Serbian Operators Fight Network Dismantling in Kosovo

Following last weeks announcement that the Kosovo telecoms regulator would start dismantling base stations of Serbian operators, Serbia's Telekom Srbija has retorted that its operations are fully legal within the Kosovo region.

Telekom Srbija says that it operates entirely legally and legitimately renders its services at the territory of the whole Republic of Serbia, including Kosovo and Metohija, for which it owns the proper licence and other needed permits of the authorized state bodies. The company says that it renders its services to all the citizens of Kosovo and Metohija, regardless of their national and religious orientation.

The company concluded by warning that the latest threats of Kosovo Telecommunications Agency are not just direct attack on the property of Telekom Srbija, but they also gravely endanger the safety and further survival of Serbs and other non-Albanian communities on Kosovo and Metohija.

Incumbent operator in Kosovo, Vala900 claimed that the Serbian operators were affecting its own network. The information that Vala900 has provided shows that MTS operator operates in more than 28 units all over the territory of Kosovo through transmission on 46 channels (from 71 GSM Vala900 channels), all of these parts of Vala900 frequency band.

Ericsson to supply Telekom Srbija with 3G WCDMA network

Ericsson and Serbian operator, Telekom Srbija, have signed the first contract on the Serbian market for supply and implementation of a 3G network with HSPA functionality and associated services. This 3G network will be connected to Telekom Srbija's existing core network, also supplied by Ericsson

The contract is the result of a successful Ericsson 3G network trial in Serbia and deliveries will commence immediately. With this contract, Telekom Srbija will be the first to implement a commercial 3G network in Serbia and will be able to offer advanced multimedia and mobile broadband services in the market.

Vladimir Lucic, Director Mobile Division, Telekom Srbija, said: "Ericsson and Telekom Srbija are long-term partners and this contract is a further recognition of our successful cooperation. We are very proud to be the first in the market to offer commercial 3G services."

Bo Andersson, President, Ericsson Serbia, said: "Ericsson is honored to have been selected by Telekom Srbija for the supply of the first commercial 3G network in the Serbian market. With this contract, Ericsson further strengthens its good partnership with Telekom Srbija. With our solutions, Telekom Srbija will be able to offer its customers state-of-the-art commercial 3G services."

As of October 2006, Ericsson is powering 30 commercially launched HSPA networks around the world. Of the 109 commercial WCDMA networks worldwide, Ericsson is a supplier to 60.

Serbia stronger with new constitution

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica Sunday hailed his people's approval of a new constitution which affirms that the disputed ethnic-Albanian majority province of Kosovo is part of Serbia, saying it strengthened his nation.

"This is the moment in which Serbia clearly approves its unity, that Kosovo is an integral part of Serbia," Kostunica told Serbian state television RTS shortly after the vote was deemed valid by independent observers.

"Serbia is stronger with the constitution, which once again declares that Kosovo is an integral part of it," he said, claiming that the new constitution was "a proof of Serbia's strength, maturity and responsibility. "

A total of 51.6 percent of Serbia's 6.6 million-strong electorate supported the new constitution, said Zoran Lucic of the Centre for Free Elections and Democracy, which monitors polls throughout the former Yugoslavia.

The new constitution claims disputed Kosovo as an "integral" part of Serbia, in an apparent bid to pre-empt UN-backed talks on the province's status, which are widely expected to lead to a form of independence by the year's end. "My first impressions (after the vote) are exceptional, " Kostunica said.

"This is a historic moment, the beginning of Serbia's new development. Serbia is happy, and with reason, for we have done a huge job together." Kosovo's independence- seeking ethnic Albanians who form the majority in the province ignored the vote, as they have done with all Serbian polls since 1990.

Serbia faces the prospect of losing Kosovo as UN-backed negotiations on the future of the southern province -- now in their eighth month -- falter, with Belgrade and Pristina far apart on most issues.

Serbian President Boris Tadic had earlier called on electoral officials to "give their utmost in order to avoid even the slightest doubt on the referendum vote" during the vote count. "Citizens of Serbia have decided to support the European Serbia," Tadic said.

"Our political goal is not only the new constitution, but European standards for our citizens and, finally, membership of the European Union," Tadic told RTS.

The new constitution was unanimously backed by the Serbian parliament on September 30, in a rare show of political unity in this former Yugoslav republic.

Russian diplomats attacked in Macedonia

Russia lodged a protest with Macedonia on Monday over an attack on four Russian diplomats at the weekend, asking Skopje to conduct a swift and objective investigation into the incident, reports reaching here from Skopje reported.

"The Russian ambassador has passed a note regarding the incident to the Macedonian side and demanded that the attackers be immediately found and punished, and that the embassy be informed about the outcome of the investigation, " the Russian embassy's press secretary told reporters.

Macedonian media reported that the attack happened on Saturday night when the four Russian diplomats emerged from a cafe at a central square of Skopje, the capital city of Macedonia.

Macedonian police said that in the early hours of Sunday morning, there was an argument between dozens of people at a bar and it continued onto the pavement later. Then six to seven still unknown assailants attacked the four diplomats.

The diplomats were injured and taken to hospital. After receiving medical treatment, they were released home, the reports said.

It is still not known why they had been attacked. Some speculated that the fight had been over a young woman, and some suggested it had simply been a drunken brawl.

The Macedonian Interior Ministry said it was doing all it could "to find and apprehend the attackers."

Serbia adopts new constitution

Serbian voters approved the country's new constitution in a referendum held on Saturday and Sunday, the republican Electoral Commission said.

According to preliminary results cited by the commission, 51.46 percent of the electorate voted in favor of the constitution reaffirming Serbian sovereignty over the breakaway province of Kosovo.

Total turnout in the two-day referendum was 53.66 percent, the commission said. Final official results of the referendum will be made public on November 2, the commission said.

Kosovo the big issue in Serbia referendum

BELGRADE The leaders of Serbia, normally riven by deep political rivalries, have shown a surprising degree of unity this month.

The country's ultranationalists and its advocates for change, who are more democratically minded, have joined to support a recently drafted constitution that will be voted on in a referendum Thursday and Friday.

The problem, according to critics, is that the draft constitution is deeply flawed and was drawn up more to prove politicians' credentials on the issue of Kosovo than to set the country on the course to a true democracy.

One of the most high-profile provisions of the draft says Kosovo is an "integral part" of Serbia.

The draft constitution will not have any effect on Kosovo's future, since the United Nations Security Council is expected to vote within the next several months on whether Kosovo can break away from Serbia. But the country's leaders see the provision as a way of assuring Serbians that they are doing everything they can to hold on to the province.

Many advocates of change in the legislature went along with the draft - although they dislike some of its undemocratic features - because they wanted to show support for keeping Kosovo. They fear that the UN vote will create a backlash that could lead to gains for the Serbian Radical Party, the leading nationalist party. They also agreed to rush through the drafting of the constitution so that it could be in place before the UN vote.

"This is the most important piece of paper that has been decided on in Serbia in years, yet it is being used for completely tactical reasons," said a Western diplomat, who requested anonymity because he was not permitted to comment publicly on the matter.

The new constitution is intended to replace one drawn up in 1990 by the government of Slobodan Milosevic, the autocratic ruler who was removed in the 2000 Yugoslav presidential election by Vojislav Kostunica, who is now prime minister.

Kostunica, a moderate nationalist who favors the integration of Serbia with the European Union, has long promised a more reform-minded constitution. He supports the draft document and is touring the country promoting it. A government-financed campaign is also urging people to vote yes.

"Some provisions are revolutionary in a way," Kostunica said in a recent interview with Politika, a conservative newspaper in Belgrade.

But many politicians and constitutional experts say the new document in some cases turns back reforms passed since Milosevic left power. One area that is particularly worrisome for critics is the amount of power the government will have over the judiciary.

For instance, under the current constitution, Parliament has the final say on who becomes a judge, but an independent council of judges, the High Judicial Council, controls who is promoted to higher courts. Under the new system, Parliament will retain the power to name judges, but will also appoint the majority of the members of the council.

"All the protections of the judiciary enshrined in the constitution are put into question by the way the High Judicial Council is appointed," said Omer Hadzimerovic, a district court judge and the president of the bar association of Serbia. He also noted that the judiciary's funding was still going to be decided by the Finance Ministry.

Another area of concern is the amount of control the central government will have over local government leaders. The national government will be able to fire democratically elected local officials. The new constitution would also give it the power to name mayors to city assemblies, which are beholden to the country's major political parties. Since 2004, mayors have been elected.

The constitution would also spell out that amendments be made to international treaties signed by Serbia to ensure that they are in compliance with the document. That might derail Serbia's hopes for membership in the European Union.

In addition, Parliament would gain the right to dismiss the president with a two-thirds majority, although the president, largely a symbolic post, is elected by popular vote. That constitutional change, among others, has prompted accusations that Serbia's leading political parties are seeking to sustain the substantial powers garnered by Milosevic's Socialist Party, rather than to establish a state with complete separation of powers.

"We inherited this system from Milosevic and the Communists - this desire to have control over everything," said Goran Jesic, the mayor of Indija, near Belgrade, who will lose his job if the new constitution is approved.

Critics also say that the constitution is fundamentally undermined because Albanians - the majority in Kosovo - cannot vote on it.