Hello and Welcome
to Week in Review for February 11, 2005 from the studios of UN Radio in
Kosovo….
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Serbia’s
president visits Kosovo amid tight security
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Kosovo’s top
administrator meets with Kosovo leaders following the meeting
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Serb IDP’s
return to Kosovo
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And…bread
workers threaten strike in Fushe Kosova
1 topping this week’s news…
Serbian President Boris Tadic visited Kosovo this week. Under tight
security, his visit was called a significant ‘trust-building” measure by
Kosovo’s head UN administrator, SRSG Søren Jessen-Petersen. An estimated
100,000 Serbs still live in Kosovo. Approximately 200.000 fled Kosovo after the
end of fighting in 1999.
During his tour of impoverished Serbian villages, Serb President Tadic
said that Kosovo’s independence was unacceptable and violated international
law. UN Security Council Resolution 1244 states that Kosovo is technically a
part of Serbia and Montenegro. No movement on the status issue is expected
unless Kosovo’s provisional government makes good on a set of 8 democratic
standards that will assure the rule of law and the protection of Kosovo’s
ethnic minorities.
President Tadic was also quoted in Mitrovica as saying that if the
Serbian government did not help improve the economic conditions of Kosovo Serbs
– “the people will leave Kosovo and no one could blame them for leaving.”
Jessen-Petersen praised the Kosovo Albanian media for their
coverage of Tadic’s visit, and pledged to report to the UN Security Council
what he called Kosovo’s demonstration of a rapidly maturing and responsible
society.
2
in related news…on Tuesday
SRSG
Jessen-Petersen met with Kosovo’s leaders to brief them about President Tadic’s
visit. Ora party leader, Veton Surroi said that the issue of missing persons
was the fundamental issue for Kosovo’s society – and that President Tadic was a
representative of a state that has not returned these war victims.
3 In a separate meeting with
Kosovo’s Assembly speaker, Nexhat Daci, SRSG Jessen-Petersen said that missing
persons issues would again feature prominently in the Pristina-Belgrade
dialogue. He acknowledged the work of the International Committee of the Red
Cross who met with Belgrade authorities last Friday to discuss missing persons
issues. The ICRC will chair the Pristina working group meeting on missing
person’s in early March.
UNMIK standards coordinator, Sara
Macintosh also attended the meeting with Daci and Jessen-Petersen. Standards
implementation dominated the discussion with the trio reiterating the critical
role that Kosovo’s institutions must play in the implementation process.
4 Over the weekend, news sources cite the return of 29 Kosovo Serb
families and 4 Albanian families to their homes in the village of Vidaje in the
Klina municipality. The EAR and the Danish Refugee Council are credited with
helping to renovate some twenty-five houses in the village. At a meeting of the
returns working group on Wednesday, the second phase of returns to this village
was announced with 15 more Serb families expected to return in the coming
months.
5 In other returns related news…
Early this week,
15 Kosovo Serb families returned to Pristina from Serbia proper. Fatmir
Sheholli with the Ministry of Returns said that Slavisa Petkovic’s appointment
to the head of the ministry for returns has produced results, and he said that
the heads of all 15 Kosovo Serb families have all secured work.
6 And finally…Workers at the bread and
sweets factory “Kosovarja” in Fushe Kosovo have stopped working over what their
union spokesperson, Shemsi Berisha says is unfair labor and accounting
practices by their director. The factory is waiting to be privatized and management
cites high production costs, increased private competition and substantial
losses for its troubles. Berisha of the workers union is demanding the
suspension of the director and an inspection by the government otherwise, he
said, the workers will strike. UN Radio in Kosovo will keep you updated as the
story develops.
This concludes
this edition of Week in Review. Stay tuned to this channel every week at this
time for UN Radio’s weekly wrap-up of news in and around Kosovo.