[NYTr] NATO Occupied Kosovo: Serbs brace for probable secession

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

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AKI - Adnkronos International - Dec 6,2007
http://www.adnkronos.com
http://tinyurl.com/36cts7

Kosovo: Serbs brace for probable secession

Belgrade, 6 Dec. (AKI) - Most analysts expect breakaway Kosovo's
majority ethnic Albanians to proclaim independence in the next few
months, backed by the US and some European powers, despite staunch
opposition from Belgrade and the UN administered province's tiny Serb
minority.

The Serbian government has ordered all its ministries to prepare a
"plan of action" to counter a declaration of independence from Kosovo
after the failure of the UN sponsored talks.

Details of the government's "action plan" have not been released as it
is classified a state secret.

"Naturally, we can't reveal all our cards ahead of time, but we won't
be sitting with our arms folded," government spokesman Milivoje
Mihajlovic told Adnkronos International (AKI).

Asked to elaborate, Mihajlovic said Belgrade would first resort to
diplomatic means and 'adjust its relations' with the countries which
might recognise Kosovo's independence.

Serbia's position has strong backing in international law and the
United Nations Charter, which uphold the inviolability of the existing
state borders, Mihajlovic added.

Responding to a suggestion that the Serbian action plan onKosovo might
be devoid of substance, he said mysteriously: "No, it will be more than
nothing."

Kosovo has been under UN control since NATO airstrikes drove Serbian
forces out of the province in 1999, amid ethnic fighting and gross
human rights violations. Ethnic Albanians form 90 percent of its
population.

But Belgrade has retained parallel institutions, especially in health,
education and social policies in Serb populated areas, which have
functioned separately from those controlled by majority ethnic
Albanians. 

A 'troika' of envoys from the US EU and Russia must by 10 December
issue a report on the outcome of recent talks on Kosovo to United
Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon.

The report is widely expected to say that Serbs and ethnic Albanians
have been unable to agree on Kosovo's future status. A final round of
the UN-mediated talks ended last month without reaching a negotiated
settlement.

Serbia has offered Kosovo broad autonomy, but insists the province
remain part of Serbian territory. Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority
demands full independence.

After years of international sanctions, the 1990s Balkan wars and
subsequent NATO bombings, Serbia is in no position to defend Kosovo
militarily against leading world powers and the 16,000-strong NATO
presence, analysts said, however.

But prime minister Vojislav Kostunica's aid, Aleksandar Simic in a
Serbian TV appearance on Tuesday shocked the Serbian public when he
stated: "War also represents legal means" in defence of the country,
"when there are no others."

The statement caused a rift in the governing coalition and president
Boris Tadic's centre-left Democratic Party said Simic's statement was
"dangerous and irresponsible."

Tadic, like Kostunica, opposes Kosovo's independence, but has been more
guarded in his public statements.

"As long as I'm the president, Serbia will not conduct a policy of
war," Tadic told his party meeting at the weekend, announcing he would
run for a second term as president. 

The Serbian presidential elections are expected in late January and
analysts said Washington was pressing ethnic Albanians not to declare
independence before the election, in order not to damage Tadic's
chances.

It is generally believed that Tadic's opponent Tomislav Nikolic of the
ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party, known for his anti-American
stance, would benefit if Kosovo declared independence.

Serbian leaders have repeatedly vowed they will declare independence
moves by ethnic Albanians "null and void" and will continue
negotiations until agreement is reached on Kosovo's future status.

Serbia's key ally, Russia, has already blocked an independence plan for
Kosovo in the UN Security Council and Belgrade insists the top UN
decision-making body is the only place a valid decision can be made.

A Kosovo Serb leader, Marko Jaksic, said he was not aware of what
Belgrade's "plan of action" contained, but blamed Serbian leaders' lack
of unity for what he called the "tragic situation in Kosovo".

"If Belgrade had shown more unity, even the international community
would have behaved differently and wouldn't have allowed 200,000 Serbs
to be expelled and 3,000 killed or listed as missing since 1999,"
Jaksic told AKI.

The International Red Cross has listed 3,000 Serbs in Kosovo as having
been killed or disappeared since 1999.

Jaksic said the 100,000 Serbs remaining in Kosovo, who live mainly in
northern part of the province, would try to retain ties with Belgrade
even after the declaration of independence.

He expressed the hope that NATO forces would protect them if ethnic
Albanians resorted to violence. "But I have a feeling that they are
more concerned with blocking our ties with Belgrade and keeping Kosovo
united under Albanian control," he said.

"If Albanians have the right to self-determination, why shouldn't we
have the same," said another Kosovo Serb leader, Milan Ivanovic.

Jaksic blamed the US and other western powers for spearheading Kosovo's
independence bid, saying the Serbs have no other choice "but to wait
for better times and a change in the balance of power in the world to
get Kosovo back."

Belgrade political analyst Slobodan Eric said granting Kosovo
independence "would not solve, but only freeze the problem. It will
inevitably surface again, sooner or later," Eric told AKI.