Kosovo Serbs plan own assembly after May 11 elections

Kosovo Serbs are planning to establish their own assembly in the Serb-populated areas of Kosovo following Serbia’s parliamentary and municipal elections on May 11.

(KosovoCompromise Staff) Wednesday, May 07, 2008

"Serbs in Kosovo need their own representative body to realise their legal and legitimate rights. It's essential, bearing in mind the plan for the functional division of Kosovo," a Serb leader in nothern Kosovo, Marko Jaksic, said.

The "functional division" implies that Kosovo Serbs will be in charge of their own affairs in Kosovo - with full support from Belgrade, and in cooperation with Unmik and Kfor - but it does not mean formal territorial partition of the province.

"It's the only way Serbs can survive in this territory," Jaksic said.

Kosovo Serbs have presented several dozen electoral lists for the Sunday elections.

Serbs in Kosovo are opposed to the Albanian unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo and refuse to cooperate with the Pristina authorities.