"Kosovo Independence Army" said threatening peacekeepers

"Kosovo Independence Army" said threatening peacekeepers
BBC Monitoring Europe (Political) - October 16, 2005, Sunday

Text of report by Zeljka Jevtic: "They expelled Serbs, now turning on Kfor", published by Serbian newspaper Blic on 14 October

Uniformed, masked, and armed men of Albanian nationality have recently intercepted a NATO (Kfor [Kosovo Force]) vehicle on the Djakovica-Decani road. The Kfor soldiers in the Djakovica area were made to turn back and abandon their patrol. This event is the first serious confirmation of information obtained by foreign intelligence services earlier that units that call themselves the Kosovo Independence Army (UPK) are operating in Kosovo, Blic has learned from a highly placed UNMIK [UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo] official in Pristina.

"According to our information so far, its targets are UNMIK, Kfor, and Albanians working for these institutions and other international organizations, as well as Albanian political representatives. Their political aim is to have Kosovo declared independent immediately and - I emphasize this - without negotiations. The UNMIK police have already received threats of imminent 'abductions of international policemen and representatives.' We suppose that they mean to take them hostage," says Blic 's source in UNMIK, speaking on condition of anonymity for understandable reasons.

The source adds that UNMIK and Kfor are in a mild panic and that UNMIK personnel have been advised not to move about at night. However, nobody in Kfor wants to say, even unofficially, whether there are Albanian armed units - UPK - operating in Kosovo in addition to NATO and what they mean to do about it.

Our international source says that UNMIK and Kfor have a document that clearly states the positions and aspirations of the Kosovo Independence Army. This 15-point proclamation, which Blic had occasion to see, was drawn up at a so-called special meeting of the UPK High Command in Pristina on 5 October.

Article 1 of the document gives the Kosovo parliament until 15 October to declare Kosovo's independence. The UPK makes threats against members of parliament that do not vote for independence and says that they will be sentenced to "the death penalty in a court martial." Also, the UPK says that a state of emergency and a general mobilization will be declared unless the parliament votes for independence.

"The Kosovo Independence Army is issuing the last appeal to all collaborators with international institutions in Kosovo to sever ties with the international institutions by 15 October; if they do not do so, the language of communication with them will be the bullet," according to Article 4.

There is also a direct threat made to UNMIK, to which an "appeal" is made to release from prison all "prisoners of war" incarcerated since the deployment of the international forces to Kosovo. If this is not done, 50 innocent UNMIK officers will suffer, as well as those who continue to obey the laws and rules of the modern-day force of occupation, UNMIK, the document issued by the Kosovo Independence Army says. It further threatens also the Kosovo Police Service and its officers, who take orders from UNMIK. A separate section is devoted to international judges and prosecutors in Kosovo, who are being given "friendly advice" to leave Kosovo "tactically".

"We are issuing a final warning to Albanian translators to make an honest living instead of turning into secret agents and UNMIK informers. The UPK now has an enlarged list of Albanian translators that hide their true activities behind the profession of translator. If they persist in this practice, they will look differently (physically)," Article 10 says.

Our source from UNMIK says that, according to information available to date, Serbs are not the designated target nor are they in any way mentioned as a factor that is a threat to the UPK's ideas. This is borne out in a way by the document adopted at the meeting, which says that the UPK is "a military force that will respect and protect all citizens of Kosovo . Kosovo's independence will be a good thing not just for one nation - it will be a good thing all round. An independent Kosovo will be a sun that will warm equally Albanians, Serbs, Turks, Roma, Croats ."

"After 15 October, we will not be writing graffiti or splashing paint on walls to mark traitors - we will be fighting without mercy against all those who block the proclamation of Kosovo's independence," Article 15 says, adding that they are even prepared to go to The Hague.

It should be remembered that a number of UNMIK police vehicles have been blown up in Kosovo recently.

A note circulated in UNMIK and obtained by Blic says:

"Please note that Albanians in the village of Herek on Kfor's PENGIUM 2K route reported on 8 October that they had spotted 20 armed and uniformed men stopping vehicles and handing out flyers of the so-called Kosovo Independence Army. Exercise caution and advise your personnel to move along this route as little as possible, especially at night. If they have to travel, they should notify Base S6 of their movements and destination."

SOURCE: Blic, Belgrade, in Serbian 14 Oct 05 p 4