[R-G] Thousands in Kosovo protest EU mission

[Anthony Fenton]

  International Herald Tribune
Thousands in Kosovo protest EU mission
By Dan Bilefsky
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/12/02/europe/kosovo.php

SARAJEVO: Several thousand demonstrators took to the streets of  
Pristina, Kosovo's capital, on Tuesday to protest the planned  
deployment of a European Union judicial mission that many ethnic  
Albanians fear will partition the new country.

The protesters marched through the city center holding banners saying  
"No Partition" and "Kosovo Is Ours," witnesses said. Some chanted  
"Thaci is a traitor," referring to Kosovo's prime minister, Hashim  
Thaci.

Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leadership declared independence from Serbia  
in February after nine years of being administered by the United  
Nations.

At issue now is who will control the country. Under a six-point plan  
agreed to last week by the United Nations Security Council - and  
backed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, Belgrade and the European  
Union - the 2,000-strong EU mission would be deployed under a UN  
mandate and would take a neutral position regarding Kosovo's  
independence.

Pristina has rejected that element of the plan, arguing that it is an  
infringement on its sovereignty and insisting that the independence of  
Kosovo be respected. But Thaci has nevertheless agreed to cooperate  
fully with the mission, on the grounds that it will help preserve  
peace and stability across the territory.

Albin Kurti, one of the organizers of the protest Tuesday, said that  
accepting the deployment of the EU mission was unacceptable because it  
would undermine Kosovo's hard-earned sovereignty. Opponents of the six- 
point plan say they are concerned that it calls for the creation of  
separate chains of command for Serbian and Albanian police forces  
operating in Kosovo; the police in the ethnic Albanian areas would  
report to the EU while Serb police officers in the Serb-dominated  
northern part of the country would report to the United Nations.

Critics say that such an arrangement would entrench a de facto  
partition of the country by splitting it along ethnic lines. Pristina  
also worries that Belgrade would use the plan as a pretext to expand  
its authority over Kosovo.

Since Kosovo declared independence, Belgrade has sought to broaden its  
influence in northern Kosovo by holding elections and by entrenching  
its sway over policies like education and health care.

A small explosive device was thrown last month at the International  
Civilian Office that housed the EU's special representative. The  
police initially believed the attack could have been motivated by  
discontent with the deployment of the new EU mission. But they then  
arrested three Germans, thought to be intelligence operatives, in  
connection with the explosion.

The three men - who media outlets in Germany describe as members of  
the German foreign intelligence agency, the BND - were later released  
by a UN panel of judges for lack of evidence.

Germany was one of the first countries to recognize the independence  
of Kosovo. Berlin has said that suggestions that it was involved in  
attacks in Kosovo were absurd.

Separately, Serbia indicated Tuesday that it was seeking changes to an  
agreement with NATO - signed on June 9, 1999 - that ended the Kosovo  
war. It called for the abolition of a no-flight buffer zone between  
Serbia and Kosovo created by NATO after Serbia's armed forces agreed  
to withdraw from the region.

The Serbian general Zdravko Ponos said the accord, which prevents  
Serbian military flights over the zone and requires Serbian troops to  
get special approval from NATO to enter the territory, was outdated  
because NATO and Serbia were now military partners. NATO said that it  
was aware of the proposal but that no decision had been made. Pristina  
rejected it.