Thousands of Kosovo Serbs greeted their president after five and a half years living in inhuman and humiliating conditions, exposed to ethnic discrimination and everyday violence. President Tadic made strong appeals to the international community that Kosovo must not become a society in which only Albanians would enjoy freedom and dignified life but all other communities equally. Great majority of Kosovo Serbs still don't have any access to employment, health institutions, schools in major cities, their language is banned outside of their enclaves, while only 2% of 200.000 Serb refugees after the war in Kosovo were able to return to their homes. 150 of their churches, many of which date from the Middle Ages were turned into ruins by Albanian extremists after the war. Kosovo Serbs live in fear particularly after disastrous last March riots in which 19 people were killed, 30 churches burned and additional 4000 Serbs expelled from their homes in only two days of violence which left even NATO led troops helpless. President Tadic expressed his strong position against secession of the restive Kosovo province from Serbia because that would force all remaining Serbs and other vulnerable non-Albanian communities out of Kosovo. He reiterated that Kosovo society cannot and must not be shaped for one ethnic community but must become a truly multiethnic society in which all its citizens will find their home and safety.
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SERBIAN PRESIDENT IN LIPLJAN Serbian President Boris Tadic, right, shakes hands with people during his visit to the town of Lipljan, in central Kosovo, under heavy security by United Nations police and NATO-led peacekeeping troops, on Monday, Feb. 14, 2005. Although the Serbian president came with the message of peace and appeals for tolerance the presidental convoy was attacked today by Kosovo Albanian rioters throwing iceballs and stones near Decani and Djakovica. One window-shield in a bus transporting journalists was broken (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
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SERBIAN PRESIDENT IN BATUSE Serbian President Boris Tadic visited the Serbian village of Batuse in Central Kosovo. Serb villagers have been disconnected by Albanian run Kosovo Electro-power system for almost two months in freezing cold. Due to inhuman power blacouts dozens of elderly Serbs and children had to be hospitalized from Central Kosovo villages. Serbs refuse to pay to the Company which ethnically purged its personnel after the UN and KFOR came to Kosovo in June 1999. (BETA PHOTO ARMI)
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SERBIAN PRESIDENT IN GRACANICA Serbian President Boris Tadic was presented by Bishop Artemije an icon of Mother of God - the patron of Gracanica Monastery. Serbian President addressed in Gracanica a few thousand Serbs who filled the monastery grounds. The president said that Serbs have rights on their own symbols, culture and faith as well as Albanians and other communities and no one has right to deny this right to them. (BETA PHOTO ARMI)
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