www.politika.co.yu Politika daily, Belgrade March 19, 2007
Albanians in black uniforms encircle north Kosovo OSCE and part of international community working on direct division of Serbs Kosovska Mitrovica - At a time when the status of the southern Serbian province is being resolved, the security situation has become much worse. Albanians are "restless" although at this moment the independence of the province is still not in sight. Extremists, but also political representatives in Kosovo provisional institutions such are Ceku, Thaci and Sejdiu are constantly saying that there will be violence unless the Albanians get independence or if Russia uses its veto in the Security Council. Political representatives from north Kosovo and the Union of Serbian Municipalities and Settlements in Kosovo and Metohija give full support to the Serbian Government and the Russian position relating to the continuation of negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina but they also unanimously support Belgrade with respect to the request for the replacement of Martti Ahtisaari, the UN special envoy on the province's status, who "has demonstrated partiality in favor of the Albanians and taking away the sovereign territory of the country of Serbia". This is part of the presentation by Serb representatives from north Kosovo but also the unanimous conclusion of Serb National Council president Milan Ivanovic and Marko Jaksic, president of the Union of Serb Municipalities and member of the Serbian negotiating team, at yesterday's press conference (in the presence of representatives of the SNC and the Advisory Board for Kosovska Mitrovica). At yesterday's press conference, the international community's actions to date were condemned, stating that it had none nothing for almost eight years to find perpetrators of crimes against Serbs, which is correctly being interpreted as giving support to Albanian extremists so they can continue with violence and ethnic cleansing of the remaining Serb population. As president of the SNC of north Kosovo Milan Ivanovic emphasized yesterday, further fear among the Serbs is being contributed to by the fact that in the past few days groups of Albanians in black uniforms have been observed near Serb municipalities in north Kosovo, and fear is also growing as a result of the fact that these days there are frequent thefts, and the stolen items are being taken to the village of Suvi Do, near the northern part of Mitrovica, which is inhabited by Albanians. Representatives of the SNC and the Advisory Board for the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica, supported by the Union of Serb Municipalities, emphasized that they would address an official request to UNMIK and the international community for the replacement of Gerard Gallucci, the regional administrator for Kosovska Mitrovica, because in the past few days, "he has been addressing open threats to certain Serbs from north Kosovo". By B. Radomirovic ----- Albanians celebrate March 17 with gunfire Albanians of separatist orientation responded to the commemoration of the three-year anniversary of March [2004] violence with memorial services in the churches of Kosovo and Metohija with "fiery" messages and calls for protest meetings. Two nights ago in the Bosnjacka Mahala quarter in the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica, a sizeable group of Albanians marked the three-year anniversary of anti-Serb violence in Kosovo, resulting in the loss of life of 19 civilians, including eight Serbs. The Serb National Council of northern Kosovo advised that the Albanians cruised the streets of Bosnjacka Mahala for almost a full hour in a column of about 30 automobiles with prominently displayed Albanian flags. The SNC said in a written communiqué that law enforcement officials failed to react and added that "the Serbs in the northern part of Mitrovica experienced the celebration of a crime as yet another in a series of constant provocations by Albanian separatists and extremists". M. N.
