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Reuters Foundation
Date: 28 Aug 2005
Kosovo Serbs' killings end year of calm
By Matthew Robinson
PRISTINA, Serbia and Montenegro (Reuters) - Two Serbs were killed and two were wounded when their car was shot at in Kosovo, police said on Sunday, shattering a year-long lull in attacks there on Serbs.
Police said the car came under fire from an overtaking vehicle late on Saturday near the southern town of Strpce.
Serbia's prime minister denounced the shooting as ethnically motivated, but police denied Serb media reports that three ethnic Albanians had been arrested for the attack.
The United Nations has run the majority-Albanian province, legally part of Serbia, since a 1998-99 war ended with the withdrawal of Serb forces. Thousands of Serbs left and those who stayed have been frequent targets.
The U.N. is within weeks of deciding whether the province has made enough progress on standards of democracy, minority rights and security for "final status" negotiations, which Albanians hope will bring formal independence.
Serbia's prime minister seized on the killings as evidence such standards are far from being met.
"I want to hear loud and clear from you what kind of standards we are talking about when youths are killed only because they are Serbs," Vojislav Kostunica said in a statement addressed to Kosovo's U.N. governor Soren Jessen-Petersen.
Jessen-Petersen said he was "shocked and appalled by this senseless and tragic crime." He was echoed by Kosovo's Albanian-dominated government.
FINAL STATUS
The ages of the four men could not be confirmed. One of the wounded was operated on and doctors said he was out of danger. The other escaped with minor wounds.
The Serb mayor of Strpce, a region patrolled by U.S. peacekeepers, told Reuters the Serbs' car was carrying old Yugoslav "PR" license plates denoting Pristina, rather than the "KS" plates introduced by the U.N. after the war and used by Albanians. This clearly identified them as Serbs.
The shooting was the worst incident since a Serb teenager was shot dead in June last year in the Serb enclave of Gracanica. Two Albanians have been charged with that murder.
In two days of rioting in March 2004, 19 people died and 800 homes were razed as ethnic Albanian mobs overran Serb enclaves, overwhelming the 17,000-strong NATO peace force.
Analysts warn a repeat of such violence would almost certainly derail a U.N. review under way into whether to launch negotiations on "final status." Belgrade opposes independence.
U.N. envoy Kai Eide is expected to recommend next month whether to launch or delay talks.
The 90-percent Albanian majority is impatient for independence, six years after NATO bombers drove out Serb forces accused of brutal atrocities in fighting separatist rebels.
An estimated 180,000 Serbs fled after the war. Some 100,000 stayed, many in isolated enclaves such as Strpce.
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Date: 28 Aug 2005
UN envoy condemns murder of two Kosovo Serbs
The senior United Nations envoy to Kosovo today condemned a shooting incident last night in which two Kosovo Serb men were killed and another two injured.
"I am shocked and appalled by this senseless and tragic crime," said Søren Jessen-Petersen.
The envoy said he has requested the police "to devote maximum attention and leave no stone unturned to catch the perpetrators of this heinous criminal act."
Mr. Jessen-Petersen also urged restraint. "I ask all those who might have information on this crime, including on those who might have committed it, to report it to the police," he said.
