KOSOVO-ALBANIANS PLOT ARMED ATTACK

KOSOVO: ALBANIAN EXTREMISTS PLOT ARMED ACTION FOR SEPTEMBER
ANSA - August 24, 2004

BELGRADE, August 24 - Albanian extremists in Kosovo are arming themselves and preparing for revolts and actions against Serbs in September, Dragomir Asanin, chief of the Serbian state security department for fighting terrorism, said on Tuesday.

"We have serious evidence that Albanian extremists are plotting armed actions in September and we have reason to fear that these might turn into something far more radical and destructive," Asanin told the Serbian parliamentary committee for Kosovo.

"Extremists have also set up mobile training camps," he added.

"The unfolding of another crisis like that of March 17, depends only on the intentions of the Albanians."

March 17 was the date of a major anti-Serbian raid which left 28 people killed and some 30 religious orthodox Christian churches buildings severly damaged.

Asanin said that Kosovo's rampant organised crime was using the old channels for smuggling drugs and weapons to raise the money necessary to take part in the privatisation of local state-owned companies.

Asanin's warning came nearly two months ahead of the Kosovo general elections scheduled for October.

The Serbian government recently called on Kosovo Serbs to boycott the elections which came under criticism from the international community.

On Monday evening the Serbian parliament said lack of security in Kosovo did not allow other ethnic groups except the Albanian to take part in the vote and again proposed to divide the province into ethnically homogeneous cantons.

The number of ethnic clashes has significantly decreased in Kosovo, Serbia-Montenegro Defense minister Prvoslav Davinic said after a talk with international peacekeeping force KFOR (Kosovo Force) Commander Holger Kammerhof.

"Currently the security of Kosovo's non-Albanian population is satisfactory," Davinic said.

"Operations that KFOR has been implementing since March have considerably boosted security in the province," he added.