Monday, January 09, 2006

Belgrade calls for ties between Serb municipalities in Kosovo

BELGRADE, Jan 9 (AFP) -

Belgrade believes Serb-populated areas in Kosovo should be allowed to band togther to form institutions to guarantee their rights, according to a news agency report Monday.

Serb-populated municipalities should be established in the areas of Kosovo where the community makes up a majority of the inhabitants, the Beta agency said, quoting the position, or platform, adopted at a meeting of the Serbian negotiating team last week.

Kosovo is overwhelmingly inhabited by ethnic Albanians, who make up 90 percent of the population of two million. About 80,000 Serbs live in the province, 30,000 of them in enclaves in the central part of Kosovo, protected by the NATO-led peace keeping force.

The province, legally still a part of Serbia, has been administered by the United Nations since a NATO bombing campaign ousted Belgrade-controlled forces in 1999 to end a Serbian crackdown against separatist Albanian rebels.

Negotiating teams representing Belgrade and Pristina are to begin direct talks on Kosovo in late January, under the supervision of the UN special envoy for Kosovo, former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari.

Municipalities with Serb majorities "would not make up a compact territory ... but would represent an institutional framework for normal life and the safe survival of the Serb community in the province," the Serbian team's negotiating position said.

They should be able to form joint committees and have "guaranteed direct institutional relations with Belgrade," the platform said.

"Through decentralisation, living conditions for Serbs in Kosovo can be normalised. Full protection of their rights demands institutional guarantees... above all, in the parliament of Kosovo," the platform said.

Formation of Serb municipalities should provide constitutional guarantees and legal protection for the Serb community be able to survive in the province, it added.

"The legal and constitutional position of the Serb community in Kosovo must be determined in a way that the Albanian majority will have no legal basis to treat Serbs as a minority that can be forced to accept solutions contrary to its vital interests," the platform said.

Ethnic tensions remain high as Albanians want to break away from Belgrade which considers the province as a cradle of Serbian culture and history.

"Such guarantees could easily be introduced through a process of decentralisation which should enable local municipalities to get a series of concrete competences and authorities" such as full cultural, financial and economic autonomy as well as local police and legal control, it said.

According to Belgrade, more than 200,000 Kosovo Serbs have fled the province fearing reprisals from ethnic Albanian extremists since the UN took control in June 1999.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Will Albanians become like Miloshevic since Serbs are not willing to live under Kosovar institutions? Good question, and a nice try Ivan...but you left some things out. For example... did Albanians have a similar institutional representation in the Serbian government as Serbs do in Kosova? I dont think so. Did Albanians enjoy the luxury of legally studying in their own schools and their own language? I dont think so. Are Serbs being called for questioning and being killed by Kosovar police? I dont think so. Did ever miloshevic go to an ALbanian family and see how they're doing and tell them that the government will build a school for your kids? I dont remember that. Unless you are a complete imbesil and ignorant do not make such comparisons. Even our most extreme people (such as Fatmir Limaj) in the time when they could kill as many serbs as they wanted were found innocent - while Miloshevic and half of Serbia are in jails. My friend... Serbs are uncomparable to anyone - they are the most uncivilized and animal-like people.

Anonymous said...

1. kosovo-metohija received autonomy in 1945 with the end of the war


And what every Serb acts like he's forgeeting is the fact that Kosova joined the Federation one year before Serbia. So all the bs about it belonging to the succesor state of Jugoslavia is pure idiocy. Judging by this Serbia should belong to a couple of republics that joined the Federation long before Serbia.

Anonymous said...

"the albanians had their institutional representation in yugoslavia (it seems you all have short memories) through the autonomic status."
Thats right my dear friend YUGOSLAVIA. But as far as I remember one of you was comparing Albanians with Milosevic... and when he was in power KosovA was forcefully made part of Serbia. Thus first half of your posting is nonsense.
"milosevic dindn't go to an albanian family, but he didn't go to an serbian either."
Does this prove to you that Serbs cannot rule? What are leaders suppose to do? In my opinion they should try and provide better means for life to everyone (like Kosumi is). If Serbs cannot do that Albanians can. And out of our generosity we can send some people to rule Serbia as well, if you need.
"no tell me, did hashim tachi or ramush haradinai ever admitted or apologized for the attrocities they did to serbian civilians? have they ever offered their help to endangered serbian families? have they ever offered their help to the serbian families who lost their dears since 1999?"
This is a good example of your misinformation - dont visit sites like Serbianna and other serb propaganda - they treat you as a dumb ass. Now, Ramush Haradinaj is more progressive than any Serb leader. He tried more than anyone to bring Serbs in the governement, and provide them rights that every citizen of Kosova has. Dont rush into conclusions - he is in Hague but is not guilty yet. I understand where you are coming from. All Albanians that were arrested by the Serb authorities were immediately guilty and spent years in jail without trial - but the whole world is not that undemocratic. Welcome to the 21st century.
Hashim Thaqi on the other hand has not even been charged with anything - so he doesnt have anything to apologize for.. does he? It is not his fault that you guys dream things up and have nightmares.
And one last thing about Haradinaj in comparison with Serbs. When he was charged he resigned and left volunteerly - he didnt have to hide anything. While half of Serbia lives underground - because you do things that you dont believe on. Thats why I said you are very close to animals.
Take care my dear friend and I hope someday you will wake up and laugh at your own comments.
Fatos (anonymous)

Anonymous said...

"milosevic dindn't go to an albanian family, but he didn't go to an serbian either."
then u said:
"i don't see any difference between albanian political leaders and milosevic. same words, promises, rhetorics and lifestyles, different ethnicities." IT SEEMS TO ME LIKE CONTRADICTION :).

"than check OSCE, UN, EU and Council of Europe reports to see how good life standards are albanians providing to everyone, especially the romas and serbs. the 220.000 serbian refugees are also a proof of how nice the albanians were to them." Dont you think we are treating them much better than Serbs treated Albanians. In addition, these guys (SErbs) were the ones who killed thousands of Albanians, while we were striving to use our own language in schools - huge difference.

"what is that supposed to mean? albanian megalomanic and imperialistic ambitions. in that spirit, i hope you all albanians know how to swim." It's funny how mad I am getting you:). Yes my friend, we know how to swim better than you do because are nation happens to have access to sea while yours is landlocked, and thats how it will stay :).

"how can you compare haradinaj (swiss bodyguard with no education) and taqi (complete terrorist) with anyone. even milosevic whom i hate the most is better than they. haradinaj and taqi have just luck for having the americans (such as allbright and holbruck) to advise them." CONTROL YOUR EMOTIONS BECAUSE YOU STOPPED MAKING SENSE NOW. HOW DOES EDUCATION MAKE SOMEONE BETTER THAN THE OTHER? SO BASICALLY, MILOSHEVIC IS BETTER EVEN IF HE KILLED THOUSANDS THAN HARADINAJ WHO WAS TRYING TO PROVIDE EVERYTHING FOR THE MINORITIES (MAINLY SERBS) IN KOSOVA? DUMB COMPARISON. ONE IS A MANIAK (NO MATTER HOW MUCH EDUCATION HE HAS - MILOSEVIC) AND ONE IS AN OPEN MINDED SOLDIER.

"advise you to visit some other sites aside from shqiptarianna to see what you nation is doing to mine. we are already in the 21st century with a brand new government (we kicked out milosevic) negotiating with the EU, while you are still in the 19th the era of nationalism and big words such as nation and freedom."

FIRST, THERE IS NO SHQIPTARIANA AND THERE IS SERBIANA. SECOND, STOP DREAMING YOURSELF IN THE 21ST CENTURY. YOU STILL HAVE RADICALS LEADING THE COUNTRY, AND STILL HIDING WAR CRIMINALS (OF WHO YOU HAVE PLENTY)... DID YOU SAY YOU WERE GOING TO JOIN THE EU?
WHILE MY COUNTRY HAS A DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT, WE DIDNT VOTE IN THE RADICALS LIKE YOU.

"have a nice day, hoping that you will get enlightened and admit what mistakes have your own countrymen done to you. germans have learned from their mistakes, we aswell, but just the albanians are still in the darkness"

IF YOU HAVE LEARNED FROM YOUR MISTAKES WHAT ARE YOU STILL MUMBLING ABOUT? IT WAS A MISTAKE TO TRY AND CONQUER ANOTHER COUNTRY, YOU REALIZED IT NOW GIVE UP. I WOULD THINK THAT SERBS ARE BEING CHEATED BY THEIR GOVERNEMNT MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE IN THE REGION. IM SORRY, BUT YOU ARE STARVING.

SINCE YOU DIDNT HAVE TO SAY ANYTHING AGAINST THE REST (WHICH WAS THE MOST) OF MY COMMENTS IM GUESSING THAT YOU LEARNED SOMETHING.

HAVE A NICE DAY
FATOS

Anonymous said...

"If Serbs treated Albanians the way you claim they did, there would be no Albanians in Kosovo-Metohija. If you claim that Serbs were undermining Albanians all the time, than Albanians would not have been given an autonomy in 1945."

Did the 1.5 million Albanians flee their country to go in vacation in Albania and Macedonia? Come on sto being so ridiculous.

I think I got you mad, like everyone gets when they look for answers that dont exist. Thats all I wanted. To make you realize how dumb your nation and your goals are.

Best,
Fatos