No Serb forces allowed in Kosovo
July 19, 2003



Former Kosovo Albanian rebel leader-turned politician Hashim Thaci says Serb troops will never again enter the southern Serbian province, which he believes is destined for independence.
"The presence of Serb troops, army or police, is excluded under any circumstance. Kosovo cannot go back to the past," he told AFP.
"Belgrade (the capital of Serbia) should not indulge in the dangerous luxury of even contemplating this. The region needs global security and not to think about the movements of this or that army."
Aged 33, Thaci was the political leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), which disbanded after waging its fight against Serbian troops under then-Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic in 1998-99.
Kosovo has an ethnic-Albanian majority but formally it is still part of Serbia. It has been under United Nations and NATO control since Serbian troops and police withdrew in the face of NATO bombing in 1999.
Now heading the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), one of the main Albanian political groups, Thaci is still fighting for independence from Serbia.
"Its true I work for independence. Not for the independence of Albanians, but for the independence of Kosovo as an independent country in which all would enjoy equal rights," he explained.
"I want Kosovo to have a western, multi-ethnic status and be integrated into the structures of Brussels (the European Union)."
Thaci emphasised the importance of dialogue between the ethnic Albanian administration in Pristina and the Serbian government in Belgrade, as well as the international community.
The first such formal talks between the two sides are expected to begin in the coming months, although no date has been set and the agenda has yet to be finalised.
"It is important for the direct dialogue to begin, which should include other countries in the region as well, such as Albania and Macedonia," he said.
"We have a need for cooperation and integration in order to talk about mutual interest and not a dialogue in which one side would be the winner.
"We have to make it easier for all sides to integrate with the institutions of the EU and Brussels."
Thaci recently signed a letter calling for the return of Serb families who fled Kosovo after the war, fearing reprisals from Albanian extremists seeking revenge for Serb repression.
Some 200,000 people left their homes and only a few thousand have returned amid concerns that NATO peacekeepers are unable to protect the Serb enclaves from ongoing attacks.
But Thaci insisted that the ethnic Albanian authorities' appeal for their return was sincere and the government in Pristina, which works under UN supervision, was determined to create a multi-ethnic society.
"When I kicked off the initiative with this letter, there were hesitations from the (other Albanian) leaders to sign it, but I think it was the right thing to do at the right moment," he said.
"We said that we could not guarantee work for everybody, only good neighbourly relations. I work for the return, for everybody to have equal rights and for a direct dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade."
He said the proposed dialogue would cover "technical issues" such as social services, property rights, energy supplies, transport and missing people.
The major question of Kosovo's final status -- whether as an independent state or a highly autonomous region within Serbia -- should be discussed only after elections in Kosovo and Serbia-Montenegro, with Europe and the United States being involved.
He said there was no thought being given to the idea of a 'Greater Kosovo', which is dear to some ethnic-Albanian separatists in Macedonia and southern Serbia.
"There is no longer any possibility of a Greater Serbia or Greater Kosovo or Greater Croatia" in the Balkans, he said.
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