UN bans Serb 'guard' from Kosovo battle ceremony

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

UN bans Serb 'guard' from Kosovo battle ceremony
27 Jun 2007 18:09:59 GMT
Source: Reuters

By Matt Robinson

PRISTINA, Serbia, June 27 (Reuters) - The United Nations
has banned a self-styled Serb 'volunteer guard' from entering
Kosovo, trying to calm Albanian tempers as Serbs remember a
medieval battle at the heart of their claim to the province.

Reports that the 'Tsar Lazar Guard' would attend Thursday's
anniversary near Pristina have raised fears of clashes with
Albanian hardliners angry at a continuing deadlock between the
West and Russia over the province's demand for independence.

U.N. Governor Joachim Ruecker issued an executive decision on
Wednesday instructing police to prevent members of the Guard
from entering Serbia's southern province, which has been run
by the United Nations since NATO drove out Serb forces in 1999.

The order noted statements from the Guard describing itself as
"a uniformed Orthodox militia squad" which has called for the
use of armed force to liberate "occupied land".

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