Šta će ovo bit?!?
ZAGREB (Reuters) - A Croatian newspaper reports that the
United States has asked Croatia to accommodate refugees and
keep them out of NATO and European Union territory if a
flare-up in Serbia's breakaway Kosovo province provokes a mass
exodus.
The daily Jutarnji List said on Thursday Deputy Assistant
Secretary of Defense Daniel P. Fata had broached the issue with
a Croatian military delegation in Washington in September.
He asked if Zagreb was ready to "protect NATO's borders" in
the event of a refugee crisis. Croatia's near neighbors Italy,
Slovenia and Hungary are NATO and EU members. Croatia is
expected to join NATO next year and the EU some time later.
"The delegation gave a positive answer, saying Croatia
already had experience with housing refugees," the daily said,
citing unnamed Croatian sources. "Croatia is expected to
monitor its borders and prevent refugees from crossing into the
EU."
Croatian officials were not immediately available for
comment and U.S. officials in Zagreb declined to comment.
(...)
The West fears Kosovo's independence could trigger a
chain-reaction, with Serbs in the north seceding to remain part
of Serbia and Albanians threatening their enclaves in the
south, sending the Serbs fleeing for the border zones.
(...)
The United Nations and NATO have made plans in case of a
new crisis, which could spill over into neighboring Macedonia
and revive an armed Albanian separatist movement there.
However it was not clear why Croatia, which has no border
with Kosovo, would become involved. Croatia fought a four-year
war of independence with Serbia in the 1990s and is an unlikely
destination for fleeing Serbs or Serb refugee resettlement.
I am going to space, and when I come back I have to pick up poodle crap.