Belgrade DMH 201113

LOCAL PRESS

Dacic: Union of Serb Municipalities will not resemble RS (RTS)

Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic has announced that the Union of Serb Municipalities will be formed after the elections in Kosovo, whereby the Serb will receive legitimate joint leadership.

Following the UN Security Council session on Kosovo, Dacic told a press conference that the Union would not resemble the Republika Srpska (RS), but that the competencies of the municipalities are know and that it will be composed of ten municipalities. Dacic said that they will constitute units of the police, judiciary and prosecution that will respond to the ethnic structure of the population living in the region. “The dialogue is status neutral, which means that Serbia did not change its stance on not accepting the unilaterally declared independence of Kosovo. We are ready for the dialogue on normalization of relations and to address all open and sensitive issues affecting everyday life of citizens“, Serbian Prime Minister said, adding that due to many remaining problems, the international presence in Kosovo is still needed. “We consider that Pristina did not fulfill all of its obligations from the Brussels agreement", said Dacic, assessing this is probably a consequence of some habits from the past, when Serbia was predetermined to be the bad guy, while the authorities in Pristina could do whatever they wanted. “The situation has changed. Serbia is the constructive factor and it has fulfilled all that has been agreed and we expect Pristina to do the same, because that is in our common interest,” he noted.
The Serbian Prime Minister said that the dialogue in Brussels was expected to continue and called on Pristina and the international community to provide all the necessary conditions for the second round of local elections. He added that the reasons for taking the ballot boxes outside northern Kosovska Mitrovica for vote counting would also be discussed in Brussels, pointing that there was no need for that. “This can only raise suspicion regarding the accuracy of election results,” Dacic concluded.

UN ambassadors: Belgrade-Pristina 14:10 (Politika)

In a “diplomatic match” at the last night’s session of the UN Security Council, Belgrade defeated Pristina with 14:10, since the ambassadors of the member-states in that body had referred to Ivica Dacic and Hashim Thaqi as the prime ministers, or they avoided doing so. Among 15 members of the Security Council, ten ambassadors addressed Thaqi as the prime ministers– those from the U.S., Luxembourg, France, Pakistan, Australia, Togo, Great Britain, South Korea, Guatemala and Argentina. The representatives of Russia, Morocco, Azerbaijan and China only referred to him by name. Dacic, in turn, was addressed as the prime minister by everyone, while only the ambassador of Rwanda did not address either Dacic or Thaqi.

Vulin: Victory of Serbian list guarantor for Union of Serb Municipalities (RTS)

Serbian Minister without Portfolio in charge of Kosovo and Metohija Aleksandar Vulin has stated that the victory of the candidate of the Serbian (Srpska) Civil Initiative in the second round of the local elections south of the Ibar River is guarantor of the formation of the Union of Serb Municipalities, because the battle in the north is already won. Vulin said after talks with the Serbian list candidates from six municipalities south of the Ibar River that Pristina wants to dilute the Union and doesn’t want to allow the formation of the majority and one knows that the majority is in the south. “Pristina knows that the Union will be formed if the Serbian list receives six municipalities in the south. That is why Pristina didn’t allow me to visit Strpce, but I will request to visit Kosovo again,” said Vulin. Asked with whom the Serbian list will form a coalition, Vulin said with the Serbs, adding that the list’s representatives will decide on their own and that this list was not formed in Belgrade but in Kosovo. He reiterated that he would ask for an explanation as to why the boxes with voting material were taken from Kosovska Mitrovica so this doesn’t happen again. Vulin reiterated that Serbia requires even greater presence of the international community in Kosovo as this is the condition for survival of the Serb people in this region.

Elections to be repeated in Zvecan (Tanjug)

The Central Electoral Commission (CIK) in Pristina decided to repeat the local elections at three polling stations in Zvecan, CIK member Nenad Rikalo told Tanjug. “The elections in Zvecan will be staged on 1 December, the day when the second round of elections is scheduled to take place,” Rikalo said. In the local elections held in Zvecan on 3 November, Vucina Jankovic (of the Serbian Civic Initiative) receivedt 480 votes or 57.55 percent, and was followed by Nebojsa Vlajic (of Oliver Ivanovic’s Civic Initiative SDP) who won 354 votes, or 42.45 percent. The decision on the rerun was reached at the demand of the Appeals Commission, following the complaints by Ivanovic’s list, which claimed that the voting material which the Vote Counting center received from three polling stations lacked corresponding election registers.

DSS: Where will Serbian judges in Kosovo and Metohija take oath (Politika)

What court will try those who were breaking ballot boxes in Kosovska Mitrovica, to what court will Krstimir Pantic appeal and before which court will Serbian judges in Kosovo and Metohija take an oath, are only some of the questions debated yesterday by the MPs of the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) and Serbian Justice Minister Nikola Selakovic, within the debate on the amendments to the Law on headquarters and regions of courts and public prosecution offices in the Serbian parliament. The DSS MPs have submitted amendments whereby they requested that courts in Kosovo and Metohija be included in the draft of the law, claiming that the fact they are not here now, means that, as Petar Petkovic put it, Serbia is introducing with this law the Brussels agreement into the Serbian legal system, according to which judicial authority in Kosovo and Metohija will operate within the legal system of Kosovo. Petkovic asked Minister Selakovic: “Before whom will judges take an oath   to the Serbian parliament speaker or the speaker of the false state of Kosovo? It is clear that by abolishing courts in Kosovo and Metohija you are killing the state of Serbia in the southern province.” Sanda Raskovic-Ivic hypothetically asked: “If those who were breaking ballot boxes in Kosovska Mitrovica are found and it is established that part of them are from Serbia proper and part from Kosovska Mitrovica, where will they be tried and where is the last judicial court – in Belgrade or in Pristina?” Responding to these questions, Minister Selakovic said regarding the “box breakers:” Serbia is capable of trying and processing any citizen, and by delegating competencies for proceeding in a certain matter any court that is really competent on the territory of Serbia can be authorized. The second-degree court would be directly superior to the Appellate Court in relation to the one that would be trying in the first degree. So it is possible for the Higher Court in Kraljevo or in Nis to be delegated competency, while the second-degree court would be Kragujevac, the Higher Court in Belgrade could also have competency, I don’t see an obstacle. As regards the introduction of the Brussels agreement, I haven’t mentioned this document except when one parliamentary group raised this question but thisgroup introduced ten years ago the possibility of complete derogation of the Constitution by way of a political agreement, as was the Belgrade agreement. That agreement was made by the then FRY president Vojislav Kostunica and the man that was the NATO secretary general during the bombing of FRY, Javier Solana, and later on the two of them signed the document and abolished the FRY. We don’t have one single example in our constitutional history that someone had abolished the constitution of a state with one signature. Thus, I haven’t mentioned any agreement and those who say that this law abolishes courts and prosecution offices in Kosovo and Metohija is not telling the truth.” Replying to the Minister, Raskovic-Ivic said that she wanted an answer to the question how things will look like in Kosovo and Metohija. Selakovic said: “If that question was asked, for the sake of political correctness, I would ask another one or would answer – the same people that processed the culprits of the March pogrom in Kosovo and Metohija. Were those the institutions of the state of Serbia? No they weren’t and it would not be politically correct for me to ask something like that.” Dejan Mihajlov (DSS) asked where Krstimir Pantic will send his appeal since he claims he was robbed at the elections, Selakovic responded: “There are several courts, The Basic and Higher Court in Kosovska Mitrovica, the Appellate Court in Nis…”

REGIONAL PRESS

Dodik: RS is a state whether someone likes it or not (Srna)

The Republika Srpska (RS) President Milorad Dodik has stated that the RS is a state whether someone likes it or not, and that the only way of B&H surviving is to return to the letter of the Dayton Accord. At the gathering dubbed “Meet Srpska, meet your own” held at the Belgrade Law Faculty, Dodik said that B&H was a treaty country and state union that survived only because it was recognized by the great powers in 1995. “Today, it is tragically unsuccessful and a very bad place for people,” said the RS President. Dodik stressed that the RS had all elements of a state, according to international documents – the population, territory, power and capability to work in agreement with other countries and entities. He doesn’t believe that B&H can succeed and that he doesn’t want to deal with matters that can’t succeed. The RS President said that B&H was a space of massive legal and political violence of the international community over their own agreement that it created, and that everything that the high representative imposed by force must be revised. “They are accusing me of violating the B&H constitutional order. Of course I am violating it when it doesn’t exist,” said Dodik. According to him, the RS has a chance to strengthen its positions by respecting the letter of the Dayton Accord. Dodik stressed that the best thing for B&H was to peacefully agree and disband. If one thinks what is best for the people in B&H, Dodik says the best thing would be for the RS to be a state and that this will happen one day. “We just need to be patient. One day we will decide on organizing a referendum and nobody will be able to do anything against this referendum. This will not happen today, but it will certainly happen one day,” said Dodik. He pointed out that the RS has no alternative and that the RS respect and loves Serbia, that it is devoted to it and that it needs Serbia. He said that, apart from Kosovo, Serbia’s key interest was also the RS where more than one million Serbs live. The RS President stressed that Serbia was helping the RS economically and with its stand, but that it has been unjustly sidelined from international affairs regarding B&H, while Turkey hasn’t, which is absurd. “Everybody in B&H is dissatisfied: Bosniaks, because they don’t have a stronger B&H, Croats, because they have nothing, and Serbs because they have been takeing away Srpska from us and for not opening the door for independence,” opines Dodik, adding that part of the Bosniaks don’t want the EU because they don’t see Turkey there. This manifestation has been organized by the RS representative office in Belgrade and the Student Association of the Law Faculty.

Radoncic: Negotiations going slowly but in a positive direction (Fena)

“My estimate is that the negotiations are going slowly but in a positive direction,” SBB leader Fahrudin Radoncic told Fena in regard to the talks on implementing the Sejdic-Finci ruling. “From the beginning, I have been advocating the principle of an indirect manner of elections, because some ten modes of a direct manner are obviously something on which all of us can’t agree. We will have additional talks with Peter Sorensen today. We will see in whether in that sense there are is some new information,” said Radoncic. He said he had talks yesterday with Sulejman Tihic and Dragan Covic, in separate meetings, as well as with Zlatko Lagumdzija. “At this moment I am an optimist that we can reach a quick solution,” said Radoncic.

Jasarevic to remain behind bars for 15 years (Dnevni Avaz)

Melvid Jasarevic has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for attacking the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo on 28 October 2011. The decision was passed by the Appeals Chamber II for organized and industrial crime and corruption of the B&H Court. According to the decision of the Appeals Chamber, Jasarevic will remain in custody before being sent to serve his sentence, the longest until the deadline of the detention sentence. The Presiding of the Appeals Chamber Hilmo Vucinic said that appealing this decision is not allowed. The B&H Prosecution proved that Jasarevic perpetrated an act of terrorism from the amended indictment. Namely, Jasarevic was originally indicted for organizing a terrorist group, but later one the prosecution has given up this part of the indictment. Before the B&H Court, Jasarevic apologized to the residents of Sarajevo, the employees in the U.S. Embassy, and especially to the wounded policeman Mirsad Velic. 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

Serbs still find it hard living in Kosovo (Deutsche Welle, 19 November 2013)

Mitrovica is a Kosovan city divided in two: Serbs live in the north, Albanians in the south. It's the flashpoint for Serb reluctance to be living in a Kosovan state.

Back in the days of socialist Yugoslavia, Mitrovica was a rather prosperous city. On the outskirts of town, the vast Trepeca mines were one of the largest industrial complexes in the country, while Mitrovica itself was home to Albanians, Serbs, Bosnians, Turks and other minorities.

Today, the name Mitrovica is synonymous with division. The Ibar River has become a de facto border since the war in Kosovo ended in 1999, separating a mainly Albanian population in the south from majority Serb North Mitrovica.

On Sunday (17.11.2013), voters in North Mitrovica went to the polls in a repeat election, called after violence and intimidation marred voting in the town earlier this month. The election was seen as crucial for the Brussels agreement - which was signed between Serbia and Kosovo in April - but many of the around 20,000 ethnic Serbs in north Mitrovica are wary of any change to the status quo.

"A huge majority of the people are against any sort of tight connection with Pristina," says Oliver Ivanovic, who was standing for mayor of North Mitrovica and won enough votes to contest a run-off on December 1. "Pristina is there, we cannot underestimate that fact. We are part of Kosovo as long as Kosovo is part of Serbia."

Serb resistance

Like Serbia itself, the vast majority of the 40,000 ethnic Serbs spread across the four municipalities of north Kosovo refuse to recognize Kosovo's independence, which was declared in 2008.

"No Serbs recognize Kosovo independence," says Ivanovic. "We have to live with this fact, which is not pleasant. [But] because there is no alternative, the Serbs will not leave here."

Over the past 14 years, North Kosovo has developed in isolation from the rest of the country. Here Serbian flags fly and signs in Cyrillic and English proclaim, "This is Serbia." A system of parallel structures, funded by Belgrade, provides everything from schools and health to the courts system.

Oliver Ivanovic says it all starts with controling the car parking But almost a decade and a half of isolation has taken a toll, too. Cars, many without license plates, clutter up footpaths. With a weak rule of law, lucrative illegal trades have flourished in everything from fuel to firearms.

"Putting law and order on the street means fixing the streets and parking space," says Ivanovic. "Our fight for improvement in law and order starts with parking. You have to make it clear to people that things are changing. That Mitrovica is changing."

'Different people with a different culture'

The division of the town has come at a big social price says Sinisa, an ethnic Serb primary school teacher who didn't want his surname used: "Before the war the town was organized in a proper way. All the facilities were shared around the town but by dividing the town, now we just have the general hospital and all the other facilities, two stadiums, sports hall, health centre, railway station, everything is in the south."

Memories are long, but it's not that long ago that Serbs died in the Kosovo war But Sinisa has no desire to return to how things were before the conflict: "I don't want to be integrated. I am satisfied with life here. Yes, my neighbors can come, we can co-operate and work together but at night they go and sleep in their part of town. They are different people, with a different culture."

Commerce offers the best opportunity to bring Albanians and Serbs together, says Niall Ardill, a former business lecturer in North Mitrovica's university who recently completely a study on the private sector in north Kosovo.

"The business community is more advanced than the political community," he says as he stands beside the main bridge connecting north and south Mitrovica. A huge mound of earth and stone has blocked the bridge since 2011, when Kosovo police attempted to take control of border crossings.

No money

Around 30 per cent of companies in the north trade with the rest of Kosovo. But twice as many would like to. "We have found that companies that trade with the south really benefit," says Ardill.

The main barrier is not politics, it's capacity: "A lot of the processes and procedures they use might be outdated so that's something that needs to be looked at from an investor point of view and from an international donor point of view."

In the mixed north Mitrovica neighborhood of Bosniak Mahala, local shopkeeper Artan Maxhuni, an ethnic Turk, complains that the biggest problem for his clothing business lies with the wider economy.

"The economic situation in Kosovo is bad, really bad," he says. "Everywhere in Kosovo is bad, not just in Mitrovica, but Mitrovica is especially bad.

"I have Serb customers, no problem, but people have no money."

Just past the armed Italian police that keep a constant vigil on the bridge over the Ibar, in largely Albanian south Mitrovica, Aferdita Syla, executive director of Community Building Mitrovica, is trying to nurture cross-community links in the divided city.

"In July we brought 40 kids on an activity - 20 from the north, 20 from the south," Syla remembers. "Their first reaction when they met each other was, 'Wow, they are normal.' Because for a long time they had no contact with each other, they thought the other was not human."

But in a divided city, making connections is easier than keeping them. "They don't have this daily contact. That is where we are lacking. We have to cross this bridge more."

Kosovo pays a heavy toll for lack of reliable energy (The Guardian, 19 November 2013)

Europe's most polluted country is beset by energy poverty, yet rich in toxic lignite. Is there a viable alternative to coal?

Children play as Kosovo B power plant in Plemetina belches toxic fumes behind them.

At the end of a dirt road, in the central Kosovan municipality of Obiliæ, lies Plemetina, a labyrinth of hastily constructed houses. Home to about 2,500 people, it is nestled below Kosovo B, a 600-megawatt, lignite-fuelled thermal power plant that belches black toxic fumes day and night.

"I have woken up and cursed that power plant a million times," says Driton Berisa, a Roma civil rights activist, sipping an espresso. "The air is always thick with smoke and dust, no matter how fresh the morning is."

He is sitting in a cafe in Prishtina, the capital of Kosovo – Europe's most polluted country (pdf) – but even here, in a city choked with car fumes, the air is much cleaner than in his village.

Like many in Plemetina, Berisa and his family arrived as refugees during the war. His mother, 55, has just undergone surgery for cancer, an illness he believes is the result of living less than half a kilometre from the power plant. "Everybody I know here has someone in the family with cancer," he explains. "It's one of the reasons I want to get out. I don't want my children growing up breathing this air."

It has not been easy to find a balance between Kosovo's urgent need for energy security and the poisonous effects of lignite, its cheapest naturally available resource. The country sits on the world's fifth-largest reserve of lignite, which produces 97% of its energy. Worth an estimated $1tn, at current consumption levels the supply will last another 1,500 years. Yet Kosovo faces frequent power cuts and exceptionally high levels of energy poverty.

"Kosovo has difficult and complicated energy needs," says Jan-Peter Olters, World Bank's Kosovo manager. "Three things have to be done at the same time: secure a supply of energy that it still does not have; ensure energy is affordable for people and enterprises operating here; and minimise the social and environmental impacts as much as possible."

The Bank is providing technical support to help the government develop and implement its energy strategy. At the core of the plan are two projects: one is to rehabilitate technology at Kosovo B to meet European Union environmental standards; the other is to replace the outdated Yugoslav-era Kosovo A power plant – which generates 2.5 tons of dust hourly – with a 600-megawatt facility, Kosovo C. If this plan goes ahead, the new unit will be built next to Kosovo B – further increasing pollution in the vicinity of Obiliæ.

These projects are progressing slowly but surely. Tender bids for private investment are scheduled for completion in April 2014, after which the World Bank – which has begun an environmental and social impact assessment – will determine the extent of its future financial involvement. The likeliest outcome is that it will at least act as a partial financial guarantor.

This year the bank imposed stringent conditions on coal investments. But as an International Development Association country – financially and energy poor – Kosovo meets the exceptional circumstances clause that permits lignite lending, according to the Bank.

That claim has triggered outrage among environmental lobbyists, who see Kosovo as a litmus test of the bank's commitment to withdraw from coal borrowing. "Kosovo has high losses in its energy grid, around 30-40%," says Visar Azemi, co-ordinator of the Kosovo Civil Society Consortium for Sustainable Development (Kosid). "We should not be talking about increasing capacity before efficiency."

Azemi believes investment in Kosovo C will do little to reduce energy poverty. "Building this kind of facility is expensive and the companies will need to recoup their investment; ultimately, these costs are passed on to the end consumer," he says. "It will lock Kosovo into a future of dependency [on] lignite. World Bank should explore other alternatives first."

Kosid cites research produced by the University of Berkley that shows potential for Kosovo to incorporate a significantly larger proportion of renewables into its energy mix than the existing 2%. The World Bank, however, says its experts are unable to find an economically viable solution that does not require substantial further investment in coal.

"For better or worse, Kosovo sits on 14bn tons of lignite, its comparative advantage in renewables is not really evident," says Olters. "We would like to be position to say an energy mix is doable, but that is not the case. If this [investment] doesn't happen, then the default option is that Kosovo A will remain open."

Scott Morris, policy fellow at the Centre for Global Development, says the evidence is inconclusive. He belives it would be wrong for the Bank to rule out coal lending. "There have to be options available to poor countries to meet their development needs," says Morris. "The bank should not be looking to have a large coal agenda. But it should be noted that Kosovo B is the only coal project they have in the pipeline."

The importance of energy security is not lost on the residents of Plemetina, who experience regular power shortages. Locals, however, say more open dialogue is needed. "I am not against the power plant," Berisa says. "But I have never heard of any representative from the Kosovo government or World Bank visiting Plemetina to discuss these issues."

Asked about the potential need for resettlements, Olters said a plan for the mine was being worked on by the Kosovo government with World Bank support, but that those living near the Kosovo B power plant do not need to be relocated.

The difficulties of overseeing resettlements in developing countries are well known. The European Bank for Development and Reconstruction is reeling from a series of corruption scandals surrounding the rehousing of residents near Kolubara mines in neighbouring Serbia.

"In the end," Berisa says, "it seems we pay the highest price for coal, with our health and our lives, but we get nothing in return."

Serbia: Mogul Denies Embezzlement And Tax Evasion Accusations (Hetq Online, 19 November 2013)

Serbian billionaire Miroslav Miškovic pleaded not guilty to charges of embezzlement and tax evasion, reports the Washington Post. If convicted, Miškovic faces up to ten years in prison.

According to the Washington Post, Serbian authorities have accused Miroslav Miškovic, his son Marko, and nine alleged associates of misappropriating millions of dollars from a road construction company from 2005 to 2010.

Miškovic was first arrested in December 2012, “stunning a region that had long seen him as untouchable,” reports Reuters. Miškovic was released on US$16 million bail.

According to Reuters, Miškovic is the owner of Delta Holding, an insurance, retail, real estate and agriculture empire he built up in the early 1990s under Slobodan Miloševic’s rule. In 2007, Forbes named him one of richest 1000 people in the world, estimating his wealth to be around US $1 billion.

Domestic and international authorities have found the means and magnitude of Miškovic’s wealth suspect. A decade ago, the United States Treasury Department prohibited Americans from doing business with Miškovic’s Delta Bank. In 2007, Serbia’s Anti Corruption Council expressed concern with the political influence Miškovic gained from his fortune, which they estimated to be at least 6% of Serbia’s GDP, reports CIN-Serbia. Reuters estimates the average Serbian earns just over US$500 a month.

Miškovic ‘s arrest is part of a larger anti-corruption campaign led by Serbia deputy prime minister Aleksandar Vucic, reports Reuters. Political commentator Petar Lazic said that Vucic is “…sending a message, to the domestic and international public, that no one is untouchable, and he wants them to believe it.” Vucic said additional arrests are forthcoming.

Miškovic 's defense team has said that he has done nothing that is illegal or immoral. According to Reuters, Miškovic said, “ I'm not guilty, I don't feel guilty," and told Radio B92, "I didn't understand the indictment, only the personal details, quantitative details and dates, but not one word of the indictment.”

The OCCRP has previously reported on Miškovic’s assets in the investigation the Miškovic Millions, which probed into his offshore companies and monopolization of grocery and retail markets in the Balkan region.

Bosnian war crimes court frees 10 convicts, orders retrials (Reuters, by Maja Zuvela, 19 November 2013)

SARAJEVO - Bosnia's state war crimes court said on Tuesday it had freed 10 convicted war criminals and would give them new trials after the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled their legal rights had been violated.

The move, which cast doubt over a series of war crimes convictions in Bosnia, angered survivors of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of up to 8,000 Muslims in Bosnia's war, for which six of the accused were jailed for genocide for up to 33 years.

But the Strasbourg-based ECHR ruled in July in favor of two men who had appealed against their prison terms, saying they were tried under a more stringent criminal code than the one in force when the crimes were committed.

Ten other war crimes convicts then complained on the same grounds to the Bosnian Constitutional Court, which overturned their verdicts, returned their cases to the war crimes tribunal and ordered it to deliver new verdicts within three months.

In a statement, the war crimes court said the 10 freed prisoners would no longer be classified as convicts but rather as war crimes indictees as they undergo retrials.

The court was set up in 2005 to reduce the workload of the United Nations war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the Hague, where the Bosnian Serb wartime military commander, General Ratko Mladic, and political leader Radovan Karadzic are on trial on charges including genocide in Srebrenica.

The 1995 mass killing of thousands of Muslim men and boys by separatist Bosnian Serb forces is regarded as the worst atrocity committed on European soil since World War Two.

Munira Subasic, head of the Mothers of Srebrenica group, said the Sarajevo war crimes court's decision was humiliating and that families of Srebrenica victims would appeal to the ECHR in Strasbourg.

"This ruling is shameful. We will no longer respond to the (Bosnian) court as witnesses and go through that painful experience once again," Subasic told Reuters.

The Bosnian war crimes court and the prosecutor's office have been criticized by Bosnian Serb leaders for not trying more non-Serbs for war crimes. They have even threatened a referendum challenging the need for the two institutions.