Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Belgrade uses displaced Serbs as political pawns - Kosovo minister

Excerpt from report by Radio-Television Kosovo TV on 20 December

[Announcer] The Serbian government is holding displaced persons from Kosovo as hostages for their own political aims. They have to understand that the problem lies with Belgrade, [Kosovo] Minister of Local Government Lutfi Haziri has said.

[Reporter] The Belgrade authorities' unwillingness to cooperate with Pristina is the main problem in the return of displaced Serbs to Kosovo, Minister of Local Government Lutfi Haziri said. He added that for the Kosovo government, every act that hinders the sustainable return must be condemned and is unacceptable. There can be no collective return which is politicized, as demanded by the government in Serbia.

[Minister of Local Government Lutfi Haziri] The persistent actions that have been going on for the past few months have shown that they [Serbian government] have moved backwards, that there is hesitation and there is no readiness for cooperation. [Passage omitted]

[Reporter] During his [Haziri's] visits to Podgorica and Skopje the governments there showed a readiness to cooperate on this issue. According to government data, 60,000 displaced persons live in Serbia who have expressed their readiness to return to Kosovo

Source: RTK TV, Pristina, in Albanian 1830 gmt 20 Dec 05

2 comments:

WARchild said...

It was time for Kosovar government to say this truth. Kosova's ombdusman, Mr. Nowicki, has said this as well. There is a conflict of intererests: any violence and non-return of Serbs helps Belgrade make a point that there should be a separation along ethnic lines. So, return is something Belgrade will say often but actually is non interested in solving.
I pray that the Kosova Serbs wake up and face the reality.

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