Print

Mail

wiki links

Kosovo NATO boss warns on security

Lieutenant General Roland Kather, commander of the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo, speaks during an interview in Pristina on Friday. PHOTO: AP

NATO's commander in Kosovo says the province's fragile security situation makes it imperative for politicians to resolve its future status quickly.

The warning on Friday by Lieutenant General Roland Kather, who commands the alliance's 16,000 peacekeepers in Kosovo, came as talks on Kosovo's status ended with Serbian and ethnic Albanian negotiators diametrically opposed to a UN plan that would give the province internationally supervised statehood.

"For security reasons ... we should come up with a decision about status as soon as possible," Kather said ahead of a planned protest against the UN plan.

Some ethnic Albanians have complained it does not go far enough and insist on full independence for Kosovo.

"People want to have clarity, people want to know what's the way ahead and what will be the future," Kather added.

His comments highlighted concerns among ethnic Albanian leaders and Western officials that impatience is growing among Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority pressing for independence since the early 1990s. There are fears that tension could plunge the territory back into violence eight years after Serb forces and ethnic Albanian separatists fought a war here.

"This is my message to our political masters: Please do everything possible to come up with a decision very quickly, as quickly as possible," Kather said.

Over the last month, two demonstrators were killed when UN police fired rubber bullets at ethnic Albanian protesters angry at the plan. Three UN cars were bombed and a hand grenade blast damaged seven vehicles of an international organization.

"Violence will hinder the process and violence can even stop the process" of negotiations, Kather said. He pledged that peacekeepers would maintain a safe and secure environment, "but in case somebody will not understand the message, we'll have to act very hard, quickly and determined."

The continued stalemate at negotiations has raised questions about how to reconcile ethnic Albanians' quest for independence with Serbia's refusal to grant anything resembling statehood.
This story has been viewed 1505 times.