---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Darkita <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Oct 20, 2005 10:02 AM Subject: FW: [yugoslaviainfo] Report: New Kosovo Armed Group Linked With KLA, Has 'Agreement With NATO' To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.b92.net/english/news/index.php?order=priority B92 (Serbia and Montenegro) October 20, 2005 Kosovo Independence Army a reality BELGRADE - UNMIK Police Commissioner Kai Vittrup has confirmed the presence of an armed criminal group in the western part of Kosovo. According to Vittrup, it is a small group which does not have the support of local citizens. However, international officials have yet to give official information on who is behind this group and who they represent. Reports have reached Belgrade from Kosovo Serbs that the group has ties to the supposedly disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army. Vittrup said that the police are looking into information that may confirm who these armed Albanians are, and said that it is important for the situation to not get blown out of proportion, because it is a case of a small number of criminals who are acting outside the ideals of a democratic society. "These criminals have mostly been seen in the western part of Kosovo, and in order to make the situation seem more dramatic, they were dressed in black. According to the way in which they made their appearance, it is clear that this is an organized group, because there is no other way they could have all arrived at the same time and all dress in black. The police have had no contact with them," Vittrup said. Serbs "very frightened" While the international KFOR and UNMIK forces are just starting to confirm the existence of this so-called Kosovo Independence Army, Belgrade and the Kosovo Serb population are already discussing where this group might have come from. Central Kosovo's Serbian National Council official, Rada Trajkovic, agreed with former Kosovo Coordination Centre President Nebojsa Covic's opinion that this group has ties to the outlawed Kosovo Liberation Army. "They probably have an agreement with NATO officials with the common goal of promoting the intolerance of the Albanian community in Kosovo with the international community, and hopefully instigating a faster solution for the Kosovo status issue." Trajkovic said, adding that all groups such as the KLA, the Kosovo Protection Corps and this new Kosovo Independence Army, are more than likely made up of exactly the same people. Trajkovic said that Serbs in Kosovo have not yet seen these armed Albanians, but they have heard stories, which, according to past experiences, is more than enough to make the Serbian population very frightened. Former Kosovo Coordination Centre president Nebojsa Covic said that the appearance of this group of armed individuals in Kosovo is yet another form of pressure being put on the province's international forces and Serbian population. Covic told B92 that these groups should be correlated with the recent events surrounding former Kosovo prime minister Ramush Haradinaj. "I imagine that Haradinaj and his team wanted to show that they are needed, to calm this group, which they probably hired themselves." Covic said. "This is just added pressure being put on KFOR and UNMIK, who are frightened to begin with, but also pressure on the Serbian and non-Albanian population. Which means that, if there is no independence, then there will be conflict, a new war. I think that KFOR must work quickly and arrest these people if they know who they are." Covic said, adding that these threats need to be taken very seriously. Serbian News Network - SNN [email protected] http://www.antic.org/
