KFOR: "deliberate intent to kill "on part of Kosovo Serbs

19/03/2008

Serb protesters in Kosovo used grenades, Molotov cocktails and gunfire in a deliberate effort to kill people, international officials said on Wednesday. They accused Belgrade of failing to use its influence to prevent violence from erupting.

By Blerta Foniqi-Kabashi for Southeast European Times in Pristina – 19/03/08

UN Police Commissioner Larry Wilson (right), Principal Deputy High Representative Larry Rossin and KFOR Commander Lieutenant General Xavier Bout de Marnhac speak to the press Tuesday (March 18th). They criticised Serbia's officials for encouraging what they said were 'orchestrated' clashes with international forces that left a Ukrainian policeman dead and dozens injured. [Laura Hasani]

A Ukrainian police officer serving with UNMIK died of injuries sustained when a grenade went off near him, international officials confirmed on Tuesday (March 18th).

"Yesterday morning in north Mitrovica an UNMIK police officer was murdered," Police Commissioner Larry Wilson told reporters at a special press briefing. "His name was Officer Kynol Iyor. He arrived in Kosovo on December 17th of last year as a part of the Ukrainian formed Police Unit."

"A grenade went off right next to him. He died overnight of his injuries," said Principal Deputy Special Representative Larry Rossin, who attended the briefing with Wilson and the commander of KFOR, Lieutenant General Xavier Bout de Marnhac. In all, 42 international police officers sustained injuries, Rossin said.

Violence broke out Monday after UNMIK police and KFOR troops moved to regain control over the Mitrovica courthouse, which had been taken over Friday by a group of Serb demonstrators.

De Marnhac said that the Kosovo Serb crowd that attacked UNMIK police specifically set out to cause casualties.

"Clearly a red line had been crossed with the deliberate intent to kill people," he said. "Molotov cocktails, fragmentation and grenades and direct fire have been targeted at UNMIK and KFOR soldiers. And we are not going to tolerate that."

The three officials said there were clear indications that Monday's violence was not spontaneous but orchestrated. They criticised Serbia, suggesting that officials in Belgrade failed to use their influence to prevent challenges to UNMIK's authority, such as the taking over of the Mitrovica courthouse.

The Serbian government "exercised undoubted, decisive influence over all of the political leaders in northern Kosovo", Rossin said. "We have never had what we would consider a clear and unambiguous renunciation of this kind of violence" by Belgrade officials, he added.

Rossin also shed light on how the Kosovo Serbs managed to gain control of the courthouse Friday. Police at the scene, he said, were constrained in what they could do because Kosovo Serb demonstrators put women and children out in front -- a tactic he described with disgust.

"We are not going to injure women and children. We find it reprehensible that there should be women and children pushed out front, but that's the way it is," he said.

The officials also responded to charges by Serbian Minister of Kosovo Slobodan Samardzic that UNMIK acted prematurely.

Samardzic, who was in Kosovo during the courthouse occupation, said he had reached an "agreement in principle" that no action should be taken until he arrived in Mitrovica to negotiate a peaceful end to the occupation of the courthouse.

"In spite of this, they carried out this violent operation and provoked the populace, causing clashes in the streets," Samardzic said.

Rossin said no deal had been reached, and that he had made clear to Samardzic that UNMIK would act "at a moment of our choosing". The operation became necessary because of indications that Kosovo Serbs were planning to attack additional UN facilities, he added.