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| Ethnic Albanian leader on new VS base |
| 25 November 2009 | 17:07
| Source:
FoNet |
BUJANOVAC --
Ethnic Albanian party PDD leader and MP Riza Halimi commented on the opening of a new Serbian Army (VS) base in the south.
 | VS soliders are seen at Base Jug (FoNet)
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Base Jug (South) was ceremonially opened on Monday, with top state officials attending.
The military installation is located on Cepotina Hill, between Bujanovac and Preševo, and only kilometers away from the administrative line between Kosovo and central Serbia.
Now Halimi, whose party is based in this southern region that is home to Serbia's largest ethnic Albanian population outside of Kosovo itself, says that he believes the state should spend money on economic development, rather than on army bases.
"In this difficult economic situation, and in Serbia's least developed part, it would have made more sense to work on the economic development and consistent implementation of what we agreed on regarding the inclusion of Albanians into the state institutions," he told FoNet news agency.
Halimi also commented by saying that there were "numerous controversies" surrounding the building of the base – which took six years – and that it was "often heard that it would be home to special forces that would deploy in this area".
"Precisely for that reason [ethnic] Albanians spoke agaisnt that base," he said, and added that "people in other places in Serbia that are not [ethnically] mixed also don't like to have special units near them".
The reason for this, according to Halimi, is that there were "problems in the past" with such units.
He also expressed doubt that young Albanians would find employment at the base, saying also that this population "encounters difficulties when joining the local state institutions".
"But, with good will, an adequate political atmosphere and by solving of the problems that we are facing, I won't rule that possibility out either," he said.
Halimi concluded, however, that a military base "that would cooperate with international subjects" would "certainly open up new perspectives for this area".
The south-eastern region, comprising the municipalities of Bujanovac, Preševo and Medveđa – also sometimes referred to as the Preševo valley – is considered to be Serbia's most volatile in terms of security, and teetered on the brink of war in the wake of the 1999 conflict in Kosovo.
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