[www.antic.org] Kosovo Mass Grave May Contain 800 Serbs
Kosovo Mass Grave Contains 800 Bodies, Possibly Serbs BELGRAD, Jul 20, 2001 -- (dpa) Another mass grave has been uncovered in southwest Kosovo, containing up to 900 corpses, the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) said Thursday. Spokeswoman Monique Finnberg told Belgrade Radio B-92 that the bodies could be those of Serbians who were among the 1,300 Kosovo Serbs reported missing since the conflict with ethnic Albanians in 1999. The killings appeared to have happened after the international peacekeeping troops KFOR interceded to prevent further killing of ethnic Albanians by Serbian troops. Exhumation of the bodies is likely to begin only in the new year, Finnberg said. (C)2001. dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur Serbian News Network - SNN [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.antic.org/
[www.antic.org] Kostunica Remains Serbia's Most Popular Politician, DPA, Jul 19
Kostunica Remains Serbia's Most Popular Politician, DPA, Jul 19 BELGRADE -- Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica retains his position as the most popular politician in Serbia, the Belgrade- based Strategic Marketing polling agency said Wednesday. According to a survey conducted July 3-9 on 2,000 people throughout Serbia, Kostunica was rated positively by 72 percent of those polled. On a scale of one to five, he was rated 4.0 on average. Kostunica's only rival within the ruling Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) coalition, Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, had a 40 percent positive and a 44 percent negative rating and was rated at just 2.8. The agency said Djindjic's roughly equal positive and negative rating was directly linked to the polarization over his decision to extradite the deposed Yugoslav strongman Slobodan Milosevic to the United Nations war crimes tribunal. The survey confirmed the strong popularity of new Serbian political figures, the central bank governor Mladjan Dinkic, outgoing and future federal deputy premier Miroljub Labus and Yugoslav foreign minister Goran Svilanovic. As in earlier surveys, the three trailed Kostunica as the most popular, Dinkic, rated 3.5, and Labus and Svilanovic at 3.4 each. Svilanovic is the chief of the DOS-member Civic Alliance of Serbia, while Dinkic and Labus informally head the G17 Plus think tank, which is believed to be preparing for transformation into a political party. Breaking into the five most popular for the first time was Serbian deputy premier Nebojsa Covic and chief of the DOS-member Democratic Alternative, rated at 3.2. The Strategic Marketing said that he was rewarded for negotiating the disbanding of ethnic Albanian guerrillas in Presevo Valley and the return of security forces into the Kosovo buffer last May. Most prominent officials of the former regime, including Milosevic, fared poorly - Milosevic was rated at 1.9, the informal leader of his Socialist Party of Serbia, Branislav Ivkovic was at 2.1 and the nationalist leader Vojislav Seselj at 1.9. Generally, Serbia today is polarized on two large groups - one that sees both Kostunica and Djindjic as positive characters and the other that likes Kostunica only, the agency said. Just 8.1 percent of the voters remained outside of those two groups, rating both leaders as negative. Serbian News Network - SNN [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.antic.org/
[www.antic.org] Another "war crimes" scapegoat
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/justincol.html FREE FIKRET ABDIC! Another "war crimes" scapegoat The utter hypocrisy and outright evil of the "war crimes" trials being conducted in the Balkans these days is epitomized by the Croatian court trying Fikret Abdic for alleged "crimes against humanity." It is a story in which everything is inverted: in which the West, as embodied by the International Criminal Tribunal for War Crimes in the Former Yugoslavia (ICTFY), pursues a policy in which good is sacrificed to evil and the virtuous are smeared as "war criminals." WHO IS FIKRET ABDIC? Cazinska Krajina, centered in the town of Velika Kladusa, in the far northwest corner of Bosnia, was once the most prosperous and peaceful region in Bosnia, in spite of the constant warfare that has bedeviled the region since the breakup of Yugoslavia. For this was the home base of Fikret Abdic, the remarkable and well-loved local entrepreneur who rose from nothing to become the country's biggest industrialist: it was Abdic who transformed a poor area into a highly profitable center of industry through his company, Agrokomerc. It was Abdic who provided the highest wages in the region, and this economic powerhouse gave the locals the highest standard of living in Bosnia. Persecuted by the Yugoslav Communists, who naturally resented a successful entrepreneur, he was jailed for two years without being charged with a crime, and released in 1989. He restarted his business, was more successful than ever, and ran for the Bosnian presidency on a moderate platform of economic revival as the key to reconciliation between the religious and ethnic factions. Abdic beat out Muslim fundamentalist Alija Izetbegovic - although the latter was mysteriously declared the "winner." 'THE BEST ECONOMIST' Abdic retired from the national political scene, and decided to go back to Cazinska Krajina with the tacit understanding that he would be left alone by the central government to do his own thing - which was making money not only for himself but for his people. Abdic opposed the radical Islamic fundamentalism of Izetbegovic and proclaimed himself a follower of Western-style capitalism. In Balkan Odyssey, Lord Owen, the British diplomat, described him as "forthright, confident and different from the Sarajevan Muslims. He was in favor of negotiating and compromising with Croats and Serbs to achieve a settlement, and scathing about those Muslims who wanted to block any such settlement." As one Abdic supporter succinctly put it: "Alija Izetbegovic is the biggest Muslim fundamentalist. Fikret Abdic is the best economist and smartest man." NO IMMUNITY The socialist-minded government in Sarajevo did not look kindly on Abdic's economic liberalism, and furthermore was horrified by Abdic's open dealing with Croats and Serbs. Abdic believed that he could achieve a kind of informal autonomy, and that his mini-state could stay above the fray: this may have been the crux of a deal with Izetbegovic that led Abdic to walk away from his 1990 election victory, with the understanding that he would henceforth enjoy a kind of immunity. But it was not to be. A SEPARATE PEACE The three-sided civil war that tore apart the fragile Bosnian confederation did not allow for such a disinterested pragmatism: he soon found himself and his prosperous isle of Balkan capitalism under siege, from the Bosnian government - which resented his moderate stance and was jealous of his popularity - and also from the Croatians, who were realigned with the central authorities in Sarajevo. Abdic did his best to straddle the fence, and play one side off against the other, but eventually this became impossible. In spite of Abdic's adroit maneuverings, by the spring of 1992, his peaceful and prosperous enclave was surrounded by hostile parties on four sides - and the Bosnian Muslim army afforded him no protection. Always critical of the uncompromising position of Izetbegovic and his pro-Iranian fundamentalist party, the SDA, Abdic declared the Cazinska Krajina enclave an autonomous republic, and signed a separate peace with both the Serbs and the Croats. THE RAPE OF WEST BOSNIA The Bosnian Army launched a deadly offensive against Abdic on June 10, 1994, and they were joined by their newfound allies, the Croats. The Bosnian 5th Corps attacked Velika Kladusa in a campaign of murder, terror, and rapine that equals any of the more widely-touted atrocities, such as the "rape" of Srebenica, in which the Muslims are always the victims. Well, here it was Muslims victimizing other Muslims: but since that didn't fit into the neat victimological categories established by the Western media, it was studiously ignored. TWO KANGAROO COURTS
[www.antic.org] News, 21.7.2001, 16:00 UTC
Deutsche Welle English Service News July 21st, 2001, 16:00 UTC World leaders attending a Group of Eight summit overshadowed by the shooting of an anti-capitalist activist have declared their talks would go on as planned. In an unexpected statement on the second day of the summit, G8 leaders condemned "violence overflowing into anarchy" by a small minority among the thousands of demonstrators gathered in the Italian city of Genoa. But they said they respected people's right to protest peacefully. The leaders,- from the United States, Russia, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Canada,- are to turn their attention to world poverty and the environment, issues that top the agenda of some protest groups in Genoa. Indonesia's top assembly, launching the country's first impeachment bid, has summoned President Abdurrahman Wahid to answer allegations of corruption and incompetence on Monday. But Wahid rejected the hearing as illegal, refused to appear and threatened to declare a state of emergency that would allow him to dissolve the assembly and call a snap poll. The nation's first democratically-elected leader also warned that his millions of supporters might take to the streets if the People's Consultative Assembly sacked him, as it is widely expected to do just 21 turbulent months into his five-year term. Twelve people have been killed in Indian Kashmir when suspected separatist guerrillas attacked a route along which thousands of Hindus were trekking to a shrine. Fifteen people were wounded in the attack which began when the suspected Muslim guerrillas set off a landmine. Nearly a dozen Muslim militant groups are fighting Indian rule in Jammu and Kashmir, India's only Muslim-majority state. New Delhi accuses Islamabad of giving military backing to the separatists but Pakistan says it provides only moral and diplomatic support. Delegates at a conference in the German city of Bonn seeking to save the Kyoto Protocol have said a conclusive deal looked increasingly unlikely, with new talks probably needed in the autumn to resolve differences. Conference officials said they would present a broad compromise package to overcome squabbling over fine print that has bogged down proceedings. The Kyoto Protocol requires developed countries to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 5.2 percent by 2012. The United States, which signed the deal under President Bill Clinton, pulled out in March with President George W. Bush saying it was "fatally flawed" and would damage the economy. The other countries have decided to try to plough ahead. Israel has denied any involvment in two explosions at house next to the office of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction in the West Bank city of Hebron. One Palestinian was killed and at least three others were wounded by the blast. Palestinian authorities accused Israel of launching a missile attack, while Israel claimed the detonations were caused by Palestinian bombs. This comes after an angry funeral procession, when Palestinians buried the youngest victim of 10 months of violence. The infant was killed along with two adult relatives, in a drive-by shooting near Hebron Thursday. The attack prompted an urgent appeal from the Palestinian Authority for foreign observers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israel, which opposed deployment of observers so far, indicated a willingness to compromise. Iraq has apparently fired a missile into Kuwaiti airspace in an attempt to hit a U.S. aircraft patrolling a "no fly" zone over southern Iraq. U.S. military officials said information was sketchy about the incident, which occurred on Thursday. On Tuesday, aircraft belonging to a U.S.-British coalition monitoring the zone struck an Iraqi anti-aircraft artillery site.Western forces set up no-fly zones in northern and southern Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War to protect Kurdish dissidents and other minority groups. Iraq does not recognize the zones. Germany's Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer has expressed shock at the death of three members of the European Union observer mission in Macedonia. The two EU observers from Norway and Slovakia and their Albanian interpreter were killed by an explosion, believed to have been from an anti-personnel mine, while travelling in a jeep near the town of Tetovo. Fischer said the incident tragically underlined the need for a political solution of the conflict in the country. The German government appealed again to the ethnic Albanian rebels and the Macedonian government to return to negotiations. Sicily's Mount Etna, Europe's most active volcano, has continued to spew lava, prompting authorities to warn people in nearby towns of the possibility of evacuation. About 15,000 people live in the towns nest
[www.antic.org] Russia: Macedonia Crisis Result Of NATO's War Against Yugoslavia
The crisis is the result of the "systematic mistakes that date back to the bombings of Yugoslavia. We are now reaping the fruit of that action." Interfax News Agency Politics 21.07.2001 16:34 Kremlin says Macedonia crisis result of NATO's 1999 strikes GENOA, Italy. July 21 (Interfax) - A senior Kremlin aide said on Saturday that the current crisis in Macedonia had its roots in NATO's air strikes against Yugoslavia in 1999. The crisis is the result of "systematic mistakes that date back to the period of the bombings of Yugoslavia," Sergei Prikhodko, deputy chief of the Russian president's staff, told reporters. "We are now reaping the fruit of that action," he said. Prikhodko said Russian President Vladimir Putin received a letter on Friday from Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski setting out Macedonia's position on the crisis, assessing Russia's role in settlement efforts and asking the Russian leader to back the Macedonian leadership. [RU EUROPE EEU EMRG VIO MK DIP IT WEU NEWS] Serbian News Network - SNN [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.antic.org/
[www.antic.org] SERBIA'S JUSTICE MINISTER INSISTS ON KOSOVO COMMON GRAVE BODIES EXHUMED
SERBIA'S JUSTICE MINISTER INSISTS ON KOSOVO COMMON GRAVE BODIES EXHUMED Bodies must be urgently exhumed from a common grave near Suva Reka in Kosovo's southwest, Vladan Batic, Serbia's Justice Minister, says in a message to Hans Hekkerup, head of the UN civil mission to Kosovo (UNMIK). The grave was found quite recently. It has approximately 900 bodies, presumably of Serbs and other ethnic non-Albanians, reports Monique Finberg, in charge of the UNMIK bureau for missing persons. Serbia's government representatives, forensic experts and spokesmen of particular Serbian-based organisations must be involved in exhumation and identification of the remains, insists Mr. Batic. The tragic site might provide essential evidence of crimes against Serbs and other ethnic non-Albanians in Kosovo, he says. Serbian News Network - SNN [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.antic.org/
[www.antic.org] Activists around Europe pay tribute to dead G8 protester
Activists around Europe pay tribute to dead G8 protester GENOA, Italy, July 21 (AFP) - Anti-globalization activists gathered around Europe Saturday to honor an Italian protester shot dead at the G8 summit with minutes of silence and marches condemning Italian police for his death. Thousands of protesters in Norway, Sweden, Austria, Turkey and in Genoa -- where the summit of the world's big industrial nations is being held -- came together in ceremonies to pay tribute to 23-year-old Carlo Giuliani, killed by police during riots in the Italian port city Friday. In Sweden, about 400 anti-G8 protesters observed a minute of silence in Stockholm city center, while in Oslo about 100 demonstrators marched in silence on one of the city's main squares near the foreign ministry. "We can't accept that a human being can be shot by police in a democratic country," Nina Drange of the Attac-Norway group said, while stressing that her organization did not engage in violent protests. Several hundred people demonstrated in Istanbul, in protests staged separately by a Socialist party and a trade union. Freedom and Solidarity Party (ODP) chairman Uruk Uras described the summit leaders -- from Germany, France, Japan, Canada, the United States, Russia, Italy and Britain -- as "G8 vampires." The Italian consulate in the Austrian city of Salzburg was covered with graffiti condemning the shooting, with slogans reading "Murderers" and "Stamp out police violence, and a G7 monument in the French city of Lyon was also defaced with graffiti. "The G8 kills, G8 assassin, assassin," read the slogans on a sculpture erected in 1996 during the G7 summit there. Swiss anti-globalisation protesters threw fireworks at the Italian office of tourism in Zurich early Saturday, smashing a window, police said. In Bonn, where the United Nations is holding talks over the Kyoto climate protocol, about 2,000 demonstrators came together to demand action on climate change, while also observing a minute of silence for Giuliani. The largest demonstration was in Genoa itself, where tens of thousands assembled in late afternoon for a concert after observing a minute of silence. The demise of the Italian has triggered fresh questions about the future of international summits, with leaders wondering whether to scale back such gatherings in the light of the massive security and disruption caused each time the meetings take place. It has also thrown a chill across the anti-globalisation movement, whose members largely prefer to put their complaints about the running of the world economy peacefully. burs-tm/loc Serbian News Network - SNN [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.antic.org/
[www.antic.org] Officer charged with murder after G8 death
Officer charged with murder after G8 death GENOA, Italy, July 21 (AFP) - The police officer who shot dead a young Italian protester during demonstrations against a Group of Eight summit here was charged with murder, the prosecutor's office said. A second carabiniere officer is also under investigation but a decision on an indictment will only be made after a post-mortem. Carlo Giuliani, 23, died after being shot during protests Friday. The interior ministry said initial inquiries showed Giuliani had been shot by an injured carabiniere whose vehicle was cornered by demonstrators. Witnesses said the vehicle drove twice over the protester's body. The second carabiniere was at the wheel of the vehicle. Serbian News Network - SNN [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.antic.org/
