Title: Message
| Serbian Lawmakers Outline Ethnic Division Plan For
Kosovo |
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| Copyright
© 2004, Dow Jones Newswires |
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BELGRADE (AP)--Serbia's parliament Thursday voted
for territorial autonomy and self rule for Kosovo's minority Serbs - a
proposal unlikely to find favor from the province's U.N. administration.
Presenting the plan, Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said it was
prompted by last month's violence by ethnic Albanian extremists that left
19 people dead and forced thousands of Serbs from their homes.
He
proposed creation of five regions within Kosovo where remaining Serbs
would enjoy a degree of self-rule and better security. The lawmakers voted
208-0 in favor of the plan.
Kosovo has been under North Atlantic
Treaty Organization and U.N. control since 1999, when NATO bombing forced
Serbs to stop their crackdown on separatist Kosovo Albanians and
relinquish control over the province. The province's final status is yet
to be decided on an international level.
"This plan does not
prejudge a final status of Kosovo," as a whole, Kostunica said.
In
the meantime, he argued, Serb enclaves should be given the right to elect
local authorities, pass laws and be in control of their own security,
education, judicial system, health care and media.
He also warned
against a full secession of Kosovo, as demanded by the province's ethnic
Albanian majority, and argued that safe conditions must be created
allowing the more than 200,000 Serbs who have fled the province to return.
Deputy Prime Minister Miroljub Labus said the plan would be
presented to the so-called Contact Group, comprising Western powers and
Russia, which are to decide on a lasting settlement for Kosovo.
Thousands of NATO troops have been deployed in Kosovo and, until
last month, mostly managed to prevent broader violence.
Washington
and its European allies have repeatedly ruled out any division of Kosovo,
calling for an overall ethnic reconciliation in the province. The latest
outbreak of violence has dashed such hopes, Kostunica said.
He
acknowledged that "implementation of the plan is not in our hands but up
to the international community from which we should not accept completely
open doors for Serbia's proposal concerning Kosovo."
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
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