Serbs warn about "taking over sovereignty" in north

Source: Beta, Tanjug

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA -- If Serbia backs away from northern parts of Kosovo - Serbs who are a majority there "will take over the sovereignty," says Slaviša Ristić.

Addressing a joint session of four Serb municipalities in the north, the mayor of Zubin Potok assured the councilors and other officials that "the authorities in Priština will not be allowed to take over".
The Serbs in the area reject the authority of the government in Priština, as well as the ethnic Albanian unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo made over five years ago.

Speaking on Tuesday, Ristić said the join session was held in an effort to send a message that Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija wish to remains citizens of Serbia, and that they intend to succeed at this, "regardless of the negotiations in Brussels".

"Although someone in Brussels may think that they can get the job done in the next couple of days, this will not happen without the consent of the Serb people who live in Kosovo and Metohija," said the mayor.

He added that Serbs there intend "to take over the sovereignty by implementing the Constitution and laws of the Republic of Serbia", and explained that they can do this by "proclaiming the assembly of northern Kosovo, which will be entrusted with those powers".

"We hope that Serbia will not bring us to a situation where we will have to act," Ristić noted, and added that he had faith that the Serbian parliament, the executive branch of the government, and the Serb people will persevere in preserving the constitutional order in Kosovo and Metohija.

"Hashim Thaci won't be able to take over the sovereignty over this area, we will certainly not allow this to the quasi-authorities from Priština," he stated, and concluded that Serbs wish to see "Serbia preserved" there instead of "just the rights for the Serb community in Kosovo and Metohija".

Zvečan Mayor Dragiša Milović also addressed the session to say that Serbs in northern Kosovo and Metohija "wish to remain part of the state of Serbia, with the institutions of the state of Serbia".

He urged the Constitutional Court to appraise the legality under the country's highest legal act of the agreements reached during the EU-sponsored Kosovo dialogue in Brussels, and called for unity and concord among Serbs.

Kosovska Mitrovica District head Radenko Nedeljković also spoke to say that the Constitution represented "a lifeline", while he described last year's referendum in which the citizens overwhelmingly rejected the Kosovo institutions as "the holy scripture".

"The Constitution is our guarantee that we can remain part of the state of Serbia, and nobody has the right to push us into the arms of Priština," Nedeljković was quoted as saying.