Posted on 06/05/2004 7:56:57 AM PDT by Jane_N
GRACANICA, Serbia and Montenegro (Reuters) - A Serb teenager has been shot dead in Kosovo and police quickly arrested two Albanians suspected of trying to ignite another round of ethnic violence in the United Nations-run province.
The killing in the Serb enclave of Gracanica on Saturday was the first since 19 people were killed in mid-March when the U.N. protectorate was engulfed in the worst violence in five years of international administration. NATO peacekeepers later said the riots were clearly orchestrated.
U.N. police spokesman Malcolm Ashby said 16-year-old Dimitrije Popovic was killed when gunmen fired from a car into a group of young Serbs at a hamburger kiosk at 2 a.m. Police in Pristina later stopped a suspect car and seized two Albanians with guns.
It was not clear how the suspected gunmen managed to drive in and out of the village undetected. The NATO-led peacekeeping mission KFOR re-established permanent checkpoints on the outskirts of the Serbian town after the March riots.
Serb spokesman Oliver Ivanovic blamed the U.N. and NATO for failing to stop Albanian militants. "There is no living together here... We must seal off all roads through Serb districts," he told the SRNA agency.
UNSAFE ENCLAVES
"We were right when we demanded a full demilitarisation of Kosovo, disarmament of all extremist groups and introduction of a state of emergency after the March 17 riots," said the head of Serbia's Kosovo Coordination Centre, Nebojsa Covic.
Covic said the latest murder was "a message to the EU foreign policy chief (Javier) Solana who is arriving in Pristina on Monday, (and) a farewell message to Kosovo's outgoing UN Administrator Harri Holkeri".
Holkeri, Kosovo's fourth U.N. governor since 1999, quit two weeks ago under pressure. He was due back in Kosovo on Saturday afternoon for a final meeting with Solana.
NATO said it was investigating how a car carrying armed Albanians "managed to cross the KFOR checkpoint after the incident", said spokesman, Colonel Jim Moran. Checkpoints were re-established after the March riots, but some may have been relaxed, he added.
It was a similar shooting in another Serb enclave, quickly followed by the drowning of three Albanian boys in a river, that ignited mob violence in March. Albanian media were condemned for blaming Serbs for the drowning and fomenting 'revenge' attacks.
The U.N. and KFOR admit they were caught off-guard by that spasm of violence and came close to losing control. On Saturday, Serbs in Gracanica again blocked the road from Pristina to east Kosovo, as they did three months ago, but later dispersed.
By afternoon, police said the region was calm and under control but the road to Gracanica was sealed off until Monday.
Serbs were targeted for revenge after Kosovo came under U.N. control in 1999 following NATO's 11-week bombing war to halt Serb repression of the independence-seeking ethnic Albanians.
Belgrade has complained bitterly that those Serbs who chose to stay as 200,000 fled north are not adequately protected.
It wants the enclaves to be made autonomous and protected by Serbian police. But the Western powers that ordered intervention in Kosovo are against its partition.
Quagmire
"It was not clear how the suspected gunmen managed to drive in and out of the village undetected. The NATO-led peacekeeping mission KFOR re-established permanent checkpoints on the outskirts of the Serbian town"
Maybe the U.N guards were busy drinking,or raping locals.
The story with a few more details as reported by aljazeera http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/46CF4656-65B5-4385-8FE7-D753F037A9F7.htm
Arrests in Kosovo over boy's death
Saturday 05 June 2004, 13:04 Makka Time, 10:04 GMT
A 16-year-old Serb boy has been killed in a shooting in Kosovo and police have arrested two Albanian suspects in connection with the violence.
Shots were fired on Saturday from a vehicle at a group of young Serbs standing near a hamburger store in the Serb town of Gracanica just outside Pristina, said United Nations police spokesman Malcom Ashby.
Police later stopped a suspect vehicle and seized weapons, he added.
It was the first serious incident since the UN protectorate was engulfed in riots in mid-March in the worst ethnic violence in five years of international administration.
Local Serbs immediately gathered and blocked the road which links the capital Pristina with the eastern part of Kosovo - as they did in the enclave of Caglavica in March after the drive-by shooting of a Serb there.
Recent violence
After a drive-by shooting three months ago, three Albanian boys drowned in a river after Serbs allegedly pushed them in, igniting inter-ethnic riots in which 19 people were killed and hundreds of homes set ablaze across the province.
The UN administration and the NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping mission were caught off guard by the spasm of violence and came close to losing control.
UN administrator Harri Holkeri has since announced his resignation on health grounds and no successor has yet been chosen.
Saturday's murder came just a few hours before Holkeri's final trip to Kosovo to arrange a handover. The arrival of top international officials linked to Kosovo's future status has coincided with violence in the past. Two Serb boys were shot dead the day Holkeri arrived nine months ago.
Serbs were targeted in numerous revenge attacks after Kosovo was placed under UN-led administration in 1999 following an 11-week NATO-led campaign to halt Serb repression of the independence-seeking ethnic Albanians.
Independence calls
Serbia has complained bitterly that the Serb minority, greatly outnumbered by Albanians demanding Kosovo's independence, is not being adequately protected and is proposing that their enclaves be made autonomous and protected by their own police.
The Western powers which ordered intervention in the Serbian province in 1999, are against its partition. But following the surge of violence in March, the issue of whether Kosovo will ultimately become independent or not is receiving far closer attention.
It is expected to come to a head by mid-2005.
Excuse me but I have forgotten. Which side is Muslim and which side isn't?
The Serbs are not muslim. They are portrayed in the liberal media as perpetrators of genocide etc. and during the Clinton admin the press referred to the slimes as ethnic peoples.
But - as has to be constantly pointed out - history shows which culture/religion can never get along with its neighbors.
The Albanians in Kosovo are Muslim. Kosovo is still an integral part of Serbia though. Go figure.
The Serbs are Orthodox and Kosovo albanians are majority muslim although there are some that are Catholic. I don't the exact numbers for Muslim and Catholics among the Albanians in Kosovo unfortunately, but there are others that usually post on the Balkans threads that have those figures.
85% muslim and 15% catholic I heard once.
Time to re-fight that war...
This time, I hope we're on the right side.
Semper Fi
Appreciation in advance, Hvala! The Four Seas.
Even if the Albanians cleanse all the Serbs, they don't have the moral right to Kosovo after all this. I hope countries such as Russia, Greece, Macedonia, and so on NEVER recognize Kosovo/a as its own country. Kosovo Albanians have done nothing but kill to start fights or provoke war.
The Czech KFOR physically confiscated three 3 church bells from Albanians recently. After the Shiptari violence, the Czechs are awaiting payback and what they do now at the KFOR checkpoints they man. They flash the Serb 3-finger salute at Albanian drivers. In response, the Albs pull their finger across their throat in a sign of gesture.
Somehow I don't believe the Macedonian government would go against EU/NATO/UN if they decided to grant Kosovo independency. In their desires to be a part of EU/NATO they have already sold themselves and the Macedonian people out by granting the albanians in Macedonia rights (see the Ohrid agreement) that minorities in Albanian dominated lands don't have and never will get. That's reality unfortunately.
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There are Christian Albanians, but they are all in Albania, and a few in Montenegro. The Albanians in Kosovo (and Macedonia) are all Muslim. If there are any Catholic Albanians in Kosovo, they are an extremely small minority (maybe 1% of Kosovo's population) because they do not show up in any statistic I've ever seen.
I'm surprised 30 more churches haven't already been burned down yet because of the arrests.
Hi my friend...
Wait....Tomorrow some albanian kids will be "chased" by some serbian hamsters (dogs didn't work out last time) and Monday they will torch down the churches...
Let's not mess up their plans for an ethnic-clean "Greater Albania"...
Shalom
DJ
PRIZREN, March 23, 2004 Damaged fresco of Christ Nourisher in the church of the Holy Virgin Ljeviska after the recent wave of violence in Kosovo and Metohija (Glas juga)
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