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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Decentralisation needed to ensure security for Serbs

Belgrade, 5 May 2004

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica met today with Harri Holkeri, the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Kosovo, to discuss the Serbian government’s Plan for the Political Solution for Kosovo-Metohija, adopted unanimously by the Serbian parliament. Kostunica said that plan represents a framework for further talks, adding that it aims to ensure security for Kosovo Serbs through decentralisation and to prevent another March 17.

Holkeri said the government’s plan represents a good starting point for further dialogue that would produce institutional guarantees for Kosovo Serbs. Holkeri recalled that UNMIK has taken measures to find perpetrators and instigators of the March violence in Kosovo, stressing that most of them have been detained and are waiting for charges to be brought against them.

Holkeri also said that UNMIK’s top priority is to protects Serbs and other non-Albanians in Kosovo.

Kostunica said that it is necessary to include Serbs in the preparations for the rebuilding of demolishes houses in Kosovo, primarily in those part of the province where they feel safe. It is necessary to include representatives of the Republic of Serbia and the Serbian Orthodox Church in the reconstruction of demolished churches and monasteries, he added.

Kostunica also said that the continuation of the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina is tied to the beginning of decentralisation, which is to provide institutional guarantees for survival and the return of Serbs to the province.