BELGRADE (AP) – Serbia plans to hold local elections in Kosovo in May, according to a government decree published yesterday, defying UN objections. UN officials in Kosovo have told Serbia it cannot hold the vote because it would breach the UN mandate for Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in February. By holding the vote, “we will clearly say that Kosovo is a part of Serbia,” Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica told Belgrade B92 Television. The decision to hold the local elections May 11 was published in Serbia’s government gazette yesterday – a sign that Serbia is ignoring the UN objections.

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – The UN war crimes tribunal yesterday delayed the start of the trial of a former Serbian secret service chief and a Serb commander for the fourth time to allow a video link to be set up for one of the accused. Jovica Stanisic, 57, is accused along with former commander Franko Simatovic of arming and training militias that committed atrocities in Croatia and Bosnia between 1991-1995. Both men have pleaded not guilty. The start of the trial of the head of intelligence for the late Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, has been repeatedly delayed due to his health problems. Last week, the court said Stanisic was fit enough to stand trial.

Serbia’s civil servants must get over their grumpiness, answer queries with a smile and stop wearing shorts to work, according to a new code of conduct that came into force this month. The code says civil servants “must act professionally and kindly,” “provide true and timely information” and “respect citizens’ personality and dignity.” They must keep citizens’ business confidential and behave with dignity in public. Although it does not set a dress code, it rules out “disproportionally short skirts, tops with revealing decolletage or narrow straps, short or see-through blouses and short pants.” (Reuters)

Bosnian Serb police filed charges yesterday against seven former soldiers of the mainly Muslim Bosnian army suspected of killing Serb civilians during the 1992-1995 war. The suspects, whose identity was not revealed, are charged with committing war crimes on May 20, 1992, when they “attacked the unprotected Serb village of Crkvine, near (the eastern town of) Gorazde, and killed 14 civilians,” an Interior Ministry statement said. They are also suspected of maltreating five women from the village, it added without elaborating. The charges were filed with the prosecution authorities in the capital Sarajevo. (AFP)

Bosnian Muslims yesterday launched a court case demanding tens of millions of dollars in compensation for the destruction of mosques during the country’s 1992-95 war. The Islamic Community – Bosnia’s top Muslim religious body – is demanding 42.5 million euros (67 million dollars) from the country’s Bosnian Serb entity. “We want the responsibility of Republika Srpska for the destruction of religious facilities to be proven since it did nothing to prevent it,” said Islamic Community lawyer Esad Hrvacic. (AFP)