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Beta News Agency
February 16, 2008
Cabinet ministers travel to Kosovo tomorrow
-Serb National Council of Northern Kosovo and Metohija
(SNV) President Milan Ivanoviæ told his compatriots to
"gather around our institutions, through which we will
achieve our interests, and completely ignore the EU
mission to Kosovo, which will be utterly illegal."
-What hurts Kosovo Serbs the most are announcements
that some countries may move to recognize such an
independence proclamation, and their bitterness is
directed toward the representatives of those countries
in KFOR, UNMIK and OSCE....
BELGRADE, KOSOVSKA MITROVICA - Deputy Prime Minister
Božidar Ðeliæ, cabinet ministers and their assistants
will be in Kosovo Sunday.
The Serbian state officials will be in the province as
its ethnic Albanian leadership announces its
secession, and unilaterally declares Kosovo's
independence, reports say.
Serbia is set to reject this decision as illegal and
intends to counter it with its Action Plan.
Beta news agency today says that the ministers will be
joined by a number of Serbian lawmakers, and
representatives from the Serb parties in Montenegro.
Minister for Kosovo Slobodan Samardžiæ confirmed that
he and his ministry's state secretary, Dušan
Prorokoviæ, will hold a news conference in Kosovska
Mitrovica at 13:00 CET Sunday.
And while Samardžiæ and a number of others will be in
the Serb-inhabited north of the province, Ðeliæ and
Education Minister Zoran Lonèar will travel to the
most isolated Serb enclave of Štrpce.
Minister for Energy and Mining Aleksandar Popoviæ will
be in Ranilug, while Infrastructure Minister Velimir
Iliæ travels to Graèanica.
At the same time, the state secretary with his
ministry, Brako Jociæ, will visit Velika Hoèa and
Orahovac.
Minister for Trade and Services Predrag Bubalo travels
to Osojane, near Istok, Minister of Religion Radomir
Naumov will be in Goraždevac, while MUP's state
secretary, Mirjana Orašanin, will visit Novo Brdo.
Their visit, apart from affirming Belgrade's rejection
of Kosovo's independence, is a show of support to the
province's Serbs, who, outside the northern areas
where they are a majority, live in isolated enclaves
under NATO protection, where they in the past often
came under attack from Kosovo's Albanians.
Serbia's Kosovo Action Plan, still off bounds for the
general public, is said to contain measures that will
strengthen Belgrade's institutional presence in the
Serb-majority areas.
The Serbs' political leaders today called for calm and
asked them not to fall victim of provocations, Beta
reported.
The Democratic Party (DS) provincial board chairman
and Serbian MP Goran Bogdanoviæ said that "Serbs will
remain in Kosovo, to guard their homes, their property
and their holy places".
Belgrade will do all it can to cooperate with the
international community and ensure safety for the Serb
community in the province, Bogdanoviæ added.
Serb National Council of Northern Kosovo and Metohija
(SNV) President Milan Ivanoviæ told his compatriots to
"gather around our institutions, through which we will
achieve our interests, and completely ignore the EU
mission to Kosovo, which will be utterly illegal."
"We must stay together, there will be no
destabilization of the security situation. I can say
this in just one sentence: 'Stay here, this is our
sky, this is our state of Serbia," Ivanoviæ was
quoted.
Meanwhile, Beta's journalists were in Kosovska
Mitrovica and Graèanica, where the day today seems a
typical Saturday, they said.
However, the residents of the two towns say they are
worried about the announced unilateral declaration of
Kosovo's independence, scheduled for tomorrow, but add
that they already experienced the same atmosphere
once, in 1990.
What hurts Kosovo Serbs the most are announcements
that some countries may move to recognize such an
independence proclamation, and their bitterness is
directed toward the representatives of those countries
in KFOR, UNMIK and OSCE, the agency says.
The Serbs also say they do not trust the ethnic
Albanian leadership's messages that their safety will
be ensured and that the violence against the
province's Serbs that took place after 1999,
particularly in 2004, forcing nearly 200,000 to flee
their homes, will not happen again.
Instead, the Kosovo Serbs look to Belgrade, soaking up
messages that their country will not leave them, and
that this part of its territory will not be forsaken,
at the same time rejecting any decisions taken by the
assembly in Priština.
Official local assembly meetings in the last few days,
which had massive attendance of citizens, held in
Zveèan, Zubin Potok, Leposaviæ and Kosovska Mitrovica,
sent out messages that Serbs will not move out, but
will instead work together to defend their homes and
their province.
Protests have also been scheduled in Kosovska
Mitrovica, Graèanica, Štrpce and Ranilug.
But those Serbs that spoke to Beta saved the harshest
words for those few of their own which are taking part
in the province's temporary institutions, branding
them "traitors".
There are also fears that the Albanians, using the
euphoria after their leaders declare Kosovo's
independence, might try to attack the so-called
parallel institutions in the Serb areas, established
in 1999, and financed from the state budget, that
include healthcare and education institutions, and
post offices.
Serbian News Network - SNN
news@antic.org
http://www.antic.org/
