Belgrade calls for ethnic division of Kosovo

25/03/2008

A new agreement proposed by Serbian officials to UNMIK would create a "functional division" between Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo. The plan has already been rejected by Pristina, while Kosovo Serbs are divided regarding the proposal.

By Igor Jovanovic for Southeast European Times in Belgrade -- 25/03/08

French KFOR soldiers patrol a bridge that connects southern and northern Mitrovica. The northern part of the town was hit by riots on March 17th as local Serbs attacked the UNMIK police. [Getty Images]

Serbia has formally proposed partitioning Kosovo along ethnic lines and has asked the UN to ensure Belgrade can control key institutions and functions in areas where Serbs are a majority.

In a document sent to the UN last week -- and published by the Serbian and Kosovo media on Monday (March 24th) -- Belgrade insists that Serbia be allowed to take responsibility for police, courts, judiciary and customs in and around northern Mitrovica, as well as in other Serbian enclaves.

Described as a blueprint for the "functional division of Serb and Kosovo Albanians" by Serbian Minister for Kosovo Slobodan Samardzic, the proposal is the closest Serbia has come to openly calling for partition.

The agreement, drafted by the foreign ministry and the ministry for Kosovo, is part of a Serbian government's action plan activated when Kosovo declared independence.

Although the draft has not been formally unveiled to the public, reports by the media in Belgrade and Pristina have not been contradicted by the Serbian government or UNMIK.

According to these reports, one of the key provisions is that Serb police officers in Kosovo would answer to local Serb authorities and serve under the command of UNMIK police, not the Kosovo Police Service.

Kosovo Serbs would have the right to "resolve their court cases, whereas the international UNMIK judges are responsible for cases involving members of different ethnic communities".

Belgrade is also reportedly proposing greater co-operation between Serbia and UNMIK in many fields, including police, judiciary, customs, transport, control of border crossings, and protection of religious, historical and cultural heritage. The plan calls for developing free trade between Kosovo and Serbia, while ending the present customs procedures.

As expected, the government in Pristina has dismissed the plan. "It is a continuation of Belgrade's hegemonic authority and policy," Deputy Prime Minister Ram Manaj said.

According to Manaj, UNMIK cannot make arrangements with "a neighbouring country" on the functioning of Kosovo, which declared independence from Belgrade on February 17th.

The proposal has also caused a rift among Kosovo Serbs. Those in northern Kosovo are generally in favour of the document, while those who live south of the Ibar River -- and are surrounded by Albanian communities -- question whether it could be implemented in their enclaves.

Serb Resistance Movement leader Momcilo Trajkovic, from central Kosovo, said the plan would be difficult to apply on the field, unless the Albanians consented to it.

Goran Bogdanovic, a Kosovo official of Serbian President Boris Tadic's Democratic Party, said that it was "very bad" that the Kosovo Serbs had found out about the plan through the media.

"It is a bit of a problem to see attempts at resolving the fate of the Kosovo Serbs without asking those who live in Kosovo, those whose children and families live there, anything," Bogdanovic said.

Former Serbian Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic, who has often been critical of the Serbian government's Kosovo strategy, now backs the plan. "It is an interesting proposal, which really opens up the topic of a division that is not territorial, but personalised," he said.