Sat, 22:55 15 Mar 2008 GMT17

 

Kosovo Serbs reject breakaway, seek own parliament
15 Feb 2008 14:29:29 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Ivana Sekularac

MITROVICA, Serbia, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Kosovo's minority Serbs reject the province's imminent secession and said on Friday they would remain part of Serbia and set up their own parliament in accordance with Serb laws.

Kosovo's 2 million Albanians are set to declare independence from Serbia on Sunday. Some 10 percent of the province, north of the Ibar river, is home to 50,000 ethnic Serbs who look to Belgrade for schools, jobs, healthcare and policing.

"We call all Serbs to ignore this provocation and realise we remain part of the Serbian state," Kosovo Serb leader Marko Jaksic said in Mitrovica. Kosovo's second city has been a flashpoint for unrest since 1999 when NATO bombs expelled Serb forces accused of killing civilians in a counter-insurgency war.

"In coordination with the Serbian government, local elections will be held on May 11 and we will constitute a Kosovo Serb parliament."

Jaksic was reading from a joint statement by local leaders that called Serbs to protest on Monday in Serb-held towns.

Milan Ivanovic, another Kosovo Serb politician, said the planned deployment of a European Union supervisory mission to Kosovo would be tantamount to occupation.

"Not a single member of this EU mission should be given food in our restaurants or sold things in our shops," Ivanovic said. "The EU mission is an occupying mission."

The northern slice has frustrated attempts by the United Nations to extend its authority over the entire territory and also served as a focal point for the 60,000 ethnic Serbs who are scattered in isolated enclaves south of the Ibar.

Its geographical position -- backing into central Serbia -- practically invites Serbia to try to prise it away from the rest of the province, analysts say.

Belgrade is quietly extending a network of "parallel structures" that run schools, hospitals and civil services, making redundant any contact with the Albanian-run authorities in Pristina.

"We'll continue to respect Serbian laws here, we want Serbian authorities to stay," said pensioner Slobodan Vucinic.

Zeljko, a 20-year-old student, said Serbs had been "at odds with the Albanians for 60 years". "Obviously we cannot live in the same state, partition is the best solution," he said.

But a formal bid for partition could spark revenge attacks on Serb enclaves, a repeat of 2004 riots that killed 19 people.

NATO's 16,000-strong peace force is braced for unrest and U.N. agencies have contingency plans to deal with thousands of refugees. Some 200,000 Serbs fled in 1999 when the U.N. took control, and only a few have returned.

In a news conference in Pristina, Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci called on refugees to "return to their homes and their properties."

"In Kosovo, there will be security for all citizens," he said. "The government is committed to looking forward to the future and overcoming the sad past." (additional reporting by Shaban Buza; Writing by Ellie Tzortzi; Editing by Robert Woodward)
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Albania's Prime Minister Sali Berisha speaks during a news conference in Tirana March 15, 2008. An Albanian army base stocking obsolete munitions for destruction blew up in a chain of massive ...



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