If Kosovo given independence, Bosnian Serb entity should be too - Covic
Radio Belgrade (Transcript) - October 15, 2003

Announcer: The so-called talks with the Albanians, like the ones in Vienna yesterday, continue to be a charade that involves posing for the world, Deputy Serbian Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic has reiterated in a Belgrade Television programme. Recalling previous talks in Lucerne after which the Albanian representatives were nearly lynched upon their return to Pristina, Covic said that time was running out for finding a solution to the problem. There are fewer and fewer Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija as time goes by, and the ones who want to return are running out of hope, Nebojsa Covic said.

Covic: We do not have the right to deceive the citizens and we have to come up with an active approach. I want to reiterate: if anyone believes that we should discuss the status issue, we are prepared to do so immediately, but we immediately have to set out the principles and establish the state of affairs; or, if they have already made the decision to take Kosmet Kosovo-Metohija away from us, they should just say so. Let them take it, but if they do take it, it will give us the right to take it back one day. Obviously, the lobbies are strong, but I believe that nothing is over and that all the options are still open in the entire region and that the right that is granted to Kosovo-Metohija, that is, to the area, must also be given to the Bosnian Serb Republic. And I wish to be spared the stories of so-called Serbian extremism, promoting tensions, and so forth. They should explain to us why they are not prepared to give up parts of their countries.

SOURCE: Radio Belgrade in Serbian 0800 gmt 15 Oct 03

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