Drecun: KFOR's response political

BELGRADE - The head of the Serbian parliamentary committee on Kosovo-Metohija Milovan Drecun said on Monday KFOR's negative response to Serbia's request for a return of its security forces to Kosovo-Metohija was a political decision and that over 300 ethnically motivated attacks against Serbs in the province were not seen by KFOR as threats to peace and stability.

In a statement to Tanjug, Drecun said KFOR believed such attacks should be addressed by Pristina's police and EULEX while KFOR should react only to major incidents.

Asked if KFOR was capable of maintaining peace, Drecun responded there should be no doubt that the mission had the capability to do so, but that the question was who was threatening peace and whose safety was under threat.

"KFOR is acting as if the Serbs were the threat to peace and security," Drecun said.

He said KFOR's response to Serbia's request had been expected and that KFOR did not interpret the Christmas Eve shooting of two Kosovo Serb youths or the more than 300 other ethnically motivated attacks against Serbs during Albin Kurti's tenure as threats.

"They believe it is a responsibility of the Kosovo police. They acted differently in the past, they had greater presence and had more personnel in critical spots. Based on a political desire, their assessment is that the situation in Kosovo-Metohija is better and that democracy has grown," Drecun said.