Mitrovica – Councillors of four municipalities in northern Kosovo requested for the recently detained Serbs to defend while on bail and to allow officials from Serbia to enter Kosovo.
At the session held today in Zvecan/Zveqan, was said that that the announced formation of the Army of Kosovo is an open security threat to the region and the Serbs in Kosovo.
The North Mitrovica Mayor Igor Rakic said that the municipalities will be forced to cease cooperation with the EU Office in Pristina and EULEX if international structures in the province do not meet their minimum requirements.
Rakic at the meeting also urged the international community and Pristina to ensure for all officials from Belgrade, in the first place the Minister responsible for Kosovo Aleksandar Vulin, to enter the province.
“Our only ally and associate are the Government of Serbia and the Serbian state. We will talk with everyone, the international community and the provisional institutions in Pristina, and whether we will have cooperation it will depend on how much our views will be respected by those with whom we speak,” said Rakic.
“Serbian people, and we, their legitimately elected representatives, we are concerned about the announced formation of the Army of Kosovo and we perceive this as an act of open threat to the security of the region and the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija,” said Rakic.
According to him, this is unacceptable and contrary to the Resolution 1244 of the UN Security Council, which does not provide the existence of the military in the province. It is a territory under UN administration and there should be only one armed force, KFOR, said the mayor of North Mitrovica.
“We would like to inform all international representatives in KiM that we want a just and fair treatment but we are not ready to be a mediator if it happens that people gather in the streets of our municipalities, in that situation, we will be with our people,” he said.
Session in Zvecan/Zveqan did not attend the Albanian deputies; 54 were present out of 72. The President of the Municipal Assembly of Mitrovica North Ksenija Bozovic requested at the meeting the international community and Pristina to immediately stop with the arrests, intimidation and with the constant raising of tensions in the Serbian areas in Kosovo.
“We are looking to urgently enable Oliver Ivanovic and other imprisoned Serbs to defend themselves while on bail, to enable respect for human rights, freedom of movement, to ensure the safety of all citizens in Kosovo, the international community to stop applying double standards in relation to the Serbian community compared to the Albanian national community,” she stressed.
Bozovic said that from the state of Serbia “we expect greater involvement in protecting and creating better living conditions for all citizens of Kosovo and Metohija.” “Regardless of the election campaign in Serbia, we believe that the freedom of every human life is more important than any campaign,” added Bozovic.
One of the meeting conclusions is the councillors’ request to shed light on the murder of their colleague Dimitrije Janićijević, who was killed in January in front of his house.
The session was attended by some mayors from the south, in which Serbs are on power, and the temporary president of the municipal authorities in Strpce/Shterpce Ivan Redžić and president of the Citizens’ Initiative “Srpska” Vladeta Kostic.
