Shootings overshadow Kosovo talks

SERBIA:A police commander and an ethnic Albanian gunman were shot dead on Macedonia's border with Kosovo yesterday, cranking up tension as Belgrade and Washington engaged in a war of words over the region's bid for independence from Serbia.

The Macedonian local police chief was killed and two colleagues wounded in a shootout that also left one gunman dead and led to the arrest of another across the porous border in Kosovo, where frustration is growing at diplomatic delays to its drive for sovereignty.

Nato officials have warned that violence could erupt unless the issue is resolved soon, and analysts note the potential for trouble to spill over into Macedonia, which almost descended into civil war in 2001 after clashes between police and ethnic Albanian fighters.

The killings come during a final round of talks over the region's future, which pits independence-seeking Kosovo and its US and EU supporters against a Russian-backed Serbia that refuses to countenance anything more than broad autonomy for the province.

Belgrade reacted angrily to comments from a US State Department official late last week that Washington would recognise Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence if the United Nations Security Council failed to agree on such a move.

In an appeal to the Security Council, Serb premier Vojislav Kostunica said Belgrade was "faced with a direct threat by the United States that it will recognise the independence of Kosovo . . . in an illegal way", and complained that "using the policy of force, the US threatens openly that it will not respect [ Serbia's] sovereignty and territorial integrity." Mr Kostunica ignored a senior EU official's demand for clarification of an aide's warning that Serb troops would have the right to enter any "illegal" Kosovo state, a comment that caused alarm in Brussels and Washington.

However, Serb foreign minister Vuk Jeremic said Belgrade would not do anything to destabilise the Balkans, and defence minister Dragan Sutanovac flatly denied that Serbia would use force to hold onto Kosovo.

"Gone are the days when certain politicians sent other people's children to lay down their lives for their sake," Mr Sutanovac said.