Global Policy Forum

By Stefan Racin

Serbs in Kosovo are to tell the U.N. Security Council its provisions about Serbia's southern province are insufficient to protect them against Albanian violence. They already have told the Serbian president that Belgrade authorities have neglected them.

At meetings over the weekend the Serbian National Council decided to send a delegation to New York to ask the U.N. Security Council to pass a new resolution or amend Resolution 1244 guaranteeing the rights of the Kosovo Serbs and the return of Serb refugees to the province.

The SNC also decided to suspend participation in UNMIK's interim and advisory councils where Serbs had observers after withdrawing their permanent representatives to the bodies designed to enable all ethnic communities to share power under the chairmanship of mission chief Bernard Kouchner.

The delegation, which was said to be already on the way to the United States includes Rada Trajkovic who was the SNC observer in the interim administrative council; Randjel Nojkic, leader of the opposition Serbian Renewal Movement in Kosovo; and SNC adviser Dusan Batakovic.

The Council is due to meet within a week and extend the year-long mandates of the international peacekeeping force (KFOR) and the U.N. administration (UNMIK).

In a statement from its weekend meetings, the SNC said a large majority of the Albanian population behaved in a racist way toward the Serbs. It said, "There exists most extreme national, religious and linguistic discrimination, basic human rights to life, work and freedom of movement are violated, and organized crime, lawlessness and terrorism reign supreme in Kosovo today."

The statement also said that more than 900 Serbs had been killed, more than 1,000 kidnapped, tens of thousands of houses have ben burned down and over 80 Orthodox churches destroyed in the past year since the arrival in Kosovo of KFOR and UNMIK.

Both Kouchner and the KFOR commander, Gen. Juan Ortuno, have deplored the SNC decision to withdraw its representatives from UNMIK's councils.

Kouchner said, "We see the decision as a sign of protest and a reflection of extreme anger among the Serbs -- which the international community shares -- at the latest violence that strengthens extremists and serves to destabilize Kosovo."

Kouchner said his mission had anticipated "a certain increase in tension to coincide with the anniversary of the anniversary of our arrival in Kosovo."

The SNC also sent a letter to Serbian President Milan Milutinovic saying the Belgrade regime had done little to protect the Serbs remaining in Kosovo, and had seriously obstructed their attempts to organize their health care and economic institutions in cooperation with UNMIK and KFOR at a time when all Kosovo Serbs are "on the brink of an existential catastrophe."