KOSOVO: SERBS ORGANISE MASS PROTESTS AS UN MOVES AHEAD WITH INDEPENDENCE PLAN
<javascript:aumenta();> <javascript:diminuisci();> Kosovska Mitrovica, 9 Feb. (AKI) - Some 10,000 Serbs protested on Friday in breakaway Kosovo province's divided town of Kosovska Mitrovica at United Nations special envoy Martti Ahtisaari’s plan that is seen to pave the way for Kosovo's independence. Ethnic tensions still flare in the town, which has been split into Serb and ethnic Albanian areas since 1999 when the UN took control of the province. Most of Kosovo's 90 percent Albanian majority demands independence - an outcome opposed by its tiny Serb minority and by Belgrade. The rally as the biggest since Kosovo came under UN administration after NATO drove Serb forces out of the province amid ethnic fighting and human rights abuses. It was organised by the Serbian National Council of Kosovo (SNV) and local Serb leaders, who have said protests will be held in other Serbian towns in Kosovo in the next two weeks, culminating in a huge rally in Belgrade. "Serbs will never give up Kosovo," SNV leader Milan Ivanovic told the crowd. If independence was imposed by force, then "Serbs also have the right to self-determination," he added. Belgrade officials and Kosovo Serbs oppose independence on the grounds that it would snatch away 15 percent of Serbia’s territory and have a domino effect that would destabilise the entire region. The UN announced on Friday that negotiations between Serb and ethnic Albanians over Ahtisaari's plan will start on 21 February. There is currently a power vacuum in Belgrade, as a new government has yet to be formed and the new parliament to sit following Serbia's 21 January general election. Ahtisaari meanwhile told UN officials in New York on Thursday that his plan still hasn’t been finalised and that it could incorporate “constructive proposals”. He said he would submit the final document to the UN Security Council by end-March and expected the Council would approve it in April - paving the way for Kosovo independence. Under the blueprint, Kosovska Mitrovica remains ethnically divided. "I don’t want to speculate on what the (Kosovo) status would be before I finish work on the document, but a conclusion could be drawn from the part of the document which says that Kosovo could join international institutions and subsequently the UN,” Ahtisaari said. This section of the document has been interpreted by Belgrade and international officials to mean Kosovo is on the road to independence. Ahtisaari has stated Kosovo's status might be finalised in June before the end of Germany's presidency of the European Union . Before Ahtisaari’s document goes to the Security Council for approval, it has to get a green light by the six-nation Contact group of mediators on Kosovo comprising the United States, Great Britain, Italy, France Germany and Russia. Belgrade has placed great hopes that permanent Security Council, member Russia might use its veto power to block Kosovo's independence, but this does not appear a certainty as Moscow has recently been putting out contradictory and ambiguous signals lately. In the meantime, a militant ethnic Albanian group Vetevendosje (Self-determination), has planned a protest rally in Pristina on Saturday, demanding that Kosovo's parliament proclaims independence immediately. Vetevendosje claims that Ahtisaari’s plan grants too much autonomy for the Serbian municipalities in Kosovo to which it guarantees special ties with Belgrade. (Vpr/Aki) View article... <http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r802929917> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
