Serbs Betrayed By UN Decision On Kosovo

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Prensa Latina (Cuba)
October 25, 2005


Serbs Dissatisfied with UN Decision on Kosovo


Belgrade - The UN announced conditions are ripe for
negotiations on the future of Kosovo, but although
Albanians are the majority, the Serb government
insists it is the cultural cradle of the nation and
cannot be independent.

Kosovo has been under international control since 1999
when NATO subjected Serbia to 78 days of uninterrupted
aerial attacks in a supposed humanitarian intervention
[on behalf of] Albanian terrorists.

Although supposedly the Albanians were expelled en
masse, according to Serbian official records it was
the indiscriminate NATO bombing that caused them to
flee.

When it was over, organized crime, despite the 20,000
NATO soldiers present, obliged more than 250,000
Serbians and other non-Albanian ethnic communities in
Kosovo to leave the province.

Ex-President of Finland Martti Ahtissari was announced
by the UN Security Council Monday as official
representative of Secretary General Kofi Annan for
negotiations of the future of Kosovo.

The UN special envoy, Norwegian diplomat Kai Eide, has
evaluated the international standards for Kosovo and
recommended immediate discussions with all concerned
parties, believing it will not help anyone to postpone
the process.

Eide, while admitting that neither the Kosovo police
nor its legal system is able to cope with the ethnic
violence or organized crime, and said it is necessary
to maintain international political and military
presence in the region.

Inter-ethnic relations are very bad in the province,
he said, with frequent battles and no freedom of
movement.

In addition, the [non-]Albanians have not returned and
10,000 Serbian suits of illegally confiscated property
are pending, Eide explained.

It is generally recognized that more Serbs left the
province for lack of security than returned, and they
need more institutional support to begin life again,
as well as guarantees to preserve the Serbian cultural
patrimony in Kosovo, the UN special envoy noted.