K. Albanians "ready to use force"

20 August 2010 | 09:23 | Source: Danas

BERLIN -- The international community has been notified that the Kosovo Albanian government would use force against the northern, Serb areas of Kosovo. This is according to a report in the Belgrade daily Danas, which specifies that this would take place if the northern municipalities were to "declare independence". Priština government's interior minister, Bajram Redzepi, is quoted by the newspaper as saying that in case of such a "secession", they were "ready to react, including an armed reaction, in order to protect the territorial integrity". Furthermore, Redzepi said, "those who would go for such a move would be arrested". Redzepi said that KFOR, EULEX and ICO headed by Pieter Feith were all notified of this scenario, and "asked for help so it doesn't come to pass". All this comes in the wake of a phantom declaration that has been given great attention by the Albanian language media in Priština and local politicians, where an unknown group, calling itself "the Alliance of Municipalities of the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija" said it would proclaim the north of the province "independent". It remains unknown who in fact put the text together. The north is predominantly populated by Serbs who do not accept the Kosovo Albanian unilateral declaration of independence made in early 2008, and are loyal to Belgrade. The Serbian Ministry for Kosovo and Metohija said in a statement on Thursday that the paper was the work of a "handful of irresponsible persons", and called on Serbs in Kosovo not to respond to provocations coming "from Priština and groups of irresponsible persons from the Serb community alike". Opposition DSS party official and former minister for Kosovo Slobodan Samardžić rejected allegations that his party was behind this, to say that this "phantom declaration with an unknown author is murky, politically risky, and one great conspiracy. Whoever is doing this, is working against Kosovo Serbs and the state interests of Serbia in Kosovo and Metohija." "Northern Kosovo is just a geographical and meteorological unit, and its mentioning in any other context either by the temporary institutions of the self-proclaimed Kosovo state or in Belgrade, either by the ruling or opposition parties, is a manipulation, because the whole of Kosovo and Metohija is part of Serbia, according to UNSC Resolution 1244," said Samardžić. Asked whether this type of provocation and speculation could serve as an excuse for Priština to intervene in the northern, Serb areas, Samardžić said that the "real question is why the main lobbyist of an independent Kosovo Morton Abramowitz was pushing everywhere the story about a possible intervention".