SERBIAN POLITICIAN POINTS TO EXISTENCE OF AL-QA'IDAH CELLS IN KOSOVO
BBC Monitoring International Reports - April 9, 2006 Sunday

Excerpt from report by M.B. and M.Nj entitled "Trajkovic: Al-Qa'idah cells installed" published by the Montenegrin newspaper Dan on 9 April

The Albanians in Kosovo-Metohija are finalizing their preparations to form a national army in Serbia's southern province and UN mission head Soeren Jessen-Petersen has given his approval. During the last month more than 30 tonnes of various weapons have reached Kosovo via Albania and all this was approved by the highest UN mission leadership circles, the Belgrade-based Kurir newspaper reports. The shipment was officially destined for the Kosovo police force. The preparations to set up the Kosovo army are not linked to the transformation of the Kosovo Protection Corps into a future army.

Kosovo Serb leader Marko Jaksic confirms that the Albanians have been preparing for a long time to form a national army. He believes that the ties between Kosovo and Arabic countries have been strengthened during the last few years.

"During the last two years the radical Islamic Wahhabi movement has grown very strong in Drenica [area of Kosovo] and Islamic countries, mostly Saudi Arabia, are sending money to Kosovo.

Some Kfor mission officers have learned that Al-Qa'idah has started setting up its camps in Kosovo, mostly in mountainous and inaccessible regions.

"There are Al-Qa'idah cells in southern Mitrovica [Albanian part of divided town in Kosovo] and they are few dozen kilometres away from the American base in Kosovo-Metohija," Rada Trajkovic, chairwoman of the Serb National Council for central Kosovo, has told Dan. She adds that the international community and the most important countries - members of Kfor [Kosovo Force], have reliable reports that Kosovo-Metohija has turned into a vessel filled with the Muslim jihad.

"In the latest Pentagon study about the future of Kosovo-Metohija and Bosnia-Hercegovina, they have been described as areas where bad things happen. The Pentagon has announced a project called 'the long war'," Trajkovic points out.

She adds that it is no secret that the influence of Saudi Arabia in Kosovo is growing and that it has beautiful offices in the centre of Pristina.

"The fact that Kosovo-Metohija is getting modern weapons is a public secret," Trajkovic says.

[Passage omitted: Other Serbian officials criticize the UNMIK leadership]

Source: Dan, Podgorica, in Serbian 9 Apr 06 p8

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