UN, NATO SAY SERBIAN VIOLENCE WAS ORCHESTRATED Larry Rossin, who is deputy head of the UN civilian administration in Kosova (UNMIK), said in Prishtina on March 18 that the recent unrest by Serbs in northern Mitrovica was organized, international media reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," March 17 and 18, 2008). Rossin argued that it is clear to UN officials that the violence that left Ukrainian policeman Ihor Kynal dead "was orchestrated, [and] we believe we know who was responsible." Rossin stressed that "we've never had what we could consider a clear and unambiguous denunciation of this kind of violence from the ministers or indeed any other Belgrade government official.... We're having trouble continuing some of our operations in the north of Kosovo right now, and it's directly because of either their interventions or lack of interventions with those who are causing these problems." Rossin said that statements that Slobodan Samardzic, who is Serbia's minister for Kosova, made in Mitrovica on March 17 were "objectionable." Samardzic told demonstrators that "we will protect you just like we protect the Serbs in Serbia [and] will reach the goal only if we are patient, smart, and organized, and if we believe in what we want to accomplish." On March 18, Serbian officials said that they are trying to calm the situation. Britain's ambassador to the UN, John Sawers, said on March 18 that "what we saw yesterday showed the lengths to which some people...in the Kosovo Serb community are prepared to go." The BBC reported on March 19 that boxes of stones had been prepared for the rioters to use before they launched the violence on March 17. In Prishtina on March 18, KFOR commander General Xavier Bout de Marnhac said that "yesterday morning, clearly the red line was crossed with the deliberate intent to kill people. Molotov cocktails, fragments, hand grenades, and direct fire have been targeted at UNMIK and KFOR soldiers, and we are not going to tolerate that." He praised the "professionalism" of the NATO-led KFOR peacekeepers. Captain Milija Milosevic, an ethnic Serb in Kosova's police force, told Reuters in Mitrovica on March 18 that "following yesterday's events, KFOR has taken over authority for north Mitrovica and occupied the northern police station. UN police have ordered us to stay at home until further notice." PM
UN REJECTS REPORTED SERBIAN OFFER TO PARTITION KOSOVA Reuters on March 18 quoted unnamed UNMIK "sources" in Prishtina as saying that Samardzic, who is Serbian minister for Kosova, recently presented a plan to UNMIK under which Belgrade would take responsibility for governing ethnic-Serbian areas in Kosova (see "RFE/RL Newsline," March 4, 2008). The sources said that the offer amounts to an attempt to partition Kosova along ethnic lines, which the United Nations, European Union, United States, and Kosovar government firmly reject as illegal. Deputy UNMIK head Rossin said on March 18 that his organization has received what was intended to be "a framework for a comprehensive relationship between Serbia and UNMIK." He did not elaborate. PM
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