Serbs urged to participate in Kosovo assembly
Kosovo’s Serbs were urged today to take part in elected assembly after the province’s beleaguered minority boycotted key weekend elections.
“The boycott was a very loud cry of pain, but the only way forward is that of dialogue between the Serbs and Albanians,” said Minister for Europe Dennis McShane.
Mr McShane began a two-day Balkan tour with talks in Belgrade with Serbia’s pro-Western President Boris Tadic and Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic.
He said he “regretted” that Saturday’s Kosovo elections were overshadowed by an overwhelming boycott of the polls by Serbs.
The refusal to vote in the ethnic Albanian-dominated province dealt a blow to international efforts to forge a multiethnic society in Kosovo, which is run by the UN and Nato-led peacekeepers.
Hard-line Serb leaders in Kosovo and Belgrade had backed the boycott, citing security concerns after bloody attacks against Serbs earlier this year. Belgrade also perceived the vote as a stepping stone toward Kosovo’s eventual independence, something it vehemently opposes.
“Those who organise the boycott need to think very seriously what they achieved,” Mr McShane said. “Everyone must understand there will be no return to the Kosovo of the past. To boycott, to refuse to talk, opens the way for those who want more radical solutions.”
In the elected 120 seat Kosovo assembly, the Serb minority is guaranteed 10 seats regardless of whether Serbs voted or not.
“I hope the Kosovo Serb leadership will find the strength to participate in the Kosovo assembly,” Mr McShane said. “We need to find ways to move together forward for this part of Europe.”
