BELGRADE, NEW YORK -- Serbian prime minister Vojislav Koštunica welcomed Friday the announced UN fact-finding mission to Kosovo.
Source: B92, Beta
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“The legal framework for the formation of the Security Council mission is Resolution 1244, which gives indications that new and real negotiations will this time be conducted within the existing Resolution of the Security Council,” Koštunica said.
According to Koštunica, Serbia is preparing for the arrival of the mission, and is “cooperating with Russia very closely”.
Koštunica added that “favorable conditions for continued negotiations on Kosovo were gradually created” after the UN Security Council session of April 3.
Earlier, the UN Security Council announced it had decided to send a fact-finding mission to Kosovo at the end of April.
“The mission will visit Kosovo ahead of the final phase of the province's status settlement,” Britain's ambassador Emyr Jones Parry, the current Council President told the press Thursday night following consultations with the Council.
The mission, headed by Belgian Ambassador to the UN Johan Verbeke, will arrive in Kosovo the last week of April.
The UN delegation will be comprised of ambassadors, or their representatives, of the 15 UN SC member states.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon yesterday met with the Priština negotiating team for the future status of Kosovo, led by Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu, Tanjug learned from its diplomatic sources in the UN.
The meeting came as a part of the international conference dedicated to the preparation of a strategy for the initial 120 days of Kosovo, if the UN Security Council manages to adopt the resolution to grant independence to the province.
The conference began Thursday and, according to diplomatic sources in New York, the gathering will serve as another round of consultations related to Priština’s announcements of a unilateral proclamation of independence should Russia postpone the resolution’s adoption or use its veto.
I wonder what the albanians will say when the UN-fact finding mission asks why 250 000 serb refugees have not been able to return to their homes.
I wonder what the albanians will answer when they are asked why 150 churches have been destroyed and not rebuilt in the last eight years.
I wonder what the albanians will answer to the question why serbs in Kosovo still needs military escort to school, the market place or where ever they wish to go.
I wonder what the albanians will answer to the question why not a single standard of importance in UN resolution 1244 have not been met or implemented.
(Justice Veritas, 13 April 2007 12:00)
The Albanians probably won´t be that stupid. if the go the unilateral way, UNMIK will have to act in order of UNSCR 1244.
that would bring the K-albanians in conflict with the international community...
few weeks ago, I read that the criminal named ceku ruled out any unilateral steps...now this information,...
Albanians really need better leaders...
(jovan, 13 April 2007 12:23)
Suzana: "Who is administrating Kosovo? - UN
Who is going to implement fact-finding mission? - UN"
UNMIK want to relinquish control and just walk away, leaving the EU in control.
The UN fact finding mission is on behalf of the Security Council - a whole different kettle of fish. No more UN troops to terrify into their barracks at night.
(kate, 13 April 2007 12:38)
Suzana,
"Who is going to implement fact-finding mission?
UN"
- you only wish this was the case!!! This clearly shows your lack of aprehension what this "fact finding Mission" is about!!! They will in fact be representatives of the individual nation states of the UN SC - not over paid UN technocrats ticking boxes on questionnaires to suggest all is wonderful!!!
They will be asking all the questions that few will want to answer and have ignored for the past 8 years. Get ready for the reality of events and why the last 8 years have been a complete failure that can no longer be covered up!!!
Do you think that the Russians & Chinese won't be highlighting certain recent studies??? to quote;
[link] "study by the Institute for European Politics, a Berlin think-tank, says the severely impoverished territory has little prospect of democratic progress because the building of a functioning multi-ethnic society has failed and does not exist "outside the bureaucratic phrases of the international community". The study describes the European Union's security strategy for an independent Kosovo as flawed. The authors accuse Nato and the UN of creating a culture of systematic repression of critical reports in order to present Kosovo as a success story.
"
(Princip, UK, 13 April 2007 13:13)
Justice Veritas
Where did you get the 250000 , are you including serbs from Croatia and Bosnia/
150 Churches, you got to be crazy. Any building built as a Church during 1990 is not considered a church. Just another building illegally built on someone’s land. I will give you a perfect example: Center of Gjakova during milosheviqs era was built in the city park where I used to play as a kid in 1970. Now if you count that as a church, than my dead grandpa is Superman.
Jovan, don’t you worry if that time comes yes we will declare our Independence and UN staff on the ground including all KFOR forces will respect the will of the people. MARK MY WORD.
(Agim Elshani, 13 April 2007 13:13)
When they come in Kosova, they will see a normal country, normal people, serbs runing their life normally (I am from Lipjan and my serb neighbors move free where ever they want they started to do business with albanians without any complex) they will be amazed with the wish of kosovars people to move forward in a better future and everything will stand in favor of Kosova.
As for some commentators here who claims that Kosova is not a normal state I have a suggest for you: Come here and see the realty in the ground, because standing in Beograd and making comments for Prishtina is non sens. For the start came in Lipjan and I will organize a welcome to you and probably this will be a good start of reconciliation between two nations after all the wars and other crimes are done in Kosova.
(Shukri Gashi, 13 April 2007 13:14)
Kate, How do you know that they are terified, and terified fom whom. No one is buying your PR.
Hey Jovan, I also remeber seeing the Criminal Koshtunica with AK-47 in Kosova during the war, and he is one among many ther criminals that are running your govermant in Belgrade.If my coments are edited and Jovan is allowed to use such words calling our PM criminal, than this will show that b92 is not fair.
(Ahmet Isufi, 13 April 2007 13:38)
Justice Veritas probably got them from the UNHCR which I am sure you are only too aware stated that they have numbered 220,000+ displaced from KiM in regions throughout Serbia outwith KiM, while 20,000+ displaced within the Serbian province of KiM itself - 240,000-250,000 in total!! You have been given leads from UNHCR websites in the past myself and so don't refute it now!!!
Shukri, Normal!!!!
please read the comment yesterday by a fellow proAlbanian commentator
"In fact i havent seen a Serb in Prishtina for over a year now."
(Nick, Thursday, 12 April, 2007, 13:29)
[link]
- another slip of the tongue??? However, I have heard the same argument said as justification for independence - there are no Serbs so it's ours!!! But such comments only illuminate the reasoning for such a fact finding Mission - the lies can't be hidden for ever and before any further discussion by the UN SC the truth of what they are going to vote for or not must be seen for themselves - they won't need to read about from the Institute for European Politics, a Berlin think-tank.
[link] The lies that have been peddled are about to be shown for what they are and the fact that 240,000+ (to keep Agim happy) have been unable to return is the greatest indication that all is not as rosy as you want to make out!!!
Suddenly the prospect of what the inspection is about to uncover is dawning on the the ethnic-Albanins and I suggest you get ready for a major disappointment!!!
(Princip, UK, 13 April 2007 14:00)
You can call Cheku as much as you want a criminal. There is no proof that he participated in any war crimes. The only proof there is that he was victorios over Serb forces in Croatia and Kosovo. You can't call the man criminal just because he won the wars you started. He is a Hero for Croats and Albanians!!!!
(Xhafer,, 13 April 2007 16:18)
Very funny, Russia and China will send their officials to consider the situation in Kosovo. This must be a joke. The situation of minorities in Kosovo is 100 better than in Russia and China. Russia is much better than China but right now Russia experiences racist killings almost every week. Last year the Russian government started and is now continuing a campaign against Georgians. People are being arrested only because they have Georgian names. In China you have Falun Gong, Tibet.
(????, 13 April 2007 16:33)
Anyone who says they havent seen a Serb in Pristina in a year just isnt looking. Not only are there Serbs in Pristina going about their daily professional lives, a lot of K-Albanians speak Serbian and do so to make the Serbs feel at home. Some Kosovars want an ethnically mixed but PEACEFUL future.
(Ana, 13 April 2007 18:53)
Justice Veritas,
I have an answer for all your questions you posted.
Kosova serbs created the hell they find themselves in.
So enjoy.
(Bekim, 13 April 2007 19:54)
did you ever think about where stereotypes come from?
just to inform you, ceku being a criminal is not my invention, it´s a fact reported by croat witnesses who were fighting with him ( on the croatian side ). so, what your "victorious hero" seems to have done, is seemingly well documented.
of course, that is all only a "dirty trick of the serbian secret services"..or maybe Milosevic came out of his tomb to invent something against the Albanians?
you are strange guys though...
do you really think that anyone believes the Albanians to be angels???
check this document here:
[link]
need I say more?
that fact-finding commission is going to be very very surprised, I guess.
(jovan, 13 April 2007 22:43)
It is shocking to reflect on the years of UN intervention in the breakup of Yugoslavia and the Kosovo independence movement. First, most security council members initiate the breakup of Yugoslavia by demanding payback of loans from the Tito era. Then, decide to take an anti-Serb stance in every following conflict to ensure a full "balkanization" of the region, primarily for strategic reasons (oil pipelines/military bases/reason for NATO existence post-USSR, etc.)
But the media spun it so hard, you would think the word Serb was synonymous with genocide. However, following the very same genocide of Serbs in all conflicts of the Yugoslav breakup, as ignored by the media, Clinton decided to bypass the UN and use NATO to start an unjustified air war. What followed was a compromise of both the Clinton stance as well as Milosevic's (res. 1244), but included the introduction of the Serb-proclaimed province as a UN-protectorite.
In come the UN peacekeepers to protect the returning Kosovo Albanians. What follows is countless acts of violence against Serbs and their monasteries, justified as "revenge attacks" by the media and the West. However, the attacks were being committed against monks and civilians, not the Yugoslav troops. The UN peacekeepers have since become protectors of the small remaining Serb populations (approx. 200,000)and their historic sites and enclaves, shielding them from daily harrassment and terror from neighboring Albanians. The UN buildings and troops too have occasionally been at the receiving end of Albanian impatience and violence. This is all justified, as Milosevic did it to them for a few years before...But it has been 8 years since the UN took over, and the situation and ethnic intolerance is at an all time high, with continued attacks taking place (recent Decani, others..). Meanwhile the Albanian population in Kosovo has equalled or slightly surpassed the figures from before the war, while the Serb population is about half of what it was before the "first humanitarian war."
The UN will, if it chooses to, find that in the past 8 years, the tables have completely turned, and it is the Serbs who have become targets of unspeakable hate crimes on a daily basis. The security council would be ill-advised to support a resolution which does not effectively approach the current situation in Kosovo. By simply letting it become independent, the UN will not shorten it's mission in Kosovo, but prolong it and foment further ethnic violence and unrest. The last thing they want in the UN is another balkans war, but this is precisely what they will likely face if they make such an important decision in haste. Hopefully this fact finding mission will choose not to ignore facts that speak volumes about the humanitarian condition on the ground. This will likely have an effect on the outcome of the resolution.
(Mark, 14 April 2007 01:33)
Only some Ana, the majority want only albanainas to live in Kosovo because of the past. If they remain in the past nothing will ever get better. If you teach a child to hate then that child will hate. If you teach child to accept people for who they are instead of what ethnic background kids will play together no matter what. They don't understand the history of the two people but they are learning from those who choose to fan the flame of difference. I work with both Albanians and Serbs. If a Serb does not speak albanian enough to be understood then i have seen albaninas speak serbian and they get along just fine. Why this cannot be now. This is for both sides, teach your children to hate they will, teach them to accept each other as a person not as a Serb or Albanian. They are the future so what you tech them is what the future will be for Kosovo.
(JHam, 14 April 2007 04:51)
sorry guys, I just noticed the question of ahmet isufi, I didn´t take notice of his comment before, so I´ll try to answer hereby:
of course I know that image,and he was even critisized by the serbian society for posing with an AK-47, but he answered on that critisism, that he didn´t actually want to do that and someone from the side handed it to him and so he did some posing for the photographers as they asked for it, and later, when he saw the negative effect, he regretted it.
I think that´s something your albanian media didn´t tell you...
but every sound person won´t see that as an indication of him being a criminal. who ever says that can´t be taken serious.
I do not doubt his integrity, of course due to many years of media-spin you do, but that´s your personal problem.
I would like to emphasize some other point here.
I followed the statements of Mr.Koštunica, Mr.Churkin,Mr.Wolf and Ahtisaari after the last UNSC session and I had the impression that both, Ahtisaari and Wolf were very avoidant in their answers to the journalists. that was really an interesting thing to see! check it out if you don´t believe me, it´s linked up on the site of the UN.
you should be concerned, I guess.
ps: don´t overestimate "your PM" ...he´s only a provisional figure...and by the way that´s the reason why he was not allowed to speak within the UNSC.
(jovan, 14 April 2007 07:49)
Koshtuniaca just does not get it. He will do and say anything just to get alected PM again. We have reached the end of tunnel and there is a light for Kosovars. Apparently Koshtunica is still day dreaming and pretty much is spaced out. God help serbia if they pick such leaders.
(Ahmet Isufi, 14 April 2007 09:30)
facts findings! oh how great"they will see thousands of albanian kosovar still living out of their burned houses(more than 5000 houses in istog area for exemple have not yet been rebuild,aids going to serbians...)They will find thousands of orphans because their parents were killed by who you know,they will found thousands of elderly living without help because their children have been killed by how you know.they will talk to all these families waiting for the return of their loved ones,still 2500 missing in the albanians.They will check for the 278 mosques destroyed and not yet rebuild,all the kulla destroyed and not yet rebuild,they will check the heath situation due to the serbian destructions,that kills every day...they will check the wounded children by the serbian mines `lost` all over kosovo by your army(2 children last week,after more than 300) etc etc ...
they will find ,oh what a finding,that we do not want to live with our criminals...
they will find that at the very end ,guess what! at the very end serbs will have to live in kosovo with their albanians neighbours-what a finding indeed - yes ,the albanians,you know the ones they wanted to kill and failed to...The ones taht are 90pc of the local population...and guess what they will find that this is the challenge for serbians: to accept that this is the reality:they will have now to live among albanians,who will decide in fine for the future of this(friendly or unfriendly) coexistence .
UN missions will never help serbs to ask for forgiveness because serbs forget to ask for it all the victims of their crimes....
(lil, 14 April 2007 15:35)
I think you forgot to mention the many albanian kids that are born with deformities due to the depleted-uranium shells spread all over Kosmet...and don`t forget to say, that it was actually the serbian secret service that did it, of course only to poison the Albanians...
for all those who are not capable of sarcasm and irony: that was not meant seriously.
ps: did you ever think of it that some of those explosion could be cause by NATO-blindshells? or is it forbidden to critisize NATO within the albanian community?
(jovan, 14 April 2007 18:48)
I can not beleive that B92 will edit my response to Aleks regarding 100000+Romas. Al mI said is:"Did you include gypsies living in Rumania that you want to drop them in Kosova". I think I know WHY: Becasue I used the word Gypsy, and according to Milosheviq's regime they are Roma.
(Ahmet Isufi, 14 April 2007 19:55)
Even the Secretary General Ban Kim Moon has accepted the Ahtisaari proposal and the poor serbs here still think that things will change in Serbia's favor.
Do not wait for any dream, because dreams are gone, reality is coming and reality is that Kosova is becoming independent.
The Kosova negotiation team is right now in USA and had a great meeting with lots of UN SC ambassadors and got the word that Independence is on the way. Kosova negotiation team also met with the UN SC General Ban Kim Moon and also got the answer that Kosova is becoming independent.
I really feel sorry for the serbs that are being tricked by leaders like Kostunica.
Does Kostunica think that whenever he doesnt like someone he or she should be replaced?
Just because you dont like Ahtisaari do you really think that everything will start from the beginning? Come on people, get real, dont think that you are sons of God, you are just some people who do not respect the international law, try to be against the whole world, do not give up the most wanted criminals like Karadzic and Mladic, so how do you expect that people always listen to your useless propaganda?
Even your own people are not believeing that much your propaganda anymore.
Your president Tadic said that he does not rely on Russia for help regarding KOsova because Russia only looks for her own interests, so it looks like finally at least your president has found out that Russia doesnt really care for Serbia but only for her own problems there in the cold russian territory.
(Afrim Hoxha, 15 April 2007 11:03)
--->Princip
Why you keep ataching links, from sources which are people like you,(give official one), I can make a website and write everything that I am pleased to write, but none will belive me...
I found a thousends of serbs and proserbs websites talking most racial thoughts about albanians...
And u expect that those albanians want to live with such kind of people...
You must be kiding, of course you have lost kosova forever and you will try anything to win it back, it is very normal, but it is impossible...
(Lotus, 15 April 2007 21:57)