[ALBSA-Info] {QIKSH «ALBEUROPA»} NEWS: Kostunica Slams International Community Over Kosovo Violence (AFP, Nov 23, 2000)

[Wolfgang Plarre]

http://www.centraleurope.com/yugoslaviatoday/news.php3?id=223307

Kostunica Slams International Community Over Kosovo Violence

BELGRADE, Nov 23, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) New Yugoslav President
Vojislav Kostunica has accused the international community of failing to
provide security in Kosovo after deadly attacks by ethnic Albanian
separatists on Serb targets.
     The Yugoslav authorities warned Wednesday of the risk of "a new
war" in the Balkans, comments echoed by the head of Kosovo's UN
administration Bernard Kouchner who warned that "dark days are coming
back" to the region.
     In the first attack early Wednesday, a powerful bomb ripped through
the home of Yugoslavia's top representative in Kosovo, killing a member
of his staff in an attack which Kouchner denounced as a deliberate blow
against peace.
     Stanimir Vukicevic, Kostunica's representative in the breakaway
province escaped unscathed, UN officials said.
     Later Guerrillas ambushed Serbian police near the border with
Kosovo, wounding four and leaving three others missing, presumed dead,
after two days of clashes, Serbian officers told AFP Wednesday.
     No-one claimed responsibility for the attack, which international
officials believe was the work of ethnic Albanians opposed to Yugoslav
rule.
     "The wave of violence is a warning to the UN mission and to the
international community. The extremists are now ready to step up the
targeting of the Serb community," Kouchner said, noting that the attack
took place two days before a Balkans Summit in Zagreb, where he is
expected to meet Kostunica.
     The Yugoslav government, in a statement released on state
television, demanded an emergency session of the UN security council, to
condemn "the escalation in terrorist acts by Albanian extremists" which
risked "provoking a new war in the region."
     The Security Council swiftly met, condemned the bombing and called
for those responsible to be brought to justice.
     In a statement expressing its shock, the council also condemned the
attack on Serbian policemen, describing both incidents as "criminal
attacks".
     The United States also condemned the anti-Serb attacks, saying the
violence threatens stability in the region.
     "The United States strongly condemns these attacks and calls upon
all parties to cease violent confrontations," State Department spokesman
Richard Boucher said in a statement.
     Kostunica himself accused the international community of failing to
ensure security in Kosovo and the surrounding security zone.
     "I note with regret that despite the victory of the democratic
forces and our nation's opening up to the world, the international
community has failed in its obligations regarding Yugoslavia," he wrote
in a letter addressed to NATO Secretary General George Robertson.
     Zoran Djindic, leader of Kostunica's Democratic Opposition of
Serbia, claimed at a Belgrade news conference that between 10 and 15
local police officers had been ambushed and pinned down by about 100
ethnic Albanian fighters.
     NATO sources confirmed the fighting continued Wednesday.
     The commander of Kosovo's NATO-led peacekeeping force, Lieutenant
General Carlo Cabigiosu, said: "This is not an isolated action and we
need to determine if the security situation is now degenerating because
of an overall plan."
     Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority population launched an armed
rebellion against Yugoslav rule in 1998.
     Yugoslav forces responded with a brutal campaign of murder and mass
eviction which led to the intervention of NATO, which launched
airstrikes and forced Belgrade's troops to quit the province in June
last year.
     In the Presevo area of southern Serbia, where a 70,000 strong
ethnic Albanian population forms the majority of the population, an
ethnic Albanian guerrilla group continued the fight, hoping to unite the
area with Kosovo.
     The Serbian authorities have attributed the attacks, and several
others in recent months, to ethnic Albanian separatists of the
Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac (UCPMB).
     All the attacks have taken place within the so-called Ground Safety
Zone, a five-kilometer (three-mile) security zone along the border with
Kosovo. The zone is out of bounds for Serb troops and NATO peacekeepers
but is patrolled by armed Serb police.
     NATO peacekeepers stopped a group of rebels and a truck-load of
arms from crossing from Kosovo into Serbia-proper on Wednesday, a force
spokesman told AFP.
     "At 9:00 am (0800) troops intercepted a group of ten people
attempting to by-pass a checkpoint and go into (the rebel held village
of) Dobrosin," Flight Lieutenant Mark Whitty said, "They were unarmed
but carried radios and were wearing black uniforms.
     Later US troops attached to Kosovo's KFOR force stopped a truck
carrying rocket propelled grenades, mortar rounds, anti-personnel mines,
a heavy machine gun and 5,000 rounds of ammunition from heading towards
the village.
     "KFOR will not tolerate Kosovo being used as a base for insurgent
activity," Whitty said.

((c) 2000 Agence France Presse)


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