By Neil MacDonald in Belgrade
Serbia on Tuesday condemned Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence, as the International Court of Justice held its first public hearings on the issue.
While Serbia’s chief representative, Dusan Batakovic, attacked the “flagrant violation” of international law, Kosovo’s foreign minister, Skender Hyseni, argued that 1990s brutality had invalidated any right by Belgrade to rule the disputed territory.
The then-province’s ethnic Albanian majority declared independence after almost nine years of United Nations post-war government. Kosovo gained rapid backing from the US and most European Union member states, yet without UN endorsement or Serbia’s consent.
Although the ICJ cannot make a binding ruling, Belgrade has sought the UN-backed court’s advisory opinion aiming to stem further international recognition and force Kosovo’s separatists back to negotiations for some “compromise solution”.
“Kosovo is the historic cradle of Serbia,” said Mr Batakovic, head of the delegation and Serbian ambassador to France, alluding partly to the medieval Orthodox monasteries dotted around the territory of 2m people. But he also described the ethnic Albanian secession declaration as “a major challenge to international order”, with potential echoes for any country with a disaffected minority region.
Mr Hyseni, however, said renewed negotiations would be “inconceivable” except between equal sovereign states. Undermining independence “would be highly disruptive and could even spark new conflict in the region,” he said.
Nato warplanes in 1999 ended a crackdown by Serb security forces under Slobodan Milosevic, president of Yugoslavia, which had killed nearly 10,000 and displaced nearly 1m Kosovo Albanians. Belgade today expresses regret over the former regime’s actions.
But Mr Hyseni said elected representatives last year had simply carried out the will of Kosovo’s people, resulting in a state now recognised by 63 others worldwide. Yet the UN Security Council remains divided, with Russia and China defending Serbia’s territorial integrity.
All five permanent Security Council members are to testify, along with 24 other countries, in nine days of hearings in The Hague, with the ruling by the 15-judge panel to come months later.
“Pursuing this case is a futile exercise on the part of Serbia,” said Muhamet Hamiti, Kosovo’s ambassador to the UK.
Yet the outcome “matters in one sense – that a lot of countries still sitting on the fence will [afterwards] opt to recognise the fact of Kosovo’s independence,” Mr Hamiti added. “Hopefully, this should also end of Serbia’s constant state of denial.”
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009.
Showing posts with label The Balkans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Balkans. Show all posts
Thursday, December 10, 2009
EU rewards Serbian progress on war crimes
By Tony Barber in Brussels
The European Union on Monday boosted Serbia’s EU membership prospects by unfreezing a trade agreement as reward for improved co-operation with war crimes investigators.
EU foreign ministers approved the decision after evaluating a report from Serge Brammertz, the chief prosecutor of the United Nations’ war crimes tribunal for former Yugoslavia.
The step paves the way for a formal application for EU entry, which Serbia’s government is expected to submit later this month or in January.
Under EU rules the 27-nation bloc’s governments would then ask the European Commission to draw up an opinion on Serbia’s application. This would lead to the formal start of accession talks, a process that usually lasts several years.
Although Serbian entry is a long way off, the outlook for another round of EU enlargement has brightened over the past six months. Iceland applied for membership in July, and Croatia settled a border dispute with Slovenia in October that had blocked its accession talks for almost a year.
Reykjavik and Zagreb may be able to join the EU in 2012, but some hard work lies ahead for Croatia in areas such as fighting organised crime and corruption.
Meanwhile, the Commission is preparing opinions on the membership bids of Albania and Montenegro.
In a further sign of progress, EU governments agreed last week to allow visa-free travel in the bloc for citizens of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia from December 19.
The countries facing the biggest obstacles to joining the EU are Bosnia-Herzegovina, paralysed by internal nationalist rivalries, Macedonia, locked in a dispute with Greece over its name, and Turkey, which is an official candidate for membership but whose bid is opposed by Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s president, and Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor.
The EU and Serbia signed their trade deal last year but the Netherlands blocked its implementation on the grounds that Belgrade was not co-operating fully with the war crimes tribunal – in particular, by not arresting Ratko Mladic, the fugitive Bosnian Serb general accused of committing atrocities in the 1992-1995 Bosnian war.
The Dutch government agreed to unfreeze the trade accord in recognition of Mr Brammertz’s assessment, delivered to the Security Council last week, that Serbia’s co-operation with his office had “continued to progress”.
Mr Brammertz stopped short of stating Serbia was “fully co-operating” with the tribunal. Belgrade’s path to EU membership therefore remains tied to the question of Mr Mladic and Goran Hadzic, another fugitive war crimes suspect.
“Pressure must be maintained in order for the two remaining fugitives to be found and extradited to The Hague,” Maxime Verhagen, Dutch foreign minister, said last week.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009.
The European Union on Monday boosted Serbia’s EU membership prospects by unfreezing a trade agreement as reward for improved co-operation with war crimes investigators.
EU foreign ministers approved the decision after evaluating a report from Serge Brammertz, the chief prosecutor of the United Nations’ war crimes tribunal for former Yugoslavia.
The step paves the way for a formal application for EU entry, which Serbia’s government is expected to submit later this month or in January.
Under EU rules the 27-nation bloc’s governments would then ask the European Commission to draw up an opinion on Serbia’s application. This would lead to the formal start of accession talks, a process that usually lasts several years.
Although Serbian entry is a long way off, the outlook for another round of EU enlargement has brightened over the past six months. Iceland applied for membership in July, and Croatia settled a border dispute with Slovenia in October that had blocked its accession talks for almost a year.
Reykjavik and Zagreb may be able to join the EU in 2012, but some hard work lies ahead for Croatia in areas such as fighting organised crime and corruption.
Meanwhile, the Commission is preparing opinions on the membership bids of Albania and Montenegro.
In a further sign of progress, EU governments agreed last week to allow visa-free travel in the bloc for citizens of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia from December 19.
The countries facing the biggest obstacles to joining the EU are Bosnia-Herzegovina, paralysed by internal nationalist rivalries, Macedonia, locked in a dispute with Greece over its name, and Turkey, which is an official candidate for membership but whose bid is opposed by Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s president, and Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor.
The EU and Serbia signed their trade deal last year but the Netherlands blocked its implementation on the grounds that Belgrade was not co-operating fully with the war crimes tribunal – in particular, by not arresting Ratko Mladic, the fugitive Bosnian Serb general accused of committing atrocities in the 1992-1995 Bosnian war.
The Dutch government agreed to unfreeze the trade accord in recognition of Mr Brammertz’s assessment, delivered to the Security Council last week, that Serbia’s co-operation with his office had “continued to progress”.
Mr Brammertz stopped short of stating Serbia was “fully co-operating” with the tribunal. Belgrade’s path to EU membership therefore remains tied to the question of Mr Mladic and Goran Hadzic, another fugitive war crimes suspect.
“Pressure must be maintained in order for the two remaining fugitives to be found and extradited to The Hague,” Maxime Verhagen, Dutch foreign minister, said last week.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Kosovo PM claims poll victory
By Neil MacDonald
Hashim Thaci, Kosovo’s prime minister and leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), has claimed victory in the country’s first elections as an independent state, although the election commission has delayed releasing final results.
Mr Thaci said his party had won at least 20 out of 36 contested municipalities. But the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), the lesser ruling coalition partner and still a competitor to Mr Thaci, won the mayor’s race and captured the assembly for Pristina, the capital.
The elections took place peacefully, with the ethnic Serb minority visibly opting to participate in some areas despite calls from Belgrade for a boycott.
Final turnout exceeded 45 per cent, compared with only 40 per cent in the last, pre-independence parliamentary elections two years ago, Kosovo’s election commission announced after polls closed. Turnout in Serb districts, although lower, came to nearly 31 per cent in Strpce, a majority-Serb municipality in the south.
Serbs in isolated southern enclaves – feeling weakening support from the Serbian government in the economic downturn – turned up in larger numbers than in past elections, observers said. But those in the north, where Belgrade exerts stronger influence, still disregarded the contest for municipal councils and mayors in the predominantly ethnic Albanian state.
Hashim Thaci, prime minister, said he appreciated involvement by the disaffected minority group, which makes up about 5 per cent of Kosovo’s 2 million people. He also said, however, that free elections would boost the drive for recognition as a sovereign state.
“Full success [of these elections] will reflect well on the country in the continuing process of Kosovo’s international recognition”, Mr Thaci said. “This is a great step forward for the sovereign state.”
In Gracanica, an enclave outside the capital, Pristina, 28 per cent of Serbs wanted to vote, while 32 per cent refused and 40 per cent remained undecided, said Kontakt, a non-governmental organisation. Running for municipal office would not mean recognising independence, Serb candidates insisted.
Organisers decided to postpone voting in two other Serb municipalities at least until next year, partly to avoid hollow victories by ethnic Albanian candidates, international officials said. New municipal boundaries would bolster Serb autonomy as part of a western-backed plan decentralisation plan.
Kosovo declared independence in February 2008 and gained prompt recognition from the US and most EU members. New Zealand last week became the 63rd UN member state to extend recognition. But Serbia, backed by Russia, has blocked any endorsement at the UN Security Council.
Fraud allegations marred the final days of campaigning, as rival ethnic Albanian parties accused Mr Thaci’s ruling Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) of manipulating the Central Elections Commission.
Pieter Feith, chief international supervisor and European Union envoy, called for careful scrutiny of ballot transport after the voting. The European Network of Election Monitoring Organisations (ENEMO) has sent more than 100 monitors to help to ensure international standards.
The election commission did not give regular updates, and election monitors said they would not disclose further turnout figures until the final count.
Prior to independence, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) organised elections in the disputed territory, which the UN governed as a protectorate for nine years following the 1998-1999 war.
● Church bells in Serb enclaves rang to mark the death of Pavle, the 95-year-old patriarch of the Serb Orthodox church in Belgrade, the same morning. His potential successors are deeply divided about whether to work with EU officials to help the remote minority villages survive.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009.
Hashim Thaci, Kosovo’s prime minister and leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), has claimed victory in the country’s first elections as an independent state, although the election commission has delayed releasing final results.
Mr Thaci said his party had won at least 20 out of 36 contested municipalities. But the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), the lesser ruling coalition partner and still a competitor to Mr Thaci, won the mayor’s race and captured the assembly for Pristina, the capital.
The elections took place peacefully, with the ethnic Serb minority visibly opting to participate in some areas despite calls from Belgrade for a boycott.
Final turnout exceeded 45 per cent, compared with only 40 per cent in the last, pre-independence parliamentary elections two years ago, Kosovo’s election commission announced after polls closed. Turnout in Serb districts, although lower, came to nearly 31 per cent in Strpce, a majority-Serb municipality in the south.
Serbs in isolated southern enclaves – feeling weakening support from the Serbian government in the economic downturn – turned up in larger numbers than in past elections, observers said. But those in the north, where Belgrade exerts stronger influence, still disregarded the contest for municipal councils and mayors in the predominantly ethnic Albanian state.
Hashim Thaci, prime minister, said he appreciated involvement by the disaffected minority group, which makes up about 5 per cent of Kosovo’s 2 million people. He also said, however, that free elections would boost the drive for recognition as a sovereign state.
“Full success [of these elections] will reflect well on the country in the continuing process of Kosovo’s international recognition”, Mr Thaci said. “This is a great step forward for the sovereign state.”
In Gracanica, an enclave outside the capital, Pristina, 28 per cent of Serbs wanted to vote, while 32 per cent refused and 40 per cent remained undecided, said Kontakt, a non-governmental organisation. Running for municipal office would not mean recognising independence, Serb candidates insisted.
Organisers decided to postpone voting in two other Serb municipalities at least until next year, partly to avoid hollow victories by ethnic Albanian candidates, international officials said. New municipal boundaries would bolster Serb autonomy as part of a western-backed plan decentralisation plan.
Kosovo declared independence in February 2008 and gained prompt recognition from the US and most EU members. New Zealand last week became the 63rd UN member state to extend recognition. But Serbia, backed by Russia, has blocked any endorsement at the UN Security Council.
Fraud allegations marred the final days of campaigning, as rival ethnic Albanian parties accused Mr Thaci’s ruling Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) of manipulating the Central Elections Commission.
Pieter Feith, chief international supervisor and European Union envoy, called for careful scrutiny of ballot transport after the voting. The European Network of Election Monitoring Organisations (ENEMO) has sent more than 100 monitors to help to ensure international standards.
The election commission did not give regular updates, and election monitors said they would not disclose further turnout figures until the final count.
Prior to independence, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) organised elections in the disputed territory, which the UN governed as a protectorate for nine years following the 1998-1999 war.
● Church bells in Serb enclaves rang to mark the death of Pavle, the 95-year-old patriarch of the Serb Orthodox church in Belgrade, the same morning. His potential successors are deeply divided about whether to work with EU officials to help the remote minority villages survive.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Bulgaria Still Stuck in Trauma of Transition
By MATTHEW BRUNWASSER
SOFIA — The silence on the streets of the Bulgarian capital this week speaks volumes about this nation’s deep ambivalence about democracy.
Although Tuesday was the 20th anniversary of the removal of Bulgaria’s Communist leader, Todor Zhivkov, and the start of democratic changes here, the day went uncelebrated, even as Germany cleaned up from celebrations for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
To explain the amnesia of Bulgarians about their Communist past, and apathy about their democratic present, Bulgarian commentators are using a biblical metaphor: Like the Israelites, the Bulgarians will have to wander the desert for 40 years to be cleansed of the sins of Communism.
“Twenty years have passed and we are in still the middle of the desert,” said Edvin Sugarev, 56, a poet and former anti-Communist opposition leader. “And we’ll be waiting for another 20 years.”
Bulgaria is the only former Warsaw Pact member state without an institute for national memory to hash out the historical details of a Communist past, during which, historians say, thousands of people were imprisoned and killed. Mr. Sugarev is one of the few public figures in Bulgaria who talks about the need for a moral assessment of Communism.
“Everything in Bulgaria looks fine formally: the free market, human rights, free speech, the multiparty political system, membership in E.U. and NATO,” Mr. Sugarev said. “But that’s only a facade. Behind it there is nothing.”
“People got their freedom, but they don’t know what to do with it,” he added, “because it’s more comfortable when someone tells them what to do, where to go and what is right and wrong.”
Bulgaria earned its reputation as the most obedient of Soviet allies. Mr. Zhivkov said in 1973 that Bulgaria and the Soviet Union would “act as a single body, breathing with the same lungs and nourished by the same bloodstream.”
Despite its political and military achievements, Bulgaria is still the poorest country in the European Union, with monthly wages averaging €300, or $450. The country also suffers from a huge image problem in Europe and years of criticism by the European Commission for failing to fight corruption and organized crime.
The country became to the first in the bloc to see its E.U. funds stopped, in October 2008, because of corruption and poor administration. According to Transparency International, an organization that fights corruption, Bulgaria shares the bottom spot for most corrupt E.U. member state along with Romania.
By most measures, Bulgaria appears the most dissatisfied with democracy and nostalgic for Communism of all the former Warsaw Pact members, with Hungary a close second, according to the Pew Global Attitudes Project, which recently surveyed East Europeans by returning to questions it asked in 1991.
When asked about democracy, 76 percent of Bulgarians said they were dissatisfied. Questioned whether free markets made people better off, only 37 percent of Bulgarians agreed. And when asked about the move away from the state-controlled economy, 54 percent of Bulgarians approved, compared with 46 percent of Hungarians.
Russia’s influence on Bulgaria was viewed as good by 45 percent of Bulgarians, about the same as Ukraine. Only 11 percent of Bulgarians agreed that ordinary people had benefited from the changes in 1989. And asked whether the state was run for the benefit of all people, 16 percent of Bulgarians agreed, down from 55 percent in 1991.
“We have created democratic institutions, but we are missing the democratic-political culture to make them effective,” said Petar-Emil Mitev, a sociologist at the Ivan Hadjiyski Institute for Social Values and Structures in Sofia.
Mr. Mitev added that the collapse of the old political and economic system did not mean the end of the old collectivist values.
“Now we are entering a new system of individual-based values and human rights, etc.” he said. “This new value system can’t be created all at once.”
The boundaries of the new market-based values are still not well defined, Mr. Mitev said, referring to the example of vote selling, which was widely reported in recent elections.
Evgeni Dainov, a political science professor at the New Bulgarian University, said, “It has taken us 20 years to get away from the idea that people are helpless and the state should do everything.”
The hope for Bulgarian democracy is in the generation born since 1989, Mr. Dainov said.
“They are totally different,” he said, even from those born in 1985. For them, he said, 1989 is long ago, “like dinosaurs walking the earth.”
“They are the first achieving generation I have seen,” Mr. Dainov said. “The first who don’t hide behind myths of helplessness. This generation that is now 20 is almost exactly like their peers in the West, which was the whole point in the first place.”
“I don’t know where they got it from,” he added. “Maybe from American movies, certainly not from their parents, who are helpless. From somewhere they got the idea that achieving things is good.”
This young generation is the most critical of Communism and the most positive about the transition, said Mr. Mitev, the sociologist.
But parents of children born in this generation say they have grown up with “slobodia, not svoboda” in Bulgarian, or “licentiousness, not freedom.”
One of the new concepts to emerge from the transition is the Bulgarian word “dalavera,” which means easy money through dishonest means. While older people see dalavera as negative, since money should be earned through work, it is viewed as positive by young people, who are completely comfortable with the free market.
“Enrichment by dishonest means has become a part of the Bulgarian transition and that has been absorbed by the young generation,” Mr. Mitev said. “This is an important part of trauma of the transition.”
At a debate at Sofia University on the 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, three students in the crowd who were born in November 1989 were chosen to represent Bulgaria in the European Parliament on Wednesday for a meeting of 89 other Europeans born in the same month.
“I haven’t heard anything good about that time,” said Silvia Vasileva, 20, a law student who was born on Nov. 10. “Even if you had money, there was nothing to buy. Oranges were only for Christmas. If you wore jeans, you were an absolute attraction.”
Vyara Pancheva, also 20 and an English student at Sofia University, said she was not really sure whether Communism was good or bad.
Bulgarians still have extreme and opposing views on Communism, she said, so a mass celebration of Nov. 10 was not possible because the subject was too sensitive.
“As an idea, I think Communism is good,” Ms. Pancheva said.
“But in practice it’s totally unworkable. I personally think democracy is better.”
SOFIA — The silence on the streets of the Bulgarian capital this week speaks volumes about this nation’s deep ambivalence about democracy.
Although Tuesday was the 20th anniversary of the removal of Bulgaria’s Communist leader, Todor Zhivkov, and the start of democratic changes here, the day went uncelebrated, even as Germany cleaned up from celebrations for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
To explain the amnesia of Bulgarians about their Communist past, and apathy about their democratic present, Bulgarian commentators are using a biblical metaphor: Like the Israelites, the Bulgarians will have to wander the desert for 40 years to be cleansed of the sins of Communism.
“Twenty years have passed and we are in still the middle of the desert,” said Edvin Sugarev, 56, a poet and former anti-Communist opposition leader. “And we’ll be waiting for another 20 years.”
Bulgaria is the only former Warsaw Pact member state without an institute for national memory to hash out the historical details of a Communist past, during which, historians say, thousands of people were imprisoned and killed. Mr. Sugarev is one of the few public figures in Bulgaria who talks about the need for a moral assessment of Communism.
“Everything in Bulgaria looks fine formally: the free market, human rights, free speech, the multiparty political system, membership in E.U. and NATO,” Mr. Sugarev said. “But that’s only a facade. Behind it there is nothing.”
“People got their freedom, but they don’t know what to do with it,” he added, “because it’s more comfortable when someone tells them what to do, where to go and what is right and wrong.”
Bulgaria earned its reputation as the most obedient of Soviet allies. Mr. Zhivkov said in 1973 that Bulgaria and the Soviet Union would “act as a single body, breathing with the same lungs and nourished by the same bloodstream.”
Despite its political and military achievements, Bulgaria is still the poorest country in the European Union, with monthly wages averaging €300, or $450. The country also suffers from a huge image problem in Europe and years of criticism by the European Commission for failing to fight corruption and organized crime.
The country became to the first in the bloc to see its E.U. funds stopped, in October 2008, because of corruption and poor administration. According to Transparency International, an organization that fights corruption, Bulgaria shares the bottom spot for most corrupt E.U. member state along with Romania.
By most measures, Bulgaria appears the most dissatisfied with democracy and nostalgic for Communism of all the former Warsaw Pact members, with Hungary a close second, according to the Pew Global Attitudes Project, which recently surveyed East Europeans by returning to questions it asked in 1991.
When asked about democracy, 76 percent of Bulgarians said they were dissatisfied. Questioned whether free markets made people better off, only 37 percent of Bulgarians agreed. And when asked about the move away from the state-controlled economy, 54 percent of Bulgarians approved, compared with 46 percent of Hungarians.
Russia’s influence on Bulgaria was viewed as good by 45 percent of Bulgarians, about the same as Ukraine. Only 11 percent of Bulgarians agreed that ordinary people had benefited from the changes in 1989. And asked whether the state was run for the benefit of all people, 16 percent of Bulgarians agreed, down from 55 percent in 1991.
“We have created democratic institutions, but we are missing the democratic-political culture to make them effective,” said Petar-Emil Mitev, a sociologist at the Ivan Hadjiyski Institute for Social Values and Structures in Sofia.
Mr. Mitev added that the collapse of the old political and economic system did not mean the end of the old collectivist values.
“Now we are entering a new system of individual-based values and human rights, etc.” he said. “This new value system can’t be created all at once.”
The boundaries of the new market-based values are still not well defined, Mr. Mitev said, referring to the example of vote selling, which was widely reported in recent elections.
Evgeni Dainov, a political science professor at the New Bulgarian University, said, “It has taken us 20 years to get away from the idea that people are helpless and the state should do everything.”
The hope for Bulgarian democracy is in the generation born since 1989, Mr. Dainov said.
“They are totally different,” he said, even from those born in 1985. For them, he said, 1989 is long ago, “like dinosaurs walking the earth.”
“They are the first achieving generation I have seen,” Mr. Dainov said. “The first who don’t hide behind myths of helplessness. This generation that is now 20 is almost exactly like their peers in the West, which was the whole point in the first place.”
“I don’t know where they got it from,” he added. “Maybe from American movies, certainly not from their parents, who are helpless. From somewhere they got the idea that achieving things is good.”
This young generation is the most critical of Communism and the most positive about the transition, said Mr. Mitev, the sociologist.
But parents of children born in this generation say they have grown up with “slobodia, not svoboda” in Bulgarian, or “licentiousness, not freedom.”
One of the new concepts to emerge from the transition is the Bulgarian word “dalavera,” which means easy money through dishonest means. While older people see dalavera as negative, since money should be earned through work, it is viewed as positive by young people, who are completely comfortable with the free market.
“Enrichment by dishonest means has become a part of the Bulgarian transition and that has been absorbed by the young generation,” Mr. Mitev said. “This is an important part of trauma of the transition.”
At a debate at Sofia University on the 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, three students in the crowd who were born in November 1989 were chosen to represent Bulgaria in the European Parliament on Wednesday for a meeting of 89 other Europeans born in the same month.
“I haven’t heard anything good about that time,” said Silvia Vasileva, 20, a law student who was born on Nov. 10. “Even if you had money, there was nothing to buy. Oranges were only for Christmas. If you wore jeans, you were an absolute attraction.”
Vyara Pancheva, also 20 and an English student at Sofia University, said she was not really sure whether Communism was good or bad.
Bulgarians still have extreme and opposing views on Communism, she said, so a mass celebration of Nov. 10 was not possible because the subject was too sensitive.
“As an idea, I think Communism is good,” Ms. Pancheva said.
“But in practice it’s totally unworkable. I personally think democracy is better.”
Monday, July 13, 2009
Bosnia buries Srebrenica victims
The remains of 534 newly identified Bosniak Muslim victims of the Srebrenica massacre have been buried 14 years after the event.
Some 8,000 Bosniak Muslims, mainly men and boys, were killed by Bosnian Serbs near the town of Srebrenica in 1995 and buried in mass graves.
About 5,000 of the victims have been identified to date.
Thousands of mourners attended the ceremony, an annual reminder of the Bosniak Muslims' suffering in the war.
At the Potocari memorial cemetery just outside Srebrenica, in eastern Bosnia, victims' names were read out as coffins wrapped in green cloth were passed through the crowd.
"Although we were desperately searching for his remains for years, it was so hard to receive a telephone call telling us that my father had been identified," Nurveta Guster, 27, told AFP news agency.
"I saw him for the last time at our house in Srebrenica. He left with other men through the woods trying to escape."
Fugitive general
Srebrenica was attacked by Bosnian Serb forces on 11 July 1995, virtually ignoring Dutch UN troops who were stationed by the town, which had been designated a UN "safe haven".
The troops, operating under a restrictive UN mandate allowed Bosnian Serb forces into the town. Relatives of those killed have brought unsuccessful claims against the government of the Netherlands in an effort to claim compensation.
Speaking at the latest burial ceremony, Charles English, US Ambassador Bosnia-Hercegovina, said: "The world failed to act, failed to protect the innocent of Srebrenica."
Ranging in age from 14 to 72, most of latest victims to be buried were found in secondary mass graves where they had been moved from initial burial sites in a bid by Serb troops to cover up war crimes.
The International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, has ruled that the Srebrenica massacre was an act of genocide.
Former Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic is currently on trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia on genocide charges. He was arrested in 2008, but denies his guilt.
Gen Ratko Mladic, who led the Bosnian Serb troops involved in the killings, remains in hiding. He is said to be in Serbia.
Serbian President Boris Tadic has said his country is doing all it can to track him down and send him to The Hague.
The Bosniak people, most of whom are Muslims, first settled in Bosnia in the Middle Ages
Some 8,000 Bosniak Muslims, mainly men and boys, were killed by Bosnian Serbs near the town of Srebrenica in 1995 and buried in mass graves.
About 5,000 of the victims have been identified to date.
Thousands of mourners attended the ceremony, an annual reminder of the Bosniak Muslims' suffering in the war.
At the Potocari memorial cemetery just outside Srebrenica, in eastern Bosnia, victims' names were read out as coffins wrapped in green cloth were passed through the crowd.
"Although we were desperately searching for his remains for years, it was so hard to receive a telephone call telling us that my father had been identified," Nurveta Guster, 27, told AFP news agency.
"I saw him for the last time at our house in Srebrenica. He left with other men through the woods trying to escape."
Fugitive general
Srebrenica was attacked by Bosnian Serb forces on 11 July 1995, virtually ignoring Dutch UN troops who were stationed by the town, which had been designated a UN "safe haven".
The troops, operating under a restrictive UN mandate allowed Bosnian Serb forces into the town. Relatives of those killed have brought unsuccessful claims against the government of the Netherlands in an effort to claim compensation.
Speaking at the latest burial ceremony, Charles English, US Ambassador Bosnia-Hercegovina, said: "The world failed to act, failed to protect the innocent of Srebrenica."
Ranging in age from 14 to 72, most of latest victims to be buried were found in secondary mass graves where they had been moved from initial burial sites in a bid by Serb troops to cover up war crimes.
The International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, has ruled that the Srebrenica massacre was an act of genocide.
Former Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic is currently on trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia on genocide charges. He was arrested in 2008, but denies his guilt.
Gen Ratko Mladic, who led the Bosnian Serb troops involved in the killings, remains in hiding. He is said to be in Serbia.
Serbian President Boris Tadic has said his country is doing all it can to track him down and send him to The Hague.
The Bosniak people, most of whom are Muslims, first settled in Bosnia in the Middle Ages
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Bosnia echoes to alarming rhetoric
By Paul Moss
Radio 4's The World Tonight
They may have disagreed about politics, but the group of 20-something friends who had gathered for an after-work drink were all certain about one thing - they were Serbs.
"My father is a Serb, my grandfather is a Serb, I am a Serb. This is my nationality," said Vladislav.
"If we are looking at a football game," added Bane, "Serbia against somebody else, we are fans of Serbia."
These would not have been particularly notable declarations of identity, save for one crucial fact.
We were speaking in Banja Luka, a city in Bosnia, and all these people were Bosnian citizens.
But that meant little to Ivana, a trainee architect: "Bosnia is an artificial and silly creation, we naturally belong with Serbs," she said.
That "creation" was born out of the ruins of battle.
“ Everybody should be worried, this is the Balkans, and nationalist rhetoric here always leads to war ”
Svetlana Cenic, writer
At the end of the Bosnian Civil War, it was agreed that the country would remain a single nation.
However, the Serbs were granted their own officially-recognised region, known as the Republika Srpska.
It has its own parliament, and a fair degree of autonomy.
But now some fear this delicate constitutional compromise could be falling apart.
'Thinly-veiled threats'
The Republika Srpska parliament has issued a declaration, insisting that it has the right to make its own rules in certain key areas, like immigration and customs.
That move was vetoed this week by Bosnia's High Representative, the internationally-appointed figure who still has executive authority in the country.
But the resulting row has left many worried about the country's stability.
"The way the Serb politicians speak is getting more and more nationalistic," says Svetlana Cenic, a writer and newspaper columnist.
"Everybody should be worried," she warns. "This is the Balkans, and nationalist rhetoric here always leads to war."
Svetlana and others are particularly alarmed by the pronouncements of the Bosnian Serb Prime Minister, Milorad Dodik.
He has made thinly-veiled threats that the Republika Srpska might secede from Bosnia altogether.
Any attempt at secession by the Republika Srpska would be seriously destabilising.
It would alarm the many ethnic Croats who still live in the region, as well as the Muslim population, known as Bosniaks.
It might also tempt the Croat region of Bosnia to contemplate a similar move towards independence.
But more than anything, secession would be resisted by the remaining part of Bosnia, with its capital in Sarajevo.
Hundreds of thousands of non-Serbs now live there, having been driven out of what is now the Republika Srpska during the Civil War.
'Betrayed'
And for those who remember this experience, like the actress Alena Dzebo-heco, independence for the Republika Srpska would be a moral outrage.
"The people who did the ethnic cleansing, they would get what they wanted," she argues.
"After everything my family went through - my uncle was in a concentration camp, my father was arrested.
"We would feel betrayed."
The ruling party in the Republika Srpska, the SNSD, has been playing down fears that it plans to secede - at least any time soon.
The speaker of the parliament, Igor Radojicic, said Mr Dodik, his party leader, was only responding to threats from Bosniaks.
He argues that they would like to take away the Republika Srpska's powers, and rule the whole of Bosnia directly.
"The fact is that Serbs are a minority in Bosnia, approximately one-third.
"There are fears that the Muslims might make decisions in favour of their ethnic group. So we are fighting to protect our autonomy."
There is certainly plenty of fear in the Republika Srpska that Muslims pose a threat.
They range from the kind of sober political argument advanced by the Parliamentary Speaker, to more lurid anxieties, whipped up in part by sensationalist newspapers.
"Osama Bin Laden has operations in Sarajevo," one well-educated man told me.
Others insisted that the Serbs were in the vanguard of the struggle against Islamic fundamentalism - this despite the fact that Bosnian Muslims tend to be relatively non-observant.
It is 17 years since the Bosnian Civil War began, sparked off by each different ethnic group believing that the others were trying to take over, and that they had to fight back.
The risk is that these fears, and the inflammatory rhetoric that tends to drive them, may be gaining ground once again.
Radio 4's The World Tonight
They may have disagreed about politics, but the group of 20-something friends who had gathered for an after-work drink were all certain about one thing - they were Serbs.
"My father is a Serb, my grandfather is a Serb, I am a Serb. This is my nationality," said Vladislav.
"If we are looking at a football game," added Bane, "Serbia against somebody else, we are fans of Serbia."
These would not have been particularly notable declarations of identity, save for one crucial fact.
We were speaking in Banja Luka, a city in Bosnia, and all these people were Bosnian citizens.
But that meant little to Ivana, a trainee architect: "Bosnia is an artificial and silly creation, we naturally belong with Serbs," she said.
That "creation" was born out of the ruins of battle.
“ Everybody should be worried, this is the Balkans, and nationalist rhetoric here always leads to war ”
Svetlana Cenic, writer
At the end of the Bosnian Civil War, it was agreed that the country would remain a single nation.
However, the Serbs were granted their own officially-recognised region, known as the Republika Srpska.
It has its own parliament, and a fair degree of autonomy.
But now some fear this delicate constitutional compromise could be falling apart.
'Thinly-veiled threats'
The Republika Srpska parliament has issued a declaration, insisting that it has the right to make its own rules in certain key areas, like immigration and customs.
That move was vetoed this week by Bosnia's High Representative, the internationally-appointed figure who still has executive authority in the country.
But the resulting row has left many worried about the country's stability.
"The way the Serb politicians speak is getting more and more nationalistic," says Svetlana Cenic, a writer and newspaper columnist.
"Everybody should be worried," she warns. "This is the Balkans, and nationalist rhetoric here always leads to war."
Svetlana and others are particularly alarmed by the pronouncements of the Bosnian Serb Prime Minister, Milorad Dodik.
He has made thinly-veiled threats that the Republika Srpska might secede from Bosnia altogether.
Any attempt at secession by the Republika Srpska would be seriously destabilising.
It would alarm the many ethnic Croats who still live in the region, as well as the Muslim population, known as Bosniaks.
It might also tempt the Croat region of Bosnia to contemplate a similar move towards independence.
But more than anything, secession would be resisted by the remaining part of Bosnia, with its capital in Sarajevo.
Hundreds of thousands of non-Serbs now live there, having been driven out of what is now the Republika Srpska during the Civil War.
'Betrayed'
And for those who remember this experience, like the actress Alena Dzebo-heco, independence for the Republika Srpska would be a moral outrage.
"The people who did the ethnic cleansing, they would get what they wanted," she argues.
"After everything my family went through - my uncle was in a concentration camp, my father was arrested.
"We would feel betrayed."
The ruling party in the Republika Srpska, the SNSD, has been playing down fears that it plans to secede - at least any time soon.
The speaker of the parliament, Igor Radojicic, said Mr Dodik, his party leader, was only responding to threats from Bosniaks.
He argues that they would like to take away the Republika Srpska's powers, and rule the whole of Bosnia directly.
"The fact is that Serbs are a minority in Bosnia, approximately one-third.
"There are fears that the Muslims might make decisions in favour of their ethnic group. So we are fighting to protect our autonomy."
There is certainly plenty of fear in the Republika Srpska that Muslims pose a threat.
They range from the kind of sober political argument advanced by the Parliamentary Speaker, to more lurid anxieties, whipped up in part by sensationalist newspapers.
"Osama Bin Laden has operations in Sarajevo," one well-educated man told me.
Others insisted that the Serbs were in the vanguard of the struggle against Islamic fundamentalism - this despite the fact that Bosnian Muslims tend to be relatively non-observant.
It is 17 years since the Bosnian Civil War began, sparked off by each different ethnic group believing that the others were trying to take over, and that they had to fight back.
The risk is that these fears, and the inflammatory rhetoric that tends to drive them, may be gaining ground once again.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Albania applies for EU membership
Albania has formally applied for membership of the European Union.
Prime Minister Sali Berisha submitted the application in Prague to his Czech counterpart, Mirek Topolanek, whose country holds the EU presidency.
"This act has historic significance, marking the return of my nation to the family of European nations," he said.
Mr Topolanek said Albania had undergone "tremendous positive changes", but stressed that the Balkan state was still "facing a huge amount of work".
Albania is not expected to join the EU until 2015 at the earliest.
The EU and Albania concluded a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), seen as the first step towards membership, in June 2006. The negotiations took three-and-a-half years - three times longer than they took in Croatia's and Macedonia's case.
Correspondents say this is because the EU thought Albania was moving too slowly in the fight against corruption and organised crime. The EU is also said to have doubts about Albania's energy sector, which suffers unstable supplies.
At the ceremony in Prague, the head of the European Commission's enlargement directorate, Michael Leigh, praised Albania's progress on key reforms and its "constructive and stabilising role in the region".
"It is now up to Albania to demonstrate its capacity to move to the next stage of European integration," he said. "Holding parliamentary elections in June in a free and fair manner remains a key condition."
Prime Minister Sali Berisha submitted the application in Prague to his Czech counterpart, Mirek Topolanek, whose country holds the EU presidency.
"This act has historic significance, marking the return of my nation to the family of European nations," he said.
Mr Topolanek said Albania had undergone "tremendous positive changes", but stressed that the Balkan state was still "facing a huge amount of work".
Albania is not expected to join the EU until 2015 at the earliest.
The EU and Albania concluded a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), seen as the first step towards membership, in June 2006. The negotiations took three-and-a-half years - three times longer than they took in Croatia's and Macedonia's case.
Correspondents say this is because the EU thought Albania was moving too slowly in the fight against corruption and organised crime. The EU is also said to have doubts about Albania's energy sector, which suffers unstable supplies.
At the ceremony in Prague, the head of the European Commission's enlargement directorate, Michael Leigh, praised Albania's progress on key reforms and its "constructive and stabilising role in the region".
"It is now up to Albania to demonstrate its capacity to move to the next stage of European integration," he said. "Holding parliamentary elections in June in a free and fair manner remains a key condition."
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Macedonia’s Ivanov poised for election win
By Neil MacDonald in Belgrade
Gorge Ivanov, the conservative candidate, looked set to win the Republic of Macedonia’s presidential elections on Sunday with a voter turnout just high enough to avoid repeating the polls.
His victory would cement the power of Nikola Gruevski, the prime minister, making a compromise even more unlikely in the former Yugoslav republic’s 18-year “name dispute” with Greece.
By early evening on Sunday, with one hour left before the close of polls, turnout had reached 39.37 per cent of the country’s 1.8 million registered voters for the presidential contest, according to election monitors.
A turnout of over 40 per cent is needed for the election to be valid.
Enthusiasm for the second round was low among ethnic Albanians, roughly a quarter of the population. The Social Democrat-backed Ljubomir Frckovski, the other challenger, who passed the first round on March 22, said he hoped to pick up their votes to give him the edge over Mr Ivanov in the run-off.
Voting was ”generally calm, but with more problems” than two weeks ago, including open vote buying and a few instances of ballot stuffing, according to a poll monitor in the north-western city of Tetovo.
Nato and the European Union, which officially accepted the fragile country as a candidate four years ago, urged all parties to prevent violence. Gun fights marred early parliamentary elections last year.
Gorge Ivanov, the conservative candidate, looked set to win the Republic of Macedonia’s presidential elections on Sunday with a voter turnout just high enough to avoid repeating the polls.
His victory would cement the power of Nikola Gruevski, the prime minister, making a compromise even more unlikely in the former Yugoslav republic’s 18-year “name dispute” with Greece.
By early evening on Sunday, with one hour left before the close of polls, turnout had reached 39.37 per cent of the country’s 1.8 million registered voters for the presidential contest, according to election monitors.
A turnout of over 40 per cent is needed for the election to be valid.
Enthusiasm for the second round was low among ethnic Albanians, roughly a quarter of the population. The Social Democrat-backed Ljubomir Frckovski, the other challenger, who passed the first round on March 22, said he hoped to pick up their votes to give him the edge over Mr Ivanov in the run-off.
Voting was ”generally calm, but with more problems” than two weeks ago, including open vote buying and a few instances of ballot stuffing, according to a poll monitor in the north-western city of Tetovo.
Nato and the European Union, which officially accepted the fragile country as a candidate four years ago, urged all parties to prevent violence. Gun fights marred early parliamentary elections last year.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Global Insight: EU must find courage to enlarge
The 2004-2007 enlargement of the European Union from 15 to 27 countries is an achievement of which all EU governments should be proud. But the outlook for future enlargement is darkening, thanks to some pig-headed behaviour among members and applicant states.
Consider the manifesto that Germany’s Christian Democrats – the party of Angela Merkel, chancellor – adopted last week for June’s European parliament elections. It says that, because the EU’s latest expansion required such formidable efforts, “the CDU stands for a phase of consolidation, during which the strengthening of the European Union’s identity and institutions takes precedence over further EU enlargement”.
True, the CDU makes an exception for Croatia, whose admission it would not delay. But Croatia’s membership bid is in trouble anyway. That is because Slovenia, hoping to force concessions from its former Yugoslav neighbour in a bilateral maritime border dispute, paralysed Croatia’s accession negotiations in December. Nationalist rhetoric on both sides has restricted the scope for compromise.
All other EU governments oppose Slovenia’s blatant attempt to exploit its membership at the expense of a future entrant. But the EU operates by consensus, so Slovenia is getting away with it.
So, too, is Cyprus – or to be precise, the internationally recognised Greek Cypriot government of the divided island. The Greek Cypriots are obstructing Turkey’s accession talks, partly because they have always been hostile to Turkish membership, but also because they hope to gain leverage in their negotiations with the Turkish Cypriots over a settlement for Cyprus.
What is more, they know that Ms Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s president, oppose full Turkish membership of the EU.
In defence of their behaviour, the Greek Cypriots can point to the presence of 30,000 Turkish troops in the island’s Turkish Cypriot north. By contrast, no military logic underpins Greece’s refusal to let the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia’s aspirations make progress.
The country has been an official EU candidate since 2005. But Greece objects to its neighbour’s use of the word “Macedonia” in its name. It says this implies a threat to Greece’s territorial integrity, cultural heritage and national identity.
Athens has prevented the start of Macedonia’s talks by not giving the green light for the European Commission to express an opinion on the country’s readiness for membership. But the blame does not entirely rest with the Greeks, as is illustrated by a bizarre episode involving, of all people, Alexander the Great. Macedonia’s leaders have renamed the section of a main north-south trans-European highway that passes through their country after Alexander. It is a way of claiming the renowned ancient Macedonian leader as a hero with links to their modern state, with its Slav Macedonian majority. When this news reached Brussels, EU officials despaired. Nothing was more certain to harden Greek attitudes.
Bosnia-Herzegovina’s EU hopes are being damaged by the narrow-minded rivalries of its nationalist political leaders. But in Serbia’s case, it is the Dutch government that is blocking the path to the EU. The Dutch want Belgrade to hand over Ratko Mladic, the fugitive Bosnian Serb general accused of war crimes in the 1990s, to the United Nations tribunal in The Hague.
Other EU governments think the Serbs have co-operated closely enough with the tribunal to deserve full implementation of its stabilisation and association agreement, a milestone towards EU entry that Serbia signed with the bloc last April. But once again, the EU’s consensus rule means that nothing will happen unless the Dutch, or the other 26, budge.
The history of EU enlargement shows that, when economic conditions in Europe falter, public and political support for embracing new countries goes down. Never since 1945 have conditions been as precarious as they are now.
But the EU must summon the courage to resolve the disputes blocking enlargement. The Balkans and Turkey are politically fragile, economically vulnerable but strategically important parts of Europe. If they receive the message they are unwanted, the price the EU will pay will be all the greater.
Consider the manifesto that Germany’s Christian Democrats – the party of Angela Merkel, chancellor – adopted last week for June’s European parliament elections. It says that, because the EU’s latest expansion required such formidable efforts, “the CDU stands for a phase of consolidation, during which the strengthening of the European Union’s identity and institutions takes precedence over further EU enlargement”.
True, the CDU makes an exception for Croatia, whose admission it would not delay. But Croatia’s membership bid is in trouble anyway. That is because Slovenia, hoping to force concessions from its former Yugoslav neighbour in a bilateral maritime border dispute, paralysed Croatia’s accession negotiations in December. Nationalist rhetoric on both sides has restricted the scope for compromise.
All other EU governments oppose Slovenia’s blatant attempt to exploit its membership at the expense of a future entrant. But the EU operates by consensus, so Slovenia is getting away with it.
So, too, is Cyprus – or to be precise, the internationally recognised Greek Cypriot government of the divided island. The Greek Cypriots are obstructing Turkey’s accession talks, partly because they have always been hostile to Turkish membership, but also because they hope to gain leverage in their negotiations with the Turkish Cypriots over a settlement for Cyprus.
What is more, they know that Ms Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s president, oppose full Turkish membership of the EU.
In defence of their behaviour, the Greek Cypriots can point to the presence of 30,000 Turkish troops in the island’s Turkish Cypriot north. By contrast, no military logic underpins Greece’s refusal to let the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia’s aspirations make progress.
The country has been an official EU candidate since 2005. But Greece objects to its neighbour’s use of the word “Macedonia” in its name. It says this implies a threat to Greece’s territorial integrity, cultural heritage and national identity.
Athens has prevented the start of Macedonia’s talks by not giving the green light for the European Commission to express an opinion on the country’s readiness for membership. But the blame does not entirely rest with the Greeks, as is illustrated by a bizarre episode involving, of all people, Alexander the Great. Macedonia’s leaders have renamed the section of a main north-south trans-European highway that passes through their country after Alexander. It is a way of claiming the renowned ancient Macedonian leader as a hero with links to their modern state, with its Slav Macedonian majority. When this news reached Brussels, EU officials despaired. Nothing was more certain to harden Greek attitudes.
Bosnia-Herzegovina’s EU hopes are being damaged by the narrow-minded rivalries of its nationalist political leaders. But in Serbia’s case, it is the Dutch government that is blocking the path to the EU. The Dutch want Belgrade to hand over Ratko Mladic, the fugitive Bosnian Serb general accused of war crimes in the 1990s, to the United Nations tribunal in The Hague.
Other EU governments think the Serbs have co-operated closely enough with the tribunal to deserve full implementation of its stabilisation and association agreement, a milestone towards EU entry that Serbia signed with the bloc last April. But once again, the EU’s consensus rule means that nothing will happen unless the Dutch, or the other 26, budge.
The history of EU enlargement shows that, when economic conditions in Europe falter, public and political support for embracing new countries goes down. Never since 1945 have conditions been as precarious as they are now.
But the EU must summon the courage to resolve the disputes blocking enlargement. The Balkans and Turkey are politically fragile, economically vulnerable but strategically important parts of Europe. If they receive the message they are unwanted, the price the EU will pay will be all the greater.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Conservative leads Macedonia poll
The candidate for Macedonia's ruling conservative party has taken the lead in presidential elections praised for their lack of violence.
But partial results showed Gjorgje Ivanov, of the governing VMRO-DPMNE party, had not win enough votes to avoid a 5 April run-off.
The presidential and local polls were seen as crucial to Macedonia's hopes for joining the EU and Nato.
There was tight security, with thousands of extra police deployed.
The electoral commission said voting went well during the day.
There were no reports of the kind of violence between rival ethnic Albanian parties that marred last June's parliamentary election.
"It seems that everything was in order," said EU envoy Erwan Fouere. "It was a calm and positive atmosphere."
A dispute with Greece over its name has also threatened its EU and Nato bids.
Snow
Partial results showed Mr Ivanov - the candidate of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski's VMRO-DPMNE party - to be ahead with more than 35% of the vote.
The race for second place was between Ljubomir Frckoski, who is backed by the Social Democratic SDSM, and former Interior Minister Ljube Boskoski, who was acquitted by the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague last year.
EU envoy to Macedonia
Five other candidates are also running for the largely ceremonial presidency.
Final results were expected later on Monday.
Current President Branko Crvenkovski is not running for a second term.
Heavy snowfall prevented 134 of almost 3,000 polling stations from opening.
But Aleksandar Novakovski, head of the state electoral commission, said the affected polling stations had 12,556 voters registered - less than 1% of the total 1.8 million eligible voters.
It is expected that voting there will be repeated in two weeks.
Local polls were also being held simultaneously to elect mayors for 85 communities.
Name squabble
The three weeks of campaigning passed off mostly peacefully, with a few claims of voter intimidation.
One person was killed and several injured in ethnic Albanian areas of Macedonia during parliamentary elections in June 2008 that monitors said fell short of international standards.
More than 500 international and around 7,000 local observers have been on hand to monitor Sunday's vote.
"So far so good," US Ambassador Philip Reeker said in an initial assessment of the poll.
Mr Fouere said the vote was "the last chance not to miss the train again to EU" membership.
"This is probably the last opportunity for quite some time for the country to show that it has not only the capacity, but also the political will, to organise elections in line with international standards," he said.
Last year, Greece said it would block Macedonia from joining Nato and the EU unless it compromises over its official name.
Macedonia is also the name of a northern region of Greece.
In December 2008, Macedonia decided to take the issue of its name to the International Court of Justice in the Hague.
But partial results showed Gjorgje Ivanov, of the governing VMRO-DPMNE party, had not win enough votes to avoid a 5 April run-off.
The presidential and local polls were seen as crucial to Macedonia's hopes for joining the EU and Nato.
There was tight security, with thousands of extra police deployed.
The electoral commission said voting went well during the day.
There were no reports of the kind of violence between rival ethnic Albanian parties that marred last June's parliamentary election.
"It seems that everything was in order," said EU envoy Erwan Fouere. "It was a calm and positive atmosphere."
A dispute with Greece over its name has also threatened its EU and Nato bids.
Snow
Partial results showed Mr Ivanov - the candidate of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski's VMRO-DPMNE party - to be ahead with more than 35% of the vote.
The race for second place was between Ljubomir Frckoski, who is backed by the Social Democratic SDSM, and former Interior Minister Ljube Boskoski, who was acquitted by the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague last year.
EU envoy to Macedonia
Five other candidates are also running for the largely ceremonial presidency.
Final results were expected later on Monday.
Current President Branko Crvenkovski is not running for a second term.
Heavy snowfall prevented 134 of almost 3,000 polling stations from opening.
But Aleksandar Novakovski, head of the state electoral commission, said the affected polling stations had 12,556 voters registered - less than 1% of the total 1.8 million eligible voters.
It is expected that voting there will be repeated in two weeks.
Local polls were also being held simultaneously to elect mayors for 85 communities.
Name squabble
The three weeks of campaigning passed off mostly peacefully, with a few claims of voter intimidation.
One person was killed and several injured in ethnic Albanian areas of Macedonia during parliamentary elections in June 2008 that monitors said fell short of international standards.
More than 500 international and around 7,000 local observers have been on hand to monitor Sunday's vote.
"So far so good," US Ambassador Philip Reeker said in an initial assessment of the poll.
Mr Fouere said the vote was "the last chance not to miss the train again to EU" membership.
"This is probably the last opportunity for quite some time for the country to show that it has not only the capacity, but also the political will, to organise elections in line with international standards," he said.
Last year, Greece said it would block Macedonia from joining Nato and the EU unless it compromises over its official name.
Macedonia is also the name of a northern region of Greece.
In December 2008, Macedonia decided to take the issue of its name to the International Court of Justice in the Hague.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Serbs ordered to pay for mosque
Serb authorities in Bosnia-Hercegovina have been ordered to pay $42m (£26m) to local Muslims for the destruction of mosques during the Bosnian civil war.
All 16 mosques in Banja Luka, the main town of the Serb-run Republika Srpska, were destroyed in the 1992-1995 war.
A lawyer for the area's Muslim community said the local court verdict was of historic importance.
Hundreds of religious buildings were destroyed in the conflict, in which about 100,000 civilians were killed.
The local court ruling came nine years after the Bosnian Islamic Community sued the Bosnian Serb government and Banja Luka city authorities for the destruction of the shrines in 1993.
The Islamic Community said more than 1,000 of its objects were destroyed or damaged during the war.
"For us, what is far more important than material compensation is that for the first time Republika Srpska has taken complete responsibility for the destruction of the mosques," SRNA news agency quoted the Islamic Community's lawyer Esad Hrvacic as saying.
The Dayton peace agreement signed in 1995 created two semi-state entities: Republika Srpska for the Serbs, and the Bosniak-Croat Federation for Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) and Croats.
All 16 mosques in Banja Luka, the main town of the Serb-run Republika Srpska, were destroyed in the 1992-1995 war.
A lawyer for the area's Muslim community said the local court verdict was of historic importance.
Hundreds of religious buildings were destroyed in the conflict, in which about 100,000 civilians were killed.
The local court ruling came nine years after the Bosnian Islamic Community sued the Bosnian Serb government and Banja Luka city authorities for the destruction of the shrines in 1993.
The Islamic Community said more than 1,000 of its objects were destroyed or damaged during the war.
"For us, what is far more important than material compensation is that for the first time Republika Srpska has taken complete responsibility for the destruction of the mosques," SRNA news agency quoted the Islamic Community's lawyer Esad Hrvacic as saying.
The Dayton peace agreement signed in 1995 created two semi-state entities: Republika Srpska for the Serbs, and the Bosniak-Croat Federation for Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) and Croats.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Balkan states get new EU warning
Romania has lost momentum in its judicial reforms while Bulgaria has made some progress, the European Commission says.
The two Balkan neighbours - the EU's newest members - are subject to special commission monitoring because their justice systems are seen to be flawed.
In November the commission stripped Bulgaria of 220m euros (£188m) in EU funding because of corruption.
Both countries risk new penalties if they fail to make progress by July.
"It is important that the Romanian authorities regain momentum on judicial reform and the fight against corruption so as to reverse certain backward movements of recent months," the commission said on Thursday.
"This means in particular adopting the codes needed to modernise the legal system and showing through an expeditious treatment of high-level corruption cases that the legal system is capable of implementing the laws in an independent and efficient way."
The commission criticised the Romanian parliament, saying it had blocked investigations into some high-level corruption cases.
On Bulgaria, the commission noted "some initial steps" towards structural and legislative reform had been taken in the prosecution office, justice ministry and interior ministry.
"These measures need to be sustained and further extended in order to deliver concrete results," it said.
Bulgaria has set up joint investigation teams combining prosecutors with security agents and interior ministry officers, but the commission called for "indictments regarding the serious crime groups targeted by these joint teams".
The two Balkan neighbours - the EU's newest members - are subject to special commission monitoring because their justice systems are seen to be flawed.
In November the commission stripped Bulgaria of 220m euros (£188m) in EU funding because of corruption.
Both countries risk new penalties if they fail to make progress by July.
"It is important that the Romanian authorities regain momentum on judicial reform and the fight against corruption so as to reverse certain backward movements of recent months," the commission said on Thursday.
"This means in particular adopting the codes needed to modernise the legal system and showing through an expeditious treatment of high-level corruption cases that the legal system is capable of implementing the laws in an independent and efficient way."
The commission criticised the Romanian parliament, saying it had blocked investigations into some high-level corruption cases.
On Bulgaria, the commission noted "some initial steps" towards structural and legislative reform had been taken in the prosecution office, justice ministry and interior ministry.
"These measures need to be sustained and further extended in order to deliver concrete results," it said.
Bulgaria has set up joint investigation teams combining prosecutors with security agents and interior ministry officers, but the commission called for "indictments regarding the serious crime groups targeted by these joint teams".
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Athens cautions banks on transfers to Balkans
By Kerin Hope in Athens and Stefan Wagstyl in London
Published: January 27 2009 17:20 | Last updated: January 27 2009 17:20
Greece has warned its banks against transferring funds from a €28bn government support package to their Balkan subsidiaries, because of growing fears of financial turmoil in these countries.
George Provopoulos, governor of the Bank of Greece, told the Financial Times he was concerned about the impact of the global crisis in countries – including Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia – that had experienced recent foreign currency lending booms.
“I have advised the banks to be more prudent and to lend on the basis of availability of local funding, taking into careful consideration local economic conditions,” he said.
The warning comes after about 10 international banks, including Greece’s EFG Eurobank, urged European Union governments not to discriminate in their anti-crisis policies against states outside the eurozone and EU.
They were supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the multilateral lender, which on Tuesday cut its 2009 growth forecast for the region from 2.5 per cent to 0.1 per cent. Erik Berglof, EBRD chief economist, said the danger of west European countries preparing bank support packages that discriminated against foreign countries was “a very big worry”.
The European Commission has welcomed the international banks’ initiative. The European Central Bank has already given liquidity support to EU members, notably Hungary, but has responded cautiously to proposals for assisting countries outside the union.
Bankers are particularly concerned about steep local currency declines, which have squeezed borrowers with foreign currency loans. Foreign exchange lending accounts for more than 70 per cent of loans in Serbia, 60 per cent in Hungary and in excess of 50 per cent in Romania and Bulgaria.
Mr Provopoulos said: “If economic conditions in these countries were to significantly weaken, Greek banks might find themselves exposed not just to credit risk but also to exchange rate risk.”
Banks with big market shares in south-east Europe include Italy’s Unicredit, Austria’s Raiffeisen International and Erste Bank, and Greece’s EFG, Alpha Bank and National Bank of Greece.
Meanwhile, some south-east European officials are concerned about the danger of foreign banks taking funds from the region.
Radovan Jelasic, Serbia’s central bank governor, told the FT this happened in Belgrade in December when he relaxed banks’ reserve requirements to release €600m ($780m, £564m) in local foreign exchange liquidity. Officials were dismayed to see €600m transferred out of the country by international banks in the following two weeks, he said. Foreign banks contacted by the FT in Belgrade declined to comment.
Elsewhere, Romania’s central bank said inflows from foreign owners were expected to slow, but not reverse. Some 39 per cent of the financing made available to Romanian subsidiaries of international banks was due for repayment this year but there was a “high probability” that about 80 per cent of this would be renewed, the bank said.
In Hungary, foreign banks poured in funds in October when the country faced a crisis and the International Monetary Fund launched an emergency package. Banks injected €2.8bn compared with a previous monthly average of €500m-€600m. Inflows have since dropped below the monthly average but the the central bank says “not a single bank is seeing an outflow”.
Published: January 27 2009 17:20 | Last updated: January 27 2009 17:20
Greece has warned its banks against transferring funds from a €28bn government support package to their Balkan subsidiaries, because of growing fears of financial turmoil in these countries.
George Provopoulos, governor of the Bank of Greece, told the Financial Times he was concerned about the impact of the global crisis in countries – including Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia – that had experienced recent foreign currency lending booms.
“I have advised the banks to be more prudent and to lend on the basis of availability of local funding, taking into careful consideration local economic conditions,” he said.
The warning comes after about 10 international banks, including Greece’s EFG Eurobank, urged European Union governments not to discriminate in their anti-crisis policies against states outside the eurozone and EU.
They were supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the multilateral lender, which on Tuesday cut its 2009 growth forecast for the region from 2.5 per cent to 0.1 per cent. Erik Berglof, EBRD chief economist, said the danger of west European countries preparing bank support packages that discriminated against foreign countries was “a very big worry”.
The European Commission has welcomed the international banks’ initiative. The European Central Bank has already given liquidity support to EU members, notably Hungary, but has responded cautiously to proposals for assisting countries outside the union.
Bankers are particularly concerned about steep local currency declines, which have squeezed borrowers with foreign currency loans. Foreign exchange lending accounts for more than 70 per cent of loans in Serbia, 60 per cent in Hungary and in excess of 50 per cent in Romania and Bulgaria.
Mr Provopoulos said: “If economic conditions in these countries were to significantly weaken, Greek banks might find themselves exposed not just to credit risk but also to exchange rate risk.”
Banks with big market shares in south-east Europe include Italy’s Unicredit, Austria’s Raiffeisen International and Erste Bank, and Greece’s EFG, Alpha Bank and National Bank of Greece.
Meanwhile, some south-east European officials are concerned about the danger of foreign banks taking funds from the region.
Radovan Jelasic, Serbia’s central bank governor, told the FT this happened in Belgrade in December when he relaxed banks’ reserve requirements to release €600m ($780m, £564m) in local foreign exchange liquidity. Officials were dismayed to see €600m transferred out of the country by international banks in the following two weeks, he said. Foreign banks contacted by the FT in Belgrade declined to comment.
Elsewhere, Romania’s central bank said inflows from foreign owners were expected to slow, but not reverse. Some 39 per cent of the financing made available to Romanian subsidiaries of international banks was due for repayment this year but there was a “high probability” that about 80 per cent of this would be renewed, the bank said.
In Hungary, foreign banks poured in funds in October when the country faced a crisis and the International Monetary Fund launched an emergency package. Banks injected €2.8bn compared with a previous monthly average of €500m-€600m. Inflows have since dropped below the monthly average but the the central bank says “not a single bank is seeing an outflow”.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Skopje given ultimatum
PM threatens to withdraw funding if FYROM officials continue with provocations
Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis yesterday hardened his stance against the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), warning that Greece would block a scheduled investment of 50 million euros toward infrastructure in the neighboring country unless Skopje stops its provocative behavior.
“Let us be entirely clear: As long as a climate of provocation, nationalism and bigotry is cultivated, not one euro will be disbursed,” Karamanlis told Parliament in reference to the 50 million euros Greece has pledged toward the construction of FYROM’s section of the pan-European Corridor 10, connecting Serbia in the north to Greece in the south. “The decisions by Skopje, apart from anything else, are jeopardizing the funding, and swift progress, of pan-European Corridor 10,” the premier added. Karamanlis was reacting to the news that FYROM’s prime minister, Nikola Gruevski, has decided to name this highway Alexander the Macedon, after the ancient Greek warrior Alexander the Great. The move was criticized by European Union officials earlier this week.
Karamanlis said the decision by officials in Skopje displayed a lack of respect for Greece and its historic heritage and would not win them any friends in the international community. “All they are doing is confirming, in everyone’s eyes, their obstinacy and fixation on a murky past of fanaticism and nationalism,” Greece’s premier said.
Karamanlis added that the development would do little good for Skopje’s European Union and NATO bids. “FYROM cannot be accepted if they continue to ignore the basic principles of good-neighborly relations and both alliances have made this very clear,” he said.
The Greek premier also slammed FYROM officials for obstructing progress in United Nations-mediated negotiations aimed at solving the Macedonia name dispute. “They have attempted to derail the talks from their focus and to throw up barriers to procedures,” he said.
Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis, speaking from Vienna yesterday, said solving the name spat was crucial and criticized Gruevski for his “excessive provocation of the Greek people.”
Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis yesterday hardened his stance against the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), warning that Greece would block a scheduled investment of 50 million euros toward infrastructure in the neighboring country unless Skopje stops its provocative behavior.
“Let us be entirely clear: As long as a climate of provocation, nationalism and bigotry is cultivated, not one euro will be disbursed,” Karamanlis told Parliament in reference to the 50 million euros Greece has pledged toward the construction of FYROM’s section of the pan-European Corridor 10, connecting Serbia in the north to Greece in the south. “The decisions by Skopje, apart from anything else, are jeopardizing the funding, and swift progress, of pan-European Corridor 10,” the premier added. Karamanlis was reacting to the news that FYROM’s prime minister, Nikola Gruevski, has decided to name this highway Alexander the Macedon, after the ancient Greek warrior Alexander the Great. The move was criticized by European Union officials earlier this week.
Karamanlis said the decision by officials in Skopje displayed a lack of respect for Greece and its historic heritage and would not win them any friends in the international community. “All they are doing is confirming, in everyone’s eyes, their obstinacy and fixation on a murky past of fanaticism and nationalism,” Greece’s premier said.
Karamanlis added that the development would do little good for Skopje’s European Union and NATO bids. “FYROM cannot be accepted if they continue to ignore the basic principles of good-neighborly relations and both alliances have made this very clear,” he said.
The Greek premier also slammed FYROM officials for obstructing progress in United Nations-mediated negotiations aimed at solving the Macedonia name dispute. “They have attempted to derail the talks from their focus and to throw up barriers to procedures,” he said.
Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis, speaking from Vienna yesterday, said solving the name spat was crucial and criticized Gruevski for his “excessive provocation of the Greek people.”
Friday, January 16, 2009
Analysis: Are UN, EU Part Of The Problem In Kosovo?
By RFE/RL analyst Patrick Moore
UNMIK will continue to have its stamp on the administration of Kosovo (official site)
The EU planned earlier this year to take over the international community's civilian functions in Kosovo from the UN mission around June 15, when independent Kosovo's constitution takes effect. It now appears that the UN mission will remain in place for some time to come, and that the EU's mission will not be up to strength until at least the fall. There are several reasons for the changes.
Italian Foreign Minster Franco Frattini said in Brussels on May 26 that EU's EULEX mission of up to 2,200 police, judges, and advisers will "be operative in the field [only] after the summer, [namely in] September and October." Slovenian Foreign Minister Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, whose country holds the rotating EU Presidency, stressed that there "might be some little delays, but nothing dramatic." The men spoke after EU foreign ministers discussed the future of EULEX. During its presidency, which ends on June 30, Slovenia has placed special stress on the EU's role in the western Balkans.
In keeping with the plan put forward by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, who was UN special envoy for Kosovo from 2005-07, Kosovo's independence is under international supervision, particularly where minority rights, security, and the judiciary are concerned. Dutch diplomat Pieter Feith heads the International Civilian Office, as well as the EU's Office of the Special Representative. EULEX, which is the most important component of the EU mission, is headed by Yves de Kermabon, a French former commander of NATO's KFOR peacekeepers.
Although June 15 is fast approaching, the EU currently has only about 300 people on the ground in Kosovo, many of whom are undergoing training in Pristina. EU foreign-policy chief Javier Solana said in Brussels on May 26 that deployment of EU personnel is continuing as planned but noted that he wants to discuss the future of the operation with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the margins of a conference on Iraq in Stockholm on May 29.
Logistical and recruitment delays are only part of the reason for EULEX's slow start; problems in securing a broader international mandate are another. The current international civilian brief for Kosovo is vested in the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) under the auspices of UN Security Council Resolution 1244 of 1999. Accordingly, some diplomatic formula must be found to transfer at least part of UNMIK's mandate to the EU and EULEX.
Until recently, that did not appear to pose much of a problem. Ban said on January 28 that Kosovo is a "European issue" and primarily a responsibility of the EU. But as Germany's "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" noted on May 21, the UN is no longer accommodating the EU in its wish for a transfer of mandates on June 15 because Ban has become "more reserved." UNMIK, for example, has become reluctant to hand over cars, equipment, and offices to the EU, which the two sides had previously discussed informally. The EU meanwhile hopes at least for an official letter from Ban inviting EULEX to take up its mission. The UN might insist, however, on a more formal agreement.
Ban has reportedly become more restrained out of deference to the wishes of Russia, which has a veto in the Security Council and whose support he needs if he decides to seek a second term in office. Russia maintains that only 1244 provides a legal basis for Kosovo. Moscow also argues that Kosovo's declaration of independence is illegal, and that the EU's planned mission has no legal basis because it is linked to Kosovar independence and lacks a Security Council mandate. Russian diplomats argue that they have no objection to an EU mission in principle, but stress that it must be approved by the UN.
To complicate matters further, on March 11, Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin called for new negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina on Kosovo's status, a proposal that is regarded as a nonstarter in Pristina and most Western capitals. On May 15, the foreign ministers of Russia, China, and India issued a call for new talks between Belgrade and Pristina "within the framework of international laws to seek a solution for the Serbian territory." Nor does Moscow miss an opportunity to link the question of Kosovo's independence to some issues outside the Balkans, namely to the status of the so-called frozen conflicts in the former Soviet Union.
In fact, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the State Duma on April 2 that "we have done all we could to disrupt plans to achieve quick and broad international recognition of Kosovo." He added that "we are not allowing the Kosovo issue to be taken outside the United Nations and have prevented the UN secretary-general from consecrating the European Union's mission to Kosovo, which does not have a UN mandate." A few days before Lavrov spoke, former Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov, who was one of the Soviet Union's top Middle East experts and the first director of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), told the Belgrade daily "Vecernje novosti" that the only practical solution for Kosovo is a partition along ethnic lines, which would include population transfers. It is not clear whether Primakov was speaking for anyone but himself. The UN, the EU, the United States, and the Kosovo government all support a multiethnic Kosovo and reject partition.
Besides Russian objections to the EU mission, there are other reasons for UNMIK to plan on staying beyond June 15, although it has no desire to remain in Kosovo at its present strength. The most important is that the EU needs the UN as a partner in northern Kosovo, where the Serbs have organized structures that recognize UNMIK but not EULEX. In other words, the EU will have to work through UNMIK if it is to play any role at all in the north, where 40 percent of the Serbian minority lives and violent protests took place in the spring.
Much remains to be clarified in the run-up to June 15. Speaking in Vienna on April 17, Feith nonetheless declined to specify any time frame for transferring UNMIK's mandate to EULEX, saying that "it is a matter for the EU and UN to take this further." He added that nobody should be "hung up" about the lack of a specific date for the transfer. But German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on May 26 that the EU mission could be delayed if no agreement is reached with the UN by June 15.
Joachim Ruecker, who heads UNMIK, told RFE/RL's South Slavic and Albanian Language Service on May 23 that the UN will remain present in Kosovo after June 15 and as long as Resolution 1244 remains in force. He stressed that there must not be any duplication of missions between UNMIK and EULEX, because that would not be fair to the taxpayers who fund them.
There is also the matter of protection for the civilian missions by the 16,000-strong KFOR. Its spokesman, French Colonel Jean-Luc Cotard, said on March 27 that KFOR has no orders to support the deployment of EU staff. He stressed that "we are aware of the situation, but in fact it's a political issue. Before doing anything, the politicians have to deal with it at the EU, UN, and NATO level." On May 23, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said in Sofia that KFOR will remain after June 15 and stressed that the UN and EU must determine what their respective responsibilities will be after that date.
Britain's "The Times" argued on May 26 that unnamed NATO sources believe that Kosovo's Albanians have been "remarkably restrained" when confronted by violence from within the Serbian community in recent months. Those same sources warned, however, that "the political stability of Kosovo is being undermined by the failure of the United Nations and the European Community to clarify their roles and responsibilities.... '[The] key is for the EU police mission fully to take responsibility for policing Kosovo, but there seems to be some hesitation over this, which puts the NATO troops...in a difficult position. KFOR is not supposed to be a police force but is there to maintain a safe and secure environment,' one NATO diplomatic source said." The daily stressed that failure to define and clarify the respective roles of UNMIK and EULEX could "provoke potential problems" after June 15.
UNMIK will continue to have its stamp on the administration of Kosovo (official site)
The EU planned earlier this year to take over the international community's civilian functions in Kosovo from the UN mission around June 15, when independent Kosovo's constitution takes effect. It now appears that the UN mission will remain in place for some time to come, and that the EU's mission will not be up to strength until at least the fall. There are several reasons for the changes.
Italian Foreign Minster Franco Frattini said in Brussels on May 26 that EU's EULEX mission of up to 2,200 police, judges, and advisers will "be operative in the field [only] after the summer, [namely in] September and October." Slovenian Foreign Minister Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, whose country holds the rotating EU Presidency, stressed that there "might be some little delays, but nothing dramatic." The men spoke after EU foreign ministers discussed the future of EULEX. During its presidency, which ends on June 30, Slovenia has placed special stress on the EU's role in the western Balkans.
In keeping with the plan put forward by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, who was UN special envoy for Kosovo from 2005-07, Kosovo's independence is under international supervision, particularly where minority rights, security, and the judiciary are concerned. Dutch diplomat Pieter Feith heads the International Civilian Office, as well as the EU's Office of the Special Representative. EULEX, which is the most important component of the EU mission, is headed by Yves de Kermabon, a French former commander of NATO's KFOR peacekeepers.
Although June 15 is fast approaching, the EU currently has only about 300 people on the ground in Kosovo, many of whom are undergoing training in Pristina. EU foreign-policy chief Javier Solana said in Brussels on May 26 that deployment of EU personnel is continuing as planned but noted that he wants to discuss the future of the operation with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the margins of a conference on Iraq in Stockholm on May 29.
Logistical and recruitment delays are only part of the reason for EULEX's slow start; problems in securing a broader international mandate are another. The current international civilian brief for Kosovo is vested in the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) under the auspices of UN Security Council Resolution 1244 of 1999. Accordingly, some diplomatic formula must be found to transfer at least part of UNMIK's mandate to the EU and EULEX.
Until recently, that did not appear to pose much of a problem. Ban said on January 28 that Kosovo is a "European issue" and primarily a responsibility of the EU. But as Germany's "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" noted on May 21, the UN is no longer accommodating the EU in its wish for a transfer of mandates on June 15 because Ban has become "more reserved." UNMIK, for example, has become reluctant to hand over cars, equipment, and offices to the EU, which the two sides had previously discussed informally. The EU meanwhile hopes at least for an official letter from Ban inviting EULEX to take up its mission. The UN might insist, however, on a more formal agreement.
Ban has reportedly become more restrained out of deference to the wishes of Russia, which has a veto in the Security Council and whose support he needs if he decides to seek a second term in office. Russia maintains that only 1244 provides a legal basis for Kosovo. Moscow also argues that Kosovo's declaration of independence is illegal, and that the EU's planned mission has no legal basis because it is linked to Kosovar independence and lacks a Security Council mandate. Russian diplomats argue that they have no objection to an EU mission in principle, but stress that it must be approved by the UN.
To complicate matters further, on March 11, Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin called for new negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina on Kosovo's status, a proposal that is regarded as a nonstarter in Pristina and most Western capitals. On May 15, the foreign ministers of Russia, China, and India issued a call for new talks between Belgrade and Pristina "within the framework of international laws to seek a solution for the Serbian territory." Nor does Moscow miss an opportunity to link the question of Kosovo's independence to some issues outside the Balkans, namely to the status of the so-called frozen conflicts in the former Soviet Union.
In fact, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the State Duma on April 2 that "we have done all we could to disrupt plans to achieve quick and broad international recognition of Kosovo." He added that "we are not allowing the Kosovo issue to be taken outside the United Nations and have prevented the UN secretary-general from consecrating the European Union's mission to Kosovo, which does not have a UN mandate." A few days before Lavrov spoke, former Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov, who was one of the Soviet Union's top Middle East experts and the first director of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), told the Belgrade daily "Vecernje novosti" that the only practical solution for Kosovo is a partition along ethnic lines, which would include population transfers. It is not clear whether Primakov was speaking for anyone but himself. The UN, the EU, the United States, and the Kosovo government all support a multiethnic Kosovo and reject partition.
Besides Russian objections to the EU mission, there are other reasons for UNMIK to plan on staying beyond June 15, although it has no desire to remain in Kosovo at its present strength. The most important is that the EU needs the UN as a partner in northern Kosovo, where the Serbs have organized structures that recognize UNMIK but not EULEX. In other words, the EU will have to work through UNMIK if it is to play any role at all in the north, where 40 percent of the Serbian minority lives and violent protests took place in the spring.
Much remains to be clarified in the run-up to June 15. Speaking in Vienna on April 17, Feith nonetheless declined to specify any time frame for transferring UNMIK's mandate to EULEX, saying that "it is a matter for the EU and UN to take this further." He added that nobody should be "hung up" about the lack of a specific date for the transfer. But German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on May 26 that the EU mission could be delayed if no agreement is reached with the UN by June 15.
Joachim Ruecker, who heads UNMIK, told RFE/RL's South Slavic and Albanian Language Service on May 23 that the UN will remain present in Kosovo after June 15 and as long as Resolution 1244 remains in force. He stressed that there must not be any duplication of missions between UNMIK and EULEX, because that would not be fair to the taxpayers who fund them.
There is also the matter of protection for the civilian missions by the 16,000-strong KFOR. Its spokesman, French Colonel Jean-Luc Cotard, said on March 27 that KFOR has no orders to support the deployment of EU staff. He stressed that "we are aware of the situation, but in fact it's a political issue. Before doing anything, the politicians have to deal with it at the EU, UN, and NATO level." On May 23, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said in Sofia that KFOR will remain after June 15 and stressed that the UN and EU must determine what their respective responsibilities will be after that date.
Britain's "The Times" argued on May 26 that unnamed NATO sources believe that Kosovo's Albanians have been "remarkably restrained" when confronted by violence from within the Serbian community in recent months. Those same sources warned, however, that "the political stability of Kosovo is being undermined by the failure of the United Nations and the European Community to clarify their roles and responsibilities.... '[The] key is for the EU police mission fully to take responsibility for policing Kosovo, but there seems to be some hesitation over this, which puts the NATO troops...in a difficult position. KFOR is not supposed to be a police force but is there to maintain a safe and secure environment,' one NATO diplomatic source said." The daily stressed that failure to define and clarify the respective roles of UNMIK and EULEX could "provoke potential problems" after June 15.
Kosovo: the hour of Europe
John O' Brennan
In 1991, as Yugoslavia was on the point of imploding, the Luxembourg foreign minister Jacques Poos spoke for many prominent Europeans when he proclaimed that "the hour of Europe has struck". The implication was clear - the then twelve-member European Community had a moral responsibility to intervene so as to prevent an escalation of conflict.
The question is sharpened by the political mood in Serbia, where campaigning for its own presidential election on 20 January 2008 is underway. The incumbent Boris Tadic, a liberal and pro-European, remains favourite to win re-election, but opinion polls suggest his lead over Tomislav Nikolic of the ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party has narrowed and is within the margin of error.
The increasingly nationalist and uncompromising rhetoric of the administration of prime minister Vojislav Kostunica, supported by increasingly assertive Russian diplomacy, declares that Serbia will not yield sovereignty over Kosovo and cannot be compelled to do so. The "top state secret" action plan agreed at an emergency meeting of Serbia's cabinet on 14 January does nothing to allay the gathering tension.
Serbia's volatile political situation is exacerbated by security worries, related partly to the presence of significant (and unsettled) ethnic Albanian populations in the Presevo valley in southern Serbia and across the border in Macedonia. In such circumstances, Pristina's declaration of independence will almost inevitably further destabilise an already fragile region.
Mary Kaldor, "The Balkans-Caucasus tangle: states and citizens"(9 January 2008)Why do these events matter so much for the European Union? The reason is partly that the EU cannot disclaim its great share of responsibility for the region: the EU has moved closer to the centre of events in the Balkans over the past five years, notably assuming a more active role in Bosnia's internal security. The European council summit in December 2007 agreed to the deployment of a 1,800-strong EU police and civilian mission in Kosovo itself.
At the same time, the EU is far from unified on a resolution to the Kosovo question. Greece, Romania, Slovakia, and Spain are among the member-states most reluctant to recognise the putative new state, even if the EU plays a lead role in supervising its independence. Spain, in particular, worries about the precedent Kosovo would set for the Basque country, where aspirations for an independent state remain to the fore.
This internal EU impasse remains unresolved. Yet the union's collective responsibility remains, even as its leaders are aware that a Kosovo-generated political crisis in the Balkans would increase pressure on them from a variety of sources: among them the further entrenchment of Balkan organised-crime groups in European life, new waves of refugees fleeing upheaval, and a further fracturing in relations with Russia. In short, Brussels is acutely conscious of how much is at stake surrounding Kosovo, including the EU's credibility in the region and beyond.
The Kosovo-Serbia endgame is unfolding in the wake of the European commission's publication in November 2007 of its annual "report cards" on progress made by the western Balkan states in their efforts to secure membership of the EU. The reports delivered an unequivocally negative verdict. Bosnia and Serbia came in for particular criticism as both countries have regressed to a politics dominated by narrowly defined ethnic nationalism (though the judgment may have helped jolt Bosnia at least into a timely change of direction; see Peter Lippman, "Crisis and reform: a turnaround in Bosnia", 18 December 2007). Across the region corruption is, according to the reports, still deeply rooted in both public and private life and efforts undertaken to combat it "are not commensurate with the magnitude of the problem". At the very least there exists a shady nexus between the political classes and criminality. With the exception of Croatia, 2007 was a year when the momentum toward meeting accession-related reforms slowed considerably.
A time to lead
So what can the European Union do to avert a so-called "Balkan enlargement train- wreck"? Three things. First, and irrespective of what follows from a unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo, it needs to engage much more seriously and consistently with local political actors in the region. In practice, this means moving toward a partnership model of governance which delivers much more substantive local ownership over the political process. The commission reports stress the importance of state-building and better governance across the region. But the only way to realise that ambition is to allow it to happen from within - by empowering local actors and encouraging the development of substantive citizen participation in politics (see Mary Kaldor, "The Balkans-Caucasus tangle: states and citizens", 9 January 2008).
A second key shift in policy that is required involves an increase in the provision of enlargement-related pre-accession aid. The amount of aid being channelled toward the western Balkans is paltry in comparison to that provided to states like Ireland, Greece and Portugal in the past, and is also far less than recent entrants such as Poland and Bulgaria currently receive. The EU should move quickly to at least double the amount of subvention distributed across the region in a renewed effort to support capacity-building and economic development.
The third EU change is to acknowledge the important truth at the heart of this story: that enlargement has been central to the success of the European integration process over the past thirty years. The process has contributed incalculably to the stabilisation and democratisation of southern and eastern Europe. It remains the only game in town for the incorporation of the western Balkans into European institutional and political structures.
The conundrum facing the European Union is that the very success of previous enlargement rounds now calls into question the viability of future expansion. After the accession of twelve new member-states in 2004 and 2007, the EU has often been diagnosed as suffering from "enlargement fatigue". And there is little doubt that the gloomier rhetoric emanating from many European capitals has played a part in the slowdown in the reform process across the Balkans. Today, under the presidency of one of the 2004 entrants, with close ties to the region - Slovenia - the EU should insist that key conditions for progress of accession negotiations are satisfied. But the Kosovo crisis also highlights the evident need for the EU to embrace a more pro-active and engaged strategy for bringing the western Balkans closer to Europe.
In 1991, as Yugoslavia was on the point of imploding, the Luxembourg foreign minister Jacques Poos spoke for many prominent Europeans when he proclaimed that "the hour of Europe has struck". The implication was clear - the then twelve-member European Community had a moral responsibility to intervene so as to prevent an escalation of conflict.
The question is sharpened by the political mood in Serbia, where campaigning for its own presidential election on 20 January 2008 is underway. The incumbent Boris Tadic, a liberal and pro-European, remains favourite to win re-election, but opinion polls suggest his lead over Tomislav Nikolic of the ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party has narrowed and is within the margin of error.
The increasingly nationalist and uncompromising rhetoric of the administration of prime minister Vojislav Kostunica, supported by increasingly assertive Russian diplomacy, declares that Serbia will not yield sovereignty over Kosovo and cannot be compelled to do so. The "top state secret" action plan agreed at an emergency meeting of Serbia's cabinet on 14 January does nothing to allay the gathering tension.
Serbia's volatile political situation is exacerbated by security worries, related partly to the presence of significant (and unsettled) ethnic Albanian populations in the Presevo valley in southern Serbia and across the border in Macedonia. In such circumstances, Pristina's declaration of independence will almost inevitably further destabilise an already fragile region.
Mary Kaldor, "The Balkans-Caucasus tangle: states and citizens"(9 January 2008)Why do these events matter so much for the European Union? The reason is partly that the EU cannot disclaim its great share of responsibility for the region: the EU has moved closer to the centre of events in the Balkans over the past five years, notably assuming a more active role in Bosnia's internal security. The European council summit in December 2007 agreed to the deployment of a 1,800-strong EU police and civilian mission in Kosovo itself.
At the same time, the EU is far from unified on a resolution to the Kosovo question. Greece, Romania, Slovakia, and Spain are among the member-states most reluctant to recognise the putative new state, even if the EU plays a lead role in supervising its independence. Spain, in particular, worries about the precedent Kosovo would set for the Basque country, where aspirations for an independent state remain to the fore.
This internal EU impasse remains unresolved. Yet the union's collective responsibility remains, even as its leaders are aware that a Kosovo-generated political crisis in the Balkans would increase pressure on them from a variety of sources: among them the further entrenchment of Balkan organised-crime groups in European life, new waves of refugees fleeing upheaval, and a further fracturing in relations with Russia. In short, Brussels is acutely conscious of how much is at stake surrounding Kosovo, including the EU's credibility in the region and beyond.
The Kosovo-Serbia endgame is unfolding in the wake of the European commission's publication in November 2007 of its annual "report cards" on progress made by the western Balkan states in their efforts to secure membership of the EU. The reports delivered an unequivocally negative verdict. Bosnia and Serbia came in for particular criticism as both countries have regressed to a politics dominated by narrowly defined ethnic nationalism (though the judgment may have helped jolt Bosnia at least into a timely change of direction; see Peter Lippman, "Crisis and reform: a turnaround in Bosnia", 18 December 2007). Across the region corruption is, according to the reports, still deeply rooted in both public and private life and efforts undertaken to combat it "are not commensurate with the magnitude of the problem". At the very least there exists a shady nexus between the political classes and criminality. With the exception of Croatia, 2007 was a year when the momentum toward meeting accession-related reforms slowed considerably.
A time to lead
So what can the European Union do to avert a so-called "Balkan enlargement train- wreck"? Three things. First, and irrespective of what follows from a unilateral declaration of independence by Kosovo, it needs to engage much more seriously and consistently with local political actors in the region. In practice, this means moving toward a partnership model of governance which delivers much more substantive local ownership over the political process. The commission reports stress the importance of state-building and better governance across the region. But the only way to realise that ambition is to allow it to happen from within - by empowering local actors and encouraging the development of substantive citizen participation in politics (see Mary Kaldor, "The Balkans-Caucasus tangle: states and citizens", 9 January 2008).
A second key shift in policy that is required involves an increase in the provision of enlargement-related pre-accession aid. The amount of aid being channelled toward the western Balkans is paltry in comparison to that provided to states like Ireland, Greece and Portugal in the past, and is also far less than recent entrants such as Poland and Bulgaria currently receive. The EU should move quickly to at least double the amount of subvention distributed across the region in a renewed effort to support capacity-building and economic development.
The third EU change is to acknowledge the important truth at the heart of this story: that enlargement has been central to the success of the European integration process over the past thirty years. The process has contributed incalculably to the stabilisation and democratisation of southern and eastern Europe. It remains the only game in town for the incorporation of the western Balkans into European institutional and political structures.
The conundrum facing the European Union is that the very success of previous enlargement rounds now calls into question the viability of future expansion. After the accession of twelve new member-states in 2004 and 2007, the EU has often been diagnosed as suffering from "enlargement fatigue". And there is little doubt that the gloomier rhetoric emanating from many European capitals has played a part in the slowdown in the reform process across the Balkans. Today, under the presidency of one of the 2004 entrants, with close ties to the region - Slovenia - the EU should insist that key conditions for progress of accession negotiations are satisfied. But the Kosovo crisis also highlights the evident need for the EU to embrace a more pro-active and engaged strategy for bringing the western Balkans closer to Europe.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Serbia arrests 'ex-KLA fighters'
Police in south Serbia have arrested 10 suspected former Kosovo Liberation Army fighters for war crimes against non-Albanians, including murder and rape.
Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said the suspects had been arrested in the Serbian town of Presevo, near the border with Kosovo.
The 10 are suspected of being former KLA fighters who killed more than 50 Serbs in Kosovo.
The alleged crimes date back to after the end of the conflict there in 1999.
'New Year's visit'
The Serbian war crimes prosecutor's office said the group had sought to get rid of Serbs and other non-Albanians from Gnjilane (Gjilan in Albanian), 47km (30 miles) south-east of the Kosovan capital, Pristina.
"From June 1999 until October 1999, they were involved in at least 51 murders and 159 abductions in the town," said Bruno Vekaric, a spokesman for Serbia's war crimes prosecutor, Vladimir Vukcevic.
He added that some of those arrested had entered Presevo, a region of Serbia with a large ethnic Albanian community, to celebrate the New Year with relatives.
The Serbian prosecutor's office said the arrests had been made in raids on 17 homes in Presevo after months of preparation because of the "extremely high risk as almost all the suspects were armed".
Nine suspects were transferred to custody in Belgrade while one remained under investigation in southern Serbia, according to a statement from the office reported by the Associated Press.
Belgrade still regards Kosovo, which declared formal independence this year nearly a decade after breaking away from Serbia, as its territory.
Ethnic Albanian militants in Presevo waged an insurgency against Belgrade in 2001 which was ended with the help of Nato and EU diplomacy.
Riza Halimi, an ethnic Albanian political leader from Presevo, accused Serbian police of using excessive force in making the arrests on Friday.
"It certainly does not contribute to the stability in the region," the leader told Serbia's Beta news agency.
Published: 2008/12/26 16:49:53 GMT
Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said the suspects had been arrested in the Serbian town of Presevo, near the border with Kosovo.
The 10 are suspected of being former KLA fighters who killed more than 50 Serbs in Kosovo.
The alleged crimes date back to after the end of the conflict there in 1999.
'New Year's visit'
The Serbian war crimes prosecutor's office said the group had sought to get rid of Serbs and other non-Albanians from Gnjilane (Gjilan in Albanian), 47km (30 miles) south-east of the Kosovan capital, Pristina.
"From June 1999 until October 1999, they were involved in at least 51 murders and 159 abductions in the town," said Bruno Vekaric, a spokesman for Serbia's war crimes prosecutor, Vladimir Vukcevic.
He added that some of those arrested had entered Presevo, a region of Serbia with a large ethnic Albanian community, to celebrate the New Year with relatives.
The Serbian prosecutor's office said the arrests had been made in raids on 17 homes in Presevo after months of preparation because of the "extremely high risk as almost all the suspects were armed".
Nine suspects were transferred to custody in Belgrade while one remained under investigation in southern Serbia, according to a statement from the office reported by the Associated Press.
Belgrade still regards Kosovo, which declared formal independence this year nearly a decade after breaking away from Serbia, as its territory.
Ethnic Albanian militants in Presevo waged an insurgency against Belgrade in 2001 which was ended with the help of Nato and EU diplomacy.
Riza Halimi, an ethnic Albanian political leader from Presevo, accused Serbian police of using excessive force in making the arrests on Friday.
"It certainly does not contribute to the stability in the region," the leader told Serbia's Beta news agency.
Published: 2008/12/26 16:49:53 GMT
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)