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Serbia threatens military action in Kosovo
Financial Times ^
| March 19 2004
| Eric Jansson, Judy Dempsey
Posted on 03/19/2004 2:08:02 PM PST by SJackson
Eric Jansson in Belgrade and Judy Dempsey in Brussels
Serbia-Montenegro has threat- ened to take action in Kosovo if Nato troops fail to protect Serbs attacked by ethnic Albanians, potentially plunging the region back into instability and sparking a wider conflict.
Boris Tadic, Serbia's defence minister, said Belgrade reserved the right to change its hands-off approach in Kosovo where mob violence has raged since Wednesday. His statement is the first official admission that Serbia's trust in international peacekeepers has begun to fray.
Seven member states sent reinforcements for Nato's 18,000-strong Kfor force. About 150 British troops landed on Friday, the first of a promised 750 soldiers. Germany said it was sending more than 600 soldiers and France pledged an extra 400.
Vojislav Kostunica, Serbia's prime minister, has called the violence a "pogrom". Few Serbs accept claims from Kosovo Albanian leaders that the sudden surge in violence came about spontaneously. Bajram Rexhepi, the ethnic Albanian prime minister of Kosovo's provisional government, has urged rioters to stop. In a poll of Serbs, a quarter said Serbian military engagement was the only solution, and more than half said that should remain an option if diplomacy failed. Thousands of Serbs marched in Belgrade on Friday demanding an end to the violence.
The fighting, which left at least 31 dead and hundreds more wounded, has proved an overwhelming task for Kfor troops, which have reportedly fled some Serb communities under their protection in the face of heavy mob pressure. European diplomats said France was highly embarrassed about the violence. Under Kfor - established in 1999 after a United Nations Security Council resolution - French troops are responsible for the area around the northern town of Mitrovica, where the violence began. The diplomats said US and German intelligence experts had warned Nato weeks ago of the danger of ethnic unrest.
Concerns that the violence could spill into Macedonia, as it did in 2001, were played down by Macedonia's national security council, which said that no problems were evident. However, the burning of an orthodox church in a Muslim-dominated part of Bosnia on Friday indicated that trouble could spread elsewhere in the former Yugoslavia.
Additional reporting by Stefan Wagstyl in Bratislava
TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: balkans; campaignfinance; kosovo; serbia
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1
posted on
03/19/2004 2:08:02 PM PST
by
SJackson
To: SJackson
This can't be right. Wesley Clark fixed this problem already.
2
posted on
03/19/2004 2:09:35 PM PST
by
Simmy2.5
(Kerry. When you need to ketchup...)
To: SJackson
?? The bus carrying the US journalists to cover the recent goings on in Kosovo musta be held up in traffic. I've heard barely a peep about it on the TV or radio news.
3
posted on
03/19/2004 2:16:08 PM PST
by
skeeter
To: SJackson
Great JOB ....BUBBA!! What a joke as a president.
4
posted on
03/19/2004 2:20:12 PM PST
by
Bob Eimiller
(Kennedy..Kerry..Leahy...Pelosi..Kucinich.."Catholics" who Promote Partial Birth Abortion.)
To: SJackson
USA should give Serbia carte blanche to solve the Mohammedan problem. Kosovo is a part of Serbia. Period.
5
posted on
03/19/2004 2:25:27 PM PST
by
Bismarck
To: Bismarck
Amen to that!
6
posted on
03/19/2004 2:33:13 PM PST
by
FormerLib
("Homosexual marriage" is just another route to anarchy.)
Comment #7 Removed by Moderator
To: Simmy2.5
With the worthless French in charge of the area, is anyone surprised that no action is being taken?
8
posted on
03/19/2004 2:50:14 PM PST
by
albee
To: Liberal Me
>>>>>...Serbia-Montenegro has threat- ened to take action in Kosovo<<<<<
The terrorists are the threatened party.
Are the troops in Camp Bondsteel there to protect the terrorists???
To: SJackson
Well, they should.
If NATOUN can't protect the Serbs, WTF r they there for?
Comment #11 Removed by Moderator
To: SJackson
Yay! Go get 'em Serbia!
I have thought for a while that maybe we have been on the wrong side of that war. Recent events have convinced me more definitely of that fact.
To: *balkans
About time they do something about the "drug & terrorist center of Europe."
13
posted on
03/19/2004 3:08:14 PM PST
by
nikola
To: Liberal Me
Good. Then they should honor the deal and protect the citizens of Serbia from terror. Or, if they rather play cards in the barracks, let the Serbian troops take care of the terrorists and protect their own citizens.
To: SJackson
The reason problems remain between the Serbs and the "Ethnic Albanians" in Kosovo is that "Bubba Failed" to kill all the Christian Serbs. Bill Clinton and Wesely Clark should be the ones tried for war crimes, Milosovic was just defending his people and his country.
To: vooch; Banat; kosta50; Seselj
>>>>Boris Tadic, Serbia's defence minister, said Belgrade reserved the right to change its hands-off approach in Kosovo where mob violence has raged since Wednesday. His statement is the first official admission that Serbia's trust in international peacekeepers has begun to fray.<<<<<
How's that feel from a mouth of Dj's child? Listerin? ;):)
Comment #17 Removed by Moderator
To: Liberal Me
So, you think that by the Serbs defending themselves in their own country, somehow, that means the US is going to take 'em on. It's very naive of you to think that Camp Bondsteel is there to protect the Albanian interests.
How arrogant of you to think that the US acts like owners and can occupy any poor country and delve orders.
18
posted on
03/19/2004 3:42:09 PM PST
by
Vestica
To: MarcoPolo
I have thought for a while that maybe we have been on the wrong side of that war. Recent events have convinced me more definitely of that fact. We were. That aside Slobos gone, Bosnia isn't at issue issue here. Of course, we've already picked a side, the UN you know. I wouldn't want to be a Christian in Kosove.
19
posted on
03/19/2004 3:42:55 PM PST
by
SJackson
(The Passion: Where were all the palestinians?)
To: Vestica
So, you think that by the Serbs defending themselves in their own country, somehow, that means the US is going to take 'em on. It's very naive of you to think that Camp Bondsteel is there to protect the Albanian interests. How arrogant of you to think that the US acts like owners and can occupy any poor country and delve orders. I bet the Albanians think that. We should arm the Serbs, Sudanese Christians too.
20
posted on
03/19/2004 3:44:28 PM PST
by
SJackson
(The Passion: Where were all the palestinians?)
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