Kosovo: Kostunica under fire for constitution remarks

ADN KRONOS INTERNATIONAL (ITALY), Sep-13-06 15:56

Belgrade, Pristina 13 Sept. (AKI) - Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's remarks that Serbia will block ethnic Albanian demands for the independence of Kosovo by including the province in its new constitution as an "inseparable part" of Serbia, have drawn sharp criticism from Kosovo majority ethnic Albanians on Wednesday. Kostunica told parliament on Tuesday that there have been many obstacles in passing the new constitution, but that all political differences must now be put aside so that it can be adopted by the end of the year.

Kostunica said the parliament must find a "lasting and comprehensive answer to all difficulties confronting us over Kosovo" in an effort to prevent its independence and secession from Serbia. "Our best answer is.to unanimously adopt in the shortest possible time, by the end of December, a new constitution and to confirm unanimously our irrevocable stand that Kosovo is a part of Serbia," Kostunica said.

According to the present constitution, adopted by the regime of former president Slobodan Milosevic, deposed in October 2000, Kosovo is officially still a part of Serbia, but it has been under United Nations control since a 1999 NATO bombing campaign drove out Serb forces.

UN-brokered talks are underway to determine whether Kosovo will remain part of Serbia, as sought by the government in Belgrade, or become independent, as the vast majority of Kosovo's residents want.

However, the Serbian parliament on Tuesday unanimously ruled that it should be included in the new constitution as an "inalienable part of Serbia".

Kosovo ethnic Albanians, who form a 1.7 million majority in Kosovo against 100,000 remaining Serbs, reacted with scorn and ridicule on Wednesday to Kostunica's remarks and parliament decisions.

Skender Hiseni, a spokesman for Kosovo ethnic Albanian negotiating team on the Kosovo status, said Kostunica and the parliament were playing a "political game" aimed at soothing domestic public. He said Kosovo was firmly embarked on the road to independence and Kostunica's remarks were "not serious" and "deserved no comments".

Baton Hadziu, director of Pristina Albanian language daily Ekspres, said writing Serbia's constitution "with Kosovo within it, is like writing on the ice". Other ethnic Albanian politicians and political analysts in Kosovo shared Hiseni's and Hadziu's views, emphasizing that the decision on the final Kosovo status would be made by the UN Security Council.

Belgrade analyst Dusan Janjic said that "serious political circles in the world" couldn't ignore the will of the Serbian people, since two thirds of the deputies in parliament and 50 per cent of voters at a referendum must approve the new constitution. "But somewhere it might trigger stormy reactions and perhaps further radicalization of ethnic Albanian population in the quest for independence," said Janjic.