Pristina vows to stop building of Serb returnee settlement

Pristina vows to stop building of Serb returnee settlement

Tahiri said that construction works that "Serbia plans in northern Kosovo" represent an interference "in the internal affairs of our country."

"In addition, this type of project is purely political, and its intention is to undermine the ethnic structure in the north of Kosovo," Tahiri told Albanian language daily Epoka e Re.

On Thursday in Zvecan, Director of the Serbian Government Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric and interim president of the municipal authority Ivan Todosijevic laid the foundation stone for the construction of the settlement that should house around 1,500 Serbs previously driven out of their homes in Kosovo.

The settlement should have 300 housing units and supporting facilities, including a kindergarten and a shopping mall, and and is planned to be built within a year.

The ceremony in Zvecan became front page news in Pristina-based media, who variously described it as "the beginning of colonization" and "the return of Serbia to Kosovo."

Kosovo Prime Minister Isa Mustafa said that the building of the returnee settlement was "illegal, and will not be allowed until relevant institutions have issued their permissions."

Sunny Valley

Speaking during the ceremony in the town of Zvecan on Thursday, Marko Djuric said, "Today is the beginning of a new era of a return of Serbian citizens who have been expelled from Kosovo and Metohija," adding that the start of construction works marks the 17th anniversary of the start of the exodus of Serbs from Kosovo in 1999.

"It is not a project of hatred against anyone, but a project of love for our own nation, aimed at alleviating the consequences of ethnic cleansing, bloody expulsions and extermination of Serbs in Kosovo," Djuric said.

"The policy of Aleksandar Vucic's government is a policy of return and we will together persist in the fight to accomplish a significant objective in Kosovo and Metohija... This is not just a Sunny Valley, but a valley of hope, a valley of future for Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija," Djuric said.