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Sarajevo is not your city, Mr Karadzic, but mine

02 March 2010 | By Nidzara Ahmetasevic

Radovan Karadzic Radovan Karadzic, Sarajevo is not your city, and you have no right to say that it is, just as you do not have the right to say in public, even if it’s in court, that someone has dug up bones around Bosnia and brought them to Srebrenica to make a fake graveyard. This is insulting.


Feith: ICJ Opinion May Ease Tensions
09 March 2010 | Bojana Barlovac

Pieter Feith, the head of the International Civilian Office in Kosovo, said that the opinion of the International Court of Justice on the legality of Kosovo's declaration of independence could help alleviate tense relations between Belgrade and Pristina.

Returned Asylum Seekers Arrive in Region
12 March 2010 |

A bus carrying Macedonian and Serbian nationals who unsuccessfully sought asylum in Belgium arrived in the two Balkan countries on Thursday after departing Brussels the previous day.


Hodzic et al: Custody Debate
12 March 2010 |

The State Prosecution asks the Court to extend custody of three former members of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who are charged with crimes committed in Trusina village, Konjic municipality, in April 1993.



Kosovo to Pay $231Million Yugoslav Debt to WB

Pristina | 01 July 2009 |
 
Kosovo must pay a $231 million debt to the World Bank for loans obtained during the Yugoslav period, announced James Steinbery, US deputy secretary of state, on Tuesday.

The debt, which was initially calculated to be $381 million, will be lowered by $150 million, which will be paid by the US instead.

“Kosovo will take on the existing payment of debt to the World Bank, that amounts to $381 million. From this amount, as was announced earlier, the US has promised to give $150 million, consequently lowering Kosovo’s debt to $231 million,” Steinberg said.

Kosovo’s Prime Minister and President met US deputy secretary of state at the State Department in Washington to sign Kosovo’s official membership of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Read more at Kosovo Signs IMF, World Bank Deal Today.

Albin Kurti, leader of the Self-determination movement, Vetvendosje, called on the government not to pay the debt until Serbia repays Kosovo for damages caused during the war, and return the country’s capital owed to it from the breakup of Yugoslavia.

“Vetevendosje raises concerns because the Ahttisari plan foresees that Kosovo must take on the payment of a portion of Serbia’s debt, while Serbian authorities are not asked to pay restitution for the damages caused during the war, or restitution for destruction of Kosovo’s economy during forced management of the 90s,” said Kurti.

Under the agreements of the division of Yugoslavia, Kosovo is not entitled to obtaining a share of the capital from the breakup of Yugoslavia because it was not one of the republics of the country.

(Reporting by Shega A’Mula)



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Comments:

2009-07-01 16:32:00
I think BalkanInsight has misread Kurti's statement: You quoted him saying damages of the forced management and restitution money from the war, while at the same time you paraphrased it as money from the break up. While it might not have been in the Yugoslav constitution that with the break up non-republic entities don't get any share of the capital, damages incured during the illegal stripping of Kosovo of its autonomous status and the damages from the war are completely a different matter. Your reporting of Kurti's statements here are confusing and misinterpreted. Please correct them. And, by the way, I agree with the correct statements from Kurti.

blood money
2009-07-02 04:37:03
blood money

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