The Darn Brick Wall 3
Government, Parliament and State Institutions of Kosovo-Metohija Citizens Situated in Belgrade, Not in Pristina
In a statement to the FoNet news agency, Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica warned that Serbian government would “immediately annul any document according to which another state might be created on the territory of Serbia.” Kostunica reiterated the well-known Serbian position that, for the Serbian government, as well as all other state institutions, Kosovo-Metohija will remain an integral and unalienable part of Serbia.
“Every Serbian citizen in the province must be fully aware that unilateral independence simply does not exist and means nothing to Serbia,” said the Prime Minister.
He recalled that so far there have been several such attempts by ethnic Albanian separatists which have no meaning for the state of Serbia.
“Even if we assume, for example, that just yesterday Albanian separatists declared unilateral independence, our answer is that each of our citizens in Kosovo-Metohija must absolutely reject and ignore such illegal and invalid acts and know that the province is an integral and unalienable part of Serbia and that they are Serbian citizens with full rights,” stressed Kostunica, adding that their government, their parliament and their state institutions, according to the Serbian Constitution, are situated in Belgrade.
He explained that this obliges state institutions to provide them with employment, health care, education and all other facilities.
“The Ministry for Kosovo-Metohija was formed due to the Serbian government’s heightened concern for the province,” said Kostunica. He further said that the Ministry, in cooperation with all other ministries, will make major and constant efforts so that investment and employment are increased in Kosovo-Metohija and the standard of living is made much better than at present.
Ahtisaari’s Plan Attempt at Violent Dismemberment of Serbia
Martti Ahtisaari’s plan, in the form it has been presented to the Security Council, offers independence to Serbian Kosovo-Metohija province, which is nothing but a violent dismemberment of Serbia, Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said on Thursday, according to Tanjug.
“This would be the first time in modern history that part of territory be snatched away from a sovereign state without the consent of its democratic authorities, in order to meet the secessionist aspirations of a certain ethnic group,” Jeremic said at the opening of a session of the Permanent Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Belgrade.
He pointed out that Serbia offered a European solution and that Belgrade’s offer “recognized the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Serbia, while at the same time it made possible for our citizens of Albanian nationality in Kosovo province to realize their aspirations for basic self-government.”
Jeremic voiced hope that it was still possible to reach a compromise solution through negotiations, adding that he expected understanding and support from the Council of Europe in the continuation of the talks.
UN Security Council Neither Unanimous Nor Does Western Draft Have the Majority Support
Serbian Minister for Kosovo-Metohija Slobodan Samardzic said on Thursday that, contrary to what the advocates of severing Kosovo province from Serbia are claiming, the UN Security Council “is neither unanimous nor is there a prevailing majority” for the adoption of the US/EU draft resolution that would pave the way for the independence of southern Serbian province.
The actual situation is not even near the way it is commonly presented by the Western politicians, but it is true that there is an extraordinary pressure by the U.S. and EU exhorted primarily on Russia to allow the adoption of Western resolution, said Samardzic at the Kosovo-Metohija panel organized by the Club of Generals and Admirals in Belgrade.
He reminded that UN SC Resolution 1244 was sort-of fulfilled in only one segment — the start of Kosovo-Metohija negotiations — but stressed that there were no real negotiations, despite the elaborate staging. During the past eight years, the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) was systematically creating the infrastructure for the future independent “Kosovo state,” the task it was not given a mandate for. At the same time, Martti Ahtisaari persistently evaded negotiations about the status of the province, said Samardzic, emphasizing that out of 15 meetings in Vienna, only one held at the highest level — on July 24 last year — involved status talks.
No Convergence of Views on Western Draft Resolution
Around the same time when President Putin, during a brief visit to Luxembourg, assessed that Russia can no longer be pressured to keep giving in to Western demands, calling on his Western counterparts to start treating Russia as an equal partner, rather than the underling, a Russian diplomat at the UN confirmed for RIA Novosti that hoped-for Russian caving over Kosovo-Metohija did not happen after numerous attempts.
There has been no convergence of views on the Kosovo-Metohija draft resolution, the ranking source in the Russian Mission to the UN said after a close-door meeting of the working group for Serbian Kosovo province, adding that the fate of the Western countries’ draft resolution and the Russian proposal to continue the negotiation process was still vague.
According to the Russian news agency, the United States will initiate on Friday the first meeting of the experts on the two documents, but it is most probable that the first consultations at the UN Security Council will begin next week.
RIA Novosti reminds that a draft resolution, which is based on the plan by Ahtisaari that envisages independence for the southern Serbian province, was handed over to the UN Security Council on May 11, as well as that Russia finds the concept of the draft unacceptable.
The Russian news agency also reported that an official of the Chinese Mission had voiced doubt in the UN headquarters’ back-corridors over the possibility that the resolution be adopted in May, as Western diplomats had announced.
Cartoon by Toso Borkovic (Serbia)