Serbia Wants Its Troops Back in Kosovo in Case of Iraq War
Posted: 2003-02-03 12:15am
http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?obje ... 63F3BF8406
The Serbian government has asked NATO for permission to send its troops back to Kosovo in case of a war in Iraq.
Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic says Serb troops would fill any security vacuum in the province if NATO withdraws its soldiers for military action against Iraq, although there are no immediate plans to do so.
Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations since 1999, after a NATO-led air campaign ended then Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's crackdown on the region's ethnic Albanian majority.
A senior advisor to Kosovo's Prime Minister Bajram Rexhepi criticized Mr. Djindjic's request. He said that any tendency to return Serbian forces to Kosovo would be an attempt to destabilize the province and the whole region.
The Serbian government has asked NATO for permission to send its troops back to Kosovo in case of a war in Iraq.
Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic says Serb troops would fill any security vacuum in the province if NATO withdraws its soldiers for military action against Iraq, although there are no immediate plans to do so.
Kosovo has been administered by the United Nations since 1999, after a NATO-led air campaign ended then Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's crackdown on the region's ethnic Albanian majority.
A senior advisor to Kosovo's Prime Minister Bajram Rexhepi criticized Mr. Djindjic's request. He said that any tendency to return Serbian forces to Kosovo would be an attempt to destabilize the province and the whole region.