Jeremić: Campaign of ethnic cleansing

Source: FoNet, Tanjug
BELGRADE -- Five years ago to date a pogrom of several thousand Serb civilians started in an orchestrated and organized campaign in Kosovo, FM Vuk Jeremić says.

In less than 72 hours, the minister wrote in an editorial for the Greek To Vima newspaper, 35 Serb churches and monasteries, many built in the 14th century, disappeared in flames, forever erased from the humanity's cultural heritage.

A Human Rights Watch report dated July 2004 states that "large groups of Albanians cleansed the areas of any remaining traces of Serb presence with frightening efficiency".

Despite then UNMIK chief Harri Holkeri's words that March 17 events in the province represented "serious crimes against humanity", less than a dozen ethnic Albanians were convicted for the destruction of the Serb holy places. Today, not a single perpetrator is behind bars for torching a single church in Kosovo, Jeremić wrote.

This is the context in which the Albanian authorities unilaterally declared independence on Feb. 17, 2008, breaking international law. Serbia immediately clearly said that it would never recognize this act and that the Kosovo Albanians' secession attempt will meet with a peaceful and diplomatic answer, the minster stressed.

"At the same time, we have started cooperating with the international community on reconfiguring the international civilian presence in the province with the agreement of the UN Security Council."

"In line with UNSCR 1244, agreement was reached to preserve the overall jurisdiction of the UN in Kosovo, at the same time giving a larger operative role to a status-neutral EU mission. We expect that EULEX's active participation in status-neutral administering of the province will lead to a more transparent and efficient work of the police and judiciary," Jeremić further wrote.

"In light of this, we believe that those who took part in the worst peacetime pogrom in Europe since the Second World War must face justice," the minster concluded.

"Only government can guarantee Serb survival"

State Secretary with the Ministry for Kosovo Oliver Ivanović on Tuesday stated that the government is the only certain partner to the Serbs for their survival in Kosovo.

On the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the Albanian violence against Serbs in the province, Ivanović said in his statement with Tanjug that the events of March 17, 2004 came as a shock to everyone, primarily to the Serbs who had great expectations from the international community to protect them and bringing those responsible for the violence before justice.

“They promised they will punish all those who had participated in the crime against Serbs during those two days, that they will punish those who inspired the violence and those who attempted to profit in any political or material way,” said Ivanović.

He concluded that, "unfortunately, five years later none of the above took place, which teaches us that we can only trust ourselves".

"I think that the Serbs need to be well organized, that they must certainly unite because that is the only way to survive in such a difficult and turbulent area," Ivanović concluded.

His fellow state secretary with the ministry, Zvonimir Stević, also reacted today to say that the anniversary is a binding reminder to all key international factors that the time is high to put an end to violence directed against Kosovo's Serbs.

Stević said that "mass and orchestrated violence of some 60,000 Albanians against the Kosovo Serbs on March 17 did not represent only an act of ethnic cleansing, which is still ongoing in Kosovo and Metohija, but also a defeat of the international community".

"That date will be marked as a day of defeat of the international peacekeepers, who retreated in front of the Albanian extremists, and in that way, enabled them to commit numerous crimes against Serbs and destroy hundreds of Serb homes, and numerous cultural and historical monuments that represent world heritage," he said.

Stević added that the anniversary is a warning to key international factors that there must be an end to violence perpetrated against the Serbs, who are the victims of separatist appetites of Albanian political leaders.

"However, instead of reining in the terrorists, a part of the international community has engaged itself in directly encouraging them through public recognitions of the illegally declared independence," this official said.

Stević, who is also the chairman of the Coordinating Center for Kosovo, said that the international community must establish a clear difference between the bully and the victim.