Serb church leader wants war with Kosovo

Reuters:

Serbia should rally its armed forces, declare Kosovo 'occupied territory' and buy weapons from Russia to reclaim it, the head of the Serb Orthodox Church in Kosovo was quoted on Sunday as saying.

"The statement by the chief of staff, General Zdravko Ponos, that Kosovo will not be defended by the army, is a disgrace," Bishop Artemije told the daily Glas Javnosti.

"Serbia should buy state of the art weapons from Russia and other countries and call on Russia to send the volunteers and establish a military presence in Serbia," he said.

"Kosovo was and always will be Serbian," the bishop said. The declaration of independence that its Albanian leaders are due to make later on Sunday means "a temporary state of occupation".

"Everything will pass, and so will the occupation of Kosovo," the 73-year-old church leader added.

Serbian commentator Bosko Jaksic said Artemije's outrage was predictable, as were a number of other expected reactions.

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The nature of the grievance is not described but assumed. Perhaps there are some Serbs living in Kosovo who will not like the new government and leave. From this distance it does not look like something worth fighting over. With church leaders calling for war, there must be some religious overtones that remain from previous disputes. The Serbs have been accused of doing ethnic cleansing of Muslims and that is probably still at the heart of the dispute..