[ALBSA-Info] Albania Opposes "Cantonisation" of Kosovo

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

Albania Opposes "Cantonisation" of Kosovo

Albania opposes a deal between Serbian leaders and the United Nations in 
Kosovo because it might lead to the ``cantonisation'' of the province, 
Foreign Minister Paskal Milo said on Thursday. 

Last week's deal promised the Serbs, most of whom now live in enclaves 
heavily guarded by soldiers from the NATO-led peacekeeping force, better 
security and access to services. 

It included plans to set up a ``neighbourhood watch'' scheme, a task force to 
look at improving their security, and special local administration offices in 
Serb areas. 

While welcoming efforts to draw the minority Serbs into the process of 
inter-ethnic cooperation with ethnic Albanians, Milo said the deal had raised 
the spectre of cantonisation -- the formation of separate Serb and Albanian 
enclaves. 

``We are against any ideas or projects that aim, even indirectly, at the 
cantonisation of Kosovo,'' Milo said. 

The U.N. said the deal, which angered Kosovo Albanian politicians, was ``the 
exact opposite of cantonisation or partition.'' 

Since international authorities took over responsibility for the Yugoslav 
province in June last year, ethnic Albanians have carried out numerous 
attacks on Kosovo Serbs. Albanians suffered decades of repression under the 
Serbian state. 

While Serb leaders were satisfied with the deal and pledged to work with the 
U.N., the agreement alarmed the Albanians who viewed it as an attempt by the 
Serbs to run their affairs and security independently of the majority of the 
population. 

Echoing Milo, Sabri Godo, head of the Albanian parliament's foreign affairs 
committee, said granting the Serbs ``special protection troops'' and 
self-government was unacceptable. 

``This deal can be dangerous because it lead to a partition of a chunk of 
Kosovo and would encourage the Serbs to realise what they have always had in 
mind (partition),'' Godo said. 

The deal would encourage rather than discourage dangerous precedents, like 
Kosovo's northern town of Mitrovica that is divided along ethnic lines, Godo 
added.