MoD: Kumanovo agreement should be changed

Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac says that the initiative to alter the Kumanovo agreement will not mean the Serbian Army’s (VS) return to Kosovo. “We don’t believe that initiating the return of our army to Kosovo at this moment in time would help stability in the region,” Sutanovac told daily Vecernje Novosti. MoD: Kumanovo agreement should be changed The Kumanovo agreement mentions the possibility of the return of 1,000 security officials to the province. Sutanovac said that the agreement should be changed because it is “absurd” that the VS’s presence on the administrative line with Kosovo depends on the commanders of the KFOR international peacekeeping forces. “In the last few years, the Serbian military has fully demonstrated that it is not an enemy of the international forces in Kosovo. We do not believe that there is any reason that the presence of our military and flights by our aircrafts (over the Ground Safety Zone) should depend on the international forces,” the minister said. Sutanovac said that the Kumanovo Agreement initially envisioned that only local police would work in the Ground Safety Zone. He said that the presence of Serbian forces and flights over the Ground Safety Zone depended on KFOR, which was authorized to decide on the matter. The minister said that at this moment in time, there was no reason to increase the number of soldiers in southern Serbia, stating that number of troops would reflect the risk or threat level in the region. He expects the only problems related to a potential revision of the Kumanovo Agreement to involve paperwork and assorted red tape. The military-technical agreement, signed on June 9, 1999 in Kumanovo, that brought an end to 78 days of NATO air strikes on Serbia, saw the then Yugoslav Army (VJ) and police withdraw from Kosovo. The international civilian and military presence was then established in the province based on UN Resolution 1244. The Ground Safety Zone stretches for 384 kilometers and spans an area of 1,920 sq kilometers. Members of the VS Second, Third and Fourth brigades are deployed in their bases and checkpoints. MUP's elite Gendarmerie policemen also have bases in the area. President Boris Tadic and VS Chief-of-Staff Zdravko Ponos announced on Saturday that it would be a good idea to amend the agreement, since Serbia and NATO are no longer at war. Dragan Sutanovac (FoNet, archive)

MoD: Kumanovo agreement should be changed

The Kumanovo agreement mentions the possibility of the return of 1,000 security officials to the province.

Šutanovac said that the agreement should be changed because it is “absurd” that the VS’s presence on the administrative line with Kosovo depends on the commanders of the KFOR international peacekeeping forces.

“In the last few years, the Serbian military has fully demonstrated that it is not an enemy of the international forces in Kosovo. We do not believe that there is any reason that the presence of our military and flights by our aircrafts (over the Ground Safety Zone) should depend on the international forces,” the minister said.

Šutanovac said that the Kumanovo Agreement initially envisioned that only local police would work in the Ground Safety Zone.

He said that the presence of Serbian forces and flights over the Ground Safety Zone depended on KFOR, which was authorized to decide on the matter.

The minister said that at this moment in time, there was no reason to increase the number of soldiers in southern Serbia, stating that number of troops would reflect the risk or threat level in the region.

He expects the only problems related to a potential revision of the Kumanovo Agreement to involve paperwork and assorted red tape.

The military-technical agreement, signed on June 9, 1999 in Kumanovo, that brought an end to 78 days of NATO air strikes on Serbia, saw the then Yugoslav Army (VJ) and police withdraw from Kosovo.

The international civilian and military presence was then established in the province based on UN Resolution 1244.

The Ground Safety Zone stretches for 384 kilometers and spans an area of 1,920 sq kilometers.

Members of the VS Second, Third and Fourth brigades are deployed in their bases and checkpoints.

MUP's elite Gendarmerie policemen also have bases in the area.

President Boris Tadić and VS Chief-of-Staff Zdravko Ponoš announced on Saturday that it would be a good idea to amend the agreement, since Serbia and NATO are no longer at war.