By KUNA
London : Tensions over Kosovo’s disputed declaration of independence from Serbia should not require extra British troops to be sent to the region, Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Tuesday.
The UK, which is among countries recognizing the new state, holds the rotating duty to provide back-up for the 16,000-strong UN peacekeeping force there, around 160 of which are from the UK.
Miliband told BBC domestic radio that although there were risks involved in the present situation, diplomats believed the military presence on the ground was sufficient to deal with it.
“I spoke to our ambassador in Belgrade and to our head of mission, soon to be ambassador, in Pristina yesterday, and I will speak to them again today,” he said.
“They reported a tense situation in Serbia, a euphoric one in Kosovo, but one which did not lead them to believe we were going to see a breakdown in order which would go beyond the current NATO requirement.” The Foreign Secretary insisted there was a “very, very sound legal base” in previous UN Security Council Resolutions for the process being undertaken, despite opposition from Russia and China.
And he also rejected fears of Spain and several other European Union countries, who have refused to recognize Kosovo’s independence, that it would trigger similar demands from separatist groups in their countries.
“This is a unique case and I think it’s not one which can be equated to the Basque issue or some of the other issues that have been raised,” Miliband said.
“I understand the fears, but I think we have seen the dangers of the European Union standing aside when we did so in the 1990s to catastrophic effect,” he added.
A meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels yesterday failed to agree joint recognition of Kosovo’s new unilaterally-declared status.
Only national authorities can declare official recognition of any new state, but intense efforts went on all day to sink deep differences within the EU and to produce a unified stand over the final chapter of the break up of the former federalist Yugoslavia.
The Foreign Secretary said, however, that the EU had been united on the “key issue” of helping promote stability and deploying around 2,000 police and judicial officers to support the UN force.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, announcing Britain’s support yesterday, said it would help “close the chapter” following the fraught break-up of Yugoslavia.