LOCAL PRESS

 

Nikolic: Detention of Ivanovic and others is abuse of law (RTS)

The detention of the leader of the SDP Civic Initiative Oliver Ivanovic and of another four Kosovo Serbs, lasting for more than a year now, represents the abuse of law, said Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic. He said that their provisional release pending the final judicial ruling would represent the respect of the basic human rights and objectivity of the court procedure. Nikolic also said that the duration of the detention was directly opposite to the report of the OSCE mission demanding more respect for the right to freedom and the confinement of detainment to exceptional cases with a short deadline. Nikolic said that in 2002 UNMIK had conducted an investigation procedure against several persons, for the same criminal acts Ivanovic and others are charged with and that it had been established back then that there is no evidence and the procedure was suspended.

 

Cuba supports Serbia’s position on Kosovo (Tanjug)

Cuban Ambassador to Serbia Adela Mayra Ruiz Garcia informed Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic that Cuba will continue to support Serbia’s position on Kosovo. This is a matter of principles and nothing will change in Cuba’s policy in that respect, Ruiz Garcia said and thanked Nikolic for Serbia’s support in the UN General Assembly. Speaking about a thaw in of Cuba-U.S. relations, Nikolic and Ruiz Garcia agreed that the process is good for Latin America and that it might benefit the economic cooperation between Serbia and Cuba. Nikolic expressed hope that very soon conditions will be met to significantly improve cooperation between Cuban and Serbian companies.

 

Detention extended for Ivanovic (Tanjug)

Detention for the leader of the SDP Civic Initiative Oliver Ivanovic has been extended for another two months and at the same time the trial continues at the Basic Court in Kosovska Mitrovica for the alleged war crimes in 1999 and 2000 with which he is charged. With the testimony by Faik Hiseni, the prosecution will complete the examination of its witnesses who are talking about the events in Mitrovica in the mentioned period, with which EULEX’s prosecutor charges Ivanovic. The SDP confirmed that Ivanovic’s detention was extended until 26 April since the requests and appeals of Serbian officials for the indictee to be released pending trial had not been accepted.

 

Kosovo places Stojanovic on Interpol’s warrant (Politika)

Reacting to the fact that Interpol issued a warrant for Momir Stojanovic, Milovan Drecun (SNS), the Chairman of the Serbian parliamentary Committee for Kosovo and Metohija, told the press that Serbia advocates for all war crimes that were committed during the conflict in Kosovo and Metohija to be detected and prosecuted and that Serbia is far ahead of Kosovo and Metohija in this field. As regards the warrants for Stojanovic, Drecun points out: “One should look at the context of the moment when the warrant is issued and one can note a coincidence with the West’s intensified pressure on Pristina to pass the law on the formation of a special court. That court should try KLA members for perpetrated war crimes and now this story is disguised, relativized and marginalized. As regards colleague Stojanovic, I think the situation here will be completely clear. What he had been doing in Kosovo and Metohija as the head of the security services of the Pristina corpus is available, he was a witness in the Hague Tribunal on several occasions, so I don’t know what this court in Djakovica is trying to do. If Ramush Haradinaj is free, who has perpetrated horrible crimes in the region of Djakovica, then I don’t know what else can anyone discuss in Kosovo and Metohija. If you have been constantly forcing for the past months the story about General Ljubisa Dikovic being allegedly responsible for some crimes, and now the case against Momir Stojanovic is being created, along with the fact that the court in Djakovica did not deem it necessary to discover the mass grave that exists on the territory of the municipality, and now opens some indictment against the Serbs, then it is clear that they wish to completely turn around the story. This is a recipe that has been applied all these years.” The Democratic Party (DS) caucus whip Borislav Stefanovic and the former head of our team for Kosovo and Metohija also linked the warrant against Stojanovic with the announced formation of a war crimes court in Pristina: “We also support the formation of this court, which should investigate all crimes perpetrated by the KLA members, because this is a step in the direction of reconciliation and serving justice. As regards General Stojanovic, I am sure that he is capable of defending his innocence. Oliver Ivanovic would have a lot of things to say in his defense in court and he is showing every day that the indictment is unsustainable. I don’t see why General Stojanovic would be less successful in this. He will also manage to prove that there is not a shred of his responsibility. It is on the court to establish this.” The MP of the Party for Democratic Action Riza Halimi told the press that investigative organs should do their job and investigate all crimes between 1999 and 2001, but no one can be accused in advance. He opines that whoever is at issue, “MP, minister, or any citizen, must testify before judicial organs”, and as far as he knows, “all relevant factors in Kosovo support the formation of this court”. He says he had heard about the warrant from journalists.

 

Vulin: Time and place or issuing warrant not accidental (Tanjug)

Serbian Minister for Labor Aleksandar Vulin said that Serbia doesn’t recognize any court in Djakovica that issues warrants for alleged war criminals. “Serbia recognizes only Resolution 1244 that regulates all legal frameworks of behavior in Kosovo and Metohija. This warrant is not accidental, nor are the time and place and the choice of people,” Vulin told journalists in Prokuplje. He explained that Djakovica has for years been a forbidden town for the Serbs and that this warrant is precisely an attempt to explain why the Serbs cannot visit their graves, sanctities and return to their homes in this town. “Furthermore, the government in Pristina this way wishes to avoid the Brussels agreement. From Hashim Thaqi’s story that Kosovo will launch a lawsuit for genocide to the alleged warrants and alleged war crimes of Serbian MPs and generals, these are the ways to scare the Serbs who wish to return and to tell them they must not do this,” said Vulin. “We will support the UN efforts to form an international tribunal for war crimes in order to establish the truth about crimes in Kosovo,” said Vulin. He stressed that the state is helping the Serbs who continue to live on the territory of Kosovo and Metohija and that it pays each months 43,000 salaries from the republican budget who work there, and the state also takes care of the internally displaced persons. “These people are not forgotten, and the fact that Djakovica is a forbidden town for the Serbs is not Serbia’s shame but the shame of the international community that certainly tolerates violence and obstruction of the return of Serbs to this part of Kosovo,” concluded Vulin.

 

Seselj: Interpol’s warrant continuation of pressure on government (Beta)

The leader of the Serbian Radical Party Vojislav Seselj has assessed that the issuance of Interpol’s warrant against the former high officer of the Yugoslav Army Momir Stojanovic represents continuation of the humiliation of the Serbian authorities by the West. He notes that the pressure and humiliation by the West on the Serbian government is also reflected in the previous attacks on the Chief of Staff of the Serbian army Ljubisa Dikovic by the “so-called NGO financed by the West”. Seselj says that the Radicals are not sorry for Dikovic, “who supported Tadic’s and now the Progressive’s regime” nor for Stojanovic who is the MP of the Serbian Progressive Party, but that the post and army are important in their cases. According to him, Interpol’s warrant for Stojanovic was issued at the request of “the illegal Albanian authorities in Kosovo” and based on the Brussels agreement that is “an anti-Serb agreement”. “I can confidently claim that Dikovic is not a war criminal,” Seselj told a press conference, adding there is no data that Dikovic is responsible for the things he is being accused of. Seselj also sees yesterday’s visit of the former British premier Tony Blair to Belgrade as the continuation of the humiliation of Serbia by the West. “The ministers of the Progressive’s government, like pupils in school, listen to the lecture of one notorious war criminal, as is Tony Blair, responsible for the killings of hundreds and hundreds of Serbian civilians, women and children during the NATO bombardment, a man who has already been sentenced to 20 years in prison before the Serbian war crimes court, and then the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS)-led authorities suspended this proceeding.”

 

Obradovic: No illegal immigrants crossed border in last two days (Tanjug)

The Serbian Interior Ministry has managed to significantly reduce the number of Albanian illegal immigrants trying to cross the border, and no such case was recorded in the last two days, said Marija Obradovic, the Chairperson of the Serbian parliamentary Committee on Defense and Internal Affairs. “In the last 48 hours, no illegal crossing of the border has been recorded, while for instance, in the first half of February about 150 illegal crossings were prevented,” Obradovic told Tanjug. In cooperation with colleagues from neighboring countries, and also Germany and Austria, the Serbian Interior Ministry has significantly curbed the number of crossings by illegal immigrants over Serbian borders. The Serbian Interior Ministry has stepped up the presence of border police and deployed additional members of the Gendarmerie and general police, who have contributed to stopping the surge of Albanian bogus immigrants trying to cross the borders in the previous period, particularly in the first half of February. She said that these are bogus immigrants with false documents and an administrative certificate for movement through Serbia trying to reach the EU countries, primarily in search of work. “"As the chairperson of the Committee, I would like to commend the activities and commitment of the Ministry of the Interior aimed at stopping this surge,” said Obradovic.

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

No agreement on formation of the new FB&H Government (Srna)

Leaders of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA), the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and the Democratic Front (DF) did not agree on formation of the new FB&H Government last night.

The talks will be resumed on Sunday, according to the president of HDZ, Dragan Covic, shortly after the public should be informed whether they have agreed or not. As these leaders announced yesterday’s talks as a possibility for agreement on forming the federation government, already last Sunday, the DF-President Zeljko Komsic told reporters he didn’t want to disclose what was the problem at yesterday’s meeting because he doesn’t want to complicate the things additionally. Party leaders have indicated that at the yesterday’s session they did not discussed the distribution of ministerial department in the future government, but on the number of ministries, which should belong to each of the parties. The Deputy President of the SDA Bakir Izetbegovic said that his party was ready to let go of one ministry and go from eight ministries to seven, while the HDZ leader Covic repeated what was already known to the public - that his party is still looking for six.

 

Dodik: Law on B&H gas unacceptable transfer of jurisdictions – RS will oppose it (Oslobodjenje)

For Milorad Dodik, the President of Republika Srpska (RS) and the SNSD, the adoption of the law on gas at the B&H level represents an unacceptable transfer of jurisdictions that he will oppose, announcing that he would not give consent to the Bosanski Brod-Zenica pipeline. Dodik believes that with this, RS would be additionally dependent on gas from other countries. In a statement to reporters in Banja Luka, he said that B&H “has no such responsibility” for energy and that RS would oppose the adoption of the law on gas at the state level. He claims that behind all this stands the intent to “prevent Russian gas from coming to RS from Serbia, but rather from Croatia”. “This is that story about building a pipeline from Bosanski Brod to Zenica,” he said. He says that the announced visit by the director of the Energy Community for South East Europe, who believes the assembly majority in B&H that after eight years of rejection by RS will adopt the law on gas at the B&H level, also speaks to this. He claims it is clear that Europe, which opposes the South Stream pipeline project, wants to do this through the “North Stream” and thus create a region dependent on gas supply and master the energy potential contained here. He announced that RS would continue to try to include itself in the existing pipeline at Zvornik, and that it is building a pipeline through Bijeljina toward Banja Luka, because, he says, inclusion in a pipeline from Croatia or some other direction would be much more expensive.

 

Dodik: Message to all ambassadors in B&H is to stay out of internal matters (Srna)

The RS President Milorad Dodik told Srna that registering of only the so-called military property is one of the concessions that Mladen Bosic, Mladen Ivanic and Dragan Cavic are ready to make for the sake of participating in the institutions of authority, and this has been revealed to the public by British Ambassador to B&H Edward Ferguson in his column. “I do not know what it is that SDS, PDP and NDP promised to Bakir Izetbegovic and the British Ambassador, but neither military nor any other property will be registered without the consent of the RS. If this property could have been registered based on the principles so persistently advocated by Bakir Izetbegovic, and, now, also by the British Ambassador, it would have been registered by now,” Dodik pointed out. Upon being asked to comment Ferguson’s claim that “the ruling coalition on the level of B&H and the Federation of B&H has already agreed to finally implement the decision of the Constitutional Court, and officially register military property as state property”, the RS President said it is inappropriate that ambassador of such an important country even attempts at interpreting the decisions of another country’s constitutional court, and is even more inappropriate if he does it incorrectly. “Property is an internal issue of B&H, and I do not see a single reason for any ambassador, in general, to interfere in internal matters of another country,” Dodik emphasized. He recalled that the RS long time ago has said in what manner the issue of registering military property could be carried out, and this was defined two or three years ago in Banja Luka. “We do not wish to separate the issue of military property from the issue of property in general, because we see the hidden intention of also this ambassador to push B&H into the NATO, and then the high representative would stay here to model the political system, together with the NATO, because the issue of the rest of the property in B&H would have remained unresolved,” said Dodik. He underlined that it is possible that someone is bored with the stances of RS, but this is the problem of ambassadors interfering in internal issues of B&H. “Reference to the Constitutional Court and, allegedly, to some decision, shows that the ambassador does not speak the truth. The Constitutional Court has banned the application of the law that we had passed, but has also instructed that the organs within B&H should agree on a solution,” Dodik said. Registering of the so-called military property, he said, cannot be carried out without a legal basis, i.e. without passing an adequate law that would deal with not only military property, but all property in B&H. “The law should have been passed after the agreement of political leaders was reached on March 9, 2012. However, this was obstructed by the political parties from FB&H, because they requested that only military property be registered. Without an agreement between the entities on such an important issue, it will not be possible to register either military or other property in B&H, and this is something we reiterated several times,” Dodik said. He said that his message to all ambassadors in B&H is to stay out of internal matters, as this is not within their competence, and not to complicate the situation, but to try to help instead.

 

Wounded jihadists medically treated in FB&H (Glas Srpske/Srna)

In 2014, eight jihadists were medically treated at the Sarajevo University Clinical Centre, and 11 wounded Islamist fighters, returnees from Syria, were treated at the hospitals in Zenica and Travnik, reports Glas Srpske. An unnamed source from the security circles said that these individuals were exclusively members of al-Nusra movement, which operates within Al-Qaeda and fights in Syria as a part of the unit headed by Wahhabi leader from B&H Nusret Imamovic.

“The wounded jihadists were admitted for regular treatment upon their return from Syria, and the security institutions are aware of this. However, none of these cases was reported to the police, even though the health institutions have a legal obligation to submit reports on persons who ask for help over injuries sustained in an armed conflict,” said the source. The Sarajevo University Clinical Centre says they do not have records on returnees from Syrian conflict who had been treated at the institution. The unnamed source said that about 20 citizens of B&H wounded in Syrian war have been treated at the hospitals in Split and Rijeka, which is why Croatian Police asked these institutions to submit the documentation on all foreign citizens whom they provided with care. “Split and Rijeka are one of the routes between B&H and Syrian battlefield, passing through Italian Ancona, where members of Al-Nusra movement have also been treated,” said the source. Manager of the Clinical Hospital Centre in Split, Kolja Poljak, confirmed that the Centre had received a request from the Police Administration to submit a list of treated foreign citizens whose injuries might have been the consequence of the conflict in the Middle East.

 

Zaev: Fourth series of secret recordings (Tanjug)

The SDSM leader Zoran Zaev published the fourth series of secret recordings, the wiretapping of Macedonian journalist Nikola Mladenov, for which he accuses the Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski. Zaev, who was recently accused of cooperating with foreign agencies and attempted “coup", asked the Prosecution to conduct the expert analysis of these recordings. "I know that the truth about Macedonia, from so far published material, is really hard for every man," said Zaev at a press conference. "We will present additional evidence of a total control established by the Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and by the first man of the Security and counterintelligence Saso Miljkov and thus dictate and create a false reality. All this comes from one UBK center that hosts machines for wiretapping and surveillance of over 100 journalists ", said Zaev. He also claims that the SDSM has evidence that exposes the direct connection between the Prime Minister and journalists in the private media, but also in national broadcasts. The SDSM leader said that one of the most wiretapped journalists is a Macedonian journalist and editor from the Focus weekly, Nikola Mladenov. "These materials that we got, labeled UBK, show that professional and critical journalists were especially monitored. This is a heavy blow after which no one will have a dilemma under what kind of regime we have lived all these years," said Zaev. Previous Zaev accused Gruevski of wiretapping 20,000 citizens in Macedonia, including representatives of the opposition, the government, intellectuals, NGO representatives, and members of the Synod. The SDSM has so far revealed the audio track on wiretapping of the Interior Minister Gordana Jankulovska, Deputy Prime Minister Zoran Stavrevski and DUI leader Ali Ahmeti, who is the government coalition partner. Then he published the records on wiretapping of Minister Jankulovska and previous Minister of Justice Mihajlo Manevski in which they are agreeing on a court decision in favor of the judges of the Judicial Council, which is, according to the conversation, a "wild card" for the appointment and dismissal of judges. Other phone conversations of former Deputy Prime Minister Musa Dzaferi are publisher, which according to the opposition prove a direct intrusion into the judiciary system. The Macedonian public was shocked after the release of the third series of intercepted conversations indicating that the arrest of former police minister Ljuba Boskovski was pre-planned. This could be concluded from the telephone conversation between Dragan Pavlovic and Emil Stojemnov the owner of TV Channel 5. Meanwhile, the Macedonian Court extended the detention of former intelligence officer Zoran Verusevski for additional 30 days. In the preliminary procedure he is suspected of espionage and violence against the highest state authorities, and was detained for illegal possession of weapons. His defense, has not yet received a reply from the Prosecutor's Office on, as they claim, provided evidence that the gun that was found in the possession of the former intelligence officer is register at the Ministry of Interior. Verusevski is the first one who was accused in the case of "Coup" alongside with his wife and one employee from the municipality of Strumica. The fourth suspect is the SDSM leader Zoran Zaev. Within the same action two more officials from the Ministry of Interior were arrested.

 

Gruevski: Zaev undermines the system and endangers citizens’ privacy (MIA)

The SDSM speculate with different numbers that were wiretapped 26,000, then 20,000 and the like, said yesterday the Prime Minister Gruevski. “All this is with purpose, to create fear among the people that who knows what someone has for them i.e. to be able to balance the anger of citizens from the fact that a person as is Zoran Zaev has their private life recorded on compacts disc, that undermines the system of this country, that directly violates the state interests and undermines the citizens’ privacy”, said the Prime Minister. He added that after yesterday pronounced sentenced to the person who already has fully admitted the criminal case, all accusations are dismissed. “Two people have admitted the criminal act. The Court has already convicted one person, Z.K. and he received prison sentence, the judgment is final because he fully admitted the offense. With this, all accusations of the opposition are dismissed that we are behind the wiretapping for which they do not have single proof. It was screen to hide behind and to begin with the publication and general public to release them from any responsibility”, said Prime Minister Gruevski.

 

Xucla: False is that I asked for monitoring Macedonia (MIA)

President of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe at the Parliamentary Assembly, Jordi Xucla directly denies the opposition and its media. Xucla says it is not true that he asked for monitoring on Macedonia at the Council of Europe. “Having in mind the wrong interpretation of my last statement issued on February 24 for the current political situation in Macedonia that is facing in recent period, it is impossible to conclude that I’ve asked for the return the Republic of Macedonia in the process of monitoring at the Council Europe. Only evil dishonest thought I could bring such conclusion from my statement”, said Xucla. He emphasized that he is tired of biased and inaccurate interpretation of my words. “There is nothing to comment on the issue until the next meeting of the Monitoring Committee, which will be held in Paris on 17 March 2015”, says Xucla. The Xucla’s denial is reaction to the writings of the media such are Plusinfo and Libertas that liberals from Europe sought monitoring of Macedonia, which turn out to be classic lie. The denial, which came from the head of the Liberals say that it is false and that is done by the evil minds and that the opposition media again gave themselves a goal.

 

Kitarovic visiting B&H 3^rd of March (Srna)

Croatian President Grabar Kitarovic confirmed that she will visit B&H on Tuesday, March 3, and use the occasion to give support for resolving B&H internal problems and its path towards the EU membership, and insist again on the equality of the Croatian people. “Croatia is very interested in the stability of Bosnia and Herzegovina, its entry into the EU and NATO, and, above all, the equality of all three constituent peoples, including Croats,” said Kitarovic for the Croatian media. She announced that she will be visiting B&H very often. When it comes to Serbia, Kitarovic said that Croatia will provide all the support to Serbia on its path towards the EU membership, but that it will insist on implementing all of the criteria for membership, including the position of minorities. She pointed out that the officials from Serbia want to establish a dialogue in resolving outstanding issues. “I am encouraged by the visit of Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic to Zagreb because we launched the initial dialogue, and I feel this desire to go in resolving outstanding issues,” said Kitarovic.

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

 

Wave of Kosovan migration sparks unease in European capitals (Financial Times, by Andrew Byrne in Budapest and Jeevan Vasagar in Berlin, 25 February 2015)

It took seven years after Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia for Besim Aaliti to conclude that Europe’s newest state no longer offered him a future. So Mr Aaliti, a bricklayer from the Kosovan village of Strubulovo, travelled through Serbia and Hungary to reach Germany, where he applied for asylum earlier this month. He is one of tens of thousands who have left Kosovo in recent months, prompting fears in some European capitals that a mass exodus of migrants from one of the continent’s poorest countries could strain public services in destination countries and trigger a political backlash. In Hungary, where most Kosovans first enter the EU, officials say they have received nearly 23,000 asylum requests in the past seven weeks, already surpassing the total for all of 2014. “We are dealing with an extremely serious problem here and it’s a problem that’s beyond the scope of this government alone — it’s a problem for the whole EU,” said Zoltan Kovács, a Hungarian state secretary. The vast majority of asylum-seekers disappear before their applications can be assessed, Hungarian authorities say, making their way to more prosperous countries such as Germany. The scale of the influx from Kosovo, a small nation of 1.82m people, has surprised European policy makers otherwise focused on controlling immigration from conflicts flaring in Syria and north Africa. Kosovans accounted for 40 per cent of all illegal entries into Europe’s passport-free Schengen zone in December, according to the EU border agency Frontex. Emigration is nothing new for Kosovans — nearly half of all households report a family member living abroad. Kosovo was wracked by the Balkan wars of the early 1990s and was administered by the UN for nearly a decade before finally declaring independence from Serbia in 2008. In spite of western aid, corruption continues to flourish and its citizens rank among Europe’s poorest. Still, analysts are struggling to explain the current exodus. Some cite economic hardship — a draft study by the Group for Legal and Political Studies (GLPS), a Pristina-based think-tank, notes low incomes and youth unemployment at nearly 56 per cent. The European Commission has referred to a “criminal infiltration of the political, legal and economic systems”. But others note that economic indicators have remained steady since 2008 and instead point to declining trust in the country’s unstable political structures. Residual ethnic tensions flared in January when members of the country’s ethnic Albanian majority protested against a newly formed government that includes Belgrade-backed ethnic Serb ministers. “There were demonstrations and people were afraid, because perhaps a civil war is coming,” Mr Aaliti told the Financial Times at an emergency shelter in Berlin. Another explanation is far more mundane: new passport rules. An EU-mandated change in border rules since 2012 has made it easier for migrants to enter Serbia using Kosovan identification documents. The change was introduced as part of a Brussels-sponsored dialogue to improve relations between Kosovo and Serbia. But it has brought unforeseen consequences in the form of busloads of Kosovans leaving Pristina daily on the first stage of a journey to the EU. The recent migrant surge is being supported by a sophisticated network of human traffickers, who send daily convoys of buses to towns such as Subotica, near the Serbia-Hungary border. From there, migrants travel by foot across Hungary’s porous frontier and into the EU. Waiting taxi drivers bring them to cities such as Vienna and Berlin, sometimes charging up to €3,000 for the ride. “This is a major criminal enterprise,” says Fisnik Korenica, GLPS director. “Last year there were just one or two illegal routes across the Tisza river. Today there are dozens of illegal routes between Serbia and Hungary and yet for some reason, there are almost no indictments of traffickers.” In Berlin, officials say minorities such as the Roma dominated asylum claims from Kosovo until recently. But now middle class Kosovans are also leaving in search of better prospects in western Europe. At the shelter, Mehdi Krasniqi, a 47-year-old from the town of Vushtrri, describes Kosovo as a place where legitimate businesses are stifled. “There is corruption. I worked as a cook in a restaurant. The restaurant was burnt down because they didn’t give [protection] money,” he recalled. There is little prospect of the latest arrivals being granted asylum in EU countries — less than 0.3 per cent of applications in Germany were approved last month. Two weeks ago, 30 rejected Kosovan asylum seekers were deported on a charter flight from Munich to Pristina. Still, Vladimir Petronijevic, director of Group 484, a migration policy think-tank in Belgrade, says: “We know there is a significant number who make it into the EU without applying for asylum or getting apprehended.” The surge of arrivals is triggering demands for a stronger response by authorities as public tolerance strains. In Germany, a new populist movement, Pegida, has harnessed public anger against immigration, drawing tens of thousands of supporters to marches in Dresden in recent months. “There is certainly local opposition,” said Gerd Landsberg, managing director of the German Association of Towns and Municipalities, a lobby group, noting the burden on local schools and housing. “We always have to make clear why these [refugees] come, what has befallen these people.” In Hungary, lawmakers last week convened a parliamentary debate on immigration, during which several participants linked increased migration to terrorism, arson and fraud. One border town mayor has demanded a fence be built to prevent Kosovans making their way through the forests and rivers on Hungary’s southern frontier. The border police have already installed heat-seeking cameras and are now trialling drones. Western governments are also warning Kosovans against making the journey in the first place. “Smugglers are lying,” read an advertisement in a Kosovan newspaper last week, paid for by the Austrian government. “You will not be granted asylum in Austria for economic reasons. Anyone staying illegally in Austria may be punished with a fine up to €7,500.” But warnings and security measures will not solve the problem, says Mr Petronijevic: “The problems are bad governance and the lack of economic development in Kosovo. This is what the EU needs to address.”

 

What next for Kosovo Serbs? (TransConflict, by Gerard M. Gallucci, 26 February 2015)

In light of the ongoing Brussels dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, the time has also come for Kosovo Serbs to seize the opportunity to address the practical needs of their community within the framework in which they find themselves. There are four ideas – including working together as a community and participating at all levels in Kosovo institutions – that might serve as guiding principles for their next steps.

The EU will apparently be sponsoring an April conference in Kosovo to provide a forum for Kosovo Serbs to begin formulating a common agenda and strategy to serve their community in the current context. This is a good initiative and long overdue. (For the first five years after Pristina’s declaration of independence, the Quint – chiefly the US and Germans with NATO and EULEX – used and allowed Pristina to use force and threats to bully Serbs north and south of the Ibar into accepting control by the new Kosovo institutions they empowered.) But in light of the ongoing Brussels dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina – a product of the Quint’s recognition that north Kosovo could not be subdued by force and Belgrade’s existential need to settle on Kosovo in order to move into the EU – the time has also come for Kosovo Serbs to seize the opportunity to address the practical needs of their community within the framework in which they find themselves.

The essential decisions will be made by Kosovo Serbs themselves. But I offer here four ideas that might serve as guiding principles for considering their next steps:

•The vital usefulness of working together as a community. This would mean putting aside petty differences and arguments over the past to formulate joint approaches that all political actors combine to achieve with full support of all Serb communities within Kosovo. United in pursuit of a common agenda, Kosovo Serbs can be a potent player in central politics as well as more effectively governing their own municipalities. Working together would also prove a powerful lure to the internationals eager to provide support for peaceful change in the Balkans.

•Putting aside – if not necessarily abandoning – the larger political issue of status. This would mean focusing on putting the compromise arrangements presented by an Ahtisaari-Plus approach and the Brussels dialogue to the test. The status of Kosovo has been contentious for decades. Milosevic’ efforts to use repression of Kosovo Albanians for his political interests eventually doomed Yugoslavia and closed off any likelihood of autonomy-within-Serbia alternatives. That truth must be faced in its entirety. Serbia has accepted this truth – perhaps not fully admitted yet – and Kosovo Serbs must do the same if they are to preserve their life in Kosovo and Kosovo’s Serbian heritage.

•Seeking to achieve practical solutions to practical problems. The Ahtisaari package provides a robust framework for local control of local and cultural matters and preserving links between Serb municipalities in Kosovo and with Belgrade. As further elaborated through the Brussels dialogue, this could provide a full range of means to work to address practical issues and establish a sustainable environment for security and development. No one else will work to ensure this framework is fully honored if Kosovo Serbs don’t use it.

•Participation at all levels in Kosovo institutions. The Serbian connection to Kosovo can only be preserved through the full participation of Kosovo Serbs in central as well as local institutions. That means all eligible Kosovo Serbs voting in all Kosovo elections. Given the political divisions within the Kosovo Albanian community, Kosovo Serbs may well have a political weight greater than their numbers. Given what should be their natural inclination to support democracy, human rights and transparency, Serbs may also find willing allies among at least some Albanians.   Full Serb participation in Kosovo politics would serve the interests of everyone and most especially themselves. The truth seems to be that whatever the political status of Kosovo – and as the region moves further into Europe over the coming decade that may matter less – there exists the possibility of making it a truly multi-ethnic polis. For this to happen, Kosovo Serbs must work together to achieve practical solutions using all the political means available to them. And the internationals – bravo to the EU for finally getting it – must continue to assist.

Gerard M. Gallucci is a retired US diplomat and UN peacekeeper. He worked as part of US efforts to resolve the conflicts in Angola, South Africa and Sudan and as Director for Inter-American Affairs at the National Security Council. He served as UN Regional Representative in Mitrovica, Kosovo from July 2005 until October 2008 and as Chief of Staff for the UN mission in East Timor from November 2008 until June 2010. He was Diplomat-in-Residence at Drake University for the 2013-14 school year and now works as an independent consultant.

 

Amnesty Gives Balkans Mixed Verdict on Rights (Balkan Insight, 26 February 2015)

Balkan countries still struggled to address a range of human rights concerns in 2014, a new report by Amnesty International says.

The latest report published by international campaign group Amnesty International on Wednesday said attacks on the gay community were handled inappropriately by justice systems throughout the Balkans and Roma continue to face discrimination. The latest State of the World’s Human Rights report profiled the state of human rights in 160 countries and territories in 2014. In Albania, domestic violence is still widely reported, with perpetrators rarely facing criminal charges. Despite the government’s commitment to improve access to affordable housing for the poorest citizens, such options remained limited. The report also noted that Albania received EU candidate status in June and held its first Gay pride march in May without incident. In Bosnia, discontent from the high unemployment rate resulted in demonstrations and clashes between police and protestors. Government officials intimidated journalists throughout the year, and at least one journalist was severely beaten by police while covering protests in February.

Domestic prosecution of war crimes remained slow in Bosnia and civilian victims were not provided justice or reparations. Trials were also hindered by constant criticism from high-ranking officials who sought to undermine the court’s legitimacy. The report stated that conditions for asylum-seekers partially improved in Bulgaria, although concern remains regarding their societal integration. Refugees met challenges when seeking health care, education, housing and other public services. The report also said that Bulgaria failed to correct problems within legislation pertaining to hate crimes, and questioned the effectiveness and independence of investigations into alleged police brutality. In Croatia, the rate of prosecution and investigation of war crimes remained slow. Seventeen cases were filed by civilian victims of war that claimed the state failed to adequately investigate the killing or disappearance of their relatives. Discrimination in the labour market resulted in high levels of unemployment in the Roma community and Croatian Serbs also endured discrimination in public-sector employment. In July, a Law on Life Partnership was adopted, which legally recognized same sex partnerships and offers equal rights and protection, except in adoption cases. The report noted that human rights and freedom of expression in Macedonia were reduced. Furthermore, authorities significantly influenced the police and judiciary. The government reportedly spent 1 per cent of its budget on advertisements in pro-government media and election coverage by state media expressed favoritism towards the ruling party. Violent protests damaged relations between Macedonians and ethnic Albanians and allegations of police brutality continued, especially against Roma. After the European Commission recommended that EU accession talks begin, the EU Council of Ministers deferred the decision for the sixth time. In Montenegro, the Committee against Torture and the UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances determined that the courts inadequately applied domestic law and misinterpreted international humanitarian law in cases prosecuted since 2008. In August, Montenegro signed a regional declaration to determine the fate and location of 61 missing persons. In 2014, the LGBTQI social center in Podgorica was attacked 26 times, yet no perpetrators were prosecuted. Podgorica Pride, however, was adequately protected and 10 counter-protesters were arrested. A former senior intelligence official confirmed that Romania cooperated with the CIA to establish a secret prison in the country in 2002. The report also found that Roma continue to experience discrimination, including forced evictions and stigmatizing language used by public officials when discussing the Roma population. The parliamentary Commission for the Revision of the Constitution passed an amendment removing sexual orientation as basis for protection against discrimination. In January, the European Commission questioned the independence of the judicial system. Obstacles remain for women’s access to legal abortions. Movement was made in Serbia in investigations of the unsolved murders of journalists, however, there is little improvement in war crimes prosecution. Insufficient resources in the Office of the War Crimes Prosector and poor police investigations inhibited domestic prosecutions. The government restricted media freedom and removed any negative comments regarding its response to the May floods from government websites. Individuals that were critical met with police for “informative talks.” Hate crimes in Serbia were not effectively investigated, but the Belgrade Pride parade occurred for the first time since 2010. A special court will be established outside of Kosovo to prosecute former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) that captured Serbs in 1999. In the north of Kosovo, violence sparked by inter-ethnic tension and minority discrimination is persistent. The report also notes that government and state agencies partially controlled the media by providing substantial contributions to advertising revenue. There is also continued aggression towards investigative journalists in Kosovo.

 

OP-ED: The disaster of Kosovo should be a warning to all humanitarian interventionists (The Week, by Michael Brendan Dougherty, 10 February 2015)

It’s been almost 16 years since a NATO coalition banded together to defeat Serbia’s Slobodan Milošević in Kosovo. Ever since, it has been exhibit A in the case for “humanitarian intervention.” A swift short war, a thug removed from power, a series of oppressions redressed. After the hostilities ceased, Kosovo’s government was overseen by the United Nations, and declared full independence from Serbia in 2008. In the meantime, the U.N. bungled possibly the easiest show-trial in world history, letting Milošević score a lot of points from the stand as the trial dragged on longer than it took F.D.R. to declare war on Germany, mobilize a few million men, and beat Hitler. Milošević died of a heart attack in prison before his trial finished. NATO troops are in Kosovo, a decade and a half after the “short” 78-day campaign. What’s the political scene like in liberated Kosovo? Well, here’s a story. Last week Aleksandar Jablanovic, an ethnic Serb who served in the cabinet as minister of communities, was sacked by Prime Minister Isa Mustafa, in order to appease ethnic Albanians who were planning riotous protests against him. Kosovars threw rocks at government buildings. About 170 people were injured in the clash between protesters and police. What did Jablanovic do to cause the unrest? He had described a group of Albanians as “savages” in January. Why? Because they had blocked (with the threat of violence) the route of Serbian Christians making a traditional pilgrimage to a monastery in Western Kosovo. Sounds unpleasant, right? It gets worse. Unemployment in Kosovo is around 45 percent. (That’s not a typo.) The electricity is very unreliable, and Kosovars often don’t pay their electricity bills to the state. The government is considering canceling all debts that citizens owe to the government, to rebuild trust (and popularity) and start putting services on a firmer footing. About a third of Kosovars live on less than $2 a day. Kosovars aren’t putting up with it, and a wave of mass immigration to Western Europe has begun. Thousands of Kosovars are just picking up and leaving. A minister for education has said that some 5,200 pupils have vanished from Kosovo schools in the past five months, leaving with their families for Western Europe, usually via Serbia and Hungary. Many of them are seeking out refuge among the 700,000 to 800,000 Kosovar immigrants who live in enclaves in Switzerland and Germany, almost all of whom emigrated in the past 25 years. The entire population of Kosovo is currently around 1.8 million. At this point it is unlikely that a single Kosovar in Kosovo is without a cousin in Western Europe. The E.U. isn’t happy about this, and is trying to work with Kosovo and Hungary to stop the tide. It’s unlikely that the sacrifice of Jablanovic is going to appease the anger in the streets. If your electricity didn’t work years after a costly war with Canada, would you be happy just to see Ted Cruz humiliated? Ten seats in the Kosovo Assembly are reserved for ethnic Serbians, and so members of Jablanovic’s Serb List party have eight out of 120 total seats and occasionally take cabinet posts. This is no laughing matter, as neighboring Serbia has never recognized Kosovo’s existence as an independent country, and appears to exercise its own interests through elected Kosovo Serbs. Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić recently visited Serbian enclaves in the northern parts of Kosovo. He was the first Serbian leader to do anything like this in years. In no way can anyone say that Kosovo is worse off now than it would have been if Slobodan Milošević and Serbia had had their way. Milošević’s political, cultural, and then military campaign against Kosovars did nothing but expand until it was arrested from the outside. But there’s also no doubt that Kosovo should serve as a permanent warning against the idea that humanitarian interventions are easy. The bombing was a perfect example of the moral hazard involved in “Responsibility to Protect” interventions. The roar of NATO jets so raised the stakes for Serbian forces and for Milošević, that Serbians killed five times as many people after the intervention became a fait accompli than they had before that time, under the theory that rubble makes less trouble. And winning the peace has been impossible. Kosovo took a decade to escape the tutelage of the U.N. But the corruption, poverty, misgovernance, and ethnic violence in Kosovo are doing exactly what Milošević did: pressuring ethnic Albanians to leave.

 

Appeals court: Former Bosnian prison guard can be extradited (Associated Press, by Larry O'Dell, 25 February 2015)

RICHMOND, Virginia — A former Bosnian prison camp guard living in the U.S. is eligible for extradition to his native country to face war-crimes charges, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. Almaz Nezirovic of Roanoke County, Virginia, is accused of torturing Serbians at the Rabic prison camp in 1992 during the civil war in the region of the former Yugoslavia now known as Bosnia-Herzegovina. Bosnian officials charge that Nezirovic beat, humiliated and traumatized unarmed civilian prisoners. A judge in Bosnia-Herzegovina issued a warrant for Nezirovic's arrest in 2003, six years after the defendant entered the U.S. as a refugee. In 2013, a federal magistrate found sufficient evidence supporting the allegations and certified Nezirovic as eligible for extradition, pending approval of the U.S. State Department. A district judge let that ruling stand. The appeals court ruling followed. The court rejected Nezirovic's claim that he could not be extradited because too many years have passed since the alleged crimes occurred. It also found no merit in his claim that his extradition was barred because his actions were political. "The torture of prisoners cannot be justified on the basis that such torture has occurred in the context of a political disturbance," Judge Barbara Milano Keenan wrote for the appeals court. Nezirovic's attorney did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment on the ruling. Acting U.S. Attorney Anthony P. Giorno stressed that the ruling does not mean Nezirovic is guilty of the accusations, "but rather ensures that the validity of those charges will be heard in the appropriate venue in his home country." According to court papers, in 1992 Nezirovic joined a paramilitary group, the HVO, and became a prison guard. The HVO, or Croatian Defense Council, was formed by the Bosnian Croats as they sought to form their own breakaway republic during the war. It had no ties with Bosnia's Muslim-dominated government. Bosnian authorities allege that Nezirovic beat civilian detainees with a baton and a rifle and forced some prisoners to crawl on the ground naked and eat grass on which others had urinated. Nezirovic also was charged in federal court with concealing his wartime activities when applying for refugee status and naturalization in the United States. That case was dropped last year because of Nezirovic's likely extradition.

 

 

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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.