Angry US warns Serbs after embassy attack
America gave Serbia a blunt warning against inciting violence after an angry mob protesting at the independence declared by its former province of Kosovo stormed and set fire to the US Embassy in Belgrade.
The attack was seen live on television screens around the world and the Bush administration reacted with unusual sharpness, denouncing Serb authorities for failing to protect the compound from rioters who torched part of its main office building.
The attack caused undetermined damage to the building and possibly the death of a person whose charred body was found later inside the building.
The British Embassy in Belgrade also came under attack as protests swept the Serbian capital, but damage was “limited” and embassy staff were safe, UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband said last night.
“Our embassy was attacked by thugs,” White House press secretary Dana Perino said aboard Air Force One as President George Bush and secretary of state Condoleezza Rice returned from a trip to Africa.
“We have made known to the Serbian government our concern and displeasure that their police force did not prevent this incident.”
From the plane, Ms Rice received updates as the assault unfolded and ordered the third-ranking US diplomat, Nicholas Burns, to tell the Serbs that the attack was unacceptable, their protection of the embassy was sorely lacking, and they must stop anything that might incite violent protests over the US recognition of Kosovo’s independence.
“The message was very clear: that the situation was intolerable, that they needed to act immediately to provide adequate security forces to ensure that our embassy compound and our personnel were not under attack,” US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in Washington. “That is an international obligation that they must meet.”
In stern phone calls to Serbian prime minister Vojislav Kostunica and foreign minister Vuk Jeremic, Mr Burns “made it very clear that we would hold the Serbian government personally responsible for the safety and wellbeing of our embassy employees”, he said.
Mr Burns also told them that “the security that was provided was completely inadequate to the task” and “that we did not expect a repeat of the situation in the future”, Mr McCormack said, adding that the US would seek United Nations Security Council action to condemn the attack.
Serbian ministers assured Mr Burns that similar incidents would not be repeated, but shortly afterwards a top adviser to Kostunica, Branislav Ristivojevic, sharply criticised the US demand for security council action.
He said the United States was “violating international law” by recognising Kosovo’s independence over Serb and Russian objections.
Later, the security council strongly condemned the attacks on the embassies in the Serbian capital, saying host governments like Belgrade must honour their obligation to protect diplomatic premises.
During yesterday’s attack on the embassy, masked men smashed their way inside the compound’s chancery building, tore down the US flag and tried to throw furniture from an office.
They set fire to the office and flames shot up the side of the building. Police reinforcements and firefighters did not arrive until about 45 minutes after the blaze broke out.
It was the first direct attack on a US embassy since September 12 2006, when Syrian security guards stopped an attempt to blow up the compound in Damascus, although last month the US Embassy in Chad was evacuated after it was hit by indiscriminate fire.
The last time a mob broke into one was when Iranians seized the US Embassy in Tehran on November 4 1979, and took the American staffers hostage.
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