Posted on 03/23/2004 4:52:42 PM PST by wonders
PRISTINA, Serbia (AFP) - The UN mission chief in Kosovo accused the instigators of riots that claimed 28 lives in the Serbian province last week of carrying out "severe crimes against humanity."
Harri Holkeri told members of Kosovo's minority Serb community the international community was "totally determined to find the perpetrators, to find those people who are behind those kind of things, because they have tried to destroy the whole future of Kosovo.
"They are responsible for severe crimes against humanity."
He was asked by Serbs in Obilic, a community near Pristina, whether the wave of violence, which also left 600 wounded, was organized.
"This is evidence that (those behind the unrest) had a ready-made plan," he replied.
United Nations (news - web sites) police said nearly 200 suspects have been arrested since riots last week in the UN-administered Serbian province divided by animosities between the Albanian majority and Serbian minority.
Thousands gathered for the burial of four ethnic Albanians killed in the worst clashes in the Balkan territory since the end of the 1999 war in which NATO (news - web sites) intervened to end a Serbian crackdown on the ethnic Albanian population.
NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer on Monday accused Kosovo ethnic Albanians of orchestrating violence against minority Serbs which drove thousands from their homes last week.
"What happened last week, orchestrated and organized by extremist factions in the Albanian community, is unacceptable," he said during a trip to Kosovo.
Scheffer stopped short of calling the violence "ethnic cleansing", the expression used last week by the NATO military commander for eastern Europe, Admiral Gregory Johnson, as well as Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica (news - web sites) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites).
But Holkeri, a former Finnish prime minister, told US radio that the term "ethnic cleansing" was too strong.
The foreign minister of Serbia-Montenegro Goran Svilanovic on Monday complained to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) about alleged attempts by Holkeri to play down the violence.
Svilanovic said Holkeri had made unacceptable comments to US media.
"Declarations which diminish the alarming situation in Kosovo do not contribute to stabilization, but on the contrary encourage extremists who do not want peace," he wrote.
A UN police spokeswoman said 196 people had been arrested since last week suspected of crimes ranging from unlawful possession of weapons to arson.
Unrest subsided over the weekend after some 2,000 additional NATO military were rushed into the southern Serbian province to reinforce the NATO-led KFOR international peacekeeping force.
Thirty Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries and 286 houses were set on fire. Eighty houses, 11 churches and monasteries and 25 other buildings were otherwise damaged.
Four of last week's victims were laid to rest in the village of Shipol next to fellow ethnic Albanians killed by Serb forces during the 1998-99 war and seen as martyrs by Albanians.
The riots took place following unconfirmed reports that Serbs had been responsible for three Albanian children drowning in a river.
The violence has seriously damaged hopes that the two communities can live side by side.
Since the 1999 NATO intervention, which enabled some 200,000 ethnic Albanian refugees to return to Kosovo, the equivalent number of Serbs has been driven from theirs as Albanians sought revenge on their former oppressors. Some 80,000 remain.
In an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova said Kosovo must have independence without compromise:
"Everyone realizes by now that it is clear that independence from Serbia is vital for Kosovo and its inhabitants."
The violence has brought suggestions that the northern part of Kosovo around Kosovska Mitrovica should become part of Serbia proper in order to allow independence for the rest of the province with an largely ethnically Albanian population.
But Rugovo said this was out of the question.
"Independence admits no compromise," he said. "The frontiers are untouchable. That is a basic principle."
I think they have learned from that experience and are not taking on a Iraq mission.
Now thing are bad in Kosovo is the UN mission that is at fault and not the ones that started the war i.e. NATO.
Because the UNSC said so. (And who comprised the UNSC that said so? Who controlled what it decided?)
I think they have learned from that experience and are not taking on a Iraq mission.
They are there! More to come.
Now thing are bad in Kosovo is the UN mission that is at fault and not the ones that started the war i.e. NATO.
Exactly. That was the whole idea. Certain countries set up UN Peacekeeping Missions and control those Missions. When things go wrong, they can blame the UN (even if some country or countries are undermining the Mission through other channels). They did the same thing in Bosnia and Hercegovina. And the citizens of one "certain country" fall for the "blame the UN" tactic every time.
When I saw the title of this thread I figured it would pull some real "beauties" out of the wood work. I find it absolutely jaw dropping that some people actually blame Europe or the UN for the problems of Kosovo. Were they asleep for 1999?
My favorite is when some genius slithers on to a *balkan thread and blathers some garbage about how the "Euroweenies" need to clean up their own mess or how the UN screwed up Kosovo. Now if that's not the definition of gut-churning arrogance, I don't know what is.
Seselj was pretty slick, but dishonest in changing the title of the article. We should leave the dishonesty to Holbrooke and Halid Berani :-)
The UN bashers bring absolutely nothing to the discussions about the Balkans. To be honest with you, I tend to skim past any 1 or 2 sentence *balkans post that even mentions the UN or Clinton. The mess in the Balkans is simply not that simple.
(I just realised that this may be the very first time I've ever used the word "Clinton" in a post at this site.)
I always thought Rugova was basically a decent chap underneath all the extremist fluff and here is more proof in his stauch support of UNSCR 1244.
Rugova thanks for supporting international law.
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