Minority Edition

Serbs want Kosovo but not the Kosovars. Not that it matters, though it's an exercise in interestingness.

Kosovo and Croatia sign Free Trade Agreement

The trade exchange between Croatia and Kosovo in the first 2006 semester amounted to 55.4 million euros. The export operations from Croatia to Kosovo totaled 55.3 million euros, while Kosovo exported 107.000 euros worth of goods to Croatia.

I don't see what Kosovo has to lose from this.

Serbia has a new constitution ready for approval.

It also grants a form of self-rule to the northern province of Vojvodina, said Dusan Petrovic, from the pro-Western Democratic Party. No other details about the draft's contents were immediately available. (IHT)

Radicals (SRS) have said they will fight the proposed document because of the Vojvodina clause, despite the fact that it is designed to "show to the international community that Serbia is united in its bid to preserve its identity" (i.e. Kosovo) (IHT). Could Vojvodina end up the unexpected  winner in all this?

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Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) trained minority journalists in Kosovo at the end of which they came up with the following articles:

Belgrade Media Keep Kosovo Serbs in the Dark

Relentlessly negative reporting from Serbia isolates Kosovo minority more than ever

Village For Sale

With no jobs for the young and no security for the old, no wonder entire Serbian villages are on the market.

Serbs and Albanians Play Politics with Heritage Sites

After a deal looked close, both sides appear to have decided that scoring points is more important than making a breakthrough.

Kosovo Serb Political Divisions Grow

With final status talks seemingly no nearer a conclusion, the politicians representing the Serb minority are growing further apart.

In June for the first time any dissatisfaction with Belgrade was recorded among Kosovo Serbs. Although the number was still a paltry 15% and affected by events at the time, it's a move in the right direction. Of course, others favor a whole new and sad direction.

Kosovo Serbs Seek Radical Salvation

Hard-line rhetoric and grandiose pledges are winning hearts and minds in isolated Serbian enclaves.

Would you like a bomb with that meeting?

A roundup of important political events in Kosovo and about Kosovo this week.

There have been four bomb attacks. The first three caused some material damage and were definitely designed to send a message to government officials. Details are missing yet but the the ones in Gjilan might be realated to decentralization and the unsatisfaction in that area about what is being planned.

The fourth one happenned in Klina with four members of a Serb family wounded from it. This was also designed to send a massage. The fact that it happened just a day before imporant decision-making meetings of the UNSC and the Contact Group - and the fact that every such meeting is preceded by similar attacks - makes me think it was well planned and with clear intentions. Just when arguments for independence are most needed these heineous crimes against defensless Serbs will happen. I would love to know who's doing them - they definitely are not friends of Kosovo. 

Balkan Peace Park

British conservationists are working with Kosovo, Montenegro and Albania on creating a protected zone in the Accursed Mountains shared by the three countries. Here is a map of the area they intend to include (600 kb). As blogged previously on this blog, this area is underdeveloped and often cut-off from the world during the winter months. Underdevelopment can hurt the environment as much as development does. This could be a sustainable way of using this area to promote cooperation in the border area and preempt any undesirable development or destruction down the road.

I don't know about you but this just seems too enticing to me:

Whilst traveling in the region you will be able to sample some of the local produce. Local industries include honey-making, raki-making, cheese-making, baked goods, fresh fruits and vegetables, including wild strawberries and herbs (such as to make mountain tea).

Head to the official Balkan Peace Park Project web site and see if you can help them out.

Howto make the Kosovar Nation

Cafe Babel brings a topic not familiar even to people familiar with Kosovo. You see we're builing a new nation but can't figure out what it means to be a Kosovar. This issue will become important once we start accepting national symbols designed in blue and yellow by our international friends.

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Kosovo refugees in Prokupjle, Serbia struggle to make ends meet

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Kosovo Parliament has voted down a request to make Turkish the third official language in the Prizren municipality. This is absolutely unacceptable.

Serb President Boris Tadic visited Washington last week. The outcome of the meetings was/ was not opportune for Belgrade, as he relayed it live from Washington to his home audience. One has to genuinely wonder whether he really believed that he would achieve anything.

Serb lobby had actually tried to soften up the stance in Washington by playing these infomercials on two DC radio stations inviting the public to write to their congressmen. Have a listen!


powered by ODEO

The problem with the message is that DC population is awfully small and disinterested in the Balkans (it is mostly African-American) to care about to whom Kosovo goes to, on top of their representative not carrying a vote in congress. Some senators did write to Bush on July 28 regarding Kosovo, although all they asked from him is not to withdraw from Kosovo, which I second. The lobby has received the money and it has to spend it lobbying for something.

On the other hand the Albanian lobby responded with another very public appeal to the administration to support an independent Kosovo. It made a deal with McDonald's and KFC restaurants across DC to send forth its message through the in-your-face, primary-colored signs like the one below.



There is this train of thought among dog breeders that the moment a fighting dog drops his tail, he will be too weak to be a fighter anymore. I have the same idea with the communist taint of current political actors in the Balkans. Albanian PM Sali Berisha has made a smart move by enlisting the help of former US Department of Homeland Security Tom Ridge for his government and Albania. The details are still vague, although Ridge seems to be an accomplished and honorable man. I hope that veteran government leaders like Berisha (and his montenegrin countepart Milo Djukanovic, who seems to have won another election yesterday) will draw power from Ridge's example and retire from government and politics. They may open their own political consulting firms, go into charity, or even do a blog, but please retire from politics. The political scene in the Balkans needs new blood from people that are less divisive and don't have their resumes begin and end with politics.

*Ok, I made up the part about signs on McDonald's. The rest is dead serious.

Serb President Boris Tadic visited Washington last week. The outcome of the meetings was/ was not opportune for Belgrade, as he relayed it live from Washington to his home audience. One has to genuinely wonder whether he really believed that he would achieve anything.

Serb lobby had actually tried to soften up the stance in Washington by playing these infomercials on two DC radio stations inviting the public to write to their congressmen before Tadic's visit. Have a listen!


powered by ODEO

The problem with the message is that the DC population is awfully small and disinterested in the Balkans (it is mostly African-American) to care about whom Kosovo goes to, on top of their representative not carrying a vote in congress. Some senators did write to Bush on July 28 regarding Kosovo, although all they asked from him is not to withdraw from Kosovo, which I second. The lobby has received the money and it has to spend it lobbying for something.

On the other hand the Albanian lobby responded with another very public appeal to the administration to support an independent Kosovo. It made a deal with McDonald's and KFC restaurants across DC to send forth its message through the in-your-face, primary-colored signs like the one below.



There is this train of thought among dog breeders that the moment a fighting dog drops his tail, he will be too weak to be a fighter anymore. I have the same idea with the communist taint of current political actors in the Balkans. Albanian PM Sali Berisha has made a smart move by enlisting the help of the former US Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Tom Ridge for his government and Albania. The details are still vague, although Ridge seems to be an accomplished and honorable man. I hope that veteran government leaders like Berisha (and his montenegrin countepart Milo Djukanovic, who seems to have won another election yesterday) will draw power from Ridge's example and retire from government and politics. They may open their own political consulting firms, go into charity, or even do a blog, but please retire from politics. The political scene in the Balkans needs new blood from people that are less divisive and don't have their resumes begin and end with politics.

*Ok, I made up the part about signs on McDonald's. The rest is dead serious.

Albania 1989

Gjirokaster Albania 1989, originally uploaded by Maverick12.

From the good old days of 1989 Albania comes a full set of photographs on Flickr.

(Through peshkupauje.com.)

Trajkovic: Serbs have sold property worth 3 billion euro

Belgrade, 5 September 2006. (Beta) - Leader of Spot Momcilo Trajkovic stated that Serbs in Kosovo since June 1999 have sold property worth three billion euro and that money has ended up in Serbia.

"I have two hectares of land. If I sold that land, I could get 1.5 million euro. But selling land, house in Kosovo, that means to sell territory, state and national interests," said Trajkovic on the show Openly on Kosovo.

Today is the International Day of the Missing

International Committee of the Red Cross:

In the Balkans there remain thousands of persons still unaccounted for as a result of the former conflicts in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Kosovo. Of more than 33,000 tracing requests for missing persons opened by the ICRC since the outbreak of hostilities, today 18,555 remain unaccounted for – 13,862 from Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2,409 from Croatia and 2,284 from Kosovo respectively. Their families, living in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Serbia proper and Montenegro, continue to live in uncertainty and anguish hoping to receive news on their missing relatives. In order to remind the authorities and the public of the problems that they continue to face and appeal for the elucidation of the fate of their loved ones, the Kosovo Albanian families will gather in Pristina, the Kosovo Serb families in Gracanica, Serbian families in Belgrade, while Bosniac and Croatian family associations will get together in Zagreb on the occasion of this year's International Day of the Disappeared.

The "terrorist" that threw the bomb at the infamous Dolce Vita cafe in northern Mitrovica may be a teenager with hemophilia and two brain operations that have caused him to lose all memory until one year ago. However, one Albanian witness put Adem on the bridge (away from the cafe) at the time of the explosion, while his family was shopping nearby in the southern part of Mitrovica. Under these circumstances, it is pure luck that Adem was moved to the Albanian part and not to the north as was attempted, where later a crowd of about 500 Serbs rioted.

Our friend, Serb leader Oliver Ivanonic, was at the cafe and witnessed the attacker approaching. Serb media and leaders (B92 quoted above nonincluding) have gone berserk accusing Albanians of terrorism and whatever other pre-conceived notions they had about the group.

I promised to say more on what the results of the Ahtisaari's visit to Pristina were going to be. The truth is that I don't know what's going on. On Wednesday it seemed that there was pressure on the Kosovo delegation to move from its previously held position. On Friday same Ahtisaari came out somewhat pleased with the (same?) results. Kosovareport.com's Tuesday posts can give you an idea on what the contentions are. The delegation kept working on finalizing its proposals until the Monday night deadline when it was supposed to forward its final stances to Ahtisaari. Semantically, Kosovo's delgation remains on its 5+1 position, but of course this is displomacy. The delegation is expected to address parliament soon, despite the fact that the proposals were sent off.
One of the more novel proposals is the idea to unite the future municipality of northern Mitrovica with Zvecan, a majority Serb municipality. This idea seemed to have the support of Ahtisaari but Pristina came vocally against it. Although Mitrovica is likely to be split in two municipalities as Serbs request, returning Albanian population in the northern part could still be a majority or a sizeable minority depending on how hard life for them remains there. Of course, it is odd that decentralization that is supposed to lead to better local governance is dealing with the fusion of territories into larger areas that are designed to allow one ethnic group overwhelming vote on issues. Maybe this fact alone reveals the real reasons behind the Serb push for decentralization.

USIP report

United State's Institute of Peace has issued a new report on Kosovo: Ethnic Nationalism at Its Territorial Worst. The conclusion boils down to this: Serbia is asking to delay sovereignty for 20 years (Belgrade argues that Kosovo should be given everything but a seat at the UN) during which Serbia will establish itself within the up-for-grabs Serb enclaves in Kosovo, with the Serb state sovereignty eventually spreading over those territories.

Conclusion
The question of Kosovo's status is gradually boiling down to the question of the status of the Kosovo Serbs, and the degree of their integration into the rest of Kosovo. Or, to put it another way, the question of Kosovo's status is not whether it will be independent or not, but whether it will be sovereign and, if so, over what territory.
Kosovo is already independent in the sense that the Albanian-populated areas govern themselves, within limits imposed by the UN Security Council, independently of Belgrade. No one in Belgrade has put forward a plan to govern the Albanians, and no one any longer imagines as Milosevic did that they can chase the Albanians from Kosovo. But if decentralization allows separate governance of the Serbs within Kosovo, without reference to Pristina, Kosovo will not be sovereign over the territory occupied by Serbs. It should be no surprise then that some in Belgrade and in West European capitals imagine that Kosovo can be given independence but not a seat at the UN, where all sovereign states rightfully sit.
This kind of ambiguous solution is a formula for failure and violence. Seven years after NATO's intervention, the future of Kosovo and most of the rest of the former Yugoslavia is once again at stake. With talks on the future status of Kosovo already initiated, the implications of ethnoterritorial separation inside Kosovo need to be understood: calling it decentralization does not change reality, and the reality of ethnoterritorial separation leads to instability and violence. The international community and the people of the Balkans have come too far over the past decade to end up in a scenario that would only satisfy extreme nationalists. The Balkans endgame can be a peaceful one, but only if ethnoterritorial separation is ruled out.

Gegë and Toskë

One is Gegë, the other is Toskë Turk-Arnaut (Turkish-Albanian). Pay attention to the graceful flowing moves and countenance of the Toskë kid.

I'm giving too much publicity to this guy but he seems to be the only one not parroting Belgrade. Oliver Ivanovic is keen enough to see across the hill, beyond the end of the current talks.

[Jevtic] What is your grudge against the Belgrade negotiating team?

[Ivanovic] Besides what people think, I would add Belgrade taking the question of decentralization too lightly. If we succeed in keeping Kosovo part of Serbia, only decentralization can ensure normal life for Serbs in an Albanian environment. Belgrade is putting emphasis on status, while questions on technical talks that have to do with everyday life are considered less important. That precisely is the basis for Serbs to remain in Kosovo. However status is resolved we must establish relations and be protected through the institutions.

In the rest of the interview Ivanovic complains that Kosovo Serbs's views are not being considered by Belgrade. That, at least in theory, is not true. In Vienna Kosovo Serbs voluntarily left the talks sumbitting the right to negotiate for them to representatives of the government from Belgrade. K-Serbs, as PM Çeku says may be confused, but in no way can they blame Belgrade for their failures anymore.

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Today chief UN negotiator in the talks Marti Ahtisaari returns for a three day visit to Kosovo. He will be asking Albanians to give 10 new municipalities to Serbs and allow for more municipalities in the future in places where Serb returnees will make at least 5,000 people, which was set earlier by Ahtisaari as the border that would justify a municipality. Albanians are saying they will not move from the current offer of 5+1 which accounts for the 24% of the territory of Kosovo and includes 82% of the Serb population. A clause that I find concerning is the ability of these municipalities to nullify any central authority. In the way it is currently being phrased, this rule could become an issue of contention later on. This possibility for more municipalities, along with an earlier understanding to allow returns wherever Serbs wish, will also be used to design the map of Serb municipalities by encouraging returns in such ways as to connect Serb territories through places where Serbs currently don't live and then ultimately to Serbia. Couple this with the "we don't care about Prishtina" clause and we're in for another Bosnia. Like in Bosnia, if this thing is not done right now, in ten years we may have to go back to the drawing board.

Ahtisaari's goal is to move quick and close the decentralization part by September. He will apply pressure to whichever side seems weakest. Come back in three days to see the results to what will be his most memorable stay in Prishtina.

Rücker is funny and would like to dine with... Check out his "10 answers" to EU in Kosovo website.