RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 56, Part II, 24 March 2004

KOSOVARS MARK FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF NATO AIR STRIKES ON SERBIA...
Kosova's President Ibrahim Rugova marked the fifth anniversary of
NATO air strikes that ended Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's
crackdown on Kosova's ethnic Albanian majority population with a
message on 24 March stressing that independence is the only solution
that can help stabilize Kosova and the region, regional and
international media reported. Noted journalist Veton Surroi wrote in
the Prishtina daily "Koha Ditore" that "we have two big debts to
NATO," Reuters reported. "Let us not forget to thank them for saving
us from genocide [in 1999] and to ask forgiveness for any harsh words
or attacks against them [in the violence of] last week," Surroi added
(see "RFE/RL Newsline," 23 March 2004 and "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 19
March 2004). In Fushe Kosova, EU foreign- and security-policy chief
Javier Solana began a visit to Kosova by viewing the remains of
Serbian homes that Albanian extremists burned during the recent
violence, Reuters reported. Before leaving Brussels, he told RFE/RL
that last week's violence will not speed up any decision on Kosova's
final status. Solana was NATO's secretary-general in 1999. PM

...EU AND NATO REPORTEDLY REJECT SERBIAN CALLS FOR 'CANTONIZATION'
OF KOSOVA... Unnamed officials of the EU and NATO "gave short shrift"
on 23 March to the latest calls by Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav
Kostunica for the establishment of ethnically based cantons in
Kosova, saying the recent violence will not lead to the partition of
the province, London's "The Independent" reported (see "RFE/RL
Newsline," 5 and 23 March 2004 and "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 12 and 19
December 2003 and 19 March 2004). Instead, the EU and NATO stressed
that Serbia must cooperate better with the Hague-based war crimes
tribunal and institute market reforms. Kostunica said his government
will cooperate with the tribunal but in a way that "will not
destabilize institutions in Serbia." He has not outlined his
cantonization plans in detail, but Serbian diplomat Dusan Batakovic
has described a proposal to create five largely rural Serbian cantons
that would account for about 30 percent of Kosova's territory, "The
Independent" added. Serbs make up less than 10 percent of the
population. Political leaders of the ethnic Albanian majority have
previously rejected Serbian calls for partition. PM

...AS THE HUNT FOR ORGANIZERS OF VIOLENCE CONTINUES... NATO-led
peacekeepers raided four houses in Obiliq on 23 March searching for
evidence of who was behind the recent violence that shook Kosova,
"The Boston Globe" reported. Nearly 200 people have been arrested in
connection with the unrest that apparently broke out spontaneously
but was quickly exploited and spread by ethnic Albanian extremists
(see "RFE/RL Newsline," 22 March 2004). Harry Holkeri, who heads the
UN civilian administration in Kosova (UNMIK), said that those behind
the violence "tried to destroy the whole future of Kosovo" and are
"responsible for severe crimes against humanity." The Boston-based
daily noted that many Serbian civilians want to leave for primarily
Serbian northern Kosova or Serbia proper, but some local Serbian
"leaders want them to stay so they can retain their territorial
claims on the province." PM

...AND TWO POLICEMEN DIE. Unidentified gunmen killed a Filipino UN
policeman and his local Albanian colleague in an apparent ambush 20
kilometers north of Prishtina on 23 March, RFE/RL reported. UN police
spokesman Derek Chappel told Reuters in Prishtina the next day that
"it is important now that people do not try and link [the latest
killings] to other events that have happened recently." He noted:
"Given the violence and the rioting of last week, the first reaction
of people will be to connect this and possibly consider it as a form
of reprisal attack. We have to bear in mind that police work is, by
its nature, dangerous. Most officers are injured or, very sadly, die
in the course of interfering with criminal activity. Let's wait and
see where this investigation goes." PM