"No concessions over Kosovo" 20 May 2007 | 09:38 -> 14:48 | Source: Tanjug BELGRADE -- UNMIK reports on the state of affairs in Kosovo deceive the international community, PM Koštunica says.
Vojislav Koštunica (FoNet) Vojislav Koštunica (FoNet) In an interview for Russia's television station Vesti 24, Serbian prime minister Vojislav Koštunica said that there were many dubious aspects of the respect for human rights, freedom of movement and safe living conditions, as well as protection of Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) objects in Kosovo. "Internally displaced Serbs are not returning to the province, and I am not talking only of a return to the areas inhabited by Kosovo Albanians," Koštunica said adding that "the sad truth was the Serbs were not going back to Serb enclaves in the province as well." "It is a disgrace not only on the part of the temporary international administration in the province, but also of the UN Mission (UNMIK) and its Special Representative. Koštunica also said that UNMIK representatives attending the UN Security Council sessions twisted the facts pertaining to the rights of Serbia and Albanians in Kosovo. "The truth is that as many as 40,000 Serbs used to live in Priština, as the number has now been scaled down to only one hundred. All towns in northern Kosovo, except Kosovska Mitrovica, have been purged from Serbs," he said. "We are talking about the double standards regarding the respect for human rights in the province, which Russia has been stressing from the beginning," the prime minister underscored. According to him, Russia's efforts initiated the arrival of the UN fact-finding mission composed of 15 UN ambassadors that came to the province at the end of April to gain a first-hand insight into genuine respect of human rights in Kosovo. Koštunica told the press Saturday "the Serbian government was united and resolute in its stance that Serbia can never agree to give up on Kosovo in return for European integrations." He underscored the fact that an entire European history never saw a country cede 15 percent of its territory in exchange for any kind of concession or reward. Leon Kojen, former coordinator of the Belgrade negotiating team for Kosovo, said that the new government was more open towards considering Western arguments regarding the future status of Kosovo, but had no Constitutional capacity to give in to pressures. According to Kojen, the states that advocated independence "lacked necessary support of UN Security Council non-permanent members, and even if they did, the adoption of a new Kosovo resolution to give independence to the province would be hindered by Russia or China's veto." http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2007&mm=05&dd=20&nav_c ategory=90&nav_id=41291
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