Kosovo War

BELGRADE - The head of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija Petar Petkovic said on Wednesday an anti-terrorist unit of the Serbian Gendarmerie had located and arrested three officers of the so-called Kosovo's special police in the vicinity of the Gnjilica village in the Raska municipality, deep inside the territory of central Serbia.

BELGRADE - Serbian Armed Forces Chief of General Staff Gen Milan Mojsilovic met with Kfor Commander Maj Gen Angelo Michele Ristuccia in Belgrade on Wednesday to discuss the security situation in Kosovo-Metohija.

The question of rehabilitation and reintegration of war criminals has not attracted much attention either in the countries of the former Yugoslavia or internationally. This is somewhat odd considering that 59 of 91 individuals sentenced by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, ICTY have already been released from prison after serving sentences for grave crimes.

BELGRADE - Srpska lista leader Goran Rakic said on Monday representatives of Kosovo-Metohija Serbs had informed Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic of the situation on the ground and the problems facing Serbs in the province.

They asked Vucic to use his authority to ensure the soonest possible release of two arrested Serb protesters, Rados Petrovic and Dusan Obrenovic.

They gathered in peaceful protest to express their dissatisfaction with the violent actions of Pristina in the north, the arrival of Kosovo special forces and the imposition of illegal Albanian mayors elected in elections in which the turnout was only about 3.5 percent and which the Serbs boycotted.

A Turkish official, with whom the media spoke anonymously, said that Turkey will take over the command of KFOR in October.
This decision has been under consideration for a long time, but it has only now been definitively made, according to Bloomberg.

Turkey is preparing to take command of NATO forces in Kosovo. This will take place as part of a planned rotation in the autumn after the worst clashes in the region in a decade.

KFOR soldiers are not stationed at the intersections in Zvean today.

More generally, there is a sense that Pristina has failed to uphold its end of the bargain by refusing to establish the Association/Community of Serb-majority Municipalities, A/CSM, one of the key elements of the now decade-old Brussels Agreement. For Kosovo Serbs, the A/CSM is a vital mechanism through which their community rights can be advanced.

It has been 13 days since the raid of special police units on the premises of the municipalities of Zvean, Zubin Potok and Leposavi, and today is the tenth day of protest by the residents of Zvean who want the special units to withdraw from the north of Kosovo and for the workers of the municipality to be allowed to return to their workplaces.