Media Analysis 17 October 2003

• Kosovo Assembly finds pesticides more important than Vienna (Dailies)
  
• LDK, PDK and AAK with different positions on continuing talks (Zëri)
  
• Parallel structures fill the gaps left by UNMIK and PISG (Koha Ditore)
  
• Shala: Creating useful pressure (Zëri)
  
• OSCE recommends integration of some parallel structures, 'fighting' the others (Zëri)
  
• Ibrahim Rexhepi: Privatization in stalemate (Koha Ditore)
  
• Is the third meeting of the KTA Board going to fail? (Zëri

Kosovo Assembly finds pesticides more important than Vienna (Dailies)

All dailies reported on yesterday Kosovo assembly session where two laws were adopted.

Deputies of the Kosovo assembly unanimously adopted law on pesticides while the law on sports was adopted in principle. At the regular assembly session, two days after the meeting in Vienna, assembly speaker Nexhat Daci didn't report on the participation in Vienna and didn't open a debate on this issue. According to the paper, no assembly member asked Daci to report on the Vienna meeting.

The paper further reported that deputies adopted a few additional amendments in law on access to official documents after the comments that Coalition Povratak member made.

Zëri reported that the adoption of the law on pesticides regulates the use of chemicals in Kosovo. Now law regulates the control, production, import and spread of pesticides so that its use does not cause harm the living and the environment.

LDK, PDK and AAK with different positions on continuing talks (Zëri)
Zëri reported that the three biggest political parties in Kosovo still hold different positions on continuing technical talks with Belgrade.

The Rugova-led Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) said that dialogue with Belgrade should be continued in working groups and that the Kosovo Government should take over responsibility, by not avoiding the role of the assembly.

LDK spokesperson and Kosovo deputy Lulzim Zeneli said that the dialogue is the responsibility of the government with an active participation of assembly. 'We believe that Kosovo institutions are responsible, therefore it is understandable for the government to take over this responsibility and also not to ignore the assembly,' Zeneli said. He said that the assembly's role is to provide assistance in establishing the working groups. He further urged the Albanians to maintain harmony of institutions.

The Kosovo Democratic Party (PDK), led by Hashim Thaçi, said that the parties involved in talks are not equal and that the process is not well prepared and that the Kosovar side has no internal political consensus to go to the talks. 'The biggest problem is that Kosovars aren't equal in these talks,' said PDK member Hydajet Hyseni. He also added that there wasn't good preparation for the talks and demanded to know the role of the working groups and how these would be established? 'First, it must be explained what are and who has designed these working groups,' Hyseni said. 'What is the composition of these working groups and what is their stance? What would they do, what is the relations between UNMIK and Kosovo institutions? How do Kosovars work in areas that aren't under their competence,' Hyseni concluded.

On the other hand, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) said that it doesn't accept any talks or negotiations without the full Kosovo Government that it is seeking.

'The AAK will not accept dialogue or negotiations if the government is not completed and if our demands aren't met,' said AAK parliamentary group chief at the Kosovo Assembly Bujar Dugolli.

'We still have these demands and we hope that the government will not go to the talks if the competencies are not transferred.' He supported changing the Constitutional Framework, a process should be started by the government to finish before the talks.

Parallel structures fill the gaps left by UNMIK and PISG (Koha Ditore)

Relating to OSCE's latest report on parallel structures in Kosovo, Koha Ditore carries an opinion peace written by Nexhat Buzuku, who claims that the Serbs continue with their parallel system in Kosovo and that all segments representing a foreign state are installed in Kosovo, starting from courts, personal documents, driving schools, education and health sector to the mail.

Four years after the war, the territory of Kosovo is still administered by not only UNMIK and PISG but by the parallel structures of Serbia too.

Serbs and internationals claim that services of the Serb administration are also used by the Albanians.

Kosovo Serb representatives, Milorad Todorovic and Momcilo Trajkovic claim that the Serbian state has the right to be interested in its territory and its people. Another Serb leader said that Serb structures in the enclaves could be parallel for UNMIK or for Provisional Institutions of Self-Government, but privatization, too was legal but now it has been stopped and has no legality.
A Serb official from the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs said that the Albanians too use the services. 'Just have a look at the list of IDs and passports that Kosovo Albanians take in Gracanica, Fushe Kosovo, and even Serbia itself. The Albanians ask for hundreds of passports of Serbia and Montenegro on a daily basis.'
According to the paper, the OSCE has recommended not to prosecute and take measures against people who have documents issued by the Serb administration in Kosovo and further recommended that the Ministry of Education, Sciences and Technology and the Serbian Ministry of Education reciprocally recognize diplomas and certificates issued by them, in order to enable the Serbs to get education from the elementary to the university level, and that the same thing should happen in the health sector.
Through financing these structures, the Serbian Government is continuing its control over these parts of Kosovo.
The municipal officials in Kosovo think that parallel structures hinder normal functioning of municipal authorities and that they prevent minorities from integrating in the legal municipal structures. 'Furthermore' says mayor of Gjilan, Lutfi Haziri, 'these parallel structures are also detrimental to building a common life and integration of all the communities in Kosovo'.

Shala: Creating useful pressure (Zëri)
Zëri runs a front-page editorial by Blerim Shala who says that the differences that emerged in the days leading to the meeting in Vienna can aggravate and then completely paralyze the Government of Kosovo.

If the Kosovo Government must become the bearer of dialogue on practical issues, which according to UNMIK chief Harri Holkeri's plan is expected to continue next month at the level of working groups then this government cannot be divided into those who support and those who oppose the talks.

This is the impression that one gets from statements made by the representatives of the three biggest political parties that make up the coalition government.

The differences that emerged in the days leading up to the meeting in Vienna can aggravate and then completely paralyze the Government of Kosovo. It is very necessary to overcome these differences because there central power in Kosovo could be in danger.

On the other hand, this government will find it difficult to avoid the problem of dialogue. It has already been emphasized that Holkeri's proposal for organizing separate working groups doesn't give much hope that talks can produce results. But the Kosovar side must not take responsibility for their unpredictable failure. Kosovars must go back to the issue which is undisputed by the west: the package of standards before status. Dialogue with Belgrade is only one of these standards. The timeframe of these standards is in Kosovo's interest. After all, at least for this issue we suppose that the LDK, PDK and AAK could have similar positions. If the coalition government focuses on this issue that would at the same time overcome the dangerous differences and create a useful force to apply pressure on UNMIK.

OSCE recommends integration of some parallel structures, 'fighting' the others (Zëri)
Zëri quotes Karsten Weber, Director of the OSCE Department for Human Rights and Rule of Law as saying that parallel structures in Kosovo have filled the gaps where UNMIK and Kosovan institutions cannot offer sufficient services to the citizens.

Zëri also reports that the OSCE has published a report on the functioning of parallel structures in Kosovo.

Bota Sot quotes Weber as saying, 'We want parallel structures to be dissolved gradually and then integrated in the umbrella of UNMIK and local government institutions.'

Koha Ditore, too, covers the OSCE's latest report on parallel structures, which according to the paper reflects the situation in the courts, the administrative structures mainly covering property issues, education, health centers, and documents issued by the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs.

'I am not recommending setting up a new joint administration, but I am saying there are several ways the issue of parallel structures can be tackled, in order for them to be dissolved' Weber said. 'Their elimination is an option but it does not lead to the solution?' he added. 'This is the reason why we recommend a mechanism to review the decisions taken by these parallel structures and assess whether to accept those decisions,' he said, concluding that 'in this mission, OSCE expects UNMIK and local institutions to take their recommendations into account because a long term presence of parallel structures cannot be tolerated.'

Ibrahim Rexhepi: Privatization in stalemate (Koha Ditore)
In an opinion piece for Koha Ditore, economy columnist Ibrahim Rexhepi writes, 'The failure of Albanian members in the last two meetings of the board of the Kosovo Trust Agency proves that they still aren't clear on how they have to act or it could be that by doing so they are trying to become influential factors'.

A noisy meeting and another two failed meetings are the epilogue of the work of the board of the Kosovo Trust Agency in the last three weeks. In fact, in the meantime UNMIK blocked the process of privatization and this 'stirred up' the Albanian representatives. The meeting before the last one was attended only by the Minister of Economy and Finances, Mr. Ali Sadriu 'to rescue the process of privatization and that it cannot be stopped without the decision of the board', but he missed the last meeting together with the Minister of Trade and Industry Ali Jakupi and BSPK chairman Bahri Shabani.

The representatives of UNMIK Pillar IV said that the failure of the three Albanian representatives was boycott, although they said that they 'had the quorum to make the necessary decisions, but we wanted to preserve the consensus'.

Exactly those events have created ambiguities surrounding the process of privatization: What is going on?

There was an answer while KTA managers were asking for more immunity. But now it is not known if they have changed their minds or not, because a reply from East River to their request said firmly: 'Continue your work and don't be afraid'. On the other hand, the failure of the last two meetings brought nothing new except for the waiting and this has become quite tiresome.

There can be other reasons why the Albanian representatives haven't attended these meetings. It could happen that Albanian representatives want the situation to be fixed by those who had it messed it up in the first place; or they could have assessed that their five minutes have come and show that they are irreplaceable; or the worst scenario, they lack a concrete offer for this situation, although the issue of immunity sought by their managers is not in their competencies.

All this mess is creating the impression that the three members of the KTA board, who were proposed by the Kosovo Government, are now the ones who are blocking the process of privatization. But in fact this impression can be both realistic and deceiving. The entire process was set in motion by internationals, that is to say by UNMIK Pillar IV, and they then blocked privatization even after selling 20 socially owned enterprises.

And we can say that the same people are still blocking the process, but now they are assisted by the immature reactions of Kosovars.

It seems that the statement made by the Prime Minister that the meeting of the KTA board wasn't going to be held, in a way announced the failure of the last meeting. In fact, the reason why the meeting didn't take place was not because these officials were not in Pristina (apart from Ali Jakupi), but because they simply didn't want to attend the meeting. At the same time, it is known that on several occasions the ministers didn't attend these meetings, but instead sent their deputies. At that time this seemed quite normal, whereas now the meeting is blocked due to the absence of a single member. This isn't convincing.

The public opinion, especially those who wanted to take part in the privatization of socially owned enterprises in Kosovo, would have been much happier if they heard the Prime Minister say that 'privatization cannot be stopped even for half an hour', and that his ministers would perform in practice these statements.

We mustn't forget that the Kosovo Trust Agency is an institution that falls in the reserved competencies of the SRSG. This means that he is the almighty who can decide about this issue without even asking anyone. But with such actions he causes self-damages, to UNMIK, and to Kosovars the most.

It should also be taken into account that the first documents for establishing the institution that would spearhead the process of privatization hadn't foreseen such a large participation by local officials in KTA board. After several remarks made by the government cabinet, another three ministers (two Albanians and a Serb) and the BSPK chairman were included in the board. If the requests of the Kosovo Government had been turned down it would imply that the process could be launched without these people. But then the whole process would be meaningless.

The current stalemate is also meaningless. It is hard to believe that these three members of the KTA board are not attending the meetings, because they can be over-voted. However, the latest meeting proved that there could be no genuine work without them. The best action would be if they had common positions and act in the same manner, and not meet only when the chief of the KTA invites them.

Then they can really be factors who, if nothing else, make public what happens in the meeting of the KTA board and if there are any tendencies to consider them as decorations in that body. There is another thing to add: whoever makes three minuses intentionally, excludes himself from the game.

Is the third meeting of the KTA Board going to fail? (Zëri)
Zëri reported that there is complete confusion whether or not the KTA Board would have its meeting today.

The paper further reported that the board of the Kosovo Trust Agency (KTA) is expected to meet this afternoon, after two consecutive failures to meet; however, it is uncertain if it is going to manage to bring together all the local and international members to attend the meeting.

Officials of UNMIK Pillar IV told Zëri that the board meeting is going to be held today. 'As far as we know the board meeting will be held today as it was decided earlier,' said UNMIK Pillar IV spokeswoman.

Trade and Industry Minister Ali Jakupi claimed that he still hadn't received an invitation to attend the meeting. 'I just came back from the US and I haven't received yet any invitation,' Jakupi was quoted as saying, while the Economy and Finances Minister Ali Sadriju said that the meeting wasn't going to be held at all. 'As far as I know, the KTA Board will not have a meeting at all,' Sadriu said.

UNMIK Pillar IV officials were not in position to say what will happen if local board members will not participate in the meeting. 'We cannot speculate whether locals would come or not. We expect them or their deputies to come,' said De Groot. She further said that 'main topic of discussion will be suspension of the privatization process'.

Main Stories 17 October
· Kosovo Assembly finds pesticides more important than Vienna (Koha Ditore)
· LDK, PDK and AAK with different positions on continuing talks (Zëri)
· Labus: Serbia will never again have authority over Kosovo (Koha Ditore)
· Janjic: Holkeri has no authority (Kosova Sot)
· Another 40 bodies returned from Serbia to Kosovo (all dailies)
· OSCE recommends fighting, integrating some parallel structures (Zëri)
· Shala: Creating useful pressure (Zëri)
· Surroi: Lessons from NATO's involvement in the Balkans (Koha Ditore)
· Ibrahim Rexhepi: Stalemate in privatization (Koha Ditore)
· Is the third meeting of the KTA Board going to fail? (Zëri)
· Editorial: Non-transparent UNMIK (Kosova Sot)

Kosovo Media Highlights

Kosovo Assembly finds pesticides more important than Vienna (Koha Ditore)
Koha Ditore reported that during the regular assembly session, two days after the meeting in Vienna, assembly speaker Nexhat Daci didn't report on the participation in Vienna and didn't open a debate on this issue. According to the paper, no assembly member asked Daci to report on the Vienna meeting.

Koha Ditore reports that the members of the Kosovo Assembly have unanimously adopted the Law on Pesticides and voted on the Law on Sports.

LDK, PDK and AAK with different positions on continuing talks (Zëri)
Zëri claims that the three biggest political parties in Kosovo still hold different positions on continuing technical talks with Belgrade.

The Rugova-led Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) said that dialogue with Belgrade should be continued in working groups and that the Kosovo Government should take over responsibility, by not avoiding the role of the assembly.

The Kosovo Democratic Party (PDK), led by Hashim Thaçi, said that the parties involved in talks are not equal and that the process is not well prepared and that the Kosovar side has no internal political consensus to go to talks.

On the other hand, the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) said that it doesn't accept any talks or negotiations without the full Kosovo Government that it is seeking.

Labus: Serbia will never again have authority over Kosovo (Koha Ditore)
Koha Ditore quotes Miroljub Labus, leader of G-17 Plus as saying that Belgrade would never again rule Kosovo. In an interview to the Austrian news agency APA and Vienna daily Die Presse, Labus said that Kosovo would be ruled by people who get legitimacy from elections, but that there should also be room for Kosovo Serbs.

'Our main goal should be for Serb refugees to be able to return to Kosovo and live there safely,' said Labus. He also added that all the options that contribute to achieving this goal were correct. 'It is too early for talks on the status of the province that is under UN administration and officially belongs to Serbia,' Labus added.

Janjic: Holkeri has no authority (Kosova Sot)
Kosova Sot quotes Dusan Janjic, director of the Belgrade-based Forum for Ethnic Relations as saying that UNMIK chief Harri Holkeri made a mistake by dividing the Kosovan delegation on the eve of the meeting in Vienna between Pristina and Belgrade representatives.

Janjic said that 'there are serious doubts whether Holkeri can still continue performing his duties'. Janjic also claimed that the Contact Group never really fully supported Holkeri and that for this reason the UNMIK chief lacks the authority that would help him in doing his job in Kosovo.

Another 40 bodies returned from Serbia to Kosovo (all dailies)
All dailies report that 40 bodies of Kosovar Albanians, victims of the last war in Kosovo, have been returned from Serbia to Kosovo. Jose Pablo Baraybar, head of the UNMIK Office for Missing Persons and Forensics said that the bodies were of victims from the village of Meje, in Gjakova municipality.

'Today we have received 40 bodies from the mass grave in Batajnica,' said Baraybar. 'But I am not saying that we are satisfied with this. We are waiting for more corpses to be returned.'

Flora Brovina, head of the assembly committee for missing persons, was quoted as saying, 'We are applying pressure on the international community to apply more pressure on the government in Belgrade to shed light on the fate of the missing persons and return bodies from there… The competencies for shedding light on the fate of missing persons should belong to local officials, while internationals should assist in this process.'

OSCE recommends fighting, integration of some parallel structures (Zëri)
Zëri quotes Karsten Weber, director of the OSCE Department for Human Rights and the Rule of Law as saying that parallel structures in Kosovo have filled the gaps where UNMIK and Kosovan institutions cannot offer sufficient services to the citizens.

Zëri also reports that the OSCE has published a report on the functioning of parallel structures in Kosovo.

Bota Sot quotes Weber as saying, 'We want parallel structures to be dissolved gradually and then integrated in the umbrella of UNMIK and local government institutions.'

Shala: Creating useful pressure (Zëri)
Zëri runs a front-page editorial by Blerim Shala who says that the differences that emerged in the days leading to the meeting in Vienna can aggravate and then completely paralyze the Government of Kosovo.

'On the other hand, this government will find it difficult to avoid the problem of dialogue. It has already been emphasized that Holkeri's proposal for organizing separate working groups doesn't give much hope that talks can produce results. But the Kosovar side must not take responsibility for their unpredictable failure. Kosovars must go back to the issue which is undisputed by the west: the package of standards before status. Dialogue with Belgrade is only one of these standards,' Shala added. [full translation in Media Analysis]

Surroi: Lessons from NATO's involvement in the Balkans (Koha Ditore)
Koha Ditore runs a speech that publisher Veton Surroi gave to the conference organized by the NATO's Division for Public Diplomacy, the Parliamentary Assembly of NATO and the Geneva Center for Democratic Control over Armed Forces.

'One thing proved crucial in the war and this was the joint work of NATO, the European Union and the US, and it also proved to be crucial in peace. There can be no substantial process towards resolving Kosovo's status, until the abovementioned trio is not entirely engaged, both as an actor and as a concept,' Surroi said.

Ibrahim Rexhepi: Privatization in stalemate (Koha Ditore)
In an opinion piece in Koha Ditore, economy columnist Ibrahim Rexhepi writes, 'The failure of Albanian members in the last two meetings of the board of the Kosovo Trust Agency proves that they still aren't clear on how they have to act or it could be that by doing so they are trying to become influential factors'. [full translation in Media Analysis]

Is the third meeting of the KTA Board going to fail? (Zëri)
Zëri reports that the board of the Kosovo Trust Agency (KTA) is expected to meet this afternoon, after two consecutive failures to meet; however, it is uncertain if it is going to manage to bring together all the local and international members to attend the meeting.

Officials of UNMIK Pillar IV told Zëri that the board meeting was going to be held today. Trade and Industry Minister Ali Jakupi claimed that he still hadn't received an invitation to attend the meeting, while the Economy and Finances Minister Ali Sadrija said that the meeting wasn't going to be held at all.

Editorial: Non-transparent UNMIK (Kosova Sot)
Kosova Sot carries a front-page opinion piece by the editorial office which says that 'what is currently happening with the process of privatization is the best proof of lack of transparency by UNMIK in Kosovo'.

'Although various international officials give lectures to Kosovar officials on transparency, we guess that the best thing would be if these lectures were given to the heads of the United Nation mission in Kosovo,' it was added.

Kosovo Press Headlines
Koha Ditore
Front page
· Pesticides are more important for assembly than talks in Vienna
· Police near the traffickers
· Surroi: Lessons from NATO involvement in the Balkans
· Ombudsperson Nowicki returns to Kosovo
· Forty exhumed bodies arrive in Kosovo
· Strong measures for controls on goods

Other headlines
· Labus: Serbia will never gets its control back on Kosovo (2)
· Baraybar: More bodies supposed to return (3)
· Kosovars prepare for beatification of Mother Teresa (3)
· Parallel structures due to a vacuum in UNMIK services (3)
· Gjilan: Serbs continue the parallel system in Kosovo (4)
· Bishop Sopi congratulate new head of the Islamic community (4)
· Malisheve: Disputes over property rights (5)
· Nano: The US should increase investments in Albania (5)
· Macedonia will not extradite American soldiers (6)
· Evidence of Greek involvement [Albania] (6)
· FBI needs agents who speak less spoken languages (7)
· KFOR commander supports opening of border crossing point in Kapia (8)
· Conflict continues between UNMIK and municipality over shopping center (8)
· School needs everybody (8)
· Anniversary for Adrian Krasniqi (9)
· Fleming: Work of the local police is very good (9)
· 5000 candidates given driving license (9)
· Rexhepi: stalemate in privatisation (10)

Zëri
Front page
· LDK, PDK and AAK have different stands on dialogue with Belgrade
· OSCE recommends 'fight', but also integration of parallel structures in Kosovo
· Shala: Creating useful pressure
· EU demands unconditional involvement in dialogue
· Will the third meeting of the KTA Board fail?
· Grupi I Dukagjinit case reaches Supreme Court
· Gora: Big problems of a small country

Other headlines
· 40 exhumed bodies return to Kosovo (2)
· Rugova congratulates Pope (2)
· PM Rexhepi thanks Pope for everything that he has done for Kosovo (2)
· Bid for privatizing Ferronikel will be announced soon (2)
· Labus: Belgrade will never rule in Kosovo (2)
· Deputies promulgate law on pesticides and on sports (3)
· Bardhi: Kosovo is neither for union with Serbia nor under Serbia (4)
· PTK workers give €28,050 (4)
· Macedonia signs agreement on American soldiers at ICC (4)
· Campaign is over (4)
· We haven't signed a contract with Mr. Klein (5)
· Why the wood factory in Deçan is closed down? (5)
· Mark Krasniqi: America and our people should decide about Kosovo (11)

Bota Sot
Front page
· Budget surplus might have €100 million
· President Rugova congratulates Pope
· 40 exhumed bodies return home
· Deputies oppose changes in law on access to official documents
· Sali Berisha speaks in European Parliament
· Five youth die in accident

Other headlines
· Do not fall in trap of election campaign (2)
· Nicomet is interested in Ferronikel Company (2)
· Privatization process in Kosovo should continue as soon as possible (3)
· Buçpapaj: Editorial for Pope (4)
· Kosovo has no law or infrastructure to fight trafficking (4)
· Symposium on Albanian war against Serbia in 1913 (5)
· In Ferizaj 83rd birthday of Mark Krasniqi celebrated (5)
· Existence of the parallel structures harms rule of law (6)
· KPC members assist residents (6)
· Accidents in the Pristina region (7)
· Berisha: When security is lacking, silence is the best thing (7)
· Baze: President, who was born and died with elections [Albania] (8)
· Baleta: votes are over, boycott begins [Albania] (9)
· Action for collecting weapons will be transparent [Macedonia] (10)

Kosova Sot
Front page
· Battle against the framework starts
· Editorial: UNMIK not transparent
· Kosovo is not Bosnia
· Serbs even against the law on sports
· Ferry accident in New York, ten die
· Remnants of 40 Albanians massacred by Serbs return
· Rugova to Pope: Pray for the independence of Kosovo
· Janjiq: Holkeri has no authority
· Good luck smiles on Feronikeli
· We are eating fake products

Other headlines

· NAAC criticizes UN delays (2)
· Milo: A modern independence for Kosovo (2)
· NATO supports Albanian-Serb talks (4)
· UNMIK allows speculation on privatization (5)
· Parallel structures use gaps (6)
· Mother Theresa reached the world with love and humanity (6)
· Chief administrator and Prime Minister to have dinner (6)
· Moldova leads on trafficked women (6)
· Kosovo has not had a census over the last quarter century (7)
· A big shortage of English teachers (7)
· Forests still being destroyed mercilessly (8)
· Wood factory was never commercialized (8)
· KESH annuls energy tender (8)
· Albtelecom to register in court for mobile phone services (8)

Epoka e Re
Front page
· What does Daci need to learn?
· Greece provokes, Himara becomes a national problem
· Without full government, AAK does not take part in negotiations
· Peja engulfed by illegal buildings, but not 'like Pristina'
· Over 500,000 Kosovar children vaccinated
· Lipjan: Assembly allocates € 10,000 for Limaj's fund
· PTK workers support Limaj's fund
· Haradin Balaj's family, a difficult life
· Not a word on dialogue, Assembly passes two laws

Other headlines
· With a flag to Himara (2)
· Xhevdet Behrami from Kotorr, in Skenderaj, killed (2)
· Daci's self-boast (3)
· Sixth anniversary of Adrian Krasniqi's fall marked (5)
· 40 bodies are from Gjakova region (5)
· Pristina University in a more miserable state than KEK (6)
· Janjiq: Holkeri made a mistake because he divided Kosovo delegation (6)
· Talks of little importance for Serbs and Albanians (7)
· Commentary: the future of a difficult dialogue in Vienna (7)
· Labus: Belgrade will never again have authority over Kosovo (7)

Belgrade Media Highlights

· Marovic and Trajkovski on Belgrade-Pristina talks (Vecernje Novosti/Beta)
· UNHCR forges data on return of Serbs (Blic)
· Labus: Belgrade will never again rule in Kosovo (Balkan)
· Marek Nowicki to return to Kosovo and Metohija (Danas/Fonet)
· Bodies of Albanians handed over (Vecernje Novosti/Fonet)

Marovic and Trajkovski on Belgrade-Pristina talks (Vecernje Novosti/Beta)
During their meeting in Belgrade, the Presidents of Serbia and Montenegro and Macedonia, Svetozar Marovic and Boris Trajkovski respectively, welcomed the beginning of dialogue on Kosovo, and assessed that in the continuation of that process the establishment of European, democratic standards in the province should be provided first. Marovic emphasized the importance of regional cooperation and reminded that the cooperation in the region was also discussed with presidents of Croatia and Greece, Stjepan Mesic and Constantine Stefanopoulos respectively, during their visits to Serbia and Montenegro.

UNHCR forges data on return of Serbs (Blic)
According to official data by the coordinator for returns in the provisional Kosovo government Nenad Radosavljevic, a little less than 1,000 Serb IDPs have returned to Kosovo and Metohija. "This number varies. At the beginning of summer, 32 Serb children returned to the village of Novake near Prizren, but because they couldn't continue with education, they returned to central Serbia. The same situation was in the villages of Bica and Grabac near Klina, from where 17 Serb students and their parents returned back to central Serbia at the end of August in order to continue their education. UNHCR data, especially of ORC Head Peggy Hicks, are definitely not exact, and are aimed at defending UNMIK' role and its alleged plan on the return of IDPs by exaggerating the number of returnees. UNHCR and UNMIK speak randomly. They claim that 60 Serbs have returned to the village of Klokot near Kosovska Vitina. However, at our request that Ms. Hicks gives us first and last names of the returnees, we were told it was a secret, said the co-minister for returns in the Kosovo government Milorad Todorovic, and added that only eight Serbs returned to Klokot. According to him, the international community has no interest in returning the Serbs. "It favors only the interests of Albanians. They regularly submit to the UN and numerous international organizations only charts with numbers. According to the latest report of the so-called marked regions, the data on the number of returnees is enormously exaggerated.

Labus: Belgrade will never again rule in Kosovo (Balkan)
G17 plus leader Miroljub Labus assesses that Belgrade will never again rule in Kosovo. In an interview to Austrian agency APA and Vienna daily Prese, he said that Kosovo would be ruled by people who will receive legitimacy with elections, but that there should also be space for Kosovo Serbs. "Our main goal should now be for Serb refugees to be able to return to Kosovo and live there safely," said Labus, adding that all the options that would contribute towards achieving this goal were correct. "It is too early for talks on the status of the province that is under UN administration and officially belongs to Serbia," said Labus. According to him, the Kosovo topic also burdens the daily political climate in Serbia, which isn't the best.

Marek Nowicki to return to Kosovo and Metohija (Danas/Fonet)
Following a successful surgery and complete recovery, Kosovo ombudsman Marek Nowicki should be returning to Kosovo, where he is to continue to take care about the protection and stepping-up of human rights in Kosovo. In mid August, Nowicki was transferred to Poland "over some heart problems" and underwent surgery.

Bodies of Albanians handed over (Vecernje Novosti/Fonet)
The remains of 40 Albanians, exhumed from a mass grave in Batajnica near Belgrade, have been transferred to UNMIK representatives at the boundary crossing Merdare, at gate three. The remains of the Albanians will be transferred to the autopsy center in Orahovac, where the verification of the DNA results will be performed and then handed over to the families. Three mass graves were discovered in central Serbia - on locations of Batajnica, Petrovo Selo and Perucac - from which more than 900 bodies have been exhumed. Remains of 153 persons have been taken over by UNMIK so far.