Belgrade, 21. 04. 2008.

SERBIA

• U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL TO DISCUSS KOSOVO ON APRIL 21
• JEREMIC: SERBIA IS BOTH EAST AND WEST
• JEREMIC AND KUBIS: SERBIA IN EU, KOSOVO IN SERBIA
• DULIC SAYS KOSTUNICA IRRESPONSIBLY MOVES FROM EU PATH
• LJAJIC SAYS NETHERLANDS MIGHT SOFTEN STAND
• MINISTER FOR KOSOVO WANTS EU TO EXPLAIN ITS ACTIONS
• HUMAN INJUSTICE AND VIOLENCE OF POWER-WIELDERS OVER KOSOVO
• REGIONAL CENTER FOR CLIMATE CHANGE OPENED IN BELGRADE
• KENYAN WILLIAM KIPCHUMBA WINS 21ST BELGRADE MARATHON
• AMBASSADOR OF FRANCE MEETS SOUTHERN SERBIAN ALBANIAN LEADERS

• TADIC: ONLY NEW PARLIAMENT MAY RATIFY AGREEMENT
• KOSTUNICA: AGREEMENT WITH RUSSIA SHOULD BE RATIFIED NOW
• KOSTUNICA SAYS GOVERNMENT SHOULD APPROVE AGREEMENT
• BUBALO: TADIC OBSTRUCTS ENERGY AGREEMENT ONCE AGAIN
• BUBALO: I EXPECT GOVERNMENT WILL ADOPT RATIFICATION PROPOSAL

• SEJDIU: KOSOVO NOT BASE FOR SERBIAN ELECTIONS
• RUECKER: SERBIA SHOULD NOT ORGANIZE ELECTIONS IN KOSOVO
• BAN: UNMIK WILL REMAIN IN KOSOVO
• MOST COUNTRIES CAUTIOUS REGARDING KOSOVO INDEPENDENCE
• MACEDONIA, KOSOVO SIGN BORDER AGREEMENT
• LAVROV: KOSOVO'S INDEPENDENCE DISTURBS EUROPE
• UNILATERAL INDEPENDENCE DANGEROUS FOR BALKANS – RUSSIA
• KPS INVESTIGATES NEWS ON ARMED PERSONS

BELGRADE, April 19 (Beta) - At an April 21 meeting, the U.N. Security Council will debate a quarterly report from U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and UNMIK chief Joachim Ruecker on Kosovo. President Boris Tadic is also expected to address the body.

While in New York, Tadic is also expected to meet with Ban Ki Moon, Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya, and South African Ambassador Dumisani Shadrack Kumalo.

On April 19, Tadic said that he will tell the Security Council that nobody has the right to hamper Serbia's efforts to defend its integrity or endanger its European integration.

Kosovo Premier Hashim Thaci will also be present at the meeting and is expected to inform the body of current political events in Kosovo and emphasize his administration's commitment to protecting minority rights and EU membership.

Ban Ki Moon's report states that Resolution 1244 remains in force until decided otherwise by the Security Council, adding that UNMIK will continue to operate in line with that resolution.

UNMIK spokesman Sven Lindholm said on April 19 that Ruecker will bring up the subject of Serbia's plans to organize balloting for its May 11 elections in Kosovo.

BELGRADE, Apr 18 (Tanjug) - Serbia must accept its fate that it is east of the West and west of the East and that it is therefore in its interest to join the European Union while maintaining good relations with the powers awakening in the East, Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said in a lecture on foreign policy at the Belgrade School of Political Science.

Serbia can benefit only if it understands that the times are changing and that EU membership is the sole sustainable option, but that the global balance of power is moving eastward, to markets that might be dominant tomorrow, he said. If Serbia hesitates and continues to debate whether to opt for Europe, the doors might close. This is why the choice for Europe must be made today. The other choice is self-isolation, he said. Pointing to the close ties with Russia, Jeremic said that membership in the EU would give a deeper sense to Serbia's special relations with Russia.

Referring to the diplomatic endeavors for keeping Kosovo-Metohija a part of Serbia, he said that Belgrade has presented its arguments to all international organizations and forums and many states, with relative success, greater than many expected. These endeavors will focus on adoption of an initiative in the UN General Assembly for seeking a ruling of the International Court of Justice on the legality of unilateral declaration of Kosovo independence, he said.

BELGRADE, April 21 (Tanjug) - The foreign ministers of Serbia and Slovakia, Vuk Jeremic and Jan Kubis, respectively, agreed in Belgrade on Monday that Serbia should sign the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the European Union as soon as possible, and that this would in no way mean giving up on the fight for preserving Serbia's territorial integrity and sovereignty.

We back Serbia as a future member of the EU, Kubis told a joint press conference. We would like to sign the SAA with Serbia as soon as possible, and we would like to do this today if possible, he underlined, adding that his country continued to be resolved not to recognize the unilaterally proclaimed independence of Kosovo. The position of my country in respect of the proclamation and recognition of Kosovo's independence has not changed, he pointed out. The Slovakian foreign minister said that the stand of all EU member countries, even those which were hesitating in regard to the signing of the SAA, was clear and that they saw Serbia as their future partner in scope of the Union, provided that the people of Serbia expressed their democratic will for something like that.

Jeremic underlined that the signing of the SAA, which right now represented a crucial step towards EU membership, did not mean at all that Serbia would give up the of its state policy - preservation of the country's territorial integrity and sovereignty. Serbia will continue to oppose the unilateral independence of Kosovo and Metohija and it will never, under any circumstances whatsoever, give up on the preservation of its territorial wholeness, he added.

BELGRADE, April 18 (Tanjug) - Serbian parliament speaker Oliver Dulic said on Friday that "serious and irresponsible turn of Vojislav Kostunica from the European path might have disastrous historic, political and economic consequences for the Serbian society."

"I'm sorry that Kostunica has taken the elementary and basic thesis from Seselj's testament and that is that Serbia should not go to the European Union since this is where our enemies are," Dulic told reporters.

BELGRADE, April 21 (Tanjug) - President of the National Council for Cooperation with the ICTY said in an interview for the Monday issue of the Belgrade daily Blic that it was being hinted that the Netherlands might soften its stand and make it possible for Serbia to sign the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the European Union.

"We have received hints that this might happen in the next few days. In this respect, the talks the Dutch Foreign Ministry officials will have today, in scope of their to Belgrade, are of vital importance," Ljajic said. After the talks with the Dutch representatives, which will be held during this "crucial visit," it will be clear what the chances are for Serbia to sign this Agreement, he added.

Asked why Germany had joined Holland and Belgium so unexpectedly, Ljajic replied that the reason lay in the events that followed the February 21 protests and the torching of the German Embassy in Belgrade.

BELGRADE, April 19 (Beta) - Minister for Kosovo and Metohija Slobodan Samardzic has said that before Serbia signs the Stabilization and Association Agreement, the EU has to explain why "it acted as the main mediator in the creation of an independent Kosovo."

"There are several questions that the EU has to answer regardless of the fact that it is the stronger partner in this contractual relationship. The first one is how the EU intends to pursue a relationship with Serbia after stripping the country of part of its territory," Samardzic asked in an interview with BETA.

He added that the EU also needs to state whether it wants to enter into negotiations with Kosovo on an SAA as well.

The minister also called EULEX, the EU mission in Kosovo, illegal in the sense that there is no legal basis for it to replace UNMIK.

"The are no legal grounds for anything to replace UNMIK, and the EU mission is illegal. The U.N. therefore has a problem because its mission is about to fail, which would call into question international peacekeeping missions worldwide," he added.

Samardzic believes it would be best for UNMIK chief Joachim Ruecker to maintain political neutrality in regard to the holding of Serbian local elections in Kosovo on May 11.

He added that he does not expect Ruecker to go as far as doing anything that could incite more political tension in the province.

According to Samardzic, the Office of the U.N. Secretary General and UNMIK are divided on the issue, and he added that officials at U.N. headquarters are ready to talk about Serbia's proposal for talks with UNMIK on the implementation of Resolution 1244.

"Delicate technical preparations are in progress for the beginning of these talks," Samardzic said, adding that the head of U.N. peacekeeping operations is due to visit Belgrade when the negotiations start.

Responding to a comment on what the situation will be like from May 11 and mid June, when EULEX is scheduled to take over in Kosovo, Samardzic said that he believes the crisis will peak in this period.

BELGRADE, April 18 (Tanjug) - At these times of Easter joy and the Divine mercy for all, the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) especially dwells on the human injustice and the violence of the power-wielders over Kosovo and Metohija, over Serbia, and the entire Serb people, the traditional Easter Message of the SPC says.

The Easter Message was read at the SPC Patriarch's Residence in Belgrade on Friday by Archbishop of Cetinje and Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral Amfilohije. The message will be read in all SPC temples at home and abroad on Easter Day, April 27. SPC Patriarch Pavle and all the archbishops urged that Kosovo and Metohija should be deserved and preserved before God through work and honest living, and that this should also contribute to the salvation of the local Serb people. Kosovo is an integral part of the life of every Christian Orthodox Serb, the message pointed out, and concluded that the creators of this historic injustice have inflicted on the Serb people pain and suffering that, in spite of everything, points the way to the unique message of the suffering and salvation on Calvary.

BELGRADE, April 18 (Tanjug) - The Milutin Milankovic Regional Center for monitoring climate change that will operate within the Republic Hydrometeorological Service of Serbia was inaugurated in Belgrade on Friday.

The Regional Center, which is situated in the building of the Meteorological Observatory in Belgrade's Karadjordjev Park, was inaugurated by Serbian Minister for Environmental Protection Sasa Dragin and Hydrometeorological Service Director Milan Dacic. Speaking after the opening, Dacic said that the tasks of the Center are to provide seasonal climate forecasts, numeric simulation of time and climate, and to provide the foundations for action plans in different areas of the economy and society for the purpose of the adapting to altered climate conditions.

BELGRADE, Apr 19 (Tanjug) - Kenya's athlete William Kwambi Kipchumba is the winner of the 21st Belgrade Banca Intesa Marathon, finishing the race in 2 hours, 14 minutes, 3 seconds on Saturday. Kipchumba led a 1-2-3 Kenyan sweep to win the Belgrade Marathon today.

Jonathan Kipsaina was second in 2:16.14, ahead of Victor Mangusho Robert with 2:16.47. Natalia Chatkina of Belorussia won the women's race in 2:46.24. Turkey's athlete Mila Esen was second in 2:55.47, while Kenya's Jesang Kosgei was third with 2:57.46. Kenya's Willy Mwangi won the men's half-marathon in 1:02.50 and Olivera Jevtic of Serbia was the winner of the women's event in 1:11.41.

PRESEVO, April 19 (Beta) - French Ambassador Jean François Terral called on ethnic Albanian leaders in Presevo and Bujanovac on April 18 to take part in Serbia's next general election.

After meeting with Terral, Presevo Municipality President Ragmi Mustafa, who is also leader of the Democratic Party of Albanians, told BETA that the discussion was about the present political situation in the region in the wake of Kosovo's declaration of independence and ahead of Serbia's general and local elections.

"We agreed with Ambassador Terral... that our problems should be resolved in a future democratic Serbian cabinet, and we were urged to run in the general election," Mustafa said. Terral had separate meetings with several local Albanian leaders.

According to Mustafa, Albanian participation in the election depends on whether the main parties from Presevo and Bujanovac can reach an accord.

BELGRADE, Apr 19 (Tanjug) - Serbian President Boris Tadic on Saturday stated that during his meeting with Russian Minister for Emergency Situations and Disaster Relief Sergei Shoigu they had agreed that the new parliament should ratify the agreement with Russia, right after the May 11 election, and that the caretaker government would forward it for ratification.

During his tour of the construction site of the Orlovaca road junction, Tadic told reporters that he had agreed with Shoigu that the agreement should be ratified by a new parliament. According to him, the agreement might be ratified soon after the May 11 election, because the caretaker government might forward it for ratification. Tadic evaluated that the dissolved Serbian parliament may not ratify the energy sector agreement with the Russian Federation, because in that case, the agreement could be challenged in the future.

BELGRADE, Apr 19 (Tanjug) - Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said late on Friday that he urges for the energy sector agreement with Russia to be ratified immediately and that he will raise this issue in the Serbian government.

During his meeting with Russian Minister for Emergency Situations and Disaster Relief Sergei Shoigu, Kostunica underscored that the energy agreement is of great importance and that it is in the interest of both countries that this agreement gets implemented shortly, it was said in a statement released by the Premier's cabinet.

Shoigu expressed his concern over the fact that Serbia has not ratified the energy agreement which representatives of the governments of Russia and Serbia signed in Moscow. The Russian minister underlined that it would be important that the Serbian government and Serbian parliament ratify this agreement by May 11.

BELGRADE, April 20 (Tanjug) - Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said on Sunday he expected that the government would on Thursday decide to send the energy agreement with Russia to the Serbian parliament for ratification. "It is important in the interest of our country and Serbian citizens to correct the government's previous detrimental mistake not to approve this important agreement," Kostunica said in a statement, a copy of which was sent to Tanjug.

He said that it would be irresponsible if the party and coalition interests were placed above the obvious interest of Serbia at the government session on Thursday and if the vote were again against the sending of the energy agreement to the Serbian parliament for ratification. "This would be deliberate destruction and causing of direct damage to Serbia," Kostunica said. Since it is clear and everybody agrees that there is a legal basis for the government to adopt the proposal for the ratification of the energy agreement, I believe that it is very important to adopt this decision and send the agreement to the Serbian parliament for ratification at the next government session in order to observe our Russian partners, Kostunica said.

BELGRADE, Apr 19 (Tanjug) - Minister of Trade and Services Predrag Bubalo on Saturday accused Serbian President and leader of the Democratic Party (DS) Boris Tadic that he is once again obstructing ratification of the energy agreement with Russia by stating that the Serbian government will confirm the document only after the May 11 election.

"Tadic's statement that the government will confirm the agreement only after the May 11 elections is the already experienced obstruction of the agreement. We shall include in the agenda of the government's session on Thursday this issue and we shall then see the final stand of the DS ministers," said Bubalo in his statement forwarded to Tanjug. Bubalo recalled that he and Russian Minister of Emergency Situations Sergei Shoigu, who had previously met with Tadic, signed the Protocol according to which the energy agreement should be ratified immediately. "That is why ratification of the energy agreement will again be discussed at the next government session," said Bubalo.

BELGRADE, April 21 (Tanjug) - Minister of Trade and Services Predrag Bubalo has said that "official Russia is very concerned, because Serbia has still not ratified the inter-state energy agreement" and that he expects from the Serbian government "to adopt the proposal on ratification in an emergency procedure on Thursday and to submit it to the National Assembly immediately after that."

"The protocol with Russia has been signed. In order to observe it, we will present to the government on Thursday the proposal on ratification of the energy agreement. In this way, we will try to ratify the agreement by May 11, as required by the protocol," Bubalo said in an interview for the Monday issue of the Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti. According to him, Russia has fulfilled its obligations and ratified the agreement, and this job is a lot more important for us than it is for them.

Asked why Russia wanted the agreement to be signed before the elections in Serbia, he answered by saying that "if the agreement is not ratified by May 11, there is a threat of a longer prolongation until a new parliament and a new government is set up.

"To the journalist's remark that Serbian President Boris Tadic claims that he agreed with Russian Minister of Emergency Situations Sergei Shoigu that the agreement be ratified after the elections for the new parliament, Bubalo said that "he does not know what the president of the Republic agreed upon," but that the "fact is that after their meeting, Shoigu signed with me a protocol which clearly says: the two governments will make effort so that the energy agreement be ratified until May 11 this year, which means, before the Serbian parliamentary elections."

PRISTINA, April 18 (Tanjug) - Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu on Friday expressed his opposition to the holding of local elections in the province and said that Kosovo "cannot be a base for elections in Serbia and official Belgrade should realize this once and for all."

"Kosovo is an independent and sovereign state, internationally recognized. According to the principle of dual citizenship, Kosovo Serbs who wish to be citizens of Serbia as well can vote for the authorities of Serbia," Sejdiu said, addressing Kosovo parliament at a session called especially in order to consider the activities of the president and the work of the Kosovo government. Addressing residents of Kosovo of Serb nationality, Sejdiu told them that "Kosovo is our common state, of all of us without exception."

PRISTINA, April 18 (Tanjug) - UNMIK Chief Joachim Ruecker said on Friday that Serbia should not organize local elections in the territory of Kosovo, because that would be a violation of United Nations (UN) Security Council Resolution 1244.

Speaking for Pristina-based Radio Blue Sky, Ruecker said that only UNMIK can organize local elections in Kosovo. UNMIK has consulted the Contact Group, it has the support of New York, Ruecker said. There is wide accord in the international community that Serbia should not cross this red line, he stressed.

Asked whether UNMIK would react if the Serbian government in spite of this decided to call local elections in Kosovo, Ruecker said it was too soon for any such decisions and that he still believed the Serbian government would not attempt to organize local elections.

VIENNA, April 21 (Tanjug) - UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has said that UNMK will remain in Kosovo. The United Nations will, in any case, continue to be present in Kosovo with their UNMIK mission, he underlined in an interview for the Vienna weekly Profil.

Asked whether Kosovo's independence would encourage other provinces and regions to declare independence, and in what way was Tibet different from Kosovo, Ban answered that he did not want to speculate on what might or might not happen as the result of the events in Kosovo. Every situation has to be analyzed separately, on the basis of its own specific circumstances, said the UN secretary general, who will arrive on a several-day visit to Vienna on Wednesday.

MOSCOW, April 18 (Tanjug) - Russian delegation head to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Konstantin Kosachev, said on Friday that, at the spring session of the PACE during a discussion on the situation involving Kosovo, the number of those who urge the recognition of the independence of that province was much smaller than of those who regard this idea with extreme caution.

It seems that the position which was advocated by Russia from the very beginning is now being heard and adopted and that it continues to function, Kosachev said. Kosachev, who chairs the Russian Duma Foreign Policy Committee, explained that this position implies that the unilateral proclamation of independence is in violation of international law and that it actually makes it more difficult to resolve the problems which should be tackled, including by the PACE - the protection of human rights and minority rights. It must not be forgotten that, at the beginning of the session, PACE President Luis Maria de Puig said that the unilateral proclamation of the independence of Kosovo led to a rift in Europe and in the PACE, but that the most dangerous thing of all, as Puig said, was that it created an absolutely hopeless situation in Europe, Kosachev said in a statement for the Itar-Tass news agency.

SKOPJE, Apr 18 (Tanjug) - The mixed technical committee for demarcation and delineation of the state border between the Republic of Macedonia and Kosovo held its second session on Friday, a Foreign Ministry press release. Committee delegations' chairmen Todor Nanev and Bekim Colaku signed a Protocol describing the demarcation process, in line with (UN Envoy) Martti Ahtisaari's plan.

The Protocol says that the mixed committee would conduct the demarcation within one year, in line with the 2001 Treaty on Description of the State Border, and this agreement as its integral part. Asked by the press whether the document was signed with the Republic of Kosovo as implied by Colaku, Nanev said it was signed by the president of technical commissions and mediators.

MOSCOW, Apr 19 (Tanjug) - The European Union's internal development and its foreign policy are of different orientation, and the current situation regarding Kosovo, which causes dissatisfaction, is an example of that division, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Sergei Lavrov told the Russian weekly Profil in an article to be published Monday that in the conditions of strengthening of nationalism and separatism and when transfer of authorization from central organs to regional and local level turn into disintegration he could not rule out a possibility of Europe being dragged back into the past and a fragmentation of states before the European Union turns into "Europe of regions."

"Absolutization of Kosovo's independence" contributes to disturbances within Europe, believes Minister Lavrov. According to Lavrov, some states understand that and behave consistently, refusing to recognize independence of Kosovo.

MOSCOW, NICOSIA, Apr 18 (Tanjug) - Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Titov said Friday that unilateral decisions, such as the declaration of Kosovo independence, are causing a rift in the international community.

The situation is tense in the province too, as Kosovo Serbs do not want to accept Pristina's decision, and the resulting conflict entails a danger of serious destabilization in the Balkans and has negative effects on other international developments too, he said in Nicosia. Russia and Cyprus have similar stands on the unilateral declaration of Kosovo independence, he said.

PRISTINA, April 20 (Tanjug) - Police have launched an investigation into media reports that there are armed persons near the village of Debelde in the Vitina municipality on the border between Kosovo and Macedonia, the Kosovo Police Service (KPS) said in a statement on Sunday.

Pristina media on Sunday published photos of armed and masked persons, allegedly inhabitants of the Debelde village, whose land will be in the territory of Macedonia under an agreement on the demarcation of the border line between Kosovo and Macedonia. "For the time being we cannot say who these persons are, but if we meet them they will be arrested. They certainly do not have licences for the arms they carry," KPS spokesman Veton Elshani told media in Pristina.

KFOR representatives also confirmed they had received information about armed persons in the border zone with Macedonia. We patrol the area and as soon as we meet the group we will react in cooperation with UNMIK and KPS, KFOR's media representative said.