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| Europe |
| Armed group surfaces in Kosovo |
| 2006-12-08 |
| PRISTINA, Serbia (Rooters) - The United Nations urged patience in Serbia's breakaway Kosovo province on Friday following reports of armed men patrolling the tense west. Their appearance follows a decision to delay until 2007 a decision on independence from Serbia which the 90 percent Albanian majority is demanding. Residents of western Kosovo were quoted in newspapers on Friday as saying armed men in black uniforms and masks had been stopping cars at night and checking documents. "Who is that masked man?" Local media reported a brief gunfight and police confirmed at least one checkpoint was set up by armed men near the town of Djakovica, 80 km (57 miles) from the capital Pristina. The men claimed to be part of the shadowy Albanian National Army (ANA), which the U.N. branded a terrorist group in 2003. The United Nations-run province is braced for possible violence after Western powers and Russia last month agreed to put off proposals for Kosovo's "final status" until after a Serbian general election on January 21. U.N. governor Joachim Ruecker said police were taking the incidents seriously. His deputy, American ex-general Steven Schook, urged patience. "I am confident that you will get status very quickly," he told residents of the central Kosovo town of Malisevo. "The only activity that would derail the process would be unilateral action or threats to the security of anyone right now," said Schook. "We are very close to the finish line." Some two million Albanians form the majority of Kosovo's population. Around 100,000 Serbs remain. Western powers promised Kosovo Albanians a decision this year on the territory's fate, arguing that the status quo was unsustainable more than seven years since NATO bombed Serbia to halt a wave of ethnic cleansing. But they delayed until spring of 2007 to avoid making the loss of Kosovo an election winner for anti-Western parties in Serbia. Diplomats say some form of independence is likely, but Russian opposition, at least publicly, is hardening. In a report on Kosovo, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan will tell the Security Council next week that "fringe groups and extremists" stand ready to exploit widespread frustration. Prime Minister Agim Ceku, a former guerrilla leader, said such groups were "damaging the image and security of Kosovo." Dismissed by some diplomats as little more than an "internet army", the ANA has claimed responsibility for attacks in Kosovo, Macedonia and Serbia's southern Presevo Valley since 1999. The NATO Force, KFOR, said on Friday it was aware of the incidents, but they should not be "blown out of proportion". Illegal checkpoints and ominous communiques were the early hallmarks of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), which emerged in 1998 to launch a guerrilla war against Serb forces and at one point controlled 50 percent of the territory. |
| Posted by:anonymous5089 |
| #2 Kosovo - Europe's chop shop |
| Posted by: mrp 2006-12-08 15:13 |
| #1 Some two million Albanians form the majority of Kosovo's population. Around 100,000 Serbs remain. Western powers promised Kosovo Albanians a decision this year on the territory's fate, arguing that the status quo was unsustainable more than seven years since NATO bombed Serbia to halt a wave of ethnic cleansing. This Rooters writer is a jackass. 2 million to 100,000 ratio. The only ethnicity that was cleansed from Kosovo was the Serbs. We can thank the UN, Bill Clinton, Madeleine Not-too-bright and Wesley Clark for allowing the Muslim Albanians to come in and takeover Serbian territory. |
| Posted by: Intrinsicpilot 2006-12-08 14:02 |