UNMIK Headlines 24 January
Stoltenberg: You decide on the army (dailies)
The Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Jens Stoltenberg, stated during his visit to Kosovo that NATO will not dictate establishment of the Kosovo Armed Force. He assessed that Kosovo institutions should make this decision. However, he called on these institutions not to create tensions that would harm the reached progress during this process. According to him, NATO expects transformation of the Kosovo Security Force to happen through a dialogue with all ethnic groups.
Law which prohibits participation in foreign wars, endorsed (dailies)
The Assembly of Kosovo endorsed in principal on Friday the Law which prohibits Kosovo people to participate in the armed conflicts outside the territory of Kosovo. Deputies of Vetevendosje movement objected the Law stressing that it should name terrorist organizations that should not be joined, and added that there are just wars. “This law will serve as an obstacle and it will make us appear as biased egoists, and Albanians have never been such,” stated the leader of Vetevendosje, Albin Kurti.
Opposition warns on the biggest protest in the last ten years (dailies)
Vetevendosje Movement and the “Cries of Mothers” Association called for a national protest on Saturday at 14:00 hours. Their demands are dismissal of Minister Aleksandar Joblanovic for using hate and insulting speech and defense of national asset, Trepca mine. Opposition parties, war veterans, and other non-governmental organizations will join the protest as well.
Cliff: SHIK still active and involved in corruption (Bota Sot)
Ian Cliff, the Ambassador of the United Kingdom in Kosovo, told this daily that Kosovo Intelligence Service (SHIK), network is still active, working to grow rich and it is involved in corruption. “I know that it is a concern that should be resolved, as a fact, you have Mr. Veseli for Assembly Speaker. He should be the first one to dissolve these structures. This requires respective prosecution by independent people and agencies that exist in Kosovo,” Cliff said.
Leposavic competent on Trepca (Zeri)
The draft law for public enterprises gives full competencies to the municipalities where the enterprises of national assets are based. According to this daily, this would make Leposavic municipality a decision maker on the status of the Trepca mine. This decision of the government of Kosovo, which was suits the requests of the Serbian List, rose harsh debate at the Assembly of Kosovo. “What Serbia could not reach by violence in 1989, Isa Mustafa is doing it now very easily, through the law,” said Donik Kadaj Bujupi, deputy of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK).