Brief an Daily Telegraph

"Plans for Kosovo

Sir - As a former British diplomat in the Balkans, it is my great concern that the proposals for Kosovo now before the UN are a path only to further bloodshed.

In Northern ireland and the Middle East we proceed patiently to bring belligerent parties together, over Kosovo we seek to impose a solution. The only measure which might secure harmony for Kosovo is a long and substantive reconciliation process.

The apparent safeguards for Serbs in Kosovo offer no confidence at all to the minority communities. Nor does the EU require any such imposed solution to take on administration of Kosovo; to do so without the full range of powers now available to the UN mission will render the EU impotent to tackle the criminal gangs which make Kosovo Europe's main heroin and people smuggling centre.

The proposal overturns established policy against further border changes in the Balkans and contradicts the legal rulings of the Badinter Commission. The UN refugee agency has made contingency plans for up to 70,000 further refugees in the wake of imposed independence. These concerns are not just Russian or Slavic concerns; they are shared by diplomats, officials, and by a number of UN member states. The Security Council should let this proposal fall.

James Dancer, Second Secretary, Belgrade, 2001-2003, Nottingham"

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