http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2009&mm=03&dd=17&nav_id=57876
B92 March 17, 2009 Five years since Kosovo violence BELGRADE - Five years ago today the largest-scale attack against Kosovo's Serbs took place since the international administration was established in the province in 1999. Ethnic Albanians attacked the Serb enclaves, massively destroying property, leaving 19 people dead and 950 wounded after a two-day rampage. Eight Serbs were killed, along with 11 Albanians. The Albanians mostly died in clashes with international troops and police. 63 KFOR soldiers and 123 members of international and Kosovo police were injured. On March 17-18 2004, some 4,000 Serbs were driven out of their home, while 900 of their houses and 35 Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries were destroyed – some of them precious culture monuments built in the 14th and 16th centuries. The international forces in Kosovo were surprised by the violence, so their reaction was late, reports said. The event seen as the cause of the attacks was a campaign in the Albanian language media in Kosovo, claiming that local Serbs were to blame for the drowning in the Ibar River of three Albanian boys. A subsequent UNMIK investigation revealed that these claims were false. .... Today, the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) will mark the day with memorial services in Belgrade, and in Kosovo and Metohija. On the eve of the anniversary, President Boris Tadic and PM Mirko Cvetkovic reminded that the culprits for the organized violence against Kosovo's Serbs have not been punished yet. Tadic, who will attend a church service in Belgrade today, called on UNMIK and EULEX to ensure justice is available to all residents of Kosovo. Cvetkovic said that he expects the EU mission to make sure that more than 200,000 Serbs exiled from their homes in Kosovo return, and to help them rebuild their destroyed houses. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2009&mm=03&dd=17&nav_id=57889 FoNet/Tanjug News Agency March 17, 2009 Jeremić: Campaign of ethnic cleansing BELGRADE - Five years ago to date a pogrom of several thousand Serb civilians started in an orchestrated and organized campaign in Kosovo, FM Vuk Jeremic 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, Jeremic 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," Jeremic 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 the government can guarantee Serb survival" State Secretary with the Ministry for Kosovo Oliver Ivanovic 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, Ivanovic 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 Ivanovic. 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," Ivanovic concluded. His fellow state secretary with the ministry, Zvonimir Stevic, 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. Stevic 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. Stevic 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. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.b92.net/eng/news/society-article.php?yyyy=2009&mm=03&dd=17&nav_id=57891 Tanjug News Agency March 17, 2009 7,000 Kosovo Serbs without electricity KOSOVSKA KAMENICA - Some 7,000 Serbs in Kosovo, residents of the Kosovsko Pomoravlje district, have been left without electricity. As of last night, 4,000 Serbs in Ranilug and surrounding villages have had their power cut. Some other Serb areas have been going without electricity for over ten days. Kosovska Kamenica municipal chief Boban Jeftic said that a grid failure left Ranilug in the dark last night, but that "EPS workers are trying to fix it" – according to a Tanjug news agency report. "The population is taken care of, but we still hope that the KEK workers will switch on power for some ten villages in Kosovsko Pomoravlje," he said. Serbian News Network - SNN [email protected] http://www.antic.org/
