Byzantine Blog

Depends on Who's Breaching...

Commenting the Western accusations that Kosovo Serb judicial workers have "breached the Resolution 1244" when they occupied the court building in Kosovska Mitrovica requesting to be returned to work, Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin reminded of an earlier, much more serious breach of the same resolution no-one even criticized.

"I don't remember that someone had broken into the parliament in Pristina during the declaration of Kosovo's independence, despite the fact that the declaration was a serious breach of Resolution 1244," Churkin said.

Russian officials evaluated that the raid, carried out by KFOR and UNMIK, raises a "series of questions about the reason to launch the operation by international forces and police in the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica".

"It was possible to continue the talks without a use of violence," Vitaly Churkin stressed.

UNMIK Administrator Resigns, Hands Over "Report After Defeat"

Head of UNMIK administration in Kosovska Mitrovica, U.S. diplomat Gerard Gallucci has resigned over the UNMIK/NATO attack on the courthouse, which resulted in over 100 wounded and one fatality so far.

While UNMIK spokesman Alexander Ivanko refused to discuss the issue, telling the reporter that these are "internal UNMIK matters", one of the Kosovo Serb leaders, Milan Ivanovic, gave journalists a report about Monday's violence submitted by Gallucci, titled "The report after defeat."

The report says that the raid was a "badly planned operation to restore law and order in the north, which has led to the disappearance of law and order".

"The choice of the date – March 17 – the fourth anniversary of the last episode of the ethnic cleansing of the Kosovo Serbs, and the decision to arrest and transport the Serbs to Pristina looks as if it was created in order to inflame the Serb feelings," Gallucci said.

"If, on some other day, the police simply asked the people to leave the premises before trying to arrest them, perhaps we could have announced a victory without a price tag," the report said.

"One positive aspect is that during the events Monday, Serbs did not disturb or attack Albanians in northern Mitrovica, and they cooperated with UNMIK during the evacuation of our civilians," Gallucci said, referring to the ethnic Albanians who still live in the north of the divided town, while there are no Serbs in the southern, Albanian part of the town.

Gallucci: We Have No Moral Right to Force Serbs to Accept Pristina Declaration

"Our credibility and relations necessary for our peacekeeping role in the north have been seriously, perhaps irreversibly jeopardized. Now we can all see that Serbs have a clear goal, that they are well organized and well armed. The Serb community in the north, regardless of whether people like Marko [Jaksic] and Milan [Ivanovic], will gather around their 'radical' leadership, if it is directly provoked. The reaction to any attempt to arrest them would be fierce," the paper says.

"All in all, it must be clear that the use of force to achieve political goals related to the status will not work. Just as we have said many, many times before… the use of force will only lead to violence that will probably accelerate the partition or will lead to new ethnic cleansing and conflict. This must be kept in mind when future decisions are made about UN courts, railways, electricity."

Gallucci also suggested that UNMIK "must admit its mistakes and repent for what has been done" in order to continue communicating with the Serbs in the north.

"Albanians must be made to understand clearly: leave the north to us, live in peace and stop threatening with violence. We heard that Premier Thaci's been telling people he's been 'having trouble controlling the Drenica boys'. We did not annul the unilateral declaration of independence because we could not stop it. By the same token, we cannot force those who reject it to accept it. Not only have we no moral or legal basis to use force, but it yields no results," Gallucci concludes his damning report.

A former U.S. State Department diplomat, Gallucci was working in northern Kosovo since 2004.

Ukrainian Interior Minister: UNMIK is Responsible

Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko has criticized UNMIK for their poor handling of the Kosovska Mitrovica "operation". He was speaking in Pristina yesterday about the poorly planned operation to regain control over the courthouse in the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica, which claimed the life of one Ukrainian solder.

"Considering the date, March 17, the operation was very difficult, because we all know what March 17 means to the people in that part of Kosovo. Secondly, I don’t believe there was enough necessary planning before the operation," he stressed.

Lutsenko said that UNMIK should take responsibility for the death of the Ukrainian soldier and added that otherwise, the issue would be resolved in the Ukrainian parliament.

UN to Ask Some Serious Questions

Monday's unprovoked, deadly NATO raid in northern part of Kosovo-Metohia province is causing waves all the way to the East River, Tanjug says.

High ranking UN officials have asked "serious questions about the purpose of the operation undertaken by KFOR and UNMIK in Kosovska Mitrovica, above all since the raid on the court there resulted in the death of one Ukrainian soldier and grave wounding of Serb protesters," UN sources in New York told the news agency yesterday.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has "made note" of Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić's letter sent Wednesday, and is considering this issue, his spokesman Brendon Varma said officially.

According to Tanjug's unnamed sources, one of the central questions that the UN chiefs have asked UNMIK, is to explain the circumstances under which Kosovo Serb Nikola Vukomanovic was seriously wounded, with a sniper bullet to his head. Vukomanovic remains in a coma for the fourth day.

"Who fired the shot that injured that man?", the diplomats said, and added they expect an answer to this question.

At the same time, the UN will seek a review of the chain if command — who the international officers got their direct orders from to storm the court building. The decision turned out to be the spark that set off a chain of events that killed one, and injured more than 100 people, 70 of them Serbian civilians.

UN officials in New York say that the questionable order was given by UNMIK deputy chief Larry Rossin, who for his part deflected the responsibility to the headquarters of the world organization, saying that "UNMIK has an order from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to make executive decisions in the territory of Kosovo."

According to the UNMIK spokesman Alexander Ivanko, the attack and arrest of the District and Municipal Court workers in Kosovska Mitrovica was ordered by UN Police Commissioner Larry Wilson and approved by UNMIK Deputy Head Larry Rosin.

The investigation will also look into allegations that banned rubber bullets were used against the Serbs in Kosovska Mitrovica, causing one man to lose his eye.

Kosovo-Metohia Minister: Somebody Wanted War

Slobodan Samardzic said that Serbian authorities have proof that somebody wanted to start a war in Kosovo on March 17.

“We have strong evidence for the investigation, we have photos, bullets that have been taken from the bodies of wounded persons, remains of the sniper bullets that were fired at Serbs. We have proof that someone wanted to provoke a conflict and a state of war in Kosovo,” the Kosovo province minister told Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti.

“This is how it all started. The people were forced to react to the brutality of UNMIK special units. And it is he who lit the match that is responsible. It is a well known fact that explosive material is everywhere in Kosovo-Metohia. The question is who activated the explosive,” said Samardzic.

He reiterated that Serbia had sent an initiative to the UN to start an international investigation into the clashes in Kosovska Mitrovica that should ascertain, above all, who ordered UNMIK police to forcibly remove Serb judges from the court, arrest them and take them to Pristina.

Samardzic said that the brutality of UNMIK special forces could not pass without a reaction from the people.

According to the minister, the goal of the UNMIK operation of March 17 in Kosovska Mitrovica was more than clear—to enforce on the field the unilateral independence declared by Pristina separatists and backed by Washington and to put into practice intentions to create a new Albanian state, while giving Serbs "a violent lesson once and for all."

The purpose of the brutal operation carried out by KFOR and UNMIK three days ago was to intimidate the Serbs in Kosovo province. The violent raid was supposed to frighten them and persuade them not to resist the province's unilateral secession.

"The aim was to demonstrate that there is some kind of overwhelming power that can arrest innocent people, in this case the judges," Samardzic said.

"Now, the question Belgrade wants answered is: who ordered this," Samardzic said.