Ex-rebel army warns of new war if Kosovo is partitioned
BBC Monitoring Europe (Political) - August 16, 2007, Thursday

Text of report by Kosovo Albanian newspaper Express on 14 August

[Report by Besiana Xhara: "Division Brings War"]

Prishtina [Pristina], 13 Aug -- Organizations that emerged from the UCK [Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA] war have warned that the partitioning of Kosova [Kosovo] would plunge the country into yet another war. The partitioning of Kosova as a possible option has been mentioned by Serbian and other media but rejected by the Kosovar political establishment.

The Association of the Kosova Liberation Army War Veterans sees the partitioning of Kosova as a source of new wars in the Balkans. According to them, the Kosova Liberation Army did not fight for a divided Kosova, but rather for a free Kosova with the right to decide its own future.

Faik Fazliu, chairman of the Association of UCK War Veterans, said that partition was unacceptable not only for his entity but all citizens of Kosova.

"All those who mention the option of the partitioning of Kosova in their statements are in fact calling for new conflicts and wars in the region," Fazliu said.

The National Movement for the Liberation of Kosova [LKCK] also sees the partitioning of Kosova's territory as the beginning of other processes of division in the Balkans.

"We are against the division of Kosova's administrative territory. This would mark the beginning of new divisions," LKCK leader Smajl Latifi said.

The Movement for Unification, which is a new Kosovar [Kosovo Albanian] organization, also rejects the option of the partitioning of Kosova. Its members see this option as acceptable only if it is part of an agreement among the peoples on a redefinition of borders and only if partition involves all territories.

All three above-mentioned organizations say that the partitioning of northern Mitrovice [Kosovska Mitrovica] is unacceptable. They argue that if agreement is reached as a historic agreement among the peoples to redefine the ethnic borders, then the situation before 1999 should be used as a basis to solve the Mitrovice issue, because the situation in Mitrovice changed violently after 1999.

On the other hand, analyst Lulzim Peci argues that EU Kosova status talks envoy Wolfgang Ischinger's statements shows that the international community is leaving the partitioning of Kosova open as one of the possible options.

Negotiations on the status of Kosova restarted with the visit last week of the Contact Group troika of mediators to Belgrade and Prishtina.

Source: Express, Pristina, in Albanian 14 Aug 07

Copyright 2007 British Broadcasting Corporation
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