Samardžić announces elections in Kosovo

Kosovo Minister Slobodan Samardzic says that elections will be organized in Serb communities in Kosovo on May 11. During his visit to the province, Samardzic once again denied that he had proposed a partition of Kosovo. Samardzic said that his proposal for a functional partition of Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo had already been operating for eight to nine years. Samardzic announces elections in Kosovo “The fact that the Albanians declared independence, that was without the approval of the Serbs. Serbs will have to work through their own institutions, and that is a functional partition, which concerns all the Serbs in Kosovo. There is no territorial partition of Kosovo, no one said anything about that ever,” the minister said. He added that Serbia was responsible for financing all Kosovo Serbs that had left Kosovo’s institutions. “We said, as a country, that everyone who worked under the administration of the temporary institutions should leave after February 17, along with everyone who worked in the Albanian institutions in Kosovo. We are responsible for financing these people, which the ministries will have to do. The government agreed to do so. I must say, there has been a hold-up at government and ministry level, but we will have to speed it up,” Samardzic said. Russia will also be sending help to the Kosovo Serbs on April 2, when 40 tons of aid, including food for children, will arrive. According to the Russian embassy in Belgrade, three aircraft carrying humanitarian aid will arrive in the Serb enclaves in Kosovo between April 2 and 8. The Russian news agency Itar-Tas stated that medical supplies, canned goods, children’s food, rice and sugar would be included in the aid packages. The humanitarian aid will first be sent to Belgrade and then taken to the isolated Serb enclaves. However, Samardzic’s visit to Kosovo received some negative reactions as well, with several municipal coordinators claiming that Samardzic was ignoring all municipal officials who were not members of the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS). Gnjilane Municipal Coordinator Predrag Stojkovic said that he had not been called once to meet with Samardzic since he became a municipal coordinator. Marko Jaksic, a senior DSS official in Kosovo, told B92 that there was no truth to this and that B92 had not reported the issue accurately. “I think this is the vindictiveness, if you will, of one television station that is not very supportive of solving the Serb question in this region. It should be made clear that Samardzic met with coordinators that are not in the DSS, firstly in central Kosovo, where he visited with coordinators from completely different political parties,” explained Jaksic. When he was told that B92 had quoted a municipal coordinator from Kosovo, Jaksic said, “The fact that he did not speak with one coordinator means that you have spoken to only one coordinator, and there are 31 of them. Therefore, you cannot take the opinion of just one into consideration as proof. I do not think that gives an accurate assessment.” Stojkovic said that in addition to the 29 existing coordinators, 12 more coordinators had been appointed by government decisions supported by every minister, who were being ignored by Samardzic completely. Slobodan Samardzic (FoNet, archive)

Samardžić announces elections in Kosovo

“The fact that the Albanians declared independence, that was without the approval of the Serbs. Serbs will have to work through their own institutions, and that is a functional partition, which concerns all the Serbs in Kosovo. There is no territorial partition of Kosovo, no one said anything about that ever,” the minister said.

He added that Serbia was responsible for financing all Kosovo Serbs that had left Kosovo’s institutions.

“We said, as a country, that everyone who worked under the administration of the temporary institutions should leave after February 17, along with everyone who worked in the Albanian institutions in Kosovo. We are responsible for financing these people, which the ministries will have to do. The government agreed to do so. I must say, there has been a hold-up at government and ministry level, but we will have to speed it up,” Samardžić said.

Russia will also be sending help to the Kosovo Serbs on April 2, when 40 tons of aid, including food for children, will arrive.

According to the Russian embassy in Belgrade, three aircraft carrying humanitarian aid will arrive in the Serb enclaves in Kosovo between April 2 and 8.

The Russian news agency Itar-Tas stated that medical supplies, canned goods, children’s food, rice and sugar would be included in the aid packages.

The humanitarian aid will first be sent to Belgrade and then taken to the isolated Serb enclaves.

However, Samardžić’s visit to Kosovo received some negative reactions as well, with several municipal coordinators claiming that Samardžić was ignoring all municipal officials who were not members of the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS).

Gnjilane Municipal Coordinator Predrag Stojković said that he had not been called once to meet with Samardžić since he became a municipal coordinator.

Marko Jakšić, a senior DSS official in Kosovo, told B92 that there was no truth to this and that B92 had not reported the issue accurately.

“I think this is the vindictiveness, if you will, of one television station that is not very supportive of solving the Serb question in this region. It should be made clear that Samardžić met with coordinators that are not in the DSS, firstly in central Kosovo, where he visited with coordinators from completely different political parties,” explained Jakšić.

When he was told that B92 had quoted a municipal coordinator from Kosovo, Jakšić said, “The fact that he did not speak with one coordinator means that you have spoken to only one coordinator, and there are 31 of them. Therefore, you cannot take the opinion of just one into consideration as proof. I do not think that gives an accurate assessment.”

Stojković said that in addition to the 29 existing coordinators, 12 more coordinators had been appointed by government decisions supported by every minister, who were being ignored by Samardžić completely.