Serbia threatens to use force if West recognizes Kosovo

Serbia threatens to use force if West recognizes Kosovo
By Nicholas Wood Published: September 5, 2007

BELGRADE: Serbia is ready to use force to prevent Western nations from recognizing Kosovo as an independent state, a senior Serbian official warned Wednesday.

Dusan Prorokovic, Serbia's state secretary for Kosovo, outlined an array of tough measures to squeeze Kosovo - including the possible deployment of Serbian forces to the province, the sealing of its borders and a trade embargo - that he said Serbia was ready to take in the event that Kosovo's Albanian-dominated government declared independence and was recognized by Western governments.

The potential steps are the harshest outlined so far by the government here and come as negotiations between the two sides and overseen by Russia, the European Union and United States appear to be deadlocked. The United Nations has set a Dec. 10 deadline for the conclusion of the talks, after which the United States has indicated it will recognize Kosovo unilaterally.

International officials in Kosovo, regional analysts and Albanian politicians have repeatedly said that a return of Serbian troops would spark a renewed conflict in the region.

Until now Serbia has shied away from making any threats that could associate it with the repressive response by its security forces to an ethnic Albanian insurgency during the 1990s, when Slobodan Milosevic was the president of Yugoslavia.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/09/05/america/serbia.php