[ALBSA-Info] De Facto Cantonization

[aalibali at law.harvard.edu]

Kosovo Serbs want hard-liners to end boycott of multiethnic council

BYLINE: ELENA BECATOROS

DATELINE: GRACANICA, Yugoslavia

 BODY:
    Representatives of Kosovo's Serb community are attempting to persuade
hard-liners among them to end a four-month boycott of a multiethnic council
running the province, they said Monday.

   Father Sava, spokesman of the Orthodox Church who enjoys widespread respect
among Kosovo Serbs, planned to travel from the monastery in Serb-populated
Gracanica to the divided town of Kosovska Mitrovica on Tuesday to meet with
local Serb leaders.

   Some are opposed to a possible deal with the United Nations mission in Kosovo
to participate in the council running the province along with the United Nations
and NATO, he said.

   Kosovoska Mitrovica is divided into a Serb-populated north and an
 Albanian -populated south, separated by the Ibar river. Ther bridge over it is 
patrolled by French peacekeepers.

   An agreement between Serb representatives and the U.N could be signed at the 
end of next week when U.N. mission chief Bernard Kouchner and Orthodox Bishop
Artemije return from separate trips abroad, Father Sava said.

   ''We have been discussing this with Mr. Kouchner. I think we are in a very
positive direction to resolve this well,'' he said.

   Father Sava stressed that any agreement must not be a move toward creating an
independent Kosovo.

   Serb members resigned from the council in September, protesting the creation 
of the Kosovo Protection Force following the disbanding of the ethnic  Albanian 
rebel Kosovo Liberation Army. The move was a blow to international efforts
promoting reconciliation between the two groups.

   Under the deal, Serbs who now live in enclaves protected by multinational
troops, would establish local community offices. These would provide
administrative services such as issuing identity cards, without residents having
to travel through  Albanian -populated areas to regional centers.

   The offices would liaise with central departments operating out of Pristina
to voice the concerns of their local communities. But to avoid any
discrimination, the U.N. mission in Kosovo would have the last say, Father Sava 
explained.

   The same would occur on a regional level, while a representative of the
entire Serb community would take up the now vacant place on the multiethnic
council known as the Joint Interim Administrative Structure.

   While most Serb communities appear to agree with this proposal, Oliver
Ivanovic, head of the local office in Kosovska Mitrovica, has raised objections.
Hard-liners sympathetic to Milosevic have described a potential deal as
tantamount to agreeing to the official separation of Kosovo from Yugoslavia.