The New York Times

Wednesday, June 9, 1999

YUGOSLAVIA

Serbs Raise an Obstacle to Return of Refugees

By CARLOTTA GALL

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- Yugoslav officials, throwing up another obstacle in military talks on Kosovo, are trying to exercise control over which Kosovo Albanian refugees would be allowed to return.

The Foreign Ministry spokesman, Nebojsa Vujovic, who is participating in the talks being held in Macedonia, said here Tuesday that all ethnic Albanian refugees would be welcome, but that they should come back through Yugoslav customs and immigration controls.

"The place to come back is through border crossings," he said, explaining that customs officials at the border could keep out undesirables or "terrorists who might come over the mountains chasing Serbs."

The issue of who controls the border appears to be Belgrade's outstanding demand in the talks in Macedonia. Vujovic said that NATO's demand that Yugoslav forces withdraw to 25 kilometers beyond Kosovo's borders had been agreed to.

Vujovic said that Yugoslav control over its external borders was essential if Yugoslavia's territorial integrity was to be preserved. He also argued that it was necessary for the security of the Serbian population in Kosovo, which, he said, would be under threat from Albanians seeking revenge.

Belgrade will be allowed to retain a symbolic presence of customs and immigration officials on the borders, though they will be supervised by international monitors, the British foreign secretary, Robin Cook, said after the foreign ministers of the so-called Group of 8 countries agreed on a draft resolution to end the war.

Apparently stung by NATO's accusation that the Yugoslav delegation was stalling the negotiations, Vujovic said repeatedly that Belgrade was negotiating in good faith. "As far as we are concerned, there are no problems and we are not backpedaling," he said. "We are straightforward, and very constructive. We are addressing the technical issues."

But Vujovic attacked NATO negotiators for their lack of concern about the Kosovo Serbs, and in particular for the comment of one, who said that Kosovo would not be a comfortable place for Serbs.

"Kosovo-Metohija should be a comfortable place for Serbs as well as Albanians because it is their homeland," he said, using the Serbian name for the province.

His comments follow a number of warnings from Serbian politicians about the predicament of the ethnic Serb population of Kosovo, and the flood of refugees that may follow the army and police as they withdraw.

Some 200,000 Serbs are estimated to be still living in Kosovo. They live in all the major towns, and in the large settlement of Kosovo Polje just outside the capital, Pristina, but are also spread out all over the province in Serbian villages. Some 70,000 Serbs, mainly women and children, are thought to have fled the province to other parts of Serbia since NATO began its bombing campaign.

The government appears belatedly to be raising the issue with NATO, but seems to have little confidence the military alliance will protect Serbian civilians.

"We want the refugees to come back and live in peace and harmony and not engage in bloody acts of revenge," Vujovic said.

But an army officer in Belgrade, who spoke on condition of anonymity, predicted a mass exodus of Serbs from Kosovo. Police and military officers who live in Kosovo will pack up their houses and take their families with them, he said. Other Serbs will follow, in particular local government officials.

"It is quite absurd to expect that once the Albanians have such protection from NATO, that Serbs could stay," he said. The rebel Kosovo Liberation Army would continue targeting Serbs, he said.

"There will not be many Serbs prepared to remain there because they did not have enough protection, even when they had their own police." Without Serbs in Kosovo, talk of territorial integrity would be meaningless, he said.