Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Montenegro

Kosovo's New PM Says Only Independence Is Acceptable

Kosovar Prime Minister Agim Ceku (file photo) (epa)

March 11, 2006 -- Kosovo's new Prime Minister Agim Ceku today said anything short of independence would be unacceptable to the Kosovar majority in Serbia's UN-administered province.

TEXT SIZE - +

March 11, 2006

Ceku said only independence could guarantee stability in the region and vowed to make respect for the province's Serb minority a priority of his government.

Ceku, a former leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army, became prime minister on March 10 amid claims by Serbia that his election would be detrimental to ongoing, UN-led talks on the province's future.

Addressing a European Union meeting in Austria, Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic warned on March 11 that granting independence to Kosovo would be "a disaster" for the region.

British Foreign Minister Jack Straw has said that independence for Kosovo is "almost inevitable." But EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said today in Salzburg that "nothing has been decided yet" on the province's status.

(AP, AFP, dpa)

RFE/RL Balkan Report

For a regular review of politics, media, and RFE/RL broadcasts in the western Balkans, subscribe to "RFE/RL Balkan Report."

"The main impression...after being 15 minutes in her presence is that she is not frightened," a colleague says of Natasa Kandic (above).

The Truth-Teller: Natasa Kandic, Urging Serbs To Face The Past

More than a decade has passed since the end of the Balkan wars, where international observers say ethnic Serb fighters were responsible for the bulk of atrocities in the region, particularly Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo. But despite the handover of major war-crimes suspects like Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, Belgrade remains reluctant to face the sins of the past. Lawyer Natasa Kandic has built an unpopular and often dangerous career out of pushing her country to face the truth about its history. More

Zoran Laketa lost his father and brother in the war

In Bosnia-Herzegovina, One Family, Three Armies, And A Lost Generation

Zoran Laketa knows what it's like to fire a gun and wonder if the soldier on the other side of the front line just might be his brother. Or his father. More

Angelina Jolie at the premiere of "In the Land of Blood and Honey" in Los Angeles in December

Jolie Earns Serbian Scorn For War Film

She’s known internationally as one of Hollywood’s highest-paid actresses; she’s won praise from governments and NGOs across the globe for her work as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations; and she’s often reckoned to be the world’s most beautiful woman. But Angelina Jolie has been going by a few other titles lately in the Balkans nation of Serbia, where prominent media outlets have taken to describing her as an American propagandist and all-around "jerk." More