Minister: Kosovo army completely unacceptable

Minister: Kosovo army completely unacceptable

"Interpretations about us seeking some sort of an annex (to the Brussels agreement) are erroneous. We are not asking for an annex, nor for negotiations about Kosovo's army - there is no Kosovo's army," he told Tanjug.

Vulin then explained that the Serbian government has not given up on its demand for a meeting of the UN Security Council to be held and discuss this issue, but added it was "not up to the government" do decide when this would happen.

The Serbian government, said Vulin, also has not changed its position that Kosovo's army is absolutely unacceptable, because Belgrade is firmly adhering to UN Security council Resolution 1244 which states that security forces in Kosovo cannot be transformed into armed forces.

Asked if it was possible that Priština would do this unilaterally, "without an agreement with anyone," Vulin said he "did not think that such a thing was possible."

"These days there's a lot of talk about respecting international law. This is a great opportunity for Western countries, even those that have recognized Kosovo, to show that they care about international law. Resolution 1244 is still valid and it can be changed only through a UNSC decision. Until that happens, the resolution must be respected, and one part of it says that KFOR is in Kosovo in the role of the armed force," said Vulin.

As he pointed out, "to create an armed force in such a problematic territory, in the area which is under UN guarantees, would mean that there is no confidence in the UN and the international community, and that an armed force was being put together to be used against Serbs."

"The surroundings of Kosovo and Metohija are completely peaceful. Serbia will not attack a part of its territory, Albania and Macedonia will certainly not attack Kosovo. Against whom then are they defending? That territory has the highest guarantees of the international community and the formation of an army of Kosovo would announce the possibility of inter-ethnic conflict," warned Vulin.

He added that the announcement that the so-called Army of Kosovo would be formed ahead of the tenth anniversary of the March 17 pogrom that targeted Serbs, for which nobody has been punished, "is something that further disturbs Serbia."

"I am not a supporter of conspiracy theories but it's as if someone wanted to tell us precisely on March 17 that the ethnic cleansing could continue. Such a formation that would number 5,000 active members and 3,000 reserves could not be useful for anything except for something like that," the minister stated.

He warned that any other armed force in Kosovo beside KFOR "would quite certainly lead to open hostilities with the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, which would have unforeseeable consequences."

In addition to international law, said Vulin, there is another obstacle to the formation of such an army - "the fact that Serb political representatives of Kosovo and Metohija must accept it."

"It is necessary that two-thirds of the Serb, that is, minority members of the assembly vote in favor, because there must be a change of the constitution. To my knowledge there is not the slightest willingness of Serbs in the provisional institutions' parliament in Priština to vote for such a thing," said Vulin.