ALBANIANS MORE LIKELY TO DESTABILIZE KOSOVO THAN SERBS - EX-KFOR COMMANDER
BBC Monitoring International Reports - April 16, 2008, Wednesday

Text of report by Serbian wide-circulation tabloid Vecernje novosti, on 15 April

[Interview with Italian General Fabio Minni, former KFOR commander, by Zeljko Pantelic; place and date not given: "Nobody Keeps Peace"]

The arming of the Kosovo Albanians and the fact that the nationalist bloc in Serbia is growing stronger further undermine security in Kosovo and add to its destabilization. The situation will become increasingly tense and unstable, and things will be the hardest for the Serbs in Kosovo. It will get to be worse and worse for them there, Italian General Fabio Minni, a former [NATO-led] KFOR [Kosovo Force] commander, has told Novosti.

"If a majority of countries in the world keep on not recognizing the independence of Kosovo, it is possible that [world factors] start thinking that independence was not the best solution and that a new one can be found. It is why the door should be kept open for dialogue, regardless of the existing relationship of forces," Minni said.

[Pantelic] Do you think that the KFOR and UNMIK [UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo] actions in K-M [Kosovo and Metohija] are in keeping with their mandates?

[Minni] The KFOR acts within the framework of its mandate. Regrettably, the same cannot be said of UNMIK, whose authority in Kosovo is small, practically none. Just as well, the KFOR mandate is based on Resolution 1244 and the KFOR cannot ignore that resolution. On the other hand, by failing to react to the unilateral declaration of Kosovo's independence UNMIK has ignored Resolution 1244 and now finds itself in great difficulties. The KFOR is trying to act on the basis of 1244, but a majority of NATO member-states have ignored the Resolution when they recognized Kosovo's independence, as a result of which we find ourselves in an extremely unclear situation.

[Pantelic] Did the KFOR and UNMIK react in keeping with their mandates when they applied force against judges of Serb nationality in Mitrovica three weeks ago?

[Minni] The KFOR had to intervene. However, it must be very careful and cautious, because it needs to be specified who is responsible for what. For instance I have seen that Polish and Ukrainian policemen, who are not part of the KFOR, intervened in the north of Kosovo. Twenty of them were injured, although all of them were members of very well trained anti-riot forces. That shows that the incidents were serious and that the KFOR had to intervene. However, the operation ought to have been balanced. You cannot put pressure on one side and not take into account the behaviour of the other.

[Pantelic] We often hear it being said in Brussels that NATO wants to act pre-emptively in Kosovo....[ellipsis as published throughout]

[Minni] I think that NATO is acting more along the line of deterrence than pre-emption. NATO has no capacity to act pre-emptively, because law and order was in the hands of UNMIK, and today we do not even know who is in charge of law and order in Kosovo. Therefore, the only thing that NATO can do is to deter, and that means to have enough forces at its disposal and a sufficiently aggressive and determined approach that makes it clear that the KFOR will react.

[Pantelic] Can EULEX [EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo] establish peace that is not guaranteed by anyone today?

[Minni] No, because EULEX is superfluous in Kosovo. Just as well, it is not clear which type of authority and responsibility EULEX has, because no new UN Security Council resolution, which would have authorized the EU mission, has been passed. Therefore, I really doubt that the sending of 2,000 policemen and judges to Kosovo will help any, as we know that the United Nations has been sending policemen and judges for the past eight years and has not succeeded in accomplishing anything. The forces in the field, the Police and the KFOR, have shown to be impotent in instances of abrupt outbursts of violence. On the other hand, Kosovo is ruled by 'families' that control everything, from politics, to the economy, to the [organized] crime. It is very naive to believe that those criminal organizations -- which had worked more or less unhindered during Tito and Milosevic, which have succeeded in persuading the Americans, and the British, and the whole NATO to do the job in their interest, which have succeeded in corrupting and compromising many ranking international representatives and a few NATO generals -- will not succeed in misusing, using to their own ends, policemen and judges who will be coming to Kosovo under a contract to serve for a specified period of time within the framework of EULEX.

[Box] Serbs Are Not Causing Unrest

[Pantelic] The media in Kosovo, as well as UNMIK representatives, are pointing the finger at Serbia and accusing it of being responsible for destabilization, because it is allegedly infiltrating members of the SB [security service] and MUP [Interior Ministry] of Serbia into Kosovo....

[Minni] That could be. I cannot either claim or negate it, but I know that we have many destabilizers among the Kosovo Albanians south of the Ibar. While I was still in Kosovo, the KFOR persistently searched for members of the "Men in Black" paramilitary organization, or members of the so-called AKS, who wore the uniforms of the Kosovo Protection Corps [KZK] during the day and planted bombs at night. The Kosovo Albanians have a far greater capacity to destabilize Kosovo than Serbs can do it.

Source: Vecernje novosti, Belgrade, in Serbian 15 Apr 08, p2
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