.: Comprehensive Proposal for the Kosova Status Settlement

Sunday, February 04, 2007

Comprehensive Proposal for the Kosova Status Settlement

20 comments:

Anonymous said...: very informative stuff!; 6:19 PM
Anonymous said...: The link to the proposal should be...

http://www.kosovo.net/images/ahtisaari's%20proposal%20on%20kosovo.pdf; 1:44 AM
Anonymous said...: Sorry it cut off, the full link
should be...

http://www.kosovo.net/images
/ahtisaari's%20proposal%
20on%20kosovo.pdf; 1:48 AM
Anonymous said...: The flag issue is interesting ... it must represent the multiethnicity of Kosova.

So does that mean that it must include Albanian AND Serbian symbols, and not just the Albanian eagle? That will be interesting.; 12:49 PM
Anonymous said...: The flag is an issue, even though all Albanians want to see a balck double headed eagle on a red backround, that probaly is not what the serbs want to see. My opinion is that the Albanians of Kosova should get to design the flag, they were there first, and this is why Kosova split for Albanians not for the serbs they can go to Serbia or Montengro, this is albanian land is ours, the flag should be the traditonal albanian flag with a gold star at the top, until Kosova hopefully joins with albania, to do what all shqiptare dream about a "greater Albania"; 1:51 PM
Anonymous said...: nobody can say that ALL shqiptare dream "greater Albania"...and this is anyway without real importance...whether or not ALL in the same country, what is more important is the quality of life and human dignity...if we would just think: do ALL shqiptare live a decent life and have equal rights in their motherland Shqiperia...?; 4:30 PM
Anonymous said...: Gold star on top of the flag? What are you -- a Communist?

The question in the new Kosova will be this: Will Serbs live a decent life and have equal rights under the Albanian-controlled parliament/state?

Think about this because Albanians have always argued that they were not equally represented and victims of abuse and neglect; now should we turn the tables or will we take the lead to show the international community that we will do what we preaced before Ahtasaari's proposal?

You can forget the argument about who was there first. It doesn't matter in today's world politics because Kosova is an experiment where the world is trying to prove that multi-ethnic states (in the Balkans) can exist peacefully. And the lab rats are of course Albanians and Serbs/Slavs.; 11:52 AM
Anonymous said...: Macedonia backs Kosovo plan

February 05, 2007

"From what we have seen unofficially, we can say that the document ... will be acceptable to the Macedonian government," Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski told reporters after meeting Kosovo Albanian opposition leader Hashim Thaci.

"It is a document that should help stabilize the region."
_________________________

Kosovo Albanians to attend UN-backed status talks

February 06, 2007

Pristina. The Kosovo negotiating team here said on Monday it would participate in UN-sponsored talks on the ethnic Albanian majority province's future status in Vienna later this month, AFP reports.
Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu, who chairs the negotiating team, "replied today by a letter positively" to the UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari, the team's spokesman Skender Hyseni told reporters, referring to the envoy's invitation for further talks in mid-February.
"It means Kosovo's teams will be ready to engage in each individual topic of the (negotiation) phase which (former Finnish) president Ahtisaari called for further consultation," Hyseni said.; 1:25 PM
Anonymous said...: PRISTINA, Kosovo, Serbia -- The US envoy for the Kosovo status talks, Frank Wisner, urged support Monday (February 5th) for Martti Ahtisaari's status proposal, saying it would mark a new beginning for the province. The plan contains mechanisms protecting all Kosovo citizens, particularly Kosovo Serbs, he said during a visit to Pristina. He met there with Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu, Prime Minister Agim Ceku, members of the Kosovo negotiating team and representatives of the Serb Ticket for Kosovo and Metohija. On Tuesday, Wisner travelled to Belgrade for talks with Serbian President Boris Tadic.

Tadic, meanwhile, met with representatives of the various political parties Monday. Most agreed that he should go to Vienna on February 13th and request a ten-day postponement of consultations on Kosovo status, until after the new Parliament in Belgrade is formed.

(Glas javnosti, Blic, Danas, Politika, Vecernje novosti -
06/02/07; KosovaLive, Tanjug, RTS, AFP, Beta, B92, Reuters, AP - 05/02/07; 1:27 PM
Anonymous said...: The municipalities illustrated on teh map re this article wiull eventually change, creating more for the Serb enclaves.

Will this establish better government? Improve relations between Albanians and Serbs?

Time will tell.; 11:14 PM
Anonymous said...: Bettter relationships with Serbia? I doubt that will happen anytime soon, after what happened in Kosova a couple years ago it will take a miracle for the albanians to forgive serbians for what they did in Kosova.; 9:57 AM
Anonymous said...: MOSCOW, Russian Federation -- Ambassador Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko, Russia's envoy for Kosovo, criticised UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari's proposal on Kosovo's future status Thursday (February 15th), saying it needs adjustment. During a news conference in Moscow, Botsan-Kharchenko said Russia would not accept a decision that is unilaterally imposed against the will of Serbia. However, he also said Russia has not made any plans to use its veto power at the UN Security Council over the issue. "The veto is not a goal in itself for Russia," he said, while adding that the Council should discuss a new Kosovo resolution only with the approval of both Belgrade and Pristina.

Speaking the same day, Ahtisaari told the AP that he views chances for a compromise between Belgrade and Pristina as "slim". He added that he was not surprised by a resolution passed earlier this week by the Serbian parliament, which rejected Ahtisaari's blueprint as "unacceptable". (Danas - 16/02/07; Itar-Tass, Interfax, AP, B92, Tanjug, Beta, RTS, KosovaLive - 15/02/07); 12:02 AM
Anonymous said...: Belgrade. The members of the new Parliament of Serbia adopted aresolution for Kosovo, the Serbian daily Politika reports. The resolution rejects all points of the proposal of the UN special envoy Marti Ahtisaari for the statute of Kosovo, which disturbs the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Serbia. The resolution was backed by 225 MPs. 15 voted against it and three abstained.; 12:05 AM
Anonymous said...: Are they still crying?? Let it go Slavs, its been a foregone conclusion since 1999.; 11:14 AM
Ferik said...: The package is not as rosy as most politician are saying it its. It has same nasty trappings that will make the functioning of the government very difficult (Local judges could overrule the central authorities, minorities could take up to 25% of the seats in the parliament for the next 8 years, making the formation of any government impossible) .

And the flag issue- forget about it. No chance on earth Albanians will accept a “multiethnic” flag. I don’t see a multi ethnic flag in Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, and France who are more multiethnic then Kosovo. I would do everything possible to make changes to this package. Having failed that, I would accept it with the intention of ignoring the”nasty” provisions when it comes to implementation. Remember, the current UN resolution that governs Kosovo envisions the Serb Military returning to Kosovo within a year after the conflict- it never happened. Government can always ignore what they don’t like.; 11:51 PM
Anonymous said...: Deutsche Welle spoke with Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu as final talks between Serbians and ethnic Albanian representatives on the region's status opened in Vienna.

Serbia on Wednesday again rejected a United Nations plan for independence for its breakaway Kosovo province as a final round of talks on the blueprint began. UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari's Kosovo plan, published on February 2, would give Kosovo all the trappings of statehood -- self-government, its own flag and anthem, and membership in international organizations. It stops short of granting full independence.

Under the envoy's plan, Kosovo's government would be overseen by a new European Union-led mission which would take over from the UN, which has administered the province since the end of the Kosovo war in 1999.

As a final round of talks, expected to last into March, got underway in Vienna on the UN blueprint, DW-WORLD.DE spoke with Fatmir Sejdiu, President of Kosovo, about the fate of the region.

Mr. President, violence has increased in Kosovo this month. Two people were killed on February 10 during outbreaks. This week, there was a bomb attack on United Nations vehicles in Pristina. Are the negotiations failing?

- These developments are not helping the situation in Kosovo -- it's been a dark day for Kosovo since the outbursts occurred. They have been violent protests and it was absolutely unnecessary for those two people to die.

Not only do the deaths mean a major loss for the families. The severity of the attacks has a very negative effect on Kosovo's prospects. It damages the political processes.

Of course, everyone has the right to protest and express his or her opinions, but it's essential that this occurs within the framework of the law.

I believe Kosovo's negotiating group has done its job. We have clearly represented Kosovo's interests at all of the meetings in Vienna, and it's true that we have reached a consensus in all of our decisions. This shows that we have represented the absolute majority of Kosovo's population and its institutions.

Before the talks in Vienna began, Kosovo's negotiating group presented a list of contentious points. Do you believe that UN special envoy Ahtisaari's scheme can still be altered during the negotiations?

- Perhaps. There surely won't be any more major changes, but it could be that arguments we have presented will be integrated in some way. We'll have to wait and see. However, we do not want to start debating Ahtisaari's recommendations all over again. That would just mean an endless round of discussions which wouldn't go anywhere, other than putting Kosovo at further risk. It would jeopardize its future.

I would like to point out that it's essential that the UN Security Council keep track of this process; it's that group which will hear the recommendations for the future of Kosovo. The political formulations and Kosovo's independence are central here.

The Serbian negotiating delegation has demanded that Ahtisaari's plan be divided into technical and political sections. What's your opinion on that?

- I think Belgrade's interest during the discussions in Vienna is prolonging them as much as possible, thereby discrediting them. That would increase the tensions in Kosovo -- with the aim of trying to show that Kosovo is not yet ready for independence, that it's unstable, that it offers no prospects for its citizens, and especially, for its Serbian citizens.

Ahtisaari himself said two-thirds of his recommendations address the safety of Serbs in Kosovo alone. Serbs in Kosovo, for their part, say Ahtisaari's plan is unfair because it treats all minorities in the region alike. That would mean that the Serbs -- the largest minority in Kosovo -- should have more rights than, say, the Roma or Ashkali groups.

- It certainly is a major boost for the Serbian minority in Kosovo that Ahtisaari has addressed the situation of their equality to such an extent. Of course, other minorities have also demanded the same rights as the Serbian minority, although Kosovo's institutions have integrated these into their democratic processes. That is why those parts of the plan addressing the safety of the Serbian minority are based on international norms and standards. There are even aspects which go well beyond normal international standards.

Source: Press Online; 10:14 AM
Anonymous said...: Here we go again ... frustration is mounting more than ever before; an unconditionally full independent Kosova is the only solution ...

Three UNMIK vehicles and one civilian's were damaged on Monday evening as a result of an explosion in Pristina, police confirmed on Tuesday (February 19th).

In a brief report emailed to local media, a group calling itself the Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK) says it has "reactivated its structures" and carried out the attack against UN property in retaliation for the deaths of two Albanians, killed during clashes with police on February 10th.

The blast was meant to damage UNMIK property, not cause fatalities, the group said.

During the 1998-99 conflict, the UCK fought the Serbian army and police. However, it was subsequently transformed into a civilian structure called the Kosovo Protection Force, supervised by UNMIK and KFOR. Still unclear is whether there is any relationship between the perpetrators of Monday's bombing and the earlier UCK.

A Kosovo Police Service (KPS) spokesperson, Veton Elshani, told SETimes that the authenticity of the report is yet to be determined. No one has been arrested.

"I just heard a very loud detonation, because I live near the scene," said Albert Kamberi, a local resident. He said police and KFOR personnel were on the scene within minutes.

The blast came ten days after a pro-independence protest -- organised by the Vetevendosje (Self-determination) movement -- that turned violent. Kosovo and UN police responded with rubber bullets and tear gas. Two demonstrators were killed.

Vetevendosje has announced plans for another demonstration on March 3rd

Immediately after the blast, Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Çeku visited the scene and condemned the bombing. "These acts are against Kosovo independence," Ceku said. "But these acts should not obstruct the process of independence for Kosovo," he added.

Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu urged the police to quickly find the perpetrators and bring them to justice. "These criminal acts are absolutely not acceptable for the people of Kosovo and its institutions. They damage the image of Kosovo and do not represent the people of Kosovo," he said.

Source: SE Times; 10:18 AM
Conference Organizer said...: NIS, Serbia -- The plan drafted by UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari is the best available option for Kosovo, US Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried said at the end of a two-day visit to Serbia Tuesday (March 6th). The status issue would be resolved this year, he stressed. "Whatever the outcome, it is the strong position of my government that the presence of the Serb community in Kosovo, its religious and cultural institution ... will be preserved," Fried added. He acknowledged that Serbian President Boris Tadic and Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica are not prepared to accept the blueprint, but said this should not prevent them from making recommendations on improving conditions for the Serb minority. Later, during a visit to northern Kosovo and a meeting with Kosovo Serb mayors, Fried said that neither side in the status negotiations would win everything and neither would lose everything.; 4:15 PM
Anonymous said...: PRISTINA, Kosovo, Serbia -- Serbs and ethnic Albanians remain deeply divided over the plan on Kosovo's future drafted by UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari. He sent a revised version of his blueprint to both sides on Wednesday (March 7th), ahead of Saturday's final round of talks in Vienna. Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu said the amendments were "mainly positive" and did not change the essence of the plan. The province's leaders plan to meet late Thursday to discuss it. In Belgrade, a spokesman for Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's ruling Democratic Party of Serbia said the new version was "even worse", as it is "completely in line with position of the Albanian separatists".; 9:52 PM
Anonymous said...: NEW YORK, United States -- UNMIK chief Joachim Ruecker was due Monday (March 19th) to present his regular detailed report on the situation in Kosovo and the UN administration's work there to the UN Security Council in New York. The document, which covers developments in the province and implementation of internationally set standards between November and February, would be discussed at a closed-door session.

In other news, EU security chief Javier Solana discussed the settlement with Kosovo opposition leader Hashim Thaci in Brussels on Friday. Solana expressed confidence that the Kosovo Albanian negotiators would maintain a constructive approach until the process ends.

Kosovo authorities, meanwhile, condemned an attack Sunday on the Roman Catholic church in the village of Bince. Assailants reportedly forced their way in and threatened a priest. (RTK, Gazeta Shqiptare - 19/03/07; Beta, Tanjug, RTS, FoNet - 18/03/07; Vecernje novosti - 17/03/07; Tanjug - 16/03/07); 12:54 PM

New York Times article published May 21, 1911

"ALBANIAN JOAN OF ARC: Handsome Heroine Takes Father's Place and Vanquishes Turks" – Cetinja, May 21, 1911 - A young girl, whose first name corresponds to that of the given name of the Maid of Orleans, is now being sung in the songs of the Montenegrin bards in the inns and coffee houses in Podgorica. When at the battle of Vranje last week, her father, the hereditary commander of his clan, fell, she immediately stepped to his place and led the Martinajs to victory against the Turks. Aside from the romantic phase of the affair, for Janitza Martinaj (Tringa e Grudes) is very beautiful, the battle is important as showing that the Montenegrins on the frontier had joined with the Albanians. According to a person who is well acquainted with her, this new Joan of Arc is “a tall, handsome, well-developed young woman. All the Albanian women are brave, and are trained from their girlhood to the use of firearms, and in times of war, as there are no mules, they carry the provisions and ammunition for their soldiers and go into the firing line to distribute them.” “And are sometimes killed?” “Yes, often that happens.” Janitza would probably have carried a Martini rifle; or, as many of the Marininis were collected last year by the Turks, her weapon may perhaps have been one of the old-fashioned Albanian rifles, which are handsomely decorated with silver and have very long, narrow barrels. Shooting is almost the only amusement of the young men and women in Albania. Both boys and girls learn to shoot when they are 12 years old. At weddings the parties amuse themselves by dancing and shooting: at christenings shootings is again the principal amusement – firing at large targets for some little prize – and at festivals there is shooting all day long. It’s one of the great difficulties that Turks have to contend with, for it is part of the national life; the people use their rifles by day and sleep with them by their side by night. The custom has grown up with the prevailing insecurity from vendettas at home and border troubles abroad. Physically, the Albanians are the finest race in Europe. Their women are handsome, with dark hair, though their eyes are sometimes gray. To see them walk is a delight. We like to see the ballet in Servia. The first time I saw the Albanians walk it gave me just the same pleasure. Their movements are so graceful, elegance and strength together. Yes, they are a very fine and very gifted race. They are like the Scots in the 17th century, and they will be by and by the finest race, intellectually as well as physically, in the Balkans. If you go to Constantinople you will find that many of the finest men, not only soldiers but also statesmen are Albanians. Their fault, due to their present degree of civilization, is that they cannot grasp the idea of State. The clan is their highest organization; they are unable to see the importance of combining the clan with the higher organization of making a state. But that will come.

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Sunday, February 04, 2007

Comprehensive Proposal for the Kosova Status Settlement

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