Posted on 09/09/2001 5:37:43 AM PDT by oxi-nato
BELGRADE, Yugoslavia, Sept. 8 (UPI) -- The ethnic Albanian commander of the Kosovo Protection Corps, Gen. Agim Ceku denied he is a war crimes suspect for involvement in conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. He also dismissed suggestions that the conflict in Macedonia might now spill over into Montenegro in his first interview with Serbian media published Saturday.
The KPC was set up by the U.N. administration and the international peacekeeping force in Kosovo to replace the Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army at the end of the conflict with Yugoslavia in 1999. Ceku was promoted to the rank of general in the Croatian forces, which fought the Yugoslav army in the early 1990s and later mounted operations to expel rebellious Serb populations from areas in Croatia where they lived. He told reporters in Pristina that he holds a Croatian passport.
Asked if he was worried because his superior officer in Croatia, Gen. Rahim Ademi, also an Albanian, had surrendered to the war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Ceku said "During the armed actions in Croatia and the war in Kosovo I neither ordered nor committed any war crimes." "Consequently, I don't think I am a subject of any Hague investigation. My conscience is clear," Ceku added.
He said the idea for the Kosovo Serbs to form their own parallel protection corps was out of the question. "Taking part in the KPC are all those who work for the benefit of Kosovo and who, in accordance with U.N. Security Council resolution 1244, will act to ensure security and rapid reaction in emergency situations." He also said that 10 percent of the 3,500-strong KPC would be reserved for
Serb recruits who U.N. mission chief Hans Haekkerup recently said would have their own unit within the Corps. As for this resolution's provision envisaging the return of some Yugoslav security forces when circumstances permit, Ceku said "I don't advise them to come for this might result in a conflict. I advise Serbs to accept Kosovo as it is, that is, to accept an independent Kosovo."
He said the Albanians did not expect anyone to present them with an independent Kosovo as a gift and that they would attain it by their own efforts. "I don't believe there is any other solution," Ceku said.
I THINK CEKU HAS BEEN SMOKING TOO MUCH HEROIN!!!
Sounds like treason to me!
Ceku's crimes are our crimes and our officers can be held liable for them. See USFM 27-10 Chap 6, para 366.
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