UN Administrator says Serbian constitution has no effect on Kosovo

PRISTINA, Oct 2 (Hina) - The UN Civilian Administrator in Kosovo, Joachim Ruecker, has said that this area is under the administration of the United Nations and the adoption of a Serbian constitution defining Kosovo as integral part of Serbian territory will have no effects on the final political status of this province.

The Constitution of Serbia will have no effect on the political status of Kosovo, which is under the control of the UN Mission (UNMIK), in accordance with the UN Security Council's Resolution 1244. This will produce no effect to the current status of Kosovo, Ruecker told the local media in Pristina on Monday, two days after the Serbian national assembly approved a draft of the new constitution. Before being promulgated, the document must win two thirds of votes at a referendum scheduled for 28 and 29 October.

Representatives of Kosovo institutions and local Albanian leaders have assessed that the adoption of the new Serbian constitution whose preamble stipulates that Kosovo is part of Serbia is a new political game of Serbia's leadership with the aim of rendering relations in the Balkans more complicated.

Kosovo was a province of Serbia but Belgrade has had no authority over the region since a 1999 NATO air strikes forced Serb troops to pull out and end persecutions against local Albanians. Currently, Kosovo Albanians account for the lion's share of the population.