BELGRADE, March 20 (Hina) - Serbia-Montenegro's Defence Minister Boris Tadic has assessed that the situation in Kosovo has been defused but is still dangerous and requires the constant control by the international community.
BELGRADE, March 20 (Hina) - Serbia-Montenegro's Defence Minister Boris
Tadic has assessed that the situation in Kosovo has been defused but
is still dangerous and requires the constant control by the
international community.#L#
"It cannot be said that it is definitely calm, as in any moment
violence can escalate. Therefore it is necessary to carry out total
control and deploy new (NATO-led) KFOR troops," Tadic said.
"Serbia-Montenegro at the moment has no jurisdiction over Kosovo. This
is a tragic fact but it is a fact. We must use all diplomatic forces
and exert permanent diplomatic pressure and show that we are a
credible state so as to find allies in the international institutions
in a bid to protect our citizens and enable them to return to their
homes," he said.
The minister added that the international community had this time
publicly identified "Albanian extremists" as being accountable for the
ethnic cleansing of Serbs in Kosovo.
"This is the first time after 14 years for officials of the
international community to admit that Serbs are victims in Kosovo. At
the moment, KFOR is protecting the Serb population against Albanian
extremists and terrorists in Kosovo, although at the start, the
mission of the KFOR was quite different, they arrived to protect the
Albanian population," Tadic said.
The Serbian-Montenegrin army's chief-of-staff, General Branko Krga,
was quoted by the local press as saying that the events in Kosovo had
not surprised the army in his country. The units are on a higher alert
in southern Serbia, but "there has been no repositioning of military
units, neither have weapons been mounted" in that area, the general
said.
(Hina) ms