Sir, - Christian Jennings writes (The Irish Times, March 2nd) that "a small, hardline gang of former Kosovo Liberation Army", now known as UCMPB, was responsible for the shooting of an Irish UN worker inside Serbian territory. He goes on to say: "Their (UCMPB) aim is to protect their homes and villages from increasing attacks by Serbs." What he omits to report is that the Serbian security operations in the part of Serbia bordering KFOR-occupied Kosovo have been occasioned by the ever-increasing incursions by Albanian terrorists from Kosovo territory.
This type of reporting is reminiscent of the reports, which came out of Kosovo from early in 1998, when every response of Serbian security forces to the KLA terrorist activities was interpreted in the Western press as Serbian attack on unprotected Albanian population. This type of reporting, and the political manoeuvring by Messrs Clinton and Blair, led to the criminal bombing of Yugoslavia by NATO, and the occupation of Kosovo by KFOR.
To follow this trend to its logical conclusion, can we now expect that the Albanians, in the "5 km security buffer zone" will be declared to be at risk, with KFOR moving in to protect them, creating another 5 km zone further north, in the process? And does the process then repeat itself, and how far? Why not all the way to Belgrade? After all there are some 100,000 Albanians living there, who are surely "at risk"!
In the meantime, the ostensibly disarmed KLA are pushing the compliant Mr Kuchner (the UN "governor") in furtherance of their aims. But what will happen when even Mr Kuchner has to say no? When that day comes, it will be the KLA, and not the Serbian guns that KFOR will be facing. - Yours, etc., Zivko Jaksic,
Serbian Information Bureau, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16.