Serbs walk out of Kosovo Parliament again

Serbs walk out of Kosovo Parliament again
Beta - February 27, 2003

PRISTINA -- Thursday – Serb delegates have again walked out of the Kosovo parliament within weeks of resuming their seats after months of boycott.

Today’s protest was sparked by two declarations tabled by the governing Albanian caucus.

The first declaration demands that the Hague Tribunal release Democratic Party of Kosovo MP Fatmir Limai on bail until the beginning of his trial.

Limai was arrested in Slovenia last week and is at present in Ljubljana awaiting extradition to The Hague.

The second declaration dismisses the establishment of the Association of Serbian Municipalities as a parallel institution of the kind barred under the province’s constitutional framework and UN Security Council Resolution 1244.

In the declaration the Albanian majority in the parliament demands that the UN mission in Kosovo take steps against what they describe as “such illegal acts”.

The chief whip of the Serb Return coalition in the parliament, Oliver Ivanovic, told media that today’s walkout does not necessarily mean a renewal of the boycott at subsequent sessions.

Nine Serbian MPs were not present at today’s session because they have not been provided with a security escort, which Ivanovic described as one more reason for the coalition to quit the parliament.