EU's Kosovo police mission to deploy amid protest

AP ^ | December 8, 2008

[Tailgunner Joe]

PRISTINA, Kosovo: The European Union's most ambitious police mission to date will take over the policing of Kosovo from the United Nations on Tuesday, after months of delay and protests on both sides of the ethnic divide.

The force, known as EULEX, will have over 2,000 police and justice workers monitoring and advising Kosovo's authorities on tackling corruption and organized crime.

"Kosovo is part of Europe and I think it's a duty for the EU to bring this help and this support to Kosovo," the head of the mission, Yves De Kermabon, told The Associated Press in an interview over the weekend. "To improve the rule of law is very important ... for all of Europe," said De Kermabon, a former French general who was in charge of Kosovo's NATO-led mission.

The EU mission, which will rely strongly on NATO's 16,000 peacekeepers for protection, finds itself unwanted by either side of Kosovo's ethnic divide — ethnic Albanians and Serbs.

Kosovo's Serb minority rejects the EU deployment, as most EU member states supported Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia earlier this year.

Ethnic Albanians fear that the EU made too many concessions to Serb leaders in a bid to garner their support, and fear that these will lead to Serbia having a say over Kosovo's affairs in areas where Serbs live — eventually splitting the country along ethnic lines.

NATO peacekeepers have heightened security in the Serb-dominated north in advance of the EU arrival.

To counter defiance from the Serbs, the EU mission will work under the auspices of the United Nations, which does not endorse Kosovo's declaration of independence.

[Tailgunner Joe]

http://www.eulex-kosovo.eu/

[2banana]

1. Pull out remaining Americans
2. Let the Serb army retake their country

[BGHater]

Gotta wonder if bombing buildings in Kosovo would get people fire up right now...

Court frees German Kosovo bomb suspects

""The German government ... calls for the immediate release of the three German citizens," government spokesman Thomas Steg said, reiterating the trio were "not implicated in the terrorist attack." Kosovo and German media reports said the trio were investigating the blast for the BND. Since they were not registered with the Kosovan government, however, they had no diplomatic immunity.

The explosion came amid opposition by Kosovo Albanians to the planned deployment of a European Union civilian mission focused on police, judiciary and customs by early December under an agreement reached between the United Nations and Serbia.

No one was injured in the blast, which shattered the windows of the ICO office."

[pankot]

KOSOVO is SERB!

[FormerLib]

What a tangled web we weave...

...when we endeavor to abandon the traditions of these United States and bow down to kiss the dirt before the New Caliphate!

[FormerLib]

Joe is anti-Serb. Check his previous posts about the Balkans.

[Bokababe]

"Joe is anti-Serb. Check his previous posts about the Balkans."

Joe didn't start out that way. He was against the NATO Bombing in 1999, and he hasn't posted anything anti-Serb in a while, just the facts.

[Bokababe]

Truth is this Eulex Mission talks about "bringing law and justice" to Kosovo, while it is trampling both.

It has no respect for Serbia's sovereignty; nor does it even pretend respect for Kosovo's phony "sovereignty". Neither the Serbs, not the Albanians want them there, but that doesn't seem to matter to Eulex. Eulex knows there are 16,000 NATO soldiers there to back them up so it doesn't matter what anyone else wants.

Eulex has no respect for the UN (which most of us don't respect yet we are still paying for) or for UN Resolution 1244 guaranteeing Serbia's sovereignty, as it is "status neutral" with one voice and "not status neutral" with another. So who is lying and who is telling the truth?

This is an EU Force containing Americans. Why?

In this case, this cartoon says it all

The Serbs with UN 1244 today -- us waiving the Constitution tomorrow?

[SQUID]

“Serb-dominated north” I love how these idiot writers use certain language. Why isn't the rest of Kosovo considered dominated by anyone? Why aren't Serbs called the minority in Kosovo?

These “journalists” are just an extension of the government and walk in lock step with the orders given. Propaganda machine used for perception management.

[gitmogrunt]

http://www.thetrumpet.com/index.php?q=639.0.44.0