Free Republic

GRACANICA -- Wednesday – Telekom Serbia has reported that Serbian enclaves in Central Kosovo have lost their stationary and mobile phone services as well. Many of these Serbian communities have already been without electricity for several days. According to Telekom, equipment has been damaged in Gracanica, stating that cables have been severed in the region and expert teams are doing everything they can in order to rectify the telecommunications situation as soon as possible. Kosovo Serb leader Randjel Nojkic said that workers of the Kosovo Transport and Telecommunications Ministry cut down all the cables connecting the village Susica, near Gracanica....

Despite frequent promises by Kosovo authorities that the Serbian Orthodox Church will be fairly treated local municipal authorities continue with attempts to seize the Church property. In Djakovica, the municipal authorities with assistance of local UNMIK administrator simply falsified the cadastral records and turned the church owned land in the center of the town into a municipal land on which a monument to "KLA heroes" was erected. Just several meters from the monument which was unveiled by KLA War Veterans one can see the remains of the Serbian Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Trinity which was mined by Kosovo Albanian...

MOSCOW, January 30 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded from Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that he seek universal approaches in resolving the Kosovo problem. Lavrov, at a conference in the Kremlin on Monday, briefed the president on the upcoming meeting of the Contact Group on Kosovo settlement at the ministerial level. The present time is the crucial stage at the settlement as the talks on determining the final status of Kosovo have begun, Lavrov said. "We'll be guided by our position of the necessity of finding a solution which would be acceptable both for Belgrade and Albanian leaders," the...

Austrian soldiers which are part of KFOR received threats recently because a Kosovo Albanian was arrested in Vienna. This information was published by Austrian agency APA. Threats were sent by the disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) which demands release of the arrested Albanian. Rudolf Golija, spokesperson of Austrian police, confirmed that a 49 year old Albanian was arrested. He did not want to say anything about the threats against the Austrian soldiers which are part of KFOR. Kosovo Albanian which last Saturday came to Vienna airport “Schwechat” on a plane flying from Tirana, was arrested because during passport control police...

MOSCOW, Russia (UPI) -- Several leaders of conflict-ridden regions have left the political scene recently, with each man`s departure emphasizing how important or relative the influence of the individual on history can be. The demise of Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat removed a big obstacle from the path to settlement, but it was only one of many. Disease has disabled Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, whose will and influence allowed peacekeepers to make a few more difficult steps on this road. But his departure from the political scene will not change the situation a great deal. Sharon has done the...

Sanda Raskovic-Ivic, president of the Coordination Center for Kosovo and Metohija, asked Søren Jessen Petersen, chief of UNMIK, that he prevents the building of a KLA memorial complex on the lot of the destroyed temple of the Holy Trinity. In her letter to Petersen, Raskovic-Ivic categorically demands “stopping of this uncivilized act, protection of the interests of the Serbian Orthodox Church and help for it to rebuild the temple of the Holy Trinity”. “Djakovica municipal authorities and society of war veterans of KLA built a monument to the “heroes of the war” on the lot of temple of Holy Trinity...

Former Croatian General Ante Gotovina stands accused of war crimes in connection with a 1995 military offensive. Some 150 civilians were killed in the advance. Now, it looks like he may have had help from the United States. His trial may not get started before the end of 2006 or the spring of 2007, but already the case against former Croatian general Ante Gotovina promises some surprises. Gotovina, who is accused of being responsible for the murder of at least 150 Serbian civilians and the eviction of some 150,000 Serbs from the Krajina region in August 1995, may have had...

The Association of Kosovo Liberation Army War Veterans, in cooperation with the Djakovica municipal assembly, has built a monument to "war heroes" on church property in immediate proximity to the Serbian Orthodox church of the Holy Trinity in Djakovica, which was destroyed after the war in 1999. This most recent attack on the property of the Serbian Orthodox Church, in direct cooperation with official municipal institutions, confirms that in addition to individual criminal acts in Kosovo illegal activities are being carried out also under the official auspices of institutions formed during the UN protectorate ... The Church is seriously concerned...

Damascus, Syria Syria and Bosnia and Herzegovina on Sunday signed two agreements on cooperation in organizing journeys of Hajj, developing Islamic, educational and learning institutions, restoration of mosques as well as exchanging expertise among religious institutes and Islamic studies in both countries. The two agreements were signed by Minister of Endowments Ziad al-Den al-Ayubi, Syria's Grand Mufti Sheikh Ahmad Hassoun and the Grand Mufti in Bosnia and Herzegovina Sheikh Mustafa Ceric. Following the signing ceremony, Sheikh Ceric noted to Syria's efforts in defending Islamic rights and sanctuaries, thanking Syria for signing a cooperation agreement on organizing the Bosnian Hajj journey...

London bombers with possible Bosnian connection Banja Luka, 17:22 British team of anti-terror investigators will be heading to Sarajevo on Thursday to probe into possible Bosnian connection of the last year's bombing attacks on London, when 52 people died, "Nezavisne Novine" paper reports, quoting a source from the Bosnia-Herzegovina's Prosecution Office. Initially, the news was made public by the Swiss agency ISN Security Watch. The paper's source said the British investigators expressed interest on four British citizens of Afro-Asian origin, who had been staying in BiH. "It is believed the brother of one of the London suicide bombers was among...

From 1989 till 1995, namely until the Dayton Accord, the Kosovans faithfully followed Rugova's passive resistance. The Dayton Accord, which put an end to the Yugoslavian War, was in fact a real shock to the Kosovans, for there was no word at all in it about the Kosovo issue. Americans, who guaranteed Rugova that Kosovo would be the next issue on their agenda, did not keep their promise. No wonder that the entrance of the Kosovo Liberation Army The Kosovo Liberation Army logo (Ushtria Clirimtare E Kosoves - UCK, under the leadership of Hashim Thaci, coincided the year 1996, when...

Released : Jan 19, 2006 12:17 PM TIRANA, Albania-Police said Thursday they had seized an apartment belonging to a man alleged to have worked with Osama bin Laden on setting up terror networks in Albania. Police took control Wednesday of a three-room apartment belonging to Abdul Latif Saleh, who holds Jordanian and Albanian citizenship, in Kukes, 200 kilometers (120 miles) northeast of the capital Tirana, a statement said. Saleh was placed on a U.N. sanctions list in September, requiring all U.N. members to impose a travel ban on him and block his assets. Saleh is also being investigated for alleged...

Released : Jan 19, 2006 3:46 PM BUDAPEST, Hungary-A Slovak military plane crashed near the Slovak-Hungarian border Thursday with around 48 people on board, a Hungarian Defense Ministry official said. There was no immediate word of causalities. Hungarian Defense Ministry spokesman Istvan Bocskai said on Info Radio that about 48 people were on board the plane, which was flying from Kosovo to Slovakia and crashed close to the Slovak-Hungarian border.

BELGRADE -- Wednesday – The Serbia-Montenegro Executive Council has decided to offer the services of the Serbia-Montenegro military’s professional soldiers in peacekeeping operations around the world. The Serbia-Montenegro soldiers will be participating in a United Nations-led peacekeeping mission in Sudan and will also be helping out international security forces in Afghanistan. The Federal Parliament has also delivered a proposal for immediate consideration to have Serbia-Montenegro soldiers participate in other UN operations in Liberia, the Ivory Coast and Congo, and both Serbian and Montenegrin Parliaments have expressed support for the proposal. Military analysts Zoran Dragisic and Aleksandar Radic are not surprised...

When the four-star retired general walked into Loeb Playhouse for his speech Tuesday night, he didn't head directly to his seat in the front row next to Purdue President Martin Jischke. Instead, he walked down the aisle pausing at each row, shaking hands, looking each person directly in the eyes and saying "Hi, I'm Wesley Clark." This is not the expected greeting most would expect from someone of Clark's stature former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO forces in Europe and candidate for the Democratic nomination for the 2004 presidential election. But this is how the 2006 Sears Lecture Series began....

Belgrade, 16 Jan. (AKI) - Sensing that Serbia’s southern Kosovo province, with majority ethnic Albanian population, might be moving towards independence, ethnic Albanians in the neighboring Presevo Valley have expressed a demand for greater autonomy and possibly joining their Muslim brothers in Kosovo. Ethnic Albanian representatives in three municipalities in southern Serbia, Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja on Saturday adopted a resolution demanding “political and territorial autonomy” for their region and withdrawal of Serbian army from the area. The platform adopted over the weekend recalled that ethnic Albanians in the three municipalities had voted at a referendum in 1992 for independence...

In this exclusive interview with a Canadian police detective of long and varied experience, Stu Kellock, readers get the inside story of how UN investigators in Kosovo sought to crack down on criminals and terrorists – but were systematically stopped, because of the perceived need to safeguard the interests of the Western political elite and their local protégés. Stu Kellock, the former head of UNMIK’s Regional Serious Crime Unit in Pristina, provides an extraordinary insider’s perspective on the difficult and oftentimes dangerous work of investigating organized crime in Kosovo. This article, which contains several minor bombshells regarding the interlinked topics...

Reforms of Hayes, UN dep. high repr. in bosnia are aimed so that in forecoming Kosovo status negotiations, Half of Bosnia, e.i. Serb republic is to be given to Serbia to compensate Albanian claims on indipendancy of Kosovo, says Francis Boyle, US professor and Bosnia attorney on Genocide and agression claims against Serbia infront international court. " I, myself have carefuly looked Heyes`es documents, made by US state Departmant, and Serb republic is at same level as Bosnia, and that is done on pourpouse." said he. "His reforms are strongening Serb Republic (Christian enthity in Bosnia) in order to succeed...

Serbia-Montenegro foreighn minister said in his statement to Kurir newspapers. "Offer is that if agreed to compromise, Albanians will gain proportional number of parlament members, places in all ministerys, including proportional number of command structure in police and in the army, judiciary and legislative bodies of Serbia." said Draskovic. Asked if thet means that Albanian can be president of Serbis, Draskovic said "If they accept broad authonomy in Serbia _ yes."

Bosnians Remain Armed as Fears of Further War Endure By: Deutsche Welle Published: Jan 7, 2006 at 08:24 Fearing a new conflict, many Bosnians are doggedly holding on to weapons left over from the country's 1992-1995 war, despite efforts by foreign and local authorities to seize them. "Yes, I have a Kalashnikov and it's illegal, but every time they take one of them, I find another one," said Bosnian Serb Pajo, who has already had three of the assault rifles confiscated on different occasions. "In this region having a weapon means having security, because this is a kind of place...