Thaci accused of inviting "war, hatred, and conflict"

Marko Djuric said on Monday that Hashim Thaci was making "direct threats with guns and weapons" and in that way "inviting war, hatred, and conflict."

The head of the Serbian Government's Office for Kosovo and Metohija added that Thaci was no longer hiding the main goal of his past and current political activity - and that is "the creation of a so-called Greater Albania."

"His destructive activity represents a direct threat to the whole region, but also to Europe," Djuric said.

The Serbian official in this way reacted to Thaci mentioning alleged "threats coming from Serbia" and saying that these would meet with "the same response as 19 years ago - with guns."

By speaking about alleged, and in reality non-existent threats coming from Serbs and Serbia, Thaci is the one who is making direct and open threats with guns and weapons and once again inviting war, hatred, and conflict, Djuric said.

"Serbia doesn't want war, we want peace, economic prosperity, free activity and movement of people and economy, while war, the stories of guns as a means of political activity, we leave in the past, where Thaci himself belongs," Djuric concluded.

Thaci made his remark at a gathering held at the Kosare border outpost, during the marking of the anniversary of the start of a battle between the Yugoslav Army (VJ) and the KLA ("Kosovo Liberation Army") - with the latter backed by regular troops from neighboring Albania, and NATO's aviation.

The VJ soldiers managed to hold their position at Kosare from April and throughout NATO's bombing of Serbia. They withdrew after the bombing ended, on June 10, 1999, in line with the Kumanovo Agreement.

Kosovo Albanians, meanwhile, mark the anniversary of the start of the battle as "the day when the border between Albanian lands finally came down" - Pristina-based Albanian language website Koha is reporting.