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Beta News Agency/Tanjug News Agency
March 20, 2008
Kostunica denounces Bush arms delivery
-Kostunica said that the decision to send U.S. arms
merely confirmed that a dangerous plan was being
hatched to create the world’s first NATO state.
-"Every Serb knows that the struggle so far for Kosovo
has secured the legitimate right for the state of
Serbia to forever consider the province of Kosovo as
its integral and inalienable part. This right is today
being confirmed for us by the vast number of states
that have refused to recognize the self-proclaimed
NATO state."
WASHINGTON - Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica has
slammed George Bush's decision to send arms to Kosovo.
Kostunica said that the move was a "new and gravely
mistaken step taken by the U.S. following the illegal
recognition of its (Kosovo’s) unilateral
independence."
"There are already too many weapons in Kosovo and,
instead of further arming the ethnic Albanians, it
would be much better if America were to start
respecting international law and the United Nations
(UN) Charter again. It’s not new weapons that are
required for Kosovo, but new negotiations.
"Because, it is quite certain that the
re-establishment of international law in the Balkans,
and not the dispatch of weaponry, presents the pathway
that guarantees the preservation of peace and
stability in the region," the outgoing prime minister
told daily Vecernje Novosti in an interview, part of
which will be published on Friday.
Kostunica said that the decision to send U.S. arms
merely confirmed that a dangerous plan was being
hatched to create the world’s first NATO state.
"That is why this decision by the American president
causes the deepest concern, and it can only further
aggravate the problems caused by the violation of UN
Security Council Resolution 1244, and Washington's
approval for the unilateral declaration of
independence in Pristina," he added.
Kostunica said that the U.S. authorities "must know
that the Serbian people are watching with bitterness
and remembering the policy of force that the USA is
conducting against Serbia."
"Every Serb knows that the struggle so far for Kosovo
has secured the legitimate right for the state of
Serbia to forever consider the province of Kosovo as
its integral and inalienable part. This right is today
being confirmed for us by the vast number of states
that have refused to recognize the self-proclaimed
NATO state," the prime minister underlined.
His comments came in the light of the U.S. president's
decision yesterday to approve the delivery of a
consignment of weapons to Kosovo in a sign of
establishing intergovernmental relations after the
recognition of Kosovo’s unilateral independence.
In a White House memorandum sent to the State
Department, President Bush stated that Kosovo could
from now on receive “defense material and services
according to U.S. regulations.”
A high State Department official said that that
decision followed the U.S. recognition of Kosovo’s
unilaterally declared independence, and added that it
was a normal process as part of establishing relations
between two governments.
The same source stated that arms restrictions remained
in force for Kosovo under former UN special envoy
Marti Ahtisaari’s plan, in order to avoid Serbian and
Russian discontent.
Serbian News Network - SNN
[email protected]
http://www.antic.org/
