The Serb National Council of Kosovo and Metohija has sent a text with the cry and appeal of the Serbs of Vitina containing a list of violent incidents in Kosovsko Pomoravlje. Because of the rise in violence and pressure against the Serb population of this region, and in light of the persistent denial of the worsening of the security situation by U.S. KFOR and UNMIK representatives, the people of Kosovsko Pomoravlje have no other option than to address a public appeal to the Serb people and the Belgrade Government to ask for their help.
CRY OF THE REMAINING SERB POPULATION FROM VITINA MUNICIPALITY
Yet again in a endless series of instances we have been murdered. Yet again in an endless series of instances we have become targets. We had just begun to hope that the killing was at an end. We had just begun to hope that in our homes and on our properties, at least, we would be safe. But still there is no safety:
May 14, 2003 - Albanians frighten residents of the Serb village of Vrbovac by opening gunfire at the exit from that village.
May 15, 2003 - Albanians provoke Serbs by shouting anti-Serb slogans and cheering Adem Jashari in the Serb-inhabited streets of the ethnically mixed village of Mogila. During the same night livestock belonging to a Serb local is stolen.
May 16, 2003 - While passing freely through the Serb village of Vrbovac, Albanian students sing provocative songs in Albanian, in the sense of "We have expelled all the Serbs and we will soon expel you, too." The very same day there are rumors from the Albanian side that they will kill seven Serbs in this region.
May 17, 2003 - The Albanians realize their threat by brutally murdering Zoran Mirkovic, age 44, leaving a message next to his body bearing the name of the Albanian National Army and including a threatening message signed by someone calling himself "Commander Celi." The deceased Zoran, a professor of Russian, the father of three small children, a great man and a good household head, set out by bicycle to inspect his property. By killing him, they have killed another part of our wounded, bloodied and helpless spirit.
May 19, 2003 - In the Serb village of Klokot there is an attempt to kidnap a Serb local, Stanko Misic, who also was going to inspect his land near the village. He manages to escape, thanks mainly to the proximity of the church and KFOR checkpoint where he fled.
May 21, 2003 - A 90 year-old Serb from Vitina, Slavko Stamenkovic, was beaten up in his own home in front of his wife, whose mouth was covered so she could not call for help.
May 22, 2003 - In the village of Klokot a student of the second year of the Economic Secondary School, Milan Pavic, was beaten up near his house while waiting for the school bus at the bus stop.
May 25, 2003 - The house of Serb Momcilo Savic was set on fire in the village of Klokot.
Crushed by pain, our hopelessness and helplessness embodied in 45 slaughtered innocents and 10 missing souls whose uncertain fate is slowly turning into horrible certainty without proof, yet again in an endless series we raise our voices.
We do not know whether to call this text an appeal--for God himself must be weary of our appeals--or a protest: a protest against the general evil which tragically lies beside us and around us. But no one sees it, especially not those who are responsible and paid to see it. We do not know how much longer we will remain hunted game only because we are Serbs and became we still live in our centuries-old homes.
Every sacrifice we have made in our freedom of movement, in our hopes, in our jobs and in our security is a wound that will not heal. There were some 11,000 of us living in region of Vitina municipality; since the arrival of KFOR, only 3,000 of us remain in two Serb villages, a village that was formerly Serb until one year ago, and two--out of fifteen--surviving ethnically mixed villages. The town of Vitina itself, where the population was formerly 70 percent Serb, is now a dungeon for some one hundred elderly people and those who have nowhere else to go.
Life in these ghettos, where everything seems somewhat normal, no matter where you are, behind every tree, from every gully, from behind every car, is full of potential danger because all the previous murders occurred in similar situations, treacherously, without provocation or forewarning. These circumstances inevitably bear with them a question: Who will be the next victim?
Despite every effort to remain collected and convince the people around us that someone is thinking of us, we cannot even convince ourselves, for reality speaks otherwise and we have lost hope even in God's help.
May God grant that the victim who fell on May 17 may be the last. Our great friend and a great, great man, considering how small and weak we are. Yet another family is bereaved, without its breadwinner and with a precarious future.
We will not criticize you because you are not the ones suffering and perhaps this letter will be only so many words on paper and will end up in the wastebasket. But since you have begun, please read it to the end, thinking of your own families, which we hope are happy and far from the evil that is our everyday lot and destroying us only because we are Orthodox Christian Serbs.
THIS IS OUR CONSCIENTIOUS PROTEST ADDRESSED TO ALL THOSE WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE:
AGAINST THE MURDER to which we are systematically exposed and which threatens to drive us into extinction, which does not discriminate in terms of place or time or weapon or means or given name or family name or size or age; the only important thing is that the victim is an Orthodox Christian Serb and that the goal is achieved: one Serb less, one more weapon to kill our determination to survive in our ancestral homes.
AGAINST PHYSICAL OPPRESSION manifesting itself daily in the form of woundings, beatings, stonings and other forms of repression, breeding fear for our very lives, fear for our freedom of movement and work, and culminating generally in our departure from our centuries-old homes and our fear to return to them.
AGAINST SPIRITUAL GENOCIDE apparent in the destruction of centuries-old heritage of an entire people, the demolition of its religious shrines (churches and monasteries), the desecration of cemeteries and obliteration of all traces of the existence and cultural history of a Christian people with a civilization originating in the area of Kosovo and Metohija.
AGAINST EVERY FORM OF INSTITUTIONAL DISCRIMINATION which, tragically, only supplants physical forms of pressure and combines with them to destroy every prospect for short-term, and even more so long-term, peaceful coexistence.
AGAINST HATE AND THE TALK OF GUNS INSTEAD OF REASON.
AGAINST THE UNDERMINING OF PROPERTY RIGHTS through various forms of destruction, appropriation and transfer of houses, apartments, land, agricultural machinery, livestock, etc. Responsible individuals representing the international community have a million statistics and proofs that this is occurring; however, for four years these problems have remained unsolved resulting in a feeling of constant helplessness and disinterest in fighting for the realization of their rights through institutional means among the remaining Serbs.
AGAINST SOCIAL POVERTY created by the expulsion of thousands of workers from their jobs, leaving many families without basic means for existence and further necessitating their departure from their centuries-old homes.
AGAINST THE REDUCTION IN PRESENCE OF KFOR FORCES, resulting in conditions and increased possibility for terrorist activities.
AGAINST THE ACTIVITY OF THE ALBANIAN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION CALLING ITSELF THE ALBANIAN NATIONAL ARMY IN THIS REGION.
ON BEHALF OF THE HELPLESS SERBS OF VITINA MUNICIPALITY SERB NATIONAL COUNCIL OF KOSOVO AND METOHIJA, VITINA MUNICIPALITY
(Signatures of the members of the SNC KIM, Vitina municipality)
~~~
www.spc.yu (for Europe)
www.serbian-church.net (for USA)
www.spc.org.yu (for USA)
I must assume, therefore, that the purpose for this resolution for independence for a bunch of cutthroats is to reward ethnic Albanians for their uncivilized behavior.
To contact our illustrious representatives:
Keith O'Neil - (202) 225-6735 (Lantos)
Greg Galvin - (202) 225-5021 (Hyde)
If you would deem to call, please ask the question: "Why are you supporting Osama bin Laden's Kosovo Liberation Army terrorists?"
PRISTINA -- Thursday – The European Union's Foreign Policy and Security chief Javier Solana and UNMIK governor Michael Steiner held talks in Pristina yesterday, discussing the Obilic triple murder and the upcoming Thessalonica summit.
Upon arrival, Solana announced that he was in Kosovo to talk about all the issues and to meet with Kosovo officials on Thursday.
Solana expressed hope that he would be able to convince the Kosovo-Albanian leadership to commence discussion with the Serbian Government at the 21 June summit in Greece's second city.
Steiner, who organised a working dinner in honour of his guest, said that the focal point of talks had been the murder of the three members of the Kosovo-Serb Stolic family from Obilic.
Steiner relayed the details of the gruesome murder to his European colleague, informing him of the reaction to the incident from Kosovo officials.
Solana is due to meet Kosovo's leadership today. He will discuss current issues with the province's Premier Ibrahim Rugova, First Minister Bajram Rexhepi, Democratic Party of Kosovo leader Hashim Thaqi and KFOR commander Fabio Mini.
Serb meeting proposed
Oliver Ivanovic, a member of the Kosovo Assembly's presidency, has invited Solana to take time out during his Kosovo visit to meet with Kosovo-Serb political leaders.
Speaking to agency Beta, Ivanovic said: "A meeting with Serb representatives is not planned, with the obvious aim for Steiner to present to Solana UNMIK's alleged success, which should also be confirmed by the Albanian representatives of temporary institutions. Unlike them, the Serb representatives have a few things to tell Solana concerning the situation in Kosovo and the
Serbs' living conditions".
Ivanovic insisted: "We must not allow for the three latest victims to be forgotten, which is exactly what those responsible in UNMIK did with all Serb victims in Kosovo so far: the inhabitants of the Staro Gracko village, the passengers of the Nis Express coach near Podujevo and other similar, lesser of greater Serb sufferings and losses". [B92]