Kosovo Serbs will join local institutions if Belgrade agrees

ADN KRONOS INTERNATIONAL (ITALY) 22-Jun-05 14:58

Pristina, 22 June (AKI) - Kosovo minority Serbs might be ready to join local, ethnic Albanian-dominated institutions, which they have boycotted since parliamentary elections last October, a Kosovo Serb leader Oliver Ivanovic said on Wednesday. On the suggestions of Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, Serbs boycotted elections for the Kosovo parliament.

Despite this they still have ten seats reserved for them as a minority but have unitl now refused to take them up. Ivanovic, a leader of ten assigned Serb deputies, told Belgrade daily "Vecernje novosti" that they had unanimously decided to take parliamentary seats by July 6.He added, however, that the deputies would like Belgrade's blessing for their decision and would call on Kostunica and President Boris Tadic to convene an urgent meeting on the matter. President Tadic had opposed the decision by Kostunica and the Serbian parliament to urge a boycott last October.

"People in Kosovo are aware that Serbian authorities can't do much for them and they have no one to turn to, because outside the institutions we are reduced almost to an informal group", Ivanovic said.

Kostunica has demanded a decentralization of Kosovo municipalities, which would grant local self-rule for the remaining 100,000 Serbs, but the international community has turned a deaf ear to the proposal.

Kosovo, whose majority ethnic Albanians demand independence, has been under United Nations control since 1999, and Belgrade no longer has any authority there.

The talks on the final status of Kosovo are expected to begin after September, and Ivanovic said that the Serbs had a better chance to fight for their interests from within the institutions. Over 200,000 have fled Kosovo since 1999 and Belgrade insists on their return before talks on the final status, but only about 12,000 non-Albanians have returned in recent years and live mostly in isolated enclaves, surrounded by 1.7 million Albanians.

Belgrade and most Kosovo Serbs, who boycotted elections, claim that their presence in parliament would serve no useful purpose, except for being a "multi-ethnic decor" in the 120-seat parliament. But Ivanovic said that Kosovo Serbs had been urged to join the parliament and other institutions by the United Nations Security Council, NATO, the Council of Europe, and the leading world powers.

"Who else has to tell us that, before we realize that it is not a part of conspiracy,"Ivanovic concluded. (Vpr/Aki)