continue denying B&H as a state, as he did on the day of the (RS Day) celebration. At the ceremony he said he would defend the RS by all means available," the NGO head noted in a statement for Belgrade-based daily Danas. She stressed that in order to succeed as a pro-EU leader, "Vucic seeks to consolidate the position of an undisputed leader, otherwise he would have, or already has, severe turbulences within is party, along with the pro-Russian opposition bloc, as well as with Russia itself." "If it wants to affirm himself as a European leader, Vucic must declare with more courage his policy towards Bosnia-Herzegovina and the RS, which is not the clearest, must define it in a way that guarantees the possibility of a functional B&H. It is certainly not possible without taking an honest stance regarding the recent past. Only in this way can he gain legitimacy in the region and in Europe," said Biserko.

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

Dodik: Russia supporting referendum is "important" (RTSR, Alternativna TV)

Republika Srpska (RS) President Milorad Dodik says all conditions have been met to publish a decision on an upcoming referendum in the Official Gazette. The Serb entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) plants to hold a plebiscite on the work of the B&H Court and the Prosecution, adding that the decision would be published "when the time comes." "It will be published, citizens have faith in what we are doing, and we will choose a moment that is important for a number of reasons," Dodik said. The RS leader added it was "important that the referendum has been supported by the Russian Federation - but it now needs to be explained also in some other places."

"We are deciding only that the court cannot work outside the Constitution and the Dayton peace agreement. We are not against the B&H Court and the Prosecution dealing with issues that B&H has jurisdiction in, and not those from the jurisdiction of the entities," he said. According to him, High Representative in B&H Valentin Inzko was protecting the unlawful acts of high representatives at the UN Security Council. "I believe we will succeed in explaining this to some, but if we don't, we will go to the referendum, regardless of the threats at me personally," Dodik said. Asked about "official Belgrade's position on the referendum," Dodik replied that Serbian PM Aleksandar Vucic said he "thought the moment was not right" and asked him "to reconsider once again." Dodik warned of "dramatic divisions" between the authorities and the opposition in the RS when it comes to "the political showdown with the B&H Court and the Prosecution." "There is no 'day after,' there is decision day. If people say in the referendum they don't support that, then it will be clear a decision has been made, that those who do not wish to implement people's decisions did not want to be a part of the majority for the referendum," Dodik has been quoted as saying.

 

What has PM Vucic said in Banja Luka? (Klix)

On the occasion of the Day of RS, the Prime Minister of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic stated that no one can forbid him to love his people and that no one can abolish Republika Srpska (RS), given that the RS has not been established by decrees but by the people. At the Palace of RS, Vucic met with the President of the smaller Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) entity Milorad Dodik, and the meeting was also attended by the Serb Patriarch Irinej, President of the National Assembly of RS Nedeljko Cubrilovic, Prime Minister of RS Zeljka Cvijanovic and President of the National Assembly of Serbia Maja Gojkovic. Vucic added that Serbia is obliged to preserve and be a guarantee to the territorial integrity of B&H, and that he said that countless times in Banja Luka, Sarajevo and Belgrade. Furthermore, Vucic said he came to support the RS which he is proud of as much as the citizens of RS are. “Conspiracies lead us towards self-destruction, we need peace and cooperation. We will not let the RS to feel lonely, we will not let anyone in the region to feel like that. The love we feel for the RS does not mean hatred for B&H, but the construction of bridges so that we can all work and exchange capital and knowledge normally,” Vucic concluded.

 

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

 

Kosovo Braces for Escalation in Political Crisis (BIRN)

Although the economy is improving, the political conflict over deals with Serbia and Montenegro is likely to sharpen, making for a rocky 2016. Illegal asylum seekers in Europe, suspected ISIS terrorists and violent opposition protesters throwing tear gas in parliament made the main headlines in Kosovo in 2015. The political crisis especially shows no signs of alleviation, let alone a solution, as several opposition MPs face indictments for setting off tear gas in the chamber. Visar Ymeri, chairman of the opposition Vetevendosje (Self-Determination) Movement, warned in the first days of 2016 that no tactic will be spared in the campaign to bring down the government of Isa Mustafa.

Vetevendosje with its two allies, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, AAK, and Nisma, have blocked parliamentary activity since October, objecting to the government’s EU-mediated agreements with Serbia and Montenegro. Other Brussels-mediated projects made it through 2015 and are expected to take shape this year. Last June, in another unpopular development undertaken under international tutelage, Kosovo agreed to set up a Special Court to try crimes committed by the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA, during and after the 1998-1999 conflict, not excluding war crimes. The court is also expected to target high level organized crime, which could have a potentially big impact on the political scene. Imer Mushkolaj, a Pristina-based analyst, says the Special Court will eventually handle the kind of big cases that Kosovo’s own courts have traditionally neglected.

 

The Bosnian Problem: Milorad Dodik and Republika Srpska (Global Research)

“I do not think we will have another war. Why would someone go to war? Thousands died, and are their descendants living better now?” – Milorad Dodik, Feb 19, 2015

The whole basis for Republika Srpska being an autonomous entity of its own accord was always going to be problematic.  It was a child born of secessionist misfortune, and misfortune, as a mother, tends to give birth to many problematic children.  The President of the Serb dominated entity, Milorad Dodik is a creature of that tendency, a product of extremes, and behaves accordingly.  Enlightenment is deemed a weakness, and the Dayton accords not the cure. The result is that Dodik feels he has room to operate.

The entire ceremonial he managed to precede over on January 9 had the fundaments of state hood and recognition.  But given that such entities as Palestine have had a mountain to climb when it should have been a hill, the problems with Dodik will not be small.  The republic is a messy, confused entity that cries out for cooperation rather than repulsion. Unfortunately for those in Bosnia, this means that nationalist ties are being reasserted.  Some Croats within the federation have even gone so far as to pitch in their qualified, periodic support for Dodik as something of a lesser evil. Dodik has been on record as believing that the Republic is a viable, autonomous entity with every right and credentials of being a state.  This may well be fanciful, the sort of nonsense one expects from a mechanic who can envisage a machine being built without the necessary tools.

For one, the RS administrative identity exists alongside that of its sparring partner, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina comprised of Croats and Bosniaks.  Neither is separate from the Bosnian entity in any true sense.  To suggest that would imply true secession. After the bitter civil wars that broke up the Federation of Yugoslavia, with the most savage fighting taking place in Bosnia, the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina was reached (21 November 1995).  Annex 4 of the agreement designates the Republika Srpska as a composed legal and territorial entity, as it does the federation.  It does still continue that dangerous tradition of a forced meshing of ethnicities and nationalities. “Serbs would not have stayed here for more than 20 years without the RS,” claimed Dodik to Glas Srpske, the Banja Luka daily, “because majority of them would not have accepted Bosnia and Herzegovina.  For that reason, the fight for the RS is the basic interest of all of us who live here.” His insistence on the existence on this hybrid entity is that it must be cherished, however imperfect, or, as he suggests, “even when not everything in it is exactly the greatest.” As much of the region depends on show and ceremony, Dodik was particularly peeved by the idea that RS day, January 9, could be dismissed by the Constitutional Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina as having no valid basis.  Who, he asked, “gave the right to a court to, with three votes of foreigners and two of Bosniak (Muslim) judges, outvote other judges and make a ruling.” The response to the November ruling was to stage a defiant commemorative show of independence, with full pomp and ceremony. This also showed that Dodik was keen to ignore the reasoning of the court, which was that holding celebrations on January 9, in coinciding with an Orthodox Christian holiday, might be deemed discriminatory against Roman Catholic Croats and Muslim Bosniaks. The other obvious point is the date’s other connotations.  “January 9,” observed a member of the association of mothers from Srebrenica, “is the date which actually celebrates the decision to eliminate one people and to seize territory from Bosniaks” (Reuters, Jan 9).

Dodik’s colourful political existence is largely premised on the basis that Dayton’s arrangements were themselves strained.  He breathes because the entity he represents has itself stemmed from various assumptions.  From the start, the effort to confect an entity of entities within the Bosnian framework was bound to be, not merely problematic, but temporary. Dodik might well be regarded as extreme, but in the region, this is all relative. Efforts persist in trying to see B&H, or its variants, as a viable entity of itself.  This is only plausible if one accepts that all its ethnic representatives deem it a lasting reality. On the evidence, many do not. The Serbs have always been questioning of it, but so have the Croats.  At stages, they have agreed to divide it between themselves, in various degrees, excluding the Muslim contingent as politically meaningful representatives. For all of that, neither the mother capitals, Belgrade or Zagreb, necessarily wish to see full involvement in it, whatever their public stances.  The public position of Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, who made a point joining the January 9 celebration, is ever smarmy: “Serbia is always there for you.” The Bosniaks are the ones who have been pushed into difficult trappings.  This remains a tragedy among tragedies, and as ever, they risk getting the rum deal. In this constitutional and political work of freak fiction, one that could be argued to be yet another dubious offspring in post-Yugoslav politics, the one with most daring may well win. Dodik may be on to something.  It will be impossible to dismiss his claims in their entirety.  He even has the Serbian Prime Minister stating that no one can abolish Republika Srpska with a decree, as it was never established by one to begin with. The sad end of such a rationale, however, tends to the sanction of the bullet.

 

 

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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.