Serbia: Ethnic Albanians Want Partition On the Agenda

Town of Bujanovac, South Serbia

Ragmi Mustafa, mayor of Presevo and leader of the Democratic Party of Albanians, DPA, said on Sunday that the Belgrade authorities must recognise the independence of Kosovo and improve trust between ethnic Albanians and Serbs in the municipalities of Bujanovac and Presevo if it wants to retain stability in the south of the country.

Ahead of the fourth round of Kosovo talks which are scheduled to be held on Tuesday and Wednesday, ethnic Albanians from the South are pushing for the exchange of territories between the north of Kosovo, which is mainly Serb, and the south of Serbia, which is mainly ethnic Albanian, to be included on the agenda.

“This is the future for the region, after which we will all be part of the European Union,” Mustafa told reporters last week, referring to the idea of swapping land as part of a final agreement on Kosovo.

The recent push for discussion on a territory swap was launched at a meeting of representatives of Albanian political parties from South Serbia and Kosovo, held in Gnjilane on May 1, where the parties concluded that the issue of the Presevo Valley should be addressed as part of talks between Pristina and Belgrade, and that southern Serbian municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja should belong to the Republic of Kosovo.  

Apart from Mustafa, the meeting also included the president of the municipality of Bujanovac, Jonuz Musliu, Hydajet Hyseni of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, Ahmet Isufi from the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, and Vetevendosje activist Hysen Durmishi.

The main conclusion of the meeting was that all ethnic Albanians, wherever they are, should support a single Presevo Valley and that the institutions and authorities in Pristina should demand the Presevo Valley “back”.

Explaining this, Mustafa said: “It was an open debate where different views were presented, including the exchange of the territories, but we have not brought any decisions, because we do not have a mandate”.

Meanwhile, in an interview for Pristina daily Zeri last week, Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic expressed his personal opinion that the division of Kosovo is the only realistic solution.

“It’s a realistic way that can lead us to a quick solution. Other solutions are a waste of time and would take years and decades in trying to solve small issues,” the daily quoted him as saying.

The Presevo valley region is still recovering from armed conflict that broke out a decade ago between Serbian security forces and rebel ethnic Albanians from the Liberation Army of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja. The clashes lasted from November 2000 to June 2001 and ended with the mediation of NATO and the international community.