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Tuesday January 15 11:59 AM ET Foreign Ministers[sic]: Yugoslav Rulers Must Stamp Out Hatred BELGRADE (Reuters) - Yugoslav Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic warned Tuesday widespread ethnic hatred still smoldered behind Yugoslavia's new reformist image and urged his fellow leaders to do more to stamp it out. ``It is unacceptable that the language of hate is kept alive after having killed tens of thousands of this country's people in the last 10 years alone,'' Svilanovic told a news conference. In the wake of a decade of Balkan wars and ethnic cleansing, Svilanovic said there were daily expressions of hate in the ...

Saturday, 29 December, 2001, 09:02 GMT Macedonia: Step back from the abyss By Paul Wood-- BBC Balkans correspondent We recognised the NLA commander immediately by the large, silver .357 magnum strapped to his black flak vest and by the fact he only had one hand. The other had been blown off while bomb making in the Kosovo war. This was March in a still snowy Albanian village in northern Macedonia and the commander was preparing for a war in the only corner of the former Yugoslavia untouched by the past decade's ethnic conflict. Today this commander is biding his time ...

Saturday December 29 10:32 AM ET Few Tears in Kosovo for Departing U.N. Governor By Edita Bucinca PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (Reuters) - Kosovo's outgoing U.N. governor may have won international praise for his one-year tenure, but Hans Haekkerup's sudden departure prompted few tears from the province's Albanian majority on Saturday. ''The man who left no friend in Kosovo,'' said a front-page headline in the independent daily Koha Ditore above a picture of Haekkerup, who announced on Friday he was quitting as chief U.N. administrator for personal reasons. It said in an editorial that the former Danish defense minister left Kosovo in ...

Thursday December 27 6:48 AM ET Prosecutor 'Confident' of Milosevic Conviction LONDON (Reuters) - The chief United Nations (news - web sites) war crimes prosecutor said Thursday she was confident she could secure the conviction of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic (news - web sites). While it was ``theoretically'' possible Milosevic might be acquitted, Carla Del Ponte said she was sure he was guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity. ``Milosevic is guilty,'' the Swiss lawyer told BBC radio. ``I am convinced I can prove the guilt of Milosevic.'' Milosevic was handed over to the U.N. war crimes tribunal in ...

Human Rights court refuses RTS bombing case 13:25 STRASBOURG, Wednesday – The European Court of Human Rights has refused to hear a case against 17 NATO-member states for the bombing of Serbian state television during the 1999 attacks on Yugoslavia. Judges in Strasbourg unanimously declared the case inadmissible since Yugoslavia is not a member of the Council of Europe. In a statement, the court said Yugoslavia “clearly did not fall within this legal space,” adding the European Convention on Human Rights “was not designed to be applied throughout the world, even in respect of the conduct of contracting states.” The ...

December 7, 2001 Kosovo's Contradictory Elections by Gary Dempsey Gary Dempsey is a foreign policy analyst at the Cato Institute. After two and a half years of NATO occupation, billions of dollars in foreign aid, and the expulsion of 200,000 Serbs, Gypsies, and other non-Albanians, Kosovo has held its first provincial elections. According to Daan Everts, head of the Kosovo mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the elections were a "huge success" and "an important step towards democracy." But were they, really? The Washington Post seems to think so. It claims that "the outcome was a ...

Tuesday December 11, 12:15 AM Kosovo inaugurates historic parliament Kosovo's bitterly divided Serbs and Albanians inaugurated their new power-sharing parliament amid tight security and some protest over speaking privileges. The first multi-ethnic assembly since the Yugoslav province came under UN control in 1999 following NATO's war on Yugoslavia opened for business with no party in command of a majority. Haans Haekkerup, the UN administrator for the southern Serbian province, struggled to keep order after beginning the session Monday with a brief speech to the 120 deputies elected last month. "This is a historical day for Kosovo," Haekkerup told the chamber ...

Saturday December 8, 1:03 AM Chirac calls on Kosovo, Montenegro to work to renew Yugoslavia French President Jacques Chirac has called on Montenegro and Kosovo to put aside their secessionist aspirations and work to renew Yugoslavia. "The collapse of countries cannot be a peaceful and stable solution in the modern world," Chirac said on Friday in his keynote speech at Belgrade University. "The solution cannot reside in a policy of secession, in an approach which, turning its back on others, is based on confrontation," he said in remarks that were directed at Montenegro and ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. Montenegro, Serbia's ...

Thursday, 29 November, 2001, 16:56 GMT Kosovo leads Europe in woman power Presidential candidate Flora Brovina: "Too high" By The BBC's Nicholas Wood in Kosovo When Kosovo's parliament is sworn in next month, it will not only be the region's first democratically elected assembly, but it will be the only parliament in Europe with an electoral system guaranteed to elect high numbers of women. The system has provoked criticism from male politicians and women's groups alike, and prompted accusations of hypocrisy as the United Nations administration in the province introduces rules that exist in barely a handful of Western democracies. ...

The EU Should Reach Out to Muslims in Europe Wolfgang Petritsch New York Times Thursday, November 29, 2001 SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina The Sept. 11 attack on America has sparked a debate about Islam that has, unfortunately, been framed in terms of us (the civilized, Western world) and them (the dangerous, suspect Muslims). Even well-intentioned statements dismissing the rhetoric of crusades have not softened the skepticism among many people toward Islam. This wariness is of immediate concern to the 12 million Muslims who are citizens of European Union countries. While Europe is searching for its response to global terrorism, it must ...

Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Kosovo Elections: Time to Right the Wrongs AI Index: EUR 70/018/2001 Publish date: 20/11/2001 The new government of Kosovo must commit itself to ending the climate of impunity for abuses of the human rights of minority communities, Amnesty International urged Ibrahim Rugova, leader of the ethnic Albanian LDK (Democratic League of Kosovo) and the new government, following the announcement of a majority for the LDK party in the Kosovo elections. "The president, government and members of the newly elected and multi-ethnic assembly should use this opportunity to lay the foundation stones for a society which ...

Thursday November 22, 12:37 AM Remains found in mass grave in Macedonia Human remains, believed to be those of six Macedonian civilians killed during a six-month ethnic Albanian rebellion, were found in a mass grave in the northwest of the country, police said. Exhumation work at the site, between the northwestern villages of Neprosteno and Dzepciste, began earlier in the day under the supervision of observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and NATO troops. Representatives of the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague were also present. "Police believe that six bodies are buried at ...

Monday, 19 November, 2001, 14:54 GMT EU rebuffs Kosovo independence calls The EU insists Kosovo must stick to the UN resolution The European Union has stressed that the newly-elected leaders of Kosovo must not not seek the province's independence from Serbia. The European Union foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, said the Kosovo parliament should adhere strictly to a United Nations resolution which allows autonomy - but not independence. Moderate ethnic Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova, who has claimed victory in the elections, has called for Kosovo's immediate independence. Mr Solana's call for Belgrade's sovereignty to be respected was backed by other ...

Bush and Powell Need to Remember the Lessons of Kosovo Ivo H. Daalder and Michael O'Hanlon IHT Thursday, November 1, 2001 WASHINGTON When the United States led its NATO partners into a war against Serbia in March 1999, the initial effort was rightly derided as inadequate. President Bill Clinton had ruled out deployment of ground forces. Preparations for the bombing strikes suggested that political and military leaders expected a relatively short, easy campaign. Critics of the initial strategy argued that the United States should prosecute the war with a clear determination to win, which required more airpower as well ...

Monday, 22 October, 2001, 07:11 GMT 08:11 UK Del Ponte to press Yugoslavia New charges are expected against Milosevic By Alix Kroeger in Belgrade The UN's chief war crimes prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, is in Belgrade in a renewed effort to persuade the Yugoslav government to co-operate with The Hague tribunal. She is meeting the Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic as well as the justice ministers from both the Serbian and Yugoslav governments. Her spokeswoman has said the prosecutor intends to present new charges against the former president Slobodan Milosevic, including sexual assault, in connection with the mass grave found ...

Friday, 31 August, 2001, 06:26 GMT 07:26 UK Milosevic trial delays build Mr Milosevic may have a long wait for his trial By BBC south-east Europe analyst Gabriel Partos The announcement by Carla del Ponte, the United Nations' chief war crimes prosecutor, that new indictments will soon be laid against Slobodan Milosevic suggests that the start of the trial is still a long way off. However, presiding at Mr Milosevic's second preliminary hearing at the UN war crimes tribunal on Thursday, Judge Richard May made it clear he was getting impatient. Judge May said that a date would be set ...

Milosevic to face genocide charge Mr Milosevic still refuses to appoint a lawyer Slobodan Milosevic is to be charged with genocide, it was revealed after the former Yugoslav president's second appearance at the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague. Chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte said three amendments to the existing indictment against Mr Milosevic were being prepared, including, for the first time, charges relating to the conflicts in Bosnia and Croatia. "It will be for genocide in Bosnia. Croatia is still open," she told reporters outside the court. The former Yugoslav leader currently faces four counts of war crimes ...

Thursday August 30, 12:28 AM Macedonia's peace process now in the hands of parliament SKOPJE, Aug 29 (AFP) - Western powers are pressing Macedonian politicians to overcome nationalist concerns and give parliamentary approval to a NATO-backed peace accord granting greater rights to the fragile Balkan country's ethnic Albanian minority. "Just as I expect the insurgents to deliver on their commitments, I expect the Macedonian members of parliament to also recognise their responsibilities," NATO Secretary General George Robertson said Wednesday as he inspected weapons surrendered by the rebels to NATO troops. Parliament is due to begin debate on Friday on the ...

Wednesday August 29, 4:00 AM British foreign secretary justifies intervention in Macedonia LONDON, Aug 28 (AFP) - British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw on Tuesday justified the country's intervention in Macedonia by warning that a lengthy conflict in the Balkans would have serious consequences for stability in Europe. "The lesson of the last 10 years is that the longer a conflict is left in the Balkans, the more difficult and bloody it becomes," Straw said in an interview with Channel Four television. The foreign secretary is due to visit Macedonia Thursday following the killing of a British paratrooper serving in NATO's ...

Monday, 27 August, 2001, 15:12 GMT 16:12 UK Nato 'satisfied' with weapons haul Nato forces moved in by air to the first collection site Hundreds of weapons have been collected from ethnic Albanian rebels in Macedonia, as Nato's weapons collection task force set to work. But the day was overshadowed by the death of a British soldier, killed near the capital, Skopje, after youths threw a lump of concrete at his vehicle. The incident happened on Sunday evening as the soldier - Sapper Ian Collins of the 9th Parachute Squadron, Royal Engineers - drove the military vehicle along the main ...