Petkovic informs Latin American ambassadors of situation in Kosovo-Metohija

BELGRADE - The head of the Serbian government Office for Kosovo-Metohija Petar Petkovic met with the ambassadors of Latin American countries in Belgrade - Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Mexico and Venezuela - to thank them for supporting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia and for their consistent respect of UNSCR 1244 as well as their full support for Serbia's struggle in international bodies to protect its state and national interests in Kosovo-Metohija.

Petkovic informed the ambassadors of the problems faced by Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija on a daily basis, noting that, through a series of unilateral acts, Pristina had jeopardised stability on the ground that had taken years to build as well as the fundamental human rights of the Serb population in the province.

Petkovic noted that Pristina's PM Albin Kurti had recently banned the Serbian dinar and cash operations with central Serbia with the aim of leaving Serbs in the province without salaries, pensions and basic incomes as well as denying them access to medical treatments and school education and, ultimately, expelling the Serbs from their ancestral homes to make his dream of a Kosovo-Metohija without a single Serb come true.

Belgrade and Pristina delegations have met in Brussels seven times to resolve the issue, but Pristina rejected each and every one of the constructive proposals made by Belgrade, Petkovic noted.

Petkovic voiced concern over Pristina's dogged refusal to meet the commitment to establish a Community of Serb Municipalities.

He added that Pristina expected that there would be no need to establish the Community at all once all Serbs and Serbian institutions were expelled from Kosovo-Metohija.

He noted that 15 per cent of Kosovo-Metohija Serbs had left the territory in the past year and a half.

Petkovic also said that, in a unilateral manner that ran counter to all agreements, Serbian officials were banned from entering the province and that he himself had been banned from going there for two years now.

This has led to a series of consequences and many essential projects in Serb communities have been ground to a halt as a result, he said.

He said a referendum to replace false ethnic Albanian mayors in the north of Kosovo-Metohija, boycotted by 99 per cent of the Serb population, had been a farce demonstrating Kurti's decision to continue to exercise power in four Serb municipalities with 3.5 per cent voter support given by ethnic Albanians.

"In spite of all this and the more than clear fact that Pristina politicians do not even have a minimum of good will to build peace and coexistence in the territory of Kosovo-Metohija, Belgrade will remain committed to dialogue and compromise as that is the only way to preserve peace in the province and the region and achieve much-needed normalisation of relations on the ground," Petkovic said.

Amid such efforts, UNSCR 1244 remains the umbrella legally binding document for protecting Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija as well as the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Serbia, Petkovic concluded.