Kostunica upholds Serb control of Kosovo in election rally

AFP - Wednesday, May 7 06:43 pm

ZUBIN POTOK (AFP) - Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, campaigning ahead of national elections, on Wednesay insisted on Belgrade's control over Kosovo on his first visit to the territory since it split away.

"To preserve Serbia in Kosovo means telling the truth -- that it belongs to Serbia and the Serbian people," Kostunica told around 1,000 Serbs in the northern Kosovo town of Zubin Potok.

"There is no nation in the world which would accept giving up its territory," he vowed, adding Serbia would never accept being "humiliated" over Kosovo's independence.

A nationalist who has made the fight to keep Kosovo within Serbia the cornerstone of his re-election bid, Kostunica went to Kosovo on the penultimate day of campaigning ahead of Sunday's general elections.

"After May 11, we will need a new national, statehood government whose first task would be to respect the Serb message: Kosovo is Serbia," Kostunica told loyalists of his Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS).

Zubin Potok, in the Serb-populated north of Kosovo, was the scene of some of the worst violence in the territory after its ethnic Albanian-dominated parliament unilaterally declared independence on February 17.

On February 19, mobs of Serbs descended on an area north of the town, setting alight a customs check-point at the border crossing between Kosovo and Serbia.

Serbia's elections were triggered by the collapse of a year-old coalition of Kostunica's DSS with the Democratic Party (DS) of pro-Western President Boris Tadic and reformist G17-Plus.

That was caused by a rift over ties with the European Union after most members of the 27-nation bloc joined the United States in recognising Kosovo following its independence proclamation.

Kostunica has since stepped up the rhetoric against his former coalition partners, branding them "traitors" for signing an accord on closer ties with the EU that he says is tantamount to recognising Kosovo.

His coalition partner Velimir Ilic, of the New Serbia party, also accused the Serbian president of being "the biggest traitor in the history of the Serbian people."

Campaigning under the slogan "Uphold Serbia," Kostunica's DSS is likely to play a crucial role in the formation of the next Serbian government.

It is only tipped to win around 12 percent of the vote in the May 11 parliamentary elections, but has not ruled out the possibility of forming a nationalist government with the Radical Party.

The ultra-nationalist Radicals are expected to win 34 percent of voter support, a percentage point ahead of the coalition "For a European Serbia" made up of Tadic's Democrats, the G17-Plus and three smaller liberal parties.

Kosovo's ethnic Albanian Prime Minister Hashim Thaci declined to comment on Kostunica's visit, only saying: "Kosovo and Serbia are two neighbouring, independent countries.

"Serbian voters will decide who wins in the Serbian elections.

"However, every democratic message from Belgrade has a good reflection on peace and stability in the region and the international community's investment in the region," said Thaci.

Kostunica's caretaker government has pressed ahead with plans to stage the parliamentary and local elections for Serbs in Kosovo, risking new tensions despite opposition from Kosovo Albanians and the UN mission in Kosovo.

More than 90,000 Serbs are enrolled to vote in Kosovo, where Albanians account for around 90 percent of the 1.8 million population.

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