http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID=%7B510B8DD5-9B1F-45E5-8E74-395C6BB02
84C%7D)&language=EN
Prensa Latina (Cuba)
October 25, 2005
Serbs Dissatisfied with UN Decision on Kosovo
Belgrade - The UN announced conditions are ripe for negotiations on the
future of Kosovo, but although Albanians are the majority, the Serb
government insists it is the cultural cradle of the nation and cannot be
independent.
Kosovo has been under international control since 1999 when NATO subjected
Serbia to 78 days of uninterrupted aerial attacks in a supposed humanitarian
intervention [on behalf of] Albanian terrorists.
Although supposedly the Albanians were expelled en masse, according to
Serbian official records it was the indiscriminate NATO bombing that caused
them to flee.
When it was over, organized crime, despite the 20,000 NATO soldiers present,
obliged more than 250,000 Serbians and other non-Albanian ethnic communities
in Kosovo to leave the province.
Ex-President of Finland Martti Ahtissari was announced by the UN Security
Council Monday as official representative of Secretary General Kofi Annan
for negotiations of the future of Kosovo.
The UN special envoy, Norwegian diplomat Kai Eide, has evaluated the
international standards for Kosovo and recommended immediate discussions
with all concerned parties, believing it will not help anyone to postpone
the process.
Eide, while admitting that neither the Kosovo police nor its legal system is
able to cope with the ethnic violence or organized crime, and said it is
necessary to maintain international political and military presence in the
region.
Inter-ethnic relations are very bad in the province, he said, with frequent
battles and no freedom of movement.
In addition, the [non-]Albanians have not returned and 10,000 Serbian suits
of illegally confiscated property are pending, Eide explained.
It is generally recognized that more Serbs left the province for lack of
security than returned, and they need more institutional support to begin
life again, as well as guarantees to preserve the Serbian cultural patrimony
in Kosovo, the UN special envoy noted.
Serbian News Network - SNN
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http://www.antic.org/
