UN calls on Serbia to stop interfering in Kosovo
Updated: 2008-03-13 10:32
PRISTINA -- The United Nations mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) called on Serbia Wednesday to respect UN Security Council Resolution 1244 and to stop interfering local Serbs in Kosovo.
"It is still in force, and all parties, including Serbia, should respect it," said UNMIK spokesman Alexander Ivanko.
He urged Belgrade to cooperate in re-establishing two custom points on Kosovo's northern border.
"If Belgrade says publicly that Resolution 1244 should be respected, we expect them to put their money where their mouth is," said Ivanko.
"We are trying to re-establish the courts, we are trying to re-establish the customs," he said, stressing that it will take time.
He also called on Belgrade to allow Serb police officers to return to Kosovo Service Police (KPS) and stop strengthening Serb parallel structures in education, health and administration.
Meanwhile, Kosovo authorities called on Serb police officers to return to the police service.
KPS spokesman Veton Elshani said some Serbs are showing back to the work. More than 200 Serb police officers abandoned the service in February, refusing to serve under KPS command.
Speaking on Serbia's upcoming early parliamentary elections on May 11, the UNMIK spokesman said Serbia should respect UNMIK's mandate related to elections.
"According to Resolution 1244, only UNMIK can call elections in Kosovo," said Ivanko.
Ethnic Serbs in Kosovo have participated in every Serbian election in the past. They have mostly voted the Serb Radical Party of Vojislav Seselj which is at The Hague, indicted with war crime charges in former Yugoslav conflicts.
Except the general elections of 2001, Serb community has boycotted four general and local elections in Kosovo after 1999 Kosovo war.
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