EU troops to stay another year in stagnating Bosnia

By Deutche Welle

 
Author: Matt Hermann

Editor: Trinity Hartman

 
The European Union’s EUFOR mission, a peacekeeping contingent of about 1,600 troops from 20 different members of the 27-nation bloc, will be staying in Bosnia-Herzegovina for another year.

Someone has to. The Dayton Peace Accords, signed 14 years ago, call for an international military force to act as a guarantor of peace and stability.

When EUFOR took over from the UN peacekeeping force in 2004, some thought the widened military presence would be paired with a greater push for civil society measures and democratic development - primarily in the shape of constitutional reform.

But results have been disappointing.

“I think the EU did not play a constructive role the last couple of years,” said Erich Rathfelder, a journalist and author who has reported on the former Yugoslavia since 1992.

That’s mostly because they didn’t push more effectively for reform of the country’s outmoded constitution, says Rathfelder.

“Bosnia and Herzegovina cannot survive with this constitution. It’s a peace accord and the constitution. And as a constitution, it is not compatible with democratic institutions.

Odd circumstances

The peace accord which has become the de facto Bosnian constitution gives few significant powers to the central government, and gives veto power over most measures to the two semi-autonomous ethnic entities which make up the country: The Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina (in which Bosniak Muslims and Croats make up the majority), and The Republika Srpska (a majority Serb enclave).

The Bosnian Serbs, who are only about half as numerous as the Croats and Bosniaks combined, are keen to keep the distribution of power that way. They use their veto rights to protect their autonomy, and many there would prefer to secede if the central state tried to take on a greater role.

It’s an unusual system which requires frequent mediation from the UN High Representative, who has the power to hire and fire government appointees and even elected officials.

Unsteady engagement

European Union foreign policy chief Carl Bildt, the Swedish foreign minister who himself was the UN High Representative in Bosnia in the 1990s, recognized the system wasn’t working and called a set of constitutional reform talks this October.

It was a good sign, but according to Franz-Lothar Altmann, who studies the Wesrtern Balkans region at the Center for Applied Policy Research in Munich, Bildt made some big mistakes.

“Important people from parties in Bosnia had not been invited, others who were invited were amazed that they were on the list of invitees,” said Altmann.

The worst part, though, was that Bildt set up the talks without first bringing the present UN High Representative Valentin Inzko on board.

“It was certainly disgusting, I must say, because he’s the one who had to bear the consequences and is on the forefront of this process,” Altmann said.

Bildt’s diplomatic fauxs pas, and lack of a clear set of proposals before the meeting meant they ended in deadlock. Bosniaks and Croats are still after a stronger central government, and Serbs are still threatening to secede if anyone tries to force one on them.

Visa spat

The EU might have made another misstep, said Altmann, in its recent decision to loosen visa requirements for Serbia and Montenegro, but not Bosnia-Hezegovina. Some Bosniaks took that as a symbol that they, as Muslims, were not wanted in Europe.

And there is a practical reason for Bosniaks to be upset too.

“The Muslims say ‘we are the only ones in Bosnia who are without any visa-free possibilities!’ If the Croats have second passports from Croatia, they can travel visa-free. And Serbs in the Republika Srpska also try to receive passports from Serbia proper. ‘We are the only ones left out,’ they say. This is certainly true.”

Altmann believes the EU will probably change its mind about Bosnia next year as long as the country stays on the course of anti-corruption reform measures that it just didn’t complete in time.

But until the constitution is rewritten, any changes will be mostly cosmetic, says author Erich Rathfelder.

“This is all due to the constitution,” he says.

“The rule of law cannot exist, cannot be developed. This is the problem.”

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Serbia to get EUR half billion yearly from ‘Southern Stream’

Author: B. Stamenkovi? | 18.11.2009

 
The public enterprise ‘Srbijagas’ and the Russian ‘Gazprom’ registered in Switzerland yesterday a mutual enterprise for construction of the ‘Southern Stream’ gas pipeline through Serbia as Dusan Bajatovic ‘Srbijagas’ General director confirmed to ‘Blic’.
As said earlier, ‘Srbijagas’ shall have a 49 percent stake in the mutual company while ‘Gazprom’ shall have the majority share of 51 percent.

The stretch through Serbia should be 450 kilometers long with capacity of 36 to 41 billion cubic meters of gas per year. The value of investments in that part of the gas pipeline shall be EUR 700 millions at least. As recently said by Bajatovic the income from the transit tax for Serbia might be EUR half a billion annually.

The future gas pipeline the ‘Southern Stream’, a joint project by ‘Gazprom’ and Italian ‘ENI’ is to transport Russian gas below the Black Sea through a pipeline 900 kilometers long to the Bulgarian Port of Varna, via Balkan Peninsula, Serbia, Hungary and further to Austria and Italy.

The value of investment has been estimated to EUR 20 billions. The capacity of the gas pipeline should be 63 billion cubic meters of gas yearly. The construction is to begin in 2011 and should be finished until the end of 2015.

The agreement on construction of the ‘Southern Stream’ has been signed by Serbia, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Hungary and Greece.

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U.S. task force in Kosovo gets new leader

Stars and Stripes
European edition, Wednesday, November 18, 2009
STUTTGART, Germany — As Kosovo prepared for last Sunday’s elections — the first since declaring independence from Serbia — a new U.S.-led task force took responsibility of NATO’s Multi-National Task Force-East.

Army Brig. Gen. Alan S. Dohrmann, of the North Dakota National Guard’s 141st Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, assumed command Saturday at a ceremony at Camp Bondsteel.

Dohrmann replaced Brig. Gen. Keith D. Jones of the California National Guard’s 40th Infantry Division (Forward), according to a task force news release. The California Guard unit has been in Kosovo since February.

The task force comprises about 2,200 troops, including 1,300 U.S. troops and soldiers from five NATO nations.

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Kosovo to hold Balkans Quran competition

International Holy Quran reciting competition will be held in Kosovo on November 28.
 
World Bulletin (Turkey)  |  13 November 2009 11:58
World Bulletin / News Desk

Kosovars are holding a competition for the best reading of Quran to maintain their Islamic identity.

Quran volunteers in the Balkans will compete for the best reciting of the Holy Quran.

The competition is organized on November 28, 2009 in Kosovo. Contestants from different countries will be able to compete in the competition.

Other than Kosovo, participants from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Macedonia and Turkey will join the competition.

Organization committee aims to endear the Holy Quran to the Muslim people with this beautiful competition.

On the net: www.kuranfest.com

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Editorial: Clouds over Bosnia

Arab News  |  12 November 2009

 
 
Is Bosnia on the brink of further breakdown and violence? NATO leaders seem to fear so as evidenced by the high-level international diplomacy taking place in recent days. The problem lies in attempts to overhaul the temporary constitution imposed on the country in 1995 under the Dayton peace accord.
This was at best a band-aid, which established two semi-independent entities, the Bozniak-Croat Federation and the Bosnian Serb enclave, Republika Srpska. Each had its own president, government, Parliament and police. The idea was that as the benefits of peace accrued, both sides would see the virtue of closer cooperation so that in time the dividing line between their communities would start to dissolve.
No such thing, of course, has happened. Instead the Bosnian Serbs have continued to behave as if they were a ministate and make no secret of their intention to hold a referendum of their 1.5 million inhabitants on independence or union with Serbia. Since some 88 percent of the population is ethnic Serb, it seems likely that such a vote would go in favor of a break away from Bosnia.
It is clear now that in bringing about an end to the fighting, the Dayton deal sacrificed too much in the way of Bosnian sovereignty. The rotating presidency that was supposed to act as a unifying factor has instead served to heighten divisions and rivalries. Meanwhile, the existence of an almost completely formed Bosnian Serb government has allowed local Serb leaders to ignore the long-term goal of union and focus instead on a path toward independence.
The danger for the Bosnian state which has nominal rule over the largely Serbian-occupied territory is that a decision by the Serbs to leave could trigger similar action by the Bosnian Croat minority in the country. For a part of the world where history counts for much, this state of affairs is unfortunately all too familiar.
Bosnia itself, save for a brief independent history as a Christian state in the Middle Ages, was always dominated by a neighbor, including Hungary and the princes of Herzegovina. Its conquest by the Turks and subsequent Islamization gave it a fresh but not independent identity, which was abhorred by the Serbs who frequently rebelled against Ottoman rule. Therefore the Dayton deal was not only unrealistic but some have argued, also pushed against the grain of history. The new Bosnia was, some say, a failed state from the start.
The United States and the EU are now struggling to cope with the result of the draughtsmanship at Dayton. The only leverage is EU membership for Serbia, Croatia and ultimately Bosnia itself. Why, it is asked, should communities once again tear themselves apart when they will be united within the EU? Unfortunately we have the continued breakaway violence in Spain’s Basque region and by die-hard Republicans in the UK’s Northern Ireland, to prove this is no answer.
Some forceful and insightful action is, therefore, needed quickly by the international community to lance this new and rising ball of conflict before it is too late.

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Mitrovica’s toxic camps are home to a demonised people

Printed Edition of the Irish Times

 
AS KOSOVO’S Albanians and Serbs move from violent conflict into a poisonous and paralysing stand-off, a third community in this fledgling state is suffering most of all, writes DANIEL McLAUGHLIN in Mitrovica

The Roma of Kosovo are demonised by its 90 per cent Albanian majority and at best tolerated, often resented, by the Serbs who stayed here after a 1998-1999 war broke Belgrade’s hold on the region and ultimately led to the independence that they vow never to accept.

All but about 20,000 of the 200,000 Roma who lived in pre-war Kosovo have left, driven out by Albanian gangs who accused them of collaboration with the Serbs. Most that remain live in the Serb stronghold of northern Kosovo but, wherever they reside, the Roma are at the back of the queue for funds and services provided by the cash-strapped Kosovo and Serb governments.

The picture is bleak for all the Kosovo Roma, but it is bleakest of all in the toxic camps of Mitrovica.

On the northern side of this tense, ethnically divided town are the settlements of Cesmin Lug and Osterode, huddled among the black slag heaps and rusting machinery of the Trepca lead mine.

These camps are home to about 500 people, and they are situated in what is probably the most heavily polluted place in all of former Yugoslavia.

The Roma fled to northern Mitrovica when their Mahala district on the southern side of the Ibar river was razed to the ground by Albanian mobs at the end of the war.

The United Nations established three emergency camps for the 8,000 fleeing Roma on some of the most contaminated territory of a town where the air, soil and water are all blighted by its past as a mining and smelting centre for southern Yugoslavia.

Two of the camps were finally closed in 2006 and their residents moved to a nearby former French army base called Osterode. A third camp established in 1999, Cesmin Lug, is still full of life – and lead – to this day.

In Osterode, people live in long metal cabins arranged on a vast expanse of concrete which, because it does not absorb the lead in the air, is considered its strongest attraction. Sanitation is basic and electricity intermittent, and residents fire up smoky old wood-burning stoves when the power fails.

Cesmin Lug is even more primitive and more dangerous. Clinging to a disused railway line with a view towards a towering black slag heap, it is a shanty of listing wooden and metal huts built on mud that is full of the lead and other heavy metals that gave Mitrovica its economic rationale.

“We’ve all got problems with lead in our blood, from the babies to the oldest people,” said Chun Hajdini (50), leaning on the door frame of his little home in Cesmin Lug. “Since 1999 things have been terrible for the Roma in Kosovo. We are the poorest people here. I was born in the Mahala and had a big house there, but it was destroyed. The people here lost everything when the Mahala was burned down.”

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the World Health Organisation and Human Rights Watch are among those calling for the camps to be closed and the Roma relocated. But a situation that the UN helped create by building the camps in this poisonous area, and failed to resolve during nine years running Kosovo, is now a long way down the priority list of Pristina, Belgrade and an international community that is scaling back its involvement here.

One project that could get the Roma out of the camps is being stymied by Kosovo’s economic woes, fears of a return to violence and, critics say, a lack of domestic and international commitment.

Groups including the Danish Refugee Council – whose project is partly funded by Irish Aid – have built new housing in the Mahala that is now home to about 100 Roma families. But a dearth of jobs, problems accessing the ethnic-Albanian health and education systems, and worries that strong discrimination could lead to a new attack on the district, are all discouraging Roma from going back.

“Those who have gone back say there is no work and it’s hard to get food for their kids. At least here in northern Mitrovica we can collect metal and trade with the Serbs, and find odd jobs,” said Habib, a community leader in the Osterode camp.

“And we are scared. People were killed in riots in 2004 that started in Mitrovica. It doesn’t seem safe to go back to the Mahala yet.” Having failed to ensure the closure of the camps, western states may be about to dump another problem on their doorstep.

Germany intends to send some 14,000 Kosovo refugees – including 10,000 Roma – back to Kosovo over the next decade, and other EU members are expected to follow suit.

Berlin says it will not repatriate more than 2,500 people a year.

Aid workers fully expect many of these refugees to turn up at the lead-blighted camps where their relatives live, compounding what the OSCE this year called “one of the biggest medical crises in the region”.

“The West will be forcing people back from a healthy environment into a terribly unhealthy one, and compounding all the problems here of unemployment, bad hygiene and so on,” said Igor Zlatkovic, a camp officer for the Kosovo Agency for Advocacy and Development.

“We are totally in the dark about what EU countries are planning. I have nightmares of buses full of Roma returnees turning up at the camp gates. We couldn’t turn them away. But we would have to extend the camps and then people could be stuck here forever.”

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9/11 Mastermind Khalid Sheikh Muhammed had Bosnian citizenship

By Julia Gorin  |  Oct. 30, 2009

 
This is an item from early this year, but it can’t be said enough, especially since most people don’t know. In fact, it’ll be a shocker yet again when Karadzic mentions it in his trial.
Bosnia: Senior Al-Qaeda figure granted citizenship, says report

Sarajevo, 20 Jan. (AKI) - Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the senior Al-Qaeda official credited with masterminding the 9/11 terror attacks in the United States, was granted Bosnian citizenship before the attacks, a local newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Born in Kuwait to a family originally from the Baluchi region of Pakistan, Mohammed reportedly went to Bosnia in September 1995, disguised as a humanitarian worker for an organisation called Egyptian Relief.

He obtained Bosnian citizenship in November the same year, Bosnian daily Fokus said, quoting local intelligence sources.

The newspaper said Egyptian Relief was just a cover for the Cairo-based Islamist movement, the Muslim Brotherhood.

Fokus said war-time authorities knew about Mohammed’s presence in Bosnia and his citizenship was kept a state secret.
Thousands of mujahadeen from Islamic countries came to Bosnia in the early 1990s to fight with local Muslims and many remained in the country after the war, acquiring Bosnian citizenship.

The paper did not specify Mohammed’s movements after Bosnia. But he was arrested in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi in March 2003 and transferred to the American detention camp for suspected terrorists in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The 9/11 Commission Report cited him as “the principal architect of 9/11 attacks” in which over 3,000 people were killed in the United States. […]

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German MEP: Serbs should make Kosovo “sustainable state”

European parliament member Doris Pack said that Serbia will not enter the European Union “until it solves its problems with Kosovo”.

According to Deutsche Welle, she said at a round table discussion in Berlin that Serbia’s “biggest problem is the fact that Kosovo is its closest neighbor which it does not want to recognize”.

“Relations between Serbia and Kosovo are very poor and this must change,” she was also quoted as saying.

Pack added that an possible partition of Kosovo “would not change the situation”.

“It can be solved only if Serbs in Kosovo take their fate into their own hands,” she advised.

“Serbs in Kosovo should really do that. This will help the small country of Kosovo remain sustainable. That is in the interest of Serbia and the entire region,” Pack said.

Serbs in Kosovo should make themselves active and work in creating “policies of their country”, while “the biggest chance will be given to them at the coming local elections, where they can be elected for positions in Kosovo municipal councils”, this MEP believes.

“If Serbs in Belgrade tell Serbs in Kosovo that they should not be politically active in the elections or not participate, because otherwise they would not get financial assistance, then I believe that this is not the right path to implementing good neighborly relations,” Pack concluded

 
Source: B92

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Moscow Patriarchate visits Kosovo-Metohija

Head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk has stated in Gracanica that he had come to pay tribute to one of the oldest cradles of the Orthodox Christianity, where big historic events took place.

Hilarion who is on a several-day visit to the Eparchy of Raska and Prizren of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo and Metohija, said that the Russian orthodox Church had always been and will always be together with the SPC in all of its times of trouble.

He called on the Gracanica Monastery monks and nuns not leave this land and temples, because, as he explained, for as long as they are there, the Orthodox religion will be preserved.

The guest from Russia was welcomed by Bishop Artemije at the Pristina airport.

Artemije evaluated that the visit by the guest from Russia is an evidence of his love and care for the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija and that they will try to inform Ilarion about the true state of affairs in the field in order for him to be able to inform the Russian patriarch.

 
Source: Tanjug

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France - Security Council: Kosovo (UNMIK)

By: International Security Research & Intelligence Agency -ISRIA-

 
France - Security Council: Kosovo (UNMIK) - Statement by Mr. Gérard Araud, Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations

I wish to begin by thanking Mr. Vuk Jeremi?, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia and Mr. Skender Hyseni, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kosovo, for their presence. We have listened to them with great care. I also commend the work of Mr. Lamberto Zannier, Special Representative of the Secretary-General who in a very effective and pragmatic way has implemented the reconfiguration of the international presence created by the Secretary-General with the support of the Security Council.

More than a year and a half have passed since Kosovo’s declaration of independence. What lessons can we draw? Kosovo’s independence has contributed to strengthening security and stability, by putting an end to two decades of violence and defiance. The rights of minorities are respected in conformity with the commitments undertaken by Kosovo authorities by accepting the plan elaborated by the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General, Mr. Martti Ahtisaari.

This outcome is the result of the work of all the men and women who have worked within the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) for ten years. It is also the result of the work of the European Union with the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) and its essential support in helping the authorities in Kosovo to set up a State of law and solid institutions for the good of the people of Kosovo. It is also the result of the work of Kosovars who placed their confidence in the international community. It is the result of the work of Serbs who chose the path of reason and of doing their utmost to ensure that Kosovo would develop in peace and calm for the good of all its communities.

Of course, difficulties remain. But France believes that if we take a step back to look at all the very real imperfections in the field, it can be said that, generally speaking, the Government of Kosovo has acted in a responsible way and fulfilled its commitments. The creation of a Constitution in conformity with European norms and values and the adoption of laws promoting the participation of minorities are all important steps towards a State of law at the service of all of the inhabitants of Kosovo, without regard to their community alliances.

The reorganization of the international presence took place in very good conditions. The European Union is now providing essential support through deployment of EULEX which assists in building the institutions of a State of law in Kosovo in the framework of resolution 1244 (1999). The European Mission is pursuing a twofold objective: to help the authorities in Kosovo to consolidate the institutions put in place with UNMIK’s assistance, and to ensure the full implementation of the commitments that they have undertaken concerning the rule of law. In that context, the role of Serbia is, of course, essential. We welcome the Mission’s technical cooperation with the authorities of Kosovo’s neighbours — including, of course, Serbia — in the area of law enforcement.

We are aware of what Kosovo’s independence represents for Serbia. Nevertheless, we call on Serbia to maintain its responsible attitude and to focus its efforts on its future integration into the European Union. France, which does not forget a long shared history, is counting on Serbia to contribute to stability in a difficult region. The statement just made by Mr. Jeremi? confirms that intention.

We listened attentively to Mr. Hyseni. The commitment to the rule of law, the desire to build a multi-ethnic State that respects minorities, the will to nurture friendly relations with Kosovo’s neighbours and the pro-European commitment of the Kosovo authorities that the Foreign Minister just reiterated are strong commitments that should be commended.

Once again, we have just seen evidence of the persistence of differences between Serbia and Kosovo. We regret that a legal and political guerrilla war is under way that is sterile and does not correspond with public opinion in both countries in favour of overcoming the crisis and turning to the future. The people are sometimes ahead of their Government.

However, we must also highlight the concern shared by the Serbian and Kosovo authorities to maintain stability in the region and to preserve the conditions for a shared future within Europe. We encourage Belgrade and Pristina to resume direct dialogue as swiftly as possible. The European Union, for its part, will remain committed to ensuring a stable and prosperous future for the Western Balkans as a whole and to offering a shared future to Serbs and Kosovars within the framework of our European adventure.

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