http://www.centraleurope.com/yugoslaviatoday/news.php3?id=223307&section=Kosovo

Kostunica Slams International Community Over Kosovo Violence

BELGRADE, Nov 23, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) New Yugoslav
President Vojislav Kostunica has accused the international community of failing
to
provide security in Kosovo after deadly attacks by ethnic Albanian separatists
on
Serb targets.

The Yugoslav authorities warned Wednesday of the risk of "a new war" in the
Balkans, comments echoed by the head of Kosovo's UN administration Bernard
Kouchner who warned that "dark days are coming back" to the region.

In the first attack early Wednesday, a powerful bomb ripped through the home of
Yugoslavia's top representative in Kosovo, killing a member of his staff in an
attack which Kouchner denounced as a deliberate blow against peace.

Stanimir Vukicevic, Kostunica's representative in the breakaway province
escaped unscathed, UN officials said.

Later Guerrillas ambushed Serbian police near the border with Kosovo,
wounding four and leaving three others missing, presumed dead, after two days of
clashes, Serbian officers told AFP Wednesday.

No-one claimed responsibility for the attack, which international officials
believe
was the work of ethnic Albanians opposed to Yugoslav rule.

"The wave of violence is a warning to the UN mission and to the international
community. The extremists are now ready to step up the targeting of the Serb
community," Kouchner said, noting that the attack took place two days before a
Balkans Summit in Zagreb, where he is expected to meet Kostunica.

The Yugoslav government, in a statement released on state television, demanded
an emergency session of the UN security council, to condemn "the escalation in
terrorist acts by Albanian extremists" which risked "provoking a new war in the
region."

The Security Council swiftly met, condemned the bombing and called for those
responsible to be brought to justice.

In a statement expressing its shock, the council also condemned the attack on
Serbian policemen, describing both incidents as "criminal attacks".

The United States also condemned the anti-Serb attacks, saying the violence
threatens stability in the region.

"The United States strongly condemns these attacks and calls upon all parties to
cease violent confrontations," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said
in a statement.

Kostunica himself accused the international community of failing to ensure
security
in Kosovo and the surrounding security zone.

"I note with regret that despite the victory of the democratic forces and our
nation's opening up to the world, the international community has failed in its
obligations regarding Yugoslavia," he wrote in a letter addressed to NATO
Secretary General George Robertson.

Zoran Djindic, leader of Kostunica's Democratic Opposition of Serbia, claimed at
a Belgrade news conference that between 10 and 15 local police officers had
been ambushed and pinned down by about 100 ethnic Albanian fighters.

NATO sources confirmed the fighting continued Wednesday.

The commander of Kosovo's NATO-led peacekeeping force, Lieutenant General
Carlo Cabigiosu, said: "This is not an isolated action and we need to determine
if
the security situation is now degenerating because of an overall plan."

Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority population launched an armed rebellion against
Yugoslav rule in 1998.

Yugoslav forces responded with a brutal campaign of murder and mass eviction
which led to the intervention of NATO, which launched airstrikes and forced
Belgrade's troops to quit the province in June last year.

In the Presevo area of southern Serbia, where a 70,000 strong ethnic Albanian
population forms the majority of the population, an ethnic Albanian guerrilla
group
continued the fight, hoping to unite the area with Kosovo.

The Serbian authorities have attributed the attacks, and several others in
recent
months, to ethnic Albanian separatists of the Liberation Army of Presevo,
Medvedja and Bujanovac (UCPMB).

All the attacks have taken place within the so-called Ground Safety Zone, a
five-kilometer (three-mile) security zone along the border with Kosovo. The zone
is out of bounds for Serb troops and NATO peacekeepers but is patrolled by
armed Serb police.

NATO peacekeepers stopped a group of rebels and a truck-load of arms from
crossing from Kosovo into Serbia-proper on Wednesday, a force spokesman
told AFP.

"At 9:00 am (0800) troops intercepted a group of ten people attempting to
by-pass a checkpoint and go into (the rebel held village of) Dobrosin," Flight
Lieutenant Mark Whitty said, "They were unarmed but carried radios and were
wearing black uniforms.

Later US troops attached to Kosovo's KFOR force stopped a truck carrying
rocket propelled grenades, mortar rounds, anti-personnel mines, a heavy machine
gun and 5,000 rounds of ammunition from heading towards the village.

"KFOR will not tolerate Kosovo being used as a base for insurgent activity,"
Whitty said.