PRESEVO, Serbia and Montenegro, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Albanians in Serbia's restive south on Saturday demanded devolution from Belgrade and the withdrawal of Serbian troops in a move seen as posturing ahead of talks on the future of Kosovo.
A 6-month ethnic Albanian insurgency in the Presevo Valley ended in 2001 in a NATO-backed deal giving Albanians greater rights. But dissatisfaction is widespread and locals say the Serbian government remains indifferent to the lack of jobs or economic development.
Albanians in the region are now trying to press their case by positioning themselves as a third party in U.N.-led talks on Kosovo, the province west of Presevo where the 90-percent ethnic Albanian majority wants independence from Serbia.
But diplomats say the strategy has won little support among Western powers content to grapple this year with Kosovo, run by the United Nations since NATO bombing forced the pullout of Serb forces in 1999.
A declaration adopted by three mainly Albanian municipalities in southern Serbia called for the region to be granted special status, with control over courts, police, schools and economic development.
They demanded the right to use Albanian as an official language in public bodies and to display the Albanian flag.
"At a time when Kosovo is entering its most significant phase ... Albanians in the Presevo Valley see the need to take concrete and coordinated steps to resolve the question of Albanians in this region," the declaration said.
It demanded "special ties" with Kosovo and warned that should Serbia try to partition the province and snatch the mainly Serb north, Presevo would join Kosovo -- something the West says is impossible.
Kosovo's Western backers are confident tension in the Presevo Valley will remain in check as U.N.-led negotiations on Kosovo's "final status" climax, probably in late 2006.
Legally part of Serbia, Kosovo has been run by the United Nations since 1999, when NATO bombing drove out Serb forces accused of the "ethnic cleansing" of Albanian civilians in a two-year war with separatist guerrillas.
A senior Western official said Kosovo's Albanian leaders had been warned against stoking tensions among their ethnic kin in Presevo. "I think they'll accept that what we're discussing here is Kosovo," he told Reuters. "Serbia has to reach its own solution" for Presevo.
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6 comments:
You noticed yourself in the mirror, hah?
serbs!
face it! you really can't accept an albanian asking for any right or anything at all. Every request of this kind sounds pathetic to you. But here's an advice: you better start understanding others needs and rights if you want yours to be heard and perhaps fulfilled.
To Ivan.
Have you seen a document of the UN issued to the kosovars?There is no mention of Serbia & M.N.All the questions that you ask are more valid for the serbs in Kosova than the albanians in Presevo Valley.
Do you have right in Canada or Swiss if you want to support country defined terrorist enemies?
Cut the crap you moron. The ethnic cleansing masive graves,mass deportation,systematic rape that serbs did in the balkans is defined as more than terror is genocide.Before calling other people terrorist take a look at your fucking race.Doris Pack is right serbia is the same as Nazy Germany.
IVAN,
I am sorry, was the analogy suppose to illustrate the demands of Serbs in Kosova or Albanians in Serbia? Im completly unclear on that.
thanks,
Fatos
It's the same as Serbs in Kosova is what I meant Ivan - I expected you to catch that.
ivan,
You mean, treat the Albanians of Presheva valley just like you treat the Albanians of northern Kosova (more precisely, north of Iber river). Burn the mosques just like in the north, kill innocent children, don't allow anyone to cross the bridge, if the do cross the bridge throw stones (not rocks) at them.
Well, I don't think there is any sensible person in this world who doubts that Serbs are capable of that.
Get this in your (tiny) head, the way Serbs are treated where Albanians are a majority, the same way the Albanians are treated where Serbs are a majority.
I am sick and tired of bitches like you who like to think of themselves as moderates and victimes of nationalism, when in fact it was you and your fellow countrymen who started the whole troubles in the Balkans, it was you and your countrymen who committed the worst attrocities in Europe since the end of the WW2, it is you and your people who protect and support Europe's most wanted war criminals.
It the BIBLE it says: What goes around, comes around.
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