SERBIA EXCLUDES USE OF FORCE AGAINST KOSOVO

Serbian Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac said on Wednesday that Belgrade would not use military force to thwart Kosovo’s drive for independence. Speaking in an interview with Dnevni Avaz, a popular daily published in Sarajevo, Sutanovac said: "I have said many times that the Kosovo problem cannot be resolved militarily." "When we tried to resolve problems in the former Yugoslavia by deploying the army, we encountered even greater problems.” Sutanovac said the Serb army could help international peacekeepers in Kosovo should they ask for help. "The appearance of Serb troops in Kosovo without invitation would be tantamount to declaring war on KFOR forces and the entire international community," he commented. He also said Belgrade should not become alienated from NATO, and should seek ties under a Partnership for Peace program, although it should not aspire to full membership in the alliance, RIA Novosti reports. The UN Security Council is to discuss a report on Kosovo by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon on January 16. Kosovo, technically still a Serbian province, has been run by the United Nations since 1999 when a NATO bombing campaign drove out Belgrade’s forces waging a brutal crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians who make up 90 percent of the population. Thaci’s government is expected to declare unilateral independence early in 2008 following the collapse of international attempts to reach a negotiated deal with Serbia. The move is likely to be approved by the United States and a number of European countries, but Serbia and its ally Russia say they will oppose it. European leaders have said they are ready to send a major police mission to Kosovo to ease the transition from the UN administration to independence. But Belgrade, backed by Moscow, says UN Security Council approval is required, with a new resolution replacing the previous one, 1244, that set up the UN administration. EU officials believe 1244 gives the bloc the right to back the kind of internationally-supervised independence which UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari has suggested. Ahtisaari’s plan was accepted by Kosovo Albanian leaders and most Western countries, but Russia supports Serbia, which says the province should be allowed wide autonomy, but no more. Russia has threatened to veto any UN backing for Kosovo independence.

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