LOCAL PRESS

 

UNESCO must implement UN SC decisions (Tanjug)

Serbia’s Mission to the UN in New York has published on its website a non-paper presenting the reasons why Serbia is against the proposal for Kosovo’s membership in UNESCO. The document says that, under UN Security Council Resolution 1244, Kosovo is a part of Serbia and cannot be considered a state, and therefore does not meet the fundamental membership requirements set out in the Constitution of UNESCO. Under the Constitution, UNESCO must accept and implement all decisions by the UN Security Council, and politicization of UNESCO and assuming the competencies of the UN Security Council as a political instrumentalization of the organization for the affirmation of the illegal independence are not acceptable, the document says.

 

Drecun: Underway campaign for Kosovo to acquire international capacity (RTS)

The Chairman of the Serbian parliamentary Committee for Kosovo and Metohija Milovan Drecun assessed for the morning news of Radio and Television of Serbia (RTS) that underway is a planned campaign for the self-declared state of Kosovo to acquire “international capacity” in several directions. Drecun says that Serbia is facing a planned campaign that poses an attempt at moving from a freezing point the acquiring of international capacity of the self-declared state of Kosovo towards UNESCO, as part of the UN system, Interpol and the Council of Europe. Drecun says that Kosovo’s campaign started after the Brussels agreement on the Community of Serb Municipalities and the decision of the formation of the war crimes court in Kosovo, in order to give Pristina satisfaction and so it can justify itself before the Albanian public for what had been accepted. Drecun points out that some powerful states are lobbying for Kosovo, but adds that Serbia is conducting a strong diplomatic campaign. According to him, optimism that Kosovo will join UNESCO is a result of an existing trend. “With strong diplomatic activities, Serbia has managed to convince UNESCO member states how important the fact that Kosovo should not become an UNESCO member is. These countries are faced with a strong argumentation as they have their own responsibility and understanding of international relations,” says Drecun. He points out that the pressure to recognize Kosovo’s membership is present, but that the undisputable facts show that this would seriously violate international order, the UN system and things advocated by UNESCO. Drecun stresses that Serbia must fight for the Community of Serb Municipalities and normalization of relations with Pristina in order to include on the agenda important issues, such as Serbia’s property in Kosovo. Unlike Pristina, Serbia fulfills its obligations assumed in Brussels, says Drecun, adding that the most important thing is for Brussels to send a message that Pristina must fulfill what has been agreed and that it needs to establish the Community of Serb Municipalities. “I was encouraged by the US stand from personal contacts with their diplomats that they insist on the establishment of the Community of Serb Municipalities, which shows that Washington sees how important this formation is for the stabilization of relations,” said Drecun.

 

Kosovo Assembly ratifies SAA (Tanjug)

Kosovo MPs adopted the bill on ratification of Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU on Monday, with 86 votes for the motion. Serb MPs voted for the bill, and Serb list whip Slavko Simic said the political group fully supports the SAA, adding this is of great importance for people in the entire region. Albanian opposition parties, which have been boycotting and disrupting parliamentary sessions for quite some time, also boycotted the vote on the bill ratifying the SAA. This time, however, they did not block the work of the body, but left the hall after the speeches of heads of parliamentary groups.

 

Vote on Kosovo’s UNESCO bid should be postponed (RTS/Tanjug)

Sava Janjic, the abbot of the Visoki Decani monastery, has appealed to the international community for a postponement of the decision on Kosovo's membership in UNESCO. In a video message in English, Janjic said that the Serbian Orthodox Church believes that the decision on Kosovo's UNESCO membership should be postponed until mechanisms of institutional protection of Serbian holy sites in Kosovo and Metohija are clearly defined by Belgrade and Pristina as part of the Brussels dialogue, with international guarantees. “We are seriously concerned over Kosovo’s potential membership in UNESCO - not because we are against promotion of culture and education in Kosovo and Metohija, but because it is very difficult for us to trust the Kosovo institutions,” Janjic said in the message.

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

Police prevented a terrorist attack in Republika Srpska (Nezavisne)

The Republika Srpska (RS) police have prevented a terrorist attack at Friday in Janja, near Bijeljina, Srna was told at the Public Security Center in Bijeljina. Janja is some 40 kilometers away from the town of Zvornik, where a terrorist attack was carried out earlier this year against a police station, during which an officer was killed. The police stated that a search of a hotel, “Dallas”, turned up “a sizeable amount of prepared flammable liquids, explosive and pyrotechnic materials”, that were “inter-connected with the goal of destroying this facility - which is physically connected to a number of residential structures”. Nezavisne Novine is reporting that members of the Public Security Center (CJB) Bijeljina, the RS Interior Ministry’s Directorate for the Fight against Terrorism and Extremism, in cooperation with the B&H State Investigation and Protection Agency “obtained operative information that a terrorist act, or another grave criminal act aimed at endangering the safety of citizens and property to a larger degree, and causing religious, national, and racial intolerance, could occur in the area of the CJB Bijeljina”. Acting on this information, the police “gathered data on the potential targets and carried out a search of the Dallas Hotel, when preparations for the terrorist attack were discovered”. CJB Bijeljina said that “the timely action of the police and the Directorate prevented an attack, while police employees continue to work to shed light on all the circumstances that could have led to it”. It was announced that all these activities were undertaken under the supervision of the Basic Prosecution in Bijeljina.

 

Inzko: Referendum is a direct violation of the Dayton Peace Agreement (Fena)

The High Representative Valentin Inzko met in Sarajevo with Austrian Minister of Interior Johanna Mikl-Leitner. They discussed the current situation in B&H, with a focus on the security situation. The High Representative also informed Minister Mikl-Leitner about the current political situation in B&H, including the activities undertaken by the RS authorities towards organizing a referendum on the state judicial institutions, and previous decisions taken by the High Representative to implement the Peace Agreement. “This is in direct violation of the Dayton Peace Agreement. The initiative runs the risk of taking RS and the country as a whole backwards. In order to rectify the situation, the RS authorities must put referendum aside and focus instead on the real-life needs of citizens in the RS,” the High Representative said. Inzko also expressed his conviction that the recently signed Reform agenda will provide a much needed incentive for domestic political elites to implement needed reforms and achieve progress on integration into Euro-Atlantic structures.

 

German Government pays FB&H PM economic adviser (Slobodna Bosna)

Experienced German manager Reinhard Jung has been appointed as a new adviser of the Prime Minister of FB&H Fadil Novalic. His engagement is agreed through German International Cooperation office in Sarajevo GIZ (Deutche Gesellshaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit), with a special assignment to strengthen economic cooperation between B&H and Germany, Slobodna Bosna reports. Jung’s advisory engagement will not be paid by the taxpayers of B&H, but by Germany. German current government led by Chancellor Angela Merkel has been involved in the stabilization of the political and economic situation in B&H, and in the Balkans as a whole, more than ever before. Novalic’s economic adviser comes from the automotive industry. Young’s engagement in the Novalic’s cabinet is part of the German diplomatic offensive in the Balkans aiming to strength the European perspective of the Balkan states through the so-called Berlin Process. There is also the so-called British-German initiative, which is specifically focused on B&H, with the aim to encourage economic stabilization and development as a necessary prerequisite of the overall political and social stabilization of B&H. Novalic’s economic adviser comes from the automotive industry which has been a backbone of the overall economic cooperation between B&H and Germany for many years. Almost the entire production of car parts in B&H, which employs more than 10,000 workers in twenty factories, leans on the German car manufacturers, primarily Volkswagen. That industry branch is the greatest potential for economic cooperation between B&H and Germany which is the most important economic and trade partner of our country.

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

 

Kosovo ignores Brussels dialogue: Serbian PM (Xinhua, 31 October 2015)

BELGRADE -- Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic warned Kosovo authorities on Friday that the intention to suspend the agreement on the formation of the Community of Serbian municipalities is harmful for all Serbs in Kosovo. According to a press release by the Serbian government, after his meeting with Angelina Eichhorst, director of the European External Action Service for Western Europe, Western Balkans and Turkey, Vucic said that the decision to suspend the formation of the collective body which would represent Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija is a sign that Pristina ignores deals reached in Brussels. "The future of the dialogue depends on the readiness of Pristina to conduct agreements that were reached so far, especially the one about the Community of Serbian municipalities," he stressed, according to the release, and said that the suspension is a negative and bad message for Serbs in the province inhabited mostly by Albanians. The formation of the Community of Serbian municipalities was envisaged as a plan back in 2013 between Serbia and Kosovo, and the agreement was signed on Aug. 25 this year in Brussels. But it was not formed this year because of the conflicts and struggle for power among Kosovo parties. Based on the agreement, Serbs in Kosovo could form the community, which would become a collective body of Serbian municipalities in Kosovo and control areas of economic development, education, health, urban and rural planning, however, Albanian politicians in Kosovo feel that Brussels agreement gives Serbs autonomy. Two days ago Kosovo leader Atifete Jahjaga asked the Constitutional court to decide if the agreement about the formation of the Community of the Serb Municipalities is in line with the constitution of Kosovo. According to the law, the deadline for the court to deliver the verdict is 60 days, during which period the agreement will be temporarily suspended. Vucic said that by suspending the agreement, the authorities in Pristina are not fulfilling their role within the EU-mediated dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo held in Brussels, the release continues.

Kosovo, a southern province of Serbia, unilaterally declared independence in 2008. Serbia categorically refuses to recognize the move.

 

Kosovo leader refers Serbia deal to top court (EU business, 31 October 2015)

(PRISTINA) - The Kosovo president Friday asked the country's top court to review an EU-brokered deal aimed at normalising ties with Serbia which has fuelled dramatic tear gas protests in parliament. President Atifete Jahjaga asked the Constitutional Court to rule on the legality of the agreement, her legal adviser told reporters, particularly on the creation of an association of Serb-run municipalities giving greater autonomy to Kosovo's Serb minority. The opposition is against the deal, saying the initiative will deepen Kosovo's ethnic divide and increase Serbia's influence, and this month paralysed parliamentary sessions three weeks in a row by releasing tear gas in the chamber. The deal brokered by Brussels in 2013 enabled both Belgrade and Pristina to make progress on their respective paths towards membership in the European Union. The court has 60 days for its review and could suspend the implementation of the agreement, which is due by the end of the year. Jahjaga's move was condemned by Belgrade which sees it as an "obstruction" of agreements with Pristina. Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic has called a government session to review the matter. The Kosovo opposition has also rejected a border agreement with neighbouring Montenegro reached in August, which it says led to a loss of territory. Kosovo, whose population is predominantly ethnic Albanian, declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but Belgrade does not recognise the split. Kosovo and Serbia were at war in 1998-1999, which ended after Serbian armed forces withdrew from the territory following an 11-week NATO bombing campaign.

 

Why Montenegro's Opposition Leaders Want to Topple the Government (Global Voices, 1 November 2015)

Montenegro, a small country on the Adriatic coast that has remained fairly mysterious and somewhat unnoticed throughout the recent turbulent history of the Balkans, has been making headlines in international media during the month of October. Led by political opposition leaders, thousands of Montenegrin citizens took to the streets over the weekend of October 17, 2015, to voice their dissatisfaction with a government that has been in power for almost three decades, only to be met with police violence. But what might appear to be a sudden turn of events to the rest of the world are no surprise to those in the region.

Milo Djukanovic's longtime grip on Montenegro

Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic has been running things in the country — in one way or another — since 1991. Some say Djukanovic has de facto been in power for a full 26 years, since he and Communist League members Momir Bulatović and Svetozar Marović ascended to power and took full institutional control in Montenegro in January 1989. By some counts, he's Europe's longest-ruling non-royal leader. Djukanovic served as prime minister from 1991 to 1998, then as president of Montenegro from 1998 to 2002, and as prime minister again from 2003 to 2006, after which he announced that he was retiring from politics. He quickly came back from retirement and assumed the office of prime minister again in 2008, although skepticism that he didn't have a hand in political decisions during his short-lived retirement is rampant. He was an ally of Slobodan Milošević, the ironfisted “Butcher of the Balkans” who ruled Serbia, then the former Yugoslavia throughout the 1990s, though he would eventually fall out with Milošević.

Djukanovic and members of his regime have also been linked to facilitating illegal activities such as smuggling, car theft rings throughout Europe, money laundering, racketeering and more, accusations that they deny. In a recent piece, Balkanist magazine describes some of the activities that Djukanovic and his associates were allegedly involved in:

When harsh war sanctions befell Montenegro, Djukanovic’s solution for rescuing the country’s exchequer was to facilitate an international cigarette-smuggling ring, in collaboration with the Italian mafia. In the process, he and his crew of crooks took a substantial share of the spoils, amassing millions offshore.

Pro-Russian? Not exactly

Since the protests in Montenegro hit international media, many outlets have chalked Montenegrin people's dissatisfaction with their government up to “Serb nationalist” or “pro-Russian” waves within Montenegrin society. However, as with the 2014 Euromaidan protests in Ukraine and the smaller ongoing anti-government protests in Macedonia, the reasons behind the anti-government protests in Montenegro run much deeper. While the country's GDP has been constantly growing over the past decade and it is the only non-European Union country to introduce the euro as its official currency, Montenegro also presents one of the most corrupt governments in Europe. According to World Bank data, over 11% of the country's population officially lives below the poverty line and most people are generally unhappy with the quality of life in the country. On October 17, led by opposition leaders, people peacefully gathered by the hundreds in downtown Podgorica and other cities to protest. The organizers set up a website and Facebook page that serve not only to call on people to join the protests, but also provide up-to-date information about the protests and incidents of police brutality during the protests. Because media in the region are often politically influenced or state-run, the organizers have also provided live YouTube coverage of the protests, saying on their website, “Don't allow the media to serve up information, watch live video coverage of the protests or follow the live blog.”

Clashes leave protesters injured

Within hours, special police forces cracked down on the protesters, leaving over 120 people injured. Official police statements and state-owned media reported that the police action had been a response to attacks on police officers by some of the protesters. The protests continued, however, and participants set up tents on the street and in the park across from the parliament building in Podgorica. On the night of October 24, police cracked down on protesters again, this time using what many eyewitnesses have called excessive amounts of tear gas and physical force. Many protesters were arrested, while dozens were injured.

Police misbehavior caught on camera

To counter official reports that the force used by police was provoked by protesters’ attacks on officers, individuals filmed some of those who “provoked” attacks on police and posted the video to YouTube. This particular video shows several men in casual attire and hoodies, getting out of police jeeps on a parking lot in downtown Podgorica, and then heading in the direction of the protests. The claim made by organizers of the protests is that these men are police officers or hired by police to infiltrate the demonstrations and incite violence, so that police forces might have cause to react more harshly. Other similar videos are available on the organizers’ YouTube channel, along with recordings collected showing beatings and damage of private property by police forces. Another video, which has garnered over 150,000 views, shows some two dozen police officers surrounding a vehicle at a traffic light, beating the vehicle, then pulling its driver out onto the street and beating and kicking him. The man's name is Milorad Martinović, who happens to be the chairman of Montenegro's professional boxing association; and he was admitted to a local hospital with “serious physical injuries” after the beating. Protesters were set on returning to the streets, however, and protests continued on October 31 . According to information being shared on social networks, demonstrations were scheduled not only in Podgorica but also for other cities across Montenegro. Protesters gathered to hear opposition leaders speak in a concert hall in Herceg Novi, while others continued to protest on the streets of Podgorica, Herceg Novi and other locations.

 

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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.