Evo teksta iz jučerašnjeg New York times-a.
Serbia Says Use of Force Is an Option in KosovoBy NICHOLAS WOOD
Published: September 6, 2007
BELGRADE, Serbia, Sept. 5 — Serbia is ready to use force to prevent Western states from recognizing Kosovo as an independent state, a senior Serbian official warned on Wednesday.
Dusan Prorokovic, Serbia’s state secretary for Kosovo, outlined an array of tough measures to squeeze Kosovo that he said Serbia was ready to take in the event that Kosovo’s Albanian-dominated government declared independence and was recognized by Western governments. These included the possible deployment of Serbian forces to the province, the sealing of its borders, and a trade embargo.
The potential steps are the harshest outlined so far by the government here and come as negotiations between the sides overseen by Russia, the European Union and the United States appear to be deadlocked. The United Nations has set a Dec. 10 deadline for the conclusion of the talks, after which the United States has indicated it would recognize Kosovo unilaterally.
International officials in Kosovo, regional analysts and Albanian politicians have repeatedly stated that a return of Serbian troops would prompt a renewed conflict in the region.
Until now, Serbia has shied away from making any threats that could associate it with the repressive response by its security forces to an ethnic Albanian insurgency during the 1990s, when Slobodan Milosevic was the president of Yugoslavia.
In an interview in the Serbian capital, Mr. Prorokovic warned that unilateral recognition by Western states would give Serbia the right to return its troops to the province, and to annul an eight-year agreement between NATO and what was then the Yugoslav government regulating the troops’ exclusion. Mr. Prorokovic is also a senior member of Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica’s Serbian Democratic party.
“In case of self-proclamation, it is not an active paper anymore,” Mr. Prorokovic said, referring to the agreement, known as the Kumanovo military accord. “Without Kumanovo, our army can go back without any legal limits,” he said. “It can cross the boundary and go everywhere in Kosovo without any legal problems.”
Serb-dominated forces were forced to withdraw from Kosovo in June 1999 after a 78-day NATO-led bombing campaign. Since then, the United Nations has administered the province. United Nations officials estimate that up to 10,000 ethnic Albanians lost their lives in the conflict.
Mr. Prorokovic said the redeployment of the Serbian Army was one of up to 16 options Serbia was considering if Kosovo declared independence. He also reinforced his government’s stance that continued talks on Kosovo’s future was the only option worth considering.
“We do not have an alternative,” he said.
If Kosovo’s Albanian leaders proceed with their plans to declare unilateral independence at the end of current talks, Mr. Prorokovic said, Serbia will initiate a trade embargo on the province, which relies on Serbia for much of its imports, and seal its boundaries with Serbia. “We will block every kind of commercial activity, and every kind of route,” he said.
The warning comes ahead of the public announcement on Monday of terms of a detailed package offered to the ethnic Albanians in Vienna last week.
An adviser to Kosovo’s prime minister, Agim Ceku, said Mr. Prorokovic’s statement would not deter Kosovo’s Albanian leadership from seeking recognition after negotiations finish in December.
“How do they walk over NATO troops in the region, and what do they do when they are exposed to open conflict?” said Borut Grgic, a foreign policy adviser to Mr. Ceku. “Occupation is out of the question. The international community would block it.”
But Mr. Grgic conceded that the region was at risk of renewed tension by the end of the year as Kosovo’s Albanian leaders move closer to proclaiming a state.
One leading political commentator in Belgrade said Serbia’s increasingly tough stance on Kosovo, bolstered by Russia’s refusal to accept recognition of the province within the United Nations Security Council, may test the resolve of European states that are divided over Kosovo’s future.
The Serbs “know that security is not fantastic in Kosovo. In a way, they are threatening the others,” said Bratislav Grubacic, editor of the VIP news agency.
Several European states have said they will not recognize Kosovo as an independent state without a United Nations resolution.
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