01 September 2003

CONTENTS

· Holkeri: Security Council will determine Kosovo’s final status (Zëri)
· Classes won’t start, strike is inevitable (all dailies)
· Shala: The privatization of quality (Zëri)
· Bomb in Cërnica, five Serbs wounded (Epoka e Re)
· Palokaj: UNMIK must help journalists, not impede them (Koha Ditore)
· Editorial: Should Kosovo Assembly declare independence? (Zëri)
· Declaration on Kosovo, an old Balkans deception (Kosova Sot)
· Covic reacts to Albanian PM Fatos Nano’s statement (Kosova Sot)
· E Buçpapaj: Why Holkeri could be last UN administrator in Kosovo (Bota)

Kosovo Media Highlights

Holkeri: Security Council will determine Kosovo’s final status (Zëri)
In a report from the regional forum, Dialogue between civilizations, which was held in Ohrid, Macedonia, at the weekend, Zëri reports that interest was aroused by the presence of the new UNMIK chief administrator, Harri Holkeri.

The paper quotes SRSG Holkeri as saying, ‘The United Nations Security Council will determine Kosovo’s final status… The decision made by the Serbian Parliament is irrelevant, the same as some immature statements by Kosovar Albanian political leaders.’

Classes won’t start, strike is inevitable (all dailies)
All dailies carry reports on the recent developments regarding a possible strike by Kosovar teachers. Koha Ditore cites officials of the Union of Education, Science and Culture (SBASHK) as saying that the general strike in elementary and secondary schools in Kosovo would definitively start on Monday. The same officials also added that only a last-minute agreement could prevent a strike by 22,000 Kosovar teachers.

However, Education Minister Rexhep Osmani gave a public statement saying that classes would start on September 1. Osmani said that everything was being done to ensure that teachers would get higher salaries. He also added that measures would be undertaken against school directors who don’t ensure the regular holding of classes.

In a front-page article, Zëri claims that students and teachers are facing two different calls: Minister Osmani is calling on them to start classes today, while the Union of Education calls on teachers and students to boycott classes. [further coverage in Media Analysis]

Shala: The privatization of quality (Zëri)
‘The public sector in Kosovo, first of all education and healthcare, is facing huge problems. We are not saying anything new. We are well aware of the quality that we have in education and healthcare, even though there is no lack of skilled doctors and teachers. For well-known reasons, they are orienting towards private clinics and schools. The quality offer is becoming a synonym for a private offer, while the public sector is slipping toward poverty,’ writes Blerim Shala in an editorial for Zëri.

Bomb in Cërnica, five Serbs have been wounded (Epoka e Re)
Quoting Serb sources, Epoka e Re reports that a person was seriously wounded and four others suffered slight bodily injuries when a bomb was thrown in a store in the village of Cërnica, near the town of Gjilan/Gnjilane. The owner of the store is a Kosovo Serb. The same sources told the paper that all the wounded were Serbs.

Palokaj: UNMIK must help journalists, not impede them (Koha Ditore)
‘UNMIK’s spin doctor Simon Haselock, must have spent more time reacting to articles by journalists and criticizing them, rather than helping them towards the truth. The incapability of Kosovar journalists to participate in the burial of the two young Serbs in Gorazdevac and the boycotts that UNMIK employees are imposing against journalists prove that they are not doing a good job,’ writes Augustin Palokaj in an opinion piece for Zëri. [full translation in Media Analysis]

Editorial: Should Kosovo Assembly declare independence? (Zëri)
‘Kosovar authorities are forces to coordinate their political commitment, maturity and farsightedness in order to create a joint stance vis-à-vis Serbia’s latest offensive,’ notes an opinion piece by the editorial office. ‘It must be said openly: there is no price that we are not willing to pay to decide for our own fate, that is, to make Kosovo a country. Our politicians must always voice this willingness. But precisely due to the necessity of implementing this goal, Kosovar authorities must also see what measures they must undertake in order to rebuild the independence within the 1974 borders.’

Declaration on Kosovo, an old Balkans deception (Kosova Sot)
Kosova Sot runs an interview with Patrick Moore, an analyst for Radio Free Europe. ‘What made Serbs adopt the declaration for Kosovo is that within 12 months they are going to hold elections. They are having problems with corruption, poverty and crime. Not knowing how to handle these issues, they started making noise about Kosovo and Presevo. The declaration serves only one thing and that is that in the eyes of many people in the Balkans and wider, Serbian authorities will look very unwise,’ he said.

Covic reacts to Albanian PM Fatos Nano’s statement (Kosova Sot)
Responding to Albanian Prime Minister Fatos Nano’s statement that Kosovo could not go back under Serbian’s control, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic said that Kosovo couldn’t win independence without border changes in the region.

‘The resolution adopted by the Serbian Parliament impedes structures that do not want a peaceful solution of the crisis in western Balkans. Serbia must preserve its territorial integrity and sovereignty, however, if Kosovo is not under Serbia, then it must be said where it is,’ Covic was quoted as saying.

E Buçpapaj: Why Holkeri could be the last UN administrator in Kosovo (Bota)
In an opinion piece for Bota Sot, columnist Elida Buçpapaj writes: ‘Harri Holkeri, who comes to Kosovo not as a routine diplomat but as the top official to change the four-year long clichés and the status quo, because the independence of Kosovo is in fact a consequence that started with the fall of the Berlin Wall, the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the former Yugoslavia, and as such it is inevitable and unstoppable. Who builds barricades against the independence of Kosovo is against a United Europe and against long-term peace in the region of the Balkans.’

Kosovo Press Headlines

Koha Ditore
Front page
· School doesn’t start, strike is inevitable
· Is Çakalla an ‘unreasonable rebel’
· Surroi: Invitations the President doesn’t answer
· Filip Dvid: Those who hide the truth are just as guilty as the perpetrators
· Uniformed persons appear, railway travel halted [Serbia]

Other headlines
· Mini: Museum is the place for weapons (2)
· Belgrade University doesn’t admit Albanians (5)
· Edi Rama presents new metro project [Albania](6)
· Who will be George Robertson’s successor? (6)
· Five percent of your salary for pensions (7)
· Prizren: Inspector becomes victim of propaganda (7)
· Municipality is waiting for law on buildings (8)
· Ferizaj: Authorities advise opposition to ask police about security (9)
· Palokaj: UNMIK should assist reporters, not impede them (10)

Zëri
Front page
· Two different invitations for children and teachers on the first day
· Cancelled bid leaves Media Palace empty and unused
· Shala: Privatization of quality
· Will Kosovo Assembly declare independence?
· August salary is ‘smaller’ by five percent
· Can Macedonia build strategy for getting out of the crisis?
· A KPS policeman dies from injures in unclear circumstances

Other headlines
· Holkeri: Final status will be decided by the UNSC (2)
· KPC Sgt. Kasum Haxhiajaj has died (2)
· PDSH invite Albanian political parties to consultations [Macedonia] (2)
· KFOR appeals to Kosovars to surrender illegal weapons (3)
· Implementation of free trade agreement with Albania begins today (2)
· Confusion between teachers, children and parents (4)
· Strike or work on first day of school? (5)
· Domestic production decreases reductions (5)
· Osmani: What is difference between Tirana, Prishtina and Tetovo? (7)
· Workers prefer but at same time fear privatization process (8)
· Macedonia announces tender for sale of FAM factory in Viti (8)
· Ferizaj: Still no agreement about hero’s grave (8)
· Dragash: Higher rate of unemployment (9)
· Prizren: Inauguration of school on outskirts of town (9)

Bota Sot
Front page
· KFOR handed over weapons to the museum
· Osmani: All children, teachers and parents should be at schools, directors at their work places
· Buçpapaj: Why Harri Holkeri could be last SRSG in Kosovo
· Presence of police is making situation worse [Macedonia]
· Ceremony for Mother Teresa
· Ministry of Education increases number of schools [Macedonia]
· Ferizi: Smugglers of ‘Ethnic Albania’

Other headlines
· Children, congratulations on the new school year (2)
· Weapons’ amnesty begins today (2)
· Peter Struck: We want to gradually reduce German presence in Kosovo (2)
· All teachers are invited to begin new school year (3)
· Lajçi: School year should begin today in peace and dignity (3)
· Buçpapaj: 7 brothers/friends will establish diplomatic relations w/ Kosovo (4)
· 9,500 policemen take care of our security (4)
· EU shouldn’t keep silent about Serbian terror in Presevo valley (5)
· Kosovo’s assembly should reactivate RTP [Radio Television of Prishtina] (5)
· Need for civilian elections [Albania] (6)
· Baleta: Routine reactions in Prishtina and Tirana (9)
· First results of census will be announced in November [Macedonia] (10)

Kosova Sot
Front page
· Strike, sign of social unrest
· Assembly is responsible to electorate
· Do Kosovo institutions suffer from a crisis in budget management?
· Halimi: Polemics between Prishtina and Belgrade worsen situation
· Holkeri: Kosovo’s future depends on the UNSC
· Editorial: Strike or work

Other headlines
· Where is Kosovo today? (3)
· Ohrid message: Peace and development in the region (3)
· Evidence of our history (3)
· Rewrite names on the wall of tears (4)
· Invitation for action on the international day of the disappeared (4)
· PDSH, new strategy for territorial division (4)
· Peaceful and war-calling elements (5)
· Patrick Moore: Declaration on Kosovo, an old Balkan deception (6)
· Nothing new at the student center (6)
· Which foreign agencies act in Kosovo? (7)
· Trajkovski: cooperation with Albania, model for the region (8)
· Nano: Police should stay far away from the polling places [Albania] (9)
· Lots of families fight for existence (10)

Epoka e Re
Front page
· Complaints of war veterans
· Breaking news: Five Serbs wounded in explosion [Cernica]
· [Education] Minister threatens legal measures
· Crisis, is government at risk?
· Fetiu: There is no greater crime than keeping people in slavery

Other headlines
· Egro: Serbia’s image (2)
· KPC Sgt. Kasum Haxhiaj dies (2)
· Wesley Clark still has not found his car (4)
· Austrian press: Kosovo remains a place of crisis (4)
· Kadare: Shame on Balkans people if they don’t use opportunities (4)
· Student center resembles an army camp [living conditions] (5)
· Mini: Do not repeat mistakes of the past (6)
· Gjilan: He stays in France, while he get a salary from municipality (6)
· AKSH claims responsibility for attacks in Macedonia (6)
· Haselock: De Mello was interested in Kosovo (7)
· Covic against Nano (8)
· Stojanovic family will return to Novake and live with Albanians (8)
· Serbs insulted Kandic: You are defending the Albanians (8)
· Ferizaj: Five hour of disagreements between deputies (9)

Belgrade Media Highlights

· Covic: Tirana will be annexed by Pristina (Vecernje Novosti)
· Kosovo’s status to be decided by the UN Security Council, says Holkeri (RTS)
· KPC stands behind attacks in Presevo and Macedonia, accuses Covic (Glas Javnosti/Srna/Frankfurtske Vesti)
· Families of missing K-Serbs chased Natasa Kandic away from their gathering in Belgrade (all dailies)

Saturday, 30 August

Covic: Tirana is going to be annexed by Pristina (Vecernje Novosti)
‘I expect our Foreign Ministry to send a strong note of protest to Albania, reacting to Albanian PM Fatos Nano’s condemnation of the Declaration on KiM and his assessment that this document is ignoring the will of the people in Kosovo. This is the second harsh provocation by Tirana. The first one was the recent statement given by their Defense Minister. If the will of people is to be used as criterion, then this criterion is to be used all over western Balkans,’ Serbian D/PM Neobojsa Covic told Palma Plus TV. ‘As for returns and survival of Serbs in Kosovo, I think that they are quite sure that they do not want to live in an independent Kosovo. In the same way, they are also not going to allow to Kosovo to become independent. All politicians in the region should be warned to quit provocations as such as the statement by Albanian PM. The declaration adopted by the Serbian Parliament is a positive document calling for peaceful solution of the crisis, but now it is obvious that apart from terrorist provocations we also have political ones. The last one of those comes from Pristina in a form of pressure on the newly arrived SRSG to transfer his reserved powers onto the interim institutions in Kosovo. How to transfer any new authorities to someone who still cannot handle the authorities that have been already transferred to him, to someone who cannot prevent terrorism, crimes and killings from happening in Kosovo. In this phase, Kosovo wants to become independent, and in the next Pristina will annex Tirana. Albanian politicians should start to think about this,’ said Covic.

Kosovo’s status to be decided by the UN Security Council, says Holkeri (RTS)
At the Ohrid Summit the chief of UNMIK Harri Holkeri reiterated that no one else but the UN Security Council would decide on the final status of Kosovo. Holkeri emphasized that one of UNMIK’s main priorities would be the return of all IDPs to Kosovo. He confirmed that preparations of Belgrade-Pristina dialogue were underway, but he could not specify when the talks would begin.

KPC stands behind attacks in Presevo and Macedonia, accuses Covic (Glas Javnosti/Srna/Frankfurtske Vesti)
‘The bombing attacks in Presevo and Macedonia are connected. Behind these attacks stands the Kosovo Protection Corps, whose 18 senior officers have been connected with terrorists,’ said the Head of the CCK Nebojsa Covic. Commenting the last incidents in southern Serbia, Covic says that it is obvious that someone wants to turn back the clock to the year 2000 or 2001. Covic says that it is important not to fall into this trap of constant provocations. ‘Instead of this we all should continue to do our jobs with utmost professionalism,’ Covic told Frankfurtske Vesti.

Families of missing K-Serbs chased Natasa Kandic away from their Belgrade gathering (all dailies)
The Association of the Families of Missing and Kidnapped Serbs in KiM has marked the international day of missing people by organizing a peaceful protests in downtown Belgrade on Saturaday, demanding from both the international community and the Belgrade authorities to launch genuine investigations of cases of missing and kidnapped persons in Kosovo. The gathering was marked by an incident whose main participant was the Director of the Belgrade based NGO – the Humanitarian Law Center – Natasa Kandic. Vecernje Novosti writes that the families of missing and kidnapped Serbs literally chased her away from the gathering. They explained that after five years of their struggle and hundreds of protests that they have held throughout SaM, including Kosovo, they considered her arrogance as provocation. When an IDP from Pec, Nikola Popovic asked Natasa Kandic to introduce herself - she slapped him in the face. Then two policemen came in and rescued her from the angry members of the Association of the Families of Missing and Kidnapped Serbs in KiM, Glas Javnosti reports. The Belgrade Police has announced that it would file a request to the authorized judicial bodies to raise charges against Natasa Kandic for physical assault on Nikola Popovic, insulting the gathered people, refusing to show her IDs to the police, insulting police officers on duty and calling them ‘Milosevic’s police’. Natasa Kandic confirmed that she had slapped Nikola Popovic, adding that it was ‘an answer by a lady to the attack of evil-demonstrating mob of elderly people that physically attacked her. Instead of doing something constructive, they are just turning this into a theatrical play. Instead of doing something, going somewhere, make same documents. They even have no list of the missing,’ Politika quotes Mrs. Kandic as saying. By this remark Natasa Kandic provoked angry reactions by the journalists covering the event, who asked her ‘Does she really consider the gathering aimed at shedding lights on tragic fates of 1300 missing persons as ‘theatrical play’.’ Reacting to the announcement by the Belgrade police that charges would be raised against her, Natasa Kandic said that she could not tell the policemen from those who were pushing and hitting her, ‘They were calling me the same names as those who participated in the gathering.’

Sunday, 31 August 2003

· Five Serbs wounded in a hand-grenade attack in Cernica (Studio B)
· Provocation in Caglavica (Glas Javnosti)
· K-Serbs urge Holkeri to provide escort for school buses (RTS/Tanjug)
· Mini announced 30-days amnesty for all those who hand over illegal firearms (Politika)
· Serbian Power Company: UNMIK steals our electricity (Balkan/Tanjug)

Five Serbs were wounded in a hand-grenade attack in Cernica (Studio B)
A hand grenade detonated in front of a local shop late Sunday afternoon in the village of Cernica near Gnjilane in eastern Kosovo, severely wounding an elderly Serb Miomir Savic. Four other people, all Serbs, suffered light injuries. The tide of ethnically motivated violence continues in Kosovo despite strong international efforts to bring perpetrators to justice.

Provocation in Caglavica (Glas Javnosti)
Glas Javnosti has learned that three heavily armed men in black uniforms with the KLA insignia passed through the village of Caglavica in central Kosovo. The KPS was informed of the incident and its officers shortly after that came to the village and took the statements from the eyewitnesses, but an official report on the incident that has agitated the local Serbs still has not been released.

K-Serbs urge Holkeri to provide escort for school buses (RTS/Tanjug)
Head of the Education Ministry Department for the region of Mitrovica Predrag Stojcevic told Tanjug that a letter was sent to the new SRSG Harri Holkeri, urging him to provide escort for school buses, as well as to order check-points to be set up close to the Serbian language schools in Kosovo. If the SRSG refuses these requests, then the regular classes in the Serbian language schools will be put into question, said Stojcetovic. He added that the new school year in Kosovo would begin on September 1st, in spite of recommendations that it should be postponed due to the bad security situation.

Mini announces 30-day amnesty for handover of illegal firearms (Politika)
ComKFOR General Fabio Mini announced that a 30-day amnesty for all those who voluntarily hand over illegal firearms is to begin in Kosovo on Monday. The weapons can be handed over to a closest UNMIK Police Station or to special stations set up by KFOR, Mini told the press, and called on the people of Kosovo to hand over the illegal weapons and, as he pointed out, contribute to the decrease of violence and creation of a multiethnic, peaceful and democratic Kosovo. After October 1st all those found in possession of the illegal firearms will be fined with 7,500 euros or sentenced up to 10 years of imprisonment.

Serbian Power Company: UNMIK steals our electricity (Balkan/Tanjug)
The Serbian Power Company (EPS) has been recently faced with an unauthorized power borrowing by Kosovo. ‘Although we have warned UNMIK officials on time to buy some of very limited surpluses of power in the region, they did not do so. They are now borrowing a big part of our daily import of power without any authorization. EPS estimates that since July more then 35 mega-watts of its power have been diverted to Kosovo without any authorization whatsoever. According to the international regulations for every kilowatt borrowed like this, two kilowatts must be returned. It is hard to believe that KEK will be able to return this power, and that is why EPS is going to demand, in line with the existing rules and regulations, to be paid for this electricity at the price that will be set by the Amsterdam stock-exchange on January 1, 2004.