Kosovo Serbs protest over transfer of authority

Kosovo Serbs protest over transfer of authority
Beta - April 4, 2003

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA -- Thursday – About two thousand Serbs today demonstrated in Mitrovica under a banner reading “For Serbia – No to independent Kosovo”.

The protesters said that their message to the international community was that Serbs would not allow yet another Albanian state to be formed in the Western Balkans.

They claim that UNMIK chief Michael Steiner has failed to implement UN Security Council 1244, which ended the 1999 war and established an international protectorate in Serbia’s southern province.

Kosovo Serbs claim that the transfer of powers from the UN mission to Kosovo’s transitional government is the first step to independence for the province.

Serb representative Milan Ivanovic told the rally that Serb Kosovars would use all democratic means available to might the governor’s decision.

He also accused Steiner of being responsible for the lack of refugee repatriations, failure to implement regional decentralisation and the lack of investigation of the fate of Serbs missing in the province.

Ivanovic was today sharply critical Belgrade’s Kosovo Coordination Centre, saying its strategies were not serious.