UNMIK ON AIR

COVIC VS SERB LEADERS IN KOSOVO

By Zoran CULAFIC

CUT 1 Nenad – Personally I think he is a very intelligent and energetic guy, he is ready to work 24 hours a day, but he also has political ambitions, and I think those ambitions are dominant. That makes him, regarding the issue of Kosovo and Metohija, more damaging than useful.

Nenad Radosavljevic, senior UNMIK adviser on returns and minority communities, on Nebojsa Covic, the current deputy president of the Serbian Government and head of the Coordination center for Kosovo.

Hello and welcome to UNMIK ON AIR with…

It’s not just the weather that’s hot in Kosovo – there’s been a sharp rise in the political temperature since the beginning of summer – not just between UNMIK and Kosovo Albanians and Serbs, but also amongst Serbs themselves, both in Kosovo and in Serbia.

There was a major clash recently when Covic initially succeeded in ousting Kosovo MPs Rada Trajkovic and Randjel Nojkicm from the Povratak (Return Coalition).

Simultaneously, Covic launched a strong offensive against Moma Trajkovic, who heads the Serbian parliament’s Committee for Kosovo, accusing him of undermining the national interest, a term used in Belgrade political circles during the Milosevic regime when they wanted to eliminate his political opponents. For Covic, the 3 K.Serb politicians had to be politically marginalized at any cost.

CUT 2 Covic – What is very important is to stop disavowing the Serb ethnic community in Kosovo and Metohija. Four times I’ve got the support from DOS ruling coalition, and now that support must be implemented practically. But I tell you, if we continue like this, they will face the same fate as the Republika of Serbian Krajina (RSK - in Croatia during the war). Because some people down there (in Kosovo) are acting just like former so-called leaders of RSK. And I’m not going to be a part of something that will be a loss.

LINK: But despite his claims of support from Belgrade, Covic had to pull back, because leaders of the ruling DOS coalition did not allow him to take complete control over Kosovo.

Moma Trajkovic was the main target because he insisted on discussing the report on the Coordination Center’s financial affairs - this after rumors that huge amounts of money were being spent and that the Centre was out of control. Nebojsa Covic insisted that nothing was hidden and once again called for Trajkovic’s resignation.

CUT 3 Covic– Of course, we’ll submit the report. (That’s first, and the second point is –) the stance of the Democratic Alternative is clear, it will continue to insist on putting that request into effect. I think it’s completely understandable and as far as I know the entire Serbian Government supported that stance, i.e. all the presidents of the governmental parties.

LINK: According to the Belgrade press, Covic even tried to blackmail the Democratic Party, the leading party in Serbia, by making Trajkovic’s resignation a precondition for his vote in favour of the new Governor of the National Bank of Serbia, an issue of crucial importance for the Government.

Covic allegedly even asked US ambassador in Belgrade William Montgomery to use his influence on premier Zoran Zivkovic.

But Moma Trajkovic is still in his post while Rada Trajkovic and Randjel Nojkic are back in Povratak - the first strong political slap for Covic, says Moma Trajkovic.

CUT 4 MOMA – I’m ready to talk with Mr. Covic right now and there is absolutely no reason for us not to sit down and talk, despite our political differences. Unless he has decided that I do not exist. And if that were the case, he would have to prove it. But he must respect the procedure; the Serbian Assembly must discus and take a decision, it is not something to be decided by some informal group. The Coordination center has become a very strong center of power and now they think they can take decisions outside the Parliament, and that’s not possible.

LINK: In fact through his vendetta, Covic has managed to unite the previously divided K.Serb political establishment – 3 more Serb representatives in Kosovo, Nenad Radosavljevic, Marko Jaksic and Milan Ivanovic, have since come out in support of Moma Trajkovic. Marko Jaksic explains why.

CUT 5 Marko- We think that the Kosovo issue should be solved in a different way. To begin with, the issue of the Coordination center HQ and its presence here in Kosovo and Metohija. Furthermore, the Kosovo issue is not the domain of any one particular party, it has to be resolved through a general Serb consensus – the Serbian state, the Serbian Government must be involved in that issue, and it is not acceptable that these competencies are just transferred to the Coordination center. It is not just a municipal infrastructure issue that some parties alone can deal with. There are deep conceptual differences between Mr. Covic and us.

LINK: But it’s also unclear whether the six Serb leaders are capable of imposing themselves on international officials as serious political partners in dealing with the Kosovo issue. They are all from Kosovo, and they all wish to live in Kosovo in the future, but to date, they haven’t shown the political maturity to do so. Worse, two of them, Marko Jaksic and Milan Ivanovic are on US President Bush’s black list. Marko Jaksic again.

CUT 6 MARKO - We are the only Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija who are on the list. Mr. Bush knows about us thanks to Mr. Covic and his close contacts with the US ambassador in Belgrade Mr. Montgomery. That’s the way Mr. Covic is fighting his political opponents and it is very sad. But we cannot change that - we’ll continue to work as we worked before. We are not extremists, we proved that in the worse times during the bombardment, we proved that we are humans, humanists, and everyone here knows that. The people here know that.

LINK: Apart from some international analysts who say that Belgrade is serious and well prepared for future dialogue with Pristina, it is still not certain who will win this intra-Serb political fight.

The answer will probably come once the summer is over:

CUT 7 Marko –Time will tell if we are right, but we think he was the wrong man at the wrong place in the wrong time.

LINK: A dire prophecy for Nebosja Covic - but whatever the outcome, the important this is for the Serbian people not to be shortchanged. And that ends today’s program, thanks for listening ….