Serbia’s Warning Against ‘Kosovar Raids’

Belgrade _ Serbia’s Interior Minister has warned against possible attacks by Albanian “separatists” in the tense region along its border with Kosovo, the local Tanjug news agency reports.

Ivica Dacic said on Saturday that the information of attacks being prepared comes at a time when “Serbia is winning diplomatic battles at the United Nations General Assembly and with the announcement that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon would adopt Serbia’s demands for (the European Union’s new law-and-order mission to Kosovo) EULEX.”

The minister spoke with the Serbian Gendarmerie and police during his weekend tour of the region, who said that they have not come across any threats and that only the UN’s peacekeeping forces, KFOR, have been seen patrolling the border.
 
The United Nations is expected to debate and perhaps adopt a new plan for ‘reconfiguring’ or wrapping up its administrative mission in Kosovo, UNMIK, according to rules that Serbia has insisted on for the deployment of EULEX.
 
Kosovo leaders rejected the plan outright, demanding a confirmation of Pristina’s independence, which it unilaterally proclaimed from Serbia in February, and which has been recognised by 52 countries worldwide, including a majority of European Union member states.
 
The newly drafted UN plan calls for EULEX to deploy to the province while maintaining a neutral status for Kosovo and confirming 1999’s UN Security Council Resolution 1244, which guarantees Serbia’s sovereignty over Kosovo.
 
Kosovo leaders fear that the plan would give Serbia an even stronger grip on northern areas of Kosovo, which is predominantly populated by ethnic Serbs and has rejected all calls to integrate and be governed by Pristina.
 
Serbia’s initiative for asking the UN’s International Court of Justice to gives it opinion on the legality of Kosovo’s independence – which Serbia claims goes against international law - was also approved in early October.
 
Despite the diplomatic clashes between Belgrade and Pristina, Brussels remains confident that EULEX would be able to deploy in all regions of Kosovo, excluding the Serb strongholds in the north, by early December, announcing that further coordination with Belgrade would be needed before the mission can become functional in the north as well.
 
Dacic said that Serbian security forces are well prepared and would counter any threats in South Serbia.
 
South Serbia, particularly the Presevo Valley region, has a majority ethnic Albanian population. Armed conflict broke out in 2001 between Serbian forces and members of the Kosovo Liberation Army in the region.