PRISTINA: Kosovo’s acting prime minister on Wednesday called on the international community not to consider Serbia a normal state until it hands over those responsible for a deadly incursion by heavily armed Serb gunmen in 2023.
Albin Kurti visited the grave of Afrim Bunjaku, a police officer shot dead in the gunfight in Banjska. The attack also left three Serb gunmen dead.
Kosovo has accused Serbia of involvement, a claim that Belgrade has denied.
Kurti said the incursion was an “aggressive and terrorist attack” funded and supported by Belgrade officials and President Aleksandar Vucic.
“We call on the international actors not to consider Serbia a normal state as long as it doesn’t hand over its criminals,” he said.
Prosecutors have charged 45 people, alleging they were trying to break away the Serb-majority municipalities in the northern part of Kosovo and join Serbia proper.
Only three Serb defendants were arrested and were present at the trial that started last year. They pleaded not guilty to charges of violating constitutional and legal order, terror activities, funding terrorism and money laundering.
If convicted, they face a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Among those charged in absentia was Milan Radoicic, a politician and wealthy businessman with ties to Serbia’s ruling populist party and Vucic.
Serbia briefly detained Radoicic, who had fled back there after the shooting. Radoicic denied charges of criminal conspiracy, unlawful possession of weapons and explosives and grave acts against public safety, but admitted he was part of the paramilitary group involved in the gunfight. He was released.
Radoicic is under US and British sanctions for his alleged criminal activity. Serbia said that Radoicic and his group acted on their own.
Serbia’s independent media have reported that Radoicic’s men were deployed to intimidate anti-government protesters at almost daily rallies challenging Vucic’s firm rule in the country.
In Belgrade, right-wing supporters displayed nationalist banners and torches at a vigil on Tuesday evening honoring the three Serb paramilitaries who were killed in the clash in Banjska, and calling them “heroes.” Similar vigils were held in other towns.
European Union and US officials have demanded that Serbia bring the perpetrators to justice.
On Wednesday the British and German embassies urged Serbian authorities to act on the matter as soon as possible.
Relations between Serbia and its former breakaway province remain tense. Talks facilitated by Brussels seem to have stalled while Belgrade is confronted with continuous anti-government protests. In Kosovo, the Parliament’s political deadlock has hampered the creation of a new Cabinet.
Kosovo was a Serbian province until NATO’s 78-day bombing campaign in 1999 ended a war between Serbian government forces and ethnic Albanian separatists in Kosovo, which left about 13,000 dead, mainly ethnic Albanians, and pushed Serbian forces out. Kosovo proclaimed independence in 2008. It is recognized by most countries but not by Serbia and its close allies, Russia and China.
Kosovo calls for international pressure on Serbia over deadly 2023 gunfight
https://arab.news/pu8pn
Kosovo calls for international pressure on Serbia over deadly 2023 gunfight
- Kosovo has accused Serbia of involvement, a claim that Belgrade has denied
- Prosecutors have charged 45 people, alleging they were trying to break away the Serb-majority municipalities in the northern part of Kosovo and join Serbia proper
US will respond to Rwanda’s violation of peace pact, says Rubio
- Waltz told the Security Council meeting that the US “is deeply concerned and increasingly disappointed” by this resurgence of violence
WASHINGTON: Top US diplomat Marco Rubio said on Saturday that Rwanda had clearly violated the peace agreement it signed with the Democratic Republic of Congo in Washington last week and vowed unspecified “action” in response.
The Rwandan-backed M23 armed group advanced in eastern DRC and seized the key border city of Uvira, just days after the leaders signed the “Washington Accords” on Dec. 4.
“Rwanda’s actions in eastern DRC are a clear violation of the Washington Accords, and the US will take action to ensure promises made to the President are kept,” Secretary of State Rubio wrote on X.
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UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix warned the new offensive ‘has revived the specter of a regional conflagration with incalculable consequences.’
The capture of Uvira, along the border with Burundi, has raised fears that the conflict could escalate into a regional war.
As part of an offensive launched at the beginning of December in South Kivu province, the armed group’s takeover follows its earlier this year capture of Goma and Bukavu, other major cities in the DRC’s mineral-rich east.
On Friday, US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz accused Rwanda of “leading the region toward more instability and toward war.”
“The Rwandan defense forces have provided materiel, logistics, and training support to M23 as well as fighting alongside M23 in DRC with roughly 5,000 to 7,000 troops,” not including possible reinforcements during the latest offensive, Waltz told the UN Security Council.
The Rwandan firepower has included surface-to-air missiles, drones, and artillery, he added.
Since taking up arms again in 2021, the M23 has seized swaths of territory, displacing tens of thousands and leading to a spiraling humanitarian crisis.
Earlier this month, UN experts said Rwanda’s army and the M23 had carried out summary executions and forced mass displacements of people in the region.
Waltz told the Security Council meeting that the US “is deeply concerned and increasingly disappointed” by this resurgence of violence.
The envoy denounced “the scale and sophistication” of Rwanda’s involvement in eastern DRC.
UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix warned the new offensive “has revived the specter of a regional conflagration with incalculable consequences.”
“Recent developments pose a serious risk of the progressive fragmentation of the Democratic Republic of Congo, particularly its eastern part,” he said.
Burundi on Friday accused Rwanda of bombing its territory, and its ambassador, Zephyrin Maniratanga, told the council it “reserves the right to use self-defense.”
He warned that if the attacks continue, it would be extremely difficult to avoid an escalation between the two African countries.
“Rwanda is not waging war against the Republic of Burundi and has no intention of doing that,” Ambassador Martin Ngoga said.
Meanwhile, Congolese Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner criticized the Security Council for its “lack of action” and called for sanctions against Rwanda.
Despite a resolution adopted in February demanding the withdrawal of Rwandan troops and a ceasefire, “the situation is undeniable: another city has fallen, a parallel administration has consolidated itself, thousands more families have fled, and others have been killed, raped, and terrorized,” she said.
