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November 05
- KOSOVSKA MITROVICA: UNMIK's Ministry of Justice has suspended all the
lawsuits related to the compensation for the damage caused to the Serbs' properties in Kosovo after the year 1999, UNMIK spokesman Miradz Sing confirmed yesterday.
He said that nearly 14.000 such lawsuits have been suspended indefinitely because the courts in Kosovo are too busy.
"Glas javnosti", 8. 11. 2005.
- BELGRADE: The birthrate in Serbia has been under 2,1% for several decades which means that not even the simple reproduction of the population is provided so, according to some estimates, by 2020 the population of Serbia&Montenegro will be reduced by 600.000, every 3rd inhabitant will be over 60 years old and the number of young people
will be reduced by 1/3. According to the most pessimistic expert prognoses, if the current
trend continues, in 500 years Serbs will disappear as a nation.
"Glas javnosti", 8. 11. 2005.
- ZVORNIK: The church in Djurdjevgrad has been targeted again by vandals. It was the 6th or 7th time that unknown perpetrators desecrate the church and this time the windows were crashed and the concrete wall outside the church was destroyed.In the fire, caused by setting on fire the towels wrapped around the icons, the inventory was partly destroyed.
"Glas javnosti", 8. 11. 2005.
- BELGRADE: The number of ethnically motivated incidents in Vojvodina has decreased compared to last year because the police have become much more active in their prevention but the pronounced passiveness of the prosecution office could encourage eventual perpetrators, showed the results of the monitoring conducted by the Center for the Development of the Civil Society. Various forms of physical assaults on the members of minority communities have significantly decreased while, on the other hand, numerous provocations, insults and graffiti on houses and religious sites have been recorded, some of them even calling for a lynch.
"Glas javnosti", 7. 11. 2005.
- SARAJEVO: 11.000 criminal indictments have been brought against war crime suspects in Bosnia&Herzegovina so far - 8.000 in the Federation and more than 3.000 in Republika Srpska. It is estimated that several thousand war criminals are walking freely in Bosnia&Herzegovina and the neighbouring countries.
"Glas javnosti", 7. 11. 2005.
- KOSOVSKA MITROVICA: A bus with around 40 displaced Serbs who visited the cemetery in Djakovica yesterday, was stoned in the town center, reported the KiM Radio in Caglavica, TANJUG reports. After visiting the cemetery, while getting on the bus, the Serbs were stoned by Albanians, mostly young people, who were cursing and shouting
"criminals". The bus was escorted by the UNMIK policemen and members of the Kosovo Police Service. None of the passengers were injured in the attack and minor damage was caused to the bus.
"Glas javnosti", 6. 11. 2005.
- BOSANSKI PETROVAC: Dragan Kecman, president of the municipality of Bosanski Petrovac in the Federation of Bosnia&Herzegovina, has scheduled a session of the local parliament due to the deterioration of the security situation.The session will be dedicated to a recent incident when 10 young men of Bosniak nationality demolished a cafe that belongs to Mile Kovacevic, Serb returnee and beat up the guests of Serb nationality in the cafe. The fight then poured out into the street involving around 30 persons. Two policemen and 3 participants were injured in the mass fight that only stopped after the intervention of a special police unit from Bihac.The owner of the cafe has said for the news media in Republika Srpska that he returned from exile 3 years ago and this was the 5th attack on
him and his business since he returned but the police haven't identified and punished the perpetrators. A total of 4.250 Serb returnees live in Bosanski Petrovac. This fight has caused great tensions between them and the local Bosniaks.A "mercedes" from Serbia&Montenegro, with Cacak license plates, was torched outside the "I" Hotel in Zagreb yesterday morning. The driver was a guest of the hotel and the receptionist notified him of the fire. According to the police, the car was deliberately torched with open flame.
"Glas javnosti", 6. 11. 2005.
- BELGRADE: Two days ago unidentified persons threw a Molotov cocktail on the house of Nebojsa Mirkovic in Kosovo Polje. The house was reconstructed after last year's March demonstrations and it burnt to the ground in the explosion.The fire brigade tried to put out the fire but without any success. The police investigation is underway.Around 200 Serbs are living isolated in the town of Kosovo Polje and another 1.500 in the villages of Bresje and Ugljare, says Srdjan Vasic, president of the County of Kosovo Polje.
"Glas javnosti", 5. 11. 2005.
- NOVI SAD: Vojvodina administration has actively joined the integration process of the Roma in Vojvodina by supporting the projects of the Vojvodina Roma Center and the Committee for the Integration of the Roma.According to Srdjan Sijan, chairman of the Committee,the main goal is the creation of the ambient and providing means for the integration of this ethnic minority. Sijan has announced the establishment of a special Fund to support through grants and loans the activities of the Roma businessmen and the
businessmen who employ persons of Roma nationality. "By the end of the year, a working group will be formed of the Executive Board of Vojvodina to work on creating action plans for the integration of the Roma", stressed Sijan and added that around 450.000 dinars will be granted from the budget for the purpose, while 1,9 million dinars will be granted for the Fund.
"Danas", 5.-6. 11. 2005.
"Danas", 11. 11. 2005.
- BERLIN: The citizens of Serbia&Montenegro are still the most numerous among asylum seekers in Germany, announced the federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Of the 2.247 foreigners who seeked political asylum in Germany in October, 371 were from Serbia&Montenegro, followed by persons from Iraq (204), Turkey(192), Russia, Vietnam, Azerbaijan, Syria, Iran, China and India. In September 360 people from Serbia&Montenegro seeked asylum in Germany and in August - 425.The chances to actually get political asylum in Germany are negligibly small.
"Danas",11. 11. 2005.
- NOVI SAD: Two nights ago a group of neo-Nazis, gathered in the "National Formation" association, burst into a public debate on the "Fascist threat" held in the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad on the occasion of the Day of Anti-fascist Struggle. First they attacked the organizer, Zoran Petakov, and one of the members of the "National Formation", Goran Davidovic known as Firer, slapped him in the face and then they started insluting the participants and the visitors of the event and showered them with nationalistic flyers. The police have arrested one of the members of the "National Formation" and are searching for other members.Bojan Kostres, president of the Vojvodina Parliament, has severely condemned the incident and objected that the Serbian Government "has done nothing concrete to prevent the work of similar organizations". "Neo-Nazi organizations are banned all over the world and something should have been done after the rely of neo-Nazis in Petrovaradin a couple of months ago", says Kostres. The representatives of almost all the political parties have condemned the Nazi rampage in the Faculty of Philosophy.
"Blic", 11. 11. 2005.
- VOJVODINA: Vojvodina is one of the oldest communities on this planet - the number of persons who die every year is larger by 8.000 than the number of newborns and if this trend continues, the population of the Province might decrease by 500.000 by the year 2050.
"Blic", 11. 11. 2005.
- SARAORCI: A film crew from Belgrade is completing the shooting of a documentary in the local cemetery in the village of Saraorci, where 6 Roma children live in a small house damaged by a fire. The author is Milutin Jovanovic, prominent director of a number of
documentaries and short films. "I have seen this great reportage in the 'Glas javnosti' and it made a distressing impression on me. A village cemetery and a dilapidated little house with 6 Roma children living in it. At first glance, nothing unusual about it. Unfortunately, there are lots of people living the same way. What affected me the most was the place where this distressing story is taking place. Life and death so close to each other, almost touching each other. The playground for those children are the narrow passages separating the tombs and the tombstones serve them as shelters when they are playing hide-and-seek", says Jovanovic. The film crew expects for this documentary about the children living in a house on a cemetery, completely forgotten, without food, hot water or toilet, to go around the world through film festivals because the story deserves it. The author says that the purpose of the project is to get the state institutions to help these children so they can leave the cemetery in Saraorci forever.
"Glas javnosti", 12. 11. 2005.
- NOVI SAD: The police have identified and arrested 14 members of the "National Formation" so far, for making an incident in the anti-fascist public debate in the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad on November 9th. Charges are brought against them and they are to be kept in custody for 48 hours.
"Danas", 14. 11. 2005.
- BELGRADE: According to the Statistics Institute of Serbia, every 5th citizen of Serbia doesn't have elementary education, nearly half the population doesn't have secondary education and only 10% has a university degree.19,65% of the illitarate persons in Serbia are Roma, 10,52% are Vlahs, 5,45% are Bulgarians, 4,54% are Romanians and around 5% are Muslims. Hungarians for example, make up 1.09% of the illiterate and Slovakians
- 0,67%. Serbia doesn't have a strategy for the education of grownups and we are far behind most transition countries. The education system is practically closed for grownups - there are only 16 schools for elementary education of adults, mostly attended by Roma and children who are too old for elementary school. Secondary schools only organize
elementary education for adults from time to time, and the system of advanced and university education is discriminating against employed persons.
"Glas javnosti", 14. 11. 2005.
- DRNIS: Two days ago a group of youths stoned the orthodox church in Drnis, stated the Dalmatian Episcopacy. It says in the statement that the besides stoning the church, the youths also insulted the priest Boris Milinkovic. When he heard the attackers screaming "Don't ring the bells, this is not Serbia here", the priest went back into the house and "called the police" who arrived when the attackers had already run away.
"Glas javnosti", 14. 11. 2005.
- PRIJEDOR: On the night between Saturday and Sunday the glass on the front door of the mosque in the part of Prijedor called Zagrad, which is the 7th case of desecration of the Muslim sites in the town in the last 3 months. The head imam in Prijedor, Merzuk Hadzirusidovic, has said that he will demand again to talk with the heads of the Prijedor
municipality and police in order to prevent similar incidents.
"Glas javnosti", 14. 11. 2005.
- PEC: There is almost no social life for the returnees in the villages of Belo Polje, Brestovik, Siga and Ljevosa. A new elementary school is built in Brestovik but as of this schoolyear the classes are only organized in Albanian so two pupils from Belo Polje travel 8 km to Gorazdevac every day. The village was burnt to the ground in 1999 and in the last two years 71 new houses were built through humanitarian organizations. The activity of the "European Perspective" NGO stopped a couple of days ago, so the inhabitants of Belog Polje now have a problem of the lack of drinking water and in the beginning of November they also ran out of food, because the "European Perspective" was the organizer of a
soup-kitchen and provided foodstuffs for the meals. "We asked the competent authorities for help but only the Red Cross of Kosovo reacted. The secretary of the Red Cross, Dragisa Murganic, reacted immediately and aid in food was delivered to us and I can see
there is also things that we didn't ask for - clothes, shoes and hygienic products", says Dragan Bacevic, representative of the villagers of Belo Polje, while unloading the aid.
The Serb returnees in Belo Polje also asked the Coordination Center for Kosovo for emergency food aid but from the people in charge of Pec they received an answer "we'll see in ten days or so".
"Glas javnosti", 14. 11. 2005.
- NOVI SAD: 15 members of the "National formation" have been arrested in Novi Sad so far for inciting ethnic, racial and religious hatred. Under Article 134, paragraph 2, of the Basic Criminal Law, this kind of criminal act is to be punished with 1-8 years imprisonment.
"Danas", 15. 11. 2005.
- NIS: Marija Demic of the Center for Minority Rights, who was the head of the team who conducted a research on the "Roma and the right to health insurance in Nis". She says that the main characteristic of the Roma population is that it is "the youngest" but just because only 1% lives to be over 60 years of age. According to researches, the average death rate among the Roma aged 30-40 is by 24% higher than the death rate of the majority population of the same age. Diseases are also very common in the Roma settlements, among them also some of the infectious diseases which are regarded to be eradicated because they are mostly rare among the majority population. These diseases are caused by bad living conditions and poor nourishment, as well as "the ignorance of
the basic rules of hygiene". "The sanitation utility doesn't take the garbage from the Roma
settlements regularly, the inhabitants do not store and prepare the food in an adequate way and rats are very common", says Demic. The research shows that the Roma "often" don't have a medical insurance booklet because they are ignorant healthwise. The Roma from Kosovo are in especially difficult situation. There are a large number of Roma IDPs in Nis. A large number of Roma deported from Germany have a similar problem, who have no personal documents. Many of them haven't registered their new place of residence so they can't obtain a medical insurance booklet and they don't have the right to register in the
Labour Market or enroll their children in school. "A group which is particularly exposed to a great risk is pregnant women and children. Most Roma girls get pregnant for the first time at the age of 16 and their pregnancies are normally not supervised by a doctor. Very few partners have heard of contraception. They are totally uninformed regarding sexually transmitted diseases and the HIV virus. They don't take the children to the counselling so they don't get vaccinated. The birth of a certain number of children is not registered and they stay without birth certificates", says Marija Demic. She adds that the Roma, even when they ask for help in the health institutions in Nis or in the farmacies "are to a great extent exposed to discrimination". The medical staff has a "different approach" towards patients of Roma nationality. - Lots of medical staff insult and humiliate Roma or refuse to provide them with medical aid", says Demic. The problems exist in all the health institutions - the Clinical Center, the Health Center or the Emergency Ward - when they get a call from a Roma settlement, they 'often refuse' to go. Zoran Asanovic of the Roma settlement of "Crvena Zvezda" in Nis says that when he called an ambulance on March 12th because of "heavy pain in the back, headache and stomach pain". "When I called the Emergency Ward, the nurse who answered the phone just laughed and when I gave her
my name and address, she said 'You always lie when you call the Emergency ward. We won't come'. And she hung up the phone. I realized that they wouldn't come so I asked a neighbour to take me to the Emergency Ward to get an injection", said Asanovic.
According to the research by the Center for Minority Rights, most Roma in Nis live in 4 settlements: Stocni Trg, Beograd Mala, Crvena Zvezda and Cair Mala."Compared to the Roma in Belgrade, their situation is better. Most houses in these settlements are made of hard materials and connected to the waterworks and power supplies", says the research
report. Marija Demic says that it is necessary to implement the recently adopted Poverty Reduction Strategy, as well as the action plan for the
health protection for the Roma.
"Danas", 14. 11. 2005.
- KOSOVO: The international institutions and the local administration in Kosovo have no accurate statistics on the Roma who live in the Province or on those who moved out during and after the war of 1999.
According to the 1991 census, there were 42.806 Roma in Kosovo at the time and it is estimated that 60-70% fled the Province.
Before the armed conflict in Kosovo in 1999, the Roma were living in all the towns and municipalities, except for Dragas.Most their settlements in Pristina, Mitrovica, Pec, Vucitrn and other towns were burnt down after the Serbian forces had left the Province and no one is living there now.
"The Roma who stayed in Kosovo are living in fear.They were often accused of cooperating with the Serbian authorities and participating in the crimes against Albanians. They still hesitate, out of fear, to report the cases of violation of their human rights and discrimination", says Baskim Hisari of the Humanitarian Law Fund in Belgrade who has been dealing with minority issue for a long time.
The accusations of cooperation with the Serbian authorities are one of the main reason for the exodus of more than half the Roma from Kosovo. During the war, the Serbian armed units engaged them in the operations against Albanians, in torching the houses, even put them in charge of the removal of the dead bodies of Albanians. This caused the resistance against the Roma to increase among the Albanian majority.
The administration in Belgrade, ahead of the outbreak of the conflict in Kosovo, were also stimulating the formation of new ethnic communities mostly made up of the Roma. So the Ashkalia and the Egyptians were legalized and they still to this date have a minority status.The representatives of these minority communities served as some kind of marionettes for Slobodan Milosevic's regime.
Kujtim Pacaku, publicist and author, editor of the Roma Jeni Donem Radio in Prizren, says that it is true that Roma are partly guilty for finding themselves on the margins of the Kosovo society but "the majority community in Kosovo is also to blame for stimulating stereotypes about Roma".
Prizren is an exception compared to other towns in Kosovo. Most Roma stayed in their settlements in the town even after the Serbian armed forces had left. They claim this to be the result of the fact that they were not cooperating so closely with the Serbian forces.
Economically and socially, the Roma are the most vulnerable part of the Kosovo society today. They are living isolated, on the outskirts of the settlements. Their homes are made of bad materials, thier housing and business units are not legalized and most settlements have no sewage or water system, electricity or some basic hygienic conditions for a normal life. It is estimated that 90% are unemployed. They mostly live on social welfare or on food, clothes and shoes provided by international donors.
But both the Kosovo Government and the UNMIK have started paying more attention to the Roma lately. The Government has provided around a million euros for the construction of the apartments for 114 families with some 550 members currently housed in the camp in Plemetina, a village near Pristina. The foundation stone has been laid for the construction of a building with 37 apartments in Obilic and a similar building in Magura, in Lipljan municipality, around 20km south-west of Pristina.
Two years ago Kosovo Roma filed a request to the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology for the introduction of optional classes in Roma language, culture and history. But no reply has arrived yet.
Program in Roma language is broadcast only on the Radio Television of Kosovo, which is a public service with a legal obligation to do it. Television of Kosovo only has two shows in Roma language per week. The preparations for the start of a program in Roma language on Radio Kosovo are underway.
Under the Constitution frame, Roma have the right to at least one representative in the Kosovo Parliament, based on positive discrimination. Their representative is the president of the Democratic Party of the Roma of Kosovo, Hadzi Zulfi Merdza.
Kujtim Pacaku says that the Roma have accepted the new Kosovo reality but Kosovo should now accept the Roma.
Hadzi Zulfi Mredza believes that the solution of the political status of Kosovo will lead to the improvement of the situation of the Kosovo Roma.
"Danas", 17. 11. 2005.
- BELGRADE: 14-year-old girl J.I. from Prokuplje was sold this summer for 3.000 euros. The final destination for her exploitation was Netherlands but, luckily, the traffickers got arrested in Slovenia and she was returned to her parents' house with 13 family members. The parents claim that they didn't sell the girl, but their intention was to send her to her aunt, to a better life. And they will try again, so at least she can get rid of poverty.
Last year the Serbian police brought 24 charges against 51 persons for people trafficking - 35 people, among them 22 children, were the victims; 12 girls and a boy were victims of sexual exploitation, forced to engage in prostitution; 8 children were engaged in begging and one of the girls was to get married by force.
The police takes the children who have no place to go after being tortured like that, to the Safe House in Belgrade. The Safe House opened in 2002 and nearly 30 children have found refuge there - 18 from our country, 2 from Moldavia, 6 from Romania, 2 from Georgia, one from Bulgaria and one from Iraq. But the experience from the field shows that the actual number of child victims of people trafficking is much larger.
Traffickers mostly target Roma children but the police records show that every child is in danger regardless of its nationality. What is common for the victims is that they all come from broken homes with violence involved.
Traffickers are unscrupulous. They prey on the most vulnerable categories of children - children with mental or physical disorders, children from disfunctional families, children left to themselves, children in homes. They promise them better life. The final destination is abroad, especially Italy but they also take the children to Montenegro, Bosnia&Herzegovina. The integral part of children trafficking is abuse - physical and psychological.
"Blic", 21. 11. 2005.
- SKOPJE: Macedonian economy is in the last place in the Balcans, according to a report by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. This year's economic growth in Macedonia is expected to be the lowest - 3,5%. According to the report. Albania will be in the first place with 6%, followed by Croatia - 5,8%, Bulgaria and Romania - 5,5,%, Bosnia&Herzegovina - 5% and Serbia&Montenegro - 4%.
The insufficient economic growth of all the countries in the Balcans is explained by bad economic climate, high oil price and general depression in the European economies.
"Glas javnosti", 17. 11. 2005.
- VELIKI RIT: The Department for City Construction and the Electric Company of Novi Sad have signed a protocole on temporary solution of the problems with power supplies in the settlement of Veliki Rit. As agreed, Veliki Rit will be supplied with electricity for the minimum needs of its inhabitants. The Department and the Electric Company will share the costs for the installation of the necessary equipment.
The problems with electric supplies in Veliki Rit, mostly populated by Roma, escalated last week, when the Electric Company cut the power to the illegal consumers in the settlement due to the lack of minimal technical requirements for supplying this part of Novi Sad with electricity. The inhabitants of Veliki Rit responded with public protests which are going to stop now, as they announced.
"Glas javnosti", 17. 11. 2005.
- NOVI PAZAR: Kasim Zoranic, director of the Social Work Center in Novi Pazar, ssays that the number of social welfare beneficiaries has increased by 200% in the last 12 months. "The number of families who receive social welfare has increased from 452 to 1.100.It is the best indicator of the poverty of Novi Pazar today", says Zoranic.
According to the Center's estimates, there are around 100 homeless people in this town and more than 50 children are registered who have no parents and no accommodation.
"The winter is almost here and we fear there might be cases of death caused by freezing. Of the 9 million dinars granted for the Social Work Center from the municipal budget, only 820.000 have been transferred so far", says Zoranic.
They stress at the Center that this institution is also in deprivation. The employees go to the field in buses or they hitchhike.
The Centers appeals to the local residents living in luxury to remember their neighbours and relatives who are on the verge of survival.
"Blic", 17. 11. 2005.
- KOSOVSKA MITROVICA: Several unidentified persons of Albanian nationality stole a tractor, a power saw and a cow from the courtyard of Sinisa Jokic in the village of Banja two nights ago, stated the Press Center of the Coordination Center for Kosovo.
It says in the statement that Jokic saw the robbers but he didn't dare get out of the house and protect his possessions for security reasons. The next morning he followed the tractor trails which led to the Albanian village of Leocina and he soon found his cow because the thieves left her in the field behind them.
It is added in the statement that the members of the Kosovo Police Service refused to come to the scene of the robbery and Jokic was told in the Danish contingent of the KFOR that KFOR was not in charge of similar cases.
"Glas javnosti", 19. 11. 2005.
- ZAGREB: The situation for Serbs in Vukovar is better than 5-6 years ago with lots of problems and prejudice, said the president of the Serbian Democratic Independent Party and member of the Croatian Parliament, Vojislav Stanimirovic. Unemployment is a major problem for all the inhabitants of Vukovar but Serbs still do the least respected and the worst paid jobs. "A Serb in Vukovar can only do seasonal jobs or he can work on construction sites, whereas none of the local Serbs work as directors or members of the managing or supervising boards in the local companies, primarily the public companies.
The Zagreb "Vecernji list" daily paper reminds that "Vukvar is the poorest town in Croatia, its residents' income is three times lower that the average salary in Croatia and every third citizen of Vukovar fit for work is unemployed".
"Glas javnosti", 19. 11. 2005.
- PRISTINA: Yesterday the Board of the city of New York rewarded the President of Kosovo, Ibrahim Rugova, for his "commitment to the principles of democracy".
"Glas javnosti", 20. 11. 2005.
- PRESEVO: Although inter-ethnic conflicts have never been pronounced in Presevo, the Albanian and the Serb community think it is easier to live in mono-ethnic environment, the Balcan Investigation Network (BIRN) has assessed. Those are very few who expect the process of ethnic migrations to stop, to the contrary - this process is nearly complete now.
The BIRN was formed several years ago as part of a project of the Institute for War and Piece Reporting.
There are 3.200 Serbs and 34.000 Albanians living in Presevo. Most Serbs dream of selling their houses soon and moving to central Serbia and many have already put up signs "House for sale".
Most experts agree that the migration of Serbs from Presevo is a process that has been going on for decades.
"Glas javnosti", 20. 11. 2005.
- BELGRADE: Serbian Prime Minister Vojsilav Kostunica visited Croatia today. Both the political representatives of the Serbs in Croatia and the politicians from Serbia think that in order to improve the
situation of the Serb community, it is necessary to enable the return of Serb refugees and create conditions for them to become equal citizens of Croatia - among others, to solve the issue of tenancy rights and enable them the same rights when it comes to employment and access to public services.
"We are waiting for Croatia to become a civil state so everyone are equal instead of Serbs being second-rate citizens", says Vojislav Stanimirovic, official of the Serb Independent Democratic Party. He says that Croatia has passed some very good laws related to minority rights, such as the constitutional laws and the laws on language and alphabet, but the problem is that they are not being applied anywhere except in the east of Croatia. He says that it is important for Serbs to preserve their ethnic identity and keep themselves from assimilation and to have the right to their language, alphabet and education.
"It is necessary for Croatia to give back the private properties, the tenancy rights, to reconstruct the buildings destroyed, so the people who want to return and stay here can actually do it.
"Blic", 23. 11. 2005.
- PRESEVO: More and more of the remaining Serbs in Presevo are selling their homes be it out of fear for their future or due to unemployment. There are 3.200 Serbs and 34.000 Albanians living in Presevo
municipality. Most Serbs dream of selling their homes and moving to central Serbia.
"There is no life for us Serbs here, I can't wait to sell my house and leave Presevo", says 28-year-old Bojan Milovanovic of Serb nationality. He works as a waiter in a restaurant in the settlement of Zeleznicka Stanica. "I won't have anyone to have a cup of coffee with soon", says Milovanovic. The majority Albanian population is willing to pay 700-1000 euros for a square meter of space so by selling a small business location one can by a decent house on the outskirts of Belgrade or anywhere else in central Serbia. For their migrations, Serbs blame the huge underdevelopment of the region, the municipal administration in the hands of Albanians which they claim is discriminating against Serbs, as well as the state structures who are not helping them so they are left to themselves. Since the 1950s, around 11.000 Serbs have left the area and mostly moved to central Serbia, but also around 6.000 Albanians who mostly moved to western Europe.
In 2000, around 100 houses in the town of Presevo were Serbs and today there are not more than 20 houses left which are owned by Serbs. Serbs live in the settlement of Zeleznicka Stanica on the outskirts of Presevo and there are not more than 250 Serbs living in the town itself. Branislav Jovanovic, who owns several businesses in the center of Presevo and doesn't want to sell them, says that it is not the Albanians with whom he's got problems, but it is the Albanian political structure. He says that his problems started when he tried to build a large business building in order to stay in Presevo and develop his business. "When I started the construction, I heard 'What's this? A Serb who's building something?' Now they are suing me for something for which they have issued a construction permit. The Albanians around me are building big new houses without any permits", says Jovanovic. After his conflict with the municipal authorities, Jovanovic wrote to the Serbian President Boris Tadic and the Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica. "None of them have replied my letter and that's what hurts me the most. Who will help me then..... ", says Jovanovic.
"Blic", 23. 11. 2005.
- BELGRADE: Around 70% of young people aged up to 30 are unemployed and more than 1/3 have don't know how to solve their housing problems. They have no economic means to travel - in the last 5 years, an average young person was on summer vacation 2 times, once abroad and not once on a winter vacation. Most young people dream of a better life and they would leave their place of residence and their country if an opportunity came up. These are the results of a research on the "Needs and situation of young people in local communities" conducted by the Youth Coalition of Serbia in 11 municipalities in Serbia.
"Glas javnosti", 27. 11. 2005.
- BANJALUKA: Savo Strbac, director of the "Veritas", has taken the news of "Croatian minors forcing a dog to rape an old Serb in Benkovac" with reserve but if it turns out to be true, the consequence will be turning Serbs from returning to Croatia. Strbac says that he can't believe it is possible for something like that to happen.
"Glas javnosti", 27. 11. 2005.
- KRAGUJEVAC: As many as 5.200 candidates have applied for the 220 jobs in the new store of the German "Metro" company which is to be officially opened on November 30th, the company announced.
"Glas javnosti", 27. 11. 2005.
- PODGORICA: According to the statistics recently announced in Podgorica, Montenegrans spend around 90 million euros on cigarettes per year. According to the Montenegran Anti-cancer Society, in 2003 1/3 of the students of the final year of elementary school and more than 1/2 the students of the final year of secondary school in Niksic, Podgorica, Bar, Herceg Novi and Bijelo Polje were active smokers.
"Glas javnosti", 28. 11. 2005.