Tadić receives doctorate in Bucharest

Source: FoNet, Beta
BUCHAREST -- President Boris Tadić has been conferred an honorary doctorate at the Dimitrie Cantemir Christian University in Bucharest.
Traian Basescu, Boris Tadić (FoNet)

Addressing students at the university, Tadić expressed his belief that Serbia and Romania had a common European future and that the EU would be a common home for the South-East European states.

“We greatly appreciate the strong support that Romania is offering Serbia in the European integration process,“ he said.

The president said that bilateral relations between Belgrade and Bucharest were exemplary, both for the region and other parts of the world.

“We’re grateful to Romania for her principled position and continued support in preserving our sovereignty and territorial integrity,“ said Tadić.

Tenth anniversary of NATO attack

Tenth anniversary of the NATO air strikes on Serbia and then the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SRJ).A file 1999 photo of houses in Ćuprija destroyed by NATO bombs (Beta)

At midday, air raid sirens sounded throughout the country in a mark of remembrance for the victims.

The government, which has decided to build a memorial center dedicated to the victims of the air strikes, called on all citizens to suspend their activities and respect the minute’s silence for the victims.

Prime Minister Mirko Cvetković said that the air strikes had been an illegal act that could have been avoided.

"Could the bombing have been avoided? We know the answer. Only reason can prevail over evil," he told a special cabinet meeting today.

Cvetković said that 1,002 soldiers and police officers had perished during the bombing, as well as around 2,500 civilians, including 89 children, while 12,500 people had been injured.

He underlined that the air strikes had not solved the problems in Kosovo, nor had they established the rule of law or peace in the province.

He said that Serbia had elected to resolve the problem using peaceful and democratic means, but that it would never recognize Kosovo's unilateral independence.

"The bombing led to long-term detrimental repercussions for Serbia. For the future of our children, we must not let this happen again," the prime minister stressed.

Interior Minister Ivica Dačić said that the bombing had been carried out without the UN’s authorization and that its result had been Kosovo’s declaration of independence.

"Whatever the cause was, that campaign should not have been carried out in a democratic, civilized world. That was a crime against our people,“ said Dačić.

He added that in the same way as the air strikes had been launched against Serbia, certain countries had recognized Kosovo’s independence in contravention of the principles of international law.

The anniversary of the bombing was also marked at the Russian House in a ceremony attended by representatives of the government, the Russian Duma, businessmen and politicians.

Russian Ambassador Aleksandr Konuzin said that now, instead of military bombs, bombs of a political nature were falling on Serbia.

“No-one had any illusion as to the intention of taking Kosovo from Serbia, while even now there are no illusions that the wish of the European presence in Kosovo, which is squeezing out the UN, is to implement the Ahtisaari plan. But even that’s not the last political bomb. From The Hague they’re bombing you with harsh condemnations of Serbs,” Konuzin stressed.

During the 78 days of the air strikes, in a campaign titled Operation Allied Force, over 3,000 people perished, while civilian and military infrastructure suffered severe damage. Economists have estimated the vale of the damage at USD 29.6bn.

The Brooklyn Connection

"The Brooklyn Connection" directed by Klaartje Quirijns, based on material from the book "Be not Afraid, for You Have Sons in America", by Stacy Sullivan. Special Jury Prize at the International Human Rights Festival 2005 in Paris.

Serbia making efforts to solve problems through peaceful, diplomatic, legal means

Belgrade, March 24, 2009 – Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic today stated that the innocent victims of the NATO bombing, which started on this day 10 years ago, will always remind Serbia that it must struggle for its interests, adding that Serbia opts for justice and dialogue and not for weapons.
At a special government session held to mark Remembrance Day for victims of NATO bombing, Cvetkovic said that the NATO aggression was an illegal act and not in line with international law.

The government’s official web site quotes Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic’s speech:

On this day, 10 years after the beginning of the NATO bombing, we are here to recall the tragic events which lasted for 78 days and assess the most tragic episodes in European history during the second half of the 20th century.

The NATO attack on Serbia was illegal, not in accordance with international law and without the UN Security Council’s permission. The NATO bombing has left long-term consequences for Serbia, the entire region and political relations all over the world. Serbia cannot forget those tragic days.

If we want to secure our children’s future, we must not let such things happen again.

During the 11 weeks of the NATO aggression, 1,002 members of the Serbian Army and police were killed, as well as 2,500 civilians, 89 of which were children. A majority of victims lost their lives during the attacks on a train in Grdelicka Klisura, the RTS building, on Surdulica, a bus near Luzani and the attacks on Nis. The hardest attack was that on Albanian refugees near Prizren, where 87 civilians were killed.

In 2,300 air attacks all over Serbia, 148 buildings and 62 bridges were demolished and 300 schools and 176 cultural sites were damaged. According to a rough estimate, material damages were worth $30 billion.

Serbia can still feel the consequences of the NATO attack. The remnants of missiles and cluster bombs can still be found, which have had a negative influence on Serbian citizens’ health.

Could the attack on Serbia have been avoided?

We do not have answer to that question. Evil can be defeated only by reason. The past should teach Serbia and the rest of the world how to act in the future in order to avoid such mistakes. Responsible states would never put in question the survival of their people and all the other nations in the world.

The future cannot be based on someone’s misery. There is no excuse for the deaths of two year old Marko Simic from Novi Pazar, 11 moth old Bojana Tosovic from Merdare, three year old Milica Rakic from Batajnica and many others.

All innocent victims should always remind us that we must fight for our aims through civilised means, act responsibly, provide a better life to our citizens and must not make enemies. Serbia opts for reason and justice and not for weapons and will do all it can to solve its problems through peaceful, diplomatic and legal means.

While fighting for our own interests, we also fight for international law. The NATO bombing did not solve problems nor provide peace, stability and the rule of law in Kosovo-Metohija. On the other hand, it has lead to gross violations of human rights and international law.

Serbia will never recognise the unilaterally declared Kosovo independence and will fight for its interests in the UN.

Serbia is ready to cooperate with all who respect democracy and true values.

We invite Serbian citizens to pay tribute to all innocent victims of the NATO bombing, concluded the Prime Minister.

At the beginning of the special government session all participants observed a minute’s silence. Afterwards they were addressed by Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic.

Commemorative gatherings will be held on March 24 at 12 noon throughout Serbia in places where the air strikes claimed lives.

Remembrance Day for the victims of the NATO air attacks on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia will mark the tenth anniversary of the tragic events that took place during the period from March 24 to June 10 in 1999.

World should draw lesson from NATO attack

Belgrade, March 24, 2009 – First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Ivica Dacic today stated that the world should draw a lesson from the NATO air attacks on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and therefore prevent the recurrence of such tragic events.
At a special government session held to mark Remembrance Day for the victims of the NATO bombing, Dacic reiterated that that the NATO bombing was a crime against Serbia with the aim of supporting Kosovo independence.

The alleged motive for the attack, which started without the UN Security Council’s permission, was an incident that happened in Racak. Afterwards even the Hague tribunal withdrew the charges against the Serbian indictees, said Dacic, adding that the NATO aggression was a violation of international law.

Not only civilians but also policemen and soldiers are innocent victims and compensation for war damages has never been recieved.

Today we are paying tribute to the victims of the NATO aggression, said Dacic, pointing out that the Serbian government is taking care of the families of those killed during the NATO bombing.

At today’s session the government agreed to set up a memorial to the victims of the NATO bombing in Belgrade.

Tadic calls on UN, EU to carry out their mandate in Kosovo fully

Belgrade/New York, March 23, 2009 – Serbian President Boris Tadic called on UN and EU missions to completely carry out their mandate in Kosovo and also invited those UN members that have not recognised the province’s independence to remain so until the International Court of Justice (ICJ) offers its opinion on the legality of this secession.
Speaking at a UN Security Council session today examining the situation in Kosovo-Metohija, Tadic said that none of the states should prejudice the ICJ’s decision and that no new recognitions of the so-called independent Kosovo should be encouraged.

Serbia advocates new negotiations, as only they can provide a just, compromise and mutually acceptable solution. Serbia will never recognise Kosovo-Metohija’s independence directly or indirectly and will continue its diplomatic, peaceful and legal battle in defending its integrity, Tadic said.

Serbian authorities are sure that the ICJ’s decision will be of extreme importance for the UN as it will prevent Kosovo from serving as a dangerous precedent in all parts of the world where secessionist inclinations exist, he said.

Serbia will contribute to the stability of Kosovo by cooperating with UNMIK and EULEX, he said and called on Pristina not to oppose the will of the international community and the UN Security Council when the implementation of the six-item plan is concerned.

He repeated that Serbia is making serious negotiating efforts so that the plan can be implemented in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1244 and international law.

Serbia is ready to continue negotiations on all levels with UN representatives and with the support of EULEX, said Tadic.

Without UNMIK it is not possible to fully implement the provisions of either UN Security Council Resolution 1244 or the six-item plan of Ban Ki-moon, Tadic said.

It is UNMIK’s duty to be part of the Pristina delegation in all international and regional meetings, where Pristina can be represented only under the name UNMIK/Kosovo, the Serbian President stressed.

He recalled that Serbia will accept the reconfiguration of the international presence in the province only if it is in accordance with Resolution 1244.

Tadic explained that the EU mission must not be based on the Ahtisaari plan, as it has been endorsed neither by Serbia nor the UN Security Council.

Tadic added that Serbs in Kosovo are not provided security, freedom of movement, justice, electricity and water and therefore the situation in the field is not in line with the UN Secretary General’s report.

Tadic recalled that this winter Pristina authorities cut off power supply to Serbs from Silovo in order to make them pay off their electricity bills to the so-called Republic of Kosovo and therefore indirectly recognise this illegal state, adding that this is the best possible example of the fact that Serbs in Kosovo are the most endangered ethnic group in Europe, living constantly under strong pressures.

I would like to point out that UNMIK and EULEX must enable Serbian democratic officials to enter the whole of Kosovo-Metohija. The Pristina authorities must not stop them at the Kosovo administrative line any more, as it brings unrest among Serbian citizens in the province, said Tadic.

The President demanded that the UN and EU missions make justice accessible to everybody, regardless of their ethnic or religious affiliation.

We are very well aware that 13 months after the unilateral declaration of Kosovo independence there is no state in Kosovo, concluded Tadic, reiterating that human rights protection in the province is not at a high level, as there are only a small number of Serbs and other IDPs in Kosovo-Metohija.

Speaking about the 10th anniversary of the beginning of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, the President told the UN Security Council session that Serbia must never again find itself in a situation in which its citizens are being punished and murdered, adding that the international community must understand that the price of misguided politics must never be paid by innocent lives.

Tadic recalled that Yugoslav citizens were collectively charged and bombarded because of the alleged exile of 800,000 Albanians from Kosovo-Metohija, but when the international community’s rule over the province was established, as many as 200,000 Serbs left the province.

Serbs were punished with bombs ten years ago and now, ten years later, Kosovo Albanians are rewarded for exiling Serbs from the province and burning their houses and churches by having over 50 countries recognise the province’s illegal independence, stressed the President.

He recalled that tomorrow is the 10th anniversary of the beginning of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia and presented the data on the number of killed and wounded in the bombing, as well as the collateral damage.

Tadic noted that on principle Serbia condemns every war crime and is convinced that all perpetrators must face justice.

It is our principled stance that every criminal is a person with a first and last name and that there can be no collective guilt of a people or a state. The recent Hague tribunal’s sentence to specific persons, four former Yugoslav officials and a Serbian official, showed that there is no collective guilt on behalf of Serbia or its citizens, the President emphasised.

We can debate whether the sentences were too harsh or not, but we cannot deny that the tribunal prosecuted specific persons and thus removed the anathema from an entire people, said the President.

This is why Serbia remains committed to full cooperation with the Hague tribunal and will do all it can to apprehend and extradite the two remaining indictees still at large, Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic, Tadic concluded.

K. Albanian arrested with bomb in KM

Source: Tanjug
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA -- Members of the Kosovo police, KPS, last night arrested an ethnic Albanian in the northern part of the divided town of Kosovska Mitrovica.

The man was carrying a hand grenade at the time of the arrest, it was announced.

Police chief in northern Kosovska Mitrovica Milija Milošević told Tanjug that the suspect was spotted in the Bošnjačka Mahala neighborhood, and that "a hand grenade and spray" were found on him.

KPS announced that he would be interviewed and released.

Immediately before this incident, the same neighborhood saw a verbal showdown between members of the KPS described as "special police" and a Serb family.

Police entered the home of the Rajčićs, internally displaced persons from Metohija, to search for weapons.

Tanjug learned from the KPS sources that no arms were found. Igor Rajčić was taken to a police station and released later.

This Kosovo Serb told the news agency that police arrived at his home because the music was played loudly, as a religious holiday was celebrated. He said police told him the reason for their arrival was that "one of the members of the household had fired from a weapon".

"They forced the gate violently and tried to drag my father out. Then they used the spray. We have no weapons in the house, nor did any of us fire from a weapon," Rajčić said.

UNMIK sends "yellow house" report

Source: B92, Beta
BELGRADE -- The UN mission in Kosovo, UNMIK, has sent its complete report on the co-called yellow house in northern Albania.

War Crimes Prosecutor Vladimir Vukčević has also received additional documents related to the probe.

The Serbian prosecution believes that the house in question was used as a venue for surgical removal of the kidnapped Kosovo Serbs' organs.

Hundreds of them are believed to have been abducted by ethnic Albanians and taken to northern Albania during and after the 1999 war in the province, where their organs were harvested to be sold in the black market.

The prosecution told Beta news agency this Sunday in Belgrade that UNMIK notified Vukčević that, after a detailed review, additional material was found.

UNMIK investigated the claims in 2004. The Serbian prosecution said last year that several pages were missing from the original report.

The documents sent to Belgrade consist of ten appendixes, one of them being the complete "yellow house report" that the prosecution saw earlier.

Vukčević was also notified that any investigation into the alleged human organ trafficking is now within the jurisdiction of the EU mission in Kosovo, EULEX, which has been informed about the War Crimes Prosecution's demands.

The prosecution has so far, based on the photographs it has, managed to indentify ten possible executors and one victim: Kosovo Serb civilian Predrag Dragović, a resident of Peć.

It is also believed that besides the yellow house, three more locations, also in the north of Albania, were used to commit the same crime.

Serbia started the investigation a year ago, after the allegations were mentioned in former Chief Hague Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte book's "The Hunt".

Council of Europe rapporteur Dick Marty is also conducting an investigation into the reports. According to previous announcements, he is due to arrive here at the end of March.

Kosovo Albanian gangsters, hitmen active in London

Source: Tanjug
LONDON -- Former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) have become prominent figures in London’s underworld of organized crime, the London Daily News writes.

Experience with knives and fire arms have put them at the top of the list of professional assassins in the British capital, the daily states.

It adds that Albanian hitmen working in London "touting for business and offer their sordid services at GBP 5,000".

One leading Albanian gangster who spoke to the London Daily News said:

"We can use guns, we control the prostitutes in Soho and we are investing in London heavily. We fear no one and the law cannot do anything to stop us."

The war in Kosovo fuelled the spread of the Albanian Mafia after numerous gangsters disguised as Kosovo "refugees" found their way into European countries, especially the UK now over ten years since the troubles in the Balkans, the daily writes.

“The Albanian Mafia is not a pyramid with one leader, rather an organization with several bosses,” the article explains.

“The ownership of the European heroin market, according to police sources from a dozen European countries is in the hands of 30 Albanian mafia families. Each of these families control a specific area of Kosovo which is the main transit point for all drugs,” London Daily News writes.

“The Drenica area, which goes through Prizren, Klina and Istok connects Montenegro and FYROM [Macedonia] is controlled by the Drenica Group whose main profit is drugs, weapons, stolen automobiles, white slavery, cigarettes and alcohol. This mafia is connected with the Albanian, Macedonian, Bulgarian and Czech mafia,” the daily reported.

“Recent FBI report shows that Albanian mafia overtook the Russian and Italian mafia in New York. Same went for several European cities, including London, Berlin and Prague,” the article adds.

Stolen Kosovo

A Czech Television documentary about the suffering of Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija province by Vaclav Dvorak.

Five more villages without power

Source: Tanjug
PRIŠTINA -- 5 more villages in the Gnjilane municipality have been left without electricity, according to the head of the Kosovo Ministry’s office in Kosovsko Pomoravlje.

Along with nine schools that have no electricity, the Kosovo Energy Corporation (KEK) has turned off the power supply in the villages of Gornje Kusce, Straža, Stanišor, Melinci and Draganac, said Predrag Stojković, adding that more than 2,500 Serbs had been left in the dark.

He said that “efforts to solve the problem through negotiations with EULEX failed, because they say that they do not have jurisdiction, while KEK is offering a deal that is not acceptable to the Serbs.”

“The Serbian government is trying to solve the problem through the international community, because there is a way of supplying Kosovo with the amount of electricity needed by the Serb community, but the Albanians do not want to accept it,” Stojković said.

The villages of Šilovo, Mogila, Grnčar and Binač have been without electricity for 19 days, while Labljane has not had electricity for over a week.

The power supply to the villages of Ranilug, Glogovce, Tomance and Pančelo was turned off three days ago.

Of the total 73 villages in the municipalities of Novo Brdo, Kosovska Kamenica and Vitina , electricity has been turned off in 14 of them, affecting some 10,000 Serbs residents.

KEK: No power until debts are settled

Power won't be restored to the 20 villages in Kosovo without electricity until all their debts have been settled, says the Kosovo Electricity Corporation (KEK).

A KEK spokesman said that reasons for the cut were the numerous breakdowns on the network that KEK did not wish to repair because of the debts.

He could not say exactly how many Serb villages had been left without electricity.

Serb villages in Kosovsko Pomoravlje and in central Kosovo have been without power for over a fortnight.

KEK announced earlier that Kosovo citizens owed the company EUR 360mn altogether.

No U.S.-Russia reset button "only on Kosovo"

Source: Tanjug
BELGRADE -- Russian Ambassador Aleksandr Konuzin on Tuesday stated that Russia believes that Priština should fulfill the agreement reached between Belgrade and the UN.

The agreement is included in the six-point plan, the diplomat reminded, adding that "other partners are suggesting to Priština to ignore it".

The Kosovo Albanian authorities "may not cut a border between Serbia and Kosovo, it is illegal, as much as recognition of Kosovo's independence is illegal”, Konuzin said during an address delivered at Belgrade's Academy for Diplomacy and Security.

According to Tanjug news agency, the ambassador said that the EU mission, EULEX, "has done nothing in regards to this issue, EULEX deals only with implementing Ahtisaari's plan".

UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari drafted a plan of Kosovo's supervised independence which was not adopted by the UN and which Belgrade rejected.

Konuzin said that Kosovo is "the only problem" over which his country "cannot find any common points with the United States", but that official Moscow "does not intend to change its stand".

"Russia's position on Kosovo is determined in Belgrade," said the ambassador, adding that his country will continue to support the Serbian government's stand, "while the Serbian government will be responsible to the Serbian people".

He evaluated that there is intensive cooperation between Russia and Serbia reflected in continuous contacts among officials of the two countries and intensified economic cooperation.

Konuzin underlined that Serbia will have a guaranteed source of gas and will produce oil derivatives of European quality thanks to its partnership with Russia.

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.