KLA VETERANS THREATEN TO TAKE UP ARMS IF KOSOVO ASKED TO ABANDON FUTURE ARMY
BBC Monitoring International Reports - June 4, 2007, Monday

Text of report by Kosovo Albanian newspaper Koha Ditore on 1 June

[Report by Arben Atashi: "Veterans Threaten To Take Up Arms Again"]

Prishtina [Pristina], 31 May - The UCK [Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA] war veterans have threatened to take up arms and become soldiers again if Kosova [Kosovo] is asked to abandon its future army for the sake of Russia and Serbia.

Even though UN status envoy Martti Ahtisaari's plan envisions an independent Kosova, with international supervision, with a NATO-trained security force of 2,500 soldiers, an international diplomat told Koha Ditore that Kosova could be asked to abandon its army in the coming days.

Such a thing, according to this diplomat, could be requested as a compromise to obtain Russia's support for the approval of a new resolution in the UN Security Council. Therefore, Kosova should have its answer ready in case such a scenario is implemented.

Faik Fazliu, head of the UCK Veterans Association, said on 31 May that the veterans' position is clear and decisive.

"If there will be no Kosova army in the future, this entire period of the UCK's disarmament and transformation would be considered only a cease-fire," Fazliu said.

According to him, if such a "compromise" is imposed, the UCK soldiers will take up arms again and the cease-fire will end. "This means the veterans will no longer be veterans; they will be soldiers," the head of the UCK veterans threatened.

Nobody Has Mandate To Accept Less Than What Package Offers

This international diplomat also said that Kosova could be asked to give up the request for affiliation in the UN for a certain period of time, and this would be a substantial change to chief negotiator Martti Ahtisaari's proposal for resolving the status.

In the meantime, the leaders of Kosova have opposed every change to Ahtisaari's plan, declaring that no further concessions can be made, because the package itself was a "painful compromise."

Kosova Prime Minister Agim Ceku said on 31 May that none of the Kosova leaders has a mandate to accept or negotiate something less than described in Ahtisaari's plan.

Ceku said that international officials had assured him that, if there are changes to Ahtisaari's plan, they will only be cosmetic changes and not changes that will affect the substance of the international mediator's proposal.

Veton Surroi, chairman of The Hour Reformist Party, said that any to the package would be inapplicable and unacceptable to Kosova.

LKCK [National Movement for the Liberation of Kosovo] Chairman Smajl Latifi said that requests for new compromises and concessions are not unexpected. However, he added, they are absolutely unacceptable.

He said that if the Unity Team [Kosovo negotiation team] accepts the "Russian compromise" to abandon the future army of Kosova, then this political entity will intensify its actions for the only just solution, which, according to him, is the national unification of Albanians.

TMK Continues Transformation, Regardless of Pressure

Regardless of the threats and pressure from various sides over the TMK's [Kosovo Protection Corps] disbandment and the future army of Kosova, the TMK is continuing its work according to the envisioned plan towards its transformation into the Security Force of Kosova [FSK], TMK spokesman Colonel Shemsi Syla said.

He added that from the moment Ahtisaari's plan was made public, the TMK has continued its work. He said the TMK is finalizing its efforts to transform into the Security Force of Kosova.

"We know that the transformation has its criteria, and the movement of members from the TMK to the FSK will be some 50 per cent," Syla said.

According to him, the TMK members are aware of Serbia's constant pressure and blackmail against the TMK and Ahtisaari's plan. "We do not expect anything better from Serbia and Russia," Syla said.

The TMK spokesperson did not want to answer a question about whether the TMK fears that the Unity Team could accept the requested compromise to give up the army. "All these are political issues for which the Unity Team itself and those who have assumed the responsibility to enter the talks should answer," he said.

Asked if former UCK soldiers, now members of the TMK, would agree to an independent Kosova without an army, Shemsi Syla said: "The TMK has always said that it will be a protection force that will serve Kosova and be ready to protect the state that will be created."

As far as the process of the TMK's transformation is concerned, Syla expressed his hope that the institutions of Kosova will this time meet the obligation towards former UCK soldiers who cannot join the future army of Kosova.

"We have information that a bill on early retirement of TMK members has been drawn up, and we hope that the institutions will somehow reward the TMK members for their hard work," TMK spokesman Shemsi Syla concluded.

Source: Koha Ditore, Pristina, in Albanian 1 Jun 07

Copyright 2007 Financial Times Information
Copyright 2007 BBC Monitoring Service , Source: The Financial Times Limited

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