| Serbia clarifies position on Kosovo status talks |
| www.chinaview.cn 2005-11-07 05:53:18 |
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BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro, Nov. 6 (Xinhuanet) -- Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said on Sunday that the Kosovo status talks should be held in line with the basic principle of respecting territorial integrity and sovereignty. "The entire international order rests on principles, one of which is the elementary one that there must be respect of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of existing states, and one must proceed from that," Kostunica, president of Democratic Party of Serbia, told a meeting of his party. Kostunica said he had not been given a single valid argument intalks with international officials that would be in favor of the independence for the Serbian province Kosovo. The ethnically-divided Kosovo, under UN administration since June 1999, is soon to confront its future status talks under the auspices of UN special envoy Marti Ahtisaari. Kosovo's Albanian majority demands for an independent state, while its Serb minority and Belgrade officials want the province remains part of Serbia. With growing impatience among Albanians over what status Kosovo would have, violence erupted anew on March, 2004, the worst since the end of Kosovo war in 1999. A total of 31 people were killed and over 600 wounded in the violence. More than 3,600 non-Albanians were forced from their homes. Kostunica said that the basic principle which respects the territorial integrity and sovereignty of all states cannot be countered by an argument of pure force or violence, that is the independence of Kosovo is necessary in order to avoid a repetitionof the violence in 2004. As to the right to self-determination, Kostunica said that the Albanian nation used their right to self-determination in creatingtheir state at the beginning of the last century and it is a question whether they have the right to create yet another state or several of their states by breaking up an existing state. Enditem |
