November 6, 2001
Angry Kosovo Albanian leaders denounced on Tuesday a UN deal with Belgrade which makes clear that a new provincial government to be formed after elections this month cannot declare independence.
One ethnic Albanian leader boycotted a meeting of the UN-governed province's top political council and another attended only to announce he had lost confidence in it. "After this agreement the interim administrative council has lost its value," Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) leader Hashim Thaci said, according to a source close to the meeting.
The UN mission in Kosovo signed a joint statement with Belgrade on Monday designed to reassure Kosovo Serbs that the province's legal status as part of Yugoslavia would not change after the November 17 election. The deal prompted Belgrade to recommend the beleaguered Serb minority take part in the elections for a new 120-member Kosovo assembly, as the West says it must in order to create an inclusive multi-ethnic society in the province.
But the deal enraged majority ethnic Albanian leaders who said the UN should negotiate only with Kosovo Serbs and not Belgrade, whose influence they want excluded from Kosovo. Others also resented having had no role in the protracted negotiations. Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority overwhelmingly favors complete independence for the territory. "Kosovo is determined to be integrated into a global democratic process and not into a regressive return into Serbia," Thaci said on Monday. Ramush Haradinaj, a former guerrilla leader and head of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), did not turn up for Tuesday's meeting, having said he planned to "work against" the UN mission and accelerate his drive for independence.
Ibrahim Rugova, leader of the more moderate Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK), said he too opposed the agreement but would continue to work with the UN, the source said. Zeri newspaper, often friendly to the administration, said the document made Belgrade a shareholder in Kosovo's government. The document also stresses the right of refugees to return and includes a commitment to increased Serb participation in Kosovo bodies.
Kosovo has been run as a de facto international protectorate since 1999 following a NATO bombing campaign to stop repression of ethnic Albanians by Serb security forces. All major diplomatic powers officially oppose independence for Kosovo, but Albanians hope they will eventually conclude independence is inevitable if the vast majority of the population does not want to stay in Serb-dominated Yugoslavia.
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