The head of Belgrade’s Kosovo Coordination Centre, Nebojsa Covic, said  that the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia was prompted by the “deception” of US diplomat William Walker, reported the private news agency FoNet.

The state and its citizens were bombed because of Walker and his trickery,” said Covic, in a reference to the killings in the village of Racak, which Walker described as a massacre by Serb security forces, a description which international investigators have since described as rash.

“If Milosevic must answer for all the things he did, then so should Walker answer for his deception, instead of showing off in Kosovo,” he said.

The deputy Serbian prime minister’s comments came in the context of his criticism of the province’s UN governor, Harri Holkeri.

“If the special representative of the international community trusts the representatives of the Albanian ethnic community, why has he surrounded himself with a great wall in Pristina?  Who does he fear?” asked Covic.

“Does he have a mandate to be afraid or to solve problems, or to feel repentant after two years, as some now feel repentant about the deception they practised in Racak,” said Covic.

Meanwhile, Nebojsa Covic has called on Kosovo governor Harri Holkeri to put a stop to terrorist and criminal activities in Kosovo and pay closer attention to the plight of national minorities.

Covic said today that Serb representatives could not be expected to collaborate with working groups preparing the implementation plan for standards in the province.

“They are mostly ordinary businessmen, but don’t know how to produce anything apart from violence.

“They are engaged in trade and dealing and in doing so can only represent the business and housing interests of the Serb national community,” he added.

Covic said that he was expecting a response from Holkeri to a speech in which Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova said he supported only an independent Kosovo.