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B92 (Serbia) Source: B92, Reuters, Tanjug April 26, 2007 10,000 displaced Kosovo Serbs protest RUDNICA, BELGRADE - Internally displaced Kosovo Serbs have arrived at the Rudnica administrative border crossing between Kosovo and Serbia. So far some 10,000 Serbs currently residing in Serbia proper as internally displaced persons (IDPs) have arrived at the crossing in an attempt to demonstrate to the UN fact-finding mission visiting the area that they were willing to return to their homes. The organizers of the protest said Tuesday that as many as 12,000 IDPs were expected to come to prove to the UN mission that their return was not possible, even though the UN Resolution 1244 instructed the opposite. "People keep arriving, with their own cars, with buses, and, as we have said, we expect there to be some 12,000 during the day," Goran Savoviæ, deputy head of the association of expelled and displaced from Kosovo said earlier today. Zoran Saviæ from Prizren, now living in Rušanj near Belgrade, said that he would come back to his hometown of Prizren provided he was given guarantees he might lead a normal life there. Julijana Mladenoviæ (43) who used to live in the town of Istok said her house was destroyed one year after KFOR came to Kosovo when she and her family were forced to leave. ------------------------------------------------------ http://en.rian.ru/world/20070426/64483874.html Russian Information Agency Novosti April 26, 2007 Over 10,000 Serb refugees near Kosovo as UN mission arrives BELGRADE- Over 10,000 Serb refugees have flocked to the border of Serbia's breakaway province Kosovo to highlight their plight for a UN fact-finding mission, a Kosovo Serb leader said Thursday. UN ambassadors are in Serbia ahead of further discussions on the province's future. The plan proposed by UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari, which would eventually grant Kosovo the independence sought by its Albanian majority, has been rejected by Serbia and veto-wielding Russia. "By their presence on the administrative border [between Serbia and Kosovo] the refugees want to show that the international community has failed to ensure a crucial provision of [UN] Security Council Resolution 1244 - the return of tens of thousands of Serb families forced out of their homes by Albanian extremists' reprisals," Milan Ivanovic said. Kosovo, which has a population of two million, has been a UN protectorate since NATO's 78-day bombing campaign against the former Yugoslavia ended a war between Serb forces and Muslim Albanian separatists in 1999. Moscow proposed sending a UN mission to Kosovo and Belgrade before continuing talks on Kosovo. The Security Council backed the initiative April 13. But Johan Verbeke, Belgium's ambassador leading the mission, said the diplomats would not be able to visit the refugee camp due to a busy schedule, adding that their visit had already been prolonged by a day. The mission is leaving Belgrade for Pristina late Thursday for meetings with Kosovo officials and international mediators, as well as members of the Serb and Albanian communities. Serbia's Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica Thursday handed documents over to the ambassadors - who arrived in Serbia early Thursday and will stay until April 28 - which he said revealed the travel restrictions imposed on Serbs and other minorities, instances when cultural monuments and Orthodox churches have been destroyed, and obstacles to the return of Serbs to their homes in Kosovo. "It is important that the Security Council finally pays attention to Serbia's proposals, which Marti Ahtisaari has deliberately avoided," the premier's adviser Slobodan Samardic said. Verbeke said Kostunica had reiterated the proposal to make Kosovo an internationally controlled autonomy as an alternative to the Ahtisaari plan, adding that the UN would consider the option. ------------------------------------------------------ http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng <http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=10464&cid=45&p=26.04.2007> &q=10464&cid=45&p=26.04.2007 Voice of Russia April 26, 2007 UN Security Council mission is arriving in Serbia today, on Russia’s initiative A UN Security Council mission is arriving in Serbia today, on Russia’s initiative. The mission is to oversee implementation of Resolution 1244 on Kosovo and will suggest a plan to continue talks on the status of Kosovo. Serbia refuses to recognize Kosovo’s independence and suggests broad autonomy instead. The UN mission will stay in the region for two days. The Serbian Prime Minister Voiclav Kostunica said yesterday that Belgrade would require of the arriving mission to provide a clear plan of action on the return of Kosovo refugees. In Mr.Kostunica’s words, it’s high time a comprehensive solution for 200 thousand Serbs was provided at last.
