Fact Finding Mission Kicks Off

The new fact-finding mission kicked off yesterday in Belgrade.  The delegates from the Security Council arrived last night in Pristina for two days of consultations and visits to areas hit hard during the fighting.  Plans are for the delegation to visit Mala Krusha, the village where a UN convoy escorting two war crimes lawyers was attacked last year, and two Serbian villages that were destroyed in the March 2004 riots.  It seems that both sides will try to present the best "sob story" about the abuses suffered to highlight why Kosovo should or should not become independent.  As the delegation was visiting Belgrade, approximately 8,000 Serb IDPs (internally displaced persons) gathered at the Kosovo boundary north of Mitrovica and requested a meeting with the delegation.  Over night, the numbers dropped to around 4000 but as the delegation visits Mitrovica today, the numbers will probably climb again.
In Serbia, still no coalition government has been formed following the elections in January.  It has been suggested that lawmakers are hesitant to form a government as no one wants to take responsibility for "losing Kosovo" should it become independent.  Of course, the person who is ultimately responsible is Slobodan Milosevic but current politicians worry that if something happens on their watch, they will carry the blame.  If no government is formed by May 14th acting President Tadic is obligated to call for new elections.  Western leaders fear that if pro-Western leaders cannot form a coalition before then and elections are held, the more nationalistic parties will win a even larger percentage of the vote.

There was a conference in New York 12-15 April about the 120-day transitional period following approval of Ahtisaari's plan.  Speakers included Madeline Albright and Bill Clinton.  The conference titled "Developing a Strategy for Kosovo's First 120 Days" addressed the challenges that the Kosovo government will face in the transition period and the first years of independence.  So far, the government has been focused mainly on gaining independence not what to do after that goal is achieved.

Local Government Offers Bounty for Tails of Dogs

Kosovo is overrun with stray dogs.  It's estimated that there are around 30,000 stray dogs in Kosovo.  The problem with strays spiraled out of control during and after the fighting when Kosovars abandoned their homes to escape the war.  Many left their pets to fend for themselves and in the dismal, cold winters, some pets became wild and aggressive.  Many of the released dogs were not neutered so the population began to spike even more rapidly.  Programs to capture and neuter the stray population failed to a great degree due to lack of funds and support from the government whose main focus has been gaining independence rather than dealing with social issues.
Now, the local government is answering citizen complaints about the stray population and hosting "culling contests" where local hunters are invited to shoot dogs on the streets of the towns and collect a prize of 7.5 Euros for each tail they deliver.  The hunters are escorted by local police and pubic service workers who supervise the hunt and clean up the bodies.  In Mitrovica, several hundred dogs have already been culled by hunters.

<soapbox>Previously, British and Norwegian KFOR organized culling programs but due to great criticism of the program and the cruelty both halted their operations.  The problem with these culling programs is that the people in Kosovo have suffered enough trauma and having packs of hunters going through the towns and killing dogs is a violent solution.  If the Kosovo government really wants to address the issue, they can organize "contests" to capture dogs and take them to the donation supported animal shelter by the airport.  Aggressive dogs that cannot be rehabilitated can be put to sleep (a much more humane method of culling) and those that are not aggressive but rather just left to unfortunate circumstances can be taken care of and hopefully adopted by a local or international.

The idea of the government actually sponsoring and giving a bounty for hunters to go around a city and shoot dogs honestly turns my stomach with disgust.  Shooting dogs is not a proper method of culling as often the shooter can fail to kill the dog with a single shot and the less aggressive dogs that are friendly towards people are killed first.  What is left after the culling are dogs that are injured and more aggressive towards humans because of the incident and dogs that were already aggressive towards people as they will not allow hunters to get near enough for a shot.</soapbox>

The Balkan Domino

The new fact-finding mission is due to arrive in Kosovo tomorrow and stay until Saturday.  The members of the Security Council are due to visit villages on both sides that suffered during the fighting and the 2004 riots.  There is much speculation of what will happen when the mission visits.  It is expected that thousands of Serb refugees will amass at the border.  Russia has also been threatening to possibly use their veto rights in the Security Council but so far have not confirmed or denied whether or not they actually will do so. 
There has been a lot of discussion about what will happen if the Security Council does not agree to Ahtisaari's plan or at least a watered-down version of the plan which gives Kosovo independence.  The most interesting of the discussions is what I would term the "Balkan Domino".  Much like the domino effect that the US feared during the Cold War, the Balkan domino is a situation that many believe will occur if Kosovo Albanians decide to unilaterally declare independence and Western countries (like the US) begin to recognize it.  People believe that then the Serbs in Northern Kosovo will declare independence, then Presevo Valley in Serbia, and then Tetevo, and then part of Montenegro...etc.  They all will claim that a precedent was set by the unilateral declaration of independence and demand the same international recognition.  Whether or not this domino effect will become a reality is hard to say...but it is one theory that is being passed around the international community.

Watch Out, Here I Come!

Over the weekend, I purchased a steering wheel at the Skopje Trade Center (or the big mall in the center).  Now I am completely hooked on Need 4 Speed Underground 2 :)  When I get in the 4Runner to go somewhere, I have to remind myself that I'm not playing the game anymore and I can't run people off the road *hehe*  So, friends, if you are trying to chat with me, buzz me as the game takes the entire screen and I won't know you are there unless you make some noise!

In a more serious light, today a Spanish KFOR soldier was killed and another injured in a serious car accident in northwestern Kosovo.  The soldiers were conducting a four-man patrol when their vehicle overturned.  No other vehicles were involved in the accident.

Weekend Wrap-up

Vetevendosje activists were busy this weekend spraying 8-UN vehicles with the Albanian word for murderer/killer (Vrases) in Pristina, Prizren, and Mitrovica.  38 people were detained and questioned in Gnjilane, Mitrovica and Prizren over the incidents.  Most of the vehicles were parked when the activists painted them but the one incident in Pristina occurred when the activists stopped a passing vehicle. 

Two children accidentally drowned in Gracanica Lake over the weekend.  At least one or two children drown in Kosovo's lakes or pools each year that I can recall.  The most common cause of the drowning is just lack of adult supervision.  An investigation is ongoing into the recent deaths. 

On Friday, an iman from Kacanik reported that unknown persons threw a Molotov cocktail on his vehicle and caused minor damages.  Over the weekend, one Albanian was arrested in conjunction with the attack and another is at large.

There were two electrical fires in Pristina and Lipjan due to illegal electrical connections.  Several meters of cabling was destroyed in the incidents.  Illegal connections to the electrical network is commonplace in Kosovo, especially during construction or in villages.  It is interesting to watch how the local population hooks up to the network...they take a long pole with a hook on the end and toss it over the power line.  The most important thing for them to remember is to let go before it hooks...one friend witnessed what happens when they forget...not pretty.

On the topic of fires, there has been a series of forest fires in Kosovo.  A estimated 553 hectares of forest has been destroyed in the past two months.  The causes of the fires are both natural and man-made.  There is little education about fire prevention and some of the fires are thought to have been set accidentally or intentionally by humans.  Illegal woodcutting has also contributed to the problems.  The other factor having a lot of impact is the warm winter with relatively little snow.  The forests are a bit more dry than normal increasing the chances of fire.

Commemoration Ceremonies

It seems that I am updating this blog on a regular basis now!  There is so much going on lately on in politics and in Pristina that my fingers are keeping busy!  In addition to trying to keep up with all the news, I've been running around with my camera trying to get photos of the sights around Kosovo since the dismal grey of winter skies appears to have passed.
Yesterday many of us were trying to figure out why the streets were lined with Albanian flags.  It almost looked like Flag Day with all the street lights and poles decorated with a duo of the flags.  None of our Albanian friends knew what was happening or why the flags were hung up...but today I figured it out.  Yesterday there were several commemoration ceremonies around Kosovo for the victims of the fighting in 1999.  Around 600 Albanians in two different villages participated in the ceremonies organized by the KLA War Veterans Association.

The BBC focuses on Kosovo peacekeeping in the forth of their series on peacekeepers.  The article goes with French KFOR patrol enclaves in northern Kosovo, their area of responsibility.

Next week, the fact-finding mission will visit Kosovo next week.  Kosovo Serb representatives are unhappy that the mission will not be visiting minority enclaves and have labeled the visit "tourist" in nature.  The spokesman, Oliver Ivanovic, has questioned the nature of the visit and stated "our conclusion is that their intention is not to determine the facts" and goes on to say that the mission is just trying to reach the same conclusion as Ahtisaari, ignoring the concerns of the minority population.  Serbs from around Kosovo have stated that they travel to meet the mission in Mitrovica as it visits and refugees who were expelled from their homes following 1999 have said that they will attempt to return to their homes as the mission is visiting to demonstrate the problems they face.

Meanwhile, the EU has removed the topic of Kosovo from the next meeting of foreign ministers as disunity continues over support for Ahtisaari's proposal.  The topic of "Western Balkans" is expected to be put back on the agenda in May after the UN fact-finding mission visits.  Slovakia, Romania, and Greece expressed serious concerns over independence in Kosovo while Spain, Italy, and Cyprus have indicated reservations about independence based on the Ahtisaari proposal.

Romanian Police Found Responsible for Deaths of Protestors

An investigation into the deaths of two Albanian protestors on 10 February has released interim findings.  The investigation found that the Romanian Police were responsible for the deaths of two protestors and the serious wounding of two others but concluded that there was insufficient evidence to identify the officers that fired the bullets.  The bullets were a type exclusively used by the Romanian officers and had an expiration date of 1994.  The UN in New York is looking into why expired ammunition but police commissioner Richard Monk has stated that the UN would "expect that that units coming here would adhere to the manufacturer's rules" and that is not within the UN's capacity to issue regulation on the age of bullets.
The shootings were deemed "unwarranted and unjustified".  The UN-appointed prosecutor, Robert Dean, has stated that "the acts of one, two, or three in firing rubber bullets improperly or in a criminal manner, which I think happened, cannot necessarily be imputed to all others" and urged the UN and the Romanian government to consider compensation for the families of the victims.

Yesterday afternoon, around 20 Vetevendosje supporters spray-painted two UNMIK vehicles downtown.  I think there was enough notification of the protest for people to avoid the area and prevent the vandalism of the vehicles.  In Prizren, another two vehicles were spray-painted with the word "Vrases" (Murderer/Killer).