Byzantine Blog

Kosovo Albanian Stashes of Explosives

PRISTINA, Serbia, October 4 (AP) -- NATO-led peacekeepers in Kosovo seized about 400 kilograms (880 pounds) of explosives stashed away in the woodlands of central Kosovo, officials said Wednesday.

The stockpile containing 90 mines, ammunition and hand grenades was found during a routine patrol said Col. Reiner Senger a spokesman for the peacekeepers.

“Some mines are older, some are very dangerous,” Senger said referring to anti-personnel mines found in the cache.

The explosives and the ammunition have been transported to KFOR premises and will be destroyed, Senger said.

Last week Kosovo’s police discovered six cases containing a total of 72 rocket-propelled grenades.

Fears have been rising of violence erupting in Kosovo as the U.N.-run province approaches a critical stage in talks aimed at settling its political status. Kosovo’s Serbs want the province to remain in the realm of Belgrade’s control, while Albanian Muslims want it to become an independent state.

From Kosovo With Love: Heroin Supplies For the West

BELGRADE, Serbia, October 3 (Beta) -- Serbian customs officers seized Tuesday in the city near administrative border with Kosovo 133 pounds of heroin, with the estimated market value of 2.3 million dollars.

The Customs Agency in Belgrade said the officers uncovered the heroin, wrapped in 120 packages glued with tape and stashed in a specially made “bunker” in a car with German licence plates at Presevo, the town on the main highway in southern Serbia, close to the borders with Kosovo and Macedonia.

“The drugs were uncovered thanks to information obtained through an international exchange of data,” an announcement by the Customs agency said.

A Macedonian man and a Croatian woman were riding in the Italian-made Fiat Ducato car, the Serbian news agency Beta said.

The two were detained by police and along with the drugs handed over to an investigating judge in Presevo. Serbian police said they suspected the heroin was being shipped to Western European markets. The Balkan countries are on a major route for trafficking both drugs and people to western European nations.

Kosovo Albanians are the main and biggest producers and traffickers of heroin in Europe and the main suppliers of heroin to the Western Europe.

Amnesty International: Kosovo Minorities Are Prisoners

Minority communities in Kosovo are continually at risk of ethnically motivated killings and assaults, Amnesty International said as it launched its report “Prisoners in our own homes.”

The organization’s report details how minority communities in Kosovo are denied effective redress for acts of violence and other threats to their physical and mental integrity. The impunity for such human rights abuses has effectively denied them freedom of movement and restricted their access to basic rights -- in particular, their rights to employment, health care and education.

The fact that the vast majority of ethnically motivated crimes remain unsolved reinforces people’s perception that perpetrators remain free to commit further attacks and contributes to the climate of fear. The impunity for past and continuing abuses denies minorities living in Kosovo the basic rights guaranteed under domestic law and international standards applicable in Kosovo.

In one case, Amnesty International interviewed two young Serb women and their grandmother who live in the centre of Prizen. Their house was surrounded by a fence topped with barbed wire erected by KFOR. After an intruder had entered their house through the roof, KFOR soldiers had lived with them and had even done their shopping for them to protect them from attack.

“The daily intimidation faced by the minority Serb, Bosniak, Gorani, Roma, Ashkali and Egyptiani communities in Kosovo has restricted their freedom of movement. The fear of travelling outside mono-ethnic enclaves has contributed to feelings of imprisonment and exclusion and denied minorities access to basic rights and services such as housing, education and medical treatment,” Amnesty International said.

Amnesty International’s report also highlights how members of minority communities face discrimination in access to basic social and economic rights, including health, education and employment.

“In the absence of access to adequate health-care, there has been a reported increase in mortality rates and the incidence of illnesses in some minority communities,” Amnesty International stated.

“In some places minorities don’t have access to basic medicines -- at some ambulanta even aspirin is unavailable.”

In emergencies, patients have to telephone KFOR or go to a KFOR check-point to await an escort to a hospital, sometimes with fatal delays.

Full Amnesty International Report on Kosovo Human Rights Violations

Amnesty International: Kosovo, Forced Prostitution and White Slave Trafficking

According to the Amnesty International, the international community is responsible for the growth of a sex industry based on the abuse of trafficked women in Kosovo. Women and girls from some of the poorest countries in Europe are being trafficked into Kosovo.

Since the deployment in July 1999 of an international peacekeeping force (KFOR) and the establishment of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) civilian administration, Kosovo has become a major destination country for women and girls trafficked into forced prostitution.

• In 2003 there were more than 200 bars, restaurants, clubs and cafes where trafficked women and girls were believed to be working in forced prostitution.
• Between 15 and 20 percent are reportedly under the age of 14.
• Women are trafficked into Kosovo predominantly from Moldova, Bulgaria and Ukraine.
• Increasing numbers of local women and girls are being trafficked within Kosovo and abroad.
• To date, no trafficked women or girls have received redress for the damage they have suffered.

Amnesty International’s full report: Protecting the human rights of women and girls trafficked for forced prostitution in Kosovo.

Amnesty International Against the Imposed Solution

Amnesty International has expressed concern over the news that, should no agreement be reached, a decision on the status of southern Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija might be imposed.

Taking into account the fact that so far the participants in the negotiations have failed to agree on every single important issue, the AI expresses concern that an imposed solution could additionally enhance tension within Kosovo and Metohija, which could lead to further breach of human rights.

According to the Amnesty International, final agreement must be reached through consultations among all the communities in Kosovo and Metohija and the rights of each community must be protected, even if further time is required.

Measures for the protection of rights of all the citizens in Kosovo must be in the heart of the negotiations and the final solution, the AI assesses. They express regret over the fact that at last meeting in New York, the Contact Group failed to call on the negotiating sides to have constant consultations with civil representatives and failed to stipulate that the final document should contain provisions whereby human rights in Kosovo are to be protected.