Bishop Artemije said to ERP KIM Info-Service that the Serbian Orthodox Church supports the forthcoming dialogue on Kosovo and Metohija. "However, the Bishop said, the dialogue should not be viewed as negotiation process between two equal political subjects but between the state and the part of its citizens and their local institutions on the sovereign territory of Serbia".

ERPKIM Info-Service
September 25, 2003

Bishop Artemije said to ERP KIM Info-Service that the Serbian Orthodox Church supports the forthcoming dialogue on Kosovo and Metohija. "However, the Bishop said, the dialogue should not be viewed as negotiation process between two equal political subjects but as a dialogue between the state and the part of its citizens and their local institutions on the sovereign territory of Serbia. Since Kosovo Serbs, as citizens of Serbia, cannot identify themselves with political agenda of Provincial institutions dominated by ethnic Albanian separatism, it is much more logical for them to participate in the Belgrade team".

"It would be quite absurd to expect Kosovo team dominated by separatists to speak in the name of Kosovo Serbs because in the last four years they have behaved towards us as if we were not only their fellow citizens but as if we did not exist at all. For example, I cannot imagine how the interests of our Church can be defended by politicians who not only turned blind eye towards systematic destruction of our holy sites but some of whom also directly ordered such barbarous acts.

Bishop Artemije also emphasized that the dialogue should be focused on full implementation of the 1244 UNSC Resolution which defined Kosovo as an autonomous Province within Serbia-Montenegro.

"Many provisions stipulated in the Resolution have not been implemented: there is no equal security and freedom for all residents of the Province, 250.000 displaced Serbs cannot return to their homes, large part of Serbian state and private property has been illegally taken by ethnic Albanians, Serbian institutions are not allowed to take full care of its cultural heritage which is exposed to destruction and vandalism, Serb-Montenegrin personnel is not allowed access to its internationally recognized borders. The further transfer of competencies from UNMIK to local autonomous institutions cannot be continued as long as these burning issues remain unsolved, otherwise it would strengthen the process of institutional repression against Serbs and other non-Albanians, which already exists", Bishop said.

"Therefore, the dialogue should first focus on these practical issues and should not go towards any discussion on changing the status of the Province. For all Serbs, either in Kosovo-Metohija or in the rest of Serbia, simply there is no discussion about any kind of independence of the Province. Our position is very clear and if Kosovo Albanian leaders want the will of their people to be respected then we must first have in mind that one cannot at the same time disregard will of millions of people both in Kosovo and the rest of Serbia-Montenegro who strongly oppose to redrawing of state borders. Threats of some Albanian leaders that they would start a new war if they are not granted what they want only reveal the true nature of their political goals. I am sure that the international community will not make the mistake and enter into a process of revision of Balkan borders", concluded Bishop Artemije.

Unknown assailants broke into the Church of St. Nedelja (gr. St. Kyriake, lat. Domenica) in the village of Brnjaca near Orahovac and desecrated the church's interior. On Thursday, September 18, Fr. Srdjan Milenkovic, the parish priest in Orahovac, accompanied by two other Serbs and escorted by members of CIMIC (the battalion for civil-military cooperation) went to pick up some construction materials left over from the construction of the residence hall prior to the war and at that time he saw for himself that the church had been burglarized. On the same day he informed the UNMIK police of the condition in which he had found the church and asked that they conduct an on the scene investigation.

ERP KIM Info Service
Gracanica, September 23, 2003

Yet another Orthodox Christian holy shrines has recently been vandalized on the territory of the municipality of Orahovac. Unknown assailants broke into the Church of St. Nedelja (St. Kyriake, Domenica) in the village of Brnjaca near Orahovac and desecrated the church's interior. On Thursday, September 18, Fr. Srdjan Milenkovic, the parish priest in Orahovac, accompanied by two other Serbs and escorted by members of CIMIC (the battalion for civil-military cooperation) went to pick up some construction materials left over from the construction of the residence hall prior to the war and at that time he saw for himself that the church had been burglarized. On the same day he informed the UNMIK police of the condition in which he had found the church and asked that they conduct an on the scene investigation.

However, instead of UNMIK police, on Friday, September 19, members of the Kosovo Police Service came to get Fr. Srdjan in order to visit the vandalized church together. According to the priest's account, the church is in extremely poor condition. The front door has been broken down, the metal candle holders in front of the church have been broken, the chandelier is broken, the icons are damaged and scattered, and one wing of the royal gates on the wood-carved iconostasis is also broken.

Fr. Srdjan collected the remaining undamaged icons and one church bell and transferred them to the church of the Assumption of the Most Holy Mother of God in the Serbian part of Orahovac.

On the basis of their investigation, members of the Kosovo Police Service believe that the vandalism took place a month ago; however, since the church is no longer under the protection of KFOR and Serbs cannot freely move in that part of the municipality, no one informed the appropriate Church representatives regarding the resulting damage.

This is not the only attack by looters on this holy shrine. During a visit to the church and parish hall of St. Nedelja in Brnjaca on May 14 of this year, Fr. Srdjan observed that unknown attackers had broken into the parish hall and removed most of the remaining contents: curtains, light fixtures, windows and doors. On that occasion several windows on the church were broken but there was no damage to the interior of the church.

The Church of St. Nedelja and the parish hall are located in the area inhabited exclusively by Kosovo Albanians. Immediately after June 1999 they were placed under the protection of KFOR troops who protected the shrine until November 2002. Since then the church and the parish hall have been without direct protection, even though members of German KFOR promised to look after the property of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

The Church of St. Nedelja is first mentioned in historical records dating back to 1348. In the 16th century the church was restored in detail and thereafter partially restored several more times. The church contains valuable stone reliefs originating in the 16th century.

The Diocese of Raska-Prizren and Kosovo-Metohija ascertains with sorrow that the process of systematic destruction and looting of Serbian Orthodox cultural and historical treasures in Kosovo and Metohija is continuing. Most of the churches located in areas where there are presently no Serb inhabitants and which are not under the direct protection of KFOR have been abandoned to vandals which show no sign of tiring despite the passage of four years since the end of the armed conflict in Kosovo and Metohija.

Bill Clinton in Kosovo greeted by ethnic Albanians
Behind raucous mood of Kosovo Albanians ethnic discrimination against Serbs
and other communities, crimes and violence have deeply compromised the
UN granted "peace", established after NATO intervention in 1999

EDITORIAL

THINGS ARE NOT AS WELL AS THEY APPEAR, MR. CLINTON

The reception he got today in Pristina is certainly one Clinton would not have gotten anywhere else. Whenever he has visited Europe, he has been met by masses of demonstrators protesting his retrograde policies which have inflicted damage to the U.S. and Europe alike. The fact that a politician of considerable political and moral disrepute has been greeted by such ovations in Kosovo, overrun during the last four years of international "peace" by lawlessness and crimes against the weak and defenseless, perhaps is only becoming for Clinton at the end of his political career.

ERP KIM INFO SERVICE
September 19, 2003

"I pleased to see things look so well." These were the first words of former U.S. president William Jefferson Clinton as he exchanged embraces with Ibrahim Rugova, who, together with thousands of Kosovo Albanians, prepared an unforgettable reception for him today in Pristina.

Mr. Clinton probably did not even ask where are the members of the communities whose representatives he met during his last visit to Kosovo and Metohija in autumn of 1999 and whom he had promised that the Province would become an oasis of peace and tolerance. Such memories are hardly à propos in an atmosphere vividly reminiscent of former welcomes for Communist leaders for whom streets, public squares and towns were renamed and whose placards dominated all the key points. The colors of the flags and political manners have changed, it is true, but the mentality remains unchanged from the 1980s when Albanian demonstrators demanded that Kosovo become a part of the empire of Enver Hoxha.

Nevertheless, behind the raucous and festive façade of a happy Kosovo hides a far more tragic reality, one which neither Bill Clinton nor the numerous other diplomatic visitors who come here for their one day "safaris" in Pristina wish to see. It is the reality of isolated Serb enclaves, children who cannot go to school out of fear for their safety, dug up cemeteries and desecrated churches. Is this the kind of Kosovo envisioned by the former Western leaders who initiated military intervention against Serbia? Wasn't the phrase most frequently repeated to justify the intervention that it was to enable the creation of a multiethnic society? If we judge success on the basis of that purported goal, Kosovo and Metohija is less multiethnic today than it has ever been in its long history. It is the patent absurdity of the Kosovo peacekeeping mission that the southern Serbian province, which has been under the rule of the UN Mission and NATO forces for the past four years, represents the most unstable part of the Balkans, a perpetual hothouse of ethnic violence, organized crime and drug smuggling

While Ibrahim Rugova persistently attempts to prove to his Albanian compatriots and, very likely, to himself, that the billboards advertising "Winston" cigarettes and the plethora of U.S. flags are a sure indicator of economic progress and democratization of Kosovo, extremists continue their activities, not even sparing the Serbian children of Gorazdevac who were unable to go to the Montenegrin seaside like tens of thousands of Kosovo Albanians but sought refreshment from the summer heat in the small river next to their village.

During his visit to the Pristina airport of Slatina, on Pristina streets and at the University, Bill Clinton today met only Albanians, heard only the Albanian language and saw only the monoethnic society that represents the strongest evidence of the (lack of) justification for his policy toward the Balkans. At Pristina University Clinton accepted an honorary doctorate without asking himself why no Serbian students or professors were present. Perhaps the former president would not have even cared if he had known they were not there. For him, like for so many other Western politicians, all residents of Kosovo and Metohija are one amorphous mass of half-civilized "Kosovars" whose misfortune served just in time as a means of realizing far broader strategic interests and goals of the most powerful countries in the world.

At the end Mr. Clinton did not forget to make a few statements calling for ethnic reconciliation. But he explained the acts of violence committed against Serbs and non-Albanian minorities after the war exclusively as acts of revange "which deserve understanding but not justification", as he explained during his previous visit to Kosovo in November 1999. Speaking of "vengeance which belongs only to God" to people among which a large majority turns a blind eye towards massacres of innocent Serb children (Gorazdevac, Aug 03) or entire families (Obilic, June 03) can very easily be understood as an attempt to interpret systematic campaing of ethnic terror as a natural consequence of frustration - "OK, dear "Kosovars" you had enough, let the rest into the hands of the Almighty". But the Lord is teaching us that any crime, especially against the innocent, is a crime against God himself and that any attempt to rationalize a crime becomes a crime itself.

The reception Bill Clinton got today in Pristina is certainly one he would not have gotten anywhere else. Whenever he has visited Europe, he has been met by masses of demonstrators protesting his retrograde policies which have inflicted damage to the U.S. and Europe alike. The fact that a politician of considerable political and moral disrepute has been greeted by such ovations in Kosovo, overrun during the last four years of international "peace" by lawlessness and crimes against the weak and defenseless, perhaps is only becoming for Clinton at the end of his political career.

Editorial by
Fr. Sava (Janjic)

How many Serb returnees to Kosovo will spend winter in their tents?
Stanija Konic (75) in Grabac near Klina

WITH WINTER AT HAND 2003 WAS EVERYTHNIG BUT YEAR OF RETURNS

Although Kosovo Albanians cannot envisage any kind of negotiations which will not go in direction of formal independence, for Kosovo Serbs the primary interest will be the practical improvement of living conditions for all communities and establishing of necessary legal and security standards. This is exactly what Kosovo Serbs will expect from the international community knowing that a roof of a house cannot be built without solid foundations and walls. Any other procedure will be completely wrong because such a house would collapse even before it is built.

Editorial, Fr. Sava Janjic
Gracanica, September 19, 2003

As the winter is approaching every day and can say can hardly say that the of 2003 was a year of returns. At the end of 2002 UNMIK's officials were solemnly promising brighter future to 250.000 Serbs who had fled from Kosovo and Metohija after the war. However, only a few hundred returnees eventually came back to their destroyed homes and desecrated churches. The most of them still continue living in deplorable conditions in collective centers and fail to understand how the international community could not create even minimum of conditions for normal and free life of all ethnicities in Kosovo and Metohija.

The main reason for this failure lies in general lack of basic security and alarming increase of interethnic violence which is targeting primarily Kosovo Serbs. Only in the five last months 8 Serbs fell as victims of Albanian extremists. Two of the victims were teenagers killed in a massacre in which several more Serb children were seriously wounded. Not a single one of these major ethnic crimes has been resolved by UNMIK police despite promises that not a stone would remain undisturbed before the perpertrators are brought to justice. In such an atmosphere of legal deadlock members of the Serb community continue living in constant fear for their lives. In their eyes Kosovo and Metohija is a province which can hardly promise peaceful future for anyone who is not of ethnic Albanian origin. They are also rapidly loosing confidence in UNMIK and KFOR the role of which is seen more in conserving the present ethnic Albanian domination in Kosovo rather than in making any radical changes to the better, for the benefit of all communities.

For their own part local Albanian authorities have done almost nothing to help citizens of other ethnicities feel Kosovo as their own home. On the contrary, they keep complaining that Serbs do not want to integrate in society and accept the new reality and what they call "freedom". Indeed it would be very hard to expect Serbs to normally integrate in society which offers them absolutely nothing, not even the basic use of their language and elementary freedom of movement. Kosovo Serbs would like to see a new reality in Kosovo which will not be to detriment of any ethnic group. At least this is what all inhabitants of Kosovo and Metohija deserve after a decade of war and post-war suffering which claimed so many innocent lives on both sides.

With the approaching of negotiations Kosovo Serbs will therefore naturally more rely on Belgrade and will request their Government to insist on equal treatment of all communities in its southern Province prior to any discussion on Kosovo's status with ethnic Albanians. Although Kosovo Albanians cannot envisage any kind of negotiations which will not go in direction of formal independence, for Kosovo Serbs the primary interest will be the practical improvement of living conditions for all communities and establishing of necessary legal and security standards. This is exactly what Kosovo Serbs will expect from the international community knowing that a roof of a house cannot be built without solid foundations and walls. Any other procedure will be completely wrong because such a house would collapse even before it is built.

IN EXPECTATION OF BELGRADE-PRISTINA NEGOTIATIONS

ERPKIM Editorial
Fr. Sava Janjic
Gracanica, September 13, 2003

In expectation of the beginning of Belgrade-Pristina dialogue on Kosovo and Metohija, the situation in the UN-administered southern province of Serbia is deteriorating. With escalation of violence in North Macedonia and continuation of ethnically motivated attacks on remaining Kosovo Serbs, Albanian extremists in the Balkans have demonstrated that they still have not relinquished their old dreams of reshaping the state borders of the Balkan states.

While ethnic Albanians normally and freely move through central Serbia and Montenegro, even opening their businesses in Belgrade, Kosovo Serbs still live an isolated life in their tiny enclaves in constant fear of new attacks on their children. Many Serb schools still have not started because parents have not received enough guarantees from KFOR that their children will be safe from extremists. Perpetrators of the recent massacres in Obilic and Gorazdevac have not been arrested yet despite constant promises by new UNMIK chief Harri Holkeri. The main reason for the unsuccessful investigations remains the "Albanian conspiracy of silence", which does not allow criminals to be brought to justice. Even those Albanians who do not see the future of Kosovo in violence and crime become targets of their extremist compatriots, like a Kosovo policeman recently killed in Djakovica, inhabeted solely by ethnic Albanians.

On the other hand, Kosovo Albanian political leaders have shown a complete lack of political responsibility in recent weeks. Instead of demonstating their sincere commitment to building a multiethnic society by visiting vulnerable communities and their Albanian neighbors, they continue sitting in their Pristina offices issuing sterile statements and lamenting the blurred image of Kosovo. In such a situation Kosovo Serbs have no other choice but to strengthen their ties with their government in Belgrade, which has recently demonstrated its clear committment to keep Kosovo within state borders and not to allow the creation of an ethnically clean Albanian banana republic.

In fact, the total lack of any kind of responsibility is becoming a chronic Kosovo disease that has not even spared the internationals, many of whom behave as if recurring acts of violence and murder are happening on some other continent and not in front of their own eyes. The policy of persistently ignoring the basic provisions of UNSC Res. 1244 must change; otherwise, the Province will slide even more toward chaos. Kosovo Serbs and their Governement in Belgrade therefore see the forthcoming negotiations as an opportunity to route the process of ethnic cleansing and repression, which has ruled Kosovo for the last four post-war years, toward full implementation of the UN SC Resolution and establishment of Kosovo as a substantial autonomy within the multiethnic state union of Serbia and Montenegro. The secession of the Province, which will inevitably lead to the final exodus of remaining Serbs and minorities, is simply not considered by any serious and responsible Serb leader to be an option for negotiations.

Editorial

KOSOVO - FRAGILE PEACE IN SHADDOW OF CONTINUAL ETHNIC TERROR
UNWILLINGNESS OF KOSOVO ALBANIAN LEADERS TO CONFRONT EXTREMISTS IN THEIR OWN RANKS MAKES THEM ACCOMPLICES IN ETHNIC CLEANSING OF THE PROVINCE

In Kosovo crimes not only continue to occur but for the past four years they have been a silently accepted legitimate means of pursuing the policy of ethnic cleansing which Kosovo Albanian extremists are carrying out against Serbs and non-Albanian minorities. Their goal is to realize what dictators such as Milosevic and Tudjman failed to accomplish: to execute a revision of Balkan borders on an ethnic basis and divide towns and villages that even five centuries of Turkish rule and even Milosevic's regime failed to divide. While in Belgrade, Zagreb, Banja Luka and Sarajevo politicians are painfully and with difficulty but with increasing courage and determination confronting the legacy of the past with the intent of joining the rest of Europe, in Kosovo key figures among the Kosovo Albanians persistently not only deny ethnic terror against Serbs but in the case of the most recent attacks resulting in the deaths of children and helpless old people are once again accusing phantom Serb forces, as if time for them had stopped back in 1999 when Milosevic ruled the fate of Balkan peoples.... MORE

by Fr. Sava Janjic

EUROPE AND AMERICA, WHY DID YOU LET THEM KILL OUR CHILDREN
Protesting Kosovo Serbs march holding a banner reading "Europe and America, why did you let them kill our children" in Gracanica, in central Kosovo, after unknown gunmen killed two Serbian teenagers Wednesday and wounded six other adolescents from the village of Gorazdevac, including an Albanian woman, firing on them with automatic arms while they were swimming in a river near Zahac.
(AFP/Nikola Besevic)

NEW TERRORIST ATTACK IN KOSOVO

Stanica Savic, the mother of killed Kosovo Serb school teacher Miomir Savic, mourns over a coffin with his remains during a funeral in the village of Cernica, September 2, 2003. Savic died in a hospital at the U.S. Army's Camp Bondsteel from wounds sustained when a hand-grenade exploded, outside a shop in the village of Cernica on Sunday. REUTERS/Stringer Reuters - Sep 02 3:33 PM

ONE SERB DIED AND FOUR WOUNDED IN LATEST KOSOVO ATTACK

ERPKIM Info-service
Gracanica, September 01, 2003

Last night, the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Raska and Prizren received urgent news of a new attack on Serbs in ethnically mixed village of Cernica (pr. Tsernitsa) near Gnjilane (pr. Gneelaneh), 40 km southeast from the Provincial capital Pristina.

First explosion occurred around 19.50, Sunday evening. Local sources claim that unknown person hurled an explosive device from a deserted house on a group of Serbs who were standing in front of the local village store, in the centre of the village. Five Serb males sustained wounds in this explosion.

One of the injured, Miomir Savic (born 1968) was transported by KFOR helicopter with very serious injuries to the U.S. Camp Bondsteel, three males were transported with unknown injuries to Vranje hospital (South Serbia) and another male was hospitalized in Gnjilane regional hospital.

Five minutes after the first explosion, around 19.55, another explosion was heard in the lower (Serbian) part of the village. In this attack no one was injured.

Members of U.S. KFOR, in which area of responsibility the attack occurred, have been searching the village. According to the local sources they have found a larger quantity of explosives in the deserted house which was ready to be exploded. If the explosives had been detonated number of victims could have been much higher, local sources say.

Yesterday's attack is not the only attack on members of Serb community in Cernica village. Kosovo Albanian extremists have made several attacks in the last four years on their Serb neighbors. On May 28, 2000 Albanian extremists killed three Serbs (among them one child) and wounded five more in Cernica. This was the hardest blow this little Serb community suffered after the deployment of the peacekeeping forces in June 1999.

Serbian population in Kosovsko Pomoravlje (Eastern part of the UN administered Province) and the rest of Kosovo and Metohija are in shock and alarm after the yesterday's attack in Cernica.

Presently, in Cernica village there are 450 Serbs and 3000 Kosovo Albanians who live in separate parts of the village.

Kosovo Serbs look at blood on a road September 1, 2003, after a hand-grenade explosion outside a shop in the ethnically mixed village of Cernica, Kosovo, which killed onen Serb man and injured four on Sunday evening. REUTERS/Hazir Reka

SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH MOST STRONGLY CONDEMNS ATTACK IN CERNICA

It is absolutely incomprehensible that after a series of terrorist attacks and crimes against Serbian population in Kosovo and Metohija UNMIK and KFOR have not taken more decisive measures to stop Albanian ethnic terror. We continually listen to the fables that the attacks from the previous weeks and months were nothing but isolated "incidents" although it is more than evident that Albanian terrorists have launched a systematic campaign of terror. It is carried out not only in Kosovo and Metohija but also on the territory of South-east Serbia and Macedonia, with the goal of creating ethnically clean Albanian territory.

ERPKIM INFO-SERVICE
Gracanica, September 1, 2003

For immediate release

COMMUNIQUÉ

Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Raska and Prizren most strongly condemns the latest terrorist attack in Cernica as one more in line of crimes directed against members of the Serbian community in Kosovo and Metohija.

After Kosovo Albanian terrorists killed three Serbs in this village and wounded five more in a massacre on May 28, 2000, this is a new attempt to expel from Cernica the remaining Serbs and make this multiethnic village an ethnically clean Albanian settlement.

It is absolutely incomprehensible that after a series of terrorist attacks and crimes directed against the Serbian population in Kosovo and Metohija UNMIK and KFOR have not taken more decisive and efficient measures to stop Albanian ethnic terror. We continually listen to the fables that the attacks from the previous weeks and months were nothing but isolated "incidents", in the generally "improving security situation". However it is more than evident that Kosovo Albanian terrorists have launched a systematic campaign of terror which is carried out not only in Kosovo Province, but also on the territory of South-east Serbia and Macedonia, with the goal of creating ethnically clean Albanian territory.

If such irresponsible behavior of the international representatives continues it will be very hard for the Serbian people to believe that the internationals in Kosovo are not open accomplices in crimes. Therefore, the Serbian Orthodox Church publicly appeals on the new UNMIK's chief Mr. Harri Holkeri and the KFOR Commander Lt. Gen. Fabio Mini to intensify investigations of the committed ethnic crimes, bring perpetrators to justice and publicly reveal the truth on the security situation in which members of the Serb community in Kosovo live today.

The Diocese of Raska and Prizren is also calling KFOR and UNMIK highest authorities to make influence on the representatives of the transitional Kosovo Government, KFOR and UNMIK who could contribute to avoid these tragedies and call them to demonstrate their moral responsibility and resign their posts.

After a series of ethnic crimes against Kosovo Serbs in the last weeks and months not a single person has taken at least moral responsibility for this catastrophic situation in the Province, as if this campaign of terror happens on some other continent and not in front of their eyes, and as if they are not so well paid to establish rule of law and order instead of tolerating laws of jungle. Avoiding any kind of responsibility by the leading figures of Kosovo institutions, UNMIK and KFOR is a serious indicator of utmost unprofessional and irresponsible behavior which is not tolerated in any democratic society and which openly encourages continuation of ethnic violence.

Lukewarm statements and "serious concerns" cannot bring back to life victims of terrorism nor can improve the security situation. It is the high time to open eyes and stop deluding oneself and the world about alleged success of the "peace" Mission in Kosovo.

The Diocese expresses sincere condolences to the family of Milomir Savic who died in this attack and appeals on Serbs in Cernica and entire Kosovo Pomoravlje (Eastern part of the UN administered Province) to be courageous and strongly believe that God's justice will eventually triumph over violence and hypocrisy.