explosions rocked at least two Serb Orthodox Churches over the weekend in the troubled Yugoslav province.
The apparent bombings damaged the interior of a church in Djurakovac, about 50 kilometres (apr.30 miles) west of the provincial capital Pristina, and completely destroyed a second church in the nearby village of Ljubovo, U.N. officials said.
U.N. Spokesman Andrea Angeli told reporters that "no one was injured in the attacks" which occurred late Saturday, November 16, as well as early Sunday, November 17, and that an investigation was underway.
The top U.N. official in Kosovo, Michael Steiner, was set to visit the sites and Kosovo’s prime minister, Bajram Rexhepi, reportedly planned to travel with him.
UN "OUTRAGED"
"We’re outraged," the Reuters news agency quoted U.N. Spokeswoman Susan Manuel as saying. "This is an uncivilized, repulsive act," against the Serb minority.
However the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo, Bishop Artemije, told the Beta news agency that the United Nations and NATO were to blame for the violence, as "lax security measures" made it possible for attackers to act.
"All this shows that the international community is losing its sense of purpose," the bishop said in a statement released by Beta.
He added that the bombings were the latest "in a campaign" that has damaged or destroyed 110 Serb religious sites since the U.N. arrived in 1999 after NATO airstrikes ended a Serb-led military crack-down against Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian majority.
NUNS ATTACKED
In addition church leaders and other believers, including nuns and monks, have also been confronted with violence in recent months, as NATO-led peacekeepers withdrew several checkpoints near and around churches and other religious sites.
The latest attacks came as a major set-back for efforts to bring back many of the up to 200,000 Serb civilians, including Orthodox Christians, who fled the province in recent years for fear of revenge attacks from the mainly Muslim Albanian population.
U.N. Secretary General Annan, who is on a four day reconciliation trip in the Balkans, was expected to meet Kosovo Government leaders to discuss these tensions and to visit the ethnically divided Kosovo town of Mitrovica, which was often the scene of fighting.
SENSE OF URGENCY
The violence against churches added to a sense of urgency among Balkan officials that the U.N. mission in Kosovo must stay longer than anticipated, following steps to close down a similar operation of the world body in Bosnia Herzegovina, by the end of the year.
However Annan made clear that despite major set-backs, the U.N. was already making a difference in the Balkans by saving others "from the scourge of war."
On Sunday, November 17, he unveiled a tan, marble memorial in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, in honor of the 257 U.N. workers who died in the line of duty during conflicts in Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia and Kosovo.
"This memorial will serve to reinforce our own determination as peacekeepers, citizens, and members of the human family to build better lives for succeeding generations," Annan said as he placed a wreath at the base of the monument.
