Serbia threatens military action in Kosovo

Financial Times ^ | March 19 2004 | Eric Jansson, Judy Dempsey

[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

[Simmy2.5]

This can't be right. Wesley Clark fixed this problem already.

[skeeter]

?? 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.

[Bob Eimiller]

Great JOB ....BUBBA!! What a joke as a president.

[Bismarck]

USA should give Serbia carte blanche to solve the Mohammedan problem. Kosovo is a part of Serbia. Period.

[FormerLib]

Amen to that!

[albee]

With the worthless French in charge of the area, is anyone surprised that no action is being taken?

[Tamodaleko]

>>>>>...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???

[swarthyguy]

Well, they should.

If NATOUN can't protect the Serbs, WTF r they there for?

[MarcoPolo]

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.

[nikola]

About time they do something about the "drug & terrorist center of Europe."

[Tamodaleko]

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.

[drypowder]

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.

[Tamodaleko]

>>>>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? ;):)

[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.

[SJackson]

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.

[SJackson]

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.