KM District chief: Brussels agreement unacceptable

Source: Tanjug

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA -- Radenko Nedeljković has said that he "hopes that the agreement on integrated management of the administrative line will not be implemented".

A scene from northern Kosovo (Beta, file)

The head of the Kosovska Mitrovica District noted that the implementation of the agreement would mean indirect recognition of Kosovo, stressing that the Serb community cannot survive in an independent Kosovo.
Nedeljković said that he expects serious behavior from the citizens, adding that they should not react to provocations, while passive resistance, determination and unity will help them reach the goal - survival and stay in this territory and within Serbia.

The district chief added that "the talks, agreements and everything that is happening have brought about confusion, fear and uncertainty among citizens".

Nedeljković said that EULEX units on the administrative crossings in north Kosovo have taken Priština's - i.e., Kosovo Albanian's - side, and that they implement unilateral decisions by the Kosovo institutions and act in line with secret lists composed by the Kosovo intelligence service.

“On a number of occasions we have said that the agreements that were reached are unacceptable for us, harmful for Serbs and other non-Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija. On a number of occasions as well, we said that we do not want to accept participation in the implementation of such agreements,” Nedeljković said.

Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dačić stated after Wednesday's talks with EU High Representative Catherine Ashton and Kosovo Prime Minister Hasim Taci that it was agreed to introduce integrated control by December 10 at two out of six administrative crossings.

Reacting to this on Thursday, Assistant Director of the Government Office for Kosovo and Metohija Mirko Krlić said that "negotiations with representatives of Kosovo Albanians are unavoidable" and that he expected the Serb side in the process "to know it very well where the red lines are", and to adhere to that.

"The government is determined to achieve a maximum at this moment and defend its Kosovo and Metohija. How much of all that will be possible to achieve you know is not in our hands, but that does not mean that we will give up on our intentions," he told reporters in Kosovska Mitrovica.

Serbs from northern Kosovo, however, are openly opposed to the implementation of the agreement, known as the IBM. Former State Secrertary for Kosovo Oliver Ivanović says that this agreement should not even be discussed until the negotiations about the north of the province have been completed.

Speaking for Kosovska Mitrovica-based Kontakt Plus Radio, Ivanović stated that those negotiations would be rendered completely pointless and redundant if the IBM were to be implemented at Jarinje and Brnjak in December.

According to him, a unique opportunity has appeared to put the issue of northern Kosovo on the agenda and solve it "in the right manner and for a longer period of time", but he warned that by implementing the agreement "our position would become very bad".

"The (ethnic) Albanians would lose any interest to discuss some modality for solving the question of northern Kosovo if integrated management were to be implemented at these two crossings in the north of the province," according to Ivanović.

Serbs are a majority population in the area north of the Ibar River. They reject the authority of the government in Priština, as well as the ethnic Albanian unilateral declaration of independence made in February 2008.