http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1bf552a2-2955-11de-bc5e-00144feabdc0.html
Financial Times
April 15, 2009
Recognition of Kosovo can yet be withdrawn
>From Mr James Dancer*
Sir, On the anniversary of the independence of Kosovo (“Kosovo at One”,
Editorial, February 16) you reminded us that “Kosovo is still a long way from
securing its future”.
That anniversary was followed swiftly by the creation of a new military force
in the disputed territory, the Kosovo Security Force, based on the rump of the
“disarmed” Kosovo Liberation Army. This might be a cause for celebration for
some in Pristina. Revelations last week from the BBC should, however, give us
cause for concern.
In a Radio 4 documentary, the BBC reported in detail on the horrors of KLA
prison camps, where hundreds of Serbs kidnapped from Kosovo were taken both
before and after the arrival of Nato forces in June 1999.
Carla del Ponte, the former International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia (ICTY) prosecutor, has tried in the past to publicise similar grim
reports, though little action has been taken against the perpetrators, some of
whom now hold power in Pristina.
Until these cases have been pursued by independent courts, and resolved to
international satisfaction, we should consider the remilitarisation of the
former KLA a step too far.
Action is also required of the semi-independent Kosovo authorities on the safe
return or self-determination of Serbs and other ethnic minorities, and on the
restitution of property and assets misappropriated as Nato and the UN moved in.
If progress cannot be made, in agreement between Belgrade and Pristina as
required under international law, then Kosovo should consider independence to
be provisional: diplomatic recognition can be withdrawn as quickly as it can be
given.
*James Dancer,
London SW6, UK
Second Secretary (Political and Economic), British Embassy, Belgrade 2001-03
Serbian News Network - SNN
[email protected]
http://www.antic.org/
