Dodik: RS and Serbia share their view on Kosovo

BANJA LUKA, June 8 (Tanjug) - Republika Srpska (RS) Prime Minister Milorad Dodik said Tuesday that RS would follow Serbia's policy regarding Kosovo's future status.

"RS will follow Serbia's policy on Kosovo to the end. Serbia's official stand is the stand of RS as well. I think that Bosnia-Herzegovina's (BiH) choice not to recognize Kosovo is entirely fair, and the statements by some Kosovo officials that BiH will recognize it are just speculations. It will not happen," said Dodik after a meeting of the RS-Serbia cooperation council, established on the basis of the agreement on special relations between Serbia and RS.

Dodik noted that Serbia is the biggest investor in RS with 1.7 billion Bosnian convertible marks invested so far, adding that it provided a huge contribution to the economic, social and political stability in RS.

Serbian government policy has helped RS by stating Serbia's strong and clear position during the consitutional changes in BiH, the position that promotes the territorial integrity of BiH, as well as the existence of its two entities, RS and the BiH Federation, said Dodik.

That position has supported the view of RS, Dodik continued, meaning that foreign pressure concerning constitutional changes is not welcome, and that every solution has to be the result of compromise.

"RS wants to assume the role of a stabilizing factor in the region. Our agenda is not destabilization of the region, but its stabilization," Dodik stated, adding that he expects the EU to make some positive decisions regarding visa liberalization.

RS President Rajko Kuzmanovic told reporters that the meeting exceeded all expectations, and that 24 participants agreed that the cooperation between Serbia and RS is improving continuously.

Kuzmanovic said he was happy the two sides agreed that BiH should remain organized according to the 1995 Dayton Agreement that ended the war in BiH, as well as in terms of the region's European future, and he described Serbia as a unifying factor in the region.

Tadic:Serbia will not be blackmailed into recognizing Kosovo

BANJALUKA, June 8 (Tanjug) - Serbian President Boris Tadic stated Tuesday that Serbia will not tolerate any kind of blackmail regarding its EU accession.

No one in the EU can ask Serbia to relinquish its territorial integrity and sovereignty in Kosovo-Metohija in exchange for EU accession, Tadic said in Banjaluka after the session of the Council for Cooperation, founded in accordance with the Special Parallel Relations Agreement between Serbia and RS.

It is not in Serbia's best interest to block cooperation in the region, he added.

Serbia will support everything that improves regional cooperation and life in the region, but it will neither explicitly nor implicitly recognize Kosovo's independence, Tadic stressed.

Speaking of the region's European perspectives, the Serbian president pointed out that there is no alternative to EU accession and added that Serbia will continue to encourage such policy in all neighboring countries.

President of Republika Srpska (RS) Rajko Kuzmanovic, RS Prime Minister Milorad Dodik, Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic and several Serbian and RS ministers attended the closed doors session of the council for monitoring the implementation of the agreement.

EU Council extends EULEX mandate until 2012

BRUSSELS, June 8 (Tanjug) - The Council of the European Union extended the mandate of the EULEX Mission in Kosovo-Metohija until June 14, 2012, the Council's press service told Tanjug.

EU Special Representative in Kosovo Pieter Feith and Head of EULEX Kosovo Yves de Kermabon held a news conference to talk about the latest political events and EULEX activities.

The main objective of the EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo - EULEX, the EU's single largest civilian mission, is to support Kosovo authorities - the police, courts and customs services in particular - in respecting the law.

Wednesday to mark 11 years since Kumanovo Treaty

BELGRADE, June 8 (Tanjug) - Wednesday will mark 11 years since the Military Technical Agreement between International Security Force (KFOR) and the Governments of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Serbia, which ended the NATO bombing of former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, was signed in Kumanovo, Macedonia.

The agreement was signed by Yugoslav army General Svetozar Marjanovic, Interior Ministry General Obrad Stevanovic and British General Mike Jackson.

After the signing, Jackson said that the agreement created the conditions for the cease of the bombing campaign, the deployment of international peacekeeping forces in Kosovo and a timed withdrawal of the Yugoslavian army from the province.

On the same day, the NATO Council in Brussels ratified the treaty that officials of the Yugoslav army, Serbian police and international forces had signed in Kumanovo.

The Council entrusted Supreme Allied Commander Europe Wesley Clark with verifying that Yugoslav forces have started their withdrawal from Kosovo.

A Russian convoy which was part of UN peacekeeping forces was the first to arrive in Kosovo. It entered downtown Pristina at 1:30 a.m. on June 12 and proceeded in the direction of Kosovo Polje and the Pristina Slatina Airport.

Despite the fact that Kosovo took the brunt of the two and a half months of airstrikes, the Yugoslav army managed to pull out most of its manpower and equipment from the province.

The NATO bombing of Yugoslavia started on March 24, 1999.

Dodik: Republika Srpska supports Serbia's stand on Kosovo

BANJA LUKA, June 8 (Tanjug) - Republika Srpska (RS) Prime Minister Milorad Dodik stated on Tuesday that the official stand of RS regarding the issue of Kosovo-Metohija is the same as Serbia's, and that Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) will not acknowledge Kosovo's independence because RS representatives will not give their consent for this.

“Republika Srpska supports Serbia on the matter of Kosovo, and will continue to do so to the very end,” Dodik told journalists in Banja Luka, after the third session of the Council for Cooperation, founded in accordance with the Special Parallel Relations Agreement between Serbia and RS.

Dodik qualified as speculation the recent claims by certain public figures from Kosovo that BiH will recognize the independence of the southern Serbian province.

Bentler:There is no division, integrity of Kosovo guaranteed

PRISTINA, June 8 (Tanjug) - KFOR Commander Lt. Gen. Markus Bentler said Tuesday that there will be no division of Kosovo and that the integrity of Kosovo is guaranteed by the Kumanovo Treaty, whose signing in June 1999 ended the NATO bombing of former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

In an interview with Radio Kosovo, Bentler said there are still threats to security in Kosovo, but that the situation in the north can only be solved through a political process and not through military action.

Asked if the NATO can now call its mission in Kosovo accomplished, Bentler said that no one can say when that time will come.

That depends on the security situation and the progress of development. But there has been a lot of progress and we are close to fulfilling our mission, the KFOR commander said.

Bentler believes there are no outside threats to Kosovo's security stemming from unresolved issued between Pristina and Belgrade.

There are no outside threats here. The people of Kosovo can be at peace and feel safe. The excellent cooperation we have with Serbia's armed forces is responsible for the safety of the administrative border, the KFOR commander said.

The German general noted that northern Kosovo is not the only area that poses a security risk, reminding of the recent arms seizures and shootouts at the Macedonian border.

There are some other causes for concern, some other hotspots that call for caution, Bentler said.

EULEX should continue investigating crimes against Serbs

BELGRADE, June 8 (Tanjug) - State Secretary with the Serbian Ministry for Kosovo and Metohija Oliver Ivanovic said on Tuesday that he expects from EULEX, now that its mandate in the province has been extended, to continue to investigate the crimes against Serbs and to make its cooperation with the Serbian prosecution in that respect more concrete.

“We hope that the EULEX mission will continue investigating the crimes and that the cooperation between the international prosecution and the Serbian special prosecution will be made more concrete in this respect,” Ivanovic told Tanjug.

He added that after “a long period of adaptation” and the dilemmas it had regarding the role of the UN and (UN Security Council) Resolution 1244, the mission has finally focused on the issues that are supposed to be its priority tasks.

Ivanovic explained that it was a big mistake that EULEX placed the centre of its interest in northern Kosovo and Metohija, whereas the Serbian side insisted on organized crime and corruption as being one of the main problems in Pristina.

“What the Serbian party insisted on the most was shedding light on ethnically motivated crimes, that is crimes against Serbs, particularly those that have been committed after the arrival of the international mission, but also the crimes that took place in 1998 and 1999,” Ivanovic said.

The EU Council stated earlier in Brussels that on Tuesday it will extend he mandate of the EULEX mission in Kosovo and Metohija until June 8, 2012.

The main goal of the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo and Metohija, the biggest EU civilian mission, is to provide assistance and support to the interim Kosovo authority, particularly the police, judiciary and customs departments, and to help them observe the rule of law.

EULEX was first appointed on February 4, 2008, and its original mandate expires on August 31, 2010.

EULEX: Ljimaj requests bribe of 10-13 pct of tender's value

PRISTINA, June 8 (Tanjug) - Kosovo Minister of Transport and Telecommunication Fatmir Ljimaj and his associate Nedzat Krasnici are charged with money laundering, organized crime, theft and abuse of office and bribe, the Pristina media reported Tuesday.

The Pristina daily Koha Ditore reports that Ljimaj requested, through the head of procurement of the Gnjilane construction company Inter Kosova, that the company's owner Mehmet Skodra pays him 10 to 13 percent of the total amount of the promised tender.

The list of criminal acts Ljimaj and Krasnici are charged with is given in the document issued by EULEX Prosecutor Eduard Gueroff, and is based on EULEX's investigation into the work of the Kosovo Ministry of Transport and Telecommunication and Skodra's statements.

The document of the EULEX Prosecutor, published by Gnjilane municipality, specifies that Skodra, who recently died in a car accident, testified for EULEX in May 2009.

According to Skodra's testimony, Ljimaj promised him that he will win the tender without tender procedure if he gives him the 10-13 percent of the tender's value. However, Skodra never promised he would pay the money, which is why his company did not get the job.

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