Thousands of Serbs opposed to Kosovo’s independence have rallied in the ethnically split town of Mitrovica in the north of the disputed province.
They waved banners and chanted slogans opposing an independence declaration promised by Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian leaders early next year.
The rally was held on the eve of a meeting of the UN Security Council.
It is due to discuss the failure to reach a negotiated agreement on Kosovo’s future.
“We are clearly and loudly telling a part of the international community ‘No’ to an independent Kosovo,” Marko Jaksic, a local nationalist Serb leader, told the protestors.
“We’re sending Europe a message that its mission won’t be coming to Kosovo outside of the UN resolution.”
Estimates for the number of people at the rally ranged from several thousand to 10,000.
Appeal to Russia
Separately, moderate Kosovo Serb politician Oliver Ivanovic appealed to Belgrade to do its utmost to prevent an exodus of ethnic Serbs.
“I hope that a clear signal will follow for Serbs to stay here from our leaders,” he was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.
A portrait of Russian Vladimir Putin could be seen amid the crowd on Tuesday and one banner read “Russia, help!”
Russia has backed Serbia’s opposition to independence.
About 17,000 Serbs live in northern Mitrovica while a further 36,000 live in adjoining areas with small Albanian minorities.
Pressed up close to the administrative border with Serbia and linked to Belgrade economically, the area seems de facto partitioned from the rest of Kosovo, if formally under international control.
Kosovo: 10,000 Serbs hold protest as independence looms, AKI
Kosovska Mitrovica, 18 Dec. (AKI) - Some ten thousand Kosovo Serbs protested on Tuesday in the divided northern Kosovo town of Kosovska Mitrovica against the province’s independence, calling on the Serbian authorities to resist international pressure and not to cede to majority ethnic Albanians’ demands.
The meeting in Kosovska Mitrovica, which is divided by the Ibar River into a northern Serbian part and an ethnic Albanian south, was called in support of Serbian state delegation, headed by prime minister Vojislav Kostunica, which will argue against Kosovo’s independence in the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday.
“Our delegation in New York is not only defending the interests of Serbia, but the very foundations of international law and the international principles on which the entire world order is based,” a Kosovo Serb leader told the rally.
Belgrade opposes independence for Kosovo, which has been under UN control in 1999, saying it would be contrary to the UN Charter, which guarantees inviolability of the existing state borders and would encourage separatist movements throughout the world.
The Security Council will discuss behind closed doors a report by the UN negotiating troika on the failed talks on Kosovo’s future status. But diplomats said no concrete steps were likely to be taken.
The European Union has declared its readiness to replace the UN administration in Kosovo and to remove the problem from the Security Council. But Belgrade and Russia, which has already blocked the province’s independence drive in the Council, said it can’t be done without a new Security Council resolution.
The UN administration and 16,000-strong NATO forces were stationed in Kosovo based on resolution 1244, which treats Kosovo as being officially a part of Serbia, and Belgrade and Moscow oppose any changes which would jeopardise Serbia’s sovereignty over the province.
Jaksic said the EU was not welcome in Kosovo without Belgrade’s approval. “We demand from our state and Belgrade to resolutely defend a Kosovo within Serbian borders,” Jaksic said. He demanded the Serbian parliament pass a resolution that Serbia will not join the European Union if Kosovo is taken away.
Serbia recently initialled a pre-entry agreement with the bloc and some EU officials have suggested that the process could be speeded up in return for recognising Kosovo’s independence. But Kostunica replied that the offer was “indecent” and an “insult to Serbia’s dignity”.
“We shall not trade on Kosovo for the sake of a better life,” Jaksic said. “We will not sell our soul, for if we did we would have no future,” he added.
Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian majority’s leadership have threatened to declare independence with the support of the United States and most EU countries. But Belgrade has said it would declare any such moves null and void.
Related posts:
No Comments yet »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Leave a comment
Copyright © 1996-2008 Serbian Unity Congress
Entries and comments feeds.
Valid XHTML and CSS. ^Top^