The following announcement was unanimously adopted at the session of the Committee on Kosovo and Metohia convened by the Chairman of the National Assembly for 29 August:

“Members of the Committee on Kosovo and Metohia of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, at the session held on 29 August 2005, have in the strongest terms condemned the terrorist attack on Serb youths – the murder of Ivan Dejanovic and Aleksandar Stankovic and the wounding of Nikola Dukic and Aleksandar Janicijevic.

The Committee requests UNMIK to immediately undertake an investigation and uncover the perpetrators and instigators of this act. Since the arrival of international forces in Kosovo and Metohia, there have been 35 gruesome murders of Serbs in the municipality of Lipljan alone, yet nobody was held to account for this. By not bringing perpetrators to justice, the international bodies are de facto encouraging crime and lawlessness.

The Committee on Kosovo and Metohia of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia requests that UNMIK should re-institute escorts for all Serb convoys in all Serb enclaves, as well as checkpoints. The already low level of safety of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohia was further worsened when the escorts and checkpoints were removed.

The security situation in general, the latest terrorist atrocity in Strpce, and a lack of readiness to undertake real decentralisation, all show that temporary institutions in Kosovo and Metohia fall far short of meeting standards.”