NATO chief cuts short visit to Prague as violence breaks out in Kosovo

NATO Secretary General Jaap De Hoop Scheffer was originally supposed to spend a whole day in the Czech Republic on Thursday, meeting the country's top officials and taking part in the official celebration of the fifth anniversary of the Czech Republic's accession to NATO. But a sudden outbreak of violence in the Serb province of Kosovo made Mr Scheffer cut short his visit and change its agenda.

NATO chief cuts short visit to Prague as violence breaks out in Kosovo

Minister Cyril Svoboda, NATO Secretary General Jaap De Hoop Scheffer and Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla, photo: CTK

"KFOR is doing everything it can, including the bringing in of reserves to see that the violence stops. And the NATO Council this morning, and that was the reason, unfortunately, that I was very late arriving in Prague, again called on all parties in Kosovo itself but also in Belgrade, of course, to show the utmost restraint. Not saying it's the other party's fault but both to show restraint. I've called on the media as well to show restraint in reporting because this should stop."

Violent clashes broke out earlier this week between the Serbs and the Albanians - the worst since the province was put under UN administration in 1999. Over 30 people have been killed in the attacks despite a large NATO presence in the region. The top commander of the NATO-led force in Kosovo, KFOR, authorised the troops to use force if necessary.

"The international community is not leaving the political line it has and has always had. KFOR is doing everything it can to prevent further outbreaks of violence. But it is, of course, the responsibility of the parties themselves, the ethnic communities themselves to prevent further violence."

NATO is flying in 1,000 reserves to beef up its 18,000-strong multinational peacekeeping force in Kosovo which also includes a 500-member joint Czech-Slovak unit. Speaking after meeting NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer on Thursday, the Czech Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla said that in the light of the recent violence, the government would reconsider its plan to withdraw a part of the unit from Kosovo.

"The Czech defence battalion is ready to meet its responsibilities, to do as much as it can to contain the situation. Under these circumstances, we will probably have to reconsider the idea of withdrawing 100 troops as we had planned. The Czech-Slovak battalion will probably continue to operate there on full scale as long as there is need."