Free Republic

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...

Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, or her consultancy firm Albright Group LLC, has taken over the job of special adviser of the chairman of the board of managers of the Kosovo Internet Provider Ipko Net, which will compete for a new mobile provider in the province. As it was stated from Ipko Net, the company recently founded a joint firm, with mixed capital, with the American Western Wirless International from Seattle, with which, as it was said, it intended to compete for a 'second mobile operator' in Kosovo." 4 days ago, Kosovo UN authorities started torning off Belgrade...

MITROVICA, Serbia and Montenegro (Reuters) - NATO troops in Kosovo secured the fire-gutted Serbian church in the flashpoint town of Mitrovica on Saturday as dozens of Serbs crossed the bridge into the Albanian-dominated south to mark Orthodox Christmas. Split into Albanian and Serb halves, Mitrovica in northern Kosovo has seen some of the worst clashes since the end of the 1998-99 war and the town's division by French troops at the Ibar River. Serbs holding candles attend a service for Orthodox Christmas in the fire-gutted Serbian church in Mitrovica, 40 kilometres north of the Kosovo capital Pristina, January 7, 2006....

Well, it looks like the Albanian mafia in this country—much of whose proceeds are exchanged with al Qaeda et al—is outpacing both its Italian and Russian counterparts. Boy, it’s a good thing we “rescued” and resettled that clan here. In Kosovo, meanwhile, the Albanian Muslims have been attacking UN and NATO ever since NATO “saved” them, and gearing up for all-out war against the West this year if it stands in the way of the logical conclusion of the jihad we helped them fight six years ago. That is, full independence (i.e. an Islamic-narco-terror mafia state without peacekeeper oversight). Such...

January 2006 -- A bus was attacked with an explosive device in central Kosovo overnight, causing damage but no injuries. The vehicle was traveling from the town of Dragas to the Serbian capital Belgrade with 57 passengers on board. A bus traveling between Kosovo and the rest of Serbia was also attacked late last year, with no injuries. The UN has administered Kosovo since June 1999 when NATO air strikes chased Serbian forces from the province. The majority ethnic-Albanian population is seeking independence for the province, while Belgrade says it must remain part of Serbia. (AFP/Reuters)

Pristina, 5 Dec. (AKI) - Kosovo president Ibrahim Rugova’s religious beliefs have become the subject of wild speculation as the health of the 61 year old, who is spearheading Kosovo's independence drive, worsens. Rugova has been hospitalised since last week with lung cancer and there have been widespread rumours in Pristina that he has told close associates he wants to be buried as a Catholic. About 95 per cent of Kosovo's ethnic Albanians are Muslims and the matter of Rugova’s religion has until now never been raised. Kosovo political analyst Nexhmedin Spahiu says that Rugova was a Muslim, though he...

ROGATICA, Bosnia, Jan 5 (Reuters) - The wife of a Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect was killed in a shoot-out when European Union (EUFOR) peacekeepers moved in to arrest her husband at their home on Thursday, doctors in Bosnia said. Suspect Dragomir Abazovic and the couple's 11-year-old son were also shot and injured in the morning raid in a village near Rogatica in eastern Bosnia and there had been an exchange of gunfire, police said. "Rada Abazovic died of kidney and abdominal wounds," a doctor in Foca hospital told Reuters by telephone. Hospital officials said the husband was treated for...

One problem though: Thaci refuses to discuss decentralisation issue during the status negotiations since the reformation of local power is an issue, which concerns Kosovo institutions. Although other members of the Albanian status negotiating team unanimously stated that decentralisation couldn't be part of the talks, one may wonder if Thaci’s unpredictable temper may change the course of history. Since 1995, there is a new Albanian movement called “Vetevendosje” (self determination) in Kosovo guided by a 30-year old former student leader and political prisoner Albin Kurti, who reminds of Thaci of old times: relentless, determined (though non violent). Famous American Balkan...

PRISTINA, Serbia and Montenegro, Jan 4 (Reuters) - A policeman in Kosovo shot and killed a man during his interrogation in an Albanian-style "blood feud" to avenge the murder of his brother. Police said the officer shot the 38-year-old suspect late on Tuesday as he was being questioned about illegal firearms at the Pec police station in the west of the United Nations-run province. The officer was subsequently arrested. Local reports alleged the detainee's brother had stabbed to death the police officer's brother at a nightclub six months ago. The Pristina daily Express quoted the detainee's lawyer as saying he...