SERBIAN SECURITY OFFICIAL SAYS ALBANIANS IN KOSOVO PREPARING UNRESTS
FoNet - August 23, 2004

Belgrade, 23 August: The head of the Terrorism and Organized Crime Unit within the Security Information Agency (BIA), Dragomir Asanin, said today Albanian extremists in Kosovo are undergoing serious preparations and training for armed actions against Serbs, UNMIK (UN Mission in Kosovo) and Kfor (Kosovo Force) if their aim for an independent Kosovo is not achieved.

At the session of the parliamentary committee for Kosovo-Metohija, Asanin said that the security of Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija has not significantly improved since the March events, noting that the key actors of these events are still at large.

He said that organized crime, smuggling of weapons, drugs and other goods and classic money laundering is on the rise, and noted that there is still pressure to continue with the ownership transformation of state-owned companies.

According to Asanin, Albanians from western European countries and notorious Albanian criminals take part in the purchase of such companies.

There are also pressures on the international community to transfer as many powers as possible on the entity institutions, Asanin said, and added that UNMIK and Kfor have not improved the security of Serbs which would guarantee their participation in the elections.

"There has been serious talk about social unrest already in September," Asanin said and added that low salaries and unemployment have been mentioned as reasons for the protests, but there is fear that these rallies could assume a destructive character.

The session of the committee on Kosovo-Metohija also discussed the security of Serbs and other non-Albanians in the province. Besides BIA representatives, others present were Serbia-Montenegro (SCG) Deputy Defence Minister Vukasin Maras, Minister of State Administration and Local Self-Government Zoran Loncar, assembly representatives in the aforementioned committee, SCG Foreign Ministry representatives and members of the Coordination Centre.

Source: FoNet news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 1150 gmt 23 Aug 04

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