Defiant Serbs consecrate Orthodox Church in southern Kosovo BREZOVICA, Yugoslavia, July 15 (AFP) - Serbs living in the south of the ethnic Albanian-dominated province of Kosovo have given a strong sign they plan to stay by consecrating the first Orthodox church there since the conflict ended in 1999. "It is the first church which has seen the light of day in southern Kosovo since the end of the (NATO) bombing and we hope that will encourage people not to leave their homes, their land, their country," said Father Miron, who consecrated the church on Saturday. Momcilo Trajkovic, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's representative in Kosovo, said the aim of the consecration of the Sveti Stefan (Saint Stephen) church in the Serbian enclave of Strpce was "to show that Serbs are here and they should not leave the region." More than 200,000 Serbs and non-Albanians have fled Kosovo since the international community stepped in to administer it in June 1999, after an 11-week NATO bombing campaign to end former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic's bloody crackdown on ethnic Albanians. Fearing violent attacks from ethnic Albanian extremists, they have sought refuge in Serbia proper, and its smaller sister republic Montenegro, leaving between 80,000 and 100,000 Serbs behind in a province regarded as the cradle of Serbian Orthodoxy. Serbia's authorities fear that if the inhabitants of Strpce follow them, to escape difficult economic conditions and the threat of attacks, Kosovo will be abandoned, tipping the balance in favour of ethnic Albanian demands for independence. "Serbs have lived here for centuries and that will continue," said Zvonko Mihajlovic, the representative in the enclave of the ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party of Vojislav Seselj. Two other Orthodox churches have been consecrated in Kosovo since June 1999, but they are in the northern part of the town of Kosovska Mitrovica, which is mainly populated by Serbs. Trajkovic, speaking in the margins of the consecration ceremony, accused the international community of not doing enough to defend the province's Serbs, saying it was just using them as "decoration." Jovica Boduric, the local leader of the SPS, the party of Milosevic, said the consecration was "a great day for all Serbian Kosovars in this enclave." He said life in the enclave was tough. "It is like we are in a cage," he said. Serbs live in seclusion and can only go out safely during limited hours in armoured vehicles or in buses under the armed escort of the NATO-led peacekeeping force KFOR. If they venture out in their private cars they do so at their peril. They also suffer from enclosed conditions, and from a lack of work, medicines, entertainment and the freedom to move around safely. Miroslav Antic, http://www.antic.org/ Serbian News Network - SNN [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.antic.org/
