Minister: Kosovo army completely unacceptable

Minister: Kosovo army completely unacceptable

BELGRADE -- Aleksandar Vulin, minister without portfolio in charge of Kosovo and Metohija in the Serbian government, say a Kosovo army would be "completely unacceptable."

"Serbia does not intend to, within the Brussels dialogue or otherwise, negotiate this issue," he said on Friday.

"Interpretations about us seeking some sort of an annex (to the Brussels agreement) are erroneous. We are not asking for an annex, nor for negotiations about Kosovo's army - there is no Kosovo's army," he told Tanjug.

Vulin then explained that the Serbian government has not given up on its demand for a meeting of the UN Security Council to be held and discuss this issue, but added it was "not up to the government" do decide when this would happen.

The Serbian government, said Vulin, also has not changed its position that Kosovo's army is absolutely unacceptable, because Belgrade is firmly adhering to UN Security council Resolution 1244 which states that security forces in Kosovo cannot be transformed into armed forces.

Asked if it was possible that Priština would do this unilaterally, "without an agreement with anyone," Vulin said he "did not think that such a thing was possible."

"These days there's a lot of talk about respecting international law. This is a great opportunity for Western countries, even those that have recognized Kosovo, to show that they care about international law. Resolution 1244 is still valid and it can be changed only through a UNSC decision. Until that happens, the resolution must be respected, and one part of it says that KFOR is in Kosovo in the role of the armed force," said Vulin.

As he pointed out, "to create an armed...