Belgrade - Minister for Kosovo-Metohija Goran Bogdanovic today issued the following statement reacting to that the latest armed attack on Serbian returnees in the village of Zac, near Istok.

‘The attack on Serbian returnees in the village of Zac last night is part of the strategy devised to force the villagers who came back to their ancestral homes back to exile. The EULEX cannot and must not continue to silently observe violence and then just declare its condemnation in public. How is it possible that this incidents keep occurring in this village, if the returnees are protected by the KPS? The EULEX and KFOR must provide explanation as to how is it possible that the Kosovo police has not yet managed to find a single person responsible for any attack on returnees, even through there were several attacks over the past few weeks, and does this mean that the KPS is in fact an accessory to the crime? And this is where we come back again to the the key issue we have repeatedly been highlighting, which is that KFOR cannot possibly transfer the protection of the Kosovo Serbs to the KPS.

I demand that  EULEX and KFOR finally react to this and find the attackers on the returnees, as well as to provide full protection and security to the inhabitants of the village. I also demand that KFOR or KPS assume responsibility for security of the population in the village of Žač.

I urge the international community and the legally present international missions to ensure the safe return of the refugees to the province, something which Pristina has persistently been preventing and even resorting to violence.’