KOSOVO

KOSOVO: SEVERAL THOUSANDS RALLY IN SUPPORT OF INDICTED SERB GENERALS
FoNet - November 20, 2003

Kosovska Mitrovica, 20 November: Several thousand citizens of Kosovska Mitrovica today gathered for a rally in support of the four generals of the (Serbia-Montenegro) Army and (Serbian) police against whom the Hague tribunal has issued indictments for war crimes.

The chairman of the Association of Serb Municipal Assemblies and Settlements in Kosovo-Metohija, Marko Jaksic, told the gathering that it was a duty and an obligation to defend those who had defended the fatherland. "Instead of those who bombed Yugoslavia, the tribunal is interested in generals who defended their fatherland, and this was suggested to them by the Albanian terrorist organization," Jaksic said.

He emphasized that "the Serb military should not be in the barracks or in Iraq but rather here in Kosovo-Metohija".

Military and political analyst Milovan Drecun emphasized that the Serbian border does not lie on the bridge across the Ibar River but rather in Gorozup, Pastrik and Kosare.

"We will not accept that the international community will implement in 2005 what it is preparing to do. An independent Kosovo is an unacceptable solution," Drecun emphasized.

The international community must condemn all those who committed crimes and killed civilians but Drecun believes that "these are not the Serb military and the police because if they had done so there would be no more Albanians here".

The protesters shouted slogans such as "defence in not a crime"; there were no incidents during the gathering, which was secured by minimal Kfor (NATO-led Kosovo Force) and UNMIK (UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo) police forces.

Source: FoNet news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 1349 gmt 20 Nov 03

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