LOCAL PRESS

 

Dacic: Rama’s visit didn’t achieve goals (RTS)

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic has told the morning news of Radio and Television of Serbia (RTS) that Serbia and Albania are not more distant following the visit of Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama than they were. “But if one looks at why this visit had been organized at all and had a positive reaction of the international community, and was even discussed at the conference that we had with Angela Merkel in Berlin, it didn’t achieve its goal for our relations to normalize after a series of decades – for us to turn a new page in our history,” said Dacic. In his opinion, this didn’t happen because internal political reasons from Edi Rama prevailed, so that a series of his messages that followed during the visit were not in accordance with the announced goals. That is why the results are not as they could have been, says Dacic, adding that the only good fact is that the meeting was held at all and that the ice has been broken. “I hope the following steps will be much more constructive, there are certainly good things as well, we signed some agreements, and Vucic voiced the wish to visit Albania, so that these doors are not closed,” said Dacic. Speaking about Rama’s stand on Kosovo, he says this is not the first time since Rama used to voice the wish to visit when Dacic was the prime minister. “However, when he was supposed to come, one week before that he held a meeting of the two governments (Albanian and Kosovo) in Prizren and Vucic and I agreed then to postpone this visit,” says Dacic. “I am not surprised with such behavior, the messages that followed are not only linked to Kosovo, they are also linked to Serbia’s south, the status of minorities,” says Dacic. He says that Serbia has wanted for many decades to sign with Albania the agreement on national minorities protection, but Albania refused, because it thinks there is no need to regulate the minority issue with a special agreement, but that there are international conventions. Dacic says that Rama compares the status of Albanians in Serbia’s south with the status of Serbs in Kosovo, but doesn’t speak of Albania, doesn’t say what is the status of the Serbs in Albania. He commented on, as he put it, the half-ironic statement by Edi Rama that they will condition Serbia on the EU path with its progress in the status of minorities in Serbia’s south. Riza Halimi’s last name is not Halimic, as it is the case with many generations of Serbs in Albania…you have to talk and live with that. I usually say when I go on some faraway visit that we have all prerequisites to be best friends – if we weren’t neighbors,” said Dacic. Speaking about the meeting with ambassadors of the Quint, Dacic says the ambassadors cannot give assessments on behalf of their states, but that this should be done at a higher level. “They are satisfied that the talk was organized. Some openly said they didn’t understand why this happened and even if the news is that at issue is an historical visit, the bad image left the region, nevertheless,” concluded Dacic. Speaking about Seselj, Dacic said he views his release from the “humanitarian aspect” and points out that the Serbian Radical Party leader is a “political past”. “I am happy that he will be released, but I am sad that he is ill,” said Dacic. He recalls that the Serbian government had requested on several occasions to stop this, as he put it, farce that is also detrimental for Seselj. Dacic points out that Seselj “interests him from the aspect of the destiny of our citizen who was in The Hague and against whom a process is being conducted – unacceptably long”.

 

Djuric: Rama’s statement is his ID (RTS)

The Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric told the morning broadcast of Radio and Television of Serbia (RTS) that the statement of Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama on independence of Kosovo will not turn Serbia away from the path of stability in the region. He pointed out that Rama’s statement is “his ID” and belongs to the domain of statements aimed at provoking. “This is one small line, and the successes of Serbia’s foreign policy are extraordinary,” said Djuric. He says that Albanian representatives didn’t use “the sincerely offered hand from Serbia” for relations between Serbs and Albanians to normalize. “This remains our goal even after this visit that didn’t bring positive results,” said Djuric.

 

Maliqi: Atmosphere better than after the drone (Danas)

Albanian Prime Minister’s political advisor Shkelzen Maliqi opines that more important from the disagreement of Belgrade and Tirana regarding Kosovo is that the process of their cooperation has commenced. He adds that more important is that this process has been renewed at the highest level and that there is mutual interest to develop this cooperation and concentrate on issues on which both states can find mutual interest for sustainable development of Albania, Serbia and the region. Following a lecture held by Edi Rama in a New Belgrade hotel, Maliqi confirmed for Danas that the meeting between Rama and Vucic was cold, explaining that “the context was such”, but that the atmosphere was, nevertheless, better than after the scandal with the drone at the match between the two countries in Belgrade. “What happened in October resembled the 1990s. What is being done now is something that promises a new approach. There are potentials and big support of the EU and the world for the Balkans to gradually transform and for this axle of Albanian-Serbian relations to contribute to development of peace, stability, safety for all countries of the region,” says Maliqi. He explains that Europe assisted and “exerts pressure” when it comes to cooperation in the Western Balkans, but “Europization of Albania, Serbia and the region is the internal interest of all Balkan countries”. “The idea is for regional countries to work on cooperation, independently from the EU accession date. We don’t have to wait for all standards to be fulfilled in order to improve our economies, general relations and to engage more in overcoming the past and finding mutual interests,” stressed Maliqi.  According to him, the Albanian-Serbian dialogue has been going on from the 1990s and it was mostly maintained by civil society organizations, but now state structures have also joined, which gives greater opportunities for realizing cooperation.

 

Seselj returns to Serbia (B92/Tanjug/RTS)

The Serbian Radical Party (SRS) leader Vojislav Seselj has returned to Serbia after spending eleven and a half years in detention at the Hague Tribunal in the Netherlands. Upon arrival he said “the ICTY only wanted to get rid of him”. “The ICTY threw me out of the dungeon in the most brutal way. I didn’t ask for that, nor did they set any conditions. They just wanted to get rid of me as soon as possible. The struggle has lasted somewhat longer,” said Seselj. He said “he was on temporary release until he comes to power”, and called the ICTY “a wounded globalist beast that is destroying lives”. “They tried and are trying everything that is valuable that Serbia had during the 1990s. The Serbs are tried because they are Serbs; they are pronouncing draconic sentences and sending to prison without any evidence. The ICTY is trying and sentencing a large number of Serbs, honorable generals, while the present regime in Belgrade, as well as the previous one, are silently watching all that and doing nothing,” he said, adding that when “traitorous progressives” came to power in Serbia they were sending advisors and ministers to the ICTY to pool the wool over the eyes, but didn’t question the issue of illegality of this court nor did they engage expert public to study all judgments of this court and thus show, as he put it, “what kind of travesty is the ICTY”.

 

How many divisions does the OSCE have (Politika, op-ed by Miroslav Lazanski)

I was delighted with the statement of French Prime Minister, Mr. Manuel Valls, about how “Serbia at the head of the OSCE will play the key role in resolving the Ukrainian crisis”. Bravo, since we already play the key role in resolving the permanent crisis in north Kosovo, now we will also have key influence on the events in another state with 45 million inhabitants.

Fantastic, as of today, we will have Moscow, Washington, Brussels, Kiev and Donetsk, publicly courting us. As of today, Serbia is the most wanted “bachelorette” in Europe, because the OSCE, which we will head, will be deciding on Ukraine’s fate. This does not look good to me for Ukraine, since, whenever political factors from the region of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) were deciding on the fate of some state, that state would break-up…

Will we wisely, and above all, usefully for Serbia, play the role of the most-wanted “bachelorette” in Europe? What are our chances to remain “an innocent virgin before the wedding”? If the “wedding” is at all that EU entry date? We have two suitors, the EU (i.e. the West) and Russia. In order to remain “an innocent virgin before marriage”, we can protect ourselves from immoral offers and pressures with formalities in the decision-making and voting processes at OSCE sessions, we can strictly adhere to the OSCE Rules of Procedure, but we can also do nothing. Who can recall some overtime by Switzerland while it has been at the helm of the OSCE? After all, what is the OSCE today and what it is its role? After Helsinki in 1975 and the OSCE declaration on inviolability of borders in Europe, the borders in Europe have been changed. Some by force, some peacefully: the German unification, the split of Czechs and Slovaks, the break-up of the Soviet Union, the bloody tragedy of Yugoslavia… Not in one single case of changing these borders did the OSCE deliver even a statement or opinion. As if all this was happening on Jupiter.

Thus, what can the OSCE do today in a situation of a civil war and the beginning of the dissolution of Ukraine, in an atmosphere of a new phase of Cold War? Perhaps the best answer to the question posed by Stalin to Churchill, when he was urging the former, at the end of WWII, to also include the holy father in Rome in talks on the post-war order of Europe: “How many divisions does the holy father have?” How many divisions does the OSCE have?

Serbia at the helm of the OSCE will be undoubtedly exposed to big pressures to completely defer to the EU stand regarding the crisis in Ukraine, so we have been told directly several times, and we were also told this in Belgrade by French Prime Minister Valls when he said “that every candidate for EU membership must join the European consensus”. The European consensus on Ukraine is recognition of the coup in Kiev in February in 2014. If Serbia accepts the European consensus on this issue, then Serbia becomes an advocate of lawlessness. Perhaps we can be forgiven this, we can justify ourselves with the Russians that Serbian lawyers have been on strike for some time now…

When the OSCE members eventually request that Serbia, as the presiding member, put to a vote a resolution on Ukraine’s territorial integrity, I expect our offensive diplomacy to condition this by also placing, on the agenda, a resolution on Serbia’s territorial integrity, with the province of Kosovo-Metohija as its integral part. Naturally these are pipedreams, but if we really want to keep Kosovo-Metohija, then we should struggle for that at any place and at any moment.

If Serbia, as the OSCE presiding member, is only a mere executor of the wishes of the West, then gas supplies from Russia might drop even more than 28 percent. The West declared an economic war against Russia, and this kind of war is often an introduction to the other kind of war. Anyone who participates in the economic war against Russia must be aware that the bludgeon always has two ends and that there will no mercy here.

We live in a time when the objectivity of law is replaced with the subjectivity of this force. International law is interpreted selectively, it is said that international law guarantees a state’s integrity only when this integrity is threatened by external assault. None of the provisions of international law mentions that the metropolis has the right to keep, by force, under its jurisdiction the non-titular nation, if the latter considers that the conditions the state has created are intolerable, whether it is about the economy, the treatment of national dignity, or methods of socio-political and administrative practice. If we take the comparison with the identical principles of civil law, it is not difficult to see that the same logic applies here.

Will, and can, Serbia, as the OSCE presiding member, in general refer to this demagoguery of integrity when it comes to both the Ukraine and Kosovo? Will this be in the context of historical pre-history that dictates legal, and not political, approaches? Only the politically blind, or intriguers with heinous goals, ignore the fact that the coup in Kiev has turned Ukraine into a highly-explosive bomb. But one cannot make from that bomb a carafe of good wine.

The Serbian “bachelorette” will have to be damn good to survive the first “wedding night” between the integrity of law and demagoguery of integrity. I personally doubt that we are capable of this, and if I were a decision-maker, I would say ‘thanks, but no thanks’ for the post of OSCE presiding member. We would save a lot of money and we would spare ourselves from a lot of additional pressures…

 

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

Remarks by High Representative Valentin Inzko to the United Nations Security Council (OHR.com)

A month ago the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina went to the polls for their seventh postwar general elections.

They did so just one year away from the twentieth anniversary of the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement and against the background of ever deepening stagnation and socio-economic hardship. Whether you read my report, the EU’s latest progress report or the reporting of Bosnian non-governmental organizations monitoring the performance of Government, the results of the last four years fell way short of the mark.

As if all this was not enough, only a few months earlier we witnessed close to a million people being affected by tragic and catastrophic floods, the like of which cannot be recalled in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

And here I must pause for a moment to acknowledge the tremendous role played by the United Nations and its representative on the ground, in terms of coordination and information-sharing throughout the flood relief efforts.

The scenes I saw when I visited the flood victims, days after the heavy rains that swept the country, were truly shocking. However, a ray of hope in this disaster was the instinctive readiness of local communities and thousands of ordinary people to help each other regardless of ethnicity.

Regrettably, the parties, officials and institutions governing the country at various levels have not responded to the country’s problems with the same spontaneous urgency and creativity with which everyday people responded to the floods. And this is why Bosnia and Herzegovina has been on a downward trajectory since 2006. Eight years is a long time for any country to be going the wrong way.

Not surprisingly, there is a plentiful supply of disillusion, anger and frustration. This is particularly worrying among youth, for whom unemployment levels are above 57% percent, among the highest rates of unemployment for young people in Europe. These young people, the future of the country, have been particularly let down.

The situation is not good. It must be tackled head on.

So, clearly, these elections are not just another round of general elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

These elections are about a decisive four-year period ahead for all of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s citizens, regardless of their ethnicity or in which part of the country they live.

There must now be a fundamental change – the interests of the country and its citizens must be put before those of a privileged political class.

….

Progress on Euro-Atlantic integration has to be unblocked.

In this regard, I welcome the initiative announced last week by the United Kingdom and Germany to define a roadmap of reform to strengthen Bosnia and Herzegovina’s institutions and accelerate the country’s progress towards the EU. I cannot stress strongly enough – it is vitally important that the incoming authorities seize this new opportunity.

…

From the parties that ran in the recent elections, the first thing that we need to see now is the speedy formation of governments in a manner that is in accordance with the law, unlike what we saw in 2010.

…

Next, there must be a recommitment to the Rule of Law and the fight against corruption. Words are not enough. We need to see hard results. Many verdicts of the BiH Constitutional Court, which are “final and binding” under the terms of the Peace Agreement remain unimplemented. They must now be implemented, including the decision on Mostar. This town’s citizens must regain the basic right to elect their local officials.

Finally, challenges to Dayton and to the sovereignty of the State must stop. I am appalled that some leaders still insult the intelligence of their own citizens, believing that talk of secession, division and hatred will hide their own failures to deliver a better life for people.

While they pursue a long-term strategy to drive the country into the ground in order to justify breaking the country apart – with all the risks that such a strategy entails – young people are getting older without the educational and professional opportunities that living in a functional country would provide.

As the calls for a referendum on secession have been repeated time and time again in recent months, I have had to respond by reminding people of the facts: the Entities do not have the right to secede under the Peace Agreement.

I would like to make this clear once more: there will be no redrawing of borders.

…

Just as Bosnians and Herzegovinians must raise their game so must the International Community because our job in Bosnia and Herzegovina has clearly not been completed.

…

This is the time to reaffirm our commitment to a united and reintegrated Bosnia and Herzegovina and to be more united than ever as we seek to support the delivery of deep and sometimes painful changes that are required for the country to be functional, stable and prosperous.

Those politicians and people who want to work together in good faith to take the country forward will have our full and active support.

Similarly, those who seek to advocate division and secession must finally understand that the drawing of borders in Bosnia and Herzegovina is behind us.

 

Bakir’s strategy: The worse, the better (Srna, by Nenad Tadic)
BIJELJINA - Instead of moving to implement the announced reforms and tackling economic topics, Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) is entering another political crisis and the newly undisputed Bosniak leader Bakir Izetbegovic is trying to realize the dream of the entire Bosniak political elite – to “exhume” the Office of the High Representative (OHR). Instead of working on getting B&H an easier access to the EU or opening up economic issues, while not destructively insisting on impassable constitutional reforms, the next four years could prove to be an attempt at the “Federation-alization” of B&H, i.e. efforts to spill-over of the long-term crisis from the Federation of B&H (FB&H) entity to the Republika Srpska (RS) entity and to the B&H joint institutions. There is not a single Bosniak politician who would think about choosing between the OHR’s remaining in the country, “international moderators” and the dissolution of the Dayton B&H, on one hand, and an accelerated accession to the EU, or economic unity, on the other. The foreign factor is a “guarantor of B&H’s survival” for the Bosniak political establishment. Why has Izetbegovic, the leader of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) and the Bosniak member of the B&H Presidency, decided to use the election results to exhume the remains of the OHR?—an institution which, of all the competences acquired (mainly) by force, retained only its street address, while its boss Valentin Inzko appears on TV talk shows and enjoys the nature? Izetbegovic’s intention is clear: the worse, the better. It’s an old policy in which the Bosniak politicians, while ostensibly taking care of B&H, are actually only taking care of the Bosniak positions, and while talking about B&H they are only advancing their own interests. It’s a farce that has been going on since 1992 and has been seeking sponsorship of “proven friends” from the international community. The new Bosniak leader continues where the old one, Zlatko Lagumdzija, has failed, when he forced his power in the FB&H and almost completely destroyed it with the OHR’s help. Izetbegovic is forcing the creation of an exclusivist government at the B&H level which rejects the victorious Serb coalition rallied around the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), which has the majority in the RS, and he is blackmailing the Croatian Democratic Union of B&H (HDZ-B&H), the winner of the Croatian electorate, along the following lines: you must either join my side or I will call on the proven loyal “Croatian cadres” gathered around Zeljko Komsic. The consequences are certain: more political stalemates and counter-stalemates of the entities towards B&H and, then, of B&H towards the entities, plus the quarrels and splits within the Serbian and possibly the Croatian national camps. So, what’s left? Well, “the good old,” and already buried, OHR, the transfusion of power to mediators and the transfer of political competences from legal institutions to super-embassies, EU branch offices and informal international cliques. It is evident that the SNSD, the Democratic People’s Alliance (DNS), and the Socialists, which are forming the government in the RS, will halt anything that is passed in the two houses of the B&H parliament that appears even remotely suspicious of the intent to destabilize the RS or its leadership. In addition, it is evident it will be hard for Dragan Covic, the leader of the HDZ-B&H to accept the threat of losing the power at the B&H level or, if he decides to join the government, being in constant confrontation, because of the fresh threat from Komsic and the relativization of the will of the Croat voters. The Serbian Democratic Party (SDS), the second strongest party in the RS, is trying to avoid its third defeat in a row in general elections and intends to join the coalition with the new Bosniak leader (who has even greater ambitions), being aware, all the while, that SDA, instead of seeking to be an equal partner, would like to see SDS as the Serb option most like Komsic. Realistic options of the two Serb blocs, at the two levels, and under a totally certain pressure of the “international factor,” including the High Representative (who has already started growing new teeth, even as he gets older, while listening acutely to Izetbegovic [who himself is growing more ambitious with age]), are to swear that they are respecting the Serb interests, while they are espousing the same old ideas of Centralization for B&H’s “new beginning” and wait for the next regular election. The conclusion that imposes itself is: the RS will stay where it is (without any chances of making big leaps), the FB&H will considerably transform, especially after the census results are published, and the B&H level will be the stage for all possible and impossible events, including political scandals and the settling of the old and new accounts. The political light of Bakir Izetbegovic will shine as long as Lagumdzija’s did, if he sticks to the OHR as he seems intent on doing. If not, he will have less power, but will be able to boast that he, not Dodik or Covic, has finally replaced his father.

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

 

Ethnic Albanians welcome Albanian PM to Presevo Valley (Deutsche Welle, 12 November 2014)

The prime minister of Albania has visited a region of southwestern Serbia mainly populated by ethnic Albanians. This came a day after he and his counterpart in Belgrade clashed over Kosovo at a joint news conference.

Prime Minister Edi Rama was welcomed by several thousand ethnic Albanians when he arrived in the southern Serbian town of Presevo on Tuesday. Many waved Albanian flags and chanted the prime minister's name.

Banners hung around the town bearing a portrait of Rama draped in the Albanian flag and the words "Welcome Mr. Prime Minister."

The Serbian police implemented high-security measures for Rama's visit to the region, which borders on Kosovo and Macedonia. Police closed the main highway linking Belgrade with the Macedonian capital, Skopje, as well as a 20-kilometer (12-mile) stretch of road that links the region with Kosovo. The Presevo Valley was the scene of an uprising by ethnic Albanian fighters against Serbian forces in 1999, and Rama's visit there is considered by many to be provocative.

Rama's visit to Serbia is the first by an Albanian leader since 1946 and, not surprisingly, given the traditionally difficult relations between the two neighboring states, it hasn't been without controversy.

Clash over Kosovo

During his visit to Belgrade on Monday, Rama and his Serbian counterpart, Aleksandar Vucic, clashed over Kosovo, a mainly ethnic-Albanian territory that declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, but which Belgrade still claims as its own.

"We have two entirely different positions on Kosovo, but there is one reality and this is irreversible," Rama told a joint press conference following their meeting. "Independent Kosovo is an undeniable regional and European reality, and it must be respected."

A visibly angered Vucic described Rama's statement as an act of "provocation."

"According to the constitution, Kosovo is Serbia and I am obliged to say that no one can humiliate Serbia," Vucic said.

Despite their many differences, the two countries, both of which aspire to one day join the European Union, could use the meeting to start a new, more harmonious chapter in their relations.

Football match abandoned

Tensions were raised again last month, when a drone swept into a Belgrade football stadium during a Euro 2016 qualifying soccer match between the two countries. The drone carried a flag of "greater Albania," and a scuffle broke out when one of the Serbian players pulled it down, triggering a pitch invasion which saw the Albanian players flee into their dressing room. The match had to be abandoned.

Rama had originally been scheduled to travel to Belgrade the following week, but postponed the visit over that incident.

 

Albanian PM visits flashpoint in fraught Serbia trip (AFP, 12 November 2014)

Presevo (Serbia) - Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said Tuesday he was confident a historic visit he was making to Serbia would help open a new era of ties despite a very public row with his hosts over Kosovo.

"Despite the difficulties, I am confident that we have opened a new page in the relations with Serbia," Rama said on a visit to the ethnic-Albanian town of Presevo in southern Serbia.

At the start of what was supposed to be a fence-mending visit to Serbia on Monday, the first by an Albanian premier in 68 years, Rama clashed with his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic over Kosovo's independence.

"I told Vucic, we are not in a battle for a Greater Albania but for a greater Europe that should gather all Albanians along with all other nations and countries," he told the crowd that turned out to greet him in Presevo amid tight security.

"The minorities should be bridges that unite us, not separate us," he said in an address to local business leaders, politicians and young people.

Tempers flared between Rama and Vucic over Kosovo at a joint press conference in Belgrade on Monday broadcast live on television.

Rama called on Belgrade to recognise the "irreversible reality" of Kosovo's independence, prompting a visibly angry Vucic to retort: "I will not allow anybody to humiliate Serbia in Belgrade."

Belgrade refuses to recognise the breakaway former Serbian province which is populated mostly by ethnic Albanians and which unilaterally declared its independence in 2008.

"I have to reply to him because I will not allow anybody to humiliate Serbia in Belgrade. Kosovo is part of Serbia under the constitution and it has nothing to do with Albania nor will it ever have," Vucic said.

The spat added to the simmering tensions between Serbia and Albania despite Rama's trip -- which already had to be delayed for three weeks after a heated diplomatic row in the wake of violence at a football match between the two countries.

The European Union which brokered a normalisation accord between Serbia and Kosovo said Rama's visit marked "the start of a new phase in relations between the two countries" and expressed the hope both leaders would "work to build on it".

- Simmering tensions -

The Presevo Valley region bordering Kosovo was the scene of fierce clashes in 2001 between Serb forces and ethnic Albanian guerrillas fighting to unite it with Kosovo.

Tensions have remained high ever since with Belgrade suspecting the Albanian minority of seeking secession, while ethnic Albanians complain of a lack of rights.

The Presevo area has a strong ethnic Albanian community and Rama received a warm welcome in the town, where about 1,000 people chanted his name and children waved small paper Albanian flags.

The streets of Presevo were put under tight security, with police officers deployed throughout the town and along the road to the Kosovo border 20 kilometres (12 miles) away.

Billboards carried Rama's portrait alongside Albanian flags reading "Welcome Prime Minister".

On the first day of his visit, Rama called for the rights of the ethnic Albanian minority in southern Serbia to be respected.

The trip was aimed at helping turn the page on the fraught relations between the two neighbours, long marred by disagreements over Kosovo and ethnic Albanians in the Presevo Valley.

Ethnic Albanians make up 90 percent of Kosovo's 1.8 million people, while it is estimated that some 120,000 Serbs live in the breakaway territory.

The vast majority of the ethnic Albanian population in Serbia lives in the Presevo Valley, while a few more thousand are scattered throughout the country.

"This visit has to have an impact on improving our position because he (Rama) will have an opportunity to learn about the difficult situation we live in," said Nazmi Kadriu, a 72-year old pensioner.

"It is his duty to defend Albanians wherever they live."

 

Ailing Serb nationalist returns from decade-long war crimes detention (Reuters, by Matt Robinson, 12 November 2014)

BELGRADE - An ailing Serbian nationalist leader returned home on Wednesday after more than a decade in detention in The Hague, released on grounds of ill health before a verdict could be reached in his long-running war crimes trial.

Hundreds of supporters packed Belgrade airport to greet Vojislav Seselj after his release from a United Nations tribunal set up to prosecute those who committed war crimes during the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

Serbian doctors say Seselj suffers from cancer of the colon which has spread to his liver.

His return, however, has put Serbia's government in an awkward spot.

Seselj was political mentor and close friend of the country's current president and prime minister, Tomislav Nikolic and Aleksandar Vucic, before both men broke from his then opposition Radical Party in 2008 and swung behind the country's bid to join the European Union.

Nikolic and Vucic took power in 2012 and have sought to distance themselves from Seselj, a hardline proponent of the nationalism that fueled wars in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo in which in total more than 120,000 people died.

With the defection of Nikolic and Vucic, Seselj's Radical Party - for years the biggest in Serbia - lost its place in parliament. But Seselj retains some support among hardliners in Serbia, who say they will rally in central Belgrade on Saturday.

Seselj handed himself in to The Hague in 2003, charged with recruiting, financing and inciting followers to commit murder, ethnic cleansing and other war crimes in Bosnia and Croatia.

His almost 12-year detention, however, has drawn widespread criticism: obstruction by Seselj slowed the trial, while the replacement of one of the judges delayed the verdict, which may now never come.

 

UN vote on Bosnia highlights Russia, West tensions (AP, by Cara Anna, 12 November 2014)

UNITED NATIONS — Russia for the first time in 14 years declined to support the extension of a European Union peacekeeping force in Bosnia, saying Tuesday the country should not be pushed toward joining the EU by outside forces.

The vote in the U.N. Security Council highlighted the tensions that have soared between Russia and the West in recent months, especially over Ukraine, another country leaning toward joining the EU.

The rest of the council voted to extend for a year the military operation, while Russia abstained instead of using its veto power as a permanent council member.

The peacekeeping force known as EUFOR is meant to calm tensions that have lingered since the vicious 1992-1995 civil war among Bosnia's three ethnic groups — Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs.

Bosnian Serbs, who are backed by Russia and want an independent state, have prevented any effort to strengthen state institutions.

Tuesday's vote came after the United States and the EU last week welcomed a German-British proposal to move Bosnia closer to EU membership. It would postpone action on the complicated issue of minority rights while Bosnia moves ahead with reforming its economy and strengthening the rule of law.

Russia's ambassador to the U.N., Vitaly Churkin, rejected the proposal, saying any movement by Bosnia toward the EU "cannot be forced from the outside."

This was the first time in 14 years that the vote to extend the EU peacekeeping mission wasn't unanimous, said Britain's representative, Michael Tatham.

Tatham called Russia's position "cynical and deeply regrettable" and said its argument that movement toward joining the EU is imposed from outside shows contempt for Bosnia's citizens.

Tuesday's debate expressed widespread concern about the country's stagnation amid political bickering and high unemployment. Russia, however, warned about the threat of militant Islam instead.

The U.N. high representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Valentin Inzko, spoke bluntly about the need to change the "vicious downward cycle of tit-for-tat politics" and warned those pushing for secession that the country's borders won't be redrawn.

Inzko said Bosnia faces a decisive four years ahead after elections in October.

Bosnian Ambassador Mirsada Colakovic told the council that the country is looking forward to "moving to the next stage of the integration process" with the EU.

 

Bosnia Dairy Farmers Vow To Block Borders (BIRN, by Elvira M. Jukic, 12 November 2014)

After the authorities did not meet their demands to raise taxes on imported milk and so protect domestic producers, Bosnian dairy farmers said they would block customs posts on the borders on Wednesday.

Hard-pressed milk producers in Bosnia and Herzegovina said they would block imports of milk from the European Union on Wednesday on the borders.

They said the government had ignored their demand to protect domestic producers by imposing higher duties on imported milk, so that domestic producers could compete on the Bosnian market.

The announced blockades will last until the Bosnian authorities raise duties on EU imported milk by an additional 0.72 KM or 0.37 euro per litre.

Mehmed Niksic, one of the protesting dairy farmers, who said he would be in Gradiska on Wednesday, said the largest number of protesters would be at Orasje, Samac and Izacic.

“Milk producers [in Bosnia] are on their knees, the prices of imported milk have been lowered and there are surpluses of milk here,” he said.

“A realistic price of our milk is 1.50 to 1.70 KM per litre [0.76 to 0.87 euro] but the imported milk we have is going for 0.86 to 0.90 KM [0.44 to 0.46 euro],” he explained.

Bosnia's Foreign Trade Minister, Boris Tucic, said after a meeting on Tuesday that officials had discussed ways to help milk producers to increase production and exports.

“One of the main ways out of this situation is to intensify... the export of milk and dairy products from Bosnia and Herzegovina to the priority market of the EU... to Turkey and then, after fulfilling certain conditions, also to the large market of Russia,” he said.

At present, Bosnian dairy producers do not export anything to EU countries because Bosnia has not put in place EU food safety standards.

It lost its most important market for dairy products on July 1 last year when neighbouring Croatia joined the EU as its 28th member.

“We depend on Brussels and on the opinion and evaluation of the EU Food and Veterinary Office because we cannot implement part of the activities we need to do until we get a green light from them,” the minister noted.

Tucic denied that there were excessive imports of milk from the EU and warned that possible blockades could draw reprisals from the EU.

Duljko Hasic, an analyst at the Bosnian Foreign Trade Chamber, told Balkan Insight that Bosnia had to be careful with the EU market, as it is Bosnia's most significant foreign trade partner.

“Blockades of imports from the EU could endanger our exports in general,” he said. “The situation of the Bosnian milk producers is really tough - but it is not true that the milk from the EU is being imported in tank trucks,” he added.

Milk and dairy products imported to Bosnia come mainly from Germany, Croatia, Slovenia and Hungary and in the first nine months of 2014 were worth around 107 million KM or 55 million euro, an increase of 11 per cent compared to the same period last year.

Exports of milk from Bosnia to Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Kosovo were worth around 50 million KM or 25 million euro - a drop of 30 per cent in comparison to the same period last year.