Title: Message

Serbian Lawmakers Outline Ethnic Division Plan For Kosovo

Copyright © 2004, Dow Jones Newswires



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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